theuerkorn's Full Review: Planar PX171M 17 inch LCD Monitor
The world of computer screens got more exciting and confusing with the broad introduction of Flat Panel Monitors. Essential for Laptops from the beginning, affordability and improved technology make Flat Panels a great alternative to CRT screens.
So I thought and since I am limited on space, it seemed logical to pursue a LCD. Choices are plentiful and 15 inch screens are quite affordable now. Increasingly popular a bigger screens like 17 and 19 inches. Not having the money for a good one from the latter category, I settled for 17 inches, not knowing how much research was needed to make a good choice. The Planar PX171M won, and here is why ...
In the Box
- Monitor w/ Quad Stand
- External Power Adapter
- Power Cord
- VGA Cable (Analog)
- DVI-D Cable (Digital)
- Audio Cable (Stereo)
- Manual on CD (incl. Acrobat Reader etc.)
- Warranty card
(Note: The picture on Epinions.com shows a different model. Please refer to the end of this review for a manufacturer's link.)
Update (21-Aug-2004): Planar does not offer an ICC profile for color management and additional hardware is necessary for serious applications. Check out ColorVision's SpyderPRO for more detail.
Key Advantages
Planar kind of surprised me with the introduction of their 'super fast' Flat Panel Monitor PX171M. It's one of the first of its kind to support pixel refresh rates better than 20 ms. (Toshiba just released an 12ms model.) The specified 16ms are combined from 12ms (Rise) and 4ms (Fall), which just means a pixel requires 12ms to be fully illuminated and only 4ms to get fully dark again.
Sounds extremely small? Well, it is essential to allow 60 of those changes per second. (1/60 second = 16 ms) Which explains why slower LCD monitors show so-called ghost images of the pre-ceeding scene when high performance graphics boards feed 60 fps to the monitor. (In comparison a 25ms refresh rate of today's monitors is only good for up to 40 Hz, and low budget monitors with 40ms refresh even oh-so-slow 25Hz.) As a reminder, modern CRTs usually do not have these issues.
For office applications this is relatively unimportant, but essential for high end gaming and watching TV. However, this looses relevance the less dramatic the brightness change is.
The PX171M sports a so-called quad-stand which -- in addition to the swivel (+/-45 left/right), tilt (+20up / -5down) and height adjustment -- also offers a 90 degree pivot. Frankly, this is the second main reason for me to choose it over other screens. Each adjustment is designed for easy (one-hand) actuation, which is useful if one does frequent adjustments. The pivot feature however requires more force since it snaps into each end position. A note to pet owners: Cats love to rub on stuff and with that also push this monitor out of its position.
Why 17 inches? Well, it allows to display a Letter sized document (A) at 100% (in portrait mode) and still has some room for window controls etc.. (Plug'n'Play recognizes the 96 dpi and adjusts accordingly. The result: 100% is very close to reality.)
Other Hardware Notes
The 17 inches sport a resolution of 1280x1024 pixels, which translates into a dot pitch of 0.264mm. While these are rather abstract numbers, it also translates into roughly 96 dpi, which is respectable for a desktop monitor, given that each pixel is very sharp. (No match though for today's PDAs like the Sony Clie (hires) with 150 dpi, but that's a totally different ball game.) The PX171M produces very detailed pictures. A very good CRT can rival the sharpness of it, but LCDs simply have superior geometry.
The rated brightness of the backlight (260cd/m2) is impressive and coupled with an somewhat above average contrast ratio of 400:1 (difference between darkest and brightest pixel) make for impressive pictures. However, the full brightness appears little useful since the Black is almost a Grey at that exposure. Then again, as the screen ages the brightness goes down and the maximum exposure may be less dramatic. Raising contrast on the OSD to maximum however results in significant limitations of the reproducable color spectrum.
The viewing angle of 140 degree (+/- 70 degree) horizontally and vertically is one of the drawbacks of the monitor. It seems design inherent for most Planar monitors and not just the PX171M. Important? Well, not really for office applications, but if color needs to be true it means that variability with angle is greater than say today's top monitors with 170 degrees (i.e. Samsung 171P). Also, it is important to mention that the bigger the screen, the greater the viewing angle to the corners even if sitting still in the center.
Then again, for professional publishing applications, no current LCD is a match to conventional (modern) CRTs. The reproduceable color spectrum is smaller and mentioned angle dependency are drawbacks for current LCDs.
The integrated speakers are nothing audiophile users will even remotely consider, but for me it's great since it saves the clutter of additional speakers (and wires) as well as the cost for a speaker set. Sound quality is okay, but a little weak and flat. The speakers can be muted right at the monitor but volume relies completely on the Windows settings. There is actually a volume control in the OSD, but it's impractical for frequent adjustments. I found a solution in my keyboard (http://www.epinions.com/content_92044168836) which sports volume dial for convenient access.
This monitor supports power-saving VESA modes and reduces its consumption from about 40W to 5W in sleep mode. This is when the backlight is turned off (sleep). 'Screensavers' that just paint a 'black' screen do not apply. In fact, for LCDs it's the backlight that is most important for the longevity of the screen and so-called 'screensavers' may have an adverse effect.
Drivers & Software
Here is the big surprise that hit me when I was trying to make use of my fancy new pivot feature. Well, one would think there would be at least a basic driver included to adjust the screen accordingly. One will understand my surprise that it's not, I mean NOTHING. (Not counting the included manual on CD with necessary reader software like Adobe Acrobat.)
In fact, Planar points to www.portrait.com for a driver called PivotPro since they do "not package the portrait mode driver with the PX171M at this time". However, the "free downloadable driver", the FAQ refers to, turns out to be a 30-day trial. After that it will cost $50 to keep it enabled. ($60 shipping for the CD version) Manufacturers like NEC or Samsung include a license with their hardware. (It's kind of odd that Planar's own PV174 does include a license!)
In general, the manufacturer's website www.planar.com does not contain very much information and is very limited on the support software, which is non-existent since Planar relies on the standard monitor driver and special features like the pivot are addressed by standalone software PivotPro 7.0.
As far as PivotPro software goes, it is a little tool that does great things and is practically essential if one ever wants to make use of the pivot feature. Switching between 0, 90, 180 and 270 degree is a snap, though depending on your Graphics boards it may not be instant (Strangely enough, it takes about the same time on a Radeon 9700 Pro as it does on the 8MB Rage 128 Mobilty3 ... roughly 1 - 2 seconds). A great feature is the automatic window scaling.
However, display quality seems to degrade when rotating the picture. (Moire patterns become visible and text is somewhat fuzzy.) This issue has been taken care of when using the DVI-D input. One reason for the bad quality of font display turned out to be the font smoothing (Clear Type) under Windows XP, which works well in normal orientation but gets confused when turning it 90 degrees.
With or without PivotPro, the screen pivot feature is pure mechanical and does not given any feedback to the computer in order to adjust picture automatically as the screen changes orientation. (Another reference seems suitable, whereas the Sony NR/NX PDA does such trick when flipping the screen over.)
With the introduction of 'super-fast' LCD, one previous limitation of PivotPro (6.0 or lower) becomes significant. Screen refresh rate is set to 60 Hz. Unacceptable for CRTs and not not very pleasing for 16ms LCDs either. Flicker causes significant eye strain. Otherwise, the screen supports up to 77Hz, which is good regarding eliminating flicker on LCDs. (On CRTs I prefer 85Hz.) This issue has been resolved with the most recent update to PivotPro7.0! However, this holds true for the analog cable but the DVI-D connection is fixed at 60Hz.
As far as the OSD (on-screen-display) goes, it's easy to navigate and follows the industry average. Hence, it should not pose a problem to navigate thru it. However, it is not the easiest to navigate either. Further, there is no option to prevent the monitor from fitting lower resolution to full size. (Rarely needed.)
Installation has been simple with Plug'n'Play recognizing the monitor (by name) without problem under WindowsXP. Having said that, I realized that with an analog cable it recognized the monitor by name, while the digital connection insists on the generic plug'n'play driver.
Summary
Overall, I do like this monitor due to 2 facts that make it stand out from others in the market. (1) The absence of ghost images at good brightness and contrast. (2) The included pivot stand as well as speakers.
Design is subjective and even though the PX171M can hold its own, in my eyes it's no match for the Porsche design of the Samsung 171P (which right now sells for more than $150 more, but also is superior in almost every aspect, except refresh rate and speakers)
The price is good, or at least reasonable when considering the 15% off at Dell.com (offer expired). Since only a limited number of internet retailers carry this item, it's kind of hard to find real bargains right now.
Anyway, this is a great monitor for gaming and watching videos, with shortcomings like viewing angle. It also stands up well in office applications. Demanding graphics designers still may need CRTs to see colors the way they are meant to be, since the PX171M is no exception from the standard LCD handicap either.
Pro:
- Fast response time (16ms)
- Easy height adjustment
- Pivot Feature (90 degree CW)
- Good Contrast ratio (400:1)
- Integrated Speakers (stereo, 2x 1W)
- 17 inch viewable screen
- High resolution (1280x1024)
- Pleasing looks / Thin Bezel
- DVI-D (digital) and VGA (analog) input
- Kensington lock attachment
- Exceptional geometry (as most LCDs)
- Bright saturated colors
- Very effective anti-glare coating
- VESA 100mm standard compatible mounting
Con:
- Expensive (especially compared to CRT)
- PivotPro software not included
- Average viewing angle (140 deg)
- Unsuitable for professional DTP (color)
- Somewhat limited tilt range (up / down)
- Medium color fidelity (LCD inherent)
- Speakers are somewhat weak
Test Pattern Generator:
http://freepctech.com/rode/004.shtml (Nokia)
Update (04-March-2003):
Planar is apparently looking into bundling pivot software with the PX171M. No word so far on when and what software that would be. (I am waiting for an answer from Planar on that topic and will update once I know more.)
Update (10-March-2003):
Just received a copy of PivotPro from Planar in the mail (actually UPS). That takes care of the major complaint I had until now. Thanks.
Update (14-Apr-2003):
Reviewing Dell's article on DVI specs (Digital Visual Interface) http://www.dell.com/us/en/arm/topics/vectors_2000-dvi.htm it still unclear why the PX171M does not support more than 60Hz when using the digital link. (According to the interface specs it should go to the 75Hz, the monitor supports in analog.) Still puzzled, the article, however, does give a nice overview to DVI-D.
Update (18-Apr-2003):
Planar's answer has been short but seems to indicate that the digital interface of the PX171M is limited to 60Hz, despite the overall claim of up to 77Hz of the monitor. Hence, it needs to be stated that the maximum refresh rate for analog is 75Hz and digital is set to 60Hz. Interesting to know.
Update (6-May-2003):
I identified PivotPro7.0 as the root cause for instabilities in my system. (Motherboard: Gigabyte SINXP1394, Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro) So it happens that it reboots right before entering the log-on screen. (WindowsXP) However, it's hard to pin-point since it seems to be triggered by some other changes in the configuration. However, removing PivotPro certainly fixed the problem.
Update (9-June-2003):
Good news! It seems that the latest update of PivotPro7.1 is more stable in conjunction with ATI's update to Catalyst 3.4, and so far I have no problem with the otherwise same hardware.
Update (25-July-2003):
The problem with PivotPro seemed to have returned about 2 weeks ago. Have no good way to reproduce what's causing it. ATI recently updated drivers to Catalyst 3.5. Giving it another shot. So far (2 days later) it seems still fine, but last time it took 2 weeks to surface. So I am staying alert ...
Final Update (20-Aug-2003):
After 4 weeks I think it's safe to claim that Catalyst 3.6 and PivotPro 7.1 seem to get along very well. The described issue seems to be resolved.
'Last' Final Update (10-Mar-2004):
ATI just released Catalyst 4.3 which now has rotation capability included (in its infancy but still). I understand that NVidia already had this, but now it's official: Both leading hardware manufacturers don't need PivotPro anymore. I guess that's good news for everybody since compatibility is now built in and no extra expense necessary.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 517 Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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