CTX S962A review

TFT panels larger than 17in used to be the preserve of high-end users and came with all sorts of bells and whistles to justify their high cost. CTX has gone against the grain and stripped off features like sophisticated colour calibration and digital inputs to bring us the lowest-priced 19in flat panel we've yet seen.

It's a shame that the D-SUB input is just accessible via the captive cable, but that's only a critical problem in the event of damage. Thankfully, the D-SUB input provides a crisp, defined picture with none of the pixel jitter that used to plague analog connections.

Colour balance appears natural too, with the Desktop looking impressively neutral and detailed; even our tough DisplayMate tests didn't overly stretch it. Separation between colours at the dark end of the spectrum was well handled, although the screen struggled more with the extreme high end. Colour graduations were dealt with admirably, with no visible banding - impressive for a panel of this size. The colour balance proved surprisingly good as well, although there was a slight red bias.

This didn't affect our real-world tests, though, with DVDs showing natural tones. It's just a shame that playback is compromised by visible blocky artefacts and lag, as well as poor viewing angles. Dark scenes tend to disappear into murk too, even at the brightest settings, so it's not an ideal partner for games either.

Other features are in short supply. There's a smooth vertical tilt adjustment, but that's about it. The lack of height adjustment and tinny speakers don't count in its favour, but the sturdy front-panel buttons offer access to brightness and contrast, as well as the slightly eccentric menu system, whose cute pictures confuse the layout unnecessarily.

All this is forgivable given the generally excellent performance and reasonable price, although take a look at Sharp's LL-T19D1B, which offers more for just over £20 extra, including two additional digital inputs and further control over colour.

Author: Ross Burridge