Handling

With the w2216v, HP lists among features : "BriteView Technology that enhances clarity and provides brilliant colours."

At first sight this 22’’ seems very similar to the w2408h: glossy panel, black glossy bezel and such an original base; everything seems to be there. However, if you look a little closer, you see that the USB hub has gone, that there’s only one available VGA input and that you can no longer adjust the base up and down. After taking away all of these points, it only gets one star for the quality of its hardware--and that's largely thanks to the inclusion of a pair of speakers, and the fact that the base is mounted on a stand.

Colour quality

Although the contrast ratio isn’t bad at all (around 850:1), the colour quality is disappointing.

The average difference measured with the sensor confirms what you see with the eye. We get score of 5: too high considering we aim at getting under 1 and that anything above 3 is problematic. What is even more troubling is that the OSD doesn’t let you improve the colour rendering very well. HP talks about the brilliance of the colours. Great--but they still need to be accurate!

Responsiveness


By default, the Overdrive function (a function designed to improve the reactivity of the monitor), is disactivated. Tests show that when Overdrive is disactivated the responsiveness is slightly better than that on a classic 5 ms screen. When it is on however, we get a nasty surprise, a reverse ghosting effect, which makes the residual image more visible than when it’s off. Even worse, with films there are such marked effects that our tester almost passed out. So don’t bother with overdrive if you’re at all concerned about video quality.