HannsG HG221AP 22" widescreen monitor

Subjective Image Quality Analysis

In addition to the battery of targeted tests, we also tested the HG221AP in a selection of more real-world scenarios. This was done using a pair of displays cloned (the pretty accurate LCD2690WUXi was the second display) in our graphics card driver – we tested the HG221AP's performance by editing photos, watching video, gaming on the PC, browsing the Internet and also writing this review.

Out of the box, we encountered the bizarre firmware bug that we talked about earlier in the review – this actually meant the display was squishing the 1,680 x 1,050 resolution we'd set inside Windows down into 1,400 x 1,050, which resulted in some horrible image quality that essentially made the monitor unusable at its native resolution. The best compromise at the time was 1,440 x 900 and that looked as close to native as we were going to get.

(Update: HannsG informs us that the firmware bug has been fixed on production HG221AP models - it turns out that our sample was from the first batch, which is where the problem was first spotted.)

Of course, the hotkey combo fixed this, but every time we connected the display to another system (or graphics card in the same system), we had to apply the fix again. That's a minor annoyance, but it's not going to affect most of you unless you plan on switching between PC and, say, Xbox 360 every now and again.

While we were working out these problems, we also tested the HG221AP's ability to support aspect ratio scaling. What's clear is that it doesn't support 1:1 pixel mapping at all, but it does have rudimentary support for aspect scaling – but it's incredibly dumb. A great example of its stupidity was when we were able to scale 1,680 x 1,050 into a 4:3 resolution – yeah, it looked rubbish as I'm sure you can imagine.


At its default setting (post resolution fix), text was a little blurry for our own preferences which is pretty strange in this day and age – most manufacturers love to sharpen things up to the extent that we usually find ourselves lowering the sharpness levels either in the display OSD or graphics card driver (if the display doesn't have built in control). With the HG221AP though, we actually found ourselves increasing the sharpness – there are five settings in total (-2, -1, 0, 1 and 2) and everything below "1" is too blurry in our opinion. Setting it to "-2" reminds me of how I felt when I woke up on Sunday morning after a late night partying – maybe that's intentional, I don't know.

The blacks were a bit of an issue when it came to gaming and watching movies as well – any particularly dark scenes are overly dark and you'll notice that a lot of detail in darker areas just isn't there. However, the lighter environments look great in both games and movies.

To be frank, it was a similar experience when it came to editing photos – anything that was well-lit with very few shadows wasn't a problem to work with, but when there are a lot of darker areas, you'll find yourself guessing where the detail is. It's a problem, but it's not so much of an issue that you wouldn't edit pictures on the HG221AP – just don't expect perfect results although I hope you wouldn't from a 22-incher that costs only £110.

Conclusions

On the whole, I've been pleasantly surprised at the HannsG HG221AP's performance in our battery of tests – it's not only on a par many of the other 22-inchers we've seen recently, but it surpassed many of them when it came to image quality and/or colour vibrancy. That's not to say it's perfect though, and nor is it the best 22-incher on the market by a long stretch. But it is one of the cheapest.

The lack of digital connectivity is what really holds this display back – we would have loved to see a DVI port included for example, but it was left out in order to keep the price low. We'd also wish for a slightly firmer stand and slightly better black levels, but aside from that there's very little to complain about given the price especially as it puts many other 22-inch TN+Film displays to shame.

• Features
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• 6/10

• Image Quality
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• 7/10

• Value
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• 10/10

• Overall
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• 8/10

Score Guide