Philips used to be quite popular back in the day with CRT monitors right alongside Viewsonic and Samsung. However, once the LCDs invaded the market, they kind of fell off the grid. I bet you didn't know that despite its low profile in India, Philips actually has a wide range of PC monitors right from a 15-incher all the way to 27-inches. Today, we have its budget series LED based monitor called the 192EL. This is an 18.5-inch screen with a 1366x768 resolution and a brightness level of 250 candelas. Response time is good low 5ms so ghosting should be a non-issue in gaming or movies.
The first thing you'll notice is the design which is very appealing and the glossy black frame makes it stand out. The circular stand is a little small but manages to sustain the monitor fine. The neck of the stand allows you to pivot the monitor backwards and forwards.
The menu buttons are all touch sensitive and there's a small power LED in the center. The buttons have good sensitivity but they should have been backlit as it becomes quite difficult to use them in low light. The 192EL features dual connectors, DVI-D and VGA. The former is HDCP compliant, should you feel the need to connect a PS3 to it. The monitor is fairly slim from the sides and there are VESA mounting holes on the rear. Overall, we were quite impressed with the build and finish of the monitor. Now let's see if the performance is as good as it looks.
Performance
We first calibrated the monitor using the Lagom tests to find a balance between the contrast and brightness. With both set to 50 percent and the color mode set to 'Standard', the brightness was adequate for a well lit room and the colors were just right as well without any noticeable blooming in Windows. Along with the Lagom tests, we also ran Display Mate v1.25 to check for abnormalities in the panel. It passed the grayscale tests without any hiccups and even the color spectrum, the 192EL could distinguish the lower values well. We did run into some trouble at higher values especially in the blues and there was very slight banding noticeable as well.
We first calibrated the monitor using the Lagom tests to find a balance between the contrast and brightness. With both set to 50 percent and the color mode set to 'Standard', the brightness was adequate for a well lit room and the colors were just right as well without any noticeable blooming in Windows. Along with the Lagom tests, we also ran Display Mate v1.25 to check for abnormalities in the panel. It passed the grayscale tests without any hiccups and even the color spectrum, the 192EL could distinguish the lower values well. We did run into some trouble at higher values especially in the blues and there was very slight banding noticeable as well.
The menu is very simple to navigate with all the options clearly labeled. There isn't any Eco mode, but then again this being an LED backlit monitor, you don't really need one.
The monitor isn't ideal for working on spreadsheets due to the size and resolution but for everything else, it gets the job done. Movies (SD or HD) look good with a decent color reproduction. There isn't any visible ghosting or trailing during action sequences or even in gaming for that matter. The lower resolution actually lets you max out current games in case you're packing older hardware and it still looks very good.
Pricing and Verdict
The Philips 192EL is available for a street price of Rs. 5,500 which is a pretty sweet deal. Considering it has LED backlighting as well as dual inputs not to mention good performance, it makes a good buy. Viewsonic has something similar in this price range with an LED option but only single VGA connector. Overall, we really liked the build and ergonomics of the 192EL and while its display performance wasn't mind-blowing, we aren't complaining at this price.
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