VA, IPS or just TN for new monitor?

[berry_78]

Hello all,

I'm looking for a new 24 inch monitor. This is how I'm generally going to use it:

75% watching Youtube-videos (720p and 1080p)
15% gaming
10% reading text and browsing the internet

My question.. what panel type is the most suitable for this, given that I watch a lot of videos in high resolution? Should I go for TN, Vertical Alignment or IPS (or PLS in case of a Samsung monitor). Are there other thing to take into consideration in this case like response time etc.?

Thanks!

 

[berry_78]

This thread can be closed/deleted as I posted this in the 'Displays' forum.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Hello all,

I'm looking for a new 24 inch monitor. This is how I'm generally going to use it:

75% watching Youtube-videos (720p and 1080p)
15% gaming
10% reading text and browsing the internet

My question.. what panel type is the most suitable for this, given that I watch a lot of videos in high resolution? Should I go for TN, Vertical Alignment or IPS (or PLS in case of a Samsung monitor). Are there other thing to take into consideration in this case like response time etc.?

Thanks!

TN is not suitable for your use case. If you're mostly watching videos and doing general purpose stuff, you are going to want either VA or IPS. VA has issues with response time, though, at least compared to a good IPS display so I am going to say go with an IPS/PLS/AHVA (all "IPS-type").

 

[berry_78]

TN is not suitable for your use case. If you're mostly watching videos and doing general purpose stuff, you are going to want either VA or IPS. VA has issues with response time, though, at least compared to a good IPS display so I am going to say go with an IPS/PLS/AHVA (all "IPS-type").

Thanks for making this clear. In that case, I'm going for a IPS-panel monitor. Does it make any difference if the response time is either 1, 2 or 5 ms for my purpose?

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

VA is what you want due to far superior contrast ratios and black levels (not to mention lack of IPS glow). Response times aren't that bad.

A decent IPS won't be able to go above ~1,100:1 static contrast ratio. A decent VA is at least going to be ~2,000:1 with some being in the 3,000s or 4,000s. VAs used in TVs are even better with some reaching ~6,000:1.

 

[repoman0]

Thanks for making this clear. In that case, I'm going for a IPS-panel monitor. Does it make any difference if the response time is either 1, 2 or 5 ms for my purpose?

The response time of any modern IPS will be "fast enough". The marketed numbers are pretty meaningless.

More important is input lag, which is the processing time of the electronics behind the actual panel per frame ... but for casual gaming, again most modern IPS are fast enough ...

 

[Arachnotronic]

Thanks for making this clear. In that case, I'm going for a IPS-panel monitor. Does it make any difference if the response time is either 1, 2 or 5 ms for my purpose?

You won't find an IPS with 1ms or 2nm response time, that's TN territory.

Lower is better especially for gaming; if you can find one with 4ms response rather than 5ms, that'd be good.

 

[Arachnotronic]

VA is what you want due to far superior contrast ratios and black levels (not to mention lack of IPS glow). Response times aren't that bad.

VA has better contrast ratio because of the lower black levels, but viewing angles aren't as good as IPS-type and response times tend to be all over the place (averages are ok, but often you will find big spikes up).

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

VA has better contrast ratio because of the lower black levels, but viewing angles aren't as good as IPS-type and response times tend to be all over the place (averages are ok, but often you will find big spikes up).

None of that is worth as much as a decent contrast ratio and low black level (for video/movie watching).

 

[berry_78]

Very confusing.. I find low black level as important as a decent viewing angle. Perhaps go to a store and try some IPS / VA monitors for comparison.

 

[berry_78]

I tend to go for this one: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-24-SF356-S24F356FHU-LS24F356FHUXEN/dp/B01EX7KSPM. It's a PLS screen (basically the same as IPS, right?) with 4 ms response time.

 

[Bacon1]

It's a PLS screen (basically the same as IPS, right?)

Yes, Samsung panels aren't IPS but very similar. IPS is LG only iirc.

Regarding the response time, they are all basically meaningless stats, check www.tftcentral.co.uk for actual reviews and input lag / refresh / color accuracy testing.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I tend to go for this one: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-24-SF356-S24F356FHU-LS24F356FHUXEN/dp/B01EX7KSPM. It's a PLS screen (basically the same as IPS, right?) with 4 ms response time.

PLS is Samsung's IPS-type, yes.

 

[berry_78]

Alright thanks for all the info!

 

[thejunglegod]

I'd like to clarify one more thing in addition to the op. Apart from the viewing angles, is there a drastic difference in the picture quality of IPS and TN panels? I mean, if you compare the Asus PG278Q and the 279Q, many reviewers out there say that the picture qualities are almost identical, apart from the viewing angles of course.

 

[Headfoot]

Well its more common to find IPS panels with real 8-bit and not 6-bit plus dithering. Real 8-bit looks way better, less banding etc. At a sufficiently large screen you can't avoid the off-angle color shift of TN around the edges. Vertical off angle shift can be pretty bad on monitors 27" and larger on TN.

 

[Headfoot]

For you specifically I'd say you will not notice a large difference between IPS and VA realistically at the same price point. On a TV yeah because you do run into a lot of dark heavy content, but on youtube less so. That and monitor VA is usually not all that much better until you spend a good bit more coin than IPS. Good VA is really awesome but low end/cheap VA is pretty meh.

So depending on budget, but assuming a fairly modest budget of $150-300-ish, I'd say it's equivalent. There's better choice of IPS monitors in that price range so ultimately you'll want to pick based on the best reviewed monitor itself and not just panel tech. Backlight bleed and backlight quality control are really big factors here too.

 

[biostud]

Since gaming isn't your main focus I wouldn't worry about the response times.

 

[Piroko]

I'd like to clarify one more thing in addition to the op. Apart from the viewing angles, is there a drastic difference in the picture quality of IPS and TN panels? I mean, if you compare the Asus PG278Q and the 279Q, many reviewers out there say that the picture qualities are almost identical, apart from the viewing angles of course.

Well its more common to find IPS panels with real 8-bit and not 6-bit plus dithering. Real 8-bit looks way better, less banding etc. At a sufficiently large screen you can't avoid the off-angle color shift of TN around the edges. Vertical off angle shift can be pretty bad on monitors 27" and larger on TN.

This. And there's also the point that quite a number of IPS panels come factory-calibrated in their colors (->tftcentral, everything they don't complain about is good enough). That probably isn't something you'll notice when you first use a calibrated monitor, but it's something that stands out as soon as you're used to seeing "the correct shades of red, green and blue".