As crucial pieces of hardware for displaying images, monitors have parameters that include, among others, refresh rate, viewing angle, and contrast. However, these are actually determined by the monitor itself. monitor panel. So what are the different types of monitor panels and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Today, we will briefly discuss the monitor panels from four perspectives.
The Concepts of LED and LCD
Why are LCD and LED listed together?
LED is actually a type of LCD screen. LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. The structure of an LCD screen can be seen in the figure above. The only difference between LED and LCD screens is the light source on the bottom layer of the screen.
LCDs use cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CFLs), while LED displays use light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Other than the light source, the other components are the same as LCDs, so LED displays are classified as LCDs. LED displays are in the same class as LED screens, but are less used.
In addition to the different light sources, there are also performance differences between the two.
The disadvantage of using CCFL as backlight is that it consumes more power than LEDs, but the advantage is better color rendering.
LCD monitors that use LED backlighting, on the other hand, can achieve high brightness while remaining thin and light due to the LEDs' small size and low power consumption. However, their disadvantage is that color rendering is inferior to that of CCFL backlighting.
Professional graphic LCD monitors typically use traditional CCFL as the backlight.
IPS Display VS LED
For users, these two concepts are easily confused.
IPS and LED are different components of a monitor panel and therefore distinct concepts.
IPS is a type of liquid crystal display panel that provides wide viewing angles and high color accuracy by arranging liquid crystal molecules horizontally. It requires an LED backlight to display images and is considered an advanced version of LCD screens.
LED displays are LCD screens that use LED lamps as backlights. Replacing traditional CCFL backlights, they offer higher brightness, a thinner structure, and lower power consumption.
What are the best monitor panels? – About TN, VA, and IPS
Now that we've clarified the differences between LCD and LED, what about the panels behind LCDs? As we've already discussed, LCD panels are categorized as TN, VA, and IPS.
If you're a hardcore gamer, you've no doubt heard of TN (Twisted Nematic) panels. Offering the fastest response time and highest refresh rate, TN panels are the first of the three types (appearing in 1972), and their original purpose wasn't to achieve high refresh rates and fast response times.
When LCD panels first debuted, they were expensive and difficult to mass-produce. Therefore, manufacturers changed their strategy and made some modifications to the panel technology. Simply put, the panel structure was simplified (a simplified version of an LCD), significantly reducing production costs but at the expense of color reproduction.
Thanks to fewer grayscale outputs and the higher rotational speed of the liquid crystal molecules, TN panels offer the most obvious advantages: their inherently high response time and refresh rate. It's precisely these advantages that make them the preferred choice for most professional FPS gamers.
The extreme advantages of TN panels also come with significant drawbacks. Not only is color display inaccurate, but the viewing angle is also extremely narrow. If you tilt your eyes even slightly, the screen becomes quite white, almost like looking at film negatives. But then again, isn't this a way to help gamers maintain a healthy viewing angle?
Let's talk about VA (Vertical Alignment) panels. VA panels are more like the opposite of TN panels, offering higher color contrast, purer blacks, a more detailed image, and acceptable viewing angles. However, their downside is a slow response time (GTG: above 10ms-20ms), which can cause some artifacts in FPS games.
Even if you're not a display expert, you've probably heard of IPS (In-Plane Switching) panels. IPS panels offer excellent overall quality, providing the widest viewing angles, acceptable response times, and excellent color reproduction. However, IPS also suffers from a long-standing flaw: light leakage. This common issue is caused by the manufacturing process and the display material. Of course, many manufacturers are working to improve this issue through improved packaging and manufacturing processes. Generally speaking, light leakage in IPS displays is normal, as long as it's not excessive.
If used as monitoring panels, an IPS panel is recommended. It's suitable for image and video editing monitoring applications and can maintain clear images even in bright environments. Confirm that the monitor supports security-specific signal input interfaces, such as BNC.
Pros and Cons Summary:
TN screens have the fastest response time, followed by IPS screens and finally VA screens.
IPS screens have the best viewing angles, followed by VA screens, with TN screens having the worst.
VA screens have the best contrast, followed by IPS screens, with TN screens being the worst.
IPS screens have the best color reproduction, followed by VA screens, with TN screens being the worst.
IPS screens have the worst light leakage control, while VA screens have the least light leakage and TN screens have virtually no light leakage.
I'm sure some of you are wondering: what about OLED screens? OLED screens use self-luminescent pixels, which can achieve true blacks and high contrast. Their only two drawbacks are the risk of burn-in and the high price. Other than that, their specs are top-notch.
However, there are problems with burn-in and flickering.
The three types of LCD screens each have their own distinct advantages: TN screens offer high response times and refresh rates, VA screens offer high contrast, and IPS screens offer a balance of the three. If you don't have a specific need, you can always opt for IPS. However, IPS now has more panel types, so some IPS screens sell for very low prices, but you still need to know which type you have. For users who meet these needs, OLED screens are an obvious option.
