Panel Types

[Ergroilnin]

So while I was responding to another topic here, a thought crossed my mind...

 

We all know there are multiple panel types that run strong nowadays and I guess most of us do favor one or two types of tech over the rest.

 

What do we have on hands right now?

 

It's basically OLED, IPS, QLED VA, VA, TN and to a much lesser degree, plasma and CRT.

 

This is all my understanding so it is not, by far, a comprehensive and perhaps to a degree correct way to describe these panels, but bear with me.

 

 

1) OLED - The self emmisive cells, that can individually turn on or off without being affected by the pixels around them. This makes for "infinite" contrast but at the same time, it is prone to permanent burn in, or wear down of individual cells (especially with heavy usage of something that has a static HUD or channel logo). It is also very expensive. 

 

2) IPS - Great colors, great viewing angles. Higher end tech, so on the higher scale as far as cost goes. Unfortunately it is prone to backlight bleed, which can sometimes get really bad when seen in the dark. The better quality and better quality control, the less this is an actual problem, but then again, those monitors will be priced even further.

 

3) QLED VA - Essentially a classic VA LED panel, the only change being an addition of the quantum layer, which helps out to bring out the colors so that they feel more natural and more vivid. It is same or superior in every way to VA other than the cost, which is obviously higher (actually when we talk about TVs, QLED and OLED of about the same quality tend to cost the same right now).

 

4) VA - The so called "middle road". Va panels are known for great contrast (best of all the three common techs - IPS, VA, TN) but they tend be prone to ghosting or "afterimage" and their vievieng angles are not very good.

 

5) TN - The cheapest of the usual three. It is known for overall inferior colors compared to the rest, but they actually offer the highest framerate, pixel response and input lag of the other three and they are overall the cheapest technology.

 

6) Plasma - IIRC it is basically an upgrade from the CRT, which has all the ups of the CRT, while having the same downside as OLED. It is actually very decent in color accuracy, has zero input lag, is not "fat" unlike CRT, but it is prone to burn in. Quite expensive as well.

 

7) CRT - We all know this one from 20 years ago. Those big, heavy things that sat on our desc. They are the worst of the bunch when it comes to color accuracy but the have basically zero input lag, so there is still some use for these.

 

 

I personally own OLED, IPS, QLED VA and TN on different devices.

 

For me, the OLED is quite the winner when it comes to actual visuals and the only reason I am not putting it outright on my #1 is because of the burn in. So due to the burn in, my first place is actually shared between the OLED and QLED VA, with mayyyyyyybeeeee OLED still having the upper hand a little bit, so that will be my own vote.

 

Also what do you think of the probably relatively soonish upcoming microLED? Will it deliver? Will it be true king of displays other then perhaps price? Just to remind, the technology is basically supposed to bring all the ups and basically none downs of the other techs. It is supposed to be able to turn of every pixel on/off like OLED, it should have awesome color accuracy, low power consumption, no background bleed etc. while the only thing that will probably be a downside is the price. However we are still to be shown just how the microLED tech will turn out for common customer in the upcoming years.

 

So what are your favourites? Vote away and if you feel like it, comment on why. Also feel free to post any other comments on panel types.

[themctipers]

The only IPS display I have is my ThinkPad T480's WQHD display (AUO B140QAN02.3). I wouldn't say it's fair to compare a business laptop's display (usually garbage colour acuracy, mine has 100% sRGB supposedly, and it also has VERY slow pixel response speed and dull colours) to my current monitor which is VA (PHL08E1), but I do much prefer the VA display, simply based off of:

 

- it's more vibrant (NOT a display technology characteristic but just the panel)

- MUCH more contrast (this IS a  point of VA, but the panel takes it to a whole other level - 5000:1 contrast)

 

I don't think that the viewing angle difference between IPS and VA/TN matters much as long as the colours on the display stay the same while you're sitting around the middle of the display. My T480 pretty much has the same colours from whatever angle I approach it at, but I mainly just look at it directly, right in the middle, as a laptop, same goes with colour reproduction.

 

I've only used one OLED display for an extended period of time, and it was a note 5. It just looked like a good IPS, just like my iPhone 6s+. I hope that it never reaches any of my devices because of burn in issues.

 

[Canada EH]

Why am I the only one who chose CRT?

[themctipers]

1 minute ago, Canada EH said:

Why am I the only one who chose CRT?

hard to get in 16:10 / 16:9

take up a TON of power

eye strain over extended period of time

HEAVY

 

on the plus side, cheap, and fun to mess around with overclocking

[Canada EH]

Just now, themctipers said:

cheap

They are free!

[themctipers]

Just now, Canada EH said:

They are free!

1 minute ago, themctipers said:

take up a TON of power

eye strain over extended period of time

HEAVY

 

[Canada EH]

I am sure others will click on CRT.

[SolarNova]

I voted OLED and Yes.

 

heres why.

 

While i run a Plasma, and i do like the good CRT's of old, the CRT's where never big enough, and Plasma PPI caps out at 1080p at 42".

 

Now if CRT where still being developed and improved upon today they would still be big heavy beasts, large sized screens would be heavy and unwanted by people who desire slim light screens, so they are no good for people like me who prefer a large screen (37"+). We used to have  37" CRT as our main TV ..its was VERY deep and VERY heavy...like 2 man struglling to carry it heavy. No 'normal' unit could carry its heft.

CRT did come with great color accuracy. The legendary Fw900 for example was a beast, the king of the CRT's essentialy, and i really wish i had the chance to own one. Even by todays standards that thing is good..really good.

 

Plasma however could be great. Continued development could have allowed for smaller screen sizes to be made , and at 4k no less, however Plasma would still retain the burn in issue (even if it were a minor issue by the time ceased production).

 

OLED currently, is the best tech hands down for pure image uality, with the only drawback in the tech being permanent image retention (its technicaly not 'burn in' as the pixels are degrading, not damaging the panel itself which is what Plasma and CRT did) in certain situations. The so called 'burn in' issue is not near as bad as some poeple make out. The only other problem currently is size, at 55" minimum they are just to big.

 

Currently, the only 'near future' technology being developed is MicroLED, which is suposed to be able to produce OLED like images without the organic part that degrades from use.

 

If I could have ANY display tech now in any configuration. I would choose an ideal MicroLED 40" 21:9 5120x2160 120hz Adaptive sync, true 10 bit, HDR Display.

 

If it were OLED, i would still get it, if it were Plasma i would still get it .. if it were CRT i would still get it.

Long story short so long as its a self emissive tech with those specs. .i would buy it. Its just that MicroLED has the best parts of each display tech without any drawbacks. So it doesnt have the size and weight of a CRT, doesnt have the power usage of a Plasma, and doesnt have the burn in / image retention of Plasma/OLED.

 

And why i didnt choose TN,IPS, or VA (or its QLED variety) is simple, its non emissive, they cant produce black. Current FALD isnt dense enough to help either.

[SolarNova]

I think ill add ULEDXD to that.

 

From what i've read of it. Hisense has added an entire greyscale 1080p LCD layer to control the light coming in from the backlight, effectivly converting a normal backlight and/or FLAD system into a 2million+ zone Array of blacklight pixels.

 

its not OLED or MicroLED pixel perfect. But its a world better than Normal LCD and even FLAD as they rarely get above 400 zones.

 

With 2 layers of LCD controlling light, when both the greyscale layer tries to stop all light coming through along with the main front 4k layer, instead of getting a dark grey like in traditional LCD's, u get an almost perfect black.

 

Due to the VA panel tech design your still going to get some light bleed to surrounding pixels if u have say a black space scene and birght white stars, but it looks more like a soft and small glow around the object instead of a full blown halo like FLAD produces. I would also expect BLB around the edgesof the panel to also be heavily reduced if not stoped enitrely.

 

If it means getting a screen in the 40" range and cheaper than OLED..also without the image retention issue, i  think i could deal with some slight glow around bright objects.

 

Alass i expect these TV's will be big 50"+ probably. Though one can hope. The size deadzone really sucks, theres no high end options in the 37-47" range.