Product Reviews

Flat screen shadow-mask technology is now finding a place in an increasing number of CRTs. The most impressive of these is Hansol's 920D (reviewed issue 76, p153), which uses Samsung's DynaFlat tube and produced a sharp, vibrant image that was only tarnished by high levels of moirÚ. The EX710F is CTX's latest CRT in its Executive Flat range, featuring the smaller 17in DynaFlat tube. With the 920D already proving the potential of this technology, the EX710F could present an affordable high-end alternative to aperture-grille CRTs.

Priced aggressively at £169, the EX710F offers a significant cost saving over CRTs using aperture-grille technology, such as Belinea's £213 10 30 80 (reviewed issue 77, p171). However, at this price point, it's reasonable to expect some cost savings to have been made, and the captive D-SUB VGA cable and lack of a USB hub confirm this.

CRTs have never been the fashion models of the PC world, and the EX710F does nothing to change this view. Having said this, the corporate styling will allow it to blend into a typical office environment. The broad exterior bezel has more than just a cosmetic effect though, casting a shadow over the top of the screen. The anti-glare coating was also poor, failing to significantly mask the reflections from the glass.

However, matters improved

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once the EX710F was up and running, and after an initial 30-minute burn-in period performance was impressive. On the whole, geometry was good, although there was some corner distortion and poor corner linearity that was difficult to correct. The OSD only includes a single corner geometry adjustment, which is effective but failed to correct a slight hooking in the top left-hand corner at the test resolution of 1,024 x 768.

The EX710F coped well with the rigorous resolution test in DisplayMate Video Edition, and there was also an impressive lack of high-contrast blooming, which helps to display an even picture. Colour performance was also good, particularly colour registration, which was almost perfect in the horizontal and vertical. Colours were impressively bright and pure too and, although colour fades were slightly truncated at the lower end of the scale, individual colours faded evenly.

We've previously criticised flat screen shadow-mask CRTs, such as the ADI MicroScan G900 (reviewed issue 74, p180), for high levels of moirÚ interference. The EX710F fares much better in this area, although there's still moirÚ evident in the corners, especially if you move to higher resolutions.

Power regulation was disappointing, especially considering the admirable performance elsewhere. The EX710F failed in almost every area, suffering from large amounts of geometric distortion when subjected to the gruelling tests.

At just £169, the CTX EX710F is a tempting prospect. However, despite the generally impressive image quality, there are problems with power regulation and moirÚ is evident at higher resolutions. These flaws are significant when you consider Samsung's SyncMaster 700IFT (see Labs, issue 78, p123) costs only £51 more. However, the EX710F is one of the best flat screen shadow-mask CRTs I've seen and, with a likely price drop on the high street, it's certainly worth considering.