PVA vs. S-IPS

    Greetings gentlebeings,


    I am in the market for a new LCD monitor, and I might need a little advice.


    First off, I am mostly a boring programmer. I also sometimes tinker with still graphics, and occasionally watch movies. I don't play games a lot, and those I do play are not fast-moving shooters.


    This means:


    1. I spend a lot of time staring at a screen that doesn't have lots of moving things (although this entirely depends on my caffeine level).
    2. I mean I spend *A LOT* of time staring at said screen. This means that color defects, bad image quality and such things will distract and annoy.
    3. Since I work with graphics and occasionally web design, that "16.2 million color" trick is out of the question. I need the whole deal.
    4. When I do need a quickly moving display, it's usually because I'm watching a movie. I'd prefer it to not be horribly awful for that.


    So, from reading a bit about the various panel technologies, it seems that either PVA or S-IPS would be most ideal for my uses. From what I've read around the Web, there are conflicting opinion about the color quality of PVA vs. S-IPS, but it seems everyone agrees that PVA has better contrast, and S-IPS has much better response time. I hear TN+ generally doesn't have stellar colour (which would annoy me), and since I don't play fast games, their fast response time wouldn't be particularly useful for me.


    If I go with a S-IPS, it'd probably be a 19" LG1910B. If I go with PVA, it'd probably be the new 17" Samsung SyncMaster 720T (so new I haven't found any reviews or tests of it).


    Given the needs described, which panel type would you guys suggest, PVA or S-IPS?

    Welcome on board!


    You are one of the typicall VA-Panel users, just as I´am.


    But why do you wanna buy a 17" PVA device? The 19" VA-devices are not that expensive and they are really good. Next point: you are a programmer, so you need a perfect ratio of resolution to textsize, this you have only at a 19" device.


    Where are you from? Give us a link to the shop you want to buy at and I will give you some hints about the displays.

    I'm Danish.


    I don't know where I'll buy from, it depends on which screen I decide to get. However, there's a price portal for all Danish hardware shops, their list of LCD screens is here:



    I'm on a budget; I can't buy one that costs more than 4000 DKK, and it'd be best if I could keep it under 3700 or so.


    Thanks for the help; you guys run an informative and helpful site here!
    (unfortunately, I slept through German class in public school, so I need to frequently consult my dictionary, but oh well ;) )

    Oh I found the one I hoped to find for you: the belinea 101920! link As you can see, I have it too and it´s really perfect for the things you wanna do and it´s in your budget (3715dkk).


    What do you think about it?


    Don´t care, I slept through my danish cours at work :D

    From the first looks of it, it looks to be a neat screen! Is it MVA or PVA?


    Also, I see you've advocated this screen in the past. What makes it so good? (not saying it *isn't* good, I just like to know!). Can you point me to tests or reviews of it (ideally in English, but German or Spanish would do too)?


    Are there others on that list you can recommend? I like to have a few choices to consider.


    Again, thanks a lot!

    Ack, I've found out that that Belinea is only available from what is apparently a France-based web shop. I generally don't like ordering hardware from far away, because it becomes a huge hassle if something turns out to not work.


    Could you recommend other screens from that list?

    Ok, so what is about the http://www.edbpriser.dk/Listprices.asp?ID=92753]FSC S19[/URL]? The panel is quit good, the electronic of the FSC is working really fine.
    Pos: good black, good work-around
    Neg: Not high-adjustable


    2nd choice: Hansol 960, same panel as the old Belinea 101920
    Pos: good black
    Neg: some colours are a bit too bright


    Iiyama 485: new on the market, first infos looks good
    Neg: no experience til now


    This are all in your budget. All other displays are more expensive (Iiyama 481 with IPS would be my next advice).


    No problem ;) After buying the display, I hope you will write a small test for us.

    Actually, to be completely honest, part of the allure of that Samsung 720T was to get my hands on an early specimen and write a test. :)


    By scouring Google, I found a few Danish suppliers who have Belineas in stock -- althogh pushing at the limits of my price range. So the list is now:


    Belinea 101920 (*VA)
    Iiyama Pro Lite E485S-S (*VA?)
    Hansol H960 (*VA)
    Fujitsu-Siemens S19-1 (*VA)
    LG 1910B (S-IPS)


    What are the pros and cons of the Belinea 101920 and the LG 1910B?


    Thanks a lot for the recommendations and the pro/con lists for the three others. I'll be sure to do a writeup when I get the screen.

    LG (I´m not a friend of LG!)
    Pro: ?(
    Neg: Workaround, company politics etc.


    Belinea
    Pro: good colours, nice black, good workaround, good service in ger.
    Neg: seems to be quit expensive in DK, the soundsystem is really pure
    It´s just an upper middle class device.

    Right. I'll try to get hold of the Belinea; alternately the Hansol or the Iiyama. I don't really care about the sound system -- I have my computer hooked to my hifi anyway, so I won't be using those 1 watt tin cans in most monitors anyway.


    Thanks for the advice! I'll make a writeup about my impressions when I get the screen.


    By the way, why the dislike for LG? What company politics of theirs are evil?

    I placed all the TFTs in a row. If you know a few German, maybe it can help you a little.


    I add the Samsung 910T into the list. Its about ~4250kk and thus over your budget limit. But this TFT is worth the money. Maybe you can find some more kk at some forgotten hiding-places.. ;)

    There are technical disadvantages I can mention here about the LG TFT:


    The self-made S-IPS panel shows occasionaly stripes, glints and colour negativ effects. First of all this probably sounds curious, but these impressions depend strongly on the sensitiviness of the users. Therefore most of them don't complain, but there are enough others.

    Update:


    By selling an old computer I had sitting around, I've managed to up my budget by about a thousand DKK.


    So I was considering going with the Samsung 920T instead of the Belinea -- any of you have tried out a 920T?

    No, unfortunately not. But taken experience with old Samsung TFTs and users opinions into account the 920T is a good choice for everybody how whats a PVA panel with its pro & cons.


    The 920T offers features like changeable interpolation modus and rotateable foothold the 109020 doesn't have.