2560x1440 IPS 27" LED Monitor on the Cheap!

[BumbleBee]

And the comment of the week goes to....

I could care less about 8bit vs 10bit, my point is, colour reproduction, vividness, whites, blacks etc are all much better on this monitor than any TN panels out there, you obviously are a little out of your depth if you are comparing specs of 2 different screen technologies and expecting them to be an apples to apples comparison.

sorry but it's not.. the contrast ratio is marginally better than some of the more expensive TN panels. the measurements are universal.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

sorry but it's not.. the contrast ratio is marginally better than some of the more expensive TN panels.

Sorry but it is, you are wrong, again go and do your research on different panel types before you comment.



http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=ips+vs+TN+differences

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

if you have a lot of televisions and monitors in your house it's a good investment.

I can just borrow the one from work.

 

[BumbleBee]

i'm a home theater enthusiast. I have calibrated 4 televisions and 1 monitor in the last 2 years lol

BenQ XL2420T is a 6-bit TN panel and achieves 16.7 million colours with FRC. the black level is 0.13 cd/m2, no backlight bleed at all, 120hz refresh rate, contrast ratio of 839:1 (Q270 is 900:1)

like I said your paying for resolution.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

i'm a home theater enthusiast. I have calibrated 4 televisions and 1 monitor in the last 2 years lol

BenQ XL2420T is a 6-bit TN panel and achieves 16.7 million colours with FRC. the black level is 0.13 cd/m2, no backlight bleed at all, 120hz refresh rate, contrast ratio of 839:1 (Q270 is 900:1)

like I said your paying for resolution.

You don't know you are talking about and you're proving it time and time again, good for you calibrating 4 tn panels in the last 2 years, you obviously haven't calibrated an IPS panel or you would know they are vastly superior in terms of image quality and colour reproduction.

TN = Twisted Nematic - These are 6-bit screens that cannot really reproduce 16.7 million colors. They can only reproduce 262,144 colors; 64 shades of Red, Green & Blue. Thats (2^6)^3 or 64^3. All the other colors are created through a process called dithering. These typically have fast response times (for gaming) at the expense of color accuracy. These are inexpensive monitors.

MVA = Multidomain Vertical Alignment
PVA = Patterned-ITO Vertical Alignment

MVA and PVA panel are the most common 8-bit LCD screen around. They are relatively slow compared to TN, but offers better color accuracy. Good viewing angles and contrast ratio. However not all MVA and PVA panels are 8-bit screens. S-MVA and S-PVA are typically the ones that are 8-bit panel from my research. S = Super.

8-bit LCDs can truly reproduce 16.7 million colors. That's because there will be 256 shades of each color (2^8 ); Red, Green & Blue. Therefore 256^3 = 16.7 million (actually, a little more).

S-IPS = Super In-Plane Switching. These are high end and really expensive LCD panels. All these panels are 8-bit panels and comes the closest to CRT image quality. From what I've read they also have very good response times as well. LCD monitors geared towards graphic artists who demands the most color accuracy are designed with these type of panels. That means the shades of color you see on the screen are the exact shades that will be printed out on a good color printer.

Several things to consider when purchasing an LCD:
Panel type
Real response time as tested by xbitlabs.com (not the lies on the box)
Glossy or matte finish
Use of BFI or true 120Hz

Things that are mostly unimportant (at least as they list it on the box):
brightness (too bright anyways)
contrast (usually a lie)
viewing angle (usually a lie)
response time listed on the box (usually a lie)

There is a sheet somewhere on the net that has a table of the benefits of different panel types. However, basically, the panel type is what will determine the quality of your monitor in almost every area (except for exact response time). The panel types affect viewing angles (which results in different colors from one side of the screen to the other on all but IPS panels).

The biggest difference between panel types is the viewing angle. However, as you might not be aware, viewing angle also affects colors. If the viewing angle is not good enough, then a solid color will appear a different hue on different parts of the screen, even though you are looking at the monitor straight on. *S-IPS panels are perhaps the best as getting rid of this problem; though whether they are quite perfect at it I do not know. You have pretty much listed the panels in order of their viewing angle : IPS, PVA, MVA, TN.


There are two possible issues with response time. As you may or may not be aware, all current LCD panels will show blurring during motion. I cannot confirm 100% the reason for this. It could be due to response time (since even monitors listed as 2ms really have a response time of 8-10ms). Or, it could be due to the way your eyes perceive LCD monitors. If the issue is the latter (and it does seem like it could be), then the only solutions are purchasing a BFI or 120Hz monitor. A BFI monitors inserts a black frame between each frame as a solution; however, I fear that this only risk giving you flicker like on a CRT (and at a very dismal 60Hz at that). The other solution is to raise the refresh rate to something like 120Hz. However, there are all kinds of issue raised by doing this, and even this is not perfect.

There is also the choice between the glossy and matte finish. The matte finish reduces glare, however, it also results in a dirty/dusty look to the screen that makes solid colors not appear solid, but speckled -- which is not ideal for image editing. The glossy finish gets rid of this problem, but introduces pretty severe glare that can cause headaches, eye strain, and/or nausia.

old information, and TN panels have improved though they will never compare to IPS panels for quality and colours etc.

 

[BumbleBee]

your not even paying for viewing angle because 27" is too small to matter at that distance and in order to combat the glowing you need to increase distance and height.

 

[neliz]

your not even paying for viewing angle because 27" is too small to matter at that distance and in order to combat the glowing you need to increase distance and height.

You obviously don't have a partner sitting next to you when you're browsing porn!

 

[BumbleBee]

the "super wide viewing angle" is more important to larger IPS panels such as televisions. when your sitting 3 feet away at eye level it makes no difference.

see here

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7033337&postcount=7

the HP on the right is 6-bit with dithering which is why the colours look a little blocky but there is nothing missing.. FRC is much better.

 

[neliz]

wow, first link on youtube shows why you don't want to sit next to a TN display I guess:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=DWXcNlh85Ps&NR=1

 

[BumbleBee]

it's important people know the limitations of this monitor and what they are getting into.

 

[NHKS]

just stumbled..
didn't want to create a new thread cos its last day today(4Apr)... Alienware OptX AW2310 23" 3D 1080p LCD Monitor @ 370$ (-80$)
http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/alienware-optx-aw2310-23-inch-1080p-3d-lcd-monitor/18615.aspx

coupon code: K2DKZGW4HBB00F

 

[BumbleBee]

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/benq_xl2420t.htm

take a look at the calibrated black level and contrast ratio charts. IPS is not always better..

 

[NHKS]

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/benq_xl2420t.htm

take a look at the calibrated black level and contrast ratio charts. IPS is not always better..

right!.. but i guess contrast ratio & black levels are inter-dependent.. better black levels always means better contrast

IPS are chosen primarily for their color accuracy & viewing angles.. however, cheaper IPS variants have diminished advantages over TN, but have great all round performance & cost effectiveness.. like Dell U2312HM/U2412M

 

[Black Panther]

I've never properly calibrated a monitor, I just temporarily add/reduce brightness according to the amount of light in the room. Never tried RGB color level calibration or using QuickGamma or similar programs

I can only compare the 2 best monitors I had, using very layman terms:

- LG 226WTQ vs Dell U2711.

And I must say the latter is a big improvement (apart from being 2560x1440 at only 27" which means a 0.233 pixel pitch). I can watch a movie from any angle whatsoever on the bed (pc is in the bedroom) and it's fully visible perfectly without any color variation. The LG didn't have such a good angle and the color used to change if I positioned my eyes at the bottom left of the screen and glanced up at the top right...
On the Dell the blacks are blacker, the white is whiter, and color is much more faithfully reproduced as I can see from photos. Also while playing games, the colors are sharper, more vibrant and crisper. Whenever I try to calibrate the darkness of a game (when you get a dark grey image on a black screen and you're supposed to adjust the contrast/brightness till the image is just barely visible) I don't need to touch anything because it'd be perfect.

Just my experience here

 

[Mistral]

BumbleBee, there's no way to convince people that TNs have anything close to the picture quality of IPS.

I have a T240, a pretty good TN for it's time. I have calibrated it well and the colours are quite accurate... The wife has a cheapo u2312 e-IPS that we hardly spent much time tweaking and the picture is very noticeably better... and that's not to a small amount because when sitting less than 4 feet from the 24 inch TN I can actually see colours and brightness shift from top to bottom.

Not a big deal for web work, TN is good enough for that because a lot of surfers will have a similar or worse display anyway. For print though it's a major pain.

In any case, at 27" IPS/PLS/VA is the way to go. TN at anything more than 23-24" is really pushing it, unless you really, really don't care. No matter how accurate the TN is, at that size there's no cure for the viewing angles.

 

[BumbleBee]

colorimeters can't lie like people.

 

[erocker]

colorimeters can't lie like people.

True. I got to use a friends calibrator for my Samsung 2493HM and the colors were right on. On this Q270 I got, the colors are close but not perfect. Contrast is amazingly better along with the higher resolution, it's a bit bigger.. It was a good upgrade for me. I don't know if I'm bothered by it enough to get this calibrated yet. I also wouldn't expect all of these cheap IPS monitors to be calibrated equally from the factory.

 

[BumbleBee]

I think the lousy black levels have to do with the uniformity of the panel. some areas must be brighter than others.

 

[Mistral]

colorimeters can't lie like people.

Care to elaborate? Might you be implying that something I wrote is fictitious, or you just randomly posted that one-liner?

 

[BumbleBee]

one liner

what people are seeing is the coating and more pixels. it doesn't mean the panel has good colour, black levels, motion resolution, response time, uniformity, etc.

people think IPS is the best.. the BenQ XL2420T/TX is a good example of a well engineered TN panel. i'm not saying a $150 TN panel is going to best IPS or anything like that.

 

[Frick]

i'm not saying a $150 TN panel is going to best IPS or anything like that.

You know you could have made this clearer when you (or whoever it was) started this argument. It really does looks like you're saying that.

 

[n-ster]

It was obvious she wasn't saying that, she was just saying IPS is overhyped and isn't magically better at everything (ie: black levels)

I somewhat agree, but I think if IPS is overhyped, you are underhyping it

ZOMFG MY MONITOR IS IN MONTREAL. Hopefully I get it today or tomorrow

 

[Frick]

It was obvious she wasn't saying that, she was just saying IPS is overhyped and isn't magically better at everything (ie: black levels)

No she didn't. She kinda did after the argument went sour.

But anyway, I'd like a 2560x1440 27 incher for sure. Still to much even if I did get it from China. .(

 

[n-ster]

No she didn't. She kinda did after the argument went sour.

But anyway, I'd like a 2560x1440 27 incher for sure. Still to much even if I did get it from China. .(

haha you're right, now that I've reread everything, she only did later on

I'm too excited to get my monitor

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I just got my VP2365 IPS. Choose it over a dell cause of their shitty coatings. So far yeah the viewing angles are better but I don't feel blown away by the colors.

Edit* And black levels do suck. Though I had an exceptional TN panel to compare it to.