The era of HTPCs is clearly here: just run a search on Google and watch a wide variety of models and configurations pop up. You can watch TV programs, play heavy games, watch films – or work on an Excel spreadsheet if that's what turns you on. And why shouldn’t they be popular? We have some of the biggest brands supporting and making peripherals for such modern monsters
LG has, for instance, released a completely new range of high quality displays, of which two models are meant for watching TV and movies, besides performing regular computing operations. We got the 20-inch M208WA for review soon after its release, so we had the pleasure of being among the first to check it out. And check it out we did!
Design and Features
This one is a simplistic, yet powerfully packed product, filled with just the right features and connections. Looks-wise it sports a glossy black exterior, juxtaposed with a horizontal speaker panel and associated black grille. The LG logo is imprinted bang center of the bottom panel, while the power switch comes in a flattish arrowhead design, facing downwards, which lights up in a luminous blue when switched on. The right extremity has the IR receiver for the remote, a feature never seen on normal PC monitors.
The monitor and its black circular stand are separately packed; though assembling it takes only a few seconds. The unit is quite light, even though the screen is a full 20 inches. Flipping it back for the connections is very easy as the stand has sufficient room for rotation. The sockets for plugs include a component in, AV, S-video, VGA-in, and a DVI-D in. There's an all-important cable antenna input, which is not generally seen on PC monitors. A line of buttons on the top serve basic navigation functions.
As for the specs, it’s a 20 inch TFT LCD screen, 0.25 mm pixel pitch, with an unusual max resolution (at least for TVs) of 1680 x 1050. So while it doesn’t qualify to be full-HD, we can call it 'HD-ready'. The recommended viewing is this same setting (duh) at 60Hz.It consumes about 50 W of power, and weighs 4.8 Kg. And now for the specs everyone seems to care about the most: 3000:1 contrast ratio and 300 cd/m² brightness. These values are not particularly impressive.
Is it available in india? 
