VA vs IPS - difference THAT big?

[Fry750]

I'm using a Dell S2179H which is 1080p and IPS. Nothing special really, only 60hz but it seems really quite decent, colours are vibrant and I've not noticed anything too bad.

A couple of hours ago I took delivery of a Philips 4K monitor - only released in Julyish so it's fairly recent.

The Philips is 4K, HDR600 compliant and uses a VA panel.

Immediately the Philips has that VA glare/off black greyness. The colours don't appear as vibrant and they're just awful when HDR is turned off. I thought one of the perks of VA panels was their colour and contrast abilities.

The monitor will definitely be returned but it's £500+ and not impressive at all. Even the speakers seem worse than the Dell.

Presumably something like the LG 32UD99 with its IPS panel would be more favourable...

Any thoughts? Are VA panels destined to be rubbish irrespective of cost?

 

[tamzzy]

having owned TN, VA and IPS panels, I'd only consider IPS panels in the future...TN only if it's very very good.
VA's drawbacks are just too severe to be considered in a computer monitor

 

[Supra_Hadouken]

having owned TN, VA and IPS panels, I'd only consider IPS panels in the future...TN only if it's very very good.
VA's drawbacks are just too severe to be considered in a computer monitor

Pretty sure the new 35 ultrawide VA panels are better than the x34 and asus IPS panels

 

[Randomface74]

ips is the now
microled is the future

 

[Psycho Sonny]

having owned TN, VA and IPS panels, I'd only consider IPS panels in the future...TN only if it's very very good.
VA's drawbacks are just too severe to be considered in a computer monitor

have you ever calibrated any of your monitors properly using a colormunki?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/X-Rite-Col...ator-Projectors/dp/B0055MBQOM?ref_=ast_sto_dp

if not then i would suggest you try VA and TN again but this time calibrate them.

i thought the same after i bought a TN after having an IPS. but after calibrating it. Now i'd never use an non calibrated monitor regardless of technology.

 

[V F]

having owned TN, VA and IPS panels, I'd only consider IPS panels in the future...TN only if it's very very good.
VA's drawbacks are just too severe to be considered in a computer monitor

Even VA I'm not keen on for a TV. There is slight black crush even setting brightness correctly. It's either too bright or losing 0.5 - 1% black. Then you can see the motion blur slightly in very dark scenes. Great looking deep picture for VA though with 3000:1 contrast ratio but those other things are annoying.

 

[DrBombcrater]

Any thoughts? Are VA panels destined to be rubbish irrespective of cost?

You'll get people saying VA is trash, IPS is God level tech. Others will IPS is a glowy, low-contrast pile of junk that can't compete with VA. They're all correct in a way.

LCD technology simply isn't very good and has serious, fundamental flaws. In the end it comes down to picking the flaws you can live with. For day-to-day use I personally now won't use anything but VA screens, because I like deep blacks and good contrast, and don't find any of VAs drawbacks to be a big deal. IPS' poor black levels, low contrast and corner glow are things I just can't tolerate. I've tried dozens of IPS monitors, including some very high end ones, but always go back to VA. Maybe it's the bias of someone who grew up using CRTs, but I like blacks to actually look vaguely black, not murky medium-grey.

But equally I understand how some people will hate VA's faults and be much happier with IPS. Neither is rubbish, just different.

What is currently a harsh reality is that because the monitor industry's quality control is in the toilet (and has been for years) it is harder to get a good VA screen than an IPS one, VA being more tricky to manufacture to consistent standards. About 5 years ago it was easy to get a good VA monitor, there were plenty of panels on the market with solid viewing angles, nice colours, actual 2500:1 or better contrast ratios and little black crush. That isn't the case now. Manufacturers are pushing for high res, high refresh rate, curved screens when the manufacturing technology isn't mature enough to ensure reliable quality. VA suffers more than IPS or TN unfortunately, although some of the awful IPS panels finding their way into expensive, leading brand monitors is pretty shocking too.

 

[Fry750]

It's been a fair few hours since I installed the monitor.

To it's credit, it's much better than I initially thought. Turns out the Xbox was muting colours for some reason, play via laptop and VLC however and colours are as punchy as the Dell.

When HDR is enabled mind you there's a distinct change in the legibility, it's almost too bright. Similarly when dark scenes are playing, the backlight emanation points are clearly visible in the bottom corners.

What dose intrigue me though is the HP Omen 65" panel which is VA. That's a £3.5K outlay for a potentially the same drawbacks - it sounds crazy!

 

[Cooper]

Just stay away from any and all racing games if you go VA, the smearing inherent to VA panels really shows itself up in that paticular genre.

 

[Fry750]

I'll give it a go with Project Cars later.

I don't understand why smearing should be so prevalent, it claims to have a 4ms pixel response time.

 

[tamzzy]

Pretty sure the new 35 ultrawide VA panels are better than the x34 and asus IPS panels

possibly? i've not had one of those to try out personally, so idk
but the thing is that VA panels are all well and good - IF you can peg them to the maximum refresh rates - if the gpu isn't beefy enough to do that, even with freesync/gsync, the screen will turn into a blurry mess...

but after calibrating it. Now i'd never use an non calibrated monitor regardless of technology.

ah. never had the idea to calibrate the screens...may try it out one day

Even VA I'm not keen on for a TV. There is slight black crush even setting brightness correctly. It's either too bright or losing 0.5 - 1% black. Then you can see the motion blur slightly in very dark scenes. Great looking deep picture for VA though with 3000:1 contrast ratio but those other things are annoying.

yeah i agree with the smearing...can't bear it during gaming...my VA panel is now my movie/browsing monitor...gaming is my IPS panel

 

[robfosters]

I'm an IPS only man now. Just seems so much better to me than VA or TN.

 

[wellibob]

Using VA, IPS and oled (tv). One clear winner in terms of PQ and unfortunately oled can't be truly trusted yet as a, pc monitor. Finding good VA and IPS panels is 50/50 in my experience and I've not used TN in many many years. IPS is great in daylight but horrible at night. VA is virtually the opposite. I live with each monitors in perfections in thier technology, but it's a royal pain swapping monitors when typically the first one delivered is, faulty in some fashion. It's terrible really the quality control.

 

[willhub]

VA is better for black levels.

 

[Cooper]

VA is better for black levels.

Theres a reason why most TV's use a VA panel. That's what they were made for, not gaming.

 

[willhub]

Theres a reason why most TV's use a VA panel. That's what they were made for, not gaming.

I like my blacks black when I'm gaming too.

 

[Vega]

IPS is fine if you play Hello Kitty Online. Anything with blacks/dark content and the terrible IPS glow, back light bleed and contrast makes it easily the worse panel type.

 

[chrcoluk]

Its been a while since I owned a VA but from memory if I remember right.

Viewing angle not as good as my dell 2209WA (old school proper IPS), but as good as the new IPS variants on the market so e.g. is as good as both IPS screens I have in front of me on this desk.
Colours not as vibrant as IPS.
Black and contrast better than old school back lit IPS, on the new LED lit IPS which have better contrast not so sure, but I still think blacks were better.
Lag not as good as IPS.

However given how IPS has changed over the years i expect modern VA may be quite different to my old VA screen.

VA probably is better for movies than IPS. But I think IPS beats VA for desktop/gaming use.
TN just sucks, colour shift urggh, slight movement of head off centre, a shift urrgh.

 

[Cooper]

IPS is fine if you play Hello Kitty Online. Anything with blacks/dark content and the terrible IPS glow, back light bleed and contrast makes it easily the worse panel type.

Rubbish, As others have said ALL the panel technologies have their faults.

It's not that IPS is the best for gaming, rather they are the least worst of whats available.

 

[V F]

Using VA, IPS and oled (tv). One clear winner in terms of PQ and unfortunately oled can't be truly trusted yet as a, pc monitor. Finding good VA and IPS panels is 50/50 in my experience and I've not used TN in many many years. IPS is great in daylight but horrible at night. VA is virtually the opposite. I live with each monitors in perfections in thier technology, but it's a royal pain swapping monitors when typically the first one delivered is, faulty in some fashion. It's terrible really the quality control.

The TN panel is lovely on the Gigabyte Aorus KD25F. No bleed, no DSE, no smearing, no black crush, nice colours and I had measured the contrast at 1008:1.
It is nice even in a room with a lamp or an uplighter on low.

Yes, the colours go off quickly going slightly off angle but that wasn't the main reason I got it. I've got an IPS panel for accurate colour.