"As the fourth largest manufacturer of computer monitors in the world, Envision Peripherals Inc. is owned by Top Victory Electronics. The company has produced PC monitors for over two decades under the AOC and Envision brand names."

"EPI has two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities--a 270,500-square-foot facility with a staff of 500 in Beijing, PRC. The facility has the capacity to produce two million units in the year 2000. With a direct labor force of 2,400 and 800 staff members, a separate 650,000-square-foot facility in Fuqing has the capacity to manufacture seven million units this year."

"With warehouse facilities in over 10 major cities and distribution channels serving more than 80 ports in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, EPI is truly a global distributor. EPI's parent company, Top Victory Electronics, went public on the Hong Kong and Singapore stock exchanges in 1999, raising more that US$30 for a market value of more than US$184 million."

Here are the goodies bundled with the AOC Spectrum LM-500 TFT LCD monitor.

 

Although many have not heard of AOC personal computer monitors, the brand has been around for a while (see the blurb taken from the company's Web site above). For those who have heard of the company’s AOC and Envision PC monitors, they will usually tell you that these monitors produce some of the best images available within their respective price points.

HardwareZone.com was fortunate to get two new monitors from the company recently—a 15-inch TFT LCD monitor and a 17-inch Pure Flat color monitor (see subsequent review). This review looks at the 15-inch TFT LCD monitor, a later review will look at the 17-inch Pure Flat CRT monitor.

 

AOC Spectrum LM-500 TFT LCD Monitor
Display Size	15-inches (38.1 cm)
Pixel Pitch	0.300 (H) x 0.300 (V) mm
Response Time	40 ms
Separate Sync.	H/V TTL
Frequency	Horizontal: 30- 60 KHz Vertical: 50 - 75Hz
Display Colors	16.7 million colors (for CPT panel)
Dot Clock	100Mhz
Maximum Resolution	1024 x 768
Plug & Play	VESA DDC 1/2B
Maximum Screen Size	Horizontal: 12-inches (304.1 mm) Vertical: 9-inches (228.1 mm)
Weight	4.5 kg
Power Consumption	37 W

 

In terms of design, the off-white colored AOC Spectrum LM-500 TFT LCD Monitor is simple and elegant. Its standing base is fairly flat, and the base's slightly curved stem is unobtrusive. There are only three control devices on the lower bezel of the unit; they consist of an Auto Config button, Shuffle Knob (similar to a JAG Dial), and a small on/off/standby button. Operation status can be quickly gleaned via the small LED sitting just right of the on/off/standby button. The power adapter is built into the unit, and the display can be tilted from –5 degree to 45 degrees.

As with all CRT or LCD monitors we tested, we used DisplayMate for Windows v2.0 to evaluate the performance of the Spectrum LM-500 monitor. We also looked at a few of our high-resolution jpeg images (fruit, canyon, human arms) on this AOC LCD monitor.

The design of the AOC Spectrum LM-500 monitor is one of simplicity and functionality.

 

After installing the monitor with its accompanying driver for Microsoft Windows 9x found on the 1.44MB diskette, we set the contrast of the AOC Spectrum LM-500 TFT LCD monitor to 78000K color temperature. We then used the Auto-Config option to set the other variables. Next, we configured the monitor using DisplayMate v2.0's setup routine to adjust alignment and color registration aspects. Finally, we ran the LCD monitor through DisplayMate v2.0's LCD Monitor Obstacle Course to pinpoint any display geometrical inaccuracies, color spectrum inconsistencies or video bandwidth limitations.

The monitor's Shuffle Knob operates the same as a JAG dial found on some of AOC's competitors' products.

 

Beyond finding only one stuck red pixel, the panel we received was virtually perfect in terms of operational pixels—this is quite a feat as most current TFT LCD production quality-control standards allows up to seven stuck ('dead') pixels per panel. The various adjustments possible via OSD controls include: contrast, brightness, focus, clock, H-position, V-position, language, RGB color adjustment, 6500K or 7800K color temperature adjustment and reset.

The AOC Spectrum LM-500 TFT LCD monitor aced through DiplayMate v2.0's various test screens. The only problem we encountered with the LM-500 was a slight blurring of red-text-on-green background, magenta-text-on-green-background, green-text-on-blue-background, and yellow-text-on-cyan-background.

This may sound like many instances where the monitor would not perform well for reading colored text, but how often do you encounter such uncommon text-and-background color combinations? Besides, many monitors (both CRT and LCD) would have problems displaying these obtuse eyes-straining color combos whether they are found on the Internet or in document form. [In my humble opinion, anybody 'bold' enough to create Web pages or PowerPoint presentation using these text/background color combinations in the first place indicates either color blindness, severe bad taste or both.]

Here is what you find at the back of the AOC Spectrum TFT LCD LM-500 monitor--a D-sub 15-pin video cable and a standard three-prong AC power cord..

 

The only things lacking in AOC Spectrum LM-500 TFT LCD monitor would be swivel capability, speakers and digital input. But for only S$1,200 (w/o GST) including three-year warranty, this LCD monitor is a good deal in terms of performance and value. The AOC Spectrum LM-500 monitor would suit both office users and SOHO users well. It's just too bad we didn't get this TFT LCD monitor in for testing in time for our recent product awards event. ;)