Verdict: Huge picture, tiny price, but there is a big trade-off in quality

Let's get this right: the second-cheapest monitor in the category is also the largest? A 22inch monitor for £235? Someone's having a laugh. Well, no. New brand Mirai is currently hell-bent on making a splash with its range of budget monitors and TFT TVs, and the DML-522W100 is its most serious bid for the contents of your wallet.

However, that old phrase 'you get what you pay for' still rings true. From the moment you take the DML-522W100 out of the box, it's clear this is a no-frills monitor and definitely one built to a budget. There's nothing wrong with the build quality as such, but the design is extremely basic, and the slot-in stand feels a bit flimsy. The same thing applies to the controls, located beneath the bottom bezel on the right-hand side. The stand isn't adjustable in any way and, as the monitor sits quite low to the desk, you'll need to raise it up to view it comfortably.

In use, the display is adequately bright and the blacks are reasonably deep. However, the white level saturation tests revealed that it's almost impossible to see lighter tints without almost crippling the contrast; in this respect, it's the worst monitor on test. A dark screen also reveals that while reflections aren't a problem, light seeps from the edges of the frame, particularly at the top and bottom. The colour and greyscale ramps showed a lack of subtle graduations, and the monitor had problems at both extremes of the tonal range.

HD movie playback and photo reproduction were okay, but slightly spoilt by some crude colour rendering, while 'Harry Potter' was less than spell-binding, thanks to washed-out colour and nasty, oversaturated reds. The DML-522W100 also struggled to resolve high-speed movement in the fast-paced action sequences of the film. The news was better in Need for Speed: Most Wanted, where the softer palette suits the game, but when it came to Prey, the DML-522W100 was out of its depth. This game wants strong contrast, and the DML-522W100's is simply too bland.

For such a big screen, £235 seems like nothing, but size isn't everything. You might do better spending less on a good 17in TFT.

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