Product Reviews

Media centres and high-definition (HD) displays are bringing computers and television closer together than ever, but they are still expensive. If you need a computer monitor but also want to watch TV on it, a simple multifunction display such as this one from LG may be what you are looking for.

Extra inputs differentiate LG's L173ST from a standard LCD monitor. It has the usual D-sub and DVI inputs for your PC, although no DVI cable is provided. It also has composite, S-video and scart for video devices. The Scart input is particularly useful for connecting Freeview set-top boxes and DVD players. Finally, there's an RF input for the analogue TV signal.

Setting up the TV channels was easy. We activated the auto search function in the menu and found all

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the analogue channels. We had to delete a few duplicate channels and reorder the rest to our liking, but this was easy. Picture quality was acceptable, and although there is persistent noise, you soon stop noticing it.

Watching DVDs through the scart socket revealed more serious issues, however. The picture quality is certainly not appalling, but noise is still present and we noticed jagged edges on moving objects. Also, watching widescreen movies on a 17" monitor gives the minimum of viewing space, so this screen is not recommended for movie fans.

The speakers are loud, clear and easily powerful enough for the size of the screen. The viewing angles are acceptable, but beyond 45- the colours begin to change hue. The remote is well laid out, but the buttons are spongy and unresponsive. The menus make up for this by being clear and concise.

Performance as a computer monitor was decent, passing all our normal tests with aplomb. Whites were bright and clean, and text was crisp and legible. Its appearance has split opinion here, but it is satisfyingly solid.

This monitor offers a lot of extra features compared with our Hotlist 17" Relisys monitor on the opposite page. If you want a monitor for watching analogue TV, this is a decent example, but anyone who can receive digital broadcasts should consider buying a TV card instead.