The BenQ E2400HD is another Hybrid - part computer monitor and part HDTV - that at 24" fits perfectly into a home office or a dorm room.

Its footprint is small enough that it doesn't dominate a desktop, but its 1080p image is big enough to satisfy FPS gamers and movie watchers.

Of course, I am assuming that you will be sitting relatively closer to the E2400HD than you would a 42" flat screen. For me, I'm usually no farther than three feet away. At that distance, the display fills my prime viewing angle - perfect for streaming March Madness while you should be typing that term paper.

The E2400HD is a monitor by definition because it does not have a TV tuner, neither NTSC nor ATSC. If you plan on watching broadcast TV on this unit, you need to plug it into a set top box or use a portable TV tuner attached to your computer. Or, nowadays, you can stream programs from Internet sites like ESPN.com, HULU or Netflix.

Hybrids like the E2400HD have come a long way in their evolution from computer monitors to HDTVs. For example, earlier models still sported the PC 16x10 aspect ratio. This BenQ's display is an HDTV 16x9. Still, the E2400HD exhibits vestigial characteristics of it computer monitor ancestors.

Even though I cannot really call it an HDTV - it doesn't even have a remote control - the E2400HD, with its crisp, colorful high definition screen, makes a great combo computer monitor/HDTV.

Our Star Ratings

Performance: 4.0

The E2400HD's picture quality is respectable, especially color rendering, but blacks could be deeper. If you are counting on the inadequate integrated speakers for audio playback, subtract at least one point.

Features: 3.5

As a computer monitor, the BenQ's feature set is fine. Though I would like to see at least one USB port. As a TV, the lack of a robust set of picture adjustment tools and a remote control are regrettable.

Ease of Use: 4.0

Setup is easy because you don't have that many settings to adjust, which is not necessarily a good thing. But this BenQ delivers a creditable image out of the box.

Value: 4.0

If you buy the BenQ E2400HD as a computer monitor, you won't be disappointed. If you are primarily wanting a 24" TV to watch DVDs, you might shop around. However you plan to use this Hybrid, be aware that you will definitely need a separate speaker system.

Star Ratings Description

Ratings are relative to when the review was written. The obvious example is Value, what you could purchase for $2000 two years ago or even two months ago would seem like a bad value for that price now. We have given only a precious few 5 Star ratings, which we reserve for truly outstanding accomplishment.

When you unpack the E2400HD, you'll find that the base is disconnected from the screen and some assembly is required, which is fairly simple.

Please note that the arm of the stand, from what I can tell, is permanently connected to the display, which means that you couldn't easily attach the TV to a wall mount.

The stand does not swivel from side to side, but it does tilt back and forward about 15 or 20 degrees, allowing you to adjust it to your line of sight. With this stand, you cannot rotate the display to a vertical, portrait orientation.

At less than one inch, the glossy black bezel seems proportional to the 24" screen. BenQ accents the black with a thin brushed silver recessed frame.

Since most computer monitors don't provide a remote control, one of my complaints is the placement of the menu buttons. And even more frustrating is the usual lack of clearly labeled controls.

I'm glad to report that the E2400HD buttons are conveniently located on the right edge of the display and I can actually read the labels, even with the monitor on. If you ever spend any time playing with the picture controls, you will be thankful.

One of the perks of a 24" monitor is its light weight and maneuverability. At about 15.5 pounds, the E2400HD will make you feel like a brawny stevedore. With mongo big screen TVs, finding the connectors on the back often requires spine wrenching contortions. With this BenQ, simply turn the monitor on its head for instant access.

What you will discover on the back left is a connection panel with one HDMI, one VGA (15 pin D-sub), and one DVI-D. This monitor does have a pair of speakers, so the panel includes a stereo mini-jack Audio In. And a Headphone mini-jack is located on the left edge of the frame.

Other BenQ models supply at least one USB port, the E2400HD does not. And as I have mentioned, a remote control is not available.

The EPA is now publishing a list of ENERGY STAR qualified TVs. (You can find it here.)

Much earlier than that, the EPA started acquiring data on computer monitors, which you can find here. The BenQ E2400HD is included in this list.

The EPA states power ratings a little differently for computer monitors. They supply three categories, On Mode, Sleep Mode, and Off Mode. The power consumption for the E2400HD is 34W for On Mode, .63W in Sleep Mode, and .58W in Off Mode.

You can see the substantial difference between On and Sleep or Off. Please activate your Sleep mode. And even better, get into the habit of turning off your monitor when you are not using it. I cringe every time I walk by an office building at night and I see cubicles lit up with monitors.

From my experience, setting up a Hybrid is not a one stop process and the E2400HD confirmed that experience. The problem is the two-headed nature of the computer monitor/HDTV beast.

If you are feeding signals to the BenQ from your computer and another source like an external set top box or DVD player, then you will need to calibrate it separately for each source. And I found that the settings can be markedly diverse.

Usually in this section, I try to detail my specific process with the settings I arrived at. But with a Hybrid like the E2400HD, the signals that you may be feeding it could be so different than mine, I don't feel comfortable about elaborating too much.

For example, I have it hooked up to a Dell Dimension 520 running Vista with a NVidia GeForce 7300 LE video card. Your computer system could be radically different. Also, I'm connecting to the monitor with a DVI to HDMI cable. You might be using an analog VGA connection. And you might be running LINUX and on and on.

If you do hook to the monitor with a VGA cable, one of the buttons on the side of the monitor is labeled AUTO, which will automatically adjust the monitor to display the best image. The BenQ manual adds, "When you connect a digital video output using a digital (DVI) cable to your monitor, the AUTO key and the Auto Adjustment function will be disabled, because the monitor will automatically display the best image."

Of course, what some internal algorithm believes is the "best image" may not match what your internal gray matter prefers. If your noggin tells you to noodle with the settings, BenQ includes a little utility called Auto that provides a test pattern with color bars and a gray scale and a line gradient.

Now, the question becomes, what tools do you use to adjust the computer monitor? Your video card software probably provides some sort of Picture menu as does the BenQ.

My tendency is to start at the source of the signal, which would be the video card. I set the Picture Mode on the BenQ to Standard and then go into the NVidia menu to adjust the computer monitor. Again your procedure may vary.

To set up the TV side of the E2400HD, I attached the Sherwood BDP-5003 Blu-ray player with an HDMI cable and played the Blu-ray version of the Digital Video Essentials DVD called HD Basics.

My next step with HDTVs is to sample all the Picture Modes to see if one particularly appeals to me. The BemQ engineers have supplied five modes with familiar names, Standard, Dynamics, Movie, Photo, and sRGB, but they don't function in a way that I am comfortable with.

For example, none of the modes furnish a traditional Hue (Tint) or a Color (Saturation) control. There is a Color setting, but when you select it, you find that it is really the Color Temperature feature with options titled Normal, Bluish (that's what it's called), Reddish, and User.

Standard is the only mode in which you can access Color Temperature. In the menus of the other four modes, Color is grayed out.

Simply stated, the E2400HD doesn't give you a lot of tools for tweaking the image. And no tools for adjusting audio.

When it came to dialing in the picture according to test patterns, I never could turn the Brightness low enough. Color bars were acceptable. I would have preferred to fiddle with saturation, but I couldn't.

Since you really can't perform any fine calibration, I suggest that you pick a mode like Movie, adjust Brightness to a pleasing level and don't fret. Skin tones were actually quite nice.

In fact when I revved up the Speed Racer Blu-ray, I was quite satisfied with the color rendition. Though, the detail was too edgy for me.

The real shortcomings of the E2400HD became clear when I switched to the Blu-ray of Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City.

I tried to goose the image by engaging the Dynamic Contrast feature, which takes control of Brightness and Contrast. And indeed, with Dynamic Contrast on, the picture is punched up. But for me, the shadows and dark grays are lightened too much.

I preferred the image with Dynamic Contrast off and Brightness turned down. Granted, it was more subdued, but I liked the deeper grays. Even with this setup, don't expect miracles in the deep black arena.

Now, for sound, it's actually a miracle that you can hear anything from the punier than puny pair of integrated 1W - yes, that's 1 and not 10 - speakers or more aptly, pip squeakers. They are so inadequate, I have to ask, why even include them?

Without question, you will need to buy a set of computer speakers that you also can interface with a separate set top box or DVD player.

Finally, for gamers, the E2400HD does feature a 2ms GTG (Grey to Grey) response time that should keep up with your trigger finger.

As a computer monitor, I have no complaints with the BenQ E2400HD. As a TV, I admire how it handles colors, especially skin tones, but I would prefer more depth in the blacks. And the undersized 1W audio speakers are worthless.