Really bad viewing angles on brand new budget IPS gaming monitors

[Vulpen]

Hello, fellow display owners!

 

I recently got a MSI G244F E2 Monitor for about €112, and while everything about it was absolutely awesome bang for the buck, I noticed that its viewing angles were HORRID. Sitting perpendicular to the center of the monitor, it's SIGNIFICANTLY dimmer towards the edges, and when I move my head I can see the issue is indeed the viewing angles, not vignetting or uneven backlighting.

 

I wasn't sure if it was a defect, since IPS displays are supposed to have great viewing angles - displayspecifications lists them as 178 degrees - so I returned the monitor and got a slightly more expensive one:

the AOC 24G42E (€120) - it has a few things going for it better than the MSI one, but once again, it has the same problem with the viewing angles.

 

Is this common with current budget IPS gaming displays? What causes this issue and is it in any way fixable? Should I return the AOC as well and get something more expensive to get better viewing angles? Is the issue that they source their panels from the same place? Is there any site that lists the panels used in monitors, so I can avoid this particular one?

It's particularly jarring, because I have 2 monitors and my secondary monitor is a very cheap LG 24MK430H I got a few years back and it has no such issue, and its brightness is very uniform along the edges.

 

Here is a comparison link to the 3 displays I mentioned so far: https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/comparison/bd6c312cf8

This thread seems to be about the same issue: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/bad-viewing-angles-on-a-brand-new-ips-display.3702641/

[YoungBlade]

That's really odd to see from IPS panels.

 

My Gigabyte M27Q has great viewing angles - you basically have to look at it edge-on for it to dim at all. My ancient Dell IPS, circa 2015, has good viewing angles. Even the garbage Acer G257HL I've got has good viewing angles.

 

I don't even know how manufacturers could screw that up. The way In-Plane Switching works is what gives it good viewing angles, which could imply that the panel technology in these cheap panels isn't really IPS, or at least that it is poorly implemented IPS.

 

If you're looking for a good monitor, I would recommend Monitors Unboxed on YouTube or RTings if you're looking for written reviews. They don't have reviews for every possible monitor, but if one of them says a monitor is good, I would trust it, and both do note viewing angles in their reviews.

[Vulpen]

10 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

That's really odd to see from IPS panels.

 

My Gigabyte M27Q has great viewing angles - you basically have to look at it edge-on for it to dim at all. My ancient Dell IPS, circa 2015, has good viewing angles. Even the garbage Acer G257HL I've got has good viewing angles.

 

I don't even know how manufacturers could screw that up. The way In-Plane Switching works is what gives it good viewing angles, which could imply that the panel technology in these cheap panels isn't really IPS, or at least that it is poorly implemented IPS.

 

If you're looking for a good monitor, I would recommend Monitors Unboxed on YouTube or RTings if you're looking for written reviews. They don't have reviews for every possible monitor, but if one of them says a monitor is good, I would trust it, and both do note viewing angles in their reviews.

Yeah, I know right? My crappy old IPS's viewing angles were *really* 178 degrees. These new ones are either really low quality or defective - but how could two different monitors from different manufacturers have the same issue?

 

The problem with reviews is that monitor models change all the time and get re-released under different names, often with many corners cut. The companies do that on purpose - they release "The 24F*CKIN27AWESOME" and send that to reviewers, who praise it, but they only produce enough units of that quality monitor as a paper launch, then they release "The 24F*CKIN27AWESOME-FU" that they market as the "same" monitor, but the parts are low quality, all the corners have been cut, and no reviewer has ever heard of this thing. So you watch the review for the non-FU version and order the FU cuz that's the only thing that is in stock, only to get ripped off. Been there, done that. They love doing that in the budget display segment. Thank god for Displayspecifications, but it seems this time they let me down as well.

[OddOod]

That is spectacularly disappointing. 
I'm seeing some people mention that this might be due to IPS glow and/or trying to view in a dark room. But I've had an el cheapo unit from scepter in my front hall that's got fantastic angles. Like, have to be basically edge on before it flags

[jaslion]

20 minutes ago, OddOod said:

el cheapo unit from scepter in my front hall that's got fantastic angles.

Big diff is scepter and such do seem to.operate on lower profit margins so you tend to acrually get higher tiered stuff from the factory than more common western name brands. This is basically whats going on here.