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CMV CT-720D Review
[Abstract]
IntroductionWhile the CMV CT-720D is the third 17-inch 8ms LCD monitor to hit the market, it is the first we have received with a different panel make. Both BenQ and ViewSonic do not manufactur...
[Content] PCDigitalMobileGame
Performance - Quality Testing
The time has come to put the monitor to test. We run our standard scripted test suite on DisplayMate for Windows Multimedia with Motion Edition 2.0. A series of preset patterns and test views are scrutinized for display fidelity and performance as well as any visible anomalies. The tests are run at the LCD panel's native resolution of 1280x1024 and optimal refresh rate of 60Hz. The following results are measured first using the monitor's analog input. DVI results usually do not pose a problem for LCD monitors, but the quality of the analog signals and timing are usually not so problem free.
Circular Geometry, Cross Hatch and Dot
This test consists of a set of circular and crossed line patterns to check for aspect ratio, linearity and geometrical trueness. The CMV CT-720D performed very well in this test, displaying good geometric qualities. Minor misalignments in the circular patterns could be noticed only if one knows where to look for them, but are generally non-distinguishable. User's should not be alarmed as these micro anomalies are present in most monitors.
Screen Uniformity
The CT-720D was quite generous with lighting on bright colors as screen uniformity was almost excellent in two of the brightest intensity patterns. As the pattern variations get darker, hot and cold spots seem to develop. At the darkest intensity, a sort of wave could be noticed. LCD monitors have always been plagued by backlighting issues, and only some of the very few can claim perfect screen uniformity and lighting. While not the worst we have seen, the CT-720D performs slightly below expectations here. On the bright side, the monitor did not show too much color shifting when viewed at odd angles, thanks to a wider viewing angle.
Stuck Pixels
The CT-720D was pixel perfect. There were no dead or bright pixel anomalies that could be distinguished. Kudos to CMV for a problem free monitor in this area.
Pixel Tracking and Timing-Lock
After a few excellent results in earlier tests, we were disappointed with the performance here. The CT-720D displayed pronounced beat patterns all three modes with the finely dithered boxes suffering the most. The problem becomes very apparent with gray-scale dithering. The easiest way to replicate the issue to set your desktop background as a 50% grey pattern. The entire screen will flicker. Auto-calibration seemed to fixed it well enough though it is still slightly noticeable.
Interlace Flicker and Moire Montage
Significant amount of flickering and beat patterns could be noticed in both tests. Again the monitor shows its weakness in interlaced and dithered patterns. Interestingly, the problem is much more pronounced using the DVI input. The flickering can largely be corrected using the auto-calibration on an analog connection, but DVI was so bad, your eyes would scream if they could.
White Level Saturation
After the Screen Uniformity test, we had expected this result to be quite good. Indeed, the monitor had commendable white level saturation. In this test, patterns with various levels of white is displayed against a full 255 index background. The box with an index of 253 could still be distinguished.
Gray Scale Shifts, No. Grey Levels and Dark Grey Scale
Grey Scale Shifts test the monitors capability in producing similar grey scale patterns on different locations. Patterns with the same index should not have color tinting or variations. The Dark Grey Scale test is similar to the White Level Saturation test before, but here, we measure the darkest shade of grey visible against a black background. Again we managed to distinguish patterns with index as low as four. Overall, grey scale ramping was uniform and the monitor's high brightness and contrast enabled good saturation on both ends of the scale.
64/256 Intensity Level Ramp, 256 Intensity Color Level Ramp
The monitor produced a very smooth ramp with exceptional gradations along the scale. Even on the 256 color ramp, the individual color stepping can be made out with little to no color dithering along the scale. It certainly looks as if the monitor is really capable of 16.7M colors. If in any case the panel is only a 6-bit one, the color fidelity shown here is truely credible of an 8-bit panel.
Reverse Video Contrast and Color Combo
These set of tests help determine color combination fidelity as well as images and text of highly contrasted variations. Once again, solid colors were well rendered against each other. Text detail and edges remain sharp on all color combinations without hint of bleeding or shadowing.
Scaled Font
The CT-720D monitor has a native resolution of 1280x1024. As expected the smallest discernable font size was 9pix or 6.5points. Text were well defined with sufficient sharpness. The OSD menu has options to adjust sharpness from a 1 to 5 scale, though you would only be able to notice a difference at the extreme ends of the scale.
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