• PC World
• » Monitors

NEW YORK -- LCD monitors are making a big showing at CeBIT here this week--that is, the entries are large, measuring 21 inches and up, and sporting new levels of color accuracy to better serve discerning users.

Well-respected monitor vendors Eizo Nanao and LG Electronics both showed off jumbo LCDs. Both monitors are priced around $3000 and are expected to appear in mid-July, but each is targeted at very different users.

Eizo Nanao's 21-inch ColorEdge CG21 and its 18-inch sibling, the CG18, are the first LCD monitors the company recommends for graphics professionals, who need the precise color quality historically offered only by CRT displays. LG's 23-inch wide-aspect Flatron L2320A, which includes tower speakers, is more likely destined for the living rooms of well-healed audio-visual enthusiasts.

Eizo's CRT Killer

Japan-based Eizo Nanao is continuing its role as a supplier of high-end monitors for professionals with the ColorEdge series.

The 21-inch CG21 will carry an estimated retail price of $2899, and the 18-inch CG18 is expected to go for $1859, according to company representatives. Those prices are above the average for LCDs of the same sizes, but Eizo says its ColorEdge panels offer additional features that will, for the first time, enable LCDs to rival the color accuracy of CRTs. (Eizo is also a maker of high-end CRT monitors.)

While LCDs are beloved for their sexy appearance and high brightness, graphics professionals often skip them because of their color limitations.

"I think they want to have LCDs, but the quality of LCDs so far is not as good as [that of] a CRT," says Kazuyuki Kajikawa, an Eizo spokesperson. Historically, LCDs have not been able to produce a range of colors, known as the color gamut or color space, equal to that of CRTs. Also, the brightness and colors on an LCD shift if viewed from an angle. Finally, LCDs have not supported hardware calibration, in which a sensor measures brightness and colors and adjusts them to match those specified in the original video signal from the computer's graphics card.

Eizo claims to address all three shortcomings with the ColorEdge monitors. Their key element is an Eizo-designed chip containing a 10-bit lookup table that communicates via a USB cable with Eizo's ColorNavigator calibration software running on a PC or Macintosh. The 10-bit table can produce up to one billion different color values, allowing it to provide "almost the same" color gamut as a CRT, says Eizo's Kajikawa.

The chip and software also allow hardware color calibration, a first for LCDs, Kajikawa says. Eizo's use of Super-IPS LCD technology, which results in a reported 170-degree viewing angle, leads to only "a very minor color shift" when the panel is viewed from the side, Kajikaw adds.

Sleeping Giant

Meanwhile, LG Electronics is showing off its new Flatron L2320A, a 23-inch monitor expected to sell for $3099. The L2320A tops off the company's new line of LCDs that will eventually include 19-, 17-, and 15-inch models all dressed in the same slim silver frame design. But the L2320A is the only model in the line built for entertainment.

In contrast to the typical 3:4 aspect ratio of traditional monitors, the L2320A, with its 1920-by-1200 resolution, is cut in the 16:9 wide-aspect dimensions that are gaining popularity on notebook PCs and are beginning to appear in desktop LCDs. These dimensions are useful to multitasking business workers, who can see more of a spreadsheet or view more program windows. But they are also ideal for watching DVD movies in wide cinematic format, as LG is demonstrating.

The L2320A has other features suiting it to a living room. In contrast to most LCDs that house their electronics and inputs behind the screen, the L2320A slims down by relegating this hardware to a separate Media Station. That unit sends a signal to the ultra-thin panel via a single umbilical cord-style connection that eliminates cable clutter on the back of the panel. This also means it's easier to mount this monitor on a wall in a living room or a boardroom, according to LG.

The Media Station provides numerous options for attaching video signals, including via S-Video, analog VGA, and DVI digital ports. It also has inputs to power the slender twin speaker towers that come with the monitor.

Missing, however, is a coaxial connection for a television signal. LG had intended to include a TV tuner in the Media Station, but pulled the feature when it didn't meet Federal Communications Commission requirements to provide closed-captioning and the V-chip (which lets users block programs based on their content ratings).

The company plans to add these features and issue a TV-tuner equipped version of the L2320A by September, says Bennett Norell, an LG spokesperson. The launch of the new monitor line corresponds with Korea-based LG's plan to beef up its name recognition in the U.S. market.

"Around the world, LG is a very well-known brand," Norell says. "In the United States, there hasn't been the investment to develop the brand, but that's going to change."

LG also hopes to generate buzz with a 30-inch LCD, also expected to ship in July and with 40-inch and 50-inch models expected in September. The company did not provide price estimates for these later models.

• See more like this:
• lcd,
• flat-panel,
• flat-screen,
• monitor,
• display,
• eizo nanao,
• lg electronics,
• coloredge,
• color edge cg21,
• flatiron l2320a,
• cebit