AOC e2352Phz review

AOC’s 23in Full HD e2352Phz is the first monitor we’ve seen to use passive, rather than active, 3D. This type of 3D technology uses polarised glasses (standard and spectacle clip-on models are in the box) rather than active shutter glasses, so you don’t need expensive glasses that need charging.

However, you need to use side-by-side 3D, whereby you only get half of the horizontal resolution, as the image is interlaced to fit both frames (left and right eye) on screen at once). Pretty much every bit of 3D kit supports this mode and, with the monitor’s HDMI 1.4a input, you can connect any external 3D device, such as a Blu-ray player or games console. Install the TriDef 3D software, though, and the monitor will work with AMD graphics cards on your PC.

TriDef has profiles for a wide range of games, although it has a generic mode to work with pretty much any title. The quality at standard settings is mixed and we had to adjust the 3D depth setting to get rid of the ghosting we saw. Once configured, it’s good fun playing games and the extra depth adds immersion. We can forgive the occasional fault, such as shimmering on some graphics, due to the interlaced image. Crosstalk, where one eye see the other eye’s image, is non-existent once the monitor’s angle is adjusted correctly. However, we found we had to use the HDMI input for the best results, as some games wouldn’t work over DVI.

Movies generally work well, although the screen’s small size means that there’s little depth to the image. With no motion processing, some movement looked juddery. We think 3D movies work better on a larger screen that mostly fills your peripheral vision, so the e2352Phz isn’t ideal for films.

Standard picture quality is very good. The screen has an odd finish that’s a cross between matt and glossy. It reflected our desktop surface, but reduced the glare from overhead lights considerably. Colours were accurate but lacked some of the punch you get from a glossy screen. The LED backlight is bright and even, producing consistent colours.

Our main gripe is with the awful menu system. It’s logically laid out, but the buttons’ labels are moulded in the same black plastic as the case, so are hard to read – until you get to know which is which, it’s easy to hit the power button instead of the neighbouring menu button. The menu itself appears as a strip along the bottom of the screen, and there’s a considerable lag between button pushes and anything happening.

If you want a decent 2D monitor and want to play the occasional 3D game (via an AMD graphics card or games console), this display is a great budget choice. However, if 3D is more of a novelty for you, the ViewSonic VA2448-LED has far better image quality and costs less.