ahva lcd panel pricelist
Our guide to the best monitors for PC gaming explains why those monitors are ideal for playing games at high resolutions and high framerates, but it doesn’t dig deep into the details of monitor technology. That’s what this guide is for: it breaks down what you need to know about modern displays: resolutions, aspect ratios, refresh rates, and the differences between panel types like IPS, VA, and TN.
LCD displays have a native resolution, and running games (or the desktop) below that resolution degrades image quality due to the scaling process of enlarging the image. Using lower resolution modes isn"t really a substitute for picking the right number of pixels in the first place.
1440p has become our recommendation as the best overall option. It"s great for office work, professional work, and gaming. You can still get higher refresh rate 144Hz panels (see below), plus G-Sync or FreeSync, and you can run at 100 percent scaling in Windows. For gaming purposes, however, you"ll want at least a GTX 1070/RTX 2060 or RX Vega 56 (or equivalent) graphics card.
The most common and least expensive LCD panels are based on TN, or Twisted Nematic designs. Since TN screens are made on a vast scale and have been around a long time, they are very affordable. Online retailers stock an abundance of attractive 27-inch 1080p monitors(opens in new tab) with reasonable features starting at just $150. The price is nice, but the pixel density isn’t—and neither are the color quality or viewing angles, TN’s greatest weaknesses.
All TFT LCDs work by passing light, such as an LED, through a pair of polarized screens, a color filter, and liquid crystals that twist when current is applied to them. The more current applied, the more the liquid crystals twist and block light. Precise adjustments allow virtually any color or shade to be reproduced, but TN implementations have some limits.
Each pixel in an LCD display is made of red, green and blue subpixels. Colors are made by mixing varying brightness levels for these pixels, resulting in a perceived solid color to the user. The problem with TN is its widespread adoption of a 6-bit per channel model, instead of the 8-bit per channel used in better displays.
TN compensates for this shortcoming via FRC (Frame Rate Control), a pixel trick that uses alternating colors to produce a perceived third, but it"s a poor substitute for proper 24-bit color reproduction. When combined with the inversion and washout that comes from narrow viewing angles, TN"s elderly status in the LCD display world becomes clear.
IPS, short for In-Plane-Switching, was designed to overcome TN"s shortcomings as a display technology. IPS screens also use liquid crystals, polarized filters, and transmitters, but the arrangement is different, with the crystals aligned for better color visibility and less light distortion. Additionally, IPS panels typically use 8-bit depth per color instead of TN"s 6-bit, resulting in a full 256 shades to draw upon for each color.
The differences are pretty dramatic. While TN displays wash out at shallow angles and never truly "pop" with color no matter how well they are calibrated, IPS panels have rich, bright colors that don"t fade or shift when viewed from the sides. Moreover, pressing a finger on an IPS screen doesn"t cause trailing distortions, making them especially useful for touchscreen applications.
The complexity introduces additional overhead that reduces panel responsiveness. Most IPS displays clock in a few milliseconds slower than TN panels, with the best models managing 5ms grey-to-grey, and the more common 8ms panels can have noticeable blurring in gaming. Most IPS displays use a 60Hz refresh rate, though the best gaming displays now utilize IPS panels with 144Hz refresh rates, and a price to match.
A lot of research has been done with IPS and many variants exist, including Samsung"s popular PLS panels and AU Optronics AHVA (Advanced Hyper-Viewing Angle). The differences amount to subtle manufacturer variations or generational improvements on the technology, which has been around since 1996.
In between the high speed of TN and the color richness of IPS sits a compromise technology, the VA, or Vertically Aligned, panel. VA and its variants (PVA and MVA, but not AHVA) normally take the IPS approach with 8-bit color depth per channel and a crystal design that reproduces rich colors but retains some of the low latency and high refresh speed of TN. The result is a display that"s theoretically almost as colorful as IPS and almost as fast as TN.
VA panels have a few unique qualities, both positive and negative. They have superior contrast to both IPS and TN screens, often reaching a static 5000:1 ratio, and produce better black levels as a result. Advanced VA variants, such as the MVA panel used by Eizo in the Foris FG2421, support 120Hz officially and offer pixel latencies on par or better than IPS.
The flood of innovation in the display market shows no signs of abating, with TVs on one side and smartphones on the other driving new technologies such as curved screens and desktop-grade OLED panels that promise speeds, contrast and color beyond anything seen so far.
Most standard TFT-LCDs support a refresh rate of 60Hz, which means the screen is redrawn 60 times each second. While 60Hz may be sufficient for many desktop applications, higher refresh rates are desirable since they provide a smoother experience moving windows, watching video, and especially when gaming.
One method popular in gaming monitors is the inclusion of a strobed backlight, which disrupts eye tracking blur by cutting off the backlight for an instant, creating a CRT-like stable image. A strobed 120Hz display is more blur-free than a non-strobed 144Hz panel, but flickering the backlight understandably cuts down on the overall brightness of the image. Users with sensitive eyes can suffer from eyestrain and headaches induced from the flicker as well.
Generally, most AH-IPS and IPS panels differ very little from one another. However, a high-end AH-IPS panel does have some distinct advantages over what an IPS panel can achieve. High-end AH-IPS panels can have better resolution, viewing angles, response time, refresh rate, and overall visual quality than what IPS can achieve.
That’s the simple answer. AH-IPS panels can outperform IPS panels at the high end of the market, but they won’t really be much different at the lower end of the market.
IPS stands for In-Plane Switching monitors. This technical jargon basically means that the little liquid crystals within the monitor are aligned to create rich colors. They were made to originally be better than the inferior TN panels. With these advantages, the IPS panels are able to not only create richer colors, but the viewing angles are better as well.
Arguably, the biggest benefit of IPS panels come with the picture being consistent no matter where you view them. They also support super-wide viewing angles, so their monitors are viewable from many places within a room with ultra-clear clarity.
Depending on your monitor, you might notice that colors seem duller than others. For example, if you were to use a Windows laptop and then use MacBook lets say, the MacBook would generally provide the brighter and richer colors because the screen quality is usually that much more advanced. The same goes for IPS panels here as they can display more colors than any other panels, creating a better overall picture.
On top of basic IPS monitors, there are variations such as AH-IPS, S-IPS, H-IPS, e- IPS and P-IPS. Each one provides a slightly different experience although all are regarded as some of the best types of panels available.
Although there are tons of positives to these monitors, like any piece of computer equipment, there are some drawbacks. For example, IPS panels usually suffer from a good bit of motion blur.
The response time is also lesser than some other panel types, making it a less-than-ideal choice for fast-paced, uber-competitive games such as eSports shooters.
AH-IPS panels are a subset of IPS that can feature faster response times, richer visuals, higher refresh rates, and better viewing angles. AH-IPS can also support up to a 1440p QHD Wide resolution, while standard IPS can only support up to 1080p.
When it comes to gaming, a lot of gamers value frame rate and response time over all else. In this regard AH-IPS panels are superior to IPS panels because of their 6 MS response time. In addition to this, AH-IPS color displays are generally richer than their IPS brethren and have even more viewing angles available to them as well.