CTX PR711F review

The predecessor to this monitor, the 1795UA or PR711T, (see issue 42, p127) was only knocked off the A List by Mitsubishi three months ago. Wasting no time, the company adopted the FD Trinitron tube and added USB to further enhance its performance range, with good results.

While the desktop footprint is large at 441mm, the front bezel is as flat as the tube, slightly raised outwards at the bottom for the OSD. The tube exhibits the same excellent anti-glare treatment as the Sony, resulting in very solid black. Like the Sony CPD-G200, all three types of moirÚ thrown at the CTX by DisplayMate could be adjusted by the simple, intuitive OSD controls. Text was in focus even at the extreme edges of the screen, and the graphical version of the same test was also a major highlight. No adjustment was necessary in the horizontal and vertical curvature tests as the PR711F could display horizontal and vertical lines to the extremes of the tube with ease.

There had to be something to differentiate the CTX from the Sony in quality terms as well as features. Unfortunately, the PR711F was as bad at vertical resolution tests as horizontal, where extremely thin lines at the edge of the screen appeared with a lattice pattern as opposed to having a recognisable pixel-wide gap - a strange fault as the curvature test results were so good.

In the colour resolution tests the horizontal colour registration was poor, although the vertical was passable. Green colour purity was inconsistent across the whole screen, but the most marked fault with the monitor was the mid-range streaking, where the overcompensating grille guns almost generated mirrored ghost images of the corresponding black bars on the left of the screen. This was no problem for the Sony.

Like its predecessor, the PR711F also includes a captive D-SUB cable. The USB ports (four downstream, one upstream) are grouped into the base. Resolutions from the 0.24mm slot pitch tube resemble the Sony and ADI, peaking at 1,600 x 1,200 at 75Hz, and an 88Hz refresh rate at 1,280 x 1,024. At 1,024 x 768 the unit can reach an impressive 117Hz.

This is CTX's best 17in monitor yet. With the three-year, on-site warranty the package is complete. Unfortunately, competition has been cut-throat this month - Iiyama steals the crown for quality, while Mitsubishi's Diamond Pro 710 is better quality at the same price.