Why are TN display panels so expensive and a niche market?

[Atti]

Something I have noticed in the market, is that monitors with TN costs WAY more if you plan on getting higher hertz, resolutions, etc. Whilst AV usually has one of the cheapest 240hz monitors on the market. For example, I have seen a lot of 1920x1080, 144hz TN monitors cost around 300$. While with AV you could get away with a 240hz 1920x1080 for about 150$. 

 

One question came in mind when I saw this: is TN such a big factor in responsiveness that it should cost double the price than an AV monitor? 

[aisle9]

When the actual f*ck did TN become desirable?!?!?! I've always known TN panels as the, "Hey, we had to cut costs everywhere," of the laptop display world.

[Zando_]

Sure you're not just seeing new-old-stock TN panels at inflated prices?

[Middcore]

TN is obsolescent. 

 

It's also VA, not AV.

[Atti]

9 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

When the actual f*ck did TN become desirable?!?!?! I've always known TN panels as the, "Hey, we had to cut costs everywhere," of the laptop display world.

Apparently, it is used a lot in esports. I think a lot of Zowie/BENQ monitors have TN. The worst part is that they charge them at stupid prices, some go for 700$, really do not undertsnd.

[Atti]

2 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

Sure you're not just seeing new-old-stock TN panels at inflated prices?

Nope, brand new monitors. In fact. 

A great example is the ZOWIE XL2566K 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Atti said:

Apparently, it is used a lot in esports. I think a lot of Zowie/BENQ monitors have TN. The worst part is that they charge them at stupid prices, some go for 700$, really do not undertsnd.

TN is often the best option when response time is the main feature you need, as its typically better than IPS or VA here. You really only see TN in those super high refresh rate monitors, and esports games don't typically care about things like HDR, Contrast, Color accuracy, vieing angles and other aspects of the displays.

 

I'm guessing OLED is going to replace these pretty soon as it should be better with responce time, and 480hz and other very high refresh rate OLEDs are starting to come out.

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Atti said:

Nope, brand new monitors. In fact. 

A great example is the ZOWIE XL2566K 

Oh. That's a 360Hz e-sports monitor, not an old 144Hz monitor like you mentioned in the OP. Hardcore CS:GO/similar games players do not care about colors, only refresh rate and response time/input lag. It's likely a cheaper way to get a very low response time monitor vs going OLED.

[Atti]

29 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

Oh. That's a 360Hz e-sports monitor, not an old 144Hz monitor like you mentioned in the OP. Hardcore CS:GO/similar games players do not care about colors, only refresh rate and response time/input lag. It's likely a cheaper way to get a very low response time monitor vs going OLED.

You would think so, but some QD-OLED monitors can go for 900$(Alienware AW2725DF). Could be that I have overlooked something, but seems like 150-200$ for an OLED 1440p is way more worth the price than a TN 1080p

 

[Middcore]

15 minutes ago, Atti said:

but seems like 150-200$ for an OLED 1440p

 

If you find a $200 OLED 1440p, do please let us know.

 

 

[Zando_]

21 minutes ago, Middcore said:

If you find a $200 OLED 1440p, do please let us know.

^ Specifically a 240Hz+ one that would compete with modern high-refresh TN panels.

[Atti]

22 minutes ago, Middcore said:

 

If you find a $200 OLED 1440p, do please let us know.

 

 

I meant 150-200$ more than the Zowie monitor. My bad!

[Stahlmann]

7 hours ago, aisle9 said:

When the actual f*ck did TN become desirable?!?!?! I've always known TN panels as the, "Hey, we had to cut costs everywhere," of the laptop display world.

TN has always been the fastest of the 3 LCD technologies.

 

TN monitors are also currently the only ones to achieve 540Hz. It's not that TN monitors don't support wide colour gamuts, it's just that they have traditionally had much lower contrast and viewing angles than IPS. But the latest high-end TN panels still have a good colour gamut well into DCI-P3 and better contrast than your average IPS monitor. The only downsides for gamers are the viewing angles and the lack of HDR support, which isn't a big problem if you're sitting directly in front of it or don't play HDR games.

 

And just because 480Hz OLED panels are coming out doesn't mean that TN is going to die out completely. Specific brands that cater to esports gamers will still use the technology they're comfortable with, and a good competitive monitor isn't just the panel itself, but also the extra firmware features like shadow boosting, colour saturation and anything else that gives you a competitive edge. At a certain point, there's no visual difference between a 1ms TN panel and a sub 1ms OLED panel. At 500Hz, they look identical in terms of perceived motion clarity.

 

Heck, if the refresh rate is high enough, even BFI becomes obsolete. This at least gives me a bit more peace of mind, seeing how few display brands have worked on BFI with OLED monitors, especially while supporting VRR at the same time. And frankly, it's not something I care about anymore. The next time I upgrade my monitor, ~500Hz OLED monitors will already be on the market, so it's already a problem I'll consider solved.

 

This video helps to prove the points I've made:

 

 

[Doobeedoo]

Answer kinda in the title. The very good ones, best ones are expensive, another reason as they are more niche market and lower volume. I'm someone who appreciates good fast monitors. Those super cheap ones are crap, simple.

Aide from those now known 500 class or 540Hz there is 600Hz ones to come. But it's pushing LCD quite a lot. I expect OLED to take over as it's way faster and no issues in terms of transition. So currently such monitors have a place for sure, I like them and soon 480Hz OLED to come and eventually faster.

[powertoys]

Y'all are forgetting something... a TN monitor will NOT have good response times just because it is TN. It has to be a good quality panel too, and those are expensive.

 

Case in point: laptop TN screens, which took a massive dip in quality at around 2012 (basically, they got rid of all of the "good TN" panels) and since then have been considered the absolute worst that LCD technology has to offer, with vomit-inducing contrast ratio, PWM flickering, terrible viewing angles and, more often than not, 40+ ms response times

[porina]

My main PC display is a TN since I got it in 2017. It is the Acer Predator XB241YU native G-Sync. The only TN "feature" I notice on it is that the brightness varies slightly with vertical angle. No colour shifts in either direction. 

 

Panel type is only one variable, and you get high and low end ones of each type. A high end TN can look better than a low end IPS. Presumably they still exist in that space.