Samsung T200HD > Reviews (3)

Without going into a brief discussion into the basic difference between a TV and a computer monitor a review of Samsung SyncMaster T200HD will not only be incomplete but an injustice to a really great product engineered by Samsung. I have always had high regards for Samsung Monitors for computers and Samsung LCD TVs. But T2000HD is altogether a revelation.

Basically both computer monitors and TVs perform the same job of presenting visual information to the viewer. But it requires a different technology to display text clearly, which is a priority for computer monitors. The distinct difference between a monitor and a TV is that the former does not require a tuner. Although tricky and cumbersome an LCD screen may be used to display computer out puts and a monitor can be hooked to DVD player as long as a different media is used to decipher TV signals.

To keep a reasonably good resolution while keeping the bandwidth down interlace scan technology is used for TVs and this is exactly where the difference is made with a computer monitor. Since this technology develops a phenomenon called interline twitter creating problems with vertical fine detail, which in turn affects small texts. To resolve this interline twitter phenomenon computer monitor are designed with progressive scan capability.

In the nomenclature of resolutions the ‘i’s refer to interlacing whilst ‘p’s refer to progressive. The modern LSDs does require progressive scan and the erstwhile Cathode Ray Tube Monitors essentially use the interlace scan. The technology to ‘de-interlace’ a signal is what is used in various progressive HDTV resolution i.e. 720p and 1080p. Both are same as 1280x720 pixel and similarly for 1080 resolutions are equivalent to 1920x1080 pixel.

So technically speaking a monitor having resolution equivalent or more than the above has the capability to act as HDTV. This is exactly the technology behind Samsung SyncMaster T200HD.

Let us come to T200HD; its native resolution is 1680x1050 pixels, which ideally suits both the requirements. Since LCDs are prone to scaling.

Now let us come to the aspect ratio. Both used an aspect ration of 4:3. But HDTVs use an aspect ratio of 16:9 and mostly all widescreen monitors has an aspect ration of 16:10.

The Samsung Syncmaster T200HD is 20 inc flat panel computer monitor which can be used as a computer monitor and a HDTV since it supports HD multimedia interface (HDMI), compatible to component video analog input also supporting DVI (digital video interface), giving a high degree of signal clarity over the VGA. The video quality is superb with excellent color and contrast with least ghosting effect. Its excellent response time makes it ideal for video games. Its capability of wide-angle viewing, a wonderful apparatus when more than one person attends it to. Since this TV/Monitor has phenomenal picture quality, I have it hooked up to my PS3/Blu Ray player through HDMI and it looks fantastic. May be it is small in size but for its price the dual compatibility makes it unique in its class.

I have some reservations about the audio quality but all the same it is reasonably acceptable.

To top it all it corroborates with the EPEAT Silver level criteria. There is hardly anything to talk about loudly as its inventive aspects are concerned.

Its availability is a bit suspect so just take your decision quickly.