difference between ips and lcd display quotation

In-plane switching is a type of panel technology for LCDs. The LCD panel technology is famous for offering high-quality and life-like images. Additionally, the panel technology provides better contrast and viewing angles than TN and VA panel technologies.

IPS LCD monitors are also known to offer incredible color accuracy. Thus, they are an excellent choice for people looking for monitors for more than just gaming.

Simply put, LED monitors are LCD monitors. Both LED and LCD panel technologies use Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). They also have lamps at the back of the display that helps produce the images you see on your screen.

The main difference between LCD and LED technologies is in the lights you find at the back of the screen. LCDs use fluorescent lights at the back of the screen, while LED monitors have light-emitting diodes.

LED displays also have two backlighting technologies, including full array lighting and edge lighting. For the full array lighting, you have LEDs that span the entire back of the screen, whereas edge lighting has LEDs at the edges of the screen.

If you are looking for a cheaper option between the two, an LCD is ideal. An LCD is much cheaper than an LED of a similar size. You can get a bigger LCD for a more affordable price than an LED.

Upgrading to a new monitor can be both an exciting and incredibly daunting task. It’s not just deciding on screen size, but taking into account the resolution and overall screen technology.

Adding these variations into the mix can definitely complicate your decision. However, by understanding the fundamental differences between common screen types, you should find it much easier to find the right monitor for you. Let’s dive into what makes LED and IPS monitors tick and the pros and cons that come with each type.

The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is currently the most common and popular flat panel display type. It’s display functions with an active backlight that is modulated via liquid crystals that allow for thinner, lighter, and more responsive displays.

The LCD slowly improved and beat out CRT and plasma display types over the years, and now includes TFT (Thin-Film Transistor) technology to enhance the quality of images even further. While virtually every screen these days is made up of some sort of LCD screen, there are still different types to consider. Which brings us back to LED and IPS displays.

In an LED display, LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) serve as a backlight to light up individual pixels. LED displays are broken up even further into Edge-Lit and Direct-Lit, which differ in the way they’re positioned within the screen.

The overall benefit of LED displays is the fact that they’re generally brighter than comparable types, yet require less power. They’re often seen as the traditional, durable, and reliable option for gaming monitors.

IPS (In-Plane Switching) is probably the most common TFT LCD panel you’ll encounter when shopping for PC monitors. It’s often compared against TN (twisted nematic) and VA (vertical alignment) panel types. But IPS is viewed as the higher image quality option of the bunch.

The primary benefit of IPS displays is the high quality and detailed graphics it’s capable of producing. It’s often seen as the go-to for those desiring high visual fidelity and gorgeous visuals.

While the two may be often compared, they are actually functionally different pieces of technology. LED is backlight technology, while IPS is a panel technology, which makes a direct comparison difficult. But we can still run through how each type affects performance to give you a better idea of how your monitor will perform with one option or another – or maybe even both.

From the get-go, LEDs use very little energy. However, it’s worth noting that basic LED monitors will use even less power than their IPS LED counterparts. This has to do with the visuals on screen and how much light is necessary to illuminate them. Darker visuals, as well as those that are less vivid, require less light, meaning the LED screen can reduce power to conserve energy.

IPS displays, on the other hand, are all about the highest quality visuals and ensuring everything is crisp and clear. There’s no variable power consumption between color variations here, meaning that you’ll require more power to keep up with the high-quality graphics.

The main difference here is brightness versus color. IPS displays allow you to view the monitor from almost any angle without any changes in on-screen coloration. That means you can lean back, forward, and to the side without the visuals falling apart on you.

LEDs, on the other hand, are allabout brightness. While coloration may become washed out depending on the brightness settings, you can rest assured that the screen will always be illuminated.

Those beautiful visuals do bring down response time on IPS monitors depending on the speed of what you’re viewing. FPS titles, for example, can easily lead to extreme input lag without the right setup or setting variations to compensate for the displays focus on visual fidelity.

Basic LED monitors usually have consistently minimal input lag and the capability to reach high refresh rates. If you’ve read any of our game settings guides, you know that 144Hz – 250Hz is the sweet spot for most shooters, and you should have no problem hitting this with a standard TN LED display.

Generally, the less power that something requires, the less heat it produces. Since high-quality IPS displays produce such amazing visuals, they take more energy and produce more heat.

On the flip side, most high-quality LEDs produce very little heat due to the variable display capabilities of the backlit screen. This can be a deciding factor if you’re concerned about overheating or are unable to shell out for other components to compensate.

Meanwhile, typical LED monitors without in-plane switching panels can’t get anywhere close to the same visual fidelity. This really is the primary tradeoff between the two technologies. Standard LEDs perform better, but they sacrifice some level of clarity, while IPS screens are performance hogs that make up for it with gorgeous displays.

However, a good LED monitor can be both inexpensive and reliable, especially if used for gaming. This part can really be a deal-breaker for the IPS panel. It all just depends on how much you’re willing to spend on a monitor for the visual upgrade.

As mentioned before, these are different pieces of technology, and directly comparing doesn’t bring about a fair comparison. In reality, you’ll often see compatible combinations of the two depending on the brand and monitor your considering and may find a solid middle ground to purchase.

If you’re planning on using the display for graphics work, editing, or some other type of creative visual work, you’ll want to shell out a bit more for an IPS display. If you plan on playing fast-paced shooters or other multiplayer titles, you’ll want an LED monitor with a TN panel for consistent performance.

Again it really isn’t a cut and dry issue between the two types of tech. Opting for an IPS display is a big investment that may not last long. And more than likely, you’ll be able to find an LED display to be the go-to option, with plenty of high-quality displays available for a reasonable price.

In reality, the best thing you can do is find a monitor that marries the two and effectively compromises on visuals and performance. It’s the best of both worlds and means you won’t be sacrificing as much one way or another.

IPS (In-Plane Switching) lcd is still a type of TFT LCD, IPS TFT is also called SFT LCD (supper fine tft ),different to regular tft in TN (Twisted Nematic) mode, theIPS LCD liquid crystal elements inside the tft lcd cell, they are arrayed in plane inside the lcd cell when power off, so the light can not transmit it via theIPS lcdwhen power off, When power on, the liquid crystal elements inside the IPS tft would switch in a small angle, then the light would go through the IPS lcd display, then the display on since light go through the IPS display, the switching angle is related to the input power, the switch angle is related to the input power value of IPS LCD, the more switch angle, the more light would transmit the IPS LCD, we call it negative display mode.

The regular tft lcd, it is a-si TN (Twisted Nematic) tft lcd, its liquid crystal elements are arrayed in vertical type, the light could transmit the regularTFT LCDwhen power off. When power on, the liquid crystal twist in some angle, then it block the light transmit the tft lcd, then make the display elements display on by this way, the liquid crystal twist angle is also related to the input power, the more twist angle, the more light would be blocked by the tft lcd, it is tft lcd working mode.

A TFT lcd display is vivid and colorful than a common monochrome lcd display. TFT refreshes more quickly response than a monochrome LCD display and shows motion more smoothly. TFT displays use more electricity in driving than monochrome LCD screens, so they not only cost more in the first place, but they are also more expensive to drive tft lcd screen.The two most common types of TFT LCDs are IPS and TN displays.

IPS (in-plane switching) is a screen technology for liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). In IPS, a layer of liquid crystals is sandwiched between two glass surfaces. The liquid crystal molecules are aligned parallel to those surfaces in predetermined directions (in-plane). The molecules are reoriented by an applied electric field, whilst remaining essentially parallel to the surfaces to produce an image. It was designed to solve the strong viewing angle dependence and low-quality color reproduction of the twisted nematic field effect (TN) matrix LCDs prevalent in the late 1980s.

The TN method was the only viable technology for active matrix TFT LCDs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Early panels showed grayscale inversion from up to down,Vertical Alignment (VA)—that could resolve these weaknesses and were applied to large computer monitor panels.

After thorough analysis, details of advantageous molecular arrangements were filed in Germany by Guenter Baur et al. and patented in various countries including the US on 9 January 1990.Fraunhofer Society in Freiburg, where the inventors worked, assigned these patents to Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

Shortly thereafter, Hitachi of Japan filed patents to improve this technology. A leader in this field was Katsumi Kondo, who worked at the Hitachi Research Center.thin-film transistor array as a matrix and to avoid undesirable stray fields in between pixels.Super IPS). NEC and Hitachi became early manufacturers of active-matrix addressed LCDs based on the IPS technology. This is a milestone for implementing large-screen LCDs having acceptable visual performance for flat-panel computer monitors and television screens. In 1996, Samsung developed the optical patterning technique that enables multi-domain LCD. Multi-domain and in-plane switching subsequently remain the dominant LCD designs through 2006.

IPS technology is widely used in panels for TVs, tablet computers, and smartphones. In particular, most IBM products was marketed as CCFL backlighting, and all Apple Inc. products marketed with the label backlighting since 2010.

Most panels also support true 8-bit-per-channel colour. These improvements came at the cost of a lower response time, initially about 50 ms. IPS panels were also extremely expensive.

IPS has since been superseded by S-IPS (Super-IPS, Hitachi Ltd. in 1998), which has all the benefits of IPS technology with the addition of improved pixel refresh timing.

In this case, both linear polarizing filters P and A have their axes of transmission in the same direction. To obtain the 90 degree twisted nematic structure of the LC layer between the two glass plates without an applied electric field (OFF state), the inner surfaces of the glass plates are treated to align the bordering LC molecules at a right angle. This molecular structure is practically the same as in TN LCDs. However, the arrangement of the electrodes e1 and e2 is different. Because they are in the same plane and on a single glass plate, they generate an electric field essentially parallel to this plate. The diagram is not to scale: the LC layer is only a few micrometers thick and so is very small compared with the distance between the electrodes.

The LC molecules have a positive dielectric anisotropy and align themselves with their long axis parallel to an applied electrical field. In the OFF state (shown on the left), entering light L1 becomes linearly polarized by polarizer P. The twisted nematic LC layer rotates the polarization axis of the passing light by 90 degrees, so that ideally no light passes through polarizer A. In the ON state, a sufficient voltage is applied between electrodes and a corresponding electrical field E is generated that realigns the LC molecules as shown on the right of the diagram. Here, light L2 can pass through polarizer A.

In practice, other schemes of implementation exist with a different structure of the LC molecules – for example without any twist in the OFF state. As both electrodes are on the same substrate, they take more space than TN matrix electrodes. This also reduces contrast and brightness.

Unlike TN LCDs, IPS panels do not lighten or show tailing when touched. This is important for touch-screen devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers.

Toward the end of 2010 Samsung Electronics introduced Super PLS (Plane-to-Line Switching) with the intent of providing an alternative to the popular IPS technology which is primarily manufactured by LG Display. It is an "IPS-type" panel technology, and is very similar in performance features, specs and characteristics to LG Display"s offering. Samsung adopted PLS panels instead of AMOLED panels, because in the past AMOLED panels had difficulties in realizing full HD resolution on mobile devices. PLS technology was Samsung"s wide-viewing angle LCD technology, similar to LG Display"s IPS technology.

In 2012 AU Optronics began investment in their own IPS-type technology, dubbed AHVA. This should not be confused with their long standing AMVA technology (which is a VA-type technology). Performance and specs remained very similar to LG Display"s IPS and Samsung"s PLS offerings. The first 144 Hz compatible IPS-type panels were produced in late 2014 (used first in early 2015) by AUO, beating Samsung and LG Display to providing high refresh rate IPS-type panels.

Cross, Jason (18 March 2012). "Digital Displays Explained". TechHive. PC World. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.

"TFT Technology: Enhancing the viewing angle". Riverdi (TFT Module Manufacturer). Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016. However, [twisted nematic] suffers from the phenomenon called gray scale inversion. This means that the display has one viewing side in which the image colors suddenly change after exceeding the specified viewing angle. (see image Inversion Effect) External link in |quote= (help)

tech2 News Staff (19 May 2011). "LG Announces Super High Resolution AH-IPS Displays". Firstpost.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.

Baker, Simon (30 April 2011). "Panel Technologies: TN Film, MVA, PVA and IPS Explained". Tftcentral.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2012.

Ivankov, Alex (1 September 2016). "Advantages and disadvantages of IPS screen technology". Version Daily. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.

"Samsung PLS improves on IPS displays like iPad"s, costs less". electronista.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.

Display technology has been evolving for more than a century and continues to drive innovations in the electronic device market. IPS technology was developed in the 90s to solve color and viewing angle issues.

IPS display panels deliver the best colors and viewing angles compared to other popular display planes, including VA (vertical alignment) and TN (twisted nematic).

LCDs (liquid crystal displays). IPS changes the behavior of an LCD’s liquid crystals to produce a sharper, more accurate picture. This technique allows IPS displays to deliver a higher quality viewing experience than other screen types like TN or VA.

IPS acts on the liquid crystals inside an LCD, so when voltage is applied, the crystals rotate parallel (or in-plane), allowing light to pass through them easily. By reducing the amount of interference in the light being produced by the display, the final image on the screen will be much clearer.

One of the leading advantages that IPS offer is its ability to deliver wide angles while preserving colors and contrast. This means you can view an IPS screen from nearly any angle and get an accurate representation of the image on-screen.

IPS display screens and monitors offer the best quality in different environments (direct sunlight, low light, indoors, or outdoors) compared to TNs or VAs.

IPS LCDs require about 15% more power than a standard TN LCD. OLED displays require much less power than IPS types due to the fact that they don’t require a backlight. The LCD IPS technology is not the ideal solution if you need an energy-efficient display. You’re better off choosing an OLED or TN TFT for a low-power solution.

Because of the newer and more advanced technology found in IPS displays, they’re more expensive to manufacture. For a more cost-effective solution, a TN LCD would be a better choice.

IPS displays provide a huge boost to viewing angles and color reproduction, but they don’t have the same contrast capabilities as some other competing display types. OLED displays are able to deliver true black by shutting off their active pixels completely, resulting in much higher contrast than IPS displays. If you’re looking for maximum contrast in your display, you’re better off with an OLED display.

Because of in-plane switching’s ability to boost viewing angles and retain color accuracy, it allows LCDs to compete with the high contrast images found on OLED displays.

If you don’t require the highest refresh rates and don’t mind slightly higher power consumption, then an IPS display will greatly benefit your project.

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Responsible for performing installations and repairs (motors, starters, fuses, electrical power to machine etc.) for industrial equipment and machines in order to support the achievement of Nelson-Miller’s business goals and objectives:

• Perform highly diversified duties to install and maintain electrical apparatus on production machines and any other facility equipment (Screen Print, Punch Press, Steel Rule Die, Automated Machines, Turret, Laser Cutting Machines, etc.).

• Provide electrical emergency/unscheduled diagnostics, repairs of production equipment during production and performs scheduled electrical maintenance repairs of production equipment during machine service.

Responsible for performing installations and repairs (motors, starters, fuses, electrical power to machine etc.) for industrial equipment and machines in order to support the achievement of Nelson-Miller’s business goals and objectives:

• Perform highly diversified duties to install and maintain electrical apparatus on production machines and any other facility equipment (Screen Print, Punch Press, Steel Rule Die, Automated Machines, Turret, Laser Cutting Machines, etc.).

• Provide electrical emergency/unscheduled diagnostics, repairs of production equipment during production and performs scheduled electrical maintenance repairs of production equipment during machine service.

When it comes to choosing the right panel type of your LCD monitor, the options are seemingly endless. We’ve discussed the differences between AMOLED and LCD displays as well as the different types of touchscreen monitors that are commonly used for various devices and their benefits. Now it’s time to learn about the different features and specifications of PLS and IPS panels so you can decide which one is the most suitable choice for your specific personal or professional applications.

PLS stands for plane to line switching. Also referred to as Super PLS Panel, this technology boasts superior technological advancements such as a multitude of brightness setting options, crystal-clear image quality, and adjustable viewing angles without breaking the bank.

IPS stands for in-plane switching. It’s one of the most commonly used monitors for LCD displays and it consists of two glass panels that hold a layer of liquid crystals in between them. The liquid crystals become animated and perform predetermined actions such as moving in a specific direction or displaying certain colours when they’re charged with an electric current. These actions result in the high-quality images that appear on your television, laptop, or smartphone screen.

Both LCD monitor panel types have their advantages and disadvantages for various types of applications. Finding out how they work will help you determine which one is the best choice for your needs.

As mentioned, IPS LCD monitors contain hundreds of liquid crystals that are situated between two glass sheets in a parallel formation. As electric currents run through the liquid crystals when the screen is turned on, they become animated and move in different directions and backlighting passes through them. This is what produces the crystal-clear and instantaneous images you see on the screen. The excellent viewing angles are the result of the horizontal movements of the liquid crystals inside the panel.

PLS panels for LCD monitors have been on the market for over a decade and have proven to be a worthy adversary for their IPS predecessors. Although the technology is the same for the most part, IPS does offer some minor improvements. The main difference is that IPS panels offer more optimized liquid molecular alignment, which makes for a slightly better viewing experience. Hence, PLS screens offer 15% more brightness than IPS panel types.

From an aesthetic and logistical standpoint, PLS panel types are also thinner than IPS due to the fact that the glass sheets that hold the liquid crystals in place are positioned much lower in the screen configuration.

When it comes to comparing and contrasting the differences between IPS and PLS LCD monitor panel types, the competition is pretty stiff. Both monitors are fairly similar with the exception that PLS is meant to be an improvement on the previous technology. Here are the key factors that should be considered when deciding which one is the best monitor panel for LCD industrial displays.

PLS monitors offer superior viewing angles when compared to IPS displays. Unlike IPS displays, PLS monitors don’t have any noticeable colour distortions and they have significantly lower production costs.

Colour contrast and brightness is a central concern when purchasing a new commercial or industrial display. Whether you’re a gamer or graphic designer, your best option in this regard is to stick to IPS displays. They offer far more consistent image quality, colour contrast, and brightness that’s perfect for applications that rely heavily on high-quality image production.

Unfortunately, PLS and IPS monitors both have a fairly slow response time (the amount of time it takes for liquid crystals to shift from one colour or shade to another). For this reason, neither one is the ideal choice for gaming purposes, but they’re both suitable for graphic design projects that focus more on colour distribution and accuracy than response time.

PLS panel types have been proven to have superior colour distribution and accuracy compared to IPS panel types. PLS displays have a far more expansive colour gamut that’s ideal for users who require the most natural-looking images and colour options.

Backlight bleed occurs when the lights from the back of the screen leak through the edges, which results in uneven lighting or glow. This is a fairly common shortcoming of IPS screens when the brightness is adjusted to a particularly high level and can make for a poor viewing experience. PLS panel types don’t have this problem and offer even lighting regardless of the brightness settings.

The answer is inconclusive. Both IPS and PLS monitor types certainly have their advantages. Although PLS is slightly better in terms of backlighting and faster response times, the margins for improvement are fairly tight. It really just depends on what your preferences are as well as the applications that the monitors are being used for.

Nauticomp Inc.is one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of sophisticated state-of-the-art LCD displays and monitors in North America. Contact us to learn about our various products or to place an order.

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For all the new technologies that have come our way in recent times, it’s worth taking a minute to consider an old battle going on between two display types. Two display types that can be found across monitors, TVs, mobile phones, cameras and pretty much any other device that has a screen.

In one corner is LED (light-emitting diode). It’s the most common type of display on the market, however, it might be unfamiliar because there’s slight labelling confusion with LCD (liquid crystal display).

For display purposes the two are the same, and if you see a TV or smartphone that states it has an ‘LED’ screen, it’s an LCD. The LED part just refers to the lighting source, not the display itself.

In a nutshell, LED LCD screens use a backlight to illuminate their pixels, while OLED’s pixels produce their own light. You might hear OLED’s pixels called ‘self-emissive’, while LCD tech is ‘transmissive’.

The light of an OLED display can be controlled on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This sort of dexterity isn’t possible with an LED LCD – but there are drawbacks to this approach, which we’ll come to later.

In cheaper TVs and LCD-screen phones, LED LCD displays tend to use ‘edge lighting’, where LEDs sit to the side of the display, not behind it. The light from these LEDs is fired through a matrix that feeds it through the red, green and blue pixels and into our eyes.

LED LCD screens can go brighter than OLED. That’s a big deal in the TV world, but even more so for smartphones, which are often used outdoors and in bright sunlight.

Brightness is generally measured as ‘nits’ – roughly the light of a candle per square metre. Brightness is important when viewing content in ambient light or sunlight, but also for high dynamic range video. This applies more to TVs, but phones boast credible video performance, and so it matters in that market too. The higher the level of brightness, the greater the visual impact.

Take an LCD screen into a darkened room and you may notice that parts of a purely black image aren’t black, because you can still see the backlighting (or edge lighting) showing through.

Being able to see unwanted backlighting affects a display’s contrast, which is the difference between its brightest highlights and its darkest shadows.

You’ll often see a contrast ratio quoted in a product’s specification, particularly when it comes to TVs and monitors. This tells you how much brighter a display’s whites are compared to its blacks. A decent LCD screen might have a contrast ratio of 1,000:1, which means the whites are a thousand times brighter than the blacks.

Contrast on an OLED display is far higher. When an OLED screen goes black, its pixels produce no light whatsoever. That means an infinite contrast ratio, although how great it looks will depend on how bright the screen can go. In general, OLED screens are best suited for use in darker rooms, and this is certainly the case where TVs are concerned.

OLED panels enjoy excellent viewing angles, primarily because the technology is so thin, and the pixels are so close to the surface. You can walk around an OLED TV or spread out in different spots in your living room, and you won’t lose out on contrast. For phones, viewing angles are extra important because you don’t tend to hold your hand perfectly parallel to your face.

Viewing angles are generally worse in LCDs, but this varies hugely depending on the display technology used. And there are lots of different kinds of LCD panel.

Perhaps the most basic is twisted nematic (TN). This is the type used in budget computer monitors, cheaper laptops, and very low-cost phones, and it offers poor angled viewing. If you’ve ever noticed that your computer screen looks all shadowy from a certain angle, it’s more than likely it uses a twisted nematic panel.

Thankfully, a lot of LCD devices use IPS panels these days. This stands for ‘in-plane switching’ and it generally provides better colour performance and dramatically improved viewing angles.

IPS is used in most smartphones and tablets, plenty of computer monitors and lots of TVs. It’s important to note that IPS and LED LCD aren’t mutually exclusive; it’s just another bit of jargon to tack on. Beware of the marketing blurb and head straight to the spec sheet.

The latest LCD screens can produce fantastic natural-looking colours. However, as is the case with viewing angles, it depends on the specific technology used.

OLED’s colours have fewer issues with pop and vibrancy, but early OLED TVs and phones had problems reining in colours and keeping them realistic. These days, the situation is better, Panasonic’s flagship OLEDs are used in the grading of Hollywood films.

Where OLED struggles is in colour volume. That is, bright scenes may challenge an OLED panel’s ability to maintain levels of colour saturation. It’s a weakness that LCD-favouring manufacturers enjoy pointing out.

Both have been the subject of further advancements in recent years. For LCD there’s Quantum Dot and Mini LED. The former uses a quantum-dot screen with blue LEDs rather than white LEDs and ‘nanocrystals’ of various sizes to convert light into different colours by altering its wavelength. Several TV manufacturers have jumped onboard Quantum Dot technology, but the most popular has been Samsung’s QLED branded TVs.

Mini LED is another derivation of LED LCD panels, employing smaller-sized LEDs that can emit more light than standard versions, increasing brightness output of the TV. And as they are smaller, more can be fitted into a screen, leading to greater control over brightness and contrast. This type of TV is becoming more popular, though in the UK and Europe it’s still relatively expensive. You can read more about Mini LED and its advantages in our explainer.

OLED, meanwhile, hasn’t stood still either. LG is the biggest manufacturer of large-sized OLED panels and has produced panels branded as evo OLED that are brighter than older versions. It uses a different material for its blue OLED material layer within the panel (deuterium), which can last for longer and can have more electrical current passed through it, increasing the brightness of the screen, and elevating the colour volume (range of colours it can display).

Another development is the eagerly anticipated QD-OLED. This display technology merges Quantum Dot backlights with an OLED panel, increasing the brightness, colour accuracy and volume, while retaining OLED’s perfect blacks, infinite contrast and potentially even wider viewing angles, so viewers can spread out anywhere in a room and see pretty much the same image. Samsung and Sonyare the two companies launching QD-OLED TVs in 2022.

And for smartphones there’s been a move towards AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) screens for Android screens, while Apple has moved towards OLED for its smartphones and tried Mini LED with its iPad Pro. Technologies are consistently evolving with Superand Dynamic AMOLED versions available, more performance is being eked out.

While LED LCD has been around for much longer and is cheaper to make, manufacturers are beginning to move away from it, at least in the sense of the ‘standard’ LCD LED displays, opting to explore the likes of Mini LED and Quantum Dot variations.

OLED has gained momentum and become cheaper, with prices dipping well below the £1000 price point. OLED is much better than LED LCD at handling darkness and lighting precision, and offers much wider viewing angles, which is great for when large groups of people are watching TV. Refresh rates and motion processing are also better with OLED though there is the spectre of image retention.

If you’re dealing with a limited budget, whether you’re buying a phone, a monitor, a laptop or a TV, you’ll almost certainly end up with an LCD-based screen. OLED, meanwhile, incurs more of a premium but is getting cheaper, appearing in handheld gaming devices, laptops, some of the best smartphones as well as TVs

Which is better? Even if you eliminate money from the equation, it really comes down to personal taste. Neither OLED nor LCD LED is perfect. Some extol OLED’s skill in handling darkness, and its lighting precision. Others prefer LCD’s ability to go brighter and maintain colours at bright levels.

How do you decide? Stop reading this and go to a shop to check it out for yourself. While a shop floor isn’t the best environment in which to evaluate ultimate picture quality, it will at least provide an opportunity for you to realise your priorities. Whether you choose to side with LCD or OLED, you can take comfort in the fact that both technologies have matured considerably, making this is a safe time to invest.

As if buying a new TV wasn’t already complicated enough, we’re about to introduce you to yet another thing to think about. A thing, moreover, that TV brands (accidentally or otherwise) don’t tend to talk about, despite experience showing time and time again that it can have a profound impact on picture quality.

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.

Choosing a new monitor is tricky, especially now when there are lots of different options available with each offering a pretty great set of features. There are a lot of things that you need to consider while buying a digital display of any kind such as display size, resolution, aspect ratio, color accuracy, and many others. But, there is a major underlying fact which affects the overall image quality and viewing experience on a display which is the display panel. There are multiple types of panels available in the market and each offers specific pros and cons.

Today, we are going to talk in detail about LED and IPS display panels. While looking for a new TV or monitor for your computer, you must have come across these 2 options more so than others. In this guide, we will talk about these panels in detail and discuss how the panel type affects the image quality and color accuracy on a display. We will also compare both of these options with regards to various important factors such as image quality, response time, power consumption, and much more. So, make sure you don’t miss that.

LED stands for Light Emitting Diodes. It is a very simple yet elegant display technology that dates back all the way back to 1962. This is basically a backlight technology where small diodes make up the entirety of the display and light up in a specific manner to create the image. A lot of users often get confused between LED and LCD display technology due to their similarities.

LCD is a slightly older technology compared to LED. Thus, LED is basically an upgrade to LCD display technology. Both of these display panels come with liquid crystals that generate the image on the display panel. But, the LED display panel features a backlight along with the liquid crystal layer.

There are a lot of applications for which LED TVs and monitors turn out to be the best options. Also, a lot of brands use LED technology along with IPS to offer the best of both worlds. Now that you understand what an LED panel is and how it works, let us take a look at some pros and cons of LED display panels.

IPS is one of the recent technological advancements in display technologies. Even though the technology came out in the mid-1990s, it is just starting to become the standard option for TVs and monitors. There have been a lot of improvements in the IPS display technology since its initial release and most of its limitations have been overcome thanks to the new options and compatibility with other technologies.

IPS stands for In-Plane Switching. This is also a type of LCD display technology much like the LED display technology. However, a lot of users prefer IPS display panels due to their wide viewing angles and sharp color accuracy. IPS panels are also a preferred option compared to VA and TN panels when it comes to desktop monitors.

In an IPS display, the liquid crystal panels are aligned in parallel to introduce lush colors. There are also polarizing filters that have their transmission axes aligned in the same direction for even better image quality. Unlike LED panels where the crystals are at right angles, IPS panels feature liquid crystals lined up in parallel to offer extended viewing angles as well as color accuracy.

In the majority of cases, users are confused between LED or IPS panels when it comes to buying a new monitor. Unlike TVs where you can simply go with a highly reliable brand in order to get the best experience, you will have to carefully check each and every aspect of the desktop monitor you are going to buy. While a lot of these aspects include refresh rate, color modes, black stabilizer, response time, etc, one major factor is the panel type.

A lot of these major factors in a desktop monitor change based on the panel installed on the monitor. And with that, the compatibility of the monitor also changes due to differences in specifications. If you are buying a premium desktop monitor, you should carefully consider the following comparison and check which type of monitor is best for you. Going forward, we will discuss IPS desktop monitors and LED desktop monitors and compare them based on various important factors.

As you might have guessed, IPS monitors are desktop monitors that are powered by an IPS display panel. And with that, you will get the same advantages as well as limitations as mentioned above in our take on the IPS display panels. However, IPS monitors are right now one of the most preferred options for desktop users.

Despite offering the best color production and viewing angles, IPS monitors were lacking behind for heavy usage due to low refresh rate and response time for quite some time. But not anymore as a lot of brands have overcome these problems by combining IPS technology along with other options. Thus, the premium range of IPS monitors nowadays will offer a high refresh rate along with a low response time. And on top of that, Most IPS monitors also offer higher resolutions along with HDR compatibility which makes them perfect for entertainment.

LED desktop monitors are also not a bad option, especially if you are looking for longevity and reliable performance for all applications. Basic LED monitors will be highly affordable compared to high-quality IPS monitors. One of the best advantages of LED monitors is their efficient power consumption which also ensures their reliability for the long term. The overall temperature levels on LED desktop monitors are also significantly lower than that of an IPS monitor.

Furthermore, LED monitors offer a much faster refresh rate when paired with VA panel technology along with a faster response time. This makes them ideal for hardcore gaming. The few back draws of getting an LED desktop monitor are the comparatively shorter viewing angles, inconsistent contrast ratio, and fatigue effects on the display panel after long-term usage. Similar to IPS panels, you can also find a lot of great choices in LED monitors where the display panel technology will be paired with LED, LCD, or TN panels to overcome some of these drawbacks.

By now, you must have understood the major differences between an IPS and an LED desktop monitor. If you are still not sure, here is our comparison between both of these options. Here, you can quickly understand both of these options and select the one which offers you the most benefits based on your application.

When it comes to image quality, IPS display panels offer the best results in almost all aspects. Whether it be clarity, image sharpness, or viewing angles, IPS panels offer the best performance in all regards.

But as IPS panels have pretty high brightness levels, the contrast ratio on these panels might not always be great. On the other hand, LED panels offer pretty great black levels and high contrast ratio. If you decide to go with a VA panel, you can have both decent image quality as well as dark black levels which makes the image much more realistic.

The response time for IPS display panels has always been lower compared to LED display panels due to differences in technology. But, recently released IPS display panels have overcome the drawback and offer up to 144 Hz refresh rate on a mid-range monitor. And if you were to choose a premium option, you can get even higher refresh rate monitors powered by IPS display panels.

But compared to VA or TN panels, IPS still falls behind when it comes to refresh rate and response time. To be specific, TN panels are generally the best option for high-paced FPS games as it offers the fastest response rate at the expense of image quality. Typically, an LED panel such as VA or TN will offer you 1 ms of response time.

Again, IPS display panels seem to be the best option in this scenario. Due to the unique construction and working principle, you will get a very high level of brightness on the IPS panels. On top of that, the color accuracy and hue levels are not affected by the viewing angles on an IPS panel. This makes them a great choice for both primary as well as secondary monitors. Wide viewing angles will also benefit the viewing experience on TVs with an IPS panel.

When it comes to LED monitors, you will instead find better performance in terms of local brightness. With the array of LED lights powering the display, it manages to dim the darker area perfectly, offering a higher contrast ratio. Thus, the dark areas on an LED monitor look darker compared to the same image on an IPS panel. However, LED monitors still suffer changes in color accuracy and temperature due to variations in viewing angles.

Power consumption is yet another important factor for a desktop monitor. Your system might already be a power-hungry build, especially with a powerful CPU and graphics card. Thus, you wouldn’t want to add a monitor as well to the list.

As far as power consumption is concerned, LED monitors are far more efficient than IPS monitors. IPS display panels offer higher brightness levels, but at the expense of higher power draw. Also, IPS panels are comparatively less energy efficient considering the overall performance and power draw.

LED panels on the other hand offer pretty good brightness levels with efficient energy consumption. Due to features like local dimming, the overall power consumption of an LED monitor is much lesser than that of an IPS monitor. Thus, LED panels are also cheaper in terms of running costs.

As you can imagine, IPS panels generate more heat when they are active due to increased power consumption. It is not an ideal condition for the monitor or a TV, especially if you live in a considerably warmer region. Higher temperature levels might result in internal problems within the panel.

On the other side of the spectrum, there are LED monitors that offer almost similar brightness levels, but without excessive heat generation. You can easily install an LED display panel on your desk without worrying about increased temperature levels on your monitor.

IPS panels are considerably more expensive than LED panels. As a result, IPS monitors are also more expensive than LEDs. And as IPS panels are usually combined with other display technologies to counter its disadvantages, the price range of IPS monitors further increases.

Still, due to the increased competition in the market and the rise of numerous brands, you can easily find a great monitor within an affordable price range. But still, you will find better alternatives with VA or TN display technology compared to an IPS panel. You can opt for a higher resolution or faster refresh rate instead of going with an IPS panel in the same price range.

As far as gaming is considered, the most important aspects are resolution, refresh rate, screen size, and response time. Color accuracy and viewing angles are not really a major concern unless you are considering couch gaming. Also, the viewing angles are not much of a concern for desktop applications as you will usually install the primary monitor exactly in front of your sitting position.

Due to the reasons mentioned above, VA or TN panels are usually a better option for gaming. These monitors will offer you a higher refresh rate as well as screen resolution within the same price range which is always a better deal. However, you can always invest in a secondary IPS monitor for single-player games which benefit from better display quality and brightness levels.

IPS and LED display panels are always a matter of confusion when you are looking for a new display. There are a lot of options present in the market designed by various brands which offer a great range of options for both IPS as well as LED displays. In our guide, we have discussed both of these display technologies in depth and compared them based on some major factors.

Once you go through our guide, you will definitely find out which monitor is the perfect choice for you. If you are looking for a TV or a desktop monitor for watching movies or for productivity, then you should prefer getting an IPS panel. You will definitely benefit from the better visual quality and viewing angles in this scenario. However, VA or TN panels are generally a better option for gaming.

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LCD stands for liquid crystal display. This display technology uses liquid crystals to form images on the screen which are then made visible through ambient light or a light emitting diode (LED) backlight. Liquid crystal displays are currently the most popular display type on the market. If you have a display on your device, there is a high likelihood that it is a liquid crystal display (LCD).