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One of the most often overlooked investments in your computer system is
the monitor. I know of folks with thousands of dollars invested in memory
and fast hard drives who shortchange themselves by using the most bargain-basement
17-inch displays. When you step up to a good quality display, and one
of the new small-footprint 19- and 21-inch displays, there can never
be any going back to small or low-budget monitors.
The new CTX PR1400F is a 21-inch display that is only a tad larger on
the desktop than my recently purchased 19-inch and seems to weigh only
a few pounds more. Only the front screen area and the first-time wrestling
match with extracting the thing from the shipping box really confirm
that this is a "big display." Normally, I use a 19-inch, with
a 17-inch as a second monitor on my video and Web workstation, and dual 17-inch displays for the audio/MIDI workstation. Once I plugged the CTX monitor in, though,
I found myself questioning the need for two monitors. It’s big,
real big! Standard 1024x768 looks too big on-screen and those high resolutions
like 1600x1200 seem right at home all of a sudden.
On
the Grille
If you read my feature article The ABCs of RGB then
you know there is a difference between shadow mask CRTs and aperture
grille CRTs. The CTX PR1400F is an aperture grille CRT, with the added
bonus of it being a new-generation true flat Sony FD Trinitron.
Up until about 1996 I refused to use anything but a Trinitron display
because for publishing and catalog production the flatter tonality and
high sharpness made looking at tiny type less of a headache. In testing
this display, I rediscovered the joys of the Trinitron tube. The colors
are very even across the spectrum, without harsh blacks or whites. Everything
on this monitor looks like a perfect proof print, and the flat screen
has the best coating I’ve ever seen on a display. No reflections
or hot spots under the numerous lighting conditions I tested. Everything
looks gorgeous and razor sharp on the PR1400F.
If you have had a problem in the past with the inherent horizontal damper
wires of the Trinitron tubes, they really are almost invisible, even
on the Mac OS 9 and Windows 98 backgrounds I tested with.
USB Hubby
One of the neat features of this monitor is the addition of what amounts
to a built-in USB hub with four ports (two on the back, two on one side),
plus one port to the computer. It was nice to plug in my keyboard and
optical mouse to the monitor vs. the tangle behind the computer. I still
prefer having a port on the front of the display (such as in the base),
but considering the price of this display, I really can’t complain.
This is truly a bargain for a quality FD Trinitron display, and the
USB connectivity is just a bonus. When you find that this display can
actually cost less than the average 15-inch LCD display, you really
have to reconsider a flat-panel purchase.
Close up of back panel showing BNC and USB connection
options.
Other connections include BNC (a hallmark of Trinitron displays, not
CTX) for those who use higher-end analog video cards, in addition to
the typical VGA mini-D-15 cable connection. A BNC cable is not included,
though. One nice feature is that both the power and monitor cables are
not permanently connected as is often the case with many other mid-price
17-inch and 19-inch displays on the market. I also liked the separate
on/off switch on back, and "power on" or "stand by"
button on the front.
On Screen
Methodology
We used the excellent computer monitor test and adjustment software
from DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) to evaluate the display quality
of this monitor. The software includes a combination of on-screen tests
and measuring resources. Tests performed on this monitor include:
o Extreme gray-scale with color bars
o Horizontal resolution
o Crosshatch and dots
o Fine dot moiré and grayscale
o Test pattern
In testing this display, (see Methodology sidebar on how
we tested) we found the monitor was flawless once properly calibrated.
Trinitron displays are particularly sensitive to shipping, so if the
unit arrives (as ours did) with the image slightly rotated, off center,
and with misaligned geometry, it’s not flawed, it just needs calibrating.
The digital controls for adjusting the on-screen settings—including
pin-cushion, keystone, etc.—work very well (better than any of
the other half-dozen monitors I have on site) and the included manual
clearly shows how to get to each option easily.
The only potential flaw I found was some interference while viewing
a plain white page filled with small text. This was evident on the Macintosh
with two different ATI video cards (4MB PCI, and 16MB PCI, respectively). I
could not isolate whether this was due to the video cards or the G3/450MHz/OS9
Mac itself. The problem was not as evident with a similar ATI card on
a generic Windows 98 PC using the same cable. Another issue with the
16MB ATI Xclaim PCI card on the Mac was noticeable vertical block screen
redraws at 1024x768/100Hz (you can see the screen being redrawn) when
scrolling sideways in a Web browser. This was not evident at all on
the PC at the same resolution, so it was likely a symptom of the video
card timing.
Overall, this is an excellent monitor, with a quality picture and good
warranty (three years parts and labor). The price is amazing, like all
things technology-oriented nowadays, and is a complete steal when comparing
it to any LCD out there. If you like deep, deep blacks or do mostly
video, you may prefer a shadow-mask CRT, but for publishing and all-around
purposes, this monitor is exceptional.
< E N D >
Product Summary
CTX PR1400f
Street price: approximately $919
CTX "Professional Series" 21" Color CRT Display with Sony FD Trinitron tube. 19.8" diagonal viewable size. 15-pin and BNC connectors. Built-in USB hub. Detachable power and signal cables. .24mm dot pitch. 3 year warranty. Dimensions: 20.2x20.8x20.3"
Christopher Simmons has been a professional graphic artist since 1980, has been using computer monitors since the Atari 800, and is president of Neotrope, which offers design and brand marketing services. E-mail him at cs@digitalauthor.com. A version of this article appeared in the December 2000 edition of Micro Publishing News.
