space engineers wide lcd panel price

The Wide LCD Panel is a long thin panel that takes the entire face of two blocks and can display a variety of messages and textures that can be displayed constantly or triggered by the Programmable Block, Sensor, Timer Block, or any other block capable of triggering.

To access its settings, select it and pressing the "T" or "K" key. Selecting it and pressing "K", the "K-menu" is entered. The panel"s title and text can be made public, private, or a combination of both. Textures applied can be selected from a list or custom textures can be selected. Textures can be set to rotate on a timer, changing from one to the next. GPS coordinates shown in the GPS format in the text panel will appear in the GPS and can be activated (=shown on HUD).

The LCD Panel could be accessed with the programmable block as IMyTextPanel. It could work in ´Texture Mode´ in which the selected textures are shown or the ´Text Mode´ in which the text is shown. The following methods are available:

The LCD Panel is a thin panel that takes an entire block face and can display a variety of messages and textures that can be displayed constantly or triggered by the Programmable Block, Sensor, Timer Block, or any other block capable of triggering.

The "Color" sliders allow setting the text colour using RGB slider and "Backgr." allows setting background fill colours (default black). If using a transparent LCD then the text will be against transparency unless fill colour is added.

"Loaded Textures" has a list of the available default and modded (where applicable) images available for display on the screen. Select the desired image and select "Add to selection". The selected image will then show in the second "Selected textures" panel.

When multiple images are applied they can be set to cycle between with the duration between images being set by the "Image change interval" slider. To remove an image from display select it in the second panel and select "Remove selected".

The "Preserve aspect ratio" checkbox can be used to prevent the image being stretched if it does not fit the screen properly such as when using a wide LCD.

To set the LCD to display a script, choose "Script" from the dropdown. Choosing Script allows the display of information such as weather, artificial horizon for vehicles, Energy and Hydrogen level etc.

The panel"s title and text can be made public, private, or a combination of both. Textures applied can be selected from a list or custom textures can be selected. Textures can be set to rotate on a timer, changing from one to the next. GPS coordinates shown in the GPS format in the text panel will appear in the GPS and can be activated (=shown on HUD).

The LCD Panel could be accessed with the programmable block as IMyTextPanel. It could work in ´Texture Mode´ in which the selected textures are shown or the ´Text Mode´ in which the text is shown. The following methods are available:

The various LCD Panel blocks are a great way to add a human touch to a ship or base by displaying useful images or text. For LCD configuration and usage, see LCD Surface Options.

Note: Some functional blocks, such as Cockpits, Programmable Blocks, Custom Turret Controllers, and Button Panels, have customizable LCD surfaces built in that work the same way as LCD Panel blocks, which are also discussed in detail under LCD Surface Options.

LCD Panels need to be built on a powered grid to work. Without power, they display an "Offline" text. While powered without having a text, image, or script set up, they display "Online".

LCD Panel blocks come in a variety of sizes from tiny to huge (see list below) and are available for large and small grid sizes. Note that LCD Panel blocks all have connections on their backs, and very few also on a second side.

All LCD Panels and LCD surfaces work with the same principle: They are capable of displaying dynamic scripts, or few inbuilt static images accompanied by editable text. Access the ship"s Control Panel Screen to configure LCD Panels or LCD surfaces; or face the LCD Panel block and press "K".

A Text Panel, despite its name, can also display images. On large grid, it is rectangular and does not fully cover the side of a 1x1x1 block. On small grid it is 1x1x1, the smallest possible LCD block in game.

On large grid, you choose the Text Panel when you need something that has rectangular dimensions that make it look like a wall-mounted TV or computer screen. If you want to display images, this one works best with the built-in posters whose names end in "H" or "V" (for horizontal or vertical rotation). On Small grid, you place these tiny display surfaces so you can see them well while seated in a cockpit or control seat, to create a custom display array of flight and status information around you.

Corner LCDs are much smaller display panels that typically hold a few lines of text. They don"t cover the block you place them on and are best suited as signage for doors, passages, or containers. They are less suitable for displaying images, even though it"s possible. If you enable the "Keep aspect ratio" option, the image will take up less than a third of the available space.

These huge Sci-Fi LCD Panels come in sizes of 5x5, 5x3, and 3x3 blocks, and can be built on large grids only. These panels are only available to build if you purchase the "Sparks of the Future" pack DLC.

They work the same as all other LCD Panels, the only difference is that they are very large. In the scenario that comes with the free "Sparks of the Future" update, they are used prominently as advertisement boards on an asteroid station.

This LCD panel can be built on large and small grids. The transparent LCD is basically a 1x1x1 framed window that displays images and text. It is part of the paid "Decorative Blocks Pack #2" DLC.

What is special about them is that if you set the background color to black, this panel becomes a transparent window with a built-in display. In contrast to other LCD Panels it has no solid backside, which makes it ideal to construct transparent cockpit HUDs, or simply as cosmetic decoration.

While configuring an LCD Panel, the GUI covers up the display in-world and you can"t see how the text or images comes out. In the UI Options, you can lower the UI Background opacity to be translucent, so you can watch what you are doing more easily.

Duke Nukem 3d had a camera view to screen feature in a game with user generated maps/layouts 22 years ago. Granted it wasn"t 1080p but I don"t think anyones expecting that from a Text panel. Unpossible!

Duke Nukem 3d had a camera view to screen feature in a game with user generated maps/layouts 22 years ago. Granted it wasn"t 1080p but I don"t think anyones expecting that from a Text panel. Unpossible!

glad to see this thread bumped i find it ridiculous that this isn"t already in the game. Surely you could implement this with some sort of anti-rastorization method where you just don"t render the parts of the ship eclipsed by the display just like if you gave dirt or whatever a transparent texture back in minceraft, that"s how rodina does it; and even without the fact that this method would be way more efficient, you would also end up with a better, more spacey, implementation "cause it would have perspective.

glad to see this thread bumped i find it ridiculous that this isn"t already in the game. Surely you could implement this with some sort of anti-rastorization method where you just don"t render the parts of the ship eclipsed by the display just like if you gave dirt or whatever a transparent texture back in minceraft, that"s how rodina does it; and even without the fact that this method would be way more efficient, you would also end up with a better, more spacey, implementation "cause it would have perspective.

It is possible, but that was never a simple mod; that entry on the Steam workshop was just to add the terminal controls, the actual code was in a plugin (Client Extender) that you had to install alongside the game.It allowed you to write frames to textures and had a priority queue system so it would never drain your FPS more than you allowed it, and you could give client-side priority to cameras; if you"re in a big battle with a bunch of different people who also use LCD feeds then, from your perspective, yours would be updated first and fastest regardless.

It is possible, but that was never a simple mod; that entry on the Steam workshop was just to add the terminal controls, the actual code was in a plugin (Client Extender) that you had to install alongside the game.It allowed you to write frames to textures and had a priority queue system so it would never drain your FPS more than you allowed it, and you could give client-side priority to cameras; if you"re in a big battle with a bunch of different people who also use LCD feeds then, from your perspective, yours would be updated first and fastest regardless.

I saw Camera, LCD, then it was obvious I could link a camera feed to one of cockpit LCD to have a view..... even at low resolution, and even with limitation numbers.

I saw Camera, LCD, then it was obvious I could link a camera feed to one of cockpit LCD to have a view..... even at low resolution, and even with limitation numbers.

In short, as many people out there, I really believe that this should"ve been in the vanilla game since the LCD"s were introduced and also believe that it would elevate the game play so much.

In short, as many people out there, I really believe that this should"ve been in the vanilla game since the LCD"s were introduced and also believe that it would elevate the game play so much.

In short, as many people out there, I really believe that this should"ve been in the vanilla game since the LCD"s were introduced and also believe that it would elevate the game play so much.

In short, as many people out there, I really believe that this should"ve been in the vanilla game since the LCD"s were introduced and also believe that it would elevate the game play so much.

In short, as many people out there, I really believe that this should"ve been in the vanilla game since the LCD"s were introduced and also believe that it would elevate the game play so much.

In short, as many people out there, I really believe that this should"ve been in the vanilla game since the LCD"s were introduced and also believe that it would elevate the game play so much.

Having the ability to view a camera image from an LCD in a basement - which is what I nearly always end up building in order to protect my gear from meteorites - would be a massive boon.

Also, displaying multiple camera images on LCDs means that a ship could have a decent bridge buried deep inside it and still have good visibility of the surrounding space, without needing to cycle through cameras while sitting in a control seat.

Having the ability to view a camera image from an LCD in a basement - which is what I nearly always end up building in order to protect my gear from meteorites - would be a massive boon.

Also, displaying multiple camera images on LCDs means that a ship could have a decent bridge buried deep inside it and still have good visibility of the surrounding space, without needing to cycle through cameras while sitting in a control seat.

The mod is smart about it and makes it so that the LCD can "share" frames instead. So it can update at 30 fps but it doubles the GPU Render Load, or all the way down to 1fps which divides evenly amongst other LCDs. So if you had the setting at 30fps they"d each run at 15fps, which would divide further as you added more.

The mod is smart about it and makes it so that the LCD can "share" frames instead. So it can update at 30 fps but it doubles the GPU Render Load, or all the way down to 1fps which divides evenly amongst other LCDs. So if you had the setting at 30fps they"d each run at 15fps, which would divide further as you added more.

The Mods we had, are more or less a collection of workarounds to make this feature somewhat functioning, but someone with unrestricted access to the source code, should be able to implement, at least the frame work, for such a function, without all too heavy performance impacts. Furthermore we are in an age, of ridiculously powerfull GPU like the Nvidia 30 Series and Space Engineers never was a casual game, requirement wise. And for those with a too weak system, we could make a tab in the world settings to disable this feature.

The Mods we had, are more or less a collection of workarounds to make this feature somewhat functioning, but someone with unrestricted access to the source code, should be able to implement, at least the frame work, for such a function, without all too heavy performance impacts. Furthermore we are in an age, of ridiculously powerfull GPU like the Nvidia 30 Series and Space Engineers never was a casual game, requirement wise. And for those with a too weak system, we could make a tab in the world settings to disable this feature.

i would make lcd refresh rate based on distance to closest player, that is looking at that lcd - so game would crank up lcd fps only when someone is actually looking at it and "freeze" display when nobody is around or looking on something else ....

i would make lcd refresh rate based on distance to closest player, that is looking at that lcd - so game would crank up lcd fps only when someone is actually looking at it and "freeze" display when nobody is around or looking on something else ....

If a remote camera LCD isn"t in visible range to a player, then don"t gather render data from the camera nor render the camera onto the LCD. I do not believe this is something that a modder could do, since it would require access to a player"s rendering data and being able to detect if any remote camera LCDs are within what"s being rendered.

Any camera feeds are sampled at a lower resolution and also rendered to LCDs at a lower resolution than when a player views through the camera directly. With a lower resolution on both sampling and rendering I would expect GPU stress to be lower as well.

Nested camera LCDs (any LCD"s rendering a camera that are THEN viewed by a later camera and rendered to a later LCD) would be only rendered at 1fps and only when the player is looking at the later LCD, otherwise it is not rendered. Or just don"t render nested camera LCDs at all, though that might confuse some players if done without explanation.

If a remote camera LCD isn"t in visible range to a player, then don"t gather render data from the camera nor render the camera onto the LCD. I do not believe this is something that a modder could do, since it would require access to a player"s rendering data and being able to detect if any remote camera LCDs are within what"s being rendered.

Any camera feeds are sampled at a lower resolution and also rendered to LCDs at a lower resolution than when a player views through the camera directly. With a lower resolution on both sampling and rendering I would expect GPU stress to be lower as well.

Nested camera LCDs (any LCD"s rendering a camera that are THEN viewed by a later camera and rendered to a later LCD) would be only rendered at 1fps and only when the player is looking at the later LCD, otherwise it is not rendered. Or just don"t render nested camera LCDs at all, though that might confuse some players if done without explanation.

Many games implement in-view screens of the game world. This isn"t new and not impossible just something Keen chose not to implement with their time. Other priorities. The LCD displays in the game and the cameras seem like a perfect match.

Many games implement in-view screens of the game world. This isn"t new and not impossible just something Keen chose not to implement with their time. Other priorities. The LCD displays in the game and the cameras seem like a perfect match.

The troll face says it all. PC gamers also have low end hardware. There is a bit of psychology at work here though. If your PC can"t handle the camera-to-LCD feature you may chose to turn it off for now, maybe consider a GPU or RAM upgrade or just accept it for now. For cool screenshots you can always turn it back on temporarily. You feel like it"s all in your hands. On a console on the other hand, graphics and complexity are often locked down, like the number of planets or asteroids. You can"t upgrade a hardware component or decide for yourself if camera-to-LCD is worth the performance hit. Others decide what your console can handle. You begin to feel disenfranchised compared to a PC gamer with comparable hardware.

The troll face says it all. PC gamers also have low end hardware. There is a bit of psychology at work here though. If your PC can"t handle the camera-to-LCD feature you may chose to turn it off for now, maybe consider a GPU or RAM upgrade or just accept it for now. For cool screenshots you can always turn it back on temporarily. You feel like it"s all in your hands. On a console on the other hand, graphics and complexity are often locked down, like the number of planets or asteroids. You can"t upgrade a hardware component or decide for yourself if camera-to-LCD is worth the performance hit. Others decide what your console can handle. You begin to feel disenfranchised compared to a PC gamer with comparable hardware.

As can be seen in this YouTube Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWpFZbjtSQg) implementing a camera feed to the LCD screens shouldn"t be thatdifficult. Now one difference would be the need to dynamically alter the position of the projection but even as an inexperienced programmer that is not an issue. If the devs have some competence (which I would assume given they developed this game) it should not be a problem to implement at all, except of course the issue with consoles other users mentioned. Drawing a second camera is expensive for the render engine but if not done at full resolution, unless the player is accessing the camera directly, I fail to see any issues except poor performance on low end pc"s and console, which imo is already the case so that would be a drop of water in an ocean.

As can be seen in this YouTube Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWpFZbjtSQg) implementing a camera feed to the LCD screens shouldn"t be thatdifficult. Now one difference would be the need to dynamically alter the position of the projection but even as an inexperienced programmer that is not an issue. If the devs have some competence (which I would assume given they developed this game) it should not be a problem to implement at all, except of course the issue with consoles other users mentioned. Drawing a second camera is expensive for the render engine but if not done at full resolution, unless the player is accessing the camera directly, I fail to see any issues except poor performance on low end pc"s and console, which imo is already the case so that would be a drop of water in an ocean.

Space Engineers Ultimate Edition includes the base game and all of the past DLCs for Space Engineers. Our newest DLC is sold separately (PC version only). Enjoy the definitive version of Space Engineers as you build and explore across the stars!

Space Engineers is a sandbox game about engineering, construction, exploration and survival in space and on planets. You can build space ships, space stations, planetary outposts of various sizes and uses, pilot ships and travel through space to explore planets.

Space Engineers: Warfare 2 “Broadside” pack includes Warfare Ion Thruster, Warfare Reactor, Warfare Hangar Door variants, Warfare Rocket Launcher, Warfare Gatling Gun, Searchlight, Bridge Windows, Passenger bench, Light panel, Helm, Warfare Battery, Heat vent, Sliding Hatch Door, Woodland Camo Armor Skin, Shark mouth helmet skin, “Rock paper scissors” emotes, “Salute” Emote

Space Engineers “Heavy Industry” pack includes Large Magnetic plate, Beam Blocks, Industrial conveyor pipes, Cylindrical Column, Vertical button panel, Large Hydrogen Tank Reskin, Large Cargo Container Reskin, Industrial Refinery, Industrial Assembler, Industrial Hydrogen Thrusters and Hazard pattern armor skin.

Space Engineers “Warfare 1: Field Engineer” pack includes Fire Cover Block, Half window Block, Weapon Rack Block, Five new passage blocks, Embrasure Block, Two new Emotes and the Assault Suit skin.

Space Engineers “Wasteland” pack includes Off road wheels, Exhaust pipes, Buggy cockpit, 2 View port blocks, Barred Window, Offset Light, Offset Spotlight, 3 Storage Shelves, Concrete Armor Skin, Dust Armor Skin, Rust 2 Armor Skin, Retro future Armor Skin, Scavenger Character skin, and 2 new character emotes.

The Space Engineers - Sparks of the Future includes the Sci-Fi LCD, the Neon Tubes, the Sci-Fi Ion Thrusters, the Sci-Fi Atmospheric Thrusters, the Sci-Fi Interior Wall, the Bar Counter, the Sci-Fi Control Panel, the Sci-Fi 1-Button Panel, the Sci-Fi 4-Button Panel, the Sci-Fi Sliding Door, the Sci-Fi Armor Skin, the 2 Neon Armor Skins, the 8 new character emotes.

The Space Engineers - Frostbite includes: the Frostbite Scenario, the Antenna Dish, the Dead Engineers, the Gate, the Offset door, the Frozen Armor Skin, the I"m Cold Emote, the Check Wrist Emote and the LCD Posters.

The Space Engineers - Decorative Pack #2 includes the Dispenser, the Jukebox, the Lab equipment, the Shower, the Window walls, the Medical station, the Transparent LCD, the Grated catwalks, the Grated stairs and half stairs, the Railings, the Rotating Light and the Freight.

The Space Engineers - Economy Deluxe Pack includes the Miner suit, the Soldier suit, the Disco armor skin, the Silver armor skin, the Glamour armor skin, fourteen Safe zone skins, thirty two Faction icons, the Vending machine and the ATM machine.

The Space Engineers - Style Pack includes four character skins, four character emotes and four armor skins. The character and armor skins, as well as the emotes included in the Style Pack, do not bring new functionality and game mechanics to Space Engineers; they are purely decorative and provide an extra layer of entertainment for players.

The Space Engineers - Decorative Pack #1 includes the decorative blocks, which can be used for various decorations of your spaceships, vehicles and space stations.

After many requests, we have decided to release our internal Replay Tool that we use to create our trailers. It allows you to record the movement and actions of multiple characters in the same world. You can use your video recording software of choice to capture these moments for cinematic purposes! It’s also super useful for epic screenshot creation. The tool allows you to be the director of your own Space Engineers film where you can carefully position and time different engineers with their own specific roles. We are extremely excited to see what the community will create with this!

Important: because it’s an internal tool, it has a very basic user interface and required advanced users to be used. We believe this is OK, because most video creators who would want to use it to create epic cinematic Space Engineers videos are advanced users.

There are now Steam trading cards to collect for Space Engineers! Collect a full set of cards to earn items that help you customize your Steam profile including backgrounds and badges.

There are fourteen new decorative blocks for people who want to buy them and support the development of Space Engineers, which are available on the Space Engineers Steam Store page. Within the package you will get following new blocks:

Beds can preserve characters’ inventory and toolbar while they"re offline and keeps them alive as long as there is oxygen available. Is considered to be the same as the Cryo Chamber Block, except oxygen is used from the environment. Space Engineers don’t work from nine to five, they work whenever they’re needed: day or night, during peace and war. But when it’s time to call it a day, every engineer looks forward to resting in these beds.

Kitchens are purely decorative. The kitchens in Space Engineers come well-equipped and include stunning visual details. Space Engineers overcome challenges everyday when they’re working on new planets or among the stars.

Planters are purely decorative, but they make outer space a bit warmer by housing life in a special glass container. Build your own garden on the space station. Planters not only help to liven up spaces, but the flora housed inside these capsules also remind many engineers of the homes they’ve left behind in order to explore the universe.

Couchescan be used as seats, so take your time to relax and take a break. You don’t need to always run, fly or work, you can enjoy your cozy room and enjoy the view. The last thing anyone would ever call a Space Engineer is ‘couch potato’, but who wouldn’t like to relax after a hard day’s work on this comfy furniture?

Armory and Armory Lockers can be used to decorate interiors and store weapons, ammunition, tools and bottles; both are small storages (400L), where you can keep your equipment. Space Engineers use lockers in order to ensure that keepsakes from home, toiletries and other items are kept safe.

Toiletscan be used as a seat. The latest and greatest interstellar lavatory technology has made many earth dwellers jealous of the facilities enjoyed by Space Engineers.

Toilet Seat that can be used as a seat and is fit for the creator of the legendary Red Ship; most engineers don’t want to get up after ‘taking care of business’.

Industrial Cockpits are used to control your ships. This industrial cockpit in both small and large grid versions will make your creations look much better. Offering unmatched visibility, the industrial cockpit enables engineers to experience stunning vistas while traversing landscapes and space.

Console blocks project blueprints for downscaled ships and stations, as well as display pictograms or customizable text. They are fantastic functional LCD panels where you can project your creations and show them to your friends. The sleek and crystal clear picture offered by this console allows Space Engineers to display designs and other important information.

Keen Software House needs to stay profitable in order to continue development and support of Space Engineers, and to take risks, to invest into experiments that may not pay off in the short term, and to develop innovative concepts.

A:Actually, even this update isn’t paid. The major part of this update (LCD screens, Replay Tool, new music tracks, smaller improvements) is free for everyone. Only the smaller and not mandatory part is paid - Decorative Pack, which you can purchase here.

A: To support future development of Space Engineers and other leading-edge projects we plan to work on at Keen Software House. Players kept asking us for something they could buy to support the development of Space Engineers, and the Decorative Pack is a great option for them.

A: Right after Space Engineers left early access and all hot issues were resolved. Most of the work was done by the Art team, the rest of the developers is working on other long-term updates.

A: We want more people to play Space Engineers, which means we must lower the barrier of entry. When the Space Engineers community grows, everyone benefits from this - more content on Workshop, more mods, more new ideas, more people to play with. This means that all non-mandatory features should be optional, so only those who really want them can pay for them. That’s why we decreased the price of Space Engineers, and made the Decorative Pack an optional purchase.

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” panels. They all claim to deliver the major benefits associated with IPS monitors – great color and ultra-wide viewing angles.

Another important characteristic of IPS monitors is that they are able to support professional color space technologies, such as Adobe RGB. This is due to the fact that IPS monitors are able to offer more displayable colors, which help improve color accuracy.

With regard to gaming, some criticisms IPS monitors include more visible motion blur coming as a result of slower response times, however the impact of motion blur will vary from user to user. In fact, mixed opinions about the “drawbacks” of IPS monitor for gaming can be found all across the web. Take this excerpt from one gaming technology writer for example: “As for pixel response, opinions vary. I personally think IPS panels are quick enough for almost all gaming. If your gaming life is absolutely and exclusively about hair-trigger shooters, OK, you’ll want the fastest response, lowest latency LCD monitor. And that means TN. For the rest of us, and certainly for those who place even a modicum of importance on the visual spectacle of games, I reckon IPS is clearly the best panel technology.” Read the full article here.

IPS monitors deliver ultra-wide 178-degree vertical and horizontal viewing angles. Graphic designers, CAD engineers, pro photographers, and video editors will benefit from using an IPS monitor. Many value the color benefits of IPS monitors and tech advances have improved IPS panel speed, contrast, and resolution. IPS monitors are more attractive than ever for general desktop work as well as many types of gaming. They’re even versatile enough to be used in different monitor styles, so if you’ve ever compared an ultrawide vs. dual monitor setup or considered the benefits of curved vs. flat monitors, chances are you’ve already come into contact with an IPS panel.

TN monitors, or “Twisted Nematic” monitors, are the oldest LCD panel types around. TN panels cost less than their IPS and VA counterparts and are a popular mainstream display technology for desktop and laptop displays.

Despite their lower perceived value, TN-based displays are the panel type preferred by competitive gamers. The reason for this is because TN panels can achieve a rapid response time and the fastest refresh rates on the market (like this 240Hz eSports monitor). To this effect, TN monitors are able to reduce blurring and screen tearing in fast-paced games when compared to an IPS or VA panel.

On the flip side, however, TN panel technology tends to be ill-suited for applications that benefit from wider viewing angles, higher contrast ratios, and better color accuracy. That being said, LED technology has helped shift the perspective and today’s LED-backlit TN models offer higher brightness along with better blacks and higher contrast ratios.

The greatest constraint of TN panel technology, however, is a narrower viewing angle as TN monitors experience more color shifting than other types of panels when being viewed at an angle.

Today’s maximum possible viewing angles are 178 degrees both horizontally and vertically (178º/178º), yet TN panels are limited to viewing angles of approximately 170 degrees horizontal and 160 degrees vertical (170º /160º).

TN monitors are the least expensive panel technology, making them ideal for cost-conscious businesses and consumers. In addition, TN monitors enjoy unmatched popularity with competitive gamers and other users who seek rapid graphics display.

Vertical alignment (VA) panel technology was developed to improve upon the drawbacks of TN. Current VA-based monitors offer muchhigher contrast, better color reproduction, and wider viewing angles than TN panels. Variations you may see include P-MVA, S-MVA, and AMVA (Advanced MVA).

These high-end VA-type monitors rival IPS monitors as the best panel technology for professional-level color-critical applications. One of the standout features of VA technology is that it is particularly good at blocking light from the backlight when it’s not needed. This enables VA panels to display deeper blacks and static contrast ratios of up to several times higher than the other LCD technologies. The benefit of this is that VA monitors with high contrast ratios can deliver intense blacks and richer colors.

MVA and other recent VA technologies offer the highest static contrast ratios of any panel technology. This allows for an outstanding visual experience for movie enthusiasts and other users seeking depth of detail. Higher-end, feature-rich MVA displays offer the consistent, authentic color representation needed by graphic designers and other pro users.

There is another type of panel technology that differs from the monitor types discussed above and that is OLED or “Organic Light Emitting Diode” technology. OLEDs differ from LCDs because they use positively/negatively charged ions to light up every pixel individually, while LCDs use a backlight, which can create an unwanted glow. OLEDs avoid screen glow (and create darker blacks) by not using a backlight. One of the drawbacks of OLED technology is that it is usually pricier than any of the other types of technology explained.

When it comes to choosing the right LCD panel technology, there is no single right answer. Each of the three primary technologies offers distinct strengths and weaknesses. Looking at different features and specs helps you identify which monitor best fits your needs.

LCD or “Liquid Crystal Display” is a type of monitor panel that embraces thin layers of liquid crystals sandwiched between two layers of filters and electrodes.

While CRT monitors used to fire electrons against glass surfaces, LCD monitors operate using backlights and liquid crystals. The LCD panel is a flat sheet of material that contains layers of filters, glass, electrodes, liquid crystals, and a backlight. Polarized light (meaning only half of it shines through) is directed towards a rectangular grid of liquid crystals and beamed through.

Note: When searching for monitors you can be sure to come across the term “LED Panel” at some point or another. An LED panel is an LCD screen with an LED – (Light Emitting Diode) – backlight. LEDs provide a brighter light source while using much less energy. They also have the ability to produce white color, in addition to traditional RGB color, and are the panel type used in HDR monitors.

Early LCD panels used passive-matrix technology and were criticized for blurry imagery. The reason for this is because quick image changes require liquid crystals to change phase quickly and passive matrix technology was limited in terms of how quickly liquid crystals could change phase.

Thanks to active-matrix technology, LCD monitor panels were able to change images very quickly and the technology began being used by newer LCD panels.

Ultimately, budget and feature preferences will determine the best fit for each user. Among the available monitors of each panel type there will also be a range of price points and feature sets. Additionally, overall quality may vary among manufacturers due to factors related to a display’s components, manufacturing, and design.

Alternatively, if you’re into gaming and are in the market for TN panel these gaming monitor options may be along the lines of what you’re looking for.

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Programming often requires you to multitask with a ton of windows open, and if that"s the case, you"ll want a big monitor to open all your windows at once. Ultrawide monitors are a great option for programming because they offer more horizontal screen space than typical monitors, and they"re better than buying two small monitors to place side-by-side as you won"t see any bezels. If you don"t like that, getting high-resolution displays with good text clarity is also a good alternative as you want to easily read fine text while coding. You also want to look for other things in a monitor like good ergonomics, wide viewing angles, and a USB hub if you connect external devices.

We"ve bought and tested more than 250 monitors, and below are our recommendations for the best monitors to purchase for programmers. Also, make sure to check out our recommendations for the best ultrawide monitors, the best monitors for dual setup, and the best office monitors.

If you"re looking for the best monitor for developers and prefer something cheaper than the LG 38WN95C-W, check out the Gigabyte M34WQ. It has the same ultrawide format as the LG, with a 21:9 aspect ratio but a slightly smaller 34-inch screen. It doesn"t make a big difference as you can still open multiple windows side-by-side, but there"s just a bit less screen space to work with, so the windows will be a bit smaller. Although its 3440x1440 resolution is lower than the LG, it has the same pixel density, and the text clarity remains good. The main trade-off for getting this monitor for cheaper is that its USB-C input doesn"t have Thunderbolt 3 support and is limited to 15W of power delivery.

It has other extra features like a KVM switch that lets you control two devices with the same keyboard and mouse, and it also has Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture modes. It has wide viewing angles that make the image remain consistent if you need to share something with a coworker off to the side, and it has good ergonomics, especially for an ultrawide monitor, so you can easily adjust the screen.

If you"re looking for something in the mid-range price category or simply don"t want an ultrawide display, consider the Dell S2722QC. It"s very different from the Gigabyte M34WQ because it has a more standard 16:9 aspect ratio with a 27-inch screen. It means you don"t get as much real estate to open multiple windows at once, but the Dell has a higher 4k resolution. It means that the text clarity is incredible, allowing you to see extremely sharp text, and you can see more of your coding lines. While you may find the native scaling too small on 4k monitors, you can also increase the scaling, and text still looks sharper than on other displays.

It"s a great choice to use in well-lit rooms because it gets bright enough to fight glare, and the reflection handling is also very good. Like the Gigabyte, it has wide viewing angles, and with excellent ergonomics, it"s easy to adjust the screen and share it with someone else. It also has a USB hub with two USB-A ports so you can charge your devices, and its USB-C input delivers enough power to charge your laptop while working.

If you want something on a budget, a monitor like the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV is a great choice. It has the same 27-inch screen as the Dell S2722QC, but with a lower 1440p resolution, the text clarity isn"t as good, but it"s still decent. It isn"t ideal if you like the sharp text on the Dell, but if you find the native scaling on the 4k monitor too small, it"s better to get a 1440p display like the ASUS because text naturally looks bigger. While this monitor is targeted towards content creators with its wide color gamut in SDR and amazing accuracy before calibration, it"s also a great choice if you"re a web programmer and you need to see accurate colors on webpages.

If you want a cheap entry-level monitor that won"t take up a lot of space, then the ASUS VG246H is a good option. With a smaller 24-inch screen and lower 1080p resolution than the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV, it"s better to use as a secondary display next to your main one or if you want to use two of them for a dual setup for extra screen space. Still, the text clarity is decent, and the picture quality is good thanks to its amazing accuracy, good reflection handling, and decent SDR peak brightness.

It"s pretty barebones in terms of features, which is what you have to expect for a cheaper monitor. Despite its low cost, it has remarkable ergonomics that make it easy to adjust the screen to your liking, and with wide viewing angles, the images look the same when viewing directly in front or from the sides. It also has a flicker-free backlight that helps reduce eye strain during long work sessions.

The Dell S3221QS costs a bit more than the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV, and it has a bigger 32-inch screen with a 4k resolution. Get this if you want the big screen space; otherwise, the ASUS is better if you"re on a budget and has much better ergonomics.

Replaced the LG 34GP950-B with the Gigabyte M34WQ because it has more office features and moved it to its own "Best Ultrawide" category; updated Notable Mentions based on market availability.

The above monitor is great and I’m still using it 5+ years later but the Dell U2518D makes for a very good alternative that is slightly newer. It has the same resolution and nearly the same low level specs and panel. It’s basically the successor to the U2515H and happens to only be $300 too. If I were buying a new monitor today it would be this one.

The only difference is, a Retina enabled display will look nicer because it’s essentially cramming twice as many pixels into the same physical space. This will make fonts and porn…I mean professional Photoshop graphics that you design look really sharp.

If you took a 4k monitor and scaled it up to 200%, you would end up with exactly the same screen space as a 1080p monitor. Things will look quite a bit smoother, sort of like a Retina display, but you’re not really gaining anything.

At 150% scaling you end up with the same space as a 1440p monitor, in which case you might as well buy a 1440p monitor because it’s going to be a lot cheaper and come with much better specs for your money.

However, I’m not convinced it’s going to be as big of a change as going from 2 windows to 3 and 50 LOCs to 75 LOCs. Why? Probably due to how coding is in real life. How much vertical space do you really need, and is 4 going to be that much better than 3?

What about ultra wide monitors? They come in various resolutions, sometimes 3440x1440. I prefer dual monitors over a single ultra wide monitor (curved or not).

In my opinion the only pro to an ultra wide monitor is there’s no bezel, and as an aside they can be very nice for immersing yourself in certain games.

But there’s multiple downsides to ultra wide monitors. It suffers the same fate as a single 4k monitor for window management unless you have a tiled window manager.

Also, if you ever do screensharing sessions unless the tool allows you to pick a specific region of your monitor you’re going to be stuck sharing your entire ultra wide display.

But with the ultra wide monitor you would have to drop the call and come back. This is disruptive when doing pair programming sessions. I know because I’ve had calls with multiple folks who have ultra wide monitors.

Having 2x 1440p monitors offers more horizontal space than a single 4k monitor or most ultra wide monitors. Seriously, for editing video you can’t get enough horizontal space.

Vertical space helps too in this case and a 4k or 3440x1440 monitor would be better for that, but I wouldn’t want to make the other trade offs for this alone.

LCD manufacturers are notorious for borderline lying to their customers. Before that rant comes out, let’s first go over what determines quality and color accuracy.

TN panels tend to have the best response times and refresh rates. You’ll find most high end gaming monitors with 144hz have TN panels. They give a smoother feel to everything at that refresh rate, and you’ll notice less motion blur in fast action games.

The downside to TN panels is their color accuracy tends to be the worst, and as web developers, being able to see “red” as “red” is quite important. TN panels are often very washed out looking and also have terrible color shifting issues depending on the angle you’re looking at.

IPS (In-Plane Switching) panels are often considered the best type of panels for accuracy. Their viewing angles are fantastic without any loss of image quality. They also have the highest color accuracy of the bunch. As a software developer who does design, you’ll likely want an IPS panel. All 3 monitors listed in this post have IPS panels.

The downside is they typically come at 60hz and have worse response times than TN panels. However for real life software development and movie watching this won’t be a big deal. Even gaming will be more than fine unless you’re playing games at a highly competitive level.

It’s also worth noting that not all IPS panels are created equal. There’s an issue with some of them that people have labeled as “IPS glow” which means there’s a noticeable amount of brightness at various parts of the display. It makes a non-uniform glowing effect.

This is different from another term called “back light bleeding” which affects all panel types. This is the amount of whiteness that bleeds through the edges of your monitor when its background is set to black. This is usually most noticeable when you have your lights off or at a very dim setting.

VA (Vertical Alignment) panels are somewhere in between. You can kind of think of VA panels as being a jack of all trades. They are pretty good in all areas of computing but excel at nothing.

I see no point in getting a VA panel driven monitor unless the price is amazing and the other aspects of the monitor happen to be excellent, while not compromising much on the things that matter.

Other panel types do exist like PLS and AHVA but I have to draw the line somewhere in this article. I recommend trying to find a good IPS panel but if you find a monitor that you absolutely love don’t let it not being an IPS panel shatter your dreams. Go test it out.

Now, back to the rant about LCD manufacturers. Not only have they been caught doing price colluding but they go as far as releasing early versions of their monitors to review sites with IPS panels, but then go ahead and sell cheaper TN panels to the general public with the same exact model number.

They often make the switch in batches, and often times you can only tell whether or not a monitor has a specific panel type by looking at what characters its serial number begins with.

For software development and occasional gaming 60hz is fine. You will notice a nice buttery smoothness at 120hz and 144hz but if you’re just moving 2D windows around all day it’s not really worth the trade off of losing an IPS panel, since most 144hz monitors are TN panels aimed towards competitive gamers.

There’s 2 things to think about when it comes to refresh rates:You can’t always trust LCD manufactures with refresh rate too because they will list 120hz on a 4k monitor when in fact the monitor itself runs at 30hz or 60hz at 4k resolutions but 120hz if you down scale it to 1080p. LCD manufacturers love tricking the uninformed.

So this is where things get interesting. Input lag is much different than what most LCD manufacturers list on their spec sheets. They often list things like refresh rate and response times like 4ms or 2ms GTG (grey to grey), but both things are different than input lag.