The S-19 from AG Neovo is the big brother of the range, coming in with a 19in screen that is packed with features to make for what initially seems to be a very tasty monitor.
Even the most die-hard CRT freak has to acknowledge that LCDs are starting to look really damn sexy. Bigger screens, dropping prices and a flair for design characterize a large part of the LCD market at the moment, and AG Neovo has carved out a distinct niche with its glass-fronted range of screens.
The screen itself is big and imposing, with a glass front plate to keep the LCD screen safe from probing fingers. Turn it around and you will find multiple input options on the back. These include the common choices of a 15-pin D-Sub input for normal VGA and a DVI-D port for digital connection to your video card.
But the S-19 also supports both S-Video and RCA inputs so you can hook up a variety of things like DVD players, VCRs or AG Neovo's own optional Television Tuner frame, a cute little device that hides the TV tuner circuitry behind a normal sized picture frame, allowing you to fondly remember Aunty Flo's 80th birthday while checking SBS for late night French flicks.
As for the actual screen, with its native resolution of 1,280x1,024, it is pretty good for everything. Except gaming. The S-19 has an advertised pixel response time of 15ms/10ms, which translates to an overall response time of 25ms. However even with this relatively low number, extensive testing of the S-19 in games highlighted the fact that the blurring was unacceptable for anyone with a serious gaming interest.
Other than this, the screen is crisp, bright and very visible. It has a viewing angle of 170 degrees both horizontally and vertically, and the protective glass plate used over the LCD enhances this. The AG Neovo S-19 looks good and works well for most uses, but after having seen other screens that have a hardly noticeable pixel response time, we'd be hard pressed to go back to gaming in a blur.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012