Test reports

2. Hardware test: Monitor 'Belinea 10 70 65' (by Kilian Servais)

»Well, that the special Amiga monitors 1438S and 1538S and especially the old "ray cannons" 1084S and similar models have notched up for some years is a well-known fact. And that these don't make much sense when using a graphics board should also be clear; and also AGA-only users should urgently think about buying a scandoubler. I also had to decide for buying a new monitor and I chose the Beline 10 70 65.

The technical data: This monitor is a 17" monitor, which offers 40.6 cm of visible area. The screen mask has dots of 0.26 mm size. The monitor automatically scans any horizontal frequencies from 30-95 kHz, which is a brillian value. So you can no longer use the 15 kHz modes of the Amiga directly, but who needs those with these values? The maximum resolution is at 1600 x 1200 in "non-interlaced" mode, 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 have proven to be good. In addition the Belinea 10 70 65 offers built-in stereo speakers, so there is no problem with hearing fine audio. And the quality of the Nakamichi sound system, which got best rates in the A+ (remark of the translator: the German print magazine AmigaPlus), is really impressive. You just have to hear it to describe this sound. As got used from modern monitors the Belinea 10 70 65 offers a state to the art OSD ("OnScreenDisplay"), which lets you set up the monitor, like:

• contrast/brightness
• zoom
• horizontal size and position
• vertical size and position
• cushion
• rotation
• colour temperature
• call back
• energy save mode
• video level
• language
• audio
• OSD position
• degaussing

In usage: In daily use this monitor has proven to be good either connected to an Amiga or to a PC. A very clear and contrasted picture, which nearly doesn't flicker awaits the user when switching it on. If I remember my 1438S or my 1084S my eyes are watering. Even with high resolution it is possible to work without flickering, and that in 16 bit! The praised audio system is also very convincing. In a few words: You cannot complain the picture or the sound. But it should be clear, that the monitor reaces the top level only with a graphics board in the Amiga, with AGA you can use the high resolutions only at a crawl, not to mention that AGA is unable to display resolution like 1024 x 768...

Conclusion: A brilliant monitor, which nearly doesn't have any weak points; just the manual, which is in multiple languages is a bit thin (10 pages; but who needs a manual of 200 pages with a monitor?). Except that there are no complains with the monitor; good quality and the mentioned features are the points of the Belinea 10 70 65. And in combination with a graphics board you won't recognize the WB on this monitor. The price of around 750.00 DEM (approx. 382.65 Euros) is all right in any case. Who needs a new monitor, I can recommend it! Even the A+ (remark of the translator: the German magazine AmigaPlus) was correct with their 98% evaluation. :-)) AGA-users should remember that they have to invest another 150 DEM (approx. 76.53 Euros) for a scandoubler, which is necessary to connect the Belinea 10 70 65 to the Amiga!