LG Flatron L204WT review

LG's brand new L204WT is its latest widescreen model.

It's a 20in panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio. This size and ratio affords a native resolution of 1680 x 1050, which again is common to most 20in widescreen TFTs. For connection, there's one DVI-D connector and one D-Sub. In all these regards then, there's nothing too remarkable about the L204WT.

However, LG's big claim for its newest monitor is that the screen has "the world's most extreme contrast". The veracity of such a boast is difficult to test without procuring and examining every display ever manufactured, but on paper it certainly has the lead - the 2000:1 contrast ratio figure is the highest on the market right now. However, no TFT screen can boast a real 2000:1 contrast ratio - the current technology just isn't capable without a little help.

LG employs image-processing circuitry to artificially boost the panel's actual contrast range of about 700:1 to eke the most detail from dark and light scenes. At least that's the theory. In our tests, it was easy to see the dynamic contrast at work, making it look like someone was constantly fiddling with the brightness and contrast controls. Turn it off though, and things improve drastically, with the LG providing bright, clean whites and plenty of detail in the murkier areas of the picture. Colour reproduction was perhaps a little subdued, but let's not be too picky - the L204WT's display is simply fantastic for the money.

The panel has a response time of 5ms. This figure relates to the time it takes for individual pixels to be updated. The faster that pixels are updated, the smoother and cleaner the appearance of fast-moving images, like movies and games featuring lots of action.

The L204WT's response time figure of 5ms is pretty darn low and the results are suitably impressive. We treated ourselves to watching a high-definition film and soon forgot that we were viewing it on a sensibly-priced LCD monitor. The LG Flatron is a lovely product at a very tempting price.