How to find out whether a panel is TN or S-PVA?

[Kerotan]

Just wondering how you find out what type a panel used in a monitor is? Doesn't seem to say on the manufacturer's website and google isn't helping either.

E.g. This Samsung

or This Dell

Thinking I might up my 19" to something a little better to last me until OLED becomes mainstream, and wondering who is making the good screens right now? Probably be buying April/May time if I can find something I like.

 

[AntiHeroUK]

Those are both TN panels. Generally you can tell by the viewing angles, response time and the price of the screen.

 

[VonBlade]

But are TN panels that bad? Does anyone actually look at their monitor from across the room or do we all just sit in front of it?

Enquiring minds would like to know.

 

[monkey7]

I have two TN panels and a friend of me has something non TN in his laptop and yes, you do notice. But unless I try to look at my screen while sitting upside down on my chair I really do not mind the reduced viewing angle.

Laptops are a different story... Most of the time you have people watching with you on a fairly small screen, that's when viewing angle comes into play.

 

[moogle]

But are TN panels that bad? Does anyone actually look at their monitor from across the room or do we all just sit in front of it?

Enquiring minds would like to know.

Not all. If you're gaming just get a TN unless you want to see all those colours and have those great viewing angles. Most people criticise the viewing angles but when it's a monitor who really uses it as a TV for the room? I got a TN but I can still see the screen when at a wide angle.

Advantages of S-PVA/IPS (Better than TN panels):

Viewing angles

Colour representation (TN's use 6-bit colouring so you never see the full amount of colours like on a CRT, instead they use a dithering method to blend in gradients where they can't display all the colours but it's rarely noticed)

Contrast

Advantages of TN:

Fast response times

Cheap

No input lag

I went TN because I realised LCD's still aren't perfect (even the better panel types, they're still crap compared to a CRT) and if I'm going to spend the price of a IPS/S-PVA panel on a screen I want to be excellent as in CRT like. This TN is just a stop gap for me. I'm still waiting on SEDs but they're not looking to come out anytime soon

 

[SwaleSmith]

Well havng come from a TN panel and I now beleive I have a PVA panel...I notice this

Colours are sharper/more accurate, contrast much improved, blacks are much deeper, my screen is seems brighter. I see no difference it lag times at all I now undertand why some monitors are cheaper than others I will dodge TN panels from now on

 

[Sihastru]

It's hard to dodge a TN when it's half the price of a PVA/MVA, and even less then that of an IPS.

About response times, they try a lot of things to get us to think some are faster then others (like OverDrive) but response time is not a linear function, it varies according to what shade of color to what shade of color will the pixel jump. And a pixel is made of 3 subpixels, which complicates things. The response time given by the manufacturers in the case of TN panels is the so called GTG (Gray-To-Gray) and it's the best case scenario for the panel. In reality a so-called 2ms panel can be as slow as 18-22ms depending on the presented situation.

Input lag is not a measure of the panel, but of the whole monitor circuitry, the panel has little to do with it.

 

[SwaleSmith]

Price I can undertstand mine was BENQ 24'' was £330 from ebuyer about £100 more expensive than it lower TN counterpart...thing is a goo monitor should last years...unlike my last TN wich just stopped :-/

 

[Rastalovich]

As to finding out how, the Samsung tv I have has a product label on the back that informs u (in a round about sorta way). On the interweb enthusiasts tell u about labels to look out for for different types and codes for stuff. Havent looked on the back of my Dell, sure it's not the better one tho cos it was cheap at the time.

 

[Babylon5]

hey, check this site out link

You can enter model numbers and it will tell you the display type and input lag.

You can even leave the model details out and it will return all monitors.

There are some good reviews.

 

[Kerotan]

Cheers mate, that's sure to come in handy, +Rep