lcd panel structure brands
Flat-panel displays are thin panels of glass or plastic used for electronically displaying text, images, or video. Liquid crystal displays (LCD), OLED (organic light emitting diode) and microLED displays are not quite the same; since LCD uses a liquid crystal that reacts to an electric current blocking light or allowing it to pass through the panel, whereas OLED/microLED displays consist of electroluminescent organic/inorganic materials that generate light when a current is passed through the material. LCD, OLED and microLED displays are driven using LTPS, IGZO, LTPO, and A-Si TFT transistor technologies as their backplane using ITO to supply current to the transistors and in turn to the liquid crystal or electroluminescent material. Segment and passive OLED and LCD displays do not use a backplane but use indium tin oxide (ITO), a transparent conductive material, to pass current to the electroluminescent material or liquid crystal. In LCDs, there is an even layer of liquid crystal throughout the panel whereas an OLED display has the electroluminescent material only where it is meant to light up. OLEDs, LCDs and microLEDs can be made flexible and transparent, but LCDs require a backlight because they cannot emit light on their own like OLEDs and microLEDs.
Liquid-crystal display (or LCD) is a thin, flat panel used for electronically displaying information such as text, images, and moving pictures. They are usually made of glass but they can also be made out of plastic. Some manufacturers make transparent LCD panels and special sequential color segment LCDs that have higher than usual refresh rates and an RGB backlight. The backlight is synchronized with the display so that the colors will show up as needed. The list of LCD manufacturers:
Organic light emitting diode (or OLED displays) is a thin, flat panel made of glass or plastic used for electronically displaying information such as text, images, and moving pictures. OLED panels can also take the shape of a light panel, where red, green and blue light emitting materials are stacked to create a white light panel. OLED displays can also be made transparent and/or flexible and these transparent panels are available on the market and are widely used in smartphones with under-display optical fingerprint sensors. LCD and OLED displays are available in different shapes, the most prominent of which is a circular display, which is used in smartwatches. The list of OLED display manufacturers:
MicroLED displays is an emerging flat-panel display technology consisting of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements. Like OLED, microLED offers infinite contrast ratio, but unlike OLED, microLED is immune to screen burn-in, and consumes less power while having higher light output, as it uses LEDs instead of organic electroluminescent materials, The list of MicroLED display manufacturers:
LCDs are made in a glass substrate. For OLED, the substrate can also be plastic. The size of the substrates are specified in generations, with each generation using a larger substrate. For example, a 4th generation substrate is larger in size than a 3rd generation substrate. A larger substrate allows for more panels to be cut from a single substrate, or for larger panels to be made, akin to increasing wafer sizes in the semiconductor industry.
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STONE Technologies is a proud manufacturer of superior quality TFT LCD modules and LCD screens. The company also provides intelligent HMI solutions that perfectly fit in with its excellent hardware offerings.
STONE TFT LCD modules come with a microcontroller unit that has a 1GHz Cortex-A8 CPU. Such a module can easily be transformed into an HMI screen. Simple hexadecimal instructions can be used to control the module through the UART port. Furthermore, you can seamlessly develop STONE TFT LCD color user interface modules and add touch control, features to them.
Becoming a reputable TFT LCD manufacturer is no piece of cake. It requires a company to pay attention to detail, have excellent manufacturing processes, the right TFT display technology, and have a consumer mindset.
Now, we list down 10 of the best famous LCD manufacturers globally. We’ll also explore why they became among the top 10 LCD display Manufacturers in the world.
Interface Devises Business includes Display and Senor, Sensor, and Application Solutions. As a leading company in the global semiconductor display industry, BOE has made the Chinese display industry develop from scratch to maturity and prosperity. Now, more than one-quarter of the global display panels are made by BOE, with its UHD, flexible display, microdisplay, and other solutions broadly applied to well-known worldwide brands.
LG Display is a leading manufacturer of thin-film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) panels, OLED, and flexible displays.LG Display began developing TFT-LCD in 1987 and currently offers Display panels in a variety of sizes and specifications using different cutting-edge technologies (IPS, OLED, and flexible technology).
Founded in 2003, Innolink listed its shares in Taiwan in 2006. In March 2010, it merged with Chi Mei Optoelectronics and Tong Bao Optoelectronics, the largest merger in the panel industry. Qunchuang is the surviving company and Chi Mei Electronics is the company name. In December 2012, it was renamed As Qunchuang Optoelectronics.
With innovative and differentiated technologies, QINNOOptoelectronics provides advanced display integration solutions, including 4K2K ultra-high resolution, 3D naked eye, IGZO, LTPS, AMOLED, OLED, and touch solutions. Qinnooptoelectronics sets specifications and leads the market. A wide range of product line is across all kinds of TFT LCD panel modules, touch modules, for example, TV panel, desktop and laptop computer monitor with panels, small and medium scale “panels, medical, automotive, etc., the supply of cutting-edge information and consumer electronics customers around the world, for the world TFT – LCD (thin-film transistor liquid crystal display) leading manufacturers.
AU Optronics Co., LTD., formerly AU Optronics Corporation, was founded in August 1996. It changed its name to AU Optronics after its merger with UNIOPtronics in 2001. Through two mergers, AU has been able to have a full range of generations of production lines for panels of all sizes.Au Optronics is a TFT-LCD design, manufacturing, and r&d company. Since 2008, au Optronics has entered the green energy industry, providing customers with high-efficiency solar energy solutions.
Sharp has been called the “father of LCD panels”.Since its founding in 1912, Sharp developed the world’s first calculator and LIQUID crystal display, represented by the living pencil, which was invented as the company name. At the same time, Sharp is actively expanding into new areas to improve people’s living standards and social progress. Made a contribution.
BYD IT products and businesses mainly include rechargeable batteries, plastic mechanism parts, metal parts, hardware electronic products, cell phone keys, microelectronics products, LCD modules, optoelectronics products, flexible circuit boards, chargers, connectors, uninterruptible power supplies, DC power supplies, solar products, cell phone decoration, cell phone ODM, cell phone testing, cell phone assembly business, notebook computer ODM, testing and manufacturing and assembly business, etc.
Toshiba is a famous multinational company with a history of 130 years. It covers a wide range of businesses, including social infrastructure construction, home appliances, digital products, and electronic components. It covers almost every aspect of production and life. Toshiba has the largest research and development institution in Japan. Through unremitting innovation and development, Toshiba has been at the forefront of science and technology in the world.
Tianma microelectronics co., LTD., founded in 1983, the company focus on smartphones, tablets, represented by high order laptop display market of consumer goods and automotive, medical, POS, HMI, etc., represented by professional display market, and actively layout smart home, intelligent wear, AR/VR, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other emerging markets, to provide customers with the best product experience.IN terms of technology, the company has independently mastered leading technologies such as LTPS-TFT, AMOLED, flexible display, Oxide-TFT, 3D display, transparent display, and in-cell/on-cell integrated touch control. TFT-LCD key Materials and Technologies National Engineering Laboratory, national enterprise Technology Center, post-doctoral mobile workstation, and undertake national Development and Reform Commission, The Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and other major national thematic projects. The company’s long-term accumulation and continuous investment in advanced technology lay the foundation for innovation and development in the field of application.
HTPS is an abbreviation of High Temperature Poly-Silicon, an active matrix transmissive LCD. It"s superior in that it is smaller, has higher resolution and higher contrast, and can embed drivers. The main function of HTPS is as a light valve for projectors.
In both LCD and OLED displays, producing these cells – which are highly complex – is by far the most difficult element of the production process. Indeed, the complexity of these cells, combined with the levels of investment needed to achieve expertise in their production, explains why there are less than 30 companies in the whole world that can produce them. China, for instance, has invested more than 300 billion yuan (approximately $45 billion USD) in just one of these companies – BOE – over the past 14 years.
Panox Display has been involved in the display industry for many years and has built strong and long-term partner relationships with many of the biggest OLED and LCD panel manufacturers. As a result, we are able to offer our clients guaranteed access to display products from the biggest manufacturers.
LG Display was, until 2021, the No. 1 display panel manufacturer in the world. Owned by LG Group and headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, it has R&D, production, and trade institutions in China, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Europe.
Founded in 2001, AUO – or AU Optronics – is the world’s leading TFT-LCD panel manufacturer (with a 16% market share) that designs, develops, and manufactures the world’s top three liquid crystal displays. With panels ranging from as small as 1.5 inches to 46 inches, it boasts one of the world"s few large-, medium -and small-sized product lines.
AUO offers advanced display integration solutions with innovative technologies, including 4K2K ultra-high resolution, 3D, ultra-thin, narrow bezel, transparent display, LTPS, OLED, and touch solutions. AOU has the most complete generation production line, ranging from 3.5G to 8.5G, offering panel products for a variety of LCD applications in a range of sizes, from as small as 1.2 inches to 71 inches.
Now Sharp is still top 10 TV brands all over the world. Just like BOE, Sharp produce LCDs in all kinds of size. Including small LCD (3.5 inch~9.1 inch), medium LCD (10.1 ~27 inch), large LCD (31.5~110 inch). Sharp LCD has been used on Iphone series for a long time.
Beside those current LCDs, the industrial LCD of Sharp is also excellent and widely used in public facilities, factories, and vehicles. The Sharp industrial LCD, just means solid, high brightness, super long working time, highest stability.
Since its establishment, Truly Semiconductors has focused on researching, developing, and manufacturing liquid crystal flat panel displays. Now, after twenty years of development, it is the biggest small- and medium-sized flat panel display manufacturer in China.
Truly’s factory in Shanwei City is enormous, covering an area of 1 million square meters, with a net housing area of more than 100,000 square meters. It includes five LCD production lines, one OLED production line, three touch screen production lines, and several COG, LCM, MDS, CCM, TAB, and SMT production lines.
Its world-class production lines produce LCD displays, liquid crystal display modules (LCMs), OLED displays, resistive and capacitive touch screens (touch panels), micro camera modules (CCMs), and GPS receiving modules, with such products widely used in the smartphone, automobile, and medical industries. The LCD products it offers include TFT, TN, Color TN with Black Mark (TN type LCD display for onboard machines), STN, FSTN, 65K color, and 262K color or above CSTN, COG, COF, and TAB modules.
In its early days, Innolux attached great importance to researching and developing new products. Mobile phones, portable and mounted DVD players, digital cameras, games consoles, PDA LCDs, and other star products were put into mass production and quickly captured the market, winning the company considerable market share.
Looking forward to the future, the group of photoelectric will continue to deep LCD display field, is committed to the development of plane display core technology, make good use of global operations mechanism and depth of division of labor, promise customers high-quality products and services, become the world"s top display system suppliers, in 2006 in the global mobile phone color display market leader, become "Foxconn technology" future sustained rapid growth of the engine.
Founded in June 1998, Hannstar specializes in producing thin-film transistor liquid crystal display panels, mainly for use in monitors, notebook displays and televisions. It was the first company in Taiwan to adopt the world’s top ultra-wide perspective technology (AS-IPS).
The company has three LCD factories and one LCM factory. It has acquired state-of-the-art TFT-LCD manufacturing technology, which enables it to achieve the highest efficiency in the mass production of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display production technology. Its customers include many of the biggest and most well-known electronics companies and computer manufacturers in Taiwan and overseas.
TCL CSOT – short for TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology (TCL CSOT) – was founded in 2009 and is an innovative technology enterprise that focuses on the production of semiconductor displays. As one of the global leaders in semiconductor display market, it has bases in Shenzhen, Wuhan, Huizhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and India, with nine panel production lines and five large modules bases.
TCL CSOT actively produces Mini LED, Micro LED, flexible OLED, printing OLED, and other new display technologies. Its product range is vast – including large, medium, and small panels and touch modules, electronic whiteboards, splicing walls, automotive displays, gaming monitors, and other high-end display application fields – which has enabled it to become a leading player in the global panel industry.
In the first quarter of 2022, TCL CSOT’s TV panels ranked second in the market, 55 inches, 65 " and 75 inches second, 8K, 120Hz first, the first, interactive whiteboard and digital sign plate; LTPS flat panel, the second, LTPS and flexible OLED fourth.
EDO (also known as EverDisplay Optonics) was founded in October 2012 and focuses on the production of small- and medium-sized high-resolution AMOLED semiconductor display panels.
Tianma Microelectronics was founded in 1983 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 1995. It is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the production of liquid crystal displays (LCD) and liquid crystal display modules (LCM).
After more than 30 years of development, it has grown into a large publicly listed company integrating LCD research and development, design, production, sales, and servicing. Over the years, it has expanded by investing in the construction of STN-LCD, CSTN-LCD, TFT-LCD and CF production lines and module factories across China (with locations in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan and Xiamen), as well R&D centers and offices in Europe, Japan, South Korea and the United States.
JDI (Japan Display Inc.) was established on November 15, 2011, as a joint venture between the Industrial Innovation Corporation, Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba. It is dedicated to the production and development of small-sized displays. It mainly produces small- and medium-sized LCD display panels for use in the automotive, medical, and industrial fields, as well as personal devices including smartphones, tablets, and wearables.
Although Sony’s TVs use display panels from TCL CSOT (VA panel), Samsung. Sony still produces the world’s best micro-OLED display panels. Sony has many micro OLED model such as 0.23 inch, 0.39 inch, 0.5 inch, 0.64 inch, 0.68 inch, 0.71 inch. Panox Display used to test and sell many of them, compare to other micro OLED manufacuturers, Sony`s micro OLEDs are with the best image quality and highest brightness (3000 nits max).
With the rapid development of my country’s display industry, the global display industry structure has undergone major changes. At present, the LCD industry is mainly concentrated in China, Japan, and South Korea. With the release of the new production capacity of mainland panel manufacturers, mainland China will become the world’s largest LCD production area shortly. So, what are the top ten LCD manufacturers in the world, and how do they rank?
LG Display (Chinese name is LG Display) is currently the world’s No. 1 LCD panel manufacturer, affiliated to LG Group, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, with R&D, production, and trading institutions in China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States and Europe.
LGDisplay’s customers include Apple, HP, DELL, SONY, Toshiba, PHILIPS, Lenovo, Acer, and other world-class consumer electronics manufacturers. Apple’s iPhone4, iPhone4S, iPhone5, iPad, iPad2, TheNewiPad, and the latest iPad mini all use LG Display’s liquid crystal display panel.
Innolux is a professional TFT-LCD panel manufacturing company founded by Foxconn Technology Group in 2003. The factory is located in Shenzhen Longhua Foxconn Technology Park, with an initial investment of RMB 10 billion. Innolux has a strong display technology research and development team, coupled with Foxconn’s strong manufacturing capabilities, and effectively exerts the benefits of vertical integration, which will make a significant contribution to improving the level of the world’s flat-panel display industry.
Innolux conducts production and sales operations in a one-stop manner and provides overall solutions for group system customers. Innolux attaches great importance to the research and development of new products. Star products such as mobile phones, portable and car-mounted DVDs, digital cameras, game consoles, and PDA LCD screens have been put into mass production, and they have quickly seized the market to win market opportunities. Several patents have been obtained.
AU Optronics was formerly known as Daqi Technology and was established in August 1996. In 2001, it merged with Lianyou Optoelectronics and changed its name to AU Optronics. In 2006, it acquired Guanghui Electronics again. After the merger, AUO has a complete production line for all generations of large, medium, and small LCD panels. AU Optronics is also the world’s first TFT-LCD design, manufacturing, and R&D company to be publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). AU Optronics took the lead in introducing an energy management platform and was the first manufacturer in the world to obtain ISO50001 energy management system certification and ISO14045 eco-efficiency assessment product system verification, and was selected as the Dow Jones Sustainability World in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012. Index constituent stocks set an important milestone for the industry.
Founded in April 1993, BOE is the largest display panel manufacturer in China and a provider of Internet of Things technology, products, and services. Core businesses include display devices, smart systems, and health services. Display products are widely used in mobile phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, monitors, TVs, vehicles, wearable devices, and other fields; smart systems build IoT platforms for new retail, transportation, finance, education, art, medical and other fields, providing ” “Hardware products + software platform + scenario application” overall solution; the health service business is combined with medicine and life technology to develop mobile health, regenerative medicine, and O+O medical services, and integrate the resources of the health park.
At present, BOE’s shipments in notebook LCD screens, flat-panel LCD screens, mobile phone LCD screens, and other fields have reached the world’s first place. Its successful entry into Apple’s supply chain will become the world’s top three LCD panel manufacturers soon.
Sharp is known as the “Father of LCD Panels.” Since its establishment in 1912, Sharp Corporation has developed the world’s first calculator and liquid crystal display, represented by the invention of the live pencil, which is the origin of the current company’s name. At the same time, Sharp is actively expanding into new areas to improve the living standards of human beings and society. Contribute to progress.
Toshiba is a well-known multinational enterprise group with a history of 130 years, with a wide range of business, involving social infrastructure construction, household appliances, digital products, electronic components, and other business fields, covering almost all aspects of production and life. Toshiba has the largest R&D institution in Japan. Through unremitting innovation and development, Toshiba has always been at the forefront of world science and technology. From launching Japan’s first washing machines, refrigerators, and other household appliances, to developing the world’s first notebook computer, the first 16MB flash memory, the world’s smallest 0.85-inch HDD; creating advanced HDDVD technology; researching and manufacturing new SED displays, Toshiba has created many “world firsts” and has contributed to changing people’s lives through continuous technological innovation. Recently, Toshiba is gradually withdrawing from the home appliances and electronic product markets and developing into industries with higher technological content.
The company independently masters leading technologies including LTPS-TFT, AMOLED, flexible display, Oxide-TFT, 3D display, transparent display, and IN-CELL/ON-CELL integrated touch control. The company has a national engineering laboratory for TFT-LCD key materials and technology, a national-level enterprise technology center, a post-doctoral mobile workstation, and undertakes many major national-level special projects such as the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The company’s strong technology and scientific research capabilities have become the cornerstone of the company’s sustainable development.
Among the world famous brands, the screen of South Korea"s samsung and LG is known to be produced and sold by themselves.Display screens of other niche brands, and those brands capable of self-production and self-marketing, also have an unassailable position in their own segments, facing various brands.For buyers, how to find suitable suppliers from these LCD panel manufacturers?
The world-renowned LCD panel production line is mainly controlled by several enterprises: au optronics in Taiwan;Chi mei electronics in Taiwan, China;Sharp, Japan;South Korea samsung, South Korea LG;Philips;Boe, etc.These companies supply the world"s main demand for liquid crystal displays.
LG Display is currently the world"s first LCD panel manufacturer. It is affiliated to LG group and headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.Its subsidiaries are: LG electronics, LG display, GS caltex, LG chemistry, LG life and health, etc., covering the fields of chemical energy, electronics and appliances, communication and service.LG Display"s customers include Apple, HP, DELL, SONY, Toshiba, PHILIPS, Lenovo, Acer and other world-class consumer electronics manufacturers.LG"s manufacturing base in China is in nanjing, shenyang.
Innolux is a tft-lcd panel manufacturing company founded by foxconn technology group in 2003.The factory is located in longhua foxconn technology park in shenzhen.Innolux has a strong display technology research and development team, coupled with foxconn"s strong manufacturing capacity, to effectively play the vertical integration benefits, to improve the level of the world plane display industry will have a pointer contribution.In March 2010, it merged with chi mei electronics and tong bao optoelectronics.
Au optronics, formerly known as acer technology, was founded in August 1996. It was renamed au optronics after the merger of au optronics and united optronics in 2001.Au optronics is the world"s first tft-lcd design, manufacturing and development company to be publicly listed on the New York stock exchange (NYSE).
Boe, founded in April 1993, is the largest display panel manufacturer in China and a provider of Internet of things technology, products and services.At present, boe has reached the world"s first place in the field of notebook LCD, flat LCD and mobile LCD. With its success in joining the apple supply chain, boe will become the world"s top three LCD panel manufacturers in the near future.
Sharp is known as "the father of LCD panel".Since its founding in 1912, sharp corporation has been developing the world"s first calculator and liquid crystal display, represented by the live pencil, which is the name of the company. At the same time, sharp corporation has been actively expanding new fields, contributing to the improvement of human living standards and social progress.Sharp is already owned by foxconn.
Toshiba is a famous multinational enterprise group with a history of 130 years. It has a wide range of business, including social infrastructure construction, household appliances, digital products, electronic components and other business fields, covering almost every aspect of production and life.
The company has set up tft-lcd key materials and technology national engineering laboratory, national enterprise technology center, post-doctoral mobile workstation, and undertakes national development and reform commission, ministry of science and technology, ministry of industry and information technology and other major national special projects.The company"s strong technology and scientific research capabilities become the cornerstone of the company"s sustainable development.
a line of extreme and ultra-narrow bezel LCD displays that provides a video wall solution for demanding requirements of 24x7 mission-critical applications and high ambient light environments
a line of extreme and ultra-narrow bezel LCD displays that provides a video wall solution for demanding requirements of 24x7 mission-critical applications and high ambient light environments
Many TVs use LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panels that are lit by LED backlights. There are two popular types of LCD panels: In-Plane Switching (IPS) and Vertical Alignment (VA), and there are two main differences between each type. A VA panel usually has a high contrast ratio and narrow viewing angles. However, an IPS panel has low contrast and wide viewing angles. These are the main differences between each, and for the most part, panel type doesn"t affect other aspects of picture quality, like peak brightness, color gamut, or color accuracy.
For the purposes of this article, we"re going to compare two LED-backlit LCD TVs: the Sony X800H, which has an IPS panel, and the Hisense H9G, which has a VA panel. Due to their different panel types, there are three noticeable differences in picture quality: viewing angles, contrast, and black uniformity, so we"re going to look at each one.
Viewing angle refers to the angle at which you can watch the TV without seeing a noticeable drop in picture quality. IPS TVs are the clear winner here, as the image remains accurate when viewing from the side - you can see the differences in the videos above. This is their main advantage over VA panels. Most VA panel TVs have a noticeable loss in image accuracy when viewing from the side. The narrow viewing angle of VA-type TVs is also problematic when the TV is used as a PC monitor from up close since the edges of the display look washed out.
VA panels are far superior to IPS panels when it comes to this, so if you tend to watch movies in the dark, you likely want to get a TV with a VA panel. Most TVs use VA panels due to this main advantage, and high-end models may have a local dimming feature that further enhances black levels. On the other hand, IPS panels normally have low contrast, so blacks look closer to gray, but you may not notice the difference in contrast in bright environments.
Our black uniformity tests determine how well a TV displays a dark scene with a bright image in the center. Ideally, you want to see a completely black screen with the center cross being the only part that"s lit up, and this is important for people watching movies. No LED TV has perfect uniformity, and unlike viewing angles and contrast, the panel type doesn"t completely determine its black uniformity. However, most VA panels that we"ve tested have good black uniformity, while most IPS panels have sub-par black uniformity. This doesn"t mean that every VA panel TV has good uniformity, as this can change between units, and you can also improve uniformity using the local dimming feature.
LCDs function by having liquid crystals in little groups to form the pixels. These crystals react and change position when charged with electricity and, depending on their position, they allow a certain color of light to pass through.
There"s also another type of IPS panel, called Plane-to-Line Switching (PLS), which can be seen with the Sony X800H. This panel type was designed by Samsung and technically performs the same as an IPS panel. When you compare the pixels visually, IPS panels look like chevrons, VA looks like very straight rectangles, and PLS looks like round-edged capsules. You can learn more about pixels here.
The way the pixels are laid out can also affect text clarity. Many IPS panels, like the ones on the Sony X800H or the LG SK9000, use RGB sub-pixel layouts, while many VA panels have a BGR layout, like on the Hisense H9G. The sub-pixel layout doesn"t directly affect picture quality unless you"re using it as a PC monitor. Some applications may expect an RGB layout, so if you have a BGR sub-pixel layout, text may not look clear. You may need to increase the text scaling to read it properly, but this issue isn"t common with an RGB layout. You can learn more about it here.
Unlike LED TVs, OLEDs don"t use a backlight and instead have self-emitting pixels. This allows the pixels to individually turn on and off, resulting in perfect blacks. This means that they also have perfect black uniformity as there"s no blooming around bright objects like on some LED TVs. They also have wide viewing angles, sometimes even wider than some IPS panels, so OLEDs are a good choice for wide seating arrangements.
Samsung released quantum dot TVs in 2015, which they later labeled as QLED in 2017. These TVs include a quantum dot layer between the LED backlights and the LCD panel to achieve a wider color gamut. Other companies like Vizio and TCL also use this quantum dot technology on their TVs. Adding this extra quantum dot layer doesn"t change the characteristics of the panel type; the VA panel on the TCL 6 Series/S635 2020 QLED still has a high contrast ratio and narrow viewing angles. Although most QLED TVs use VA panels, you can easily use an IPS panel as well.
Manufacturers have tried different techniques to improve the viewing angles on VA panels over the years, aiming to produce a perfect LCD panel with both wide viewing angles and high contrast. While they have yet to achieve that goal, a few TVs have hit the market that try to combine the best of both panel types. The first TVs with this viewing angle technology came out in 2018, and only a few high-end models like the Samsung Q90/Q90T QLED and the Sony X950H had this technology in 2020. These TVs are a bit unique, delivering noticeably better viewing angles than their pure VA counterparts, but still worse than true IPS panels. This comes at the expense of a lower contrast ratio, as these TVs have worse native contrast than most VA panels, but they"re still better than IPS panels. Combined with their local dimming features, they still produce deep blacks.
Between IPS and VA panels, neither technology is inherently superior to the other as they both serve different purposes. In general, IPS TVs have wide viewing angles suitable for when you want to watch the big game or your favorite show in a large seating arrangement. They"re also beneficial for use as a PC monitor since the edges remain accurate if you sit up close. However, VA panels are a better choice for watching content in dark rooms, as their improved contrast allows them to display deep blacks. Choosing between the two is a series of trade-offs and qualities, so choosing the best TV for your needs depends on your usage.
There’s a variety of display panel out there and even more on the way. But looking at all the different types of panels can be baffling. They come in various acronyms, and many of those acronyms are confusingly similar. How do LCD, LED and OLED compare? What about the different types of LCD panels? And how do these different technologies impact your viewing experience for things like gaming? To help, we’ve created this guide so you can gain a firm understanding of today’s display panel technology and which features really matter.
The first type of panels we’ll cover are LCD (liquid crystal display) panels. The main thing to understand about LCD panels is that they all use a white backlight (or sidelight, etc.). They work by shining a bright white light into your eyes, while the rest of the panel is for changing this backlight into individual pixels.
LED stands for light-emitting diode. You’ll often see LCD panels that are LED, but that doesn’t necessarily mean much when choosing an LCD. LED is just a different type of backlight compared to the old cold cathode backlights. While you could congratulate yourself on not using mercury, which is found in cathodes, at this point all LCDs use LED backlights anyway.
The second thing to understand is that LCDs take advantage of a phenomena known as polarization. Polarization is the direction in which the light wave is oscillating, or swinging back and forth at the same speed. Light comes out of the backlight unpolarized. It then passes through one polarizer, which makes all the light oscillate the same way.
Then there’s the “liquid crystal” part. A liquid crystal in this case is a crystal structure that can change the polarization of light passing through it. A liquid crystal in the rest, or off, state is arranged to not change the polarization of the light. This means that when the light reaches a second polarizer, oriented oppositely from the first polarizer, all the light is blocked. But when you apply a voltage, you turn the liquid crystal into some percentage of an “on” state. This then changes a percentage of the polarization of the light passing through to meet the orientation of the second polarizer, allowing it to pass through and become visible to your eye.
Now you have an on and off (and between) switch for light. To produce color all that’s needed is three color filters, red, green and blue, that block all light other than that color from coming through. The difference between different types of LCD panels is mostly in how this in-between liquid crystal part works.
This design allows for fast response times (the time between the panel getting the frame it’s supposed to display and actually displaying it). It also allows for fast refresh rates. Consequently, TN panels are the only 240 hertz (Hz) gaming monitors available right now.
TN panels are cheap but suffer from poor viewing angles due to the “twist” only being aligned in one direction for viewing the panel straight on. They can also have poor color and contrast due to this twist mechanism not being the most precise or accurate.
VA stands for vertical alignment, again referring to the crystal alignment. These came about in the 1990s. Instead of using liquid crystals to twist a light’s polarization, a VA panel’s liquid crystals are aligned either perpendicular (vertical to) or parallel (horizontal to) the two polarizers. In the off state, the crystals are perpendicular to the two opposing polarizers. In the on state, the crystals begin to align horizontally, changing the polarization to match the second polarizer and allowing the light to go through the crystals.
This structure produces deeper blacks and better colors than TN panels. And multiple crystal alignments (shifted a bit off axis from each other) can allow for better viewing angles compared to TN panels.
However, VA panels come with a tradeoff, as they are often more expensive than TN panels and tend to have lower refresh rates and slower response times than TN panels. Consequently, you won’t see quite as many VA panel gaming monitors.
IPS stands for in-plane switching. These panels debuted after TN panels in the mid-1990s. The crystals are always horizontal to the two polarizers and twist 90° horizontally to go from off to on. Part of this design requires the two electrodes (which apply current to the liquid crystal to change its state) to be on the same glass substrate, instead of aligned with each other on the sandwiching glass substrates above and below the crystal (as in other types of LCDs). This, in turn, blocks a bit more light than both TN and VA panels.
IPS panels have the best viewing angles and colors of any LCD monitor type, thanks to its crystal alignment always lining up with the viewer. And while they don’t offer as fast a response time or refresh rate as TN panels, clever engineering has still gotten them to 144hz, and with nice viewing angles you’re not necessarily going wrong with an IPS gaming panel.
How do LCD panels go about reaching HDR brightness when incorrect polarization and color filters block so much light?The answer is quantum dots. These clever little things are molecules that absorb light and then re-emit that light in the color you engineered them to.
Today’s quantum dot layers usually go between a blue backlight and the polarization step, and are often used to produce red and green that more closely matches the color filters, so more light passes through them. This allows more of the backlight to come through instead of being blocked by the color filters, it can also reduce crosstalk, or colors slipping through the wrong subpixel, ensuring better colors of LCDs.
Other uses of quantum dots are being tried, however. One promising one is using QD molecules to replace the color filters entirely, allowing even more light through. Because LCD backlights produce more light than OLED panels (more on those below), this would allow LCDs to become the brightest displays around.
Motion blur/ghosting can be a result of how long an image takes to switch from one to another and how long an image is displayed on screen (persistence). But both of these phenomena differ greatly between individual LCD panels regardless of underlying LCD tech. And both are often better controlled by higher refresh rates, rather than clever panel engineering, at least for LCD displays.
Choosing an LCD panel based on underlying LCD tech should be more about cost vs desired contrast, viewing angles and color reproduction than expected blur, or other gaming attributes. Maximum refresh rate and response time should be listed in any respectable panel’s specs. Other gaming tech, such as strobe, which flashes the backlight on and off quickly to reduce persistence, may not be listed at all and is not part of the underlying type of LCD used. For that kind of info you’ll have to check the detailed reviews here on our site.
OLED, or organic light emitting diode, panels, are different from LCDs. There are no polarization tricks here. Instead, each pixel (or subpixel of red, green, or blue) lights itself up as a voltage is applied to a giant complex molecule called, yep, an organic light emitting diode. The color emitted is dependent on the molecule in question, and brightness is dependent on the voltage applied. OLEDs can reach HDR brightness because their molecules put out the right colors to begin with without being blocked.
Due to its approach to color and brightness, OLEDs have great contrast ratios. There’s no need to block a backlight, so there’s no worries about light bleeding through. Blacks are very black, and colors look great. OLEDs can also strobe, or flash off and on quickly to lower persistence. They can also use a trick called rolling scan.This turns blocks of the screen on and off one at a time, from top to bottom in a roll. This is all done as the image is sent to the screen, which cuts down on persistence blur a lot. This is why every major VR headset that can afford it uses OLED panels today.
Unfortunately, that’s where the advantages of OLED end. Refresh rates of OLED panels have never surpassed about 90Hz. And they’re quite expensive. A large part of that $1,000 iPhone X price is due to its OLED display. The current molecules used in OLEDs also degrade relatively quickly over time, especially those used for the color blue(opens in new tab), making the screen less and less bright.
OLEDs were also supposed to use less power than LCDs, but newer, giant OLED molecules that take less voltage to turn on have yet to appear. And while molecules covering the colors of the P3 HDR gamut are out today, those covering the larger BT.2020 gamut have yet to be found commercially. So OLEDs, while once promising and seemingly the future, have yet to live up to that promise.
A relevant question: If our fastest gaming displays are 240Hz TN panels now, just how fast do we need to go anyway? Well, a 2015 study places maximum human perception at 500Hz. So from that perspective, we’re halfway there. But that’s halfway there with today’s HDR, and not in lightfield 3D, or other possible advancements. And mobile devices could always use displays that take up less power.
In other words, in order to get fancy 3D effects, or much higher brightness, or any other desirable features, a different, new type of panel may be required. MicroLED tech is one such technology; think of it as OLED without the organic part and with the potential to improve contrast, response times and energy usage over standard LED panels. If you want to know more you can go here, but the real takeaway is that MicroLEDs work almost exactly like OLEDs.
In LCD the light transit through two polarizers, which are arranged perpendicular, then through the liquid crystal layer. The layer can block the transition of the light or change polarization. Finally, the light falls on the color filters, which give it a set colorcreating the image.
The LCD TFT screens are built of thin-film transistors. The transistor is produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), based on the use of liquid hydrogen mixture and silicon mixture in an organic solvent, and using the rotation application method of the thin semiconductor.
In the TFT matrix, each pixel is controlled by four transistors, whereone of them is responsible for brightness, and three remain for basic color (red, blue, green). As a result, this solution allows the high resolution, better color and generally higher parameters of displayed images – comparing to common LCD matrix.
Because of the material the TFT is built from, which isglass, TFT displays havelow mechanical toughness,so can be easily damaged. The most popular damage of TFT is:violation of liquid crystal structure – „spilling liquid crystal”,
The majority of damage occurs during the assembly process in the end user devices. Too much pressure on the fragile TFT construction can damage the structure of the liquid crystal or electric lines.
In order to express images colorfully, it is necessary to adjust the amount of light transmitted through the color filter. Here, the polarization of light becomes very important. LCDs possess several functions to adjust the polarization of light and are able to change the amount of light that is transmitted at will, therefore capable of expressing colorful images.
However, in an actual LCD, the angles of the polarizers are fixed and cannot be rotated. So we need to adjust the polarization of light by controlling the liquid crystal layer located in the middle of the display.
So far, all the LCD did was transmit light, but as we explained earlier, the role of the liquid crystal layer is to act as a “shutter” to control whether light is transmitted or not. Here, the crucial factor is the control of liquid crystal molecules by applying voltage. Since liquid crystal molecules line up parallel to the direction of an electric current, when voltage is applied to the liquid crystal molecules, the helical structure induced by the alignment layers dissolve and light cannot pass through the second polarizer. Therefore, when you want light to be transmitted, you just have to turn the voltage off and when you want light to be blocked, you only need to turn the voltage on. This way it is possible to express light and dark on the screen. Moreover, as we can adjust the helical formation of the molecules by adjusting the voltage, it is also possible to control the contrast density in each subpixel.
China is the leader in producing LCD display panels, with a forecast capacity share of 56 percent in 2020. China"s share is expected to increase in the coming years, stabilizing at 69 percent from 2023 onwards.Read moreLCD panel production capacity share from 2016 to 2025, by countryCharacteristicChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwan-----
DSCC. (June 8, 2020). LCD panel production capacity share from 2016 to 2025, by country [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 18, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1056470/lcd-panel-production-capacity-country/
DSCC. "LCD panel production capacity share from 2016 to 2025, by country." Chart. June 8, 2020. Statista. Accessed December 18, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1056470/lcd-panel-production-capacity-country/
DSCC. (2020). LCD panel production capacity share from 2016 to 2025, by country. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: December 18, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1056470/lcd-panel-production-capacity-country/
DSCC. "Lcd Panel Production Capacity Share from 2016 to 2025, by Country." Statista, Statista Inc., 8 Jun 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1056470/lcd-panel-production-capacity-country/
DSCC, LCD panel production capacity share from 2016 to 2025, by country Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1056470/lcd-panel-production-capacity-country/ (last visited December 18, 2022)
We all spend hours looking at LCDs at home and at work as well as on our boats. But how many of us know how they work or—more importantly—how to choose a good one? Equipment manufacturers bombard us with snippets of information, but what does it all mean? Is a QVGA better or worse than WXGA? Just how big is a nit? And is CCFL on its way in or out?ADVERTISEMENTThanks for watching!Visit Website
To start at the beginning, LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display, a high-tech sandwich with a layer of liquid crystals at its heart. But just as it takes more than beef to make a burger, it takes more than liquid crystals to make a display.
Two particular properties make liquid crystals special. The first one is that they combine the shape-shifting ability of a liquid with the regular molecular structure of a solid and can be persuaded to change from one to the other when an electrical voltage is applied to them. The other one is that they can transmit and change polarized light.ADVERTISEMENTThanks for watching!Visit WebsiteADVERTISEMENTThanks for watching!Visit WebsiteADVERTISEMENTThanks for watching!Visit Website
A very simple LCD is made up of seven layers. (See illustration below.) At the back of the screen is a layer of film that polarizes the light from the display backlighting so that all the electromagnetic waves that make up light are going in the same direction. Then comes a glass filter etched with a pattern of ridges and furrows, like a plowed field but reduced to molecular scale. Then comes one of the electrodes that will apply a voltage to the liquid crystal.
Any experienced boater has undoubtedly owned a pair of polarized sunglasses and so can probably appreciate how light can pass through two pieces of polarized film as long as they’re polarized in the same direction but is blocked if you rotate one of the films through 90 degrees. So our LCD sandwich would be opaque if it were not for the liquid crystal’s ability to change the polarization of light. The tiny furrows in the glass filters force the molecules of the liquid crystal to arrange themselves in a twisted pattern, so that they twist the polarization of the light that passes through them—allowing it to pass straight through the whole sandwich. But when an electrical voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer, it overrides the twisted structure of the liquid crystal and forces the molecules to line up with each other. In this situation, the polarized light no longer twists as it is passed through the liquid crystal, so the sandwich becomes opaque.
Controlling such huge numbers of pixels and subpixels would be completely impossible if screen makers were still using the grids of wires that controlled the simple LCDs of the ‘70s. What made modern displays possible was a development known as Thin Film Transistors (TFTs) in which thousands of tiny transistors can be built into a thin transparent film and used as miniature switches to control the individual pixels of the display. It’s thanks to TFTs that we saw a sudden shift from the crude, blocky, monochrome displays of the ‘70s and ‘80s to the much higher-definition color displays of the late ‘90s.