Eizo Shows Off Sizable Displays

LAS VEGAS -- Eizo Nanao is taking the wraps off three new displays here at Comdex, offering a range of screen sizes and formats for business users.

The most stunning of the new devices, the FlexScan P5072 plasma display, is already shipping. A 50-inch monster with a wide-screen 16:9 native aspect ratio, the P5072's picture quality is mesmerizing, due in part to its bright, lifelike images and in part to it sheer size. It's hard to pull your eyes away from it. But it doesn't come cheap: The P5072 retails for $15,599.

The P5072 includes a host of high-end features, including support for HDTV, picture-in-picture, a five-port USB hub, and multiple video inputs. For specialized applications, Eizo has added the ability to daisy-chain the video cable from one P5072 to another so users can make huge displays out of several panels. And in a departure from the usual limit of a 4- to 6-foot video cable, you can place the display up to 393 feet from the PC.

Smaller Scale

For everyday business settings, Eizo will release a new 21-inch CRT in the near future. The $1189 FlexScan T966 may be the first monitor to support Epson's Print Image Matching II, a new upgrade to Epson's digital image color management standard.

Its most interesting feature, however, is Fine Contrast, which lets you tie a specific application such as Word or Photoshop to one of five brightness and contrast settings. As you switch from application to application, the screen automatically changes its brightness, color temperature, and contrast.

Coming in the first quarter of 2003 for corporate buyers is Eizo's new flat-screen 21-inch FlexScan L985EX. This $2899 monitor extends its screen controls, including shut down, out over the network to an IS manager's desktop.

It also has an antitheft feature that disables the display if it is disconnected from the network and connected to the thief's PC. For color control over digital images, both the T966 and the L985EX support RGB, a color standard that is slowly gaining acceptance.