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Hardware

19" CML190B

31 Mar, 2003 By: Ron LaFon Cadalyst

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Hitachi

4 stars out of 5

Hitachi’s CML190B delivers a smooth image.

Superb gradations from white to black seem to be the hallmark of Hitachi displays, whether analog or flat-panel digital, and the Hitachi CML190B was no exception. This characteristic produces smooth-looking, nongranular images that are attractive and easy on the eye.

The CML190B is a well-designed lightweight 14.3lb display, with five responsive front display control buttons. The base and stand for the CML190B are very stable. Nothing in the monitor design or the display controls distracts from what’s on the screen, which is as it should be.

My only reservation is that attaching the monitor to your system requires a side-mount cable that fits behind the close-fitting cable housing at the back of the monitor. These are not the easiest cables to find should you need to replace one. If you’re forced to use a conventional cable, the protective housing won’t fit over it.

The screen of the Hitachi CML190B had no apparent bad pixels, nor was there evidence of LCD display streaking. In rare instances at lower display resolutions, some interface flicker was noticeable. Benchmark tests for brightness, contrast, focus, geometric distortion, and raster rotation all produced excellent results, but the colors on the display tested were sufficiently off to deduct half a point. Reds were somewhat orange, yellows (a difficult color to produce on flat-panel displays) were dull, and magenta was overbright.

In general, the Hitachi CML190B is a very good display with a couple of minor problems that I hope will be resolved in the next iteration.