http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/Viewsonic+VX2035WM used for category lists, takes arguments en http://www.maximumpc.com/article/viewsonic_vx2035wm <!--paging_filter--><p>The VX2035wm is handsome enough, with a shiny, black plastic and brushed-aluminum cabinet surrounding its 20.1-inch screen. Someone with severe space limitations might see the integrated speaker that spans the bottom edge of the screen as a boon, but we’re not impressed. There’s simply no way we would choose built-in audio over a stand-alone set of speakers. Indeed, a pair of cheap Labtec speakers we have in our Lab far surpasses the VX2035wm’s sound in terms of volume and quality.</p> <p>A row of buttons above the speaker lets you change the screen’s brightness, contrast, and individual color channels. Adjustments to the screen’s physical orientation are limited to forward and backward tilt.</p> <p>In DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com), the VX2035wm immediately stumbled in the Dark Screen segment of the evaluation script. Large splotches of backlight marred what should have been a uniform expanse of black. This unevenness was also manifest in the DM screens that display blocks of gray against a black background—the distinction was muddied in parts. In the utility’s grayscale ramps, the VX2035wm recovered, producing smooth, even gradations of up to 256 steps. In real-world terms, the screen displayed high-res still images, movies, and games without any noticeable flaws, and both regular and reversed text were readable at reasonable sizes.</p> <p>If you’re planning to upgrade to an HD DVD or Blu-ray drive in the near future, the VX2035wm might not be the best choice of monitor, as it lacks support for HDCP (high-definition copy protection). This means your efforts to play commercial HD discs will be thwarted, a lesson learned when we tried to play an HD release of Terminator 2 using Plextor’s PX-B900A Blu-ray drive and the bundled InterVideo WinDVD BD software. Using the DVI interface, the content was completely off limits to us. Using the analog interface, the movie played, but in a minimized screen and at a downsampled resolution. Say hello to the future of copy-protected content, folks. This isn’t a serious shortcoming in a panel of this size since we’re not likely to use it for movie viewing. But rest assured, we’ll be taking a harsher view of larger screens that lack HDCP going forward.</p> http://www.maximumpc.com/article/viewsonic_vx2035wm#comments Hardware March 2007 Reviews Monitors From the Magazine build a pc lcd monitor monitors Viewsonic VX2035WM 2007 Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:40:04 -0500 Katherine Stevenson 867 at http://www.maximumpc.com