Philips 109B60
On their website, Philips says funny things about this monitor. We can read that it’s manufactured without lead and so you will be able to fully enjoy your leisure time online. Should we believe that gaming is better without lead? We would be happy to believe them.
As is usual for Philips, the monitor is equipped with a Real Flat tube. This is Shadow Mask technology and the process is close to tube TVs. Where Trinitron monitors use a grid with thin vertical banding, the Real Flat uses a plate with holes.
Where the mask is, there is no light. These monitors’ brightness is generally lower than of the Trinitron and Diamondtron. This is fortunately no longer up to date. The Iiyama was measured at 101 cd/m² in white as compared to 133 cd/m² for the Philips. Shadow Mask mustn´t be considered the darkest anymore.
We also used to say that Shadow Mask monitors were often appreciated for their color rendering, which was more accurate than the others. Again, the scale is set to zero and the Philips provides good results compared to an average LCD, but it isn´t better than any other CRT.
Philips monitor compared to a 20 inch LCD PhilipsTo continue with reputations, Shadow Mask monitors were often entry level monitors. The electronic components for control weren´t´ necessarily of the best quality and this was the reason why frequencies were below average. The 109B60 sticks to this rule. The maximum horizontal frequency of 97 kHz is rather modest compare to what the best 19” monitors were capable of not so long ago (some used to go up to 117 kHz). This is the reason why we weren´t surprised to see that it only reached 77 Hz for horizontal refreshing frequency with a resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels. It’s approximately the lowest we can find and a good monitor could go up to 95 Hz.
To be honest, the 77 Hz were just good and not entirely satisfactory as the image was blurred. A CRT fan wouldn’t necessarily see it (we get used to everything, blurred images, or even very blurred images as it is the case here), but those who know LCD monitors won´t be able to stay with this resolution for more than 5 minutes. Your eyes quickly tire. Reducing the frequency, adjusting the OSD parameters doesn´t change anything. Like the Iiyama, you have to reduce the resolution.
In 1280 x 1024, the image is sharper and a little more stable. This time the frequency goes up to 96 Hz but from my point of view this result isn´t satisfactory because the image is still blurred. We reduced it once again to 1024 x 768 and the monitor is more comfortable, reaching 119 Hz and the image is finally partly sharp in areas. Most of the image is satisfactory, but the top left corner lacks visibility. You have to manually intervene on shimmering, without great hope of improving it because it has an influence on the entire image. Pureness adjustment per area, like with the Iiyama, is missing.
The last hope for those who must have sharpness is to work in 800 x 600. With this resolution it’s sharp, the refreshing frequency is 149 Hz, but letters on the monitors are very big. We are far from the 1600 x 1200 @ 75 Hz recommended by the manufacturer. We think that they lack a little humility concerning their monitor.
