Gadgetory

welcome back to hadron box today I'm finally getting around to one of those videos I guess it's been heavily requested over the past year or so and that is an overview and comparison of the three main monitor technologies I think some of you have been waiting quite some time for this one sorry for I just taking so long but in this video we'll be going through everything to give you a reference for when your guests may be buying your next monitor or something like that so the three main screen technology is used for LCDs which are by far the most common type of display used for PC monitors are 10 IPs and v-a I'm sure you've heard these terms before when you're researching monitors to purchase this is a key piece of information on the spec sheet there reveals a lot about how the monitor will behave and perform I'm not going to spend a lot of time going into excruciating detail on the exact differences in the technologies themselves but I think a brief overview is worth in the rest of this video I will be more focused on the individual characteristics of the tech and how it performs but I guess I can't get to that before I even mention what each term stands for so TN is the oldest of the LCD technologies and it stands for twisted nematic this refers to the twisted nematic effect which is an effect that allows liquid crystal molecules to be controlled with voltage while the actual workings of a TN affect LCD are a little more complicated essentially the T in effect is used to change the alignment of liquid crystals when a voltage is applied when there is no voltage so the crystal is off the liquid crystal molecules are twisted 90 degrees and that allows light to pass through then when a voltage is applied these crystals are essentially untwisted and in combination with polarization layers block light from passing through IPS stands for in plane switching and like all LCDs it too uses voltage to control the alignment of liquid crystals however unlike with TN LCDs IPS LCD s use a different crystal orientation one where the crystals are parallel to the glass substrates hence the term in plane rather than twisting the crystals to modify the amount of light LED through IPS crystals essentially rotated which has a range of benefits there are many IPS variants on the market with each of the three big LCD manufacturers using a different term to describe their IPs type of technology LG simply calls their tech IPS which is easy for everyone Samsung uses the term POS or plane to line switching while AU Optronics uses the term a HBA or advanced hyper viewing angle a hv8 shouldn't be confused with regular VA displays it's an a bit of an annoying and confusing name in my opinion but a hva is an IPS light technology each of LG's IPS Samsung's POS and AUSA hva are slightly different but the fundamentals are rooted in IPS technology then we get to VA which stands for vertical alignment as the name suggests this technology uses vertically aligned liquid crystals which tilts when a voltage is applied to let light pass through this is the key difference between IPs and VA with VA the crystals are perpendicular to the substrates while with IPS they are parallel and again there are several VA variants including Samsung's SVA and AU Optronics AM VA again don't confuse a MVA with a H VA they are very different in technology despite only a single letter name difference so in summary TN panels twist IPS panels use a parallel alignment and rotate while VA panels use a vertical alignment and tilt now let's get into some of the performance characteristics and explore how each of the technologies differ and in general which technology is better in any given category by far the biggest difference between the three technologies is in viewing angles TN panels have the weakest viewing angles with significant shifts to colors and contrast in both the horizontal and especially vertical directions typically viewing angles are rated as 170 / 160 but realistically you'll get pretty bad shifts when viewing anywhere except for dead-center higher-end Tian's tend to be somewhat better but overall this is a big weakness for tiens VA and IPS panels are both significantly better with IPS being the best overall for viewing angles 178 / 1 7 year viewing angle ratings are realistic reflection of what you can expect with an IPS you won't get much shifting colors or contrast from an angle V A's are good in this regard but not as good as IPS mostly due to contrast shifts at off-center angles with V A's and especially T ends having some color and contrast shifts when viewing at angles than others well sooner to color critical professional work as IPS panels which is why you see most pro grade monitors sticking to IPs in terms of brightness there's no inherent differences between the technologies because the backlight which determines brightness is separate to the liquid crystal panel however there are significant differences to contrast ratios and again this is an area most people look at when determining which panel type they want both TN and IPS panels tend to have a contrast ratio around one thousand to one although in my testing I have noticed some differences TN panels tend to have the lowest contrast ratios when calibrated with an entry level panel sitting between 700 and 900 to 1 and good panels pushing up to that 1,000 to 1 mark IPS has a large range I've seen some as low as 700 to 1 like T ends however the very best tend to push up higher than 10 with 1200 to 1 the upper range for monitors and some laptop grade display as reaching as high as 1500 to 1 neither T and nor IPS get to the range of V a though interval V a panel start with the contrast ratio of 2000 to 1 from those that I have tested with the best easily exceeding 40 500 to 1 although 3,000 to 1 is a typical figure for most monitors TVs also make extensive use of VA panels and ver contrast ratios can be even higher it's not unusual to see over 6 thousand to 1 so if you want deep blacks and high contrast ratios you'll need to go with something VA or IPS panels tend to be a middle ground for contrast they do suffer from a phenomenon called IPS glow which is an apparent white glow when viewing dark imagery at an angle the best panels exhibit minimal glow but it's still an issue across all displays of this type color quality is another difference many people cite between TN displays and other displays in particular and this can be split into two categories color depth or bit depth and color gamut in both of these regards TN panels tend to fall on the weaker end of the sky many TN displays in particular entry-level models are only natively six bit and use frame rate control otherwise called FRC or dithering to achieve standard eight bit output six bigoted panels are prone to color banding while native 8-bit panels have smoother color gradients and therefore better color output that's not to say all TN panels are six bit the very top intends and native eight bit but it's safe to say most teams will only be native six bit even today if you are after a native 8 bit display you'll need to go with either IPS or ba where many more panels come native 8 bit while there are still six bit entry-level IPS NVA panels pretty much all mid-range to high-end options are 8-bit these days and it's for native true 10 bit typically you'll need to look for an IPS panel which make up the majority of native 10 bit panels some VI panels can do it but they are pretty rare most displays you actually purchase that claimed to be 10 bit are actually 8 bit plus FRC with only high-end professional-grade monitors offering a native 10 bit experience 4 color gamut again this is an area where VA and IPS provide a superior experience the best TN panels tend to be limited to srgb or in the case of the worst entry-level panels they don't even cover the entirety of the srgb gama again this isn't to say wide gamut tan panels don't exist they are just quite rare so almost all TN panels on the market you'll be stuck with just srgb VI panels typically start with full srgb coverages and minimum and depending on the panel can push higher bas that use a quantum dot film typically from Samsung offer higher gamut surround the 125 percent srgb or 90% DCI p3 mark most of the wide gamut v air monitors i've tested for between 85 and 90% DCI p3 coverage which is a decent result though the best can approach 95% or higher with IPS panels there is the largest variants entry-level IPS display is tend to often 95% srgb coverage or less while the majority stick to full srgb coverage there with high-end displays usually before professionals it's not unusual to see full DCI p3 and Adobe RGB coverage of all the wide gamut IPS displays I have tested the lowest DCI p3 coverage I've seen has been 93% with over 95% a typical figure this makes IPS the best technology for wide gamut work throughout most of this discussion we've been talking about TN as the worst of the three technologies so far it has had the worst color reproduction contrast ratios and viewing angles of the three main options but it does have one key advantage and that comes in the form of speed TN panels are the best for both refresh rates and response times currently TN panels are the only panel type able to hit 240 hertz doing so at 1080p and also now 1440p VI panels top out at 200 Hertz for ultra wide displays however most 16:9 models are limited to 165 Hertz it's similar with IPS panels which top out at 165 Hertz although a 240 hertz 1080p option is in the works at LG while IPS panels are able to refresh at 144 hertz and above the number of panels which are high refresh is pretty limited compared to both VA and TN most IPS display is especially high grade options for professionals as well as entry-level office monitors are either 60 or 75 Hertz meanwhile a significantly large number of VA panels across a wider range of sizes and resolutions are high refresh while the big selling point of TN is its super high refresh capabilities the other major consideration is response times which governed the level of ghosting smearing and I guess the overall clarity of a panel early IPS and V err panels were very slow however this has improved a lot with modern panels so the differences between the three technologies aren't as pronounced as they once were with that said TN still holds a strong advantage here compared to the other types most TN panels have a radio transition time of one millisecond or even lower with some recent releases actual greater grade averages i've measured for TN panels tend to be in the 2 to 3 millisecond range when overdrive is factored in which makes TN the clear fastest technology IPS panels of the next fastest though as tends to be the case with IPS there is a wide variance between the best and worst of this type high-end IPS monitors typically those with high refresh rates can have a transition time as fast as 4 milliseconds from what measured compared to the best TN panels this makes IPS at best twice as slow however entry-level IPS panels or those without overdrive sit more in a 10 millisecond range while your mid-tier options tend to occupy the five to seven millisecond bracket VA panels are consistently the slowest of the three types the absolute fastest I've measured has been between five and six milliseconds though more typical numbers are between eight and ten milliseconds for gaming grade monitors via air powers also tend to be less consistent with their transition some individual transitions can be fast while others very slow whereas IPS panels and TN panels tend to hover more around their overall greater great average while a lot of people are unlikely to spot the difference between an eighth millisecond VA panel and a five millisecond IPS TN panels are at least from my experiences noticeably clearer in motion the slowness of VI panels also limits their real-world refresh rate a 144 Hertz panel that only manages a 9 millisecond response time is actually delivering an image most equivalent to a 110 Hertz panel whereas most 144 Hertz IPS panels can transition faster than the 6.9 for millisecond refresh window leading to a true 144 Hertz experience so that is something to consider so that pretty much wraps up the comparison as a quick summary for you guys TN panels are the fastest and have the highest refresh rates however they have the worst viewing angles by far as well as weak color performance and typically the lowest contrast ratios tiens are typically used for high-end ultra files and gaming displays as well as budget class displays from both desktop monitors and laptops IPS is a middle ground technology they typically have the best color performance and viewing angles mid-tier response times and refresh rates along with mid-tier black levels and contrast ratios due to its top-end color output IPS panels are the go-to choice for professionals but you'll also find them in entry level displays office grade monitors most laptops and a small handful of gaming monitors VA panels are the slowest of the three but have the best contrast ratio and black levels by far color performance isn't quite at the level of IPs but they still offer sniffing t better experience than T n in this regard with response times for the best modern VA s approaching the level of a typical IPs along with broad support for high refresh rates VA panels are commonly used for gaming motors entry-level videos also tend to be superior to both entry-level TN and IPS panels though you won't find VA used in laptops overall there's really no right answer as to which monitor technology is the best because all three have their strengths and weaknesses which is why I guess all three of them still coexist on the market today however if you really want my recommendation I tend to gravitate towards VA panels for most buyers especially gamers and those after something entry-level creative professionals should be looking exclusively at IPS monitors for their superior color performance while those up to something dirt cheap or ultra high refresh for competitive gaming should opt for TN and that's pretty much it for this one hopefully that has answered the question I keep getting asked about TN vs. IPS versus VA for modern monitors and I guess this world should serve as a good reference for future monitor reviews please do subscribe for more monitor content should have a few reviews coming up soon and as always consider supporting us on patreon to get access to our exclusive discord chat and monthly live streams I'll catch you in the next one you