Are monitors soon to be a relic...?

Legend

Legend

Legend

Soldato
Joined
31 Dec 2006
Posts
7,224
It seems the tech has stalled, unable to progress beyond devolving IPS plagued with BLB and glow, with no interesting models on the horizon. On the contrary, there are numerous screens coming out later this year that actually seem to be a step backwards, ultrawide VA @ 1080p. 4K is a non-starter until there's a single GPU capable of running it maxed out, and that's nowhere to be seen yet. There's simply nothing worth getting excited about... except...

VR!

Oculus and Vive will both be here this time next year, Vive by the end of this year apparently... and this is going to be the real game changer. Of course not all games are going to be suitable for VR, but many will and going forwards this is an incredibly exciting sector. Monitors seem to me like they're going to fade away... especially given how lazy manufacturers seem to be getting with QC. Maybe if OLED gets its act together, but when we're all immersed in VR, who's going to care?
 
Are you have a laugh? You have to wear it, it's not exactly comfortable, it's not quick to setup out of a box, greater GPU requirements to prevent sore heads/eye strain, unknown medical problems down the line (anyone else still having to do VDU risk assessments?), limited actual benefit - an office worker will not currently get anything from VR that they can't get from a garbage quality monitor costing £50.

I've tried DK 1 and 2 and I won't touch the tech for probably 5 to 10 years, the main reason being lack of comfort, eye strain and the fact you cut yourself off from the "real world", great for short bursts of entertainment but for me personally gaming wise I'm happier with head tracking and a decent monitor setup.

On one hand you're complaining that GPUS can't keep up with monitors, then you're saying monitors need to get their act together, I think the way monitor tech is developing is fantastic and it's only a matter of time for IPS/OLED to push out some new, big, fast monitors.
 
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Haven't you seen all the issues with VR atm? It might take most of the market eventually but only after another 10 years at least.

I think monitors will get better, we are starting to see new types of lighting with OLED and some other experiments, which I believe we will start seeing on the market for half decent prices within 2 years.
 
Can't talk about free sync, but gysnc is a massive step forward. Op has clearly never used it and should get back on the meds!
 
10 years?!? No way. Look at where we were 10 years ago lol. It's not perfected, but even some of what the DK2 can do is mighty impressive, and the final release will be a big leap forwards from that... not to mention Vive which there are many great reports about, and that's not finalised either. I honestly believe it's going to revolutionise everything, in a way people can't even comprehend yet. Time will tell of course, but there's NOTHING on the monitor side that remotely excites me in the same way... in fact everything on the horizon is underwhelming and disappointing to be honest.

I have used G-Sync... it's great yes, but I'm talking about monitors in general. Nothing exciting there, and the current crop of 'premium' models are NOT worth circa £700!
 
VR will only supplement monitors, not replace them for the next 10 years +, at the moment the software/OS isn't there to support or justify typing word documents on VR, browsing on VR, or anything other than SOME games and a very limited number of specialised applications e.g. CAD, medical etc.
 
Legend said:
It seems the tech has stalled, unable to progress beyond devolving IPS plagued with BLB and glow, with no interesting models on the horizon. On the contrary, there are numerous screens coming out later this year that actually seem to be a step backwards, ultrawide VA @ 1080p. 4K is a non-starter until there's a single GPU capable of running it maxed out, and that's nowhere to be seen yet. There's simply nothing worth getting excited about... except...

VR!

Oculus and Vive will both be here this time next year, Vive by the end of this year apparently... and this is going to be the real game changer. Of course not all games are going to be suitable for VR, but many will and going forwards this is an incredibly exciting sector. Monitors seem to me like they're going to fade away... especially given how lazy manufacturers seem to be getting with QC. Maybe if OLED gets its act together, but when we're all immersed in VR, who's going to care?
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can't say i agree with you one bit. on the contrary monitor technology has developed a lot even in the last year or two. we have seen:


  • arrival of Ultra HD and 4k resolutions (even 5k)
  • G-sync and FreeSync adaptive refresh rate technologies, a big step forward for gaming
  • arrival of high refresh rate VA and IPS-type panels, something people have been crying out for for ages
  • ultra wide format screens including 34" size with 3440 x 1440
  • curved ultra-wide displays (and some non-ultrawide emerging) for an interesting alternative format
  • HDMI 2.0
  • common uptake of USB 3.0
  • investment in health concious features like flicker free backlights and low blue light modes by many manufacturers
  • arrival of first 2560 x 1440 res gaming screens, TN Film and IPS now
  • some truly massive screens like the Philips BDM4065UC which bridge the gap between monitor and TV even more
  • continued cost focus from Korean manufacturers to make popular panels available at lower costs
  • ongoing push to provide bigger and larger screens. 24" would now be considered small!


that's just off the top of my head....saying monitor tech has stalled is just daft
 
Baddass said:
can't say i agree with you one bit. on the contrary monitor technology has developed a lot even in the last year or two. we have seen:


  • arrival of Ultra HD and 4k resolutions (even 5k)
  • G-sync and FreeSync adaptive refresh rate technologies, a big step forward for gaming
  • arrival of high refresh rate VA and IPS-type panels, something people have been crying out for for ages
  • ultra wide format screens including 34" size with 3440 x 1440
  • curved ultra-wide displays (and some non-ultrawide emerging) for an interesting alternative format
  • HDMI 2.0
  • common uptake of USB 3.0
  • investment in health concious features like flicker free backlights and low blue light modes by many manufacturers
  • arrival of first 2560 x 1440 res gaming screens, TN Film and IPS now
  • some truly massive screens like the Philips BDM4065UC which bridge the gap between monitor and TV even more
  • continued cost focus from Korean manufacturers to make popular panels available at lower costs
  • ongoing push to provide bigger and larger screens. 24" would now be considered small!


that's just off the top of my head....saying monitor tech has stalled is just daft
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Agree with this completely.

The monitor market has tremendous traction at the moment and in fact the number of choices available to consumers have left many more confused than ever.

There is plenty of room left for improvement as well. If you consider what is called for from the 'UHD standard', it goes beyond simply resolution. We do have models capable of the 3840 x 2160 resolution now, so that is one box ticked. But another thing the standard also calls for the Rec. 2020 colour gamut. With advances in backlight technology, especially the introduction of 'quantum dot' film type technologies which is gathering pace at the moment, we can expect colour gamuts to come much closer to this goal. And importantly, widespread hardware support for such colour gamuts will allow the content creators to adapt their creations and support these improved colour spaces.

I am personally very excited, as are many others, to see what can be achieved when we move beyond LCD technology. Backlightless technologies such as OLED (and the use of those aforementioned quantum dots as a per-pixel light source) will allow huge improvements to contrast and various other areas. I also feel there is room left for improvement in 3D technology, specifically improvements to glasses-free (auto-stereoscopic) technologies. A key reason people have repeatedly given 3D the cold shoulder is because they simply don't like wearing the glasses. They don't find them comfortable or natural or simply don't want to accessorise in that way to watch their content. ;) I have no reason to think VR will appeal to everyone for exactly that reason, and to think that they will replace monitors is similar to the suggestion that touchscreens would replace the keyboard and mouse. Simply not a practical replacement and not something that appeals to everyone. :)
 
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I kinda get what the OP means, maybe not to the same extent, as I do believe there are some great monitors out there, and adaptive sync for me is an absolute boon, but as all those new and incremental upgrades for existing displays come out there's nothing as exciting or new or "game-changing" (kinda sick of that phrase tbh) as VR.

All the features Badass has listed are great but they seem like minor improvements on a technology that cant really go much further other than bigger resolutions, higher refresh rates, panel type and gimmicky things like 3D and curved displays that haven't really taken off.

VR might be a ways off mass adoption, but it's in a totally different vein to a screen on a stick in front of your face, and I reckon that after a few more generations of VR sets (3 to 5 years fingers crossed!), there will be some incredible software available to take advantage of them and hardware improvements (lighter and cheaper sets, & more powerful GPUs to drive them) will make it a viable option for long sessions of gaming, which is my real interest in these.
 
implosiveturnip said:
All the features Badass has listed are great but they seem like minor improvements on a technology that cant really go much further other than bigger resolutions, higher refresh rates, panel type and gimmicky things like 3D and curved displays that haven't really taken off.
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I remember my boss saying something similar about his latest humongous CRT back in the mid 90s. Bottom line is that tech moves on, we've got bendable screens coming, potentially "monitors" themselves will change entirely within the next 10 years to be far more like parts of desks, wall coverings and perhaps we'll be able to bend them to the curve we want etc

I know next to nothing about monitors ( I rely on the OCUKers and the linked review sites who do ) but there's still a huge way to go and I think people forget just how much monitors have improved just in the past 5 years. Some of that tech is in VR and without the advancement in display tech VR would still be a pipe dream.
 
Well the manufactures could start with producing an 27inch IPS panel with 144hz that actually works, or doesn't need to be recalled or doesnt suffer from BLD/dead pixels or excessive IPS glow

They can do w/e they want after they do that!
 
Halfmad said:
I remember my boss saying something similar about his latest humongous CRT back in the mid 90s. Bottom line is that tech moves on, we've got bendable screens coming, potentially "monitors" themselves will change entirely within the next 10 years to be far more like parts of desks, wall coverings and perhaps we'll be able to bend them to the curve we want etc.
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You're probably totally right tbf, my main point was that even though were are getting all the bells and whistles now, the form factor is just a hunk of glass stuck to a metal an plastic frame.

Free-form displays look cool as all hell, but how practical they will be is another matter.

Again, I suppose it comes down to how well software developers and OSs adapt to changing display technologies overall. Because we might have all the greatest hardware at our disposal but if no-one makes any software compatible, or big greedy hardware vendors keep their drivers, software and other resources proprietary then that hardware is going to be too limited in scope to be of any real use anyway.
 
Backlight bleed isn't an issue with IPS monitors. It's a separate issue that has nothing to do with IPS.

UHD (not 4K) isn't a non-starter either. Not everyone plays games, and not everyone wants a higher resolution display for games solely.

Plus, not everyone plays the latest graphically intense games. A mid range single GPU can play a lot of games at UHD at 60FPS.
 
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I wasn't definitively saying monitors were dead... it was somewhat of an inflammatory question in the thread topic tbh, deliberately so. Bottom line for me is that nothing out there, existing or on the horizon, seems to be really pushing the boundaries or exciting enough... but VR is both of those, albeit far from perfected or even properly available yet. It does seem to hold more promise from where I'm standing though. You can list tech developments as long as you arm, and impressive though they may be from an engineering standpoint, as an end user nothing there really gets my juice flowing, sorry.
 
Eventually I believe there will be less need for monitors and VR headsets will become main stream. Most likely when we have sensory perception in games though, which is a looong way off.
 
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