UMC 21.6" Freeview LCD TV / Monitor

Features:

• Built in Freeview digital tuner with EPG
• CI slot for adding payable digital services
• 1920x1080 resolution (full HD) with progressive scan
• NICAM stereo sound

Inputs:

• Component
• Scart
• HDMI
• VGA
• RF Video
• S-Video
• PC audio in
• Component/S-Video audio in

For some reason it seems that it's much cheaper to get a monitor with a TV tuner built in than it is to get a TV with a VGA input. I've always wondered how a 17" LCD monitor could be had for a fraction of the price of a similarly sized LCD TV, and it looks like a lot of smaller manufacturers are having the same thoughts. UMC is a little known brand - so little known that I'd never heard of them before - who seem to take the VGA monitor to TV route, and produce some surprisingly cost effective solutions as a result. The set on review today is a 21.6" LCD with VGA capability that can output a full 1080p resolution - that's true HD on something that can happily sit on your desktop. Ignore the usual 'there's no point in 1080 on a set of that size' merchants - if you're sat close enough under normal conditions to see the detail then it's worth it, simple.

The desktop aspect is critical in this because the UMC also makes an absolutely superb monitor as long as you're not a graphic designer, but more of that later. It's not always practical to provide your desktop PC, Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 and assorted plugin devices with their own dedicated screens, so a single unit that can cater for all of them is a bonus - especially for students who may have limited space in their rooms.

Let's get to to the TV itself. It's a very smart, gloss black unit with minimal branding and a small footprint. The 21.6" panel has a matt finish and so can live happily in a studio or workplace without attracting excessive glare. The top edge of the set features controls for the main menu, channel selection, volume, inputs source and standby, and the inputs themselves are placed behind and to the left of the set. The stand isn't as solid as you would hope, but then I've seen exactly the same issue on far more expensive Samsungs so this isn't a deal breaker - just don't hammer your keyboard if your desk isn't rock solid! Contrary to some reports on the net, this TV does have tilt adjustment to achieve an ideal viewing position but it's quite stiff. The input connectors are solid and well anchored, but the positioning of the SCART and S-video sockets does mean that an angled SCART cable will not allow an S-video device to be connected. Unless you're heavily into older camcorders though, this shouldn't be an issue.

When connected, the UMC will run through a very slick and simple auto setup and does a very good job of detecting analogue and digital channels. The manual claims a digital signal strength of 85% is required for good quality images, but it seems to be happy with signals far lower than this without any artefacts or freezes. The on screen interface is very clear, easy to navigate and doesn't suffer from translation-itis (Please to push most top button in control in screen, etc) and you'll be up and running in minutes. The EPG and text work very well, and it does exactly what you'd expect a freeview set to do without drama. The welcome addition of a CI card slot allows the addition of paid services at a later date. For the sake of this test, I tried the component and HDMI connections from an Xbox 360, and a PC running the screen at its maximum 1920x1080 resolution.

We'll take a look at VGA performance. The on-screen menu offers the ability to re-sync the panel to the VGA input with a single button press - this takes less than three seconds and crops the image almost perfectly to the screen boundaries. 'Almost' in this case involves losing a couple of pixels from the top and bottom, but it really is only a couple and barely noticeable unless you're a stickler for detail. The output is sharp and extremely clear although a plain black background does reveal a small amount of light leakage along the top and bottom edges of the panel on high brightness settings. This is only noticeable under extreme circumstances and seems to be present in many modern LCDs so it's not worth worrying about too much. The initial brightness level is very high for a monitor due to the screens TV credentials, so you might need to tame it a bit or use one of the built-in profiles selectable from the 'p-mode' button on the remote control. Be aware that if you lower the brightness by a large amount the picture seems to become oversaturated, and you can't make fine adjustments to the colour in VGA mode - this is why designers might want to give it a miss because they'll find it nearly impossible to colour calibrate it properly. You'll only get a maximum refresh rate of 60hz at the native resolution but that should suffice for most applications. I can't speak for the rates for other resolutions because a chart isn't provided, but I suspect that's your upper limit regardless.It's easily good enough to be a main monitor for the majority of users.

Switching over to the Xbox 360 running component leads reveals a disappointing picture that appears to be scaled from a much lower resolution and looks slightly fuzzy. The 360 reports that it's running at 1080P but you'd have to be mad to believe that if you'd only seen the output. A bit of research shows that this is most likely to be a limitations of the connection type causing the problem, and that component is apparently not capable of carrying a clean 1080p signal. Time to try it via HDMI instead, using the cheapest lead I could find at short notice - a 1.5m Ross lead costing a fiver. Why the cheapest? Because of the ludicrous myths surrounding image quality for more expensive leads. It's DIGITAL - the signal either gets there or it doesn't. Do people honestly think they can get a better class of ones and zeroes by paying over a hundred quid for the same cable? The only time I'll concede that a higher quality cable might be necessary is if you're running it over long distances where attenuation (signal strength loss over distance) might become an issue, but I don't know the thresholds so even that is tenuous.

The difference between component and HDMI is stunning. The 360's splash screen is vivid and sparkly, and the NXE is razor sharp right down to the subtle circles in the background. After checking it's running in 1080p, I pick Gears of War 2 to use as a test because of the depth of the backgrounds and the subtle colour palettes in the outdoor levels. The UMC doesn't disappoint, with Marcus and Co. appearing in crystal clear detail to the degree where the deficiencies in some of the textures becomes clear. The LCD panel renders the subtleties of tone extremely well whilst reproducing piercing light blooms and murky shadows to a good degree of detail. Again, a slight degree of oversaturation sometimes appears but it really is slight and doesn't do any harm. There doesn't appear to be any visual tearing that can't be attributed to the game engine, and digital artefacts are nonexistant. Further tests with the high gloss Race Driver: GRID and the dramatic Bioshock allow the panel to play up to its strengths, with a solid and visually impressive performance on both counts. I also had a quick blast on Guitar Hero World Tour to check for the dreaded input lag issue, and managed to play through a random track on expert level with no hiccups. It's safe to say that if there is any lag in there, you won't notice it.

One thing we need to cover which I've left until now because it applies to all screen modes is the sound. To put it simply, it lets the entire package down. You get a functional pair of stereo speakers that offer a surprisingly wide presentation but they sound thin and have no low end to speak of. Adjusting the treble and bass through the on-screen menu helps a bit, but you won't be shaking the floor with DVD soundtracks. The real problem is that the set doesn't have any form of audio output - not even a headphone socket - so you need to tap the audio from any source first and feed it elsewhere, which is generally fairly easy. If you can live with this then it won't bother you too much, but it's still a big disappointment. One of the FAQs on the website deals specifically with 'disappointing sound' so I suspect it's just one of those things.

So, in conclusion:

Good points:

• Good looking and solidly built set
• Wide range of connectivity
• Sharp and clear image for all inputs
• Good menu system and easy auto-configure
• Solid colours with no noticeable artefacts or tearing
• Very good contrast, better than advertised ratio suggests
• No noticeable input lag via HDMI

Bad points

• Poor sound quality with no audio out
• Only one HDMI socket
• Stand could be more solid
• Very slight light leakage along top and bottom edges of panel
• Not possible to calibrate colour in VGA mode
• Can be quite bright when used as a monitor unless adjusted

The overall verdict is that this is a little gem of a set that can offer lots of connectivity and a high quality whilst taking up little space. It's probably not an ideal main TV set unless you have a very small room, but as a bedroom set, games console screen, or joint gaming/PC monitor it performs brilliantly and is almost impossible to fault. Now for the suckerpunch - at the time of writing, this set can be picked up from a couple of large supermarket chains for under £170. That's a full 1080P 22"(ish) high definition TV that doubles as a top notch monitor, for less than the price of a bog standard 19" set without VGA and with a fraction of the resolution.