Philips Brilliance 109P20
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| Philips 109P20 |
The Brilliance 109P20 is Philips highest end 19inch monitor. It features Philips own ICE (Image Clear Enhancement) technology which consists of a fixed pitch 0.24mm aperture grille, a special inner tube structure, and high contrast coating all of which Philips claims to deliver better focus accuracy, more accurate white/black coloration, and improved convergence and color purity.
Price wise, the monitor is neck to neck with the Samsung 900NF at around $430 street. Its not hard to see that even at this price, the monitors specs give it a wide performance berth. The monitors maximum resolution of 1920x1440 is mostly for show due to its 60Hz refresh rate (compared to the Viewsonic P95fs 77Hz refresh at the same resolution), but it does have a 85Hz refresh at 1600x1200, which is more than enough for a 19inch monitor, and which puts it on par with the Samsung 900NF.
The controls for the 109P are extensive and navigated easily using its front panel buttons. Every adjustment is accounted for, including convergence, moiré, purity and custom RGB color temperature settings. Even though the menu layout and the usage concept of the controls are similar to Viewsonics defacto standard, I found the Philips controls one of the easiest to use and far more user friendly than Viewsonics controls.
In our aggressive video tests we found the Philips monitor to perform fairly well, usually within the top 2 positions out of a total of seven 19inch monitors (the others are not included in the roundup). Philips ICE technology may have payed off, because we found the white purity to be the best of the bunch, while focus and convergence lagged a little behind due to some fuzziness in the lower quarter and top right corner of our test model. Color quality was top of class in clinical comparisons using test gradients and color bars, but we had trouble trying to correct the geometry at the edges. We couldnt correct pincushion either, and the monitor showed some serious swirl and ripple patterns in linearity and straight-line pattern tests, which may make this monitor a poor choice for CAD and design projects.
In our subjective tests, when geometry problems played little to no role, the Philips performed like a champ. Some of our picture tests involved nature scenery and natural shapes
and in these tests the color and image quality was superb and was often top class. Philips ICE technology may come into play again here, as the colors were characterized by beautifully rich tones and excellent gradients that just barely edged out past the equally impressive Samsung 900NF.
However, when we did our comparisons of still frame captures from games, the Philips fell noticeably behind the Viewsonic, possibly due to color blending and streaking problems we noticed during our clinical tests both of which may play a larger role in detail oriented display requirements of games like Rune and Quake, which depend a lot on depth perception through intricate use of contrasting colors and shadows. In these images, the Philips had a more washed out and plain look that detracted from gaming immersion.
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