LG 882LE

Looking for a wide viewing angle? Try the 882LE.

LG has a reputation for producing stylish looking products, so its new 18.1in flat panel is a bit of a shocker. It looks so, well, normal.

Take away the LG badge and there's little to distinguish it from thousands of other flat panels clothed in light grey plastic.

But unless you're looking to add a touch of class to your reception area, external appearance is of little importance. The Flatron 882 is, for an LCD panel, a substantial piece of kit weighing in at a hefty 9kg. It's mounted on a circular base unit, which you can tilt and swivel without risk of knocking it over.

The external power supply plugs unobtrusively into the base, which also has four USB ports. On the back of the panel are two signal inputs: a D-Sub analogue and DVI-I digital port. Most dual input monitors come only with an analogue cable. LG also provides a digital cable and a DVI-I to D-Sub converter, so you can connect a second analogue source to the DVI-I port.

The panel turned in a good performance with both images and text, although on the default settings the colours were a little muted. There are two colour presets: 6,500K and 9,500K. We found that an equal upward adjustment of the individual red, green and blue settings improved things, but this is a largely subjective judgement.

There's nothing subjective about the 882LE's angle of view, however, which is very wide. The big drawback with flat panels is that if you move a small distance to the left or right the image darkens considerably to the point where you can't see it. For group viewing, this is a significant factor.

Quoted angles of view are often meaningless, but it's rare to see a flat panel that's viewable from more than one position, for example, from either side of a seat, directly in front of it, or from a standing position if adjusted for a seated person. Fortunately, the 882LE can do all this.

CONTACT: LG 0870 607 5544 www.lge.co.uk