Hazro HZ26Wi
Simon Baker, 2 September 2008

 

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We talked about it recently, but Hazro have now officially updated their monitor range, with the new second-generation "i" models being available in sizes of 23, 24 and 26". Note that at this time they have not updated their 30" model. We have already extensively covered the HZ24W (24"), HZ26W (26") and HZ30W (30"), and now Hazro have kindly sent us their updated HZ26Wi 26 inch model. The screen remains very similar to the previous version, thankfully keeping some of the features which attracted us (and many users!) in the first place. The H-IPS panel technology remains, as does the unique aluminium construction and housing. However, there are a fair few of new features and improvements helping to hopefully make this an even better buy:

  • HDCP support over digital interfaces

  • True VISTA and MAC OS X compatibility (fixing a bug identified in the original versions)

  • HDMI interface added

  • Video In interface

  • Component Y-Pb-Pr interface including red/white audio out, and stereo in and out for HDMI audio chanelling (The previous RGB and DVI-D interfaces are retained as well)

  • The scaling chips have been updated and the screens now use more advanced chips from Genesis (who also supply Dell screens). This will allow better support and scaling to resolutions such as 1080 HD. This also goes hand in hand with support for a wider range of resolutions. Hazro claimed input lag would also be reduced

  • HDMI cable included with packaging along with a better quality DVI cable than before

  • OSD Sensitivity addressed - supposedly better to work with

  • Full and thorough instruction manual now included

  • Full printed carry case type box

  • Overall build quality addressed with minimal gaps in folds. Aluminum is very difficult to work with in that a clean and flush 90 degree 'bend' is not possible and therefore, all the folds have to be rounded off.

  • Quality control in selection of panels addressed to minimize Dead-on-Arrival [DOA] issues along with pixelation problems in the first 30 days of monitor purchase.

As you can see, an impressive round up of additions and updates, making this something more than just a firmware update or the addition of just a dynamic contrast control as some manufacturers do with new revisions. The specs for the HZ26Wi are as follows:

Size

26"WS

Colour Depth

16.7M (8-bit), 92% NTSC colour gamut

Resolution

1920 x 1200

Viewing Angles

178 / 178

Response Time

5ms G2G

Panel Technology

H-IPS

Contrast Ratio

800:1

Interfaces

DVI, VGA, HDMI and Component

Brightness

500 cd/m2

Colour

Black or silver aluminium bezel and stand

Special Features

Tilt ergonomic adjustment, touch sensitve OSD buttons, aluminium construction, hardware aspect ratio control. 92% NTSC colour gamut. HDCP support

One thing to note is that Hazro list the HZ26Wi on their website spec and PDF as having a 1600:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and in the manual there are instructions on where this option is located within the OSD menu. Upon checking, this option is oddly missing from the menu, and after asking the quesiton of Hazro, we were told that this feature was left off in the final production line since for some reason it was causing issues with backlight uniformity. It's not really something most users will miss anyway, but worth noting in case you spot the 1600:1 DCR spec anywhere.


Above: front and side views of the HZ26W. Click for larger versions

The design of the HZ26Wi is almost identical to its predecessor. You can get the screen in either a silver or black aluminium colour. Hazro sent us the black version, but some of the images used here are actually of the silver HZ26W (original), since it is so near. The images are just used to give you an idea of the product, and it's dimensions and aesthetics.


Above: OSD menu buttons on HZ26Wi. Click for larger

The OSD menu operational buttons sit nicely tucked out of the way under the bottom edge of the bezel, with access to the menu and quick access to interface options through the 'select' button. It might have been nice to have quick launch access to some other features through the up and down arrows perhaps, as all other settings need to be accessed through the full menu sequence.

Within the menu there are the usual options for brightness, contrast, sharpness (analogue signals only for the latter) and a series of preset colour modes. There are settings to control the Picture In Picture (PiP) modes as well as the hardware level aspect ratio control, where there are options for 'full' and '4:3'.

One gripe with the OSD menu is that when you choose between the various  options (e.g. brightness > contrast) the selection is highlighted in yellow to show where you are 'hovering'. You have to press 'select' to choose that option before it goes through, and there is no further indication that you have selected that setting or are "stuck" on that individual option. For instance, if you simply highlight the 'brightness' setting and press the up/down arrows, it moves to the other options for contrast / sharpness that are in that menu section. You have to press 'select' again in order for the up/down arrows to actually alter the brightness bar. There's just no indication showing if you are hovering, or have selected.


Above: Side view showing tilt range. Click for larger versions

The aluminium construction is certainly attractive, and the whole screen is well put together and with high quality materials. The casing does get very hot during use though, as does the  external power brick. The screen also radiates a reasonable amount of heat.

The screen features only limited ergonomic adjustments with a tilt option being offered. It is very hard for Hazro to enhance the functionality of the screen, since moulding and fitting the aluminium is difficult and expensive. Further ergonomic adjustments might be considered at some point, but not for now. The only function which would have been particularly useful is a height adjustable stand.


Above: Interface options on the back of the screen

The interface options have been extended for the "i" model, and the back of the screen now offers (from left to right): power connector, HDMI, DVI (HDCP supported), RGB / VGA / D-sub, Component video and sound, HDMI audio in. It was nice to see the addition of HDMI on the new model, something which is bound to make those wanting to connect external devices happy.

A Note About H-IPS...

The Hazro HZ26Wi uses an IPS panel, most people will be aware of that. However, over the years there have been several generations of IPS technology, with S-IPS (Super IPS) being the most common and long-standing. More recently, LG.Display, who manufacturer most of the mainstream IPS panels, have changed their technology to the latest generation of "Horizontal IPS" (H-IPS). The chnges are related to a slightly different sub pixel structure, where the Red, Green and Blue sub-pixels are orientated in straight veritcal strips instead of a more traditional curved shape. This article tells you more, and includes some close up images showing the differences.


Above: H-IPS structure shown by close up image of the HZ26Wi panel

We photographed the screen up close as shown above, and this revealed the characteristic H-IPS pixel structure. As Hazro advertise, this panel (LG.Display's LM260WU1 panel) is certainly from the H-IPS generation.

 


Colour Accuracy, Black Depth and Contrast

The Hazro HZ26Wi utilises an 8-bit H-IPS panel, capable of producing a true 16.7 million colours. The screen uses enhanced W-CCFL backlighting and so it's colour gamut covers 92% of the NTSC colour space.

An important thing to consider for most users is how a screen will perform out of the box and with some basic manual adjustments. Since most users won't have access to hardware colorimeter tools, it is important to understand how the screen is going to perform in terms of colour accuracy for the average user. I restored my graphics card to default settings and set it to its standard profile. The HZ26Wi was tested at default factory settings out of the box using the LaCie Blue Eye Pro and their accompanying software suite.

Default settings of the screen were as follows:

Monitor OSD Option

Default Setting

Brightness

50

Contrast

56

RGB

95 / 95 / 95

Colour Temperature Mode

User


Hazro HZ26Wi - Default Settings


 

Default Settings

luminance (cd/m2)

440

Black Point (cd/m2)

0.60

Contrast Ratio

733:1

As soon as you turned on the HZ26Wi you could tell one thing, and that was that this was a very bright screen! It became very uncomfortable to use, even for only a few minutes and even adjusting the OSD brightness setting manually did little to address the situation. This is common for many LCD screens to be fair, but with a default luminance then recorded at 440 cd/m2 by our colorimeter, I felt this was far too much and over the top for pretty much every expected use of the screen. Since OSD asjustments seemed to make little difference, proper calibration at a graphics card LUT level would definitely be needed.

Apart from the excessive default luminance, the screen did at least feel colourful and vivid. Green shades were deep due to the extended gamut, but colours could look a little oversaturated if you are working with standard sRGB colour space sources. The gamma was recorded at a default value of 2.0, being fairly close to the target value of 2.2 which is the default for computer monitors and for the Windows operating system and sRGB colour space. Colour temperature was recorded at a pretty good 6915k, being only 6% out from the target value of 6500k, the temperature of daylight. As we have already said, luminance was far too high at 440 cd/m2, being 267% of the target 120 cd/m2 for LCD screens in normal lighting conditions. With this excessive brightness, black depth was a rather average 0.60 cd/m2, giving a static contrast ratio of 733:1. This was at least pretty good for an H-IPS panel, and close to the specified 800:1 value from Hazro.

In a new test, I wanted to see how much variance there was in the screens contrast as we adjusted the monitor setting for brightness. In theory, brightness and contrast are two independent parameters, and good contrast is a requirement regardless of the brightness adjustment. Unfortunately, such is not the case in practice. We recorded the screens luminance and black depth at various OSD brightness settings, and calculated the contrast ratio from there. All other monitor and graphics card settings were left at default. It should be noted that we used the BasICColor calibration software here to record these, and so luminance at default settings (i.e. 50% brightness adjustment) varies a little from the LaCie Blue Eye Pro report.

OSD Brightness

Luminance
(cd/m2)

Black Point (cd/m2)

Contrast Ratio ( x:1)

100

439

15.68

28

90

436

9.61

45

80

435

5.28

82

70

434

2.52

172

60

432

1.07

403

50

426

0.59

722

40

407

0.6

679

30

383

0.59

649

20

356

0.6

593

10

326

0.59

553

0

295

0.59

500

As you can see, the OSD brightness control is capable of reducing the actual recorded luminance of the screen from 439 cd/m2 down to 295 cd/m2. This means if you want anything lower - and you are probably going to need to! - you will need to calibrate the screen further at a software or graphics card level. Black depth reached a limit of about 0.59 cd/m2 with these adjustments as well, and there was a finite contrast point which conveniently enough was at the monitors default setting of 50% brightness. The best contrast ratio recorded here was 722:1.

These results allow us to plot a graph of the contrast stability of the HZ26Wi as shown above. This visually represents our findings in the above table, showing that the best contrast ratio with only OSD hardware adjustments is with a brightness of 50%. From there, you can adjust the brightness down a little at fairly minimal loss of contrast, down to about 500:1. If you increase the brightness at all (I've no idea why you'd want to here!) you lose contrast drastically, down to as low as 28:1!
 

Testing with the colorimeter revealed the graph on the right hand side above, showing DeltaE (dE 94) values across 16 shades. As a reminder, the lower these bars down the Y-axis, the better, in terms of colour accuracy. For reference, LaCie describe the DeltaE readings as:

  • If DeltaE >3, the color displayed is significantly different from the theoretical one, meaning that the difference will be perceptible to the viewer.

  • If DeltaE <2, LaCie considers the calibration a success; there remains a slight difference, but it is barely undetectable.

  • If DeltaE < 1, the color fidelity is excellent.

As you can see from the graph, default colour accuracy on the whole was pretty decent, with an average dE of 2.6, and ranging up to only 4.5 in the worst cases. For any colour critial work, you are probably going to need to calibrate the screen anyway to some extent, but potential buyers should be happy with the default colour rendering. As way of a comparison, the original HZ26W model offered a default colour accuracy which was slightly worse than the updated version, with dE on average at 3.4, and with a maximum of 7.0. Gamma and colour temperature remained within similar deviance from the target values, but luminance was a little more sensible on the original model at 326 cd/m2. The default results for colour accuracy for the HZ26Wi were actually the best out of all the Hazro models we have tested, so they have clearly done a good job at setting these "i" models up at the factory.

 

Default Settings Comparison Hazro Monitors

 

HZ24W

HZ26W

HZ26W i

HZ30W

luminance (cd/m2)

277

326

440

308

Black Point (cd/m2)

0.40

0.61

0.60

0.39

Contrast Ratio

693:1

534:1

733:1

790:1

Average DeltaE

4.1

3.4

2.6

4.5

Maximum DeltaE

6.5

7.0

4.5

10.6

The graph on the left hand side shows the CIE diagram which represents the colour space which the monitor is capable of displaying. The HZ26Wi, like it's predecessor, uses enhanced  wide colour CCFL (W-CCFL) backlighting which offers a colour space (gamut) covering 92% of the reference NTSC space. On the above diagram, the black triangle represents the monitors colour gamut, and it stretches considerably beyond the reference triangle of the sRGB colour space. The sRGB colour space covers about 72% of the NTSC colour space for those interested.

You sometimes also see monitor gamut specs compared with the Adobe-RGB colour space, and so the above diagram also shows the HZ26Wi's gamut against this alternative reference range. As you can see, the two gamuts match very closely, with the monitor covering around 97% of the Adobe-RGB space as an estimate.

 


Hazro HZ26Wi - Calibrated Settings

Monitor OSD Option

Adjusted Setting

Brightness

28

Contrast

66

RGB

93 / 90 / 88

 

Calibrated Settings

luminance (cd/m2)

119

Black Point (cd/m2)

0.58

Contrast Ratio

205:1

I calibrated the screen using the LaCie Blue Eye Pro software package and hardware colorimeter. During the process, the OSD settings were adjusted, forming a small part of the overall calibration proceedings. Brightness was adjusted down to a value of 28, contrast was increased to 66 and RGB values were changed to 93, 90 and 88 respectively. The calibration process then automatically makes adjustments at a graphics card Look Up Table (LUT) level, before creating and activating an ICC profile. There is no hardware level LUT correction with the HZ26Wi, which some premium colour critical screens in this sector do offer. Immediately to the naked eye you could feel the difference, with the main obvious adjustment being the far more comfortable and sensible luminance setting.

Testing the screen again with the LaCie software allowed us to evaluate the success of the calibration process. As you can see, the calibration was impressive! Luminance was adjusted to 119 cd/m2, gamma was corrected to 2.2 and colour temperature corrected very close to the target at 6592k. Unfortunately, the decreased luminance did little for the screens ability to render black, and the black point remained at a mediocre value of 0.58 cd/m2. Contrast ratio was a low 205:1 as a result, certainly a long way out from the specified 800:1 static contrast ratio.

I re-calibrated the screen at other common luminance points such as 200 cd/m2, and black depth remained pretty consistent at around 0.58 cd/m2. How bright you want the screen will obviously be dependent on your personal uses and ambient lighting, but decreasing the luminance of the screen does result in a loss of contrast unfortunately. You can't get a much better black depth than this no matter how you set up the screen. This is a fairly average performance for IPS based matrices however and very similar to the HZ26W's original reading of 0.56 cd/m2. Subjectively, it was impossible to detect the first 8 shades of grey on the scale from 0 - 255 (255 being pure white). I followed the useful tests here, where the first square you could distinguish on the HZ26Wi was number 9.

Colour accuracy was improved further with calibration, and dE was now recorded with an average value of only 0.5. LaCie would consider colour fidelity to be excellent, and with dE being only 1.1 at a maximum, users can rely on the HZ26Wi to offer some excellent colour rendering performance. Compared with the original HZ26W, this was even an improvement, since the original model was only dE 1.1 on average, and up to 2.2 at maximum.

 

 

Calibrated Settings Comparison Hazro Monitors

 

HZ24W

HZ26W

HZ26W i

HZ30W

luminance (cd/m2)

122

121

119

121

Black Point (cd/m2)

0.38

0.56

0.58

0.24

Contrast Ratio

321:1

218:1

205:1

504:1

Average DeltaE

1.1

1.1

0.5

0.3

Maximum DeltaE

2.6

2.2

1.1

0.8

Comparing the colour rendering performance with the other Hazro models we have tested gives the above results. The HZ26Wi is actually set up the best out of the box in terms of pure colour accuracy overall, with a dE average of 2.6. Out of the box settings might be important to some users who don't have access to calibration methods, but most users will hopefully be able to get even more out of the screen as well. Once calibrated, the dE average is now a very impressive 0.5, only just behind the HZ30W screen at 0.3. The HZ26Wi even surpases its predecessor, the HZ26W in this regard (1.1 average dE).

The above comparison also shows other large format screens of 24" or above. Again, the HZ26Wi performs well, being joint second place along side the Dell 2408WFP and Samsung SM245T (both 0.5 dE average after calibration, and both using S-PVA matrices).

If we compare the calibrated black point of the same screens of 24" or above, we see the HZ26W and HZ26Wi are the worst in terms of rendering a deep black. Their best black depth is around 0.56 - 0.58 cd/m2 and a considerable way behind even the other IPS based screens here like the HZ24W (0.38 cd/m2) and HZ30W (0.24 cd/m2). VA and TN Film panels outperform them all however in terms of black depth.

I tested the screen using a series of colour gradients and the HZ26Wi showed excellent results in this test horizontally. There was absolutely no banding or gradation evident horizontally, and gradients appeared very smooth, even in darker shades. Vertically there was an odd issue. As you rotated the gradient image to be vertical, a rather obvious banding was introduced. Zooming in on the image helped eliminate it, but viewing it normally showed the issue quite clearly. I tested the same thing on my Dell 2405FPW and didn't experience the same result. I'm asking Hazro if they have a root cause for this, but many suspect it could be related to the scaler chip, and Hazro have apparently stated there will be a firmware fix coming soon to address this. In practice, it's not really an issue at all, but you can spot it on gradients on the HZ26Wi, as well a on the HZ24Wi where the reports initially surfaced. More info on it as we get it.

 


Viewing Angles



Above: Viewing angles shown from front and side, and  from above and below. Click for larger images

Viewing angles were as one might expect from an IPS based panel, being wide in all directions really. The screen was free from the off-centre contrast shift that VA matrices can suffer from, and certainly free from the obvious vertical contrast shifts of TN Film panels. The wide viewing angles of IPS are why many consider the technology superior to the others, and is often the choice of colour critical monitors.

 
 
Above: photos of an all black screen taken from various angles, showing characteristic pink / purple colour tone shift. Click for larger versions


Above: Reference image showing black screen from head on

IPS technology is not without it's issues however in this regard. On darker colours, specifically black, the image shows a characteristic purple / pink hue as you view the screen from certain angles. This is quite hard to detect in practice, since you have to move your head considerably to see it. However, with the HZ26Wi, if you look from above-right, you can easily spot this colour shift. The images above capture this, but it is perhaps a little exagerated and not as obvious in practice. Nevertheless you can see the colour shift which many IPS panels will show.

I wouldn't let the above put you off though, I only included it as an indication of IPS panel purple tinting, and as I said, in practice it is very hard to detect. It shouldn't be bothersome, especially since it's mostly an issue when viewing the screen from above, which surely noone will be doing?! All in all, viewing angles are as expected from IPS technology.

 


Panel Uniformity

Measurements of the screens luminance were taken at 35 points across the panel on a pure white background. The measurements were taken using BasICColor's calibration software package, combined with the LaCie Blue Eye Pro colorimeter. The above uniformity diagram shows the difference, as a percentage, between the luminance recorded at each point on the screen, as compared with the reference point of a calibrated 120 cd/m2. This is the desired level of luminance for an LCD screen in normal lighting conditions, and  the above shows the variance in the luminance across the screen compared with this point. It is worth noting that panel uniformity can vary from one screen to another, and can depend on manufacturing lines, screen transport and other local factors. This is only a guide of the uniformity of the sample screen we have for review.

As you can see from the above report, the screen was up to 20% darker towards the upper corners, and was only actually around the 120 cd/m2 mark towards the lower section of the screen. The luminance varied down to 100 cd/m2 in the top corners and so panel uniformity was not ideal. In practice, you could detect a slight difference in the luminance of the screen, for instance observing a full black background showed the bottom half to be a little lighter than the top. Nothing major, but it was there.


Above: Click for larger version

Setting the screen to an all black background and dimming the lights resulted in the above. There was a slight difference in the uniformity as we have discussed above, but probably hard to detect from the photograph. Our colorimeter has recorded that more accurately in the first test at least. Apart from that, there was a pretty noticeable section of backlight leakage in the bottom right hand sector, but this is likely to be very individual to the test sample we were sent.

 


Office and Windows Use

The HZ26Wi offers a nice big 1920 x 1200 resolution to work with, along with a comfortable pixel pitch of 0.2865 mm. This is a similar pitch to 22"WS and 19"WS format screens, and the text is a little bigger and easier to read than on 'tighter' pixel pitch models. There are no preset modes for "office" or "text" which can be handy in varying lighting conditions, and you will definitely want to calibrate the screen at a graphics card level since even with OSD brightness set at 0%, the luminance is very high for comfortable use. The analogue interface was a little blurry I felt and sometimes hard to get looking right. The DVI interface provided a nice crisp image and so that would obviously be the preferred option.

 


Responsiveness and Gaming

The Hazro HZ26Wi was tested using the chase test in PixPerAn, a good bit of software for trying to quantify differences in real terms responsiveness between monitors. As a reminder, a series of pictures are taken on the highest shutter speed and compared. The images below show the best case example on the left hand side, and the worst case example on the right hand side. This should only be used as a rough guide to comparative responsiveness but is handy as a way of keeping a constant test of each screen.


5ms G2G LG.Display H-IPS panel


5ms G2G LG.Display H-IPS panel


5ms G2G LG.Display H-IPS panel

The HZ26Wi features the same LM260WU1 H-IPS panel that was used in the original version of the screen. As such, performance is very comparable between the two, but perhaps slightly improved in the newer "i" version. There is a less obvious trail image behind the moving car in the best case image (left) and the screen did feel a little more responsive even to the naked eye. It was a little more like the HZ24W (24" version) which we had tested beforehand, and so perhaps Hazro have adjusted the overdrive circuitry and control a little to 'tweak' a bit more out of the panel. Whichever way you look at it, the pixel responsiveness was good, and there was no obvious ghosting of moving images.

It should be noted that the H-IPS panel being used is subject to a hefty dose of Response Time Compensation technology, which is used to boost the response time of transitions between different grey shades. This is why you see a response time figure quoted as "G2G" or "Grey to Grey". This does not however reduce motion blur, which has always been an issue with LCD displays due to the way they function and the way the human eye perceives blur. As such, all modern screens will suffer from perceived motion blur without additional technologies being implemented to help avoid it. The HZ26Wi doesn't feature any of these additional technologies, and not many displays do, but there are some being developed such as BenQ / AU Optronics' Black Frame Insertion (BFI), designed to help 'clean' the human eye of retained images and reduce this perceived motion blur. I only mention this for those interested, and for those who really do want the absolute best in gaming performance from their LCD. The technologies remain fairly young in their development and use, but they are being used in some models today.
 


5ms Samsung TN Film


6ms G2G Samsung S-PVA


6ms G2G LG.Display AS-IPS

If we compare the HZ26Wi with some other reference screens, we can see that again the HZ26Wi does well. It out-performs the Samsung SM245B which uses a non-overdriven 5ms TN Film panel, widely regarded as one of the better technologies for pixel responsiveness. It is comparable to 6ms G2G generation S-PVA panels from Samsung, shown here with reference to the Samsung SM245T we tested recently. Our reference monitor for response times remains the NEC 20WGX2, widely considered one of the best gaming monitors in the market, and using an optimised "AS-IPS" panel from LG.Display, made especially for NEC.

One other thing to bear in mind is that you will need a powerful graphics card to run this screen at its full 1920 x 1200 resolution in modern games, especially if you want details and eye candy turned up high. The screen does feature hardware level aspect ratio control, offering  options for "full" and "4:3" through the OSD menu.
 

As usual I tested the screen in clone mode with a CRT to determine the level of input lag. This is something which can put off some gamers and is a delay between graphics card and monitor output. By hooking up a CRT you can show that  the LCD lags behind somewhat, which can affect users in some situations where they rely on the screen image being as fast as their inputs (e.g. fast FPS shooting games). Often, input lag is very low and probably wouldn't represent too much of a problem in real terms.

The Hazro HZ26Wi performed very impressively here! Input lag, which was already pretty decent at 16.2ms average on the original version, was now reduced to 7.5ms on average! Some potential buyers were concerned when they heard Hazro had updated the scaling chip to be more like Dell's controller, since some of the similarly sized Dell screens are reknowned for their high input lag. However, in this case, Hazro have done an excellent job and the average input lag is even lower than before. The input lag does range up to 20ms in the odd instance, but is mostly between 0 and 10ms behind the CRT. Nothing to be worried about here, and equalling our two top performers in this test, the Hazro HZ30W (also IPS) and Samsung SM245B (TN Film).

 


Movies and Video

The following summarises the HZ26Wi's performance in video applications:

  • Large 26" screen size and widescreen aspect ratio make it great for watching movies, similar size to smaller end LCD Tv's even

  • Large 1920 x 1200 resolution support for high definition content (supporting 1080p)

  • The resolution can be a problem however since any SD content needs to be scaled up, and the resolution means any imperfections and pixelation are accentuated even further. Not a good screen for watching anything from close up

  • Wide viewing angles thanks to the H-IPS panel, good for several viewers watching at once

  • Average black depth from this panel, meaning detail in darker scenes can be lost. VA and TN Film panels are better in this regard

  • Decent panel responsiveness ensures no ghosting and minimal blurring in fast moving scenes

  • Panel uniformity is generally good, with only a slight leakage along the bottom right hand edge

  • HDCP support over the DVI allowing encrypted Blu-Ray and HD-DVD content to be played back properly

  • HDMI and component interfaces provided for connecting external devices

  • Noise is noticeable due to the screen size and resolution, and particularly apparent with low definition content. You need to sit a fair distance away to get away from this. HD content still looks very nice though, even from up close

 


Conclusion

The updated HZ26Wi offered some impressive updates compared with the original, and already very good, HZ26W model. There are the obvious updates such as the addition of an HDMI interface, HDCP support and Vista compatibility fix. Then there are the less obvious  improvement we have uncovered in our tests here. Colour accuracy at default settings is very good, and better than all the other Hazro screens we have previously tested. After calibration, the screen offers better colour accuracy than its predecessor as well. Responsiveness has improved slightly, and input lag is now very low. These are all decent improvements and helps secure the HZ26Wi as an attractive option for a 26" IPS based screen. There are a few weaker points including the average black depth and poor contrast ratio, but all in all, the screen performs very well. If you like the unique design, and the price is right, this has improved what was already a very good screen.
 

Pros

Cons

Good default colour accuracy and very good once calibrated

Still average black depth and weak contrast

Improved input lag

Some possible issues with vertical gradients

Improved interface options and HDCP support

Limited ergonomic functionality

 

 

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