In-Plane-Switching Technology

One item of LCD TV that manufacturers don’t usually make a big deal about happens to be the aspect of any display that seems to matter most is the panel technology. There are three general categories of panel technology:

1. TN – Twisted Nematic (cheaper to produce and biggest market share)
2. IPS – In Plane Switching
3. MVA / PVA – Multi-domain Vertical Alignment / Patterned Vertical Alignment

Opinions about which technology is actually best differ somewhat, but there’s no denying the fact that TN is substantially cheaper to produce whereas PVA and IPS are more expensive. Vast majority of LCD TVs (and monitors) today are once again using TN panels, largely because of the pricing advantage.

TN (Twisted Nematic) Panel Technology

TN (Twisted Nematic) panels are the most widely used panel type in the manufacture of LCD panels. TN panels are cheap and offer excellent response times. The response times of current TN panels range from 2ms to 5ms. However, color reproduction, viewing angles and contrast ratios of TN panels are the worst of any current LCD panel technology, particularly vertical viewing angles. Unlike most 8-bit IPS/VA based panels, TN is only 6-bit and unable to display the full 16.7 million colors available in 24-bit true color. Most TN panels are natively 6-bit panels that use dithering to approximate 8-bit color. Most people won’t notice the difference in color accuracy of TN panels. They can mimic the 16.7 million colors of 8-bit panels using a technique called dithering, but the results are unimpressive. TN panels dominate LCD TV market because they are very inexpensive and produce good enough display for most buyers.

IPS (In-Plane-Switching) Panel Technology – S-IPS/H-IPS

IPS (In Plane Switching) panels are generally considered the best overall LCD technology for image quality, color accuracy, good viewing angles, true 8-bit colors, but all this comes at a price. S-IPS (Super-IPS, Hitachi in 1998) panels offer the best viewing angles of any current LCD technology, with wide viewing angles up to 178 degrees. The response time of S-IPS is adequate, ranging from 6ms to 16ms. It responds time is only slightly slower than TN panels. Fast paced motion picture (sport game show) may suffer from motion blur or ghosting with S-IPS panels that have a response time higher than 8ms.

S-IPS panels can be identified by a slight purple hue on blacks when viewed from a wide angle. There are currently few manufacturers using S-IPS panels in comparison to the other panels types making choices limited and they often carry a premium price tag. H-IPS (Horizontal-IPS, NEC in 2007) is a newer variation of S-IPS with a different pixel structure that improves contrast ratios and lowers pixel pitch to provide better picture quality.

The famous LCD TV manufacturers based on IPS technology are LG-Philips, and IPS Alpha Technology (formed by Hitachi, Panasonic and Toshiba).

VA (Vertical Alignment) Panel Technology – MVA / PVA

VA (Vertical Alignment) technology such as S-PVA/MVA is middle of the road LCD panels. They offer better color reproduction and wider viewing angles than TN panels, but have slower response times. They are very similar to S-IPS on paper. They also offer large viewing angles and good color reproduction, though not as good as S-IPS. The response times are generally worse than TN or S-IPS panels.

PVA and IPS viewing angle comparison

VA panels have the advantage of higher contrast ratios compared to other panel types, which leads to better black levels. The biggest disadvantage of VA based panels is color shifting. Color shifting is when the image viewed from one angle changes or “shifts” when viewed from a slightly different angle, making various uneven brightness levels across the display. Color shifts also cause a loss of shadow detail in dark scenes when viewed directly from the center. VA panels are much easier to find compared to IPS because so many manufacturers use them. They offer better image quality than TN at lower price than IPS based panels.

MVA (Multi-domain Vertical Alignment) was originally developed in 1998 by Fujitsu as a compromise between TN and IPS. It achieved fast pixel response, wide viewing angles and high contrast at the cost of brightness and color reproduction. Modern MVA panels can offer wide viewing angles (second only to S-IPS technology), good black depth, good color reproduction and depth, and fast response times.

PVA (patterned vertical alignment) and S-PVA (super patterned vertical alignment) offers similar features to MVA, but boasts very high contrast ratios such as 3000:1. S-PVA panels all use at least true 8-bit color electronics and do not use any color simulation methods. S-PVA panels offered by Eizo (at least newer ones) use even 10-bit color internally, which enables gamma and other corrections without banding. PVA and S-PVA can offer good black depth, wide viewing angles and S-PVA can offer additionally fast response times thanks to modern RTC technologies.

Famous LCD TV manufacturers using S-PVA panels for their LCD TV are Samsung and Sony.

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