LCD viewing angles - anything "perfect"?

D

Dario D.

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Hi all. I was just wondering if there are any LCD's out there yet that look "perfect" (I guess like a CRT) when viewed from most frontal angles. (I don't care too much about the sides)

Every LCD I've seen up close (mostly TN's, I guess) has viewing angle issues, especially in which the darker colors turn black toward the top of the screen... such as my 2 Samsung 932b's, in which I must be facing the screens dead-center for the best image. I have them propped up on RAM casings to tilt them down a bit, to reduce the darkening toward the top of the screen. (seems to wash out the whites toward the bottom though. Annoying)

Is there anything that doesn't have these issues, and what price are we looking at? I heard some things about OLED (saw a video of the CES showing them off) but I guess that's expensive right now.

What would you recommend for someone doing graphics, and on a budget?

Thanks.
 
Sounds like you're used to seeing TN panel LCDs.

S-IPS and S-PVA both have vastly superior viewing angles. The S-PVA monitors will be a bit cheaper.
 
NKDietrich said:
Sounds like you're used to seeing TN panel LCDs.

S-IPS and S-PVA both have vastly superior viewing angles. The S-PVA monitors will be a bit cheaper.
Click to expand...

IPS a bit more than PVA/MVA, which suffer from gamma shift, poorer color but with the bonus of better blacks and contrast. But allot of this depends on the panel, my MVA LG is much much better in all these regards than my bit older Dell S-PVA.

But like said, and IPS or MVA/PVA would be way way way better than the best TN panel for viewing angle.

IPS can still be had for a price, but MVA and PVA panels are getting rare. Most all LCDs outside of an apple store are soo poorly calibrated, or using a crap connection that you cannot rely on what you see in retailers too much. Unless they allow to you play with the settings yourself.
 
Dario D. said:
Every LCD I've seen up close (mostly TN's, I guess) has viewing angle issues, especially in which the darker colors turn black toward the top of the screen... such as my 2 Samsung 932b's, in which I must be facing the screens dead-center for the best image. I have them propped up on RAM casings to tilt them down a bit, to reduce the darkening toward the top of the screen. (seems to wash out the whites toward the bottom though. Annoying)
Click to expand...
And leaning back in chair makes picture go dark starting from top while again looking from upwards angle tends to make black greyish.
While horizontal viewing angles of some latest TNs are very good vertical angle is anything else... isn't it nice how nearly all manufacturers are moving toward all TN lineup?
(at least it makes TNs look better when there aren't comparison points)

OLED, FED and SED are all coming technologies which would completely solve viewing angle, slow response time and backlight bleeding problems of flat displays. (by not needing backlight and slow liquid crystals)
OLEDs might be quite near, small OLED displays have been used for couple years in devices like digicams and MP3-players but for computer monitors it's probably couple years before their prices would be in high end consumer level.

Good non-TN 24" monitors are probably way too expensive so depending on do you want two smaller monitors or one with 1920x1200 resolution Lenovo L220x could be good choise for smaller budget. (That and Eizo S2231W are only non-TN 22" models)
In 20" size there are more non-TNs, especially in 4:3 aspect ratio monitors non-TN panels are rather common.
All brands/models probably aren't available in everywhere but this could be rather good page for checking which available monitors might be with non-TN panel:
http://geizhals.at/eu/?cat=monlcd20
(list isn't 100% accurate and panels can change so remember to check specs from pages of shop and maker)

Dainas said:
Most all LCDs outside of an apple store are soo poorly calibrated, or using a crap connection that you cannot rely on what you see in retailers too much. Unless they allow to you play with the settings yourself.
Click to expand...
Also bright illumination of shops with shown advertising videos are like tailor made for preventing accurate comparison of monitors.
 
Hmm, okay, thanks a lot ET (and everyone else). Very helpful. I'm looking into all the suggestions now.
 
The angles in which you can view S-IPS panels is incredible, when I first got my 3007 WFP-HC I was very impressed, the viewing angles are far greater than any angle you'd want to actually view it from, thats for sure.
 
If only Newegg, Amazon, etc allowed you to search by LCD type. I can't even find panel-type information in their product specs.

Example: My brother has this 22" Chimei, and I know it's TN (from looking at it), but it doesn't say that anywhere. ...unless "Display Type: WSXGA+" means the same thing. (pretty sure it means Widescreen XGA / VGA though)
 
Dario D. said:
If only Newegg, Amazon, etc allowed you to search by LCD type. I can't even find panel-type information in their product specs.
Click to expand...
Most all manufacturers don't publish panel type in their own websites/manuals/etc., so naturally you won't find that info on retailer websites either.

Newegg does list viewing angle for many of the monitors they sell. If it says 160 or 170, it's a TN panel. 178 could be either IPS or VA.
 
I'm wondering if the issue I'm experiencing with my new LG L246W is a horizontal viewing angle issue...

For the most part I only can notice this problem when I'm on the HardOCP forums. The dark gray backgrounds on some parts of this page, when looked at directly at a 90 degree angle (me sitting directly infront and looking directly at the middle of the monitor) look fine. However the same dark grays on the left and right look somewhat brighter.

If were were to scoot over a few inches, to the left, the the phenomenon follows. Always, the part of the monitor I'm sitting directly infront of looks fine and anything viewed at anything other than a direct 90 degree angle looks somewhat brighter, but only noticeable with very dark colors, mostly grays.

I'm hoping I'm doing justice to this description since I'm not real down on the proper terminology. It's definitely not backlight bleeding, I owned a TN panel before this LG, so know that one real good. And I don't think it is improper brightness uniformity, since the brightness always looks correct no matter where I look as long as I'm directly infront of it and not at an off angle.
 
The LG L246W is a huge monitor, and widescreen, so viewing angle can be an issue at the sides if you're sitting too close to it. If you push it back (or push yourself back - probably easier with a 24" monitor) is it any better?
 
I measured the distance my eyes are from the monitor. It is about 22 inches away. I don't think it's abnormally close. If I roll the chair back 4 feet. It is almost gone, though I can still see it so very slightly on the far edges (wouldn't notice it if I wasn't looking for it).

I guess HardOCP is just going to need to change their forum colors for me, so I don't see this horizontal problem anymore. :)
 
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