PC Review Reviews Monitors Philips 170S5FB LCD Monitor

 

Eons ago when I upgraded my monitor from monochrome to colour, it was THE most exciting upgrade of that era. A flickering screen was probably not even acknowledged as a major drawback of monitors of that era, since a comparison was not possible with anything else. Now we have LCD monitors, which practically exhibit no flicker at all, hence, the comparison. Flicker is by far a major drawback in CRT monitors and many users not knowing that the default is usually set at 60 Hz, continue to suffer with eyestrain and subsequently headaches, thus reducing their quality time in front of their screens.

Enter the LCD! Now, even at default 60 Hz, there is no noticeable flicker when LCD monitors are setup and the user can easily get more quality time doing things for a longer periods without the eyestrain leading to headaches. If you need to refresh your memory about LCD monitors, check out the CRT vs LCD article previously published.

 

 

I had previously been using a Samsung 700IFT which was a 17” monitor, with very high specifications (1600 x 1200 max resolution, .22 dot pitch, capable of 95 Hz with resolution set at 1280 x 1024 and colour depth of 32 bit). This was a good monitor for photo editing, gaming as well as watching videos. The life of a CRT is approx 3 years (home use), after which the tube starts to become weak and is difficult to calibrate for critical work like photo editing. The monitor was approaching the 3 year mark and was still giving excellent service, albeit I noticed some patches on the screen which I later realised was the anti-glare coating coming off. In just a week of use, the problem became severe and the legibility of text was badly affected. I had to make a quick decision and decide on a monitor to replace the Samsung as my personal work started suffering. I had to choose between what was available on the shelf at my trusted vendor. The Philips 170S5FB was the best option available to me, even though it was lacking in certain features that I would have felt comfortable with, like the option for DVI input and pivot feature, which it did not have.

 

I had previously been using a Samsung 700IFT which was a 17” monitor, with very high specifications (1600 x 1200 max resolution, .22 dot pitch, capable of 95 Hz with resolution set at 1280 x 1024 and colour depth of 32 bit). This was a good monitor for photo editing, gaming as well as watching videos. The life of a CRT is approx 3 years (home use), after which the tube starts to become weak and is difficult to calibrate for critical work like photo editing. The monitor was approaching the 3 year mark and was still giving excellent service, albeit I noticed some patches on the screen which I later realised was the anti-glare coating coming off. In just a week of use, the problem became severe and the legibility of text was badly affected. I had to make a quick decision and decide on a monitor to replace the Samsung as my personal work started suffering. I had to choose between what was available on the shelf at my trusted vendor. The Philips 170S5FB was the best option available to me, even though it was lacking in certain features that I would have felt comfortable with, like the option for DVI input and pivot feature, which it did not have.

 

 

This is a no frills attached ‘standard’ LCD monitor from the Philips range of 17” LCD’s. However, it boasts a very good 16 ms response time and a native resolution of 1280 x 1024. The other notable feature on this particular model is the addition of an sRGB profile in addition to the standard ‘Original Panel Colour’, 9300K (for CAD/CAM) and 6500K (Image Management). The manual states:

 

I use the sRGB profile for all practical purposes after having checked each profile. I also installed the FPAdjust software which was bundled with the monitor; this software essentially confirms the setting of the monitor and visibility of the entire Pluge Pattern when the sRGB profile is used.

 

The other feature, which is very handy, is the ‘Auto Adjustment’ button on the control panel just under the screen. When the button is pressed, the monitor automatically adjusts the horizontal position, vertical position, phase and clock setting, thereby eliminating the need to go into the OSD (On Screen Display) Menu and make the adjustment one by one. For some reason if you are not satisfied with the auto setting, you know you always have the manual tuning facility to adjust the monitor to your personal preference if desired.

 

This monitor is very much energy efficient with consumption of typical 30 watts when in use and less than 1 watt when in stand-by mode.