The VH242H actually uses a 23.6-inch panel with a maximum resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 and a 16:9 aspect ratio, which means you can watch Blu-ray movies in their native format. The panel, with its nonreflective, antiglare finish, is housed in a black cabinet and framed by a shiny black bezel with beveled edges that gives it a clean, sleek appearance. A matching round base supports the screen and provides 25 degrees of tilt maneuverability (5 forward, 20 backward), but height, swivel, and pivot adjustments are not supported.
pc_magazine512:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346114,00.asp
A silver logo is embedded in the center of the lower bezel, and there are five function buttons and a power switch at the right. The use of gray lettering against the black background makes the labeling difficult to read in low light, but there's no mistaking the orange power button, which uses a tiny LED to indicate power-on (blue) and standby (amber) status. Four of the buttons act as hot keys for adjusting brightness and volume levels, selecting an input source, and toggling through the five "Splendid" viewing modes (Game, Night View, Scenery, Theater, and Standard). Each "Splendid" mode offers preset brightness, contrast, and color-saturation levels that are optimized for specific applications. The Menu button takes you into the on-screen display (OSD), where you can further fine-tune image settings by adjusting color temperature, skin tones, picture sharpness, and saturation levels. You can also enable the ASCR (ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio) feature, which boosts the contrast ratio from 1,000:1 to 20,000:1. I found the picture was a bit too bright with the ASCR enabled and preferred the Standard "Splendid" viewing mode over the other four presets.
At the rear of the cabinet are VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports, as well an audio input for the integrated speakers, an S/PDIF audio output, and a headphone jack, which is a nice addition but would be easier to reach if it were mounted on the side or front bezel. I'd love to see a few USB ports as well, but given this monitor's low price I can't complain too much. The 2-watt speakers are clear and fairly loud, but like most embedded speakers they could use a bass boost to fill out the sound a bit. Although DVI, VGA, and audio cables are included in the box, you'll have to supply your own HDMI cable, which I find annoying. HDMI cables are now cheap enough to be included with all HDMI-enabled monitors. On the plus side, ASUS covers the VH242H with a generous three-year parts, labor, and backlight warranty.
The H242H did a fantastic job of displaying HD content in 1080p. I watched a Blu-ray disc of Resident Evil: Extinction in its entirety and was impressed with the panel's motion-handling performance and overall image quality. Colors were bold without appearing oversaturated, and skin tones were spot-on. I also played a few rounds of Burnout Paradise while hooked up to my PS3 console and was equally impressed. Game play was smooth, and there was no motion blur, ghosting, or artifacts.
Back at my PC, I ran my usual array of DisplayMate tests on the VH242H and observed weakness at the high end of the grayscale, a flaw the H242H shares with the Acer H233H. Although the grayscale error wasn't serious enough to knock light colors out of whack, it did result in a slight loss of detail on my test photo and made it impossible to distinguish between the two lightest shades of gray on the 64-Step Grayscale test. Dark grayscale performance was much better, however. Every dark gray level of the 64-Step Grayscale test was well defined and scaled evenly to the darkest shade. The Acer H233H had trouble with this portion of the test, but both monitors were able to display small text clearly and legibly, even down to the smallest font (5.3 points).
The ASUS H242H is a midsize HD display offered at a price that won't empty your wallet, and its performance will satisfy most die-hard gamers and video fans. There are better-performing monitors out there, such as the which comes with a built-in USB hub and a very flexible stand, but that will cost you around $130 more, and it can't handle games and movies as well as the H242H
pc_magazine512:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346114,00.asp
A silver logo is embedded in the center of the lower bezel, and there are five function buttons and a power switch at the right. The use of gray lettering against the black background makes the labeling difficult to read in low light, but there's no mistaking the orange power button, which uses a tiny LED to indicate power-on (blue) and standby (amber) status. Four of the buttons act as hot keys for adjusting brightness and volume levels, selecting an input source, and toggling through the five "Splendid" viewing modes (Game, Night View, Scenery, Theater, and Standard). Each "Splendid" mode offers preset brightness, contrast, and color-saturation levels that are optimized for specific applications. The Menu button takes you into the on-screen display (OSD), where you can further fine-tune image settings by adjusting color temperature, skin tones, picture sharpness, and saturation levels. You can also enable the ASCR (ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio) feature, which boosts the contrast ratio from 1,000:1 to 20,000:1. I found the picture was a bit too bright with the ASCR enabled and preferred the Standard "Splendid" viewing mode over the other four presets.
At the rear of the cabinet are VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports, as well an audio input for the integrated speakers, an S/PDIF audio output, and a headphone jack, which is a nice addition but would be easier to reach if it were mounted on the side or front bezel. I'd love to see a few USB ports as well, but given this monitor's low price I can't complain too much. The 2-watt speakers are clear and fairly loud, but like most embedded speakers they could use a bass boost to fill out the sound a bit. Although DVI, VGA, and audio cables are included in the box, you'll have to supply your own HDMI cable, which I find annoying. HDMI cables are now cheap enough to be included with all HDMI-enabled monitors. On the plus side, ASUS covers the VH242H with a generous three-year parts, labor, and backlight warranty.
The H242H did a fantastic job of displaying HD content in 1080p. I watched a Blu-ray disc of Resident Evil: Extinction in its entirety and was impressed with the panel's motion-handling performance and overall image quality. Colors were bold without appearing oversaturated, and skin tones were spot-on. I also played a few rounds of Burnout Paradise while hooked up to my PS3 console and was equally impressed. Game play was smooth, and there was no motion blur, ghosting, or artifacts.
Back at my PC, I ran my usual array of DisplayMate tests on the VH242H and observed weakness at the high end of the grayscale, a flaw the H242H shares with the Acer H233H. Although the grayscale error wasn't serious enough to knock light colors out of whack, it did result in a slight loss of detail on my test photo and made it impossible to distinguish between the two lightest shades of gray on the 64-Step Grayscale test. Dark grayscale performance was much better, however. Every dark gray level of the 64-Step Grayscale test was well defined and scaled evenly to the darkest shade. The Acer H233H had trouble with this portion of the test, but both monitors were able to display small text clearly and legibly, even down to the smallest font (5.3 points).
The ASUS H242H is a midsize HD display offered at a price that won't empty your wallet, and its performance will satisfy most die-hard gamers and video fans. There are better-performing monitors out there, such as the which comes with a built-in USB hub and a very flexible stand, but that will cost you around $130 more, and it can't handle games and movies as well as the H242H
source:www.pcmag.com
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