Hallmark Viewmaster ES555

By Matt Tett, RMIT IT Test Labs on 13 August 2004

A very nice, professional looking display with in-built speakers -- a decent monitor at a reasonable price.

  • Good: Built-in speakers • Stylish matt silver over gunmetal grey • Wall mountable
  • Bad: No headphone jack • No swivel capability
    Integrated VGA cable is not removable, making it difficult to replace
  • Specs: 200 cd/m2 • 400 :1 • 15 inch • 35 ms • See more specifications
  • RRP: AU$579.00 • Where to buy? Check price listings
Design
The Viewmaster unit is a stylish matt silver over gunmetal grey. The rear of the monitor has a set of wall mounting points. The base is easily removed by taking out two screws. There are two ports/sockets on this monitor, the first is a standard IEC power socket and the second is an audio jack for audio input. The video input is via an integrated VGA cable that is just over 1.5 metres in length. Note that this cable is not removable, so should the cable or plug ever become damaged or need replacement, the entire unit would need to be returned to a service centre. (This is also the case with the ViewSonic VE510 monitor.)

Features
The base of the Viewmaster unit is quite sturdy, while not offering any swivel capabilities the pivot forward and aft would be more than sufficient for most applications. The rear of the unit has a Kensington security lock port too.

When we first plugged this monitor in it automatically went through a setup procedure, which resulted in the image on the display looking very dull, blurred, and out of focus. We immediately suspected that something was wrong, however a short flip through the menu showed that the phase was way out and once set more conservatively we found the screen image to be quite sharp. We then ran the auto setup again which can be accessed from the menu and found that the brightness also improved dramatically.

Performance
Image quality was reasonably good in our performance tests. During video playback, there was some slight tearing and pixellation however nothing to be really concerned about. The depth of field also was not as good as some of the other monitors.

This is a very nice professional looking display with inbuilt speakers, but no headphone port. There is no DVI input or swivel on the base, also the integrated video cable may become a headache to replace. Overall this is a decent monitor at a reasonable price.

Topics: lcd, monitor, viewmaster, es555, hallmark

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  • CNET Editorial 13/08/2004

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