We have a special treat today: an LCD that is not quite a monitor, yet not quite a TV either. As you may recall, Albatron only recently became Albatron as we know it in 2002. The company originally came to be in 1984 as Chun Yun Electronics, primarily a display company. As displays evolved to include LCDs, Plasma and other technologies, CYE evolved as well.

This is not our first Albatron LCD review. Several months ago, we analyzed a very different 17" LCD review for its time, the L17AT. Our friends at Albatron/Monivision provided us with a sample of what looks to be an extremely attractive convergence LCD TV.

As is, the 30" LCD market is exploding. Gateway, NEC/Mitsubishi, Sharp and about half a dozen smaller display vendors are capitalizing on the 16:9 30" panels that are all over the market. We have also seen prices plummet for the desireable 30" range; last year, the same 30" LCDs that we look at today had retailed for double what they do now. With good deals and rebates, your basic 30" LCD with no options runs around $2000. LCD technology isn't dirt cheap yet, but it is quickly gaining some ground on the ill-fated plasma display (PDP).

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Construction

The LWX-30-AMS does not come with any particularly fancy construction options. In essence, it is just a very large LCD panel with speakers attached to each side.

Albatron's IA division (Monivision) appears on the front of this LCD, but to not confuse anyone, it should be noted that Albatron and Monivision are one and the same. The housing of the display is a mixture of plastic and brushed aluminum and radiates a slight aura of simplistic elegance.

Unfortunately, there is not much in terms of cable management. Much like any other TV, do not expect to move the LWX-30-AMS much once you set it up - there simply are not many options to do so. All of the signal and AC inputs are recessed within the unit, so that you can easily push it up against a wall (or even hang it on a wall). There are no options for tilt, pivot or swivel.

Inputs are what make a display full of features, and there is no doubt that this monitor is feature-filled. Our LWX-30-AMS is one of the more capable monitors that we have seen for inputs, which makes it an excellent conversion appliance; there is no need for additional adaptors or unusual signal decoders.

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Construction (continued)

Albatron LWX-30AMS
LCD	30" UXGA LCD (Active Matrix) pixel pitch: 0.71mm Anti-glare coating Super MVA
Response Time	25ms (TrTf) 16.6ms (Gray-to-Gray)
Contrast Ratio	500:1 (Typical)
Compatibility	1280x768 (Native) 1024x768 Supported**
Brightness	500 cd/m2
Dimensions (WxHxD)	32" x 20.5" x 7"
Power	Working: 110W Standby/Off: 10W
Weight	36lbs
Warranty	1 year panel, parts and labor

For a screen this size, the resolution and contrast are superb. However, there is one lingering detail that bothers us. Even though the panel itself runs natively at 1280x768, the Ayuttha signal processor on the LCD does not achieve a resolution better than 1024x768. This is a huge problem for anyone anticipating using this massive LCD as an exclusive monitor. The negative aspects are really two-fold. First, since the monitor does not properly reproduce a WXGA signal, anything displayed at 1024x768 on the LCD is stretched out horizontally. Secondly, since the image is distorted horizontally, pixilation occurs along the x-axis. For all the advantages of the LWX-30AMS, we will see this single problem continually haunt the LCD.

As you can clearly see below, objects that should appear round instead appear elongated. Even closer inspection of the pixels reveals that the LCD is producing an image that distorts almost every other pixel.

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You can see in the above picture that there are severe pixilated edges as the 1024x768 signal fills a 1280x768 panel.

Close inspection revealed zero dead pixels and a sole dead subpixel. The blue subpixel stuck off was located near the upper left corner of the screen. Since the pixel pitch is considerably larger than monitors we have looked at in the past, broken and dead pixels become significant eye sores.

CMO V296W1-L01 LCD Panel

30" LCD panels were the talk of the town during Computex 2003 Taipei. Several manufacturers market very aggressive 30" LCD panels, but CMO has typically been one of the primary suppliers for the international (as in outside Taiwan) marketplace. In our opinion, the 30" CMO panel selected by Albatron for the LWX-30-AMS is possibly one of the most exceptional third party panels available.

The V296W1-L01 uses an MVA derivative display mode. As you may or may not know, Fujitsu holds the patent on the original MVA technology, so manufacturers like CMO tweak the technology slightly in order to avoid paying royalties; hence the "Super" in Super MVA. Feel free to view its specifications. For some information about TN, VA and IPS display modes, turn to our previous Dell 2001FP LCD review.

The panel also uses an 8-bit driver, typical of VA based LCDs. This allows for a full 24-bit color replication (16.7M colors) without dithering. Remember, some of the panels we looked at in the past suggested "24-bit" emulation, but in actuality, they were 6-bit drivers with dithering.

The backlight of our CMO panel is provided by 16 CCFLs. To put that into perspective, our Dell 2001FP and Samsung 213T LCDs are both backlit by 6 CCFLs. It is no surprise that even with three times the screen size the V296W1-L01 is easily twice as bright as either of our high end 1600x1200 LCD displays.

You may check out the CMO V296W1-L01 LCD data sheet here.

On Screen Display

The OSD was not something on the monitor that was a disappointment. Obviously, having a remote control gave us a level of freedom that we do not typically get from a monitor. Our Albatron L17AT LCD from last year also provided a remote control. Whether for volume control, input selection or screen adjustments, a remote control provides more freedom and interaction than a simple 4-button control. It is no surprise that every car stereo comes with a remote control, even though the interface may be closer than the remote itself! The fact is that a remote control provides a simple and familiar interface that does not require much learning curve.

Unfortunately, there was one major discrepancy with the power button from the remote. When turning off the LCD with the remote, we encountered no problems. When we powered the LCD with the remote, the unit seemed to hang. We could see the backlights power up, and the sound continued to function, but neither the menu nor signal would return to the screen.

The OSD controls on the monitor leave something to be desired.

The menu could be completely controlled via the remote, but there were times when we also attempted to control the unit via the four-utton control located under the right speaker. The right-most button of the controls was the power button, and the left three controlled all OSD functionality. If the OSD was not present on the screen, the two "Adjust" buttons functioned as volume controls.

Poor menu intuition and control dragged the Albatron L17AT down during its review. Alas, the OSD is even less intuitive and easy to use on the LWX-30AMS. Attempting to modify any of the settings without the remote would be almost impossible on this LCD. A further annoyance that we spotted during the review was that hitting the OSD button on the LCD itself after several hours of inactivity would switch inputs. We are not sure if this is a bug or a "feature", but it prompted us to use the remote control exclusively for menu functionality.

Hit the Phase button

Originally, we encountered terrible problems with interference on the LCD. We noticed this early when trying to play Max Payne 2. Unfortunately, whenever Max or Mona would get hit on our screen, our signal fell apart and we would get a burst of static. We originally blamed this on horrible interference over the DVI interface and called Albatron.

Fortunately, problems were not as severe and there was a simpler answer. One of the least documented functions on the On Screen Display is the Phase Adjustment. All this does is adjust the noise level of the signal itself - if you have a signal coming to the monitor that shows signs of interference, the LCD will filter some portion of the noise out depending on how you adjust the phase. However, it is very easy to overcompensate and depending on your signal input, there are probably only one or two presets that really work.

Our phase was set to 5, and as it turns out, it was too low for our signal. When we overcompensated on our phase and set the level over 8, the inverse would occur on full motion video; blues would produce the same washed out static. The phase was left to 7 for the remainder of the analysis.

The importance of Signal Processors

As we mentioned a few pages ago, the Achilles' heel of this display is the signal processor; the LWX-30-AMS attempts to display an XGA signal on a WXGA panel. Although certainly possible and occasionally encouraged, in the particular interest of desktop computing, we are particularly unhappy with the skewed aspect ratio of this monitor. Unfortunately, it is the Ayuttha processor inside the LWX-30AMS-3 that causes the majority of the problems. Issues with the On Screen Display, skewed aspect ratio, and other little "gotchas" can be directly attributed to this processor.

With regard to DVD playback, 1080i, 480p and other signal types, we had no problems.

Fortunately, after working with Albatron for over a month, we were able to get some more information concerning the signal processing and eventual upgrades. It appears that all new LWX-30AMS' will ship with a much different Pixelworks signal processor capable of WXGA (1280x768) display modes. Hopefully, some of our comments and suggestions along the way helped facilitate Albatron with this decision to go with a much better signal processor.

SRS WOW & Sound Features

Although we have never really been fond of integrated speakers, the speakers on the LWX-30-AMS are actually quite good in the mid to high ranges. We were not expecting much from the 2x5W setup on the unit; these are certainly not speakers to replace your home or PC audio setup. As with most small speakers, there is virtually no bass, and what little bass there is, it was mostly washed out by ambient noise in the lab.

Albatron attempts to compensate for this issue with an SRS WOW Processor. WOW essentially modifies the incoming signal in a manner that dynamically provides for a wider sounding audio spectrum. Even though the technology is just starting to show up in LCDs, we have seen it here and there in DVD players and home theater units over the last few years. SRS Labs' WOW processor is not a technology marvel, but it does its job and it does it well. There is considerably more punch when it is enabled, although we still believe it isn't enough to warrant throwing out your existing speakers or receiver.

One particular oddity with the LWX-30-AMS is that the WOW would turn off when the LCD was turned off. This could become particularly annoying to turn on every time the monitor turns on. Like with the Albatron L17AT, when the LCD is powered down, sound is not broadcast through the speakers either.

Our monitor also came with an undocumented sound feature: a high pitched whine. In most open areas, the whine would probably not be noticed; however, at distances less than 6 feet, we could easily distinguish the whine over background noise. Potential buyers with more sensitive hearing may find this particularly annoying.

Full Screen Application

Component Video - Obviously, we had enormous problems producing the correct aspect ratio for DVD playback on the PC. We are attempting to produce a letterbox (16:9) aspect ratio on a 5:3 Native LCD screen, which is displaying a skewed 5:4 XGA signal. To attempt to bypass our signal problems, we connected a DVD player via the component inputs.

Our specifications claim that the LWX-30-AMS is capable of reproducing 1080 interlaced, 720 progressive/interlaced and 480 progressive/interlaced.

480i (NTSC) - Watching broadcast NTSC on our LCD TV was almost laughable. This is partly because viewing an HD signal is incredibly better, but also partly because the LWX-30-AMS stretches the image so much that normal NTSC is difficult to watch. This is not a specific problem with the Albatron monitor that we are looking at today, but all displays with a 16:9 aspect ratio have trouble displaying 4:3 imagery without issues. Options to crop the image so as not to scale would have been welcomed, however.

480p - Using a progressive scan DVD player, we were able to obtain our 480p signal. DVD playback was on par; certainly better than many of the DVD playback tests that we have done in the past. The particularly bright backlights reveal even more details that we weren't really capable of noticing on 20" PC LCDs.

720p - 720p begins to push the limits of the CMO 30" panel. Finding an unconverted 720p signal proved harder than we originally thought, but fortunately, it seems a particular broadcast in our area in fact prefers 720p over 1080i. The HD signal is noticeably better than 480p. ATI may have just disclosed its HD All-In-Wonder (thanks for the head's up, Matt), but watching full screen HDTV on our LWX-30-AMS leaves us with the impression that we may never watch TV on our lab monitors again.

1080i - Visually on a screen this size, we really should not be able to tell the difference between a 720p and a 1080i signal. In fact, since the panel size is only 1280x768, we will not even be able to see the 1920x1080 interlaced signal. Much to our expectation, even though the signal processor on the LWX-30-AMS is capable of a 1080i signal, we were presented with exactly the same image as 720p during our analysis.

Full Screen Application (continued)

Even though the LWX-30-AMS is physically handicapped for your PC portion of this review, we continued with our LCD benchmark as normal. Here are a few quick looks at some demanding full screen applications (except solitaire, which is windowed). All of these screenshots are taken with DVI inputs on the LCDs.

Magic the Gathering: Battlegrounds - With the Samsung 213T LCD review from last month, we added the MTG:B benchmark to test vibrant colors and extremely light values. The 16 CCFL backlights make the image on this game exciting; lens effects in the game were drastically more brilliant than any LCD that we have tested to date.

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Morrowind - Morrowind is a game that was penalized severely by the unfortunate aspect ratio. We enjoy using Morrowind as a benchmark in our other LCD reviews, since it has such high bandwidth and signal requirements. Since the maximum resolution that Morrow will force on the LCD is 1024x768, the game proves to be a poor benchmark for this monitor. We are unable to pool much usable data from the imagery.

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Max Payne 2 - Max Payne 2 is what brought our attention to the problems with phase adjustment. After adjusting the phase, our experience with gaming on the monitor was totally flawless (minus the aspect ratio). Max Payne is a particularly favorite benchmark of ours, as it taxes average response time and darker darks. We did not have any issues with motion blur even though the TrTf response time is in the 25ms range. However, it can be said that the image on the LCD is perhaps a little too bright, and on occasion, we feel that the picture becomes a little washed out in comparison to the Samsung 213T and Dell 2001FP.

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Halo - At first, we approached this benchmark from a PC only perspective. However, we thought it only just later to attach our Xbox and also give the LWX-30-AMS a try with Halo's 480p signal. Unfortunately, even though Halo was the flagship game for Xbox, Microsoft/Bungie never considered 16:9 or 720p support. Both versions look basically the same (although the 9800XT signal is visually more appealing than the Xbox signal). Regardless, response time was not much of an issue on this LCD; gray-to-gray as well as TrTf response times were good enough not to cause issues with our display.

Enter the Matrix (Xbox) - Even though there are a few games that support 720p and 1080i on Xbox, for whatever reason, about half of those games render in 4:3 rather than 16:9 formats. Enter the Matrix gave us the ultimate LCD HDTV experience. Darks were dark, lights were light, the signal wasn't cropped and everything in the game just looked purely awesome. Even though games on the PC may be unplayable due to the aspect ratio, console games are a different story.

Solitaire - Here we go again with the famous solitaire test. You can see how our mouse behaves below in comparison to other LCDs.

Albatron LWX-30AMS

Samsung 213T

Dell 2001FP

First, notice that the LCD interleave is much wider, the panel itself is just bigger and the pixels larger/farther apart. The mouse cursor itself is very sharp, although difficult to tell in this image.

ColorVision Spyder

Before running DisplayMate and our subjective analysis of the LCD, we ran ColorVision's Spyder and OptiCal software. Not only does this accurately calibrate the monitor on the DVI and analog interface, but it also gives us specific luminescence information not obtainable though subjective analysis. Special thanks to our friends at Color Vision for providing us with both a Color Vision Spyder and their OptiCal software.

Our test bed uses a Radeon 9800 XT video card. We use the factory-included DVI cable for this portion of the benchmark. Resolutions are on the native 1024x768.

Just like our last ColorVision benchmark, we have a few expectations:

1. Like our Samsung 213T, there is a slight cool tint to the image; however it is less severe.
2. The brightness of our LCD is incredible; we will notice high marks when we test this.

And here is what our Spyder and OptiCal software have to say:

The curve here was a little different than we expected. We anticipated a curve very similar to our Samsung 213T, but instead our PreCal software detected a closer balance than we originally thought. The brightness of 485nits is right about where we expected too.

Subjective Analysis

DisplayMate/CheckScreen/VESA FPDM 2.0
Test	Monitor	Observations
Intensity range check	LWX-30-AMS (digital)
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	5
	2001FP (digital)	5
	2001FP (analog)	5, Good
Black level adjustment	LWX-30-AMS (digital)
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)
	2001FP (digital)	4.5
	2001FP (analog)	4.5, Acceptable
Defocusing, blooming and halos check	LWX-30-AMS (digital)
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)
	2001FP (digital)	5, None
	2001FP (analog)	5, None
Screen uniformity and color purity	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	5, Excellent
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	5
	2001FP (digital)	4.5+
	2001FP (analog)	4.5+, better than 192T, but still small imperfection on upper right
Dark screen (Glare Test)	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	4.5
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	4.5
	2001FP (digital)	4.5
	2001FP (analog)	4.5, Improvement over 1702FP and 192T
Primary colors	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	4.5, Accurate but not perfect
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	4.5
	2001FP (digital)	4
	2001FP (analog)	4, attempted to fix curves with OptiCal
Color Scales	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	4.5, minor red errors
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	4.5
	2001FP (digital)	4, red errors
	2001FP (analog)	4, red errors
16 intensity levels	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	4.5, Uniform
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	4.5
	2001FP (digital)	4.5+
	2001FP (analog)	4.5+, Improvement over the 192T
Pincushion/barrel distortion	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	5, None
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	5
	2001FP (digital)	5
	2001FP (analog)	5, none
Geometric Linearity	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	5, level
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	5
	2001FP (digital)	5
	2001FP (analog)	5, no curvature
Focus check	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	5
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	5
	2001FP (digital)	5
	2001FP (analog)	5, Uniform
Horizontal color registration	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	5, Level
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	5
	2001FP (digital)	5
	2001FP (analog)	5, Level
Vertical color registration	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	5, Level
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	5
	2001FP (digital)	5
	2001FP (analog)	5, Level (for LCD)
Fine line moiré pattern	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	5
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	5
	2001FP (digital)	5
	2001FP (analog)	5, No moiré, but intense streaking
Screen regulation	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	5, no issues
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	5
	2001FP (digital)	5
	2001FP (analog)	4.5
Streaking and ghosting	LWX-30-AMS (digital)	5, None
	LWX-30-AMS (analog)	4, 1024x768 signal does not present huge streaking issue. Interference can be attributed to the cabling.
	2001FP (digital)	5, None
	2001FP (analog)	5, Extremely present at 1600x1200. Analog signal is not capable.

Benchmark Analysis

Black level adjustments were no where near what the Samsung 213T produced. However, we must consider that the LWX-30-AMS is almost twice as bright. The brighter image is considerably easier on our eyes when gaming or watching movies.

On the positive side, color replication and response time were both excellent on this LCD. Due to the intensity of the backlights, some of our intensity levels were a little washed out (particularly in the cyan range). This was not a major issue as denoted by the scorecard.

Interference was basically on part with what we had expected. Over the DVI connection, the ability to adjust the phase basically assured us that we would witness zero interference due to signal noise. Running the DisplayMate benchmark in conjunction with the SypderVision software helped us determine the phase early on after installing the monitor.

Any sort of glare on the unit was very minimal. Sitting next to the Samsung 213T, we noticed identical levels of glare. In fact, due to the brightness of the LCD, Albatron could have easily gone with a stronger coating without any repercussions in the image quality. The LWX-30-AMS is an excellent monitor for side viewing with low glare.

Final Thoughts

Our first analysis of the LWX-30-AMS was slightly mixed. Although the monitor is loaded with terrific features and image quality, we could not get past the nagging fact that the image processor crippled what should have been an excellent image. Even though the panel natively supports 1280x768, we feel a little disappointed that nothing is mentioned concerning the exclusive 1024x768 XGA signal. Granted, if you never hook your LWX-30-AMS up to a PC, this will not affect you in the least bit.

Looking past the issues with aspect ratio, which will be fixed in future revisions of the monitor, our analysis of the LCD was fairly error free. We had a few minor glitches with the On Screen display and sound, but fortunately, none of these were entirely purchase deterrents. The only visual issue with the display was the somewhat washed out image on some of our subjective analysis. If the LWX-30-AMS is to compete with DLP and other LCDs, future revisions of the monitor may need to address this.

If this LCD is going to be your primary console and entertainment center, then it certainly becomes a very acceptable choice. Street price on the LWX-30-AMS runs around $2300 at time of publication. Although much higher than the cost of a larger DLP or Plasma screen, the image produced by the Albatron will surpass any technology of equivalent size.

In some ways, our Albatron LWX-30-AMS is a victory for low(er) cost LCD technology. Plasma displays (PDP) are only stepping stones to real flat panel technologies, such as LCD and OLED, and their price is the only advantage over LCD technology right now. Once we start seeing more LCD products in the 30" and 36" range, it will only be a matter of time before PDP fades away.