Mirai DTL-522P201 review

The Mirai isn't just any old LCD TV.

Unlike most models that are limited to low-ish resolutions like 1360 x 768, the Mirai has a high native resolution of 1680 x 1050. This means that it should be good enough to show high definition Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies in (almost) all their glory. Better still, it should be able to double as a high quality PC monitor too, and all for under £300.

The generous array of inputs is the Mirai's biggest asset. There are two SCART sockets for hooking up video recorders, digital set-top boxes and games consoles, and you can connect a PC to its analogue VGA input. Crucially for an HDTV, the digital HDMI socket will accept HDCP copy-protected signals from standalone Blu-ray and HD-DVD players or from PCs running Windows Vista.

Unfortunately, the TV is a huge disappointment. Despite using a 1680 x 1050 panel, Mirai bizarrely recommend that you use 1440 x 900, or better still, 1280 x 720 resolutions for PCs connected via HDMI or VGA. The image quality was fuzzy and indistinct at 1680 x 1050, a bit less fuzzy at 1440 x 900 and better, but still by no means sharp, at 1280 x 720. Playing back our Finding Nemo DVD put the final nails in the coffin. The Mirai managed to make our DVD look more like a VHS tape. High definition movies told a similar tale and we couldn't tell the difference between DVD and high definition versions of the same film. Fiddling with the cryptic, unresponsive menus didn't improve matters either.

We hoped that the built-in TV tuner might cheer us up a little and it did, even though it is an analogue-only model. It did at least manage to pick up a good clean signal from the five terrestrial TV channels.

On paper, the Mirai looks like a good deal and if it had image quality that got even close to rivalling the company's superb value DML-522W100, we'd have been very happy. As it stands though, if you want a bargain LCD TV look elsewhere, and if you want a great value 22in PC monitor, we'd buy Mirai's DML-522W100 for about a hundred pounds less.