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In my last review I looked at a monitor with an 8ms response time, and to be honest the real world difference that made was pretty much negligible. So, as you can imagine I wasn’t expecting to see much of a change between that monitor and the 17in VX724 from ViewSonic, which it claims has a 4ms response time.

I was right. Personally, I couldn’t notice any improvement between the two monitors under high frame rate gaming and when watching movies. That said, I am sure there are “highly-tuned” gamers out there that will argue they can, but I’d question the ability to perceive a 4ms increase in response time.

Interestingly, I also compared the VX724 with a CRT and subjected both to DisplayMate’s Motion Smearing engine. This uses a series of test screens that are moved in horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions at varying speeds, so that motion artefacts can be assessed. The outcome? Well, motion smearing was observed in both, but manifests itself in different ways.

With the VX724, the test screen fonts for example would blur a little around the edges, the extent of which would vary depending on the colour of the font and the whether the background was grey or black. This would imply that the response time is different depending on which colour (or shade of grey) the liquid crystals are twisting from and too, and vice versa.

To some degree this ties in with relatively recent LCD research that has shown that it can take longer to switch from one grey level to another, in comparison to switching from black to white or white to black. Basically, this is because liquid crystals tend to respond more rapidly when the maximum voltage is applied to switch to black, rather than one that has to be varied for each and every grey level. This is why manufacturers have traditionally quoted black to white and back again response times as these tend to provide a faster number. Interestingly, ViewSonic quotes an average grey-to-grey response time of 4ms, and a black-to-white-to-black one of 5.4ms for the VX724, but as we'll see these low times are a result of some clever modifications.

To address the grey to grey response times, manufacturers like ViewSonic have adopted a technique that basically primes each pixel cell with a higher or lower than required voltage in order to make the switch to a darker shade or lighter shade respectively much quicker. ViewSonic has termed this ClearMotiv and if you want to read more about the company’s take on response time check out its guide here.

Returning to the VX724/CRT comparison, the fonts were visually sharper on the CRT as they moved around the monitor, but a comet-like motion trail could be seen trailing behind. This is mainly due to phosphor decay times.

So, in both cases there’s an element of smearing, with a decent CRT sneaking the edge over a fast response time LCD in terms of motion clarity. However, remember we’re talking very small differences here, and basically there’s no doubt that the VX724 is a monitor where achieving a fast response time has been seriously addressed.

Outside of the research labs, and back to the real world, both games and movies looked fine on the VX724, largely due to the screen’s obviously brighter and vibrant panel. I have another two LCDs on my desk and the VX724 is by far the punchier when set to standardised, calibrated levels. And, if the brightness and contrast OSD scales were anything to go by, it would appear there's plenty of scope for increasing both levels. Not so, as the picture became far too garish well before the end of both scales.

By default, I would describe the VX724 as a cool screen – a screen that has a bluish tone to the overall picture. However, don’t confuse this with colour temperature where the opposite (a warmer) would be the appropriate terminology. If this bluish cool look isn’t to your liking then you can always opt for a different colour temperature from the presets (sRGB, 9300K, 6500K, and 5400K) or tweak it yourself using the independently adjustable RGB levels in user mode. As for viewing angles these were acceptably wide with only a small colour shift and drop in illumination when viewed vertically from about 60 degrees from centre.

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