I know, I know. The VGA HD AV cable has been out for three years, but I was in between TVs and only had a monitor to game on. I’ll keep this review short and sweet.
My gaming setup consisted of my Xbox 360 Elite, Razer/THX Mako 2.1 speakers and a Viewsonic VX2240W monitor. The monitor itself has no built-in speakers, so I had to connect the audio to an external system. Luckily, there’s enough separation between the VGA cable and the RCA cable so the speaker system didn’t have to sit on top of the monitor. Perfection.
The kit claims to support video resolution up to 1080p and I have to say that it works as advertised. I streamed Netflix and even hooked up my HD DVD player just to make sure. Viewsonic’s monitor has a 1680X1050 resolution, so I’d say the content was as close to full high def as you can get.
On that note, I might as well give you a run down on the VX2240w. I believe the specs are relatively impressive, but I’m not much of a peripherals guy.
Overview and Features:
- 22-inch (diagonal) widescreen LCD at 1680×1050 resolution
- 300 cd/m2 brightness
- 1000:1 static contrast ratio, 4000:1 dynamic
- 170° horizontal, 160° vertical viewing angles
- up to 2ms gray-to-gray; 5ms black-to-white
- Connections: 15-pin mini D-sub/DVI-D (with HDCP)
- Only 2.4-inches thick (not counting the stand; 8.8-inch with) and 14 pounds (including stand)
- Three year warranty
- MSRP of $450, although it can be found for less than $300 in many places
There’s no visible blur/smear when viewing high frame rate video and the contrast ratio is high enough that the colors are very distinctive. You’ll have to calibrate for a bit to get it right, though. The viewing angle is weak so you’d better be sitting right in front of the monitor for optimal viewing. The round stand that comes with the VX2240w is limiting (ugly) and only offers tilt adjustment forwards and backwards.
Overall, it’s a decent monitor but considering the price and specs it falls into the ‘worth buying’ category. Other monitors with similar specs are priced about the same. You can find it on Amazon for as low as $250.
I already reviewed the Makos this year, but it was nice to get them out of the office and really crank them up in my apartment. I love these things.