S-IPS panels - looking for opinions
- Thread starter almichev
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They're good for gaming too and from my experience they have the best viewing angles around. As for movies, S-IPS is probably a bit sharper than TN, PVA etc so you might find that any defects on movies like noise or compression are a bit more noticeable on S-IPS. My HDTV (LG 32LC2D) is S-IPS though and that does just fine with movies. I wouldn't say movies are particularly bad on my S-IPS Dell 2007WFP either.
As for showing blacks as grey, poor black depth is a common flaw of LCD technology. An 800:1 S-IPS will have no worse black depth than an 800:1 TN though, or a PVA. If you're talking TFT monitors though (as opposed to TVs), the IPS panels available do have lower contrast ratio (800:1) than for instance most PVA screens (around 1000:1), so black depth will be a little worse. You only notice it though when the screen is showing a dark movie scene, or you're playing a dark game, especially in a dark room. For playing dark games in a dark room, or watching movies with the lights out, basically any LCD is going to dissapoint with it's black depth.
As for showing blacks as grey, poor black depth is a common flaw of LCD technology. An 800:1 S-IPS will have no worse black depth than an 800:1 TN though, or a PVA. If you're talking TFT monitors though (as opposed to TVs), the IPS panels available do have lower contrast ratio (800:1) than for instance most PVA screens (around 1000:1), so black depth will be a little worse. You only notice it though when the screen is showing a dark movie scene, or you're playing a dark game, especially in a dark room. For playing dark games in a dark room, or watching movies with the lights out, basically any LCD is going to dissapoint with it's black depth.
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S-IPS panels (from a desktop display point of view) are commonly considered to be a little behind some VA based panels for movie playback, but this is really subjective. Some sites like BeHardware commonly site movie 'noise' as an issue here, and while you can spot some artefacts (esp on compressed sources), it's not really an issue in practice if you're watching from a sensible viewing distance. S-IPS does offer the widest viewing angles in the market, and does not suffer from the acute contrast shift that you can spot on VA matrices as you move off-centre. I guess the main issue with using IPS panels for movies, and this links with your second point, is that black depth is often quite poor on IPS panels.
If you get a screen with dynamic contrast ratio, this can be handy for viewing movies, and helps get over some of the restrictions of IPS for black levels. In my experienece, black depth is often quite poor on IPS screens sadly. What Fish99 says above is useful as well, and he's right to an extent when he says that a 800:1 contrast ratio TN Film panel may not offer any better black depth than an 800:1 IPS panel. However, you need to bare in mind that the specified brightness value impacts this figure as well, so brightness value divided by contrast ratio figure = black depth. So technically, two 800:1 specced screens could vary.
Also bare in mind that these are often very lose figures and cant always be relied on. black depth is very good on modern TN Film panels (Iiyama E2202WSV and Samsung SM245B for instance) and can offer some very admirable performance in terms of black depth and contrast ratio. VA panels can be even better as well, the Samsung 971P springs to mind for instance. In practice, IPS panels can be quite poor in black levels, and for movies, or viewing content in darkened rooms, it can cause an issue. Might not be a problem to many users, but you can certainly get better black depth from other panel technologies on the whole.
If you get a screen with dynamic contrast ratio, this can be handy for viewing movies, and helps get over some of the restrictions of IPS for black levels. In my experienece, black depth is often quite poor on IPS screens sadly. What Fish99 says above is useful as well, and he's right to an extent when he says that a 800:1 contrast ratio TN Film panel may not offer any better black depth than an 800:1 IPS panel. However, you need to bare in mind that the specified brightness value impacts this figure as well, so brightness value divided by contrast ratio figure = black depth. So technically, two 800:1 specced screens could vary.
Also bare in mind that these are often very lose figures and cant always be relied on. black depth is very good on modern TN Film panels (Iiyama E2202WSV and Samsung SM245B for instance) and can offer some very admirable performance in terms of black depth and contrast ratio. VA panels can be even better as well, the Samsung 971P springs to mind for instance. In practice, IPS panels can be quite poor in black levels, and for movies, or viewing content in darkened rooms, it can cause an issue. Might not be a problem to many users, but you can certainly get better black depth from other panel technologies on the whole.
Any particular reason S-IPS aren't available with higher contrast ratios? Is it just because all the S-IPS TFTs available are quite old now, or is it some sort of technology limitation? What I'm thinking is you can get S-IPS based LCDTVs with the same contrast ratios as TN and PVA based sets.
It's probably a bit of both. Old LCD panel modules, but also limitations of the technology. It's to do with the way the liquid crystals are orientated. It provides wide viewing angles, but obtaining a deep black is difficult. It's an old link, but this article at Tom's Hardware describes it quite well.
With LCD TV's, remember a lot of the S-IPS models could be quoted with dynamic contrast ratios or variable backlights too.
hth
With LCD TV's, remember a lot of the S-IPS models could be quoted with dynamic contrast ratios or variable backlights too.
hth
I see, thanks for the info
I didn't realize S-IPS had such a limitation and it sounds like it can't be easily fixed either. It also explains the mediocre black depth on my 2007wfp.Pitty that there doesn't seem to be an LCD tech without some major drawbacks - TN+Film poor viewing angles, PVA has the accute shift problem and for whatever reason they seem to have the most lag, S-IPS poor contrast. Only panel type I haven't owned is MVA but no one seems to be making them anymore.
no worries Fish, like you say, none of them are perfect, but all have their niche I think. AUO and CMO still invest a fair amount in developing new AMVA and S-MVA panels (repsectively) so there are still some out there, but they aren't commonly used in the general displays at the moment. They too suffer from the acute contrast shift (although from what I've experienced, a lesser extent), and viewing angles are not quite as wide as S-IPS still. However, they are pretty decent all round, not quite as responsive as the fastest TN Film panels, not quite as good for blacks as the best PVA panels....it's a tough choice for sure! 