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Panel Tech Listings

BigGreenMat

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 16, 2004
Messages
128
I was just thinking that a great addition to this page would be a simple sticky where we could list which monitors use which panel technology. It is the one thing which is almost NEVER mentioned in monitor specs and can be so tough to find, which can have the greatest effects on viewing experience. TN+Film monitors tend to have poor viewing angles and fast gray to gray times, but slower black to whites. S-IPS may be rated slower, but are known to have very little ghosting and superior color reproduction and so on. Anyone else think this is a good idea? I'll start off.

Dell 2005fpw is a S-IPS panel.
 
very nice find. also what is the hierarchy of displays? like, which panel is better / newer? too many acroynms to memorize! what panels are superior in certain criteria?
 
Liver said:
very nice find. also what is the hierarchy of displays? like, which panel is better / newer? too many acroynms to memorize! what panels are superior in certain criteria?
TN is fast but the colors and viewing angle suffers (usually only 6-bit colors).
MVA/PVA are slow, but viewing angle and colors are excellent. With overdrive, speed becomes decent.
S-IPS is a compromise between TN and MVA/PVA and has 8-bit colours, good viewing angles and are reasonably fast.
 
TN Film - traditionally cheaper, marketed now at the gamers really. Traditionally suffered from poor colour reproduction and black depth, but mostly well improved in modern panels. They still only offer 6 bit colour depth, but with FRC can achieve 16.2 million colours and decent colour accuracy. They are about as responsive as you can get right now. Main drawbacks really are poor viewing angles, especially vertically, and movie playback can be hampered by noise, especially where overdrive is used aggressively and poorly controlled (note: Samsung models for instance). Widely used and well priced, generally fine unless you want a movie screen or something more 'premium'

PVA - traditionally used to be very slow, and not really well suited to gaming. Good black depth and colour reproduciton was good. Wide viewing angles, certainly better than TN Film, but not quite as good as IPS varients. Samsung make PVA panels exclusively, it's their technology, and movie playback has been an issue as far as noise goes. The PVA models now can offer some pretty decent responsiveness thanks to overdrive (eg Samsung 970P) but movie noise is a big issue, as overdrive tends to be poorly controlled. Traditional PVA panels offered 8 bit colour depth (16.7 million colours) but some newer versions seem to be only 6 bit with FRC.

MVA - Very similar to PVA, AU Optronics are probably the main manufacturer of this technology now, and the main advantage of their panels over the Samsung PVA's are that movie playback tends to be pretty smooth. Good black depth, colour reproduction, viewing angles and now, thanks to overdrive, decent responsiveness. Very good all round really.

IPS - Offer the widest viewing angles, a little better than VA varients. Originally pretty slow, but have made some drastic improvements recently with models like the NEC LCD20WGX2 which is apparently as responsive as even the fastest TN models! Good colour reproduction, although black depth was traditionally an issue, still not quite as good as VA panels in this regard according to most sources. Going through a redevelopment right now, and could well become more widely used soon. Good all round performance. LG.Philips tends to be the main manufacturer in this area
 
thanks for the detailed information. any comment on generation of said panel? for example is the NEC a 2nd or 3rd gen panel?

thanks
 
While we're at it, how about PVA/MVA vs S-PVA? Is S-PVA a newer improvement... and where do the 2405/2407 fall in place? (or are we sure yet) Thanks!
 
Liver said:
thanks for the detailed information. any comment on generation of said panel? for example is the NEC a 2nd or 3rd gen panel?

thanks


well the NEC (i assume you're talking about the LCD20WGX2 here) is based on IPS panel technology, but is part of their new generation. It's actually labelled as an AS-IPS panel (Advanced Super IPS) but is essentially the same technology, but with overdrive applied (hence the quoted 6ms G2G response time) and improvements in colour reproduction, and black depth which have just come in time really, and with improvements in the technology.

While we're at it, how about PVA/MVA vs S-PVA? Is S-PVA a newer improvement... and where do the 2405/2407 fall in place? (or are we sure yet) Thanks!

P-MVA is an advancement of MVA panel technology. However, it is mostly in the name, with some slight changes to viewing angles and colour reproduciton if marketing is to be trusted. Response time is generally lower since overdrive has been introduced (as with AS-IPS above) and so most modern MVA panels are labelled as the "premium" edition because of these improvements. Same thing with S-PVA really.

The Dell 2405FPW was based on Samsung's PVA panel technology, while the new 2407WFP is expected to be their new S-PVA panel (LTM240M2). Not much difference except a reduced response time. Again, mostly improvements which have ben made over time requiring them to create a new name for the panel tech to show the seperation :)
 
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