Performance on a budget. (Hanns.G HW191D)

Member Name: icetsunami

Product:	Hanns.G HW191D
Date:	02/06/09 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap and good video performance.

Disadvantages: Silly placement of control buttons.

Had this monitor for about a year now and are very happy with it. Its nice looking and has a small footprint when sited on the desk. Straight out of the box it was a case of connecting and away we go. No dead pixels and a solid vibrant picture quality.

Technically wise the resolution max is 1440*900, the contrast ratio is 700:1 and the response time a respectable 5ms. A nice feature of this monitor is that it has both d-sub and dvi inputs, something not found on many monitors in this price range. There is a headphone jack located next to the video input socket but this is very inaccessible. It's worth noting that there are onboard speakers which although lacking bass, as you would expect, are fine for general use. The buttons to change settings are all down the lower right side of the bezel and are ok to use once you have memorised their positions!

Aesthetically the monitor is nice looking but functional. Hey, it's a monitor!
Ergonomically it's a bit silly having buttons where you can't see them and on top of that they are slightly recessed. If you have the requisite space to crank your head around to see them then it's fine providing you have the patience. My gripe is that as I use both inputs I like to be able to switch between analogue and digital as I also have my Xbox 360 connected to it. I don't use the headphone as it is so inaccessible and you really have to bend the lead to connect it! Why?

To summarise this is an excellent monitor with dependable performance. It is cheap and prices are falling. Expect to get a 22" now for the original cost of this model.

I should also point out to hi-def afficianados that this monitor is not HDCP compliant. This means if you have a decent graphics card and install a blu-ray drive into your PC you won't be able to play hi-def discs. Note also that XP and Vista don't natively support blu-ray. Aha! Get PowerDVD Ultra, the latest edition and also AnyDvdHD which rather nicely circumvents the HDCP non-compliance. As far as I know this is a technical issue resolved which doesn't infringe on any copyright, such as when you flash the firmware on a DVD.

Summary: Good performance for low cost.

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