Display Panels

[macuser154]

I am looking to buy a new monitor. But I have heard that TN panels are bad. I don't really know what the difference between the panels are. So I would appreciate the help of anyone who knows.

Also, how good is an S-PVA panel?

 

[Guiyon]

It depends on your requirements and price range; each panel has it's upsides and downsides. One thing do note: if the contrast ratio of the display says "dynamic", it's a tweaked number. Manufacturers artificially increase their contrast ratios by dropping the brightness when a lot of black is detected on the screen; this really looks like crap in some cases. A higher static contrast ratio is the best. I have a NEC 20WMGX2 (S-IPS) right next to a ViewSonic VX1962wm (TN) and, although the ViewSonic is a fairly decent display, the NEC blows it out of the water. The NEC did cost almost 3 times as much (about $500 or so for the 20WMGX2) but if they were still in production I would not hesitate in purchasing another.

S-IPS/H-IPS:

• True 8-bit panels
• Very little color distortion from differing view angles
• Very good color reproduction
• Expensive!
• Slower than TN panels, in some cases there can be ghosting in extremely fast paced games
• Susceptible to temporary burn-in of stationary display elements (ie: menubar, dock). Unless you are looking it's not really noticable, however, and it goes away fairly quickly once the display changes. The element needs to be stationary for a long period of time to have any effect.

S-PVA:

• True 8-bit
• Highest contrast ratios of the three main panel types
• Color reproduction is worse than S-IPS but better than TN
• Mid-range pricing
• Susceptible to color shifting issues from varying angles
• Slower response times than TN or S-IPS

TN:

• 6-bit panels with dithering to represent the full 24-bit color spectrum causing visible banding in some cases
• Fastest response times
• Cheap! (remember, you get what you pay for)
• Poor contrast ratios, viewing angle and color reproduction

 

[macuser154]

It depends on your requirements and price range; each panel has it's upsides and downsides. One thing do note: if the contrast ratio of the display says "dynamic", it's a tweaked number. Manufacturers artificially increase their contrast ratios by dropping the brightness when a lot of black is detected on the screen; this really looks like crap in some cases. A higher static contrast ratio is the best. I have a NEC 20WMGX2 (S-IPS) right next to a ViewSonic VX1962wm (TN) and, although the ViewSonic is a fairly decent display, the NEC blows it out of the water. The NEC did cost almost 3 times as much (about $500 or so for the 20WMGX2) but if they were still in production I would not hesitate in purchasing another.

S-IPS/H-IPS:

• True 8-bit panels
• Very little color distortion from differing view angles
• Very good color reproduction
• Expensive!
• Slower than TN panels, in some cases there can be ghosting in extremely fast paced games
• Susceptible to temporary burn-in of stationary display elements (ie: menubar, dock). Unless you are looking it's not really noticable, however, and it goes away fairly quickly once the display changes. The element needs to be stationary for a long period of time to have any effect.

S-PVA:

• True 8-bit
• Highest contrast ratios of the three main panel types
• Color reproduction is worse than S-IPS but better than TN
• Mid-range pricing
• Susceptible to color shifting issues from varying angles
• Slower response times than TN or S-IPS

TN:

• 6-bit panels with dithering to represent the full 24-bit color spectrum causing visible banding in some cases
• Fastest response times
• Cheap! (remember, you get what you pay for)
• Poor contrast ratios, viewing angle and color reproduction

Wow, thank you very much, this will help.

 

[blackhand1001]

Wow, thank you very much, this will help.

S-PVA is quite good and the viewing angles are excellent. They are easily viewable from 178 degrees, however they do have a minor gamma shift on certain colors but its not very severe compared to other VA technologies such as MVA and the previous generation PVA. S-PVA has no black off angle glow which IPS suffers from the worse, and other VA (PVA, ASV, and MVA) techs and TN suffer from to an extent. If you wanna see a S-PVA go to an AV store and look at the High end Bravia sets, they all use S-PVA. IPS is better for printwork but S-PVA will serve you just fine. S-PVA also has a much higher contrast ratio than TN and IPS screens, many times more than twice as much.

S-PVA screens with a bug free overdrive (2408wfp is good, avoid the 2407HC its overdrive has reverse ghosting issues) are generally a tiny bit faster than IPS screens although they may have a slight input lag buts its not noticeable unless you put it next to a crt and even then you really have to look for it.
If your watching movies or looking at photography, or want a vivid picture, S-PVA is probably better suited for as the higher contrast ratio is very noticeable. If your doing purely printwork you may want a S-IPS screen although an S-PVA screen wouldn't make your prints bad or horrible. It sounds like you wanna avoid TN so i won't even expain that one.

Some pictures of the things i mentioned as seeing pictures of each type will really help more than words.

Nonpolarized S-IPS (ACD 20,23,30) vs Polarized H-IPS glowing (LCD2490WUXi)

Nonpolarized H-IPS Glow (ACD 24)

TN View Angles:

IPS View Angles:

S-PVA View Angles:

 

[rtheb]

S-PVA is quite good and the viewing angles are excellent. They are easily viewable from 178 degrees, however they do have a minor gamma shift on certain colors but its not very severe compared to other VA technologies such as MVA and the previous generation PVA. S-PVA has no black off angle glow which IPS suffers from the worse, and other VA (PVA, ASV, and MVA) techs and TN suffer from to an extent. If you wanna see a S-PVA go to an AV store and look at the High end Bravia sets, they all use S-PVA. IPS is better for printwork but S-PVA will serve you just fine. S-PVA also has a much higher contrast ratio than TN and IPS screens, many times more than twice as much.

S-PVA screens with a bug free overdrive (2408wfp is good, avoid the 2407HC its overdrive has reverse ghosting issues) are generally a tiny bit faster than IPS screens although they may have a slight input lag buts its not noticeable unless you put it next to a crt and even then you really have to look for it.
If your watching movies or looking at photography, or want a vivid picture, S-PVA is probably better suited for as the higher contrast ratio is very noticeable. If your doing purely printwork you may want a S-IPS screen although an S-PVA screen wouldn't make your prints bad or horrible. It sounds like you wanna avoid TN so i won't even expain that one.

Some pictures of the things i mentioned as seeing pictures of each type will really help more than words.

Nonpolarized S-IPS (ACD 20,23,30) vs Polarized H-IPS glowing (LCD2490WUXi)

Nonpolarized H-IPS Glow (ACD 24)

TN View Angles:

IPS View Angles:

S-PVA View Angles:

We need to have your reply stickied so we don't have to keep going over this info.

BTW one of the best, concise explanations I have read!

kudos!

 

[macuser154]

Cheers everyone for your help.

 

[macuser154]

Does anyone know what type of display the 3,1 MacBook Pro uses? I am looking for a monitor that is comparable to it.

 

[blackhand1001]

Does anyone know what type of display the 3,1 MacBook Pro uses? I am looking for a monitor that is comparable to it.

All the macbook pro's use TN panels. If your impressed with that screen you'll be blown away by an PVA or IPS screen. You don't want a desktop monitor to be only as good as the macbook pro. Desktop TN's for the most part are higher quality than the macbook pros, with the exception being the poor display used in the Aluminum 20 inch iMac (very cheap TN). Anything thats a not a tn will blow you away pretty much.

I only know of two confirmed non TN laptops and no ones longer in production. It was a thinkpad from a few years ago. The other is the recently released led screen for the x200t from lenovo and it uses a Samsung PVA screen. I'd like to see one in person because the difference between tn and pva is gigantic. I bet the contrast is really good on this tablet.