Are monitors getting better?

LCD technology advances are relatively slow. A recent new panel tech is Samsung's PLS panel tech. It replaces their failed cPVA technology and is supposed to compete with LG Display's IPS panel tech. Here's a review link to a Samsung monitor that uses the PLS panel. I admit I have not read it yet.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/monitors/display/samsu...

Notable LCD monitor tech in recent years are:

1. e-IPS - A hybrid of IPS and TN panels. They are 6-bit panels but have wider viewing angles, are cost competitive with TN panels, but have slow response time of 8ms. That's slower than the 5ms/6ms of H-IPS and S-IPS panels.

2. Advanced Frame Rate Control (A-FRC) - This is generically called Temporal Dithering and is used by 6-bit TN panels to create around 16 million colors out of 256k actual colors. This replaces the old Spatial Dithering technology starting in 2007/2008 which results in less color banding issues and image artifacts. This was a major improvement for TN panel tech, but color banding issues still exist for TN panel tech and now e-IPS.

3. LED Backlight - Sometimes referred to a WLED. Allows for reduce power consumption, thinner monitors, and some say more vibrant colors. Not a magic bullet as some people think. This is edge backlighting which can be more prone to backlight bleed and inconsistent backlight simply due to the technology as opposed to traditional CCFL (florescent) backlight which is a full array backlight. Also, the backlight can make colors look bluish because LED (WLED) backlight actually use blue LEDs with a yellow phosphorus coating to imitate white.

4. LED-RGB backlight - Less well known compared to WLED backlight. This is only found in more expensive LCD monitors used by graphics professionals and they carry a price tag starting at around $2,000. This is a full array backlight compared to the cheap edge lit backlight. It can actual create true white because it uses Red, Blue and Green LEDs.



It actually does make video look smoother and sharper / more detailed on a HDTV. Basically the TV doubles the frame from the 60Hz input source through a process generically called video interpolation. An intermediate frame is generated between every two actual frame. This allows for smoother playback of video especially for movies that are 23.97FPS (round up to 24 for simplicity), TV shows are typically recorded at 30FPS in the US. In Europe the standard is 25FPS.

A 60Hz signal means up to 60 frames can be displayed per second. However, since movies are 24FPS, that means a lot of frames are doubled (actually more than doubled since 60 / 24 = 2.5) and dropped. This leads to some video stuttering and for most it's fine, but some people, like videophiles, can notice it. Since TV shows are recorded at 30FPS and it divides 60Hz evenly. There is no noticeable stutter.

This is where 120Hz (240Hz) comes in. Dividing 120Hz by 30FPS and 24FPS results in an even number which generally means no video stuttering should be noticed. However, video interpolation, not only affects how smooth the video playback is, but it also "enhances" the movie by making images look more crisp and detailed. However, the effect is not accepted by everyone since it makes movies look different than how they were released in the theater. As some would say, it changes the look and feel of the movie that the director wanted to project to the audience.

One important note is that when playing a game on a 120Hz (240Hz) HDTV, the HDTV should be set to "Gamer Mode" or 60Hz because the video interpolation causes an artificial input lag which means there will be some additional time in between you make a reaction with your gamepad (or other device) and when it is displayed on the screen.