Do I want an IPS monitor?

[Tsavo]

Good idea for them dropping thick AG on the nicer units. My 2312HM definitely has a thick matte AG, but it's not bothersome.

A pretty nice monitor for the price.. $215 I think is what I paid for mine.

 

[hjalti8]

I'm not sure who told you that IPS monitors aren't a good match for movies, but they would be wrong. The great viewing angles and color stability make it a great match for movies; in fact there's really nothing about the technology that wouldn't make it good for movies. The only qualms anyone has with IPS are price and response time when it comes to gaming. It's exactly like Ben said: there's a good reason TVs are built with IPS or IPS-like technologies.

Poor black level and contrast is simply horrible for dark scenes. Add in ips glow and you wont see shit. Thats why VA panels and plasmas are much better for movies. IPS panels have their strength but they are FAR from perfect.

 

[blackened23]

Poor black level and contrast is simply horrible for dark scenes. Add in ips glow and you wont see shit. Thats why VA panels and plasmas are much better for movies. IPS panels have their strength but they are FAR from perfect.

Poor black level and contrast huh? I guess you crafted that argument from some google search yea? Guessing you never used an IPS panel.

 

[kache]

If you have to "recommend" someone a 120Hz monitor, I'd argue they aren't good enough to use it. Just like how a $5000 Canon 1Ds isn't going to make a newbie a better photographer if they have no idea why they are using the equipment they have.

Hmm, but in the same way you see the difference when you compare same photo done with the 5000$ reflex and with the cellphoen camera, they would see the difference when comparing their normal (maybe work?) 60hz screen to the no-blur 120hz screen at home, and understand the advantages.

 

[Makaveli]

Poor black level and contrast is simply horrible for dark scenes. Add in ips glow and you wont see shit. Thats why VA panels and plasmas are much better for movies. IPS panels have their strength but they are FAR from perfect.

umm do you know what you are talking about? :whiste:

 

[hjalti8]

Poor black level and contrast huh? I guess you crafted that argument from some google search yea? Guessing you never used an IPS panel.

I am typing this on a dell u2311h and I have used a few other dell IPS screens too. Yes I have only used e-IPS panels but the the poor constrast,blacklevels and ips glow apply to S-IPS panels too.

IPS panels are great at displaying bright images but they lack the contrast to display dark scenes properly. IMO contrast and black levels are really important and I would rather want slightly less color accuracy if I could get infinite contrast instead.

I am not saying that IPS are worse than other lcd panels, plasmas or any other kind of panels. Every panel has some weakness and IPS panels are no exception whether you notice it or not.

umm do you know what you are talking about? :whiste:

Yes I do

 

[blackened23]

I am typing this on a dell u2311h and I have used a few other dell IPS screens too. Yes I have only used e-IPS panels but the the poor constrast,blacklevels and ips glow apply to S-IPS panels too.

IPS panels are great at displaying bright images but they lack the contrast to display dark scenes properly. IMO contrast and black levels are really important and I would rather want slightly less color accuracy if I could get infinite contrast instead.

I am not saying that IPS are worse than other lcd panels, plasmas or any other kind of panels. Every panel has some weakness and IPS panels are no exception whether you notice it or not.

I don't really agree at all. I've seen IPS panels with perfect blacks, this varies by the quality of the IPS panel. The best contrast and brightness i've ever seen on any panel ever, was the Samsung S27B970 PLS panel (same as IPS). The blacks are pitch black and the contrast is excellent. I'd say the U2713HM is really good as well - although blacks won't be pitch black if you have brightness at 100. The thing about IPS is that they are substantially brighter than TN panels, all other things equal - and if you max the brightness the blacks won't be pitch black. That usually isn't a problem though, 100 brightness on most IPS panels is blinding. Very, very bright. (and much brighter than TN, all other things equal) Contrast wise, you can't directly compare contrast ratios. Because of how pixels are arranged on panels, colors will "pop" more on good IPS panels - also, because of TN/PVA contrast perceived from viewing angles, contrast overall will be better on IPS. Color shifting on TN panels will alter perceived contrast - that obviously doesn't happen with IPS.

Every time I stare at a TN panel I just get agitated by the lower brightness and the color shifting resulting from poor viewing angles. Not to mention, TN panels do not support my preferred resolutions of 2560x1440/1600. You're correct that every technology has pros and cons: my personal favorite is IPS. It is highly subjective, though.

This is why I will never, ever use TN again. I used TN for a long time but the color shift is very apparent even with head on viewing. See the pic here: the side monitors in portrait have horrible color shifting. IPS are in the center. I can't NOT get really ticked off when using a monitor with this, it distracts from the viewing experience. And as mentioned earlier you cannot get 2560 resolution on TN. That's a deal breaker for me.

What I would love is for the best of every tech to be combined into something amazing. I'm thinking 2560x1600 or 4k2 with 120hz. That would make my rig complete.

 

[Leyawiin]

Poor black level and contrast is simply horrible for dark scenes. Add in ips glow and you wont see shit. Thats why VA panels and plasmas are much better for movies. IPS panels have their strength but they are FAR from perfect.

And with VA panels you get gamma shift. Every panel type has it's pluses and minuses, but in general an IPS monitor is superior to the other two "unless" you are a very picky FPS gamer. That doesn't sound like the O.P..

Hmm, but in the same way you see the difference when you compare same photo done with the 5000$ reflex and with the cellphoen camera, they would see the difference when comparing their normal (maybe work?) 60hz screen to the no-blur 120hz screen at home, and understand the advantages.

The.OP.isn't.a.gamer. The scenario you're outlining doesn't apply and monitor recommendation you're giving is a complete waste for general desktop tasks.

 

[UaVaj]

single monitor normal usage. save money and get a TN. the viewing angle is way overrated especially when the user is always directly in front of the panel.

single monitor gaming. get a TN. the faster response time will come in handy. 120hz is nice, however not necessary.

multi monitor normal usage. get IPS. the side monitor will be color shift with TN.

multi monitor gaming. get the fastest IPS you can afford.

photo editing. only ips.

 

[amenx]

Some quality TN panels can be surprising, even in the critical area of color. I was dead set on getting an IPS (Dell U2711) but went for a Samsung 120hz S27A950D, which cost about the same. Never thought I would pay IPS price for a TN but I did and would do so again for a good quality panel. The Dell IPS did not impress me for some reason, although I am sure they have better models which I have not seen.

Viewing angles are not good, to be sure, but I couldnt care less. I sit in front of my monitor, not to the damn side, and I would have to make major head movements to notice its shortcomings. Colors are accurate and passed the Eizo monitor test quite well (dont have a spectrometer, they're expensive). Its the first TN I have owned where I did not have to make any color, gamma, hue, adjustments in the adapter driver settings unlike all other monitors before it. Uniformity was spot on from edge to edge, top to bottom. I agree that, as a whole, TN monitors pale in comparison to IPS ones, but there can be occasional quality ones that buck expectations. If I hadnt seen my monitor before, I would also probably be prone to blanket statements like "TN's suck, avoid at all costs", now I just laugh.

 

[lehtv]

hehe when I see someone post this the next question is and how old are you and how good is your eye sight?

I have very good eye sight. I'm just not bothered, it's the gaming experience that counts. I'd say screen size is more important for immersion than refresh rate or panel quality, which is why I switched from a 120hz 22" monitor to a 27" 60hz monitor. However I did have some distracting issues with vertical evenness of brightness and contrast on the older monitor, but it wasn't a fault of TN technology per se - my current TN panel has no such problems

 

[tweakboy]

NO!!! These LED monitors blow I hate brigthness I have to take it to 0 then its better.

IPS monitors will have 5ms to 12ms latency

On FPS games you will notice ghosting and shadowing and laggy mouse. So you turn off vsync to get instant mouse and get craps out your screen with tearing......

Your gonna get nice lag in FPS games, not like CRT. vsync on or off,,,,,, due to the 5ms to 12ms reponse time..

 

[BD231]

IPS is crap. I cant believe people buy a $500 dollar graphics card and get the slowest panel on the market. IPS screens make my eyes bleed, TN produces a MUCH sharper image.

 

[blackened23]

IPS is crap. I cant believe people buy a $500 dollar graphics card and get the slowest panel on the market. IPS screens make my eyes bleed, TN produces a MUCH sharper image.

lol

 

[ShintaiDK]

IPS is crap. I cant believe people buy a $500 dollar graphics card and get the slowest panel on the market. IPS screens make my eyes bleed, TN produces a MUCH sharper image.

You cant be serious.

 

[tweakboy]

IPS is crap. I cant believe people buy a $500 dollar graphics card and get the slowest panel on the market. IPS screens make my eyes bleed, TN produces a MUCH sharper image.

LEDs hurt my eyes.. its soo bright,, my dad bought a 27inch led samsung it looks horrible all bright and shiny,, def not for the artist or photoshop user...
So we took his brightness all way down to 0 ,,,,,, now it looks more like a regular LCD not this LCD LED technology.. thx gl

 

[lavaheadache]

Everybody has their own preference. Of course, the only correct one is mine.

 

[brianmanahan]

IPS is crap. I cant believe people buy a $500 dollar graphics card and get the slowest panel on the market. IPS screens make my eyes bleed, TN produces a MUCH sharper image.

of course, sharpness is more important than color or contrast or viewing angle

 

[blackened23]

of course, sharpness is more important than color or contrast or viewing angle

Sharpness is dependant entirely on the electronics used within a panel - be it IPS, TN, or VA. The type of coating used also has a strong effect on sharpness perception. To be clear: matte makes sense in a highly lit business environment (which is where most 1k+ IPS panels go) but not so much in the home. This however has changed - all of the newest IPS panels are using a very light coating similar to what samsung is using on their PLS panels. Text is very, very sharp.

Now that the newest IPS panels are not using matte, i'd say IPS and PLS panels are far sharper, on average, than TN panels. Using the u3011 and u2713 on my home systems and then working on a TN, there really isn't a comparison. Completely subjective though.

PLS is also worth checking out - tech is very similar to IPS. I believe the S27B970 is the best monitor i've ever seen, it's unbelievable. Its also very expensive unfortunately. That isn't to say that there aren't good TN panels though. Quality varies. That said, it's hard to find a premium TN panel - most panel makers make the cheapest TN panels possible with sub par electronics, since TN caters to the low cost crowd. On average the quality of parts used in an IPS panel will be far better.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier I wish some firm would create a best of both worlds type of tech. 2560x1600 @ 120hz sounds pretty tasty, i'd be first to buy such a product.

 

[Makaveli]

IPS is crap. I cant believe people buy a $500 dollar graphics card and get the slowest panel on the market. IPS screens make my eyes bleed, TN produces a MUCH sharper image.

haha good one you almost had me there!

 

[Ferzerp]

of course, sharpness is more important than color or contrast or viewing angle

If you look at that guy's posting history, he often just posts false information in tech threads as drive-bys. Just ignore it.

 

[Makaveli]

I have very good eye sight. I'm just not bothered, it's the gaming experience that counts. I'd say screen size is more important for immersion than refresh rate or panel quality, which is why I switched from a 120hz 22" monitor to a 27" 60hz monitor. However I did have some distracting issues with vertical evenness of brightness and contrast on the older monitor, but it wasn't a fault of TN technology per se - my current TN panel has no such problems

Good point.

Larger screens do provide more immersion. However playing games is only one sub set of things I do on my PC.

My personal opinion but if all I cared about was playing games on my pc and screensize was the most important thing wouldn't it be a better option to just hook my pc up to a 46-52` HDTV?

 

[kache]

Good point.

Larger screens do provide more immersion. However playing games is only one sub set of things I do on my PC.

My personal opinion but if all I cared about was playing games on my pc and screensize was the most important thing wouldn't it be a better option to just hook my pc up to a 46-52` HDTV?

Input lag.

 

[gladiatorua]

single monitor normal usage. save money and get a TN. the viewing angle is way overrated especially when the user is always directly in front of the panel.

TN is problematic if the screen size is big. If you like your screen closer, even on 24" it can be problematic.

photo editing. only ips.

Only higher tier IPS. With calibration and preferably handpicked specimen.

IPS has nice colors, with exception of black. Had some problems with speed at earlier stages.
*VA has nice blacks but other colors are worse and there were some problems with input lag.
TNs are fastest but suck in every other way.
Pick the one with qualities you value most.

 

[tweakboy]

Ill take a 1ms crt like LCD then a LED lcd which is horrible all bright and what not.