Samsung SyncMaster 215TW

Connectivity:

Connectivity is certainly an area that can definitely influence your buying decisions. The buzz word of the moment on the connectivity front is HDCP compliancy. It makes little sense to buy a display today without HDCP support, because it will prevent you from playing protected High-Definition content when Vista arrives. Thankfully, the SyncMaster 215TW comes with a HDCP-enabled DVI port, so there is nothing to worry about on that front. All that is left to worry about is finding a suitable video card - they are coming slowly but surely, though...

Along with the HDCP enabled DVI port, there is a 15-pin D-Sub port, a set of Component connectors, a pair of phono connectors and a 3.5mm line in jack on the back at the bottom of the screen. If that wasn't enough to satisfy your needs, Samsung has also included Composite and S-Video connectors on the left hand side of the monitor. The array of connections will allow you to hook up pretty much anything to the 215TW. You'll be able to connect your computer along with a DVD player, your Xbox 360, a freeview box and a digital video camera, without the need to unplug anything.

We've mentioned that the SyncMaster 215TW has audio-in connectors, and there are no prizes for guessing that the screen has an integrated speaker panel along the bottom. It comes as no surprise to us to find that the integrated speakers are of poor quality - we've not found a decent set of integrated speakers, so we were not expecting miracles here. However, unlike many integrated speakers, the ones included on the SyncMaster 215TW are small and unobtrusive.

Near to the left hand edge of the speaker panel, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack. We hooked up a pair of Sennheiser HD570 headphones to it and found that the quality was pretty good. Subjectively speaking, we didn't notice any differences between between relaying the headphones through the 215TW and directly connected to the soundcard on our PC.