Product Reviews

Iiyama is well known for providing simple but professional-looking monitors into the high-end range, usually accompanied by an aperture-grille tube. However, with its new range, Iiyama is deserting the aperture grille in favour of its new Microfilter shadow-mask technology. Iiyama claims its clearer screen glass and colour filters will produce the same light output as an aperture grille without drawbacks such as visible dampening wires.

The light output from the tube was impressive, with a clear and bright display that was a pleasure to look at. Iiyama also claims that the tube reduces reflection, although I found on the dark screen tests that reflections were still noticeable, and the screen wasn't as dark as a Diamondtron tube.

Iiyama has retained its distinguished appearance, with three centre OSD control buttons and the trademark Vision Master in italics on the bezel. However, I feel this is starting to look uninspired and dated, especially in comparison with the flash appearance of the Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 710 (reviewed issue 62, p185).

Iiyama has done little to rectify its fiddly OSD control system either, with a series of four submenus that aren't only difficult to master, but also involve a lot of

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button pressing to get where you want. There were no advanced pincushion controls, although there were both horizontal and vertical moirÚ correction controls, which impressively eliminated all of the interference. Unfortunately, looks aren't the only area where the Mitsubishi has the upper hand either: with a Diamondtron Natural Flat tube, sharper focus, a 16in viewable screen area alongside a current street price of £225 it certainly looks like a better deal. However, the Iiyama boasts a 75Hz maximum refresh rate over the Mitsubishi's 65Hz at 1,600 x 1,200, as well as BNC inputs, which when connected to a direct source can produce better image quality at higher resolutions. What's lacking is a dedicated button for easily switching between two display sources, rather than having to dive into the OSD for this option.

Let down by the monitor's meagre 15.7in viewable area, pushing the screen to its maximum resolution gave an uncomfortable display that wasn't helped by all four corners being slightly out of focus. In fact, focusing was the main downfall of this monitor, and even at 1,024 x 768 the corners were noticeably out of focus compared to the centre of the screen. That said, at 1,024 x 768 at 100Hz the monitor runs optimally with a bright and clear display, and although the focus isn't perfect I've seen far worse.

Overall, this is impressive for a shadow-mask tube. It performed above expectations and the new colour filters certainly show that there's life left in this technology yet. If you're not happy with the visible dampening wires on aperture-grille monitors, this is about as good as it gets. For the money, I'd be tempted to look at the cheaper Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 710 instead. It may not offer BNC inputs, but that's easily forgivable when the rest of the features are taken into account.