LCD vs. TFT vs. TN vs. IPS vs. LED vs. OLED vs. AMOLED vs. Super AMOLED vs. Plasma vs. MVA vs. PVA monitor

jayhayjay

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Nov 18, 2015
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Pretty much what the titles says.

If I could get a thorough explaination and categorisation of each one of them, I'd be a happier man.

Good luck and thanks in advance. Lol.
 
How thorough do you need? Articles around the internet are probably going to do a much better job at thoroughness. You will run into misinformation or outdated info but if you need help finding good articles, then maybe we can do that. If you are looking for a monitor, there is no need to go into detail about specifics. Just need a budget, usage, and any specific specs like hz, size or res.

But just a quick rundown. You are mixing displays techs with display types and also sub categories. There are 3 common displays: lcd, plasma, and oled. However, plasma is not really used anymore and was mostly tvs, and oled is still kind of the new kid on the block and see them more in tvs and phones. If you are looking at pc monitors, most every monitor you see is lcd. All modern lcd and oled monitors are tft and all oled used for monitors/tvs/phones are am-oled, the same reason all lcd are am-lcd. Although there are led monitors, these are huge wall monitors and for smaller normal displays, led refers to the back light of lcd (which most if not all monitors are now led) and should not be confused with oled (which btw have no backlight).

The 3 common categories are further broken down: lcd has ips, tn, and va which is mostly what gets asked and you can google just those 3 types for most articles comparing them pertaining to pc monitors. Those categories get broken down even further and further: pls, ahva, e-ips, s-ips, ah-ips, mva, s-mva, p-mva, a-mva, pva, s-pva, super amoled, super amoled plus, super amoled advanced, etc. Technology goes fast and lots of changes happen as well as marketing making up names for every little change to differentiate from competitors so that's a long list.

Because of the wide range of changes and improvements in the different types of lcds, there is a lot of overlap of saying which is the "best" for certain uses. In general, the higher hz will be tn, cheap monitors tn, better color ips and va, top end (like $3k+) color accuracy are ips. Of course you can find 144 hz ips and va, or low end cheap ips as I mentioned earlier, lots of overlap. You compare models of your price range and not worry about the tech honestly.
 

jayhayjay

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Thank you very very much for the thorough explaination. I'm looking forward to buying a PC monitor that will be able to display games without ghosting and have good, vibrant colors for video editing. That's why I can't really choose between a TN and an IPS monitor. I will find two or three monitors that are affordable for me and I will send you a link. Maybe you can help me choose which one to buy. Online reviews don't help either. Also, if you have any suggestions I'd really appreciate them. My budget cannot surpass 300 dollars.

Again, thanks a lot. If you can provide me with any further information it would be great :)
 
IPS and TN has nothing to do with ghosting. The amount of ghosting is not even remotely related to what panel type a monitor is using. It's all about the electronics inside. If they're cutting costs, you're sure to see more ghosting than a higher end monitor.

Even on "1 ms" TN monitors, there's still a massive amount of ghosting, literally the same as a 5 ms monitor, so that dynamic response time spec, don't matter whatsoever. What matters is the pixel persistence, meaning you can achieve 1 ms persistence, if you use Lightboost, for instance. This can be found on most gaming monitors, even IPS. That's because, even if the static response time has changed and gotten a lot faster by moving up in refresh rate, see

1/60 = 16 ms
1/120 = 8 ms
1/144 = 6 ms

It's still not enough to completely get rid of ghosting. An LCD is always on, and thus Lightboost, black frame insertion and ULMB are required, to minimize this effect, there is no other way, other than increasing the refresh rate so much, which in turn would make LCD's obsolete at that point, because nobody would buy such expensive displays.

Regarding the different panel types, and backlight techniques you listed, I just say TN, IPS, VA, OLED, just like k1114, above.

With that said, I strongly suggest buying a VA monitor, it's beyond me why people constantly complain about both IPS and TN, completely missing VA, which has no defects for the most part, even backlight bleed is extremely rare. Majority of VA monitors, you can't even tell if it's on, if it's displaying a black frame. It's pretty straightforward.

When people compare OLED to LCD's, what they do, especially LG, basically the new Apple in my eyes, they are no different, but I digress. What they did just now, a few days ago, was compare their OLED TV to a IPS TV, to prove that the contrast is so much higher.

What they don't dare to do, is compare a high end VA TV, vs an OLED, they won't do that, because then they would lose too many customers. I find that hilarious. To give you an idea, 3000:1 contrast, is enough to hide all black on a monitor with the environment, i.e a dark room while watching a movie, such as the black bars encoded in blu ray source material. The highest end VA right now, has got a contrast of over 5000:1, that's closing in on OLED's shadow detail performance, at less than half the price. The only downside worth mentioining, is are the colors, because OLED are pushing an exclusive HDR format for their TV's, because they think they're Apple, and then we have the viewing angles, that's literally it.

So when shopping for a monitor, it's not exactly black and white, as many people want to believe. What most people do, is put IPS on top, even though VA can display the same accurate colors IPS can. The monitor market is actually moving backwards, they're cutting corners with the high end IPS gaming monitors, it's sad to see, look at over 1k monitors, and compare the edge light uniformity, and then the IPS glow. A $200 TV beats that, that's sad, and I hope we're going to see major improvements soon. They're pushing features, not panel quality, at the moment.






All the best!
 

spagalicious

Distinguished


Well, what are your PCs specs? IPS ghosting is mostly a non-issue with modern panels. Especially at your price point. I would recommend looking at 60Hz 2560x1440 IPS panels over 60Hz 1080p panels. If you value gaming over productivity, 144Hz 1080p panels are also within your budget.

If you would like a 1440p IPS panel, you are mostly limited to 25" panels. There are multiple brands that use the same AU Optronics 25" IPS panel, one being the ASUS PB258Q. It is $319 on Newegg but can be found cheaper periodically.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236453&cm_re=2560x1440_25%22-_-24-236-453-_-Product
If you would like 27" 1440p IPS, you would need to consider a Korean panel. Something like the Qnix 2710/2730 or Crossover 2795QHD. The 2710 is $279.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4JH1NB1871&cm_re=qnix_1440-_-0JC-0009-00020-_-Product

Another alternative is 144Hz 1080p. Mind you, at the $300 price point you will not find an IPS panel in your budget.
24" BenQ XL2411Z $289
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014376&cm_re=144hz_1080-_-24-014-376-_-Product
24" ASUS VG248QE $259
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236313&cm_re=144hz_1080-_-24-236-313-_-Product
27" AOC G2770PQU $329
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824160227&cm_re=144hz_1080-_-24-160-227-_-Product

Hope this helps a bit, all monitors mentioned are well reviewed. But like always, you may have to play the 'panel lottery'. Dead pixels, backlight/ips glow, and other malfunctions are not uncommon in modern panels.
 

jayhayjay

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Nov 18, 2015
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Thank you all for the information. Apart from your suggestions, I've found five monitors that I'm currently able to afford and I can find in my country (I don't live in the USA). I'll list them here. Do me a favour, if it's possible. Either rank them or choose the best out of them all.

1. Philips 241P4QRYES

2. Iiyama ProLite XB2483HSU

3. Asus VN289H

4. BenQ VW2430H

5. Acer V276HL


By the way, can I somehow change the resolution to 2160p on these 1080p monitors? I've heard you can do that through display port. Is it possible? Can it be done by either DVI or HDMI?

Thanks.
 

umetnic

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Feb 23, 2016
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Man, I actually registered just to upvote U. If U have any personal IT blog...I would be more than happy to subscribe! :D If only all the info out there would be presented, the way U are presenting it...man..I would get some hours (that I now spend on research on various IT things) of my life back..:D
Thank You&Cheers!