Product Reviews

If you're looking to get an HD TV but don't have £500 to buy a large TV set, Mirai's 22in DTL-522P201 will be of interest. At just £278 including VAT it's the cheapest HD TV we've seen.

The DTL-522P201 doesn't look like a budget model, as its neat black and silver design compares favourably with TVs from the big brands. Beneath the surface, however, the price starts making sense. For starters, there's no Freeview tuner. Although the analogue tuner does a decent job of receiving a clear picture, it's not as useful as being able to get digital TV. You'll need to buy a separate set-top box for Freeview.

The DLT-522P201's high native resolution of 1,680x1,050 sounds impressive, but it's actually a bit strange in the way it works. First, Mirai recommends that PCs are set to a maximum resolution of 1,280x720 when connected using DVI through the HDMI port. This means the monitor has to upscale the picture to match the native

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resolution, which results in a loss of image quality. Using the VGA input, the monitor supports a maximum resolution of 1,440x900, so the image still has to be upscaled to fill the screen. We couldn't get a good picture using VGA or HDMI with our PC, and the screen always looked blurry.

Viewing HD movies was a similarly disappointing experience, and the TV does a poor job of scaling 720p and 1,080i videos. HD footage didn't look as sharp or as detailed as it should, while colours lacked vibrancy and weren't natural. Much TV output is in standard definition, so we also tested the display using a DVD movie. No matter how we adjusted the settings, images lacked sharpness, large blocks of colour such as the sky appeared extremely speckled, and aliasing was clearly visible on straight edges. This is not a TV we'd recommend for watching DVDs.

The sound quality is just as bad. The speakers lack bass and are painful on the ears at high volumes. There are also fewer ports on this TV than we're used to seeing. There's no S-video, and component video is available only through the VGA input using an adaptor. This could be irritating if you plan on using a PC and want to connect a DVD player or games console.

The DTL-522P201 is not good value. ViewSonic's 20in N2060w (reviewed in What's New, Shopper April 2007), which costs just £300, is a far better television. If you want a bigger screen, Samsung's LE26R74BD might cost £180 more, but we'd recommend paying that little bit extra rather than buying this TV.