Panasonic IPS-Alpha LCD Panel Technology

A quick overview of the panel technologies

Viewing angles on TN are substantially worse, particularly vertical viewing angles, and all TN LCD panels are natively 6-bit panels that use dithering to approximate 8-bit color. Most people won’t notice the difference in color accuracy, but imaging professionals would definitely prefer something better. The advantage of TN panels is that input lag is not a problem. Response times are usually lower on paper, but again it’s difficult to actually see the difference between a 2ms panel and a 6ms panel, especially when the display refreshes every 17ms (60 Hz refresh rate).

PVA and IPS are basically the exact opposite of TN: great viewing angles, very good color reproduction, and true 8-bit colors. However, pixel response times are a little lower (it’s not something that has ever bothered us). The big problem on the S-PVA panels are input lag, ranging from as low as 20ms up to nearly 50ms. However, S-IPS panels (example of S-IPS brand LCD TV is Panasonic Viera) don’t seem to have a problem with input lag.

Viewing Angle Comparison Chart Released By Sharp

A less common panel type is MVA, which in practice is similar to PVA but seems to perform better in regards to input lag. Color quality and other aspects are also good, but pricing and availability is a concern.

Frequently, the choice will come down to getting something larger with a cheaper TN panel versus getting a smaller LCD with a PVA/IPS panel. Even among the same panel technology, however, there are wide variations in quality. Most LCD panels are manufactured by one of only a few companies (Taiwan Chung Hwa Picture Tubes, Chi Mei Optoelectronics), but similar to processors these panels are “binned” based on quality. Bottom line, you get what you pay for! If you’re wondering why LCD A seems to have the same specifications as LCD B but costs significantly less, it’s very likely that the panel doesn’t meet the same quality standards. Color uniformity is one of the big differences between various LCD panels, with the best panels often ending up in displays that cost twice as much as LCDs that are otherwise equal in terms of specs.

IPS Alpha Technology

Japan’s IPS Alpha Technology Ltd and Panasonic Group will invest 65 million ringgit (18.26 million U.S. dollars) in a Malaysia facility to produce liquid crystal display (LCD) television, which basically is Panasonic Viera Series LCD TV.

A new production line will be setup within Panasonic’s TV production plant in Shah Alam to produce LCD TV module (example like LCD TV mainboard). The new subsidiary of IPS Alpha Technology Himeji, IPS Alpha Technology Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. Will start operation by February 2009 with initial output of 50,000 units per month, and future will raise output to 3 million units per year.

IPS Alpha Technology Ltd, previously known as Hitachi Liquid Crystal TV Display Co. Ltd, established in Jan 2005. Head office located in Mobara City, Chiba Prefecture, situated about 10 KM from the southern tip to the west of Kujukuri Beach, centrally located in the Boso Peninsula. It currently is joint venture by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd (or Panasonic Group), Toshiba Corporation and Hitachi Display Ltd. The scope of business involvement includes manufacture, design and sales of TFT LCD panels for televisions. This mean to me that LCD TV from Panasonic, Toshiba and Hitachi may roll under products of IPS Alpha Technology Ltd. (Correction: IPS Alpha Technology Ltd investment ratio is Hitachi Displays 50%, Panasonic Corporation 45%, DBJ New Industry Creation Investment Business Union and others 5%. We not sure Toshiba still source their Regza LCD panes from IPS Alpha)

IPS Alpha Technology Himeji Plant

The LCD panels will remain manufacture in Himeji plant, where the subsidiary company is IPS Alpha Technology Himeji Ltd. For IPS Alpha Technology Malaysia Sdn. Bhd, it will focus on LCD modules for IPS LCD Panels.

IPS Alpha Technology Demo

Some of you may curious to know what is IPS? It stand for In Plane Switching, for more detail, please be patient and I will blog on this.