VA vs. IPS or would you prefer TN – what are the different technologies for LCD screens, what do the abbreviations stand for and which type is best for your needs?
The search for a new monitor for office, gaming or image editing can be very tiring. Manufacturers advertise their screens with all sorts of marketing talk that very few interested parties understand. Before buyers even deal with the advertising promise, they should decide on a type of panel for the monitor.
The panel is nothing more than the design of the screen. The decision in favor of a panel should come at the beginning of a purchase decision, because the design is accompanied by decisive features of an LCD display that even the best advertising gibberish cannot encompass.
VA vs. IPS: This is how LCD displays work
The three most common panels for monitors are Twisted Nematic (TN), In Plane Switching (IPS) and Vertical Alignment (VA). All types of construction have one thing in common in that different layers are stacked on top of each other. These layers include polarization filters, the liquid crystals and of course a backlight that makes the crystals shine.
Now the layer of liquid crystals decides how strongly the background lighting shines through and in which colors – blue, green or red – the crystals shine so that they produce an image on the monitor. In order to control the light intensity of the crystals, these are mixed with different currents.
The current ensures that the liquid crystals move physically. And this is exactly where the difference between the three construction methods lies: How the crystals are arranged and how they behave when they are electrically charged determines whether the monitor is a VA, IPS or TN panel.
Each panel has different strengths and weaknesses, which is why the different types are also differently suitable for office, gaming or image processing. So let’s look at how the crystals behave in TN, VA and IPS to see the advantages and disadvantages of the panels.
Twisted Nematic
Translated into German, “twisted” means twisted and that is exactly what happens with the TN panel with the luminous crystals. They twist by up to 90 degrees and thus enable the background light to penetrate or block it if the pixels are to remain black. Twisting is particularly quick, which is why TN monitors have the best response times.
Gamers in esports titles in particular benefit from this. Another plus point: streaking and ghosting effects in fast game scenes are also rare in the construction. Unfortunately, the colors and contrasts fall by the wayside: There is always some background light shimmering through, which is why TN panels can never display a rich, dark black. Another disadvantage of this design is the limited viewing angle of the screens. If you look sideways at a TN panel, you will see little or nothing.
In plane switching
The translation into German helps here too. “Changing at the same level” roughly describes what happens with the IPS panel. The liquid crystals do not twist here because they are parallel to the other layers. In order to let light through or to block it, they rotate.
However, this usually happens much more slowly than by twisting with TN, which results in a longer response time with IPS. Because this is the case, the pixels in IPS panels often follow suit in quick situations, which can lead to the formation of streaks. E-athletes therefore don’t like playing fast games on IPS monitors. High-quality IPS monitors, on the other hand, offer the best viewing angles and the best color space coverage, which is important for image and video processing.
Vertical alignment
Translated stands for “vertical alignment”. Here the liquid crystals are arranged vertically and tilt to let light through or to block it. The advantage of this lies in the particularly high contrasts, i.e. a whiter white and a deep black, which is why most LCD televisions are manufactured in this construction. The viewing angle is just as good as that of the IPS panel.
Unfortunately, the color fidelity is not as good as with IPS, but VA panels react faster, but not as quickly as the twisting crystals of the TN construction. Except for the high contrasts, VA panels are the compromise between decent color space coverage, response time and viewing angles, without being completely at the top in terms of any of the properties.
TN monitor for e-athletes
The question now is which construction is the “right” or “best” one. And of course that depends on how the monitor is used. For example, if you play competitive games like “Counter Strike – Global Offensive” or “League of Legends” on your computer, you want to have a responsive screen at your side that offers the highest possible refresh rate perceive without distortion.
Therefore, competitive players prefer to use the TN panel. You are sitting in front of the PC, so you don’t care about the viewing angle. In addition, gamers can hardly care what contrast values the screen delivers, because ideally they set the “Black Boost” on the monitor in order to better recognize opponents who are hiding in shady corners. A deep black might make sighting difficult.
The Zowie series from BenQ are true evergreens of gaming monitors with TN panels. The convince with a refresh rate of up to 240 Hertz Zowie XL2546K. The monitor has a full HD resolution and extends over a diagonal of 24 inches (61 centimeters). Its side screens ensure that you always have a good view while gaming, even if the lighting conditions are not optimal.
IPS monitor for the office
However, if you are looking for a suitable PC monitor for the office, you should distance yourself from the TN panel. On the one hand, it is simply annoying if the colors on an office monitor are not true to the original; on the other hand, you benefit from a wide viewing angle when doing office work. Especially when it happens frequently that several people are looking at one screen.
How responsive and what refresh rate a monitor has in the office is completely irrelevant, as long as it offers at least 60 Hertz refresh rate. Connections for a laptop, mouse and keyboard are more important. For pure office work it does not matter whether the screen has a VA or IPS panel.
The is an excellent monitor for the office Dell U2720Q. The monitor has a resolution of 4K, which is why you may have to upscale the image, otherwise the windows and icons appear very small. As connection options, Dell has integrated an HDMI and a DisplayPort input into its monitor. It also has three USB-A sockets, a headphone connection and a USB-C slot.
IPS monitor for image processing
It is different if you rely on true-to-original colors because you are editing photos or videos. What counts here is the greatest possible coverage of as many color spaces as possible, or at least the color space with which you usually work. This is especially important if you are processing HDR video material. As far as color space coverage is concerned, IPS panels on professional monitors are far ahead of VA and TN panels. However, these monitors not only impress with their brilliant colors, but also with their juicy prices.
The screens from the Japanese manufacturer Eizo are particularly popular with graphic designers and cutters. the ColorEdge CS2731 is no exception. It extends over a diagonal of 27 inches (68.4 centimeters) and has a resolution of 4K. Of course, the monitor is an IPS panel that, according to Eizo, covers all common color spaces. According to the manufacturer, the screen covers 99 percent of the AdobeRGB color space.
VA monitor for casual gamers
VA monitors are the most balanced mix of LCD screens. They offer by far the best contrasts, solid color values and viewing angles as well as decent refresh rates and response times. Players who like to play role or action games are well advised with a VA panel. However, that doesn’t stop them from pushing a competition shooter in between. However, if you are looking for the best of the best for the competition and want to gamble like a true pro gramer, you should use the TN panel to put a stop to even the smallest excuse for bad equipment.
This is an excellent gaming monitor with a VA panel Samsung Odyssey G7 C32G74TQSR. The monitor with QHD has a resolution of almost oversized 32 inches (80 centimeters) and offers a fast refresh rate of 240 Hertz. A top value for a VA panel with the resolution that, by the way, also makes competitive gamers happy. Thanks to two USB-A sockets and a jack socket for headphones, the screen does not lack connection options for mouse and keyboard.
IPS, VA or TN? A question of time
Finally, it should be noted that IPS, VA and TN monitors have converged a lot in recent years. This mainly affects the response time and refresh rate of IPS and VA compared to TN panels. The reason for this is simple: there is simply less and less sales for TN panels, which is why manufacturers are primarily investing their research into improvements in VA and IPS monitors.
With premium monitors it doesn’t matter whether you use IPS or VA panels because the differences in performance are so marginal that they are hardly noticeable. With entry-level and mid-range monitors, however, the differences between the panel types still come into play. However, it is only a matter of time before this gap also disappears.
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