So what’s the ideal solution? Why, combining the two, of course, which is exactly what Hyundai is offering with its 22in BlueH HM22D LCD TV monitor. After its rather impressive Hyundai W241D PVA monitor, we expect good things from the company, so let’s hope this model matches up. The reason I mention cable-swapping is not because I happen to have a multitude of AV gear that only the most input-rich TVs could handle, but because the HM22D only features a single digital connection, in this case HDMI. While this is a flaw that, probably due to its budget nature, it shares with the aforementioned LG, in this day and age, one digital input really isn’t enough. If you want to connect your PC properly (using DVI-HDMI, or a simple HDMI cable if your PC is new enough to have this connector), you can’t even hook up a modern console anymore without resorting to analogue. It’s helped along by speakers that somewhat justify their frontal positioning. I’ve yet to hear integrated 22in monitor speakers that beat any reasonable pair of discrete units. That said, although bass is tinny at best and nonexistent at worst, these speakers go loud without too much distortion and treble is fairly well-defined with some nice depth.

In the end, it comes down to your needs and which one represents the right fit for the budget, business needs, and level of knowledge you possess. The OSD should also be easier to use than on most monitors, since the BlueH actually has up and down buttons in addition to the usual left and right (of course using the remote is easiest, but this is handy when your said gadget gets lost/chewed up by your dog/kid or runs out of juice). However, input selection is confusing. A dedicated button brings up the input menu, which tells you to use left/right arrow keys, when all the monitor has is +/- and up/down. Talking of up/down, despite the menu being presented in two rows, you can’t jump vertically from one row to the other directly, instead you have to move horizontally to the end of one row before moving to the next.