The three LCD technologies

Most important for a good picture are the internal values ​​of a monitor. In essence, the three LCD technologies TN, VA and IPS compete. All have their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to playing contrast and color at different viewing angles. The TN-Panels (“Twisted Nematic”) are already the most popular and widespread.


Look for the inner values ​​


They have a high angular dependence. Very different with the LCD technologies VA ("Vertical Alignment") and IPS ("In Plane Switching"). By means of a different alignment of the liquid crystal molecules, wide viewing angles and high contrast values ​​are achieved. In addition, more colors can be displayed than with TN panels without Wide Color Gamut.


What else is important


However, these are not very widespread. The quality of VA and IPS is comparable, our test certifies the VA devices the better angle independence of contrast. There are variations of both technologies: in the data sheets of the monitors, names such as MVA, AMVA, (S-) PVA or (S-) IPS, H-IPS and recent P-IPS can be found.


Glare-type monitors with a highly reflective display surface provide at first glance particularly rich colors, dazzle and irritate however in everyday use: An antireflection device is always preferable. The manufacturers of the tested, high-quality monitors have renounced the popular black piano lacquer optics for the same reason.


A further characteristic for TFT screens are the response times. The faster the reaction time, the better. This avoids annoying motion blurring ("streaks") that can occur when moving objects are displayed in the image.


The time given in the data sheets usually only describes a change between two gray values, but in practice thousands of possible color changes can have quite different times.


According to our realistic measurements in the laboratory, the reaction time should be less than 25 milliseconds. Traditionally, the VA and IPS technologies have seen the reaction times in TN's reaction times. Thanks to the new Overdrive features, the manufacturers have also succeeded in speeding up response times with VA and IPS, which means that these devices are now well-suited to most PC players.


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