lcd panel ips vs va factory

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.

IPS displays have their crystals aligned horizontally at all times. When charged, they turn to allow light through. VA displays have their crystals aligned vertically. When charged, they move to a horizontal position, allowing light through. When current isn"t sent through them, however, their vertical alignment blocks light far more efficiently, creating better blacks and giving better contrast.

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.

TV manufacturers have come up with ways to improve LED TVs to increase picture quality. There are competing technologies, like OLED, which also present their own unique characteristics.

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.

However, the one major downside to OLEDs compared to LEDs is their risk of permanent burn-in. This could be problematic if you constantly watch content with static elements, like the news, or if you use it as a PC monitor. We don"t expect it to be an issue for people who watch varied content, but if you"re truly worried about it, LED TVs appear to be immune to burn-in.

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.

Contrary to what you may think, not all LCD TVs are built around the same core panel technology. They can actually have at their hearts one of two really quite different technologies: VA or IPS.

Each, as we’ll see, has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages – so much so that we personally think the type of panel a particular TV uses should be presented right at the top of its specifications list, rather than typically left off altogether. Especially as some brands have been known to actually mix and match VA and IPS panels at different screen sizes within the same TV series.

The VA initialism stands for Vertical Alignment. This name is derived from the way VA panels apply voltage to vertically aligned liquid crystals that have been mounted perpendicularly to the panel’s glass substrate, making them tilt as required to let the necessary amount of light through for each image frame.

The main advantage of VA panels is contrast. Their perpendicular crystal alignment provides greater control over the light passing through each pixel, meaning dark scenes and dark areas look less grey / enjoy better black levels.

The extent to which this strength is exploited can vary greatly between different manufacturers, and depends on any number of secondary factors. The type and position of LED lighting a particular VA screen might be using can have an impact, for instance. There are multiple variations on the VA theme available from different manufacturers, too. As a basic principle, though, black levels and contrast are consistently and often considerably better on LCD TVs that use VA panels.

Because of their ability to control light better, high-end VA panels generally deliver more brightness in real world conditions than IPS ones do. This further enhances their contrast capabilities, and arguably makes them more consistently able to do fuller justice to the wider light range associated with high dynamic range technology.

Being able to deliver dark scenes with relatively little overlying low-contrast greyness additionally means that VA panels tend to achieve more consistent colour vibrancy and toning.

VA panels for use in LCD TVs come from a number of panel manufacturers, including Samsung Display (which makes a so-called SVA variant) and AU Optronics (which makes an AMVA variant). TV brands are able to buy in panels from these and other VA panel manufacturers as they see fit.

Samsung Electronics is the most consistent user of VA panels in its LCD TVs. In fact, until recently pretty much every Samsung TV at every price level used a VA panel. For the past couple of years, though, IPS panels have unexpectedly cropped up in one or two parts of Samsung’s TV range, including 2021’s high-end QN85 series.

Sony predominantly uses VA panels on its most premium TVs, but it also habitually mixes IPS and VA panels across its wider mid-range and entry level LCD ranges. The same goes for most of the other big brands, too, including Panasonic and Philips.

IPS stands for In-Plane Switching. Like VA panels, IPS panels work by manipulating voltage to adjust how liquid crystals are aligned. Unlike VA, though, IPS panels orient their crystals in parallel with (rather than perpendicular too) the glass substrates present in every LCD panel, and rotate their crystals around to let the desired amount of light through rather than tilting them.

By far the biggest and most talked about advantage of IPS technology is its support for wider viewing angles. In fact, one way of identifying IPS panels has traditionally been to look for quoted viewing angles of 178 degrees.

When we talk about wide viewing angle support in relation to LCD TVs, we’re talking about how much of an angle from directly opposite the screen you can go before the picture starts to lose contrast, colour saturation and, sometimes, brightness.

With VA panels the angle you can watch them before the picture starts to deteriorate sharply can be really quite limited – as little as 20 degrees off axis. While we’d say the 178-degree claims for regular IPS panels are rather exaggerated, you can typically sit at a significantly wider angle than you can with VA and still enjoy a watchable picture.

We’ve even seen occasional evidence of the edges of really big (75-inch plus) VA screens suffering from the technology’s viewing angle limitations when viewed straight on, whereas this never happens with IPS technology.

The VA/IPS viewing angle situation is muddied a little by the introduction into a few high-end VA TVs of wide angle technologies based around filters or sub pixel manipulation. These technologies can be associated with other problems, though, such as reduced resolution, and can still struggle to suppress backlight blooming around stand-out bright objects with LCD TVs that use local dimming backlight systems.

Traditionally IPS panels have been associated with – on high-end screens, at least – wider colour gamuts than VA panels can readily manage. They retain this colour gamut better, too, when viewing the screen from an angle. This is why many professional designers, for instance, have tended to prefer IPS technology to VA. There can be some pretty extreme variance in the range of colour supported across different IPS price points, though, and improvements in premium VA solutions – especially the widespread use of Quantum Dot technologies – have largely evened things up, at least at the premium end of the VA market. In fact, with dark scenes, at least, IPS’s issues with black levels and ‘grey wash’ effect can give good VA panels a colour advantage.

There was a time when IPS technology was considered to have an edge over VA when it comes to response time, leading to less motion blur and improved gaming reaction times. These days, though, we’re seeing pretty much identically low input lag measurements (between 9.4 and 10.4ms) from both VA and IPS TVs.

As with VA, there are different variations on the basic IPS theme made by different panel manufacturers. LG Display is by far the biggest manufacturer of IPS LCD panels for TVs, but AU Optronics also makes them, as well as, more surprisingly, Samsung – though some of the non-LG Display IPS products seem to be more focused on PC monitors than TVs.

Given how dominant LG Display is in manufacturing IPS LCD panels, it’s not surprising to find that pretty much every LCD TV LG Electronics makes features an IPS panel at its heart. Other TV brands that use IPS panels on at least a few of their TVs each year include Panasonic, Philips, Sony and Hisense. In fact, the only big brand that has tended to shun IPS is Samsung (perhaps because of arch rival LG Display’s dominance of the IPS market).

As noted earlier, it can be frustratingly difficult to determine whether a TV is using VA or IPS technology. Sometimes it is mentioned in the specifications list on a manufacturer’s website – but more often it is not.

If you’re able to actually get your hands on an LCD TV, try knocking gently on its screen. If it’s an IPS panel it will feel solid and the picture will only be slightly affected – or completely unaffected – by the impact of your knocks. If it’s a VA panel, the picture will distort quite noticeably around points of impact.

It’s tempting to assume that any TVs with obviously low contrast are IPS while any screen with a narrow viewing angle is VA. As well as depending on having a wide experience of lots of panels, though, there’s just too much variation in the high and low-end fringes of each technology for this approach to be reliable.

Arguably your best bet is to check out a TV model you’re interested in on an industry website called Displayspecifications.com(opens in new tab), which includes usually reliable information on the core panel of pretty much every TV released.

You might want to consider IPS TV if your room layout means one or more viewers regularly find themselves having to watch the screen from a wide angle (though don’t forget that a small number of high-end VA TVs feature wide viewing angle technology). IPS’s black level limitations tend to be less obvious in bright rooms too, if that fits with the sort of environment your TV is likely to be used in for the majority of the time.

Our long experience of testing VA and IPS TVs, though, has led us to conclude that in general, the sort of person most likely to be turning to us for buying advice will be happier with an LCD TV based on VA technology.

VA’s ability to deliver typically much deeper, more convincing black levels and more HDR-friendly contrast helps them deliver a much more consistent and immersive modern AV experience. Especially if you’re the sort of person who likes to dim the lights for serious movie or TV viewing nights.

So, why would anyone ever buy a TN panel? For starters, they’re cheap. They don’t cost a lot to produce, so they’re often used in the most budget-friendly options. If you don’t value color reproduction or need excellent viewing angles, a TN panel might be fine for your office or study.

TN panels also have the lowest input lag—typically around one millisecond. They can also handle high refresh rates of up to 240 Hz. This makes them an attractive option for competitive multiplayer games—especially eSports, where every split-second counts.

IPS technology was developed to improve upon the limitations of TN panels—most notably, the poor color reproduction and limited viewing angles. As a result, IPS panels are much better than TNs in both of these areas.

In particular, IPS panels have vastly superior viewing angles than TNs. This means you can view IPS panels from extreme angles and still get accurate color reproduction. Unlike TNs, you’ll notice very little shift in color when you view one from a less-than-ideal perspective.

IPS panels are also known for their relatively good black reproduction, which helps eliminate the “washed out” look you get with TN panels. However, IPS panels fall short of the excellent contrast ratios you’ll find on VAs.

While high refresh rates were typically reserved for TNs, more manufacturers are producing IPS panels with refresh rates of 240 Hz. For example, the 27-inch 1080p ASUS VG279QM uses an IPS panel and supports 280 Hz.

Previously, TNs exhibited less input lag than any other panel, but IPS technology has finally caught up. In June 2019, LG announced its new Nano IPS UltraGear monitors with a response time of one millisecond.

Despite the gap being closed, you’ll still pay more for an IPS panel with such a low response time than you would for a TN with similar specs. If you’re on a budget, expect a response time of around four milliseconds for a good IPS monitor.

One last thing to be aware of with IPS panels is a phenomenon called “IPS glow.” It’s when you see the display’s backlight shining through it at more extreme viewing angles. It’s not a huge problem unless you view the panel from the side, but it’s something to keep in mind.

VA panels are something of a compromise between TN and IPS. They offer the best contrast ratios, which is why TV manufacturers use them extensively. While an IPS monitor typically has a contrast ratio of 1000:1, it’s not unusual to see 3000:1 or 6000:1 in a comparable VA panel.

In terms of viewing angles, VAs can’t quite match the performance of IPS panels. Screen brightness, in particular, can vary based on the angle from which you’re viewing, but you won’t get the “IPS glow.”

VAs have slower response times than TNs and the newer Nano IPS panels with their one-millisecond response rates. You can find VA monitors with high refresh rates (240 Hz), but the latency can result in more ghosting and motion blur. For this reason, competitive gamers should avoid VA.

Compared to TNs, VA panels do offer much better color reproduction and typically hit the full sRGB spectrum, even on lower-end models. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, Samsung’s Quantum Dot SVA panels can hit 125 percent sRGB coverage.

For these reasons, VA panels are seen as the jack of all trades. They’re ideal for general use, but they either match or fall short in most other areas except contrast ratio. VAs are good for gamers who enjoy single-player or casual experiences.

When compared to CRT monitors, all LCD panels suffer from some form of latency issue. This was a real problem when TN panels first appeared, and it’s plagued IPS and VA monitors for years. But technology has moved on, and while many of these issues have been improved, they haven’t been eliminated entirely.

Uneven backlighting is another issue you’ll find on all panel types. Often this comes down to overall build quality—cheaper models slack on quality control to save on production costs. So, if you’re looking for a cheap monitor, be prepared for some uneven backlighting. However, you’ll mostly only notice it on solid or very dark backgrounds.

LCD panels are also susceptible to dead or stuck pixels. Different manufacturers and jurisdictions have different policies and consumer laws covering dead pixels. If you’re a perfectionist, check the manufacturer’s dead-pixel policy before you buy. Some will replace a monitor with a single dead pixel for free, while others require a minimum number.

Office or study use: Your budget should be your primary concern here. VA is the do-it-all panel, with superior viewing angles to TN, but either would do the trick. You can save some money because you don’t need high refresh rates or ultra-low latency. They’re still nice, though. You’ll see a noticeable difference in smoothness just when moving the Windows cursor on a monitor with a 144 versus 60 Hz refresh rate.

Photo and video editors/Digital artists: IPS panels are still generally favored for their ability to display a wide gamut of colors. It’s not unusual to find VA panels that also cover a wide gamut (125 percent sRGB, and over 90 percent DCI-P3), but they tend to exhibit more motion blur during fast-paced action than IPS panels. If you’re serious about color accuracy, you’ll need to properly calibrate your monitor.

Programmers who mount monitors vertically: You might think TN panels are great for programmers, but that’s not necessarily the case. TN panels have particularly bad viewing angles on the vertical axis. If you mount your monitor in portrait mode (as many programmers and mobile developers do), you’ll get the worst possible viewing angles from a TN panel. For the best possible viewing angles in this scenario, invest in an IPS display.

Competitive online gamers: There’s no question TN panels are still favored in the eSports world. Even the cheapest models have fast response times and support for high refresh rates. For 1080p gaming, a 24-inch will do just fine, or you could opt for a 1440p, 27-inch model without breaking the bank. You might want to go for an IPS panel as more low-latency models hit the market, but expect to pay more.

Non-competitive, high-end PC gamers: For a rich, immersive image that pops, a VA panel will provide a higher contrast ratio than IPS or TN. For deep blacks and a sharp, contrasting image, VA is the winner. If you’re okay with sacrificing some contrast, you can go the IPS route. However, we’d recommend avoiding TN altogether unless you play competitively.

Best all-rounder: VA is the winner here, but IPS is better in all areas except contrast ratio. If you can sacrifice contrast, an IPS panel will provide fairly low latency, decent blacks, and satisfactory color coverage.

When buying a TV with LED technology, we can find different screen technologies. Choosing a TV with one type of screen or another is a factor that will influence the image quality significantly. Mainly two types of panels are manufactured: IPS and VA panels. As we will see now, depending on the use you are going to give to your TV, you may be more interested in a TV with VA panel or IPS panel.

Next, we are going to explain the differences between IPS panels and VA panels. In this way, we hope to help you choose the best TV for your particular use.

First of all, comment that the name IPS comes from the fact that the liquid crystals of the panel are aligned horizontally (In-Plane Switching). These crystals are parallel to the glass substrates allowing the orientation to be changed by rotating the liquid crystal molecules in the same plane.

This is the technical explanation, but the interesting thing is to know, what performance this type of panel is going to give us and what pros and cons it offers.

An IPS panel offers as a great advantage, wide viewing angles. This means that even if the TV is viewed from a side angle, contrast and color are maintained.

Some IPS panels offer lossless viewing angles up to 178°. Thanks to this, a TV with an IPS panel can be viewed correctly from the sides. The good thing about this is that color saturation and contrast will remain almost lossless when viewed from the side.

So, you may be interested in buying an IPS panel TV if you are going to watch it from different points or if you are several in the family and there are some of you who watch the TV from a more foreshortened position.

Their response time is usually somewhat lower than those offered by VA panels. The time it takes for the pixels to change is somewhat less and they can deliver moving images with a little more clarity.

As weaknesses, their contrast is usually quite low. The contrast values of any IPS panel are always poorer than those offered by a VA panel. In this type of panels, the black level achieved is very low and are usually dark grays instead of blacks.

The black level, however, can be improved in Full Array TVs with Local Dimming and in Mini LED models. The models with this system use more LED bulbs and with the possibility of adjusting the illumination by zones, achieving better black values. The downside is that as a general rule, IPS panels tend to have more light leakage problems than VA panels, although this varies from unit to unit and the type of backlight used.

Generally, they are not the best choice for movie buffs as a lot of information is lost in dark scenes. Compared to a VA panel, this problem is noticeable.

It is also common, that they have more reflections compared to VA, although this depends on each model and if it includes any added filter to reduce reflections.

IPS panels are widely used in monitors, thanks to what we have said about their better response time and better color reproduction and are especially recommended for photo editing.

The main manufacturer of IPS panels is LG. Some Sony and Panasonic models carry IPS panels, and these are mostly manufactured by LG Display. Although recently LG announced that it was cutting back on LCD panel manufacturing.

Within IPS panels there are different variants with different names but which are based on the same concept and obtain very similar performance. The best known are the PLS and ADS panels, which are mounted in some current Samsung TVs.

Unlike an IPS panel, a VA type panel has an alignment of liquid crystals in a vertical plane to the glass substrate and which tilt when a voltage is applied to let light through.

VA panels achieve much higher contrasts than IPS panels. Their major advantage is the reproduction of deep blacks and better detail in shadow areas, so that not as much information is lost as in IPS type displays.

The contrast levels of a VA panel, can be up to 300% higher than that of an IPS panel. The black tones it achieves are always much deeper. This is very noticeable in dark scenes in movies. Therefore, it is the best choice for moviegoers.

However, new versions of these panels are being produced and the angles are improving, especially in the high end, and in some cases are equal to the angles offered by IPS.

The main manufacturer of VA panels was Samsung and their own TVs mainly mounted panels manufactured by themselves. However, like LG, they have greatly reduced production and it is now very common for them to carry panels from other manufacturers such as BOE, AUO, etc.

The other manufacturers such as Sony and Panasonic have long since stopped making panels and carry panels made by companies such as Chi Mei, Sharp or AUO. In any case, the fact that a brand does not produce its own panels, does not mean in any case, less image quality.

We leave you with a summary of the advantages offered by each type of panel for you to value which is the option that suits you best according to the use you give to the TV.

Here the winner is IPS panels by offering better viewing from extreme angles. Colors and contrast are best maintained when viewed at angles greater than 35°..

It is recommended that you choose a TV with IPS screen, if you are going to watch it from an armchair located in a far corner, if you have a TV hanging on the wall and you watch it from very low or very sideways or if you are several in a family and not everyone can see it more or less from the front.

In VA screens, there is usually a loss of contrast quite pronounced from about 35-40 ° looking a more washed out image. Also the colors begin to lose saturation and flatten out, losing detail in the colors and looking more uniform.

Anyway, there are some TVs with VA panel, which incorporate a filter that improves the viewing angle. An example is the Samsung’s top-of-the-line QLED models. and the X95K and Z9K from Sony.

In summary, especially in the low and mid ranges IPS panels provide a better side view than VA panels, so they are better if you view them from different points.

The winner in this field is VA panels. The contrast is much higher than that offered by IPS panels, which are far inferior in this respect. Blacks tend to be purer on VA panels than on IPS panels.

The difference between IPS and VA panels is usually quite noticeable in this aspect reaching up to 300% in some cases. Therefore, they are always much more recommendable for users who like movies.

In the contrast variant, the brightness level also comes into play. In this aspect, an IPS or VA panel can reproduce a similar brightness, but having a better black level, the contrast ratio of a VA panel is usually much higher than that provided by an IPS.

It is unusual for burn-in or retentions to occur on LCD displays whether they are IPS or VA type. This problem occurs when an image is left static for a prolonged period of time. However, the risk is higher for IPS type displays.

In any case, the risk is minimal and not as likely as it can happen in OLED TVs, although also in these, the risk is very low today if used at home and not in a store.

VA panels are more recommended for watching movies and series in dark rooms and in a location that is quite in front of the TV. They give us the highest contrast values and allow us to see better details in the dark parts of the image. Also, although it depends on each specific model, they usually have less reflections.

IPS panels on the other hand, are the best option, if the location from where you sit is not fully frontal to the TV and you usually watch it in a brightly lit room. Colors and contrast are maintained with less variation when viewed from the sides.

2022 models2021 modelsQNED96, QNED91, QNED86, QNED80: VA or IPS depending on inchAll the range mounts IPS panel except in 50 and 70 inches which is VA.

As you can see, each type of panel has its advantages and disadvantages. With this comparison, hopefully the differences between IPS and VA panels are clear to you. Moreover, these panels are not only found in televisions, but are also manufactured for monitors and cell phones.

For viewing in dark or very dimly lit rooms, the best choice is a TV that mounts VA screen, as it will provide better blacks as well as less blooming and light leakage.

If in your case you are going to be viewing the TV from a fairly foreshortened angle, IPS panels are going to offer you a better angle than VA panels. The colors will maintain better saturation as well as the contrast will be maintained, making the picture look less washed out.

As we have seen, it depends on each situation, but generally in the absence of assessing other important aspects such as the image processor, refresh rate, etc., we recommend a TV with VA panel. They are the most recommended for watching movies and series due to their better contrast and detail in the dark parts.

It depends on the models we compare, but usually the highest picture quality today is going to be provided by a TV with OLED technology, thanks to being a self-emissive technology. This means that each pixel is the light source and can be switched on and off independently, giving a pure black, which LED TVs cannot achieve.

Recently, TVs with Mini LED technology have been launched, which still use an LCD panel with backlighting by LED bulbs, but now the size of these is much smaller. In this way, they can have many more bulbs, so that the backlighting is more accurate, improving blacks and reaching a higher peak brightness. In this last aspect of brightness, Mini LED TVs are superior to OLED models.

These cookies help to improve the performance of BenQ. If you want to opt-out of advertising cookies, you have to turn-off performance cookies. We also use Google Analytics, SessionCam and Hotjar to track activity and performance on the BenQ website. You can control the information provided to Google, SessionCam and Hotjar.  To opt out of certain ads provided by Google you can use any of the methods set forth here or using the Google Analytics opt out browser add-on here. To opt-out of SessionCam collecting data, you can disable tracking completely by following link：https://www.hotjar.com/privacy/do-not-track/.

These cookies are used to track your activity on the BenQ website and other websites across the Internet, help measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaign and deliver advertisements that are more relevant to you and your interests. We use various advertising partners, including Amazon, Facebook, and Google. These cookies and other technologies capture data like your IP address, when you viewed the page or email, what device you were using and where you were. You can find out how to avoid them below.

Everyday, we look at LCD display, TV, cell phone, monitor. It becomes a necessity in modern society. LCD panel is the most important part of an LCD display. It determines LCD screen"s performance, e.g. brightness, contrast, color and viewing angle. Therefore, picking the right type of LCD panel is critical to your application.

Vertical Alignment (VA): Also referred to as “super vertical alignment” (SVA) and “advanced multi-domain vertical alignment” (AMVA). They all share similar characteristics.

These names reflect the alignment of crystal molecules inside the LCD, and how they change when they are charged electrically. All liquid crystal displays change the alignment of liquid crystal molecules to work, but the manner in which they do so can drastically affect the image quality and response time. Each panel type has its advantages and disadvantages. The easiest way to choose between them is to decide which attributes are most important to your project. It mainly depends on what you use your LCD display for, and your budget.

TN is the most mature technology in LCD panel manufacturing. When there is no voltage difference between the two transparent electrodes, liquid crystal molecules are twisted 90 degrees, in combination of upper and bottom polarizers, allows light to pass through LCD. As voltage applied, crystal molecules are untwisted and aligned to the same direction, blocking light.

In IPS panel, crystal molecules are parallel to the glass substrates at initial stage, LCD is off. When the in-plane electrodes is charged, crystal molecules are rotated, modifying light"s direction. Which lights up the LCD display.

As its name suggests, VA panel"s liquid crystals are aligned vertically without charged. When a voltage is applied, the molecules tilt and modifying light direction.

So in summary, TN panels twist, IPS panels use a parallel alignment and rotate, while VA panels use a perpendicular alignment and tilt. These difference create LCD display with distinctive performance.

IPS LCD is the clear winner in this aspect. It has 178/178 viewing angle ratings. Which means you can look at IPS LCD display from any angle without the image shifting in color and contrast. VA LCD has pretty wide viewing angle, too. But it has contrast shifts at off-center angles. As for TN LCD, viewing angle is its weakest point.

Most TN LCDs have 6-bits colors. Manufacturers use frame rate control (FRC) to enhance its color performance. For IPS and VA panels, you can still find 6-bits entry level LCD. But most of them are 8-bits. And IPS technology can provide natively 10-bits colors.

Color gamut is another part that VA and IPS panels shine at. The best TN LCD can reach sRGB gamut. VA panels typically start with full sRGB coverage, and get to around 90% DCI-P3 coverage. With IPS LCD panel, you could find the best ones full DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB coverage. That is why you see most professional grade LCD displays use IPS panel.

There is no inherent differences among the three panel technologies, because LCD backlight is the main factor here. However, there is a big gap in terms of contrast ratio. TN LCD panel tends to have the lowest value among the three. IPS LCD screen sits in the middle can reach 1500:1. For VA panel, the best one can exceed 4500:1 easily. VA LCD display provides far darker screen than TN & IPS. That is why they are used in vehicle dashboard.

TN panel does have an advantage when it comes to refresh rate. The panel offers the best refresh rate and response time. This is the reason why most gaming LCD monitors are made of TN panel.

TN LCD provides the best refresh rate and economic solution. If your application requires wide viewing angles and good color presentation, VA panel is probably the choice. While IPS has the best overall visual performance, in general it is more expensive than the other two.

VA stands for vertical alignment and is a a type of LED (a form of LCD)panel display technology. VA panels are characterized as having the best contrast and image depth among the other main types of display panels, ), but also the longest response times. As such, you may want to think twice before choosing a VA panel as a gaming monitor. However, we regard contrast as the most important factor in a monitor"s image quality. So if you’re looking for the best possible picture, we highly recommend a VA display.

When buying a PC monitor or even a gaming laptop, you may see displays listed as “SVA” instead of “VA”. SVA stands for “super vertical alignment” and is a term created by Samsung. Long story short, SVA is a type of VA panel that claims to bring better viewing angles, which is why some people will say SVA stands for “super viewing angles.” Either way, SVA means better image quality when viewing the screen from the side, above, below or in very sunny or bright atmospheres.

According to Samsung, SVA panels achieve better viewing angles by laying its liquid crystals into varying directions, allowing viewers to see the same color no matter their viewing angle. “With shaping liquid crystal cell structure as a boomerang, further dividing each sub-pixel into two different sections that are oppositely aligned (also referred to as fish-bone structure), viewing angles are no longer an issue,” Samsung says. However, an IPS display will likely still offer better viewing angles than an SVA display.

PerformanceFastest: low response times, highest refresh rates, minimal motion blur; Low input lagLongest response times typically; Higher refresh rates possibleSlower response times than TN, faster response times than VA; Gaming-quality refresh rates are rare

DisplayWorst viewing angles;Worst colorViewing angles typically better than TN, worse than IPS; Good color; Best contrast;Best image depthBest viewing angles; Best color

In this guide, we’ll go over the differences between the most common monitor panels. We’ve compared IPS panels, TN panels, and VA panels to help give you more insight on your upcoming purchase.

However, the average consumer is clueless on the LCD panel technology used in their LCD monitor. A monitor’s panel type is a crucial feature that dictates how it performs as well as the kind of tasks it is best suited to accomplish. Therefore, it is important to understand panel technology so that you can be sure to choose the appropriate monitor for your gaming needs.

And, it is important for gamers to become familiar with these various panel technologies so that they can understand the variety of marketing buzzwords that companies use to describe the different LCD panel monitors on the market.

For instance, if you have $150 or less to spend, you’ll likely be forced to choose a TN panel. However, if you have more to spend, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will want to avoid a TN panel monitor, it just means that you will have more options.

This is an important question because the type of usage your monitor will see will be a big determining factor in which type of panel you can get. If you are going to use your monitor solely for competitive gaming—I’m talking CS:GO, LoL, COD, Dota 2, etc.—then a TN panel with a high refresh rate and low response time will be your best bet.

On the other hand, if you are more of a casual gamer, or you are planning on doing a lot of graphic design work on your monitor, you might want to look into a VA panel or an IPS panel. These panels don’t quite perform on the same level as a TN panel (in terms of response rate) and they cost a lot more for the same refresh rate. However, their picture quality is much better than TN panels and therefore, they are better-suited for graphics design work.

And, for that, a TN panel is your best bet as they offer lower response rates and higher refresh rates (at least, for the price you pay) than IPS or VA panels.

On the other hand, if you’re not playing super competitive games and you really enjoy the visual aspect of gaming, you’d be better off going with a VA or IPS panel as they offer better technology for displaying richer and more detailed visuals.

Some display types are appropriate for gaming, while others are best suited for graphics design. Other monitors are good for gamers who want the best visuals, while a different set of monitor panels work better for competitive gamers who need the most performance possible.

In this guide, we have broken down the different panel types and have explained their key features, as well as have compared them to their counterparts to help you better understand which type of panel would best meet your needs.

If you are looking at a monitor and it doesn’t clearly state what kind of panel it is, it’s probably safe to assume it’s a TN panel. What I mean by this is that, in most cases, for IPS panels and VA panels, the monitor manufacturer will include the panel type in the name of the monitor in an effort to make them stand out.

As I mentioned above, TN Panels owe their popularity to low manufacturing costs.However, they are also known for being able to deliver much higher response rates than IPS or VA panels. However, they are also known for being able to deliver much higher response rates than IPS or VA panels.

Because of their affordability, Twisted Nematic Displays with higher refresh rates (a feature you will pay more for) are more readily available than competing panels with high refresh rates.

The viewing angles on a TN panel are touted to be 160 degrees vertical and 170 degrees horizontal: these angles are considerably lower than the viewing angles presented by other panel technologies

Because of these problems, the consistency and color accuracy on a TN panel will suffer in comparison to IPS and VA panels, which, ultimately, makes this panel type less ideal for color-critical work such as photography and design, or even for gamers who want the best visuals possible.

The most notable selling point of In-Plane Switching panels is their consistency, improved viewing angles, and superior color accuracy when compared to other LCD technologies. Every color shade retains its unique identity and distinctiveness regardless of its position on the monitor.

These factors make IPS panels suitable monitors for graphic design work, as well as for gamers looking for the best visuals possible (but who don’t mind a drop in response rate.)

One significant glitch of IPS displays is a glow or sheen on the monitor when viewing dark content. This glitch becomes more noticeable when you are viewing the monitor from wider angles.

Perhaps the greatest strength of a VA panel is its ability to block light from the backlight when it isn’t wanted. This ability results in higher contrast ratios and deeper blacks which are several times better than that of the other LCD technologies discussed in this guide.

As power users already understand, one problem with LCD monitors is light from the backlight. When an LCD monitor wants to display black, the color filter will be positioned in such a manner that very little light from the backlight will seep through. While they try to do a reasonable job, their filters aren’t always perfect, thus, incapable of rendering the blacks deep as they should be.

Thankfully, VA panels are magnificent at that task. And thanks to the fact that they are susceptible to clouding or bleeding towards the edges of the screen, the screens are often considered as ideal candidates for movie enthusiasts and suitable for general purpose work.

The VA panels also feature improved viewing angles and good color reproduction. Their excellent color reproduction abilities make the monitors ideal devices for color-critical work, or for gamers who want to play their games with the best picture quality possible.

A considerable drawback of the VA panel is its low level of responsiveness with its pixels transitioning from one state to the next. This can cause more noticeable blurring when gaming.

Thankfully, the more modern versions of VA panels use a superior pixel overdrive feature that is not susceptible to the problems of the earlier versions.

It is quite difficult to state definitively what LCD monitor is better in the battle of TN vs IPS. This is because both TN LCD displays and IPS LCD displays have a share of advantages and disadvantages.

The quick responsiveness of TN panels makes them suitable for competitive gamers who rely on every split-second to achieve victory. (Though there is a lot of debate surrounding this considering that some believe that the average human brain can just compute about 25 frames per second.) The response time of most TN Panels, save for the high-end and very exceptional ones, is between 2ms and 5ms. This quick response rate is why gamers love TN Panels, as they are perfect for fast-paced games.

IPS Panels, on the other hand, feature a rather sluggish response time compared with TN panels. But the good news is that IPS technology is improving with each new generation of monitors.

IPS Panels owe their popularity to superior viewing angles. They are also not susceptible to color washout when viewing at an angle, which is a problem that is very common with traditional TN panels.

TN panels suffer from limited viewing angles, especially when looking from a vertical position. Colors tend to shift if viewed from an off-perpendicular position. When viewing TN panels from vertical positions, colors will change so much that they’ll invert past a certain angle.

The reason is that higher resolution monitors typically cost more and, so, if you’re going to pay all of that money for an ultra high definition monitor, you might as well get the panel that is best suited for displaying high-end visuals.

Of course, if you want a balance between higher resolutions and lower response rates, you might be better off sacrificing some in the visual department and going with a TN panel to get a monitor with a better response rate.

Both VA and IPS panels are commonly used in LED-backlit TVs today. Though they are both Liquid Crystal Display types, there are vast differences between their performances. The differences touch on contrast, viewing angle, response time, and black uniformity.

IPS Panels are a clear winner when it comes to viewing angle. IPS Panels, as already explained, have a wide viewing angle without any noticeable drop in image quality on the monitor.

VA panels recoup their losses when it comes to contrast. Contrast, as you might be aware, is one of the most important factors when it comes to picture quality. VA surpasses IPS panels when it comes to contrast.

When in a dark environment, black images or shades will appear gray on an IPS panel, considerably undermining the experience. VA contrast ratios are usually in the range of 3000:1 to 6000:1 while IPS contrast ratios are around 1000:1.

Neither VA panels or IPS panels are ideal if one of the main features you are looking for in a monitor is response rate. However, of the two, VA panels offer a slightly faster response time than IPS panels.

VA panels, on the other hand, were built specifically to address the deficiencies in both TN Panels and IPS panels. Their response time is slightly faster than the response time of IPS panels yet considerably lower than the response time of TN panels.

There have been improvements on TN panels to make them more suitable for color-critical work such as photo editing, but even with the said improvements, TN panels are still far from ideal when it comes to these types of tasks.

From a visual standpoint, VA panels are better than TN panels as they are capable of 8-bit color depth as well as wider viewing angles. They also feature better black uniformity and high contrast ratios as compared to TN panels.

In my opinion, though, the choice between a TN panel and VA panel is somewhat similar to the choice between a TN panel and an IPS panel: choose an IPS panel if you are mostly into competitive gaming and pick a VA panel if you want better visuals.

If you are a competitive gamer, nothing will serve you better than a TN panel. TN panels might have weaker images, low contrast, and limited viewing angles, but they offer very fast response times.

However, if you are into the best visuals possible and you want images that are more crisp and detailed while you game, then the ideal panel for you is an IPS panel. IPS panels are excellent in reproducing color. They also come with a wide viewing angle, which is a feature well-suited for graphic design artists.

VA panels are the compromise panel. They offer accurate colors and wide viewing angles, almost comparable to IPS panels. Their response time is a little slower than that of TN panels, but also a little faster than IPS panels. So, if you want to get a monitor that brings balance to what a TN panel and IPS panel bring, VA panels are the way to go.

At the end of the day, TN panels are probably the most popular option for serious gamers. They are more affordable and perform better in competitive scenarios.

There’s an almost overwhelming amount of options in the display market: OLED, MicroLED, and TN panel types just to name a few. But if you’re looking for a gaming monitor or simply don’t want to drain your bank account on a display, IPS and VA are generally the best choices. In-plane switching (or IPS) is an LCD-based technology that is used in just about every kind of display, whereas Vertical Alignment (or VA) is a more niche LCD technology used in gaming monitors, gaming TVs, and wide displays.

Although IPS is much more popular than VA and is often seen as the more premium option, both panel types have strengths and weaknesses that you should consider before you buy.

IPS panels have traditionally been used for making displays that have high color accuracy and large coverage of wide color gamuts like DCI-P3 or Adobe sRGB. Not only do IPS displays usually look good, but they also look good from wider angles, so you don’t need to look exactly head on at an IPS monitor to get accurate colors.

Color accuracy and coverage can be good on VA displays (even at wide angles), but colors across VA displays aren’t always uniform. Depending on the viewing angle and the distance between the viewer and the display, the center of VA monitors often have more gamma than the edges of the screen, making colors less accurate.

Although IPS is generally better than VA when it comes to color accuracy and coverage, VA panels have perfectly fine color accuracy and coverage for the vast majority of users. Only professional photo and video editors could really be disappointed with a VA monitor that only covers 90% of the DCI-P3 color space, which is actually a very good amount of coverage for gamers and content consumers.

Contrast ratio is a metric that measures how dark the color black is depicted on a display, measured as a ratio of x:1. The higher x is, the better. Although IPS is very good with color accuracy in general, it really struggles with making the color black, and even the best IPS monitors and TVs can only show a very dark grey rather than true black. Most IPS monitors are rated at a 1000:1 contrast ratio, which isn’t terrible but isn’t great either. Some monitors can get up to around 2000:1 however.

Despite VA’s general color accuracy issues, it’s actually amazing at depicting black as truly black. Even the worst VA displays can easily muster a 2000:1 contrast ratio, and some can even achieve higher than 5000:1. In fact, VA is second only to OLED when it comes to contrast ratio, and OLED actually delivers perfect contrast ratios of ∞:1. Because of this, a VA display can look better than an IPS counterpart in darker scenes.

Some displays can boost contrast ratio by using local dimming and HDR. By using a more complex backlight with multiple LEDs that can be turned on or off, local dimming helps IPS and VA displays look even darker when it matters. On the other end of the spectrum, HDR boosts brightness for colors that need it. With these two factors combined, some displays can boost the contrast ratio significantly. However, these features aren’t going to make an IPS display’s contrast ratio as good as the average VA display’s, and poorly implemented local dimming can backfire by creating more visual problems than it solves.

Response time is the amount of time it takes to fully refresh the display and show a new image. This is an area where both IPS and VA struggle, but nowadays very good IPS displays have overcome traditional issues with response times, and VA displays have not shown the same amount of progress. There is no standard that display manufacturers adhere to when it comes to measuring response time, but according to BenQ, which makes both IPS and VA monitors and TVs, IPS has a response time of 1-2ms whereas VA can only achieve 4-5ms. The specific values here aren’t important because this is a best-case scenario. What’s really important is that VA is much slower.

Very high response times can result in very animated scenes looking blurry and smeared. This issue is called ghosting, and it’s particularly annoying for discerning gamers playing fast-paced games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Both IPS and VA displays have solutions and workarounds to avoid ghosting, the most important being overdrive. Overdrive that’s too aggressive can cause reverse ghosting, which is when the display tries to change a pixel’s color so quickly that it accidentally overshoots and ends up with the wrong color for a few frames. Ghosting and reverse ghosting both cause smearing, so if overdrive is too weak or too strong, the end result is similar: It looks bad.

Although the best IPS panels beat the best VA panels when it comes to response time, there are plenty of IPS displays that have very bad response times. It’s also worth noting that response time only needs to be equal to the refresh rate of the monitor for there to be no smearing. On a 60Hz display, for instance, it takes 16.66ms to show a new image, so a response time of 1ms doesn’t really do much. Response time matters much more at higher refresh rates, and even at 144Hz a response time of around 7ms is sufficient to avoid ghosting.

IPS is capable of significantly higher refresh rates than VA. IPS is capable of hitting 500Hz while VA caps out at 240Hz. However, the vast majority of VA displays are only capable of 144Hz or 165Hz; there are only a few VA monitors that can do 240Hz. For those wanting extremely high refresh rates, IPS is the clear winner.

Even if VA was capable of 360Hz however, it probably wouldn’t be very good because of its weakness in response times. A 360Hz display refreshes every 2.7ms, which is well below what VA is generally capable of.

While IPS displays are usually a safe recommendation for most people, sometimes there are very good reasons to buy VA monitors and TVs. VA has found its home in midrange gaming monitors, gaming TVs, and ultrawide displays, and many of the best gaming monitors use VA. If you’re shopping outside of these categories, however, you probably won’t have to worry about choosing between IPS and VA because VA is not very often used elsewhere.

If you do have the choice between VA and IPS, you’re going to have to evaluate what you prefer in a display, and you should definitely read some monitor reviews just to make sure if VA or IPS is going to deliver what you want in your next display purchase. After all, even an IPS display can have bad color accuracy or bad response time, so don’t assume IPS means quality and that VA means budget.

In order to understand this problem, we first need to know the panel type of LCD. At present, the LCD panels are mainly divided into three categories, which are TN, VA and IPS.

TN panel, full name Twisted Nematic (twist nematic), because the production cost is relatively low, so it is the first popular panel in LCD. The advantage of TN panel is that the response time of GTG panel is very fast, and the gray scale response time of GTG is often up to 1ms, which is the lowest among all LCD panels, so many e-sports / game monitors use TN panel.

However, the shortcomings of the TN panel are also obvious, such as less output gray scale, white color, small visual angle and so on. 1080p is the most common resolution in the TN panel, and there are also some 27-inch QHD panels, and the latest panel can do 28-inch UHD. At present, the main manufacturers of TN panels are Samsung display (Samsung Display), LG, Youda Optoelectronics, Qunchuang Optoelectronics, China Picture Tube and so on.

Let"s talk about the VA panel. VA panel full name Vertical Alignment (vertical arrangement), its advantage lies in the contrast, VA panel is the highest contrast of all LCD panels, usually can reach 3000 VA 1, while the contrast of TN, IPS is only about 1000 VA 1, the intuitive feeling of high contrast is that black looks purer and the picture is more layered.

The gray scale response time of VA panel is faster than that of IPS, and some of them even reach the same 1ms as TN, while the visual angle of TN is much better than that of TN, which is consistent with the visual angle of IPS panel, and there is no light leakage problem of VA panel.

Finally, let"s talk about the IPS panel. IPS full name In-Plane Switching (plane conversion), its advantage is that the color performance is relatively good, and the visual angle is also relatively wide, horizontal and vertical visual angle can reach 178°, but the contrast is not as good as VA panel, and the problem of light leakage is also more prominent.

From the above carding, it is not difficult to see that each panel has its own advantages, but also some inherent shortcomings. For example, TN panel is better than fast response time, but the color and visual angle is not good; VA panel contrast is high, but there are still some differences in response time and color; IPS color is good, but there are long response time and light leakage problems.

So which panel to choose depends on the specific requirements, you can"t simply think that IPS must be better than VA, or VA must be better than TN. For example, heavy players of FPS games who value response time can choose the display of TN panel, designers who value visual angle and have certain requirements for color can choose the display of IPS panel, and friends who like to watch some high-contrast and more powerful pictures can choose the display of VA panel.

If you’ve ever begun searching for a new computer screen, chances are you’ve probably come across the term IPS. It’s at this point that you may be asking yourself, what is an IPS monitor? And how do I know if an IPS monitor is right for me?

So, why is this important? A monitor’s panel technology is important because it affects what the monitor can do and for which uses it is best suited. Each of the monitor panel types listed above offer their own distinctive benefits and drawbacks.

Choosing which type of monitor panel type to buy will depend largely on your intended usage and personal preference. After all, gamers, graphic designers, and office workers all have different requirements. Specific types of displays are best suited for different usage scenarios.

The reason for this is because none of the different monitor panel types as they are today can be classified as “outstanding” for all of the attributes mentioned above.

Below we’ll take a look at how IPS, TN, and VA monitors affect screen performance and do some handy summaries of strengths, weaknesses, and best-case uses for each type of panel technology.

IPS monitors or “In-Plane Switching” monitors, leverage liquid crystals aligned in parallel to produce rich colors. IPS panels are defined by the shifting patterns of their liquid crystals. These monitors were designed to overcome the limitations of TN panels. The liquid crystal’s ability to shift horizontally creates better viewing angles.

IPS monitors continue to be the display technology of choice for users that want color accuracy and consistency. IPS monitors are really great when it comes to color performance and super-wide viewing angles. The expansive viewing angles provided by IPS monitors help to deliver outstanding color when being viewed from different angles. One major differentiator between IPS monitors and TN monitors is that colors on an IPS monitor won’t shift when being viewed at an angle as drastically as they do on a TN monitor.

IPS monitor variations include S-IPS, H-IPS, e-IPS and P-IPS, and PLS (Plane-to-Line Switching), the latter being the latest iteration. Since these variations are all quite similar, they are all collectively referred to as “IPS-type” p