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Setup and
Installation |
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Plug it in and
fire it up... |
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Upon
removal from the packaging we began assembling the
display. Located at the end of the metal support
arm are two prongs which slide into the boomerang shaped
base. After assembly, the provided mounting screw
is threaded through the housing of the base and into the
support arm, locking it into place. Though the
screw does a good job of tightly securing everything
together, we were a bit surprised to see that Hercules
opted to use a half plastic, half metal screw. We
thought they would have continued the trend of full
metal construction for the displays support system,
especially on a component that is responsible for
keeping the base attached to the support arm.
Once the display was setup on our test bench we began
the simple process of connecting it to our system.
From there the power adaptor was connected to the AC
Power Block, and then the corresponding plug was
inserted into the rear of the Prophetview. Despite
the fact that the female connection on the display is
placed in a slightly awkward position behind the support
arm, it does offer a nice position for easy concealment
of the monitor's cabling. Along with this, we were
also pleased to see Hercules had the power hungry
consumer in mind. The implementation of a separate
the power block from the actual wall plug is surely an
asset for most high-end computer enthusiasts who are
always seeking that extra power outlet.
Once the unit had power, the Prophetview was simply
plugged into our video card's DVI output. No need
to fret if you do not have a card that supports DVI,
Hercules includes a DVI to VGA converter for just this
instance. After loading XP we updated the
monitor?s .INF file using the supplied CD through Device
Manager and quickly set the display type in the advanced
settings of our video card's display drivers. A
quick reboot later, we were up and running...
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Side of
Display
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Wall
Mounting Information
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For those who are interested
in wall mounting, the entire support system removes from
the rear of the display so that one can attach the
Prophetview to a wall bracket/swivel mount.
Projecting from the wall by a mere 28mm (about 1 inch),
the display will surely present a more sleek, lower
profile positioning for the average user . This
feature is something that is offered, but no hardware is
supplied so aftermarket components are essential
unfortunately.
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Controls and DVI vs. RGB |
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Taming the
Beast... |
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ATi
Monitor Selector
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ATi FPD
Properties
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On
Screen Controls
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On Screen Display (OSD)
controls for the Prophetview
are simple, yet at the same time,
provide a basis for
configurability. In DVI mode
the controls are a little more simplistic because
the DVI connection sets many of the scaling and
positioning parameters.
Nevertheless, the
backlight intensity, color temperature and a few other
options can still be adjusted with
relative ease of navigation.
In
Analog mode, the ability to
tweak the display for phase,
frequency and a few other
various image adjustments is
available. During
testing we were able to
achieve a very nice image in VGA mode,
though it did take a fair amount of
tweaking. However, there
is no comparison to the easy-to-use plug and play
functionality and visuals of crisp and clean DVI mode.
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