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Philips Brilliance 150B
by 137699
My trusty mitac monitor finally gave up the ghost on me last year, so I decided that this time I'd get an LCD monitor, rather than a conventional one. The reasoning for this was that as a computer worker, I had noticed that the glare and flicker that a conventional monitor give out, were non existant when working on my ... laptop with its TFT LCD screen, leading to fewer headaches and tired eyes after a hard days work!
Also, the LCD screens are much thinner than a conventional monitor, have superior sharp picture, and take up less space on your desk!
So, I trawled through ebay (I don't buy from shops unless I have to!) and got this Philips 150B screen for a paltry £150, and I have to say it is money very well spent.
It has the usual array of picture control settings, and can accept resolutions up to 1024x768 pixels. It needs no special hardware, it simply plugs into your standard VGA port, and has a transformer which takes standard kettle-plug type leads for power.
The picture is pin sharp, and should never blur like a conventional screen, and there is no flicker, which was a joy to my girlfriend as she spend many hours on the PC working through her university dissertation, during which time she did not suffer from any eye fatigue.
The other great thing about this (and other) LCD screens, is that when you buy a 15" screen, you actually get 15" of picture! A standard 15" monitor only usually gives 13" of picture, as you lose some of the tube behind the plastic framework, and then, you probably won't display the image right to the edge of the screen, as this is typically where you lose a little focus, and get a slightly blurred image. As the LCD screen of the philips does not suffer from any of these problems, you can get a picture off the 15" screen which is the same size as what you'd get from a 17" standard monitor. Suddenly the price premium for LCD screens isn't so
much after all....
All in all, the LCD screens are a far better buy than the conventional monitors. The Phillips is no better, or no worse than the competition. I bought this one as it was cheap, and it certainly does the job. It lacks the multi-media built-in speakers of the more expensive models, and perhaps the cream plastic case isn't as high-tech looking as the black/metallic blue designs available in other models, but for me this screen does exactly what I want it to do, and for the price I paid, I cannot be happier!
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Philips Brilliance 150P
by huddro
Picture the scene, you have all watched Wall Street or Capital City or some such other film glamorising the dealing floor of yet another fictitious Bank or Broker well alas the harsh reality is….. I work in a space of about 6 square inches with the back of my desk piled with 5 computer screens displaying the latest market ... prices, news, charts and all the other information I need for my clients. The screens themselves are ancient, Noah had similar on his ark!!
But no longer thanks to my wonderful IT department luv em!! For they have installed 5 Phillips brilliance 150P screens and I now have a desk again. Allow me to explain why I am so happy about this
SPACE
These screens are amazing they are 15” monitors but with a display comparable to that of a 17” monitor but the actual space taken up is 60% less than a standard monitor.
The dimensions to this screen are 402 x 418 x 176mm (including the pedestal) for those like me who prefer inches 1.6 x 1.7 x ¾.
STYLE
The monitor is the usual creamy tan pc type colour, any confirmation of the exact colour definition gratefully received. The screen stands on a tiny foot. Above this and below the display area are two speakers located at the very bottom right and left corner of the screen.
The on off switch and the adjustment buttons are polished metal and do look very cool.
I have to say though the desk looks so cool and hi tech with these screens
DISPLAY
As I mentioned previously the actual display is comparable to that on a standard 17” monitor giving a really nice sized screen view. For those techies amongst you the actual display size is 15” (304 by 228mm)
Now for some serious technical specification courtesy of http://interspeed.co.nz/~pccentra/general/generalmonLCD150b.htm
Resolution and preset modes
Maximum resolution 1024 x 768
14 user definable modes
14
factory preset modes: H.freq.(KHz) V.freq.(Hz) Standard
640 x 350 31.5 70 IBM VGA
720 x 400 31.5 70 IBM VGA
640 x 480 31.5 60 IBM VGA
640 x 480 35.0 67 MAC
640 x 480 37.9 73 VGA
640 x 480 37.5 75 VGA
800 x 600 35.2 56 VGA
800 x 600 37.9 60 VGA
800 x 600 48.1 72 VESA
800 x 600 46.9 75 VESA
832 x 624 49.7 75 MAC
1024 x 768 48.4 60 VESA
1024 x 768 56.5 70 VESA
1024 x 768 60.0 75 VESA
Now I am not a major technical person here but this does seem to me to be a really good range of customisable settings to suit any requirement.
This screen will also accept analogue and digital inputs giving a wider range of connectivity either through standard video or utilising digital transfer at up to 12 mbs.
For me the important thing is that the colour and contrast are razor sharp, and when viewing three or four real time updating graphs this is a serious consideration if you do not want to go blind after an hour watching the screen.
Usability
Phillips recommend that the best display setting is 1024 x 768 at a refresh rate of 60Hz this was no problem to set up through my control panel but I like to play so to take you through the shiny silver buttons
The on off switch is the biggest and the boldest with a little green light to indicate that power is available. (In case you hadn’t noticed the stuff displayed on the screen!)
To the left of this is the menu button that brings up the main on screen menu:
Volume
The first option is volume to adjust the built in speakers. This is just a simple slide to select set up
· Languages
There are English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Japanese language settings available
· Adjust Position
Both horizontal and vertical adjustment
· Brightness and Contrast
Allows general settings and specific colour enhancements
· Video Noise
To be honest I have no idea
· Adjust Colour <
br>Sets the colour definitions
· OSD Settings
Again too technical
· Product Information
Gives the serial number of the screen
· Reset to Factory Settings
Does exactly what it says on the screen
· Input Selection
Gives you the choice of analogue or digital input
The navigation using the arrow keys is simple and each selection is confirmed by pressing the main menu button
The next keys allow navigation through the menus and if in standard display allow the brightness to be adjusted
Next are the volume adjustment keys for the speakers
And finally the auto button that is a short cut to restore factory settings
Speakers
The speakers are only 1 watt each but the location at opposite sides of the screen does give a fairly good sound. Lets face it though you do not but a screen for the sound quality and I would recommend external speakers every time.
Conclusion
I would probably not buy this model but would plump for the Brilliance 150b the difference being the speakers. I do not see a need for speakers to be built into the screen but for work purposes they are great, sky news and Reuters TV are perfectly clear.
These screens are expensive at nearly a £1000 each but in the scheme of things the resolution and the saving in space more than makes up for the cost. I would love one of these at home I wonder if work will notice???
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Philips Brilliance 150P
by
Are multimedia capabilities really important in an LCD monitor? When you see that the Philips 150P uses two speakers rated at a tiny 1W, you know the results aren't going to be too impressive. I was quite surprised by the volume they're capable of, though, and being placed far apart means that the stereo effect is very ... good.
The lack of bass response means you wouldn't want to listen to music via these speakers, but for general PC purposes they're not bad at all. And the microphone socket may be handy if your PC lives under the desk.
Image quality is really what matters, of course, and there are no disappointments with the 150P - contrast is good, colours are bright, and image distortion is noticeable only by its abscence. Viewing angles are excellent, too, with a span of 150 degrees horizontally and 110 degrees vertically.
Other good features include a neat and easy-to-use on-screen display, an effective auto-adjust button, a DVI connection and a USB hub option. The only aspect of the 150P I really didn't like is the design of the OSD buttons, which are ugly, randomly-positioned metallic things. That's a small complaint compared to everything this display gest right, though, and in the LCD world it's an absolute bargain.
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