reaper2794 :
Can anyone sum up the qualities and differences of VA Panels, IPS, and LED-LCD?
Can there be IPS LED-LCDs or VA LED-LCDs?
I
"LED-LCD" is simply a LCD panel with LED backlight rather than CCFL (florescent) backlight. LED backlight monitors are all edge lit. While this means the monitor itself can be thinner and lighter and use less electricity, there tends to be more instances of backlight bleeding around the edges and less overall consistent backlighting compared to CCFL backlight which is a full array backlight. Additionally, the light emitted by "LED-LCD" is not true white. They use blue LEDs that have a yellow phosphorus coating which imitates white. This is why some people say that colors look a bit bluish in "LED monitors". The exception would be RGB-LCD which use Red, Green and Blue LEDs to create white and they are a full array backlight. However, RGB-LED backlight are only used in professional level IPS panel monitors for graphic artists and generally carries a price tag of over $2,000.
All consumer level IPS panel monitors with LED backlight are e-IPS panels. If you want a H-IPS, S-IPS or P-IPS panel with LED backlight, then you must step up to a professional level monitor which uses RGB-LED. I don't know of any VA panels that have LED backlighting except maybe in the professional level monitors.
IPS panels tend to have up to 1000:1 static contrast ratio which is the true measure of contrast for LCD monitors. Dynamic contrast ratios which can have ridiculously large numbers like 1,000,000:1 is not the true measure of contrast. Those large numbers look impressive, but it's mostly just "advertising".
TN panels also have up to 1000:1 static contrast ratio, but they generally seem to be slightly overstated.
VA panels generally have up to 3000:1 static contrast ratio. The really good ones can have up to 4000:1. What this means is that different colors tones can be noticed especially with very dark tones. IPS and TN panel monitors then to have "black crush" issues due to the lower static contrast ratio. This means that on a VA panel you can tell difference between extreme dark grey and black. On an IPS or TN panel both colors are "crushed" down to simply appearing to be black.
VA panels tends to have slightly narrower viewing angles than IPS panels even though both are advertised as having 178/178 degree viewing angle.