Review: EIZO FlexScan T563

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                        Review: EIZO FlexScan T563
  Christian Rotter              christian.rotter@rz.fh-regensburg.d400.de
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PRODUCT NAME

   EIZO FlexScan T563

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

   A 17-inch, .25 pitch, multisync monitor with tension mask CRT

   Vertical Scan Rates:     30-86 kHz
   Horizontal Scan Rates:   55-160 Hz
   Recommended Resolution: 1280x1024 at 80 Hz (more possible)
   Display Size:           323 mm x 242 mm
   Compliant with:         MPR-II, TCO-II, ISO9241-3
                           Energy Star guidelines

COMPANY INFORMATION

   Name:      EIZO CORPORATION
   Address:   655 Fukudome, Matto, Ishikawa 924 Japan

LIST PRICE

   2450.- DM (Germany, date: January 1996)

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

HARDWARE

   An Amiga Computer with GFX-board (for full utilization)
   or display enhancer (flicker fixer).

SOFTWARE

   The Monitor will work on any Amiga with the above add-ons.

COPY PROTECTION

   None 8-)
   But who _can_ copy this wonderful piece of hardware ?

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

Amiga 3000 68030/25, 12 MB Fast RAM, 2 MB Z2-Fast RAM, 2 MB Chip RAM
Retina BLT Z3 with 4 MB RAM, Retina System Software
Quantum Lighning 730S, Quantum LP240S
AmigaDOS/WB 3.1.

INSTALLATION

Plug in and switch on.

REVIEW

The T563 is the big brother of the F563.  The difference is the tension
mask CRT and the CRT trio pitch of 0.25 mm, resulting in a sharp display of
various screenmodes.

I owned a 14" no-name SVGA-monitor quite a long time, and it annoyed me
more from day to day (in the university, I use only Suns with 17+"
displays, so I started to hate this 'mouse-cinema' at home).

And I wanted to use my GFX-board to display a bigger Workbench than the 14"
could display, so I decided to get something bigger.

Some things were a problem: I wanted a display for the normal (flicker-
fixed) VGA-connector and the Retina Z3-connector, so I thought about buying
a electronic monitor switch (damn expensive !).  I already had a manual
switch (normally used for printers), but this one even had problems
transmitting a 35 kHz signal, so I feared the worst for 60 KHz or more.

After testing some monitors and reading some tests, I went for the T563.

Happily, I discovered that this display has two input connectors, one for
D-Sub mini 15 pin and one for 5-BNC (R,G,B,H,V), and so I connected the
normal A3000 flicker-fixer port via D-Sub and the Retina port via BNC.

Result ?  Well, I feared that the monitor would not display the standard 50
Hz from the ECS (used mostly for WORMS :), since it's specified for 55 to
160 Hz horizontal, but it worked quite fine.  The only drawback is that
RetinaEmu can't turn off the ECS completely, so automatic switching from
D-sub to BNC is not working (ECS always spits out some signals), so I have
to press a button everytime I change the display from GFX-board to ECS and
vice versa.  However, I can live with that.

The monitor checks incoming signals, if the frequencies are too high/low,
the monitor turns off, avoiding possible damage (however, 50 Hz works).

The on-screen display manager (multilingual) has lots of possibilities, in
fact, you can change _every_ setting form the display, and you can even
lock the manager, avoiding that silly users change your settings.  There
are 4 factory settings and 18 user-definable settings.

Adjusting the display is quite easy, instead of trimming height, width,
left and right offset separately, simply use the Auto-adjust feature: with
a simple button-press the monitor does this for you, the displayed picture
fills the visible screen with very high accuracy.  Manual adjustment was
not necessary until now.

There are three different settings for colors, one for normal computer
usage, one for paper-like display, and one for viewing videos or digitized
images.  All settings can be modified temporarily or permanently.

Power saving is implemented in several ways:

-Off: no power saving at all
-Nutek: use a screenblanker that blanks the screen totally, the monitor
        switches to suspend mode after a set time and to powersave-mode
        after a second set time.
-VESA DPMS: this is an extension to Nutek and requires special software
            for your GFX-board. The main difference to Nutek is that
            the monitor suspends after a given time _after_ the screen
            went black. After that, it works like Nutek.
-Power consumption: maximum          120 W
                    normal           115 W
                    suspend mode    < 10 W
                    powersave mode  <  5 W

A feature I have not seen before is display chaining.  That means linking
several monitors together with BNC connector cables, producing a 'showcase'
for presentations, all monitors display the same picture.

And should someone finger-print the anti-reflex coated CRT surface, remove
it with the supplied cleaning cloth (and cut the finger that touched it :).

DOCUMENTATION

There is one multi-lingual manual with instructions in English, German and
French and several other papers (see OTHER ACCESSORIES).

The manual contains a lot of safety information and describes everything
needed for operation on 38 pages with explaining pictures.

The installation instructions are very straightforward, no problems here.

There is an extensive troubleshooting section in the manual, but I never
needed it.

OTHER ACCESSORIES

   VGA signal cable (D-Sub mini 15 pin)
   AC cord
   Warranty Card
   User's Manual
   ScreenManager Quick Reference Guide
   CRT Cleaning Cloth (!)
   Tilt-swivel Stand

SPECIAL KNOW-HOW

As far as I know, EIZO monitors are sold under the NANAO-label in the US.

The factory settings are 100% for brighness and contrast, I would reduce
that to about 70% to avoid excessive CRT-stress.

LIKES

Very good display, sharp, with bright colors.

Monitor feels 'solid' and looks attractive (think I already love it :)

Lots of goodies:
   -Auto-resize button - fast way to adjust to different resolutions
   -Dual video input (good for using Retina & ECS-chips, video switch
      no longer required !)
   -CRT Cleaning Cloth is included (good for removing fingerprints)
   -On-screen display manager (multilingual)
   -possibility to lock the current settings, a 'normal' user cannot
      mess up anything
   -several monitors can be chained together, ideal for presentations

I really like using a flicker-free 1120x832 Workbench.

DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS

The monitor is pretty expensive (but it's worth it).

Loudspeakers are missing, but I prefer a good amplifier with good speakers
anyway.

I would prefer a BNC video cable, but this is personal 'taste'.

So: no real dislikes

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

I've seen a lot of other 17" monitors before, from Sony, Idek and Miro, and
some more.  The Eizo may be pretty expensive, but it beats all the other
monitors when it comes to economy and quality.

BUGS

None.

VENDOR SUPPORT

All worked fine right from the start, so I had no need to check this.

However, the local EIZO dealer is very kind and a real pro, so I would say
support is very good (he offered me a refund if I would have been
discontented with this monitor).

WARRANTY

Normally one year, if you mail an enclosed warranty registration card to
EIZO, warranty is extended to three (3 !!) years.

CONCLUSIONS

A monitor for everyone who needs a high resolution and ergonomic display.

Ok, it's expensive, but I'm already wearing glasses (nearly 20 years now),
and I know how important my eyes are.  So why should I use something that
possibly is not good for my eyes ?  Everyone looks at CPU MHz, HD size and
RAM amount, but most people I know have cheap monitors and some even get
headaches when working for several hours.

And before I spend 1500.- DM on a 17" display that I'm discontented with
(because some 'minor' noise or 'flaky' display), I'll better buy quality.

I rate this product 5 stars out of 5.

AT should try to improve graphics performance in future models, high
resolution - flicker free - is a must for the next generation of computers
with improved GUIs.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Copyright 1995 Christian Rotter.  All rights reserved.

This review may be redistributed for free, please avoid changes.

Copies go to Amiga Report and AmiNet (directory: docs/rview).

EMail: christian.rotter@rz.fh-regensburg.d400.de
  WWW: http://rfhs1012.fh.uni-regensburg.de/~rotter/

PS

HTML version is available at this URL:
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Should you have any questions about the hardware I use, please drop me a
mail.

For regular mail check out my homepage, you'll find all the information you
need there.

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