Reaction time test 1 : quality for games
A car moves from left to right at high speed.
Movement isn’t perfectly fluid. Depending on its speed, the car is shown in several successive positions. If the car goes very fast, the positions are very close and the eye perceives a flowing movement.
perfect monitor 
monitor with 3 ghost imagesA monitor without ghosting effects would have previous images completely fading away when a new one appears. This is the theory and in practice, it´s often not the case as images fade progressively. Sometimes up to 5 afterglow images remain on the monitor and represent the visible white trail behind objects. Some monitors have strong
overdrives in addition to image anticipation algorithms. In this case, an image can appear in front of the main object, creating a white halo in front of objects in motion.
We capture afterglow with a camera at a shutter speed of 1/1000 s. We take 50 pictures per test. We then can see a monitor´s ghosting effects, or all the car´s positions in the entire process.
The most important image is the one on the left, the better one. It will be the most displayed on the monitor, while the one on the right is in transition.
These are the two extreme cases between which afterglow can oscillate:
AU-Optronics P-MVA 8 ms panel: Belinea 10 20 35W
NC S-IPS 16 ms panel: LG L2040PAfter the surprisingly high black level above, this test leaves us even more perplexed because the L2040P really behaves like a fast VA monitor!
We phoned LG, who confirmed that the L2040P does feature an IPS panel. They added that that if anyone else would have asked the question they would definitively answered IPS. Because it was us, it was a bit more disconcerting. They said they would contact the Korean division to check on this information but still haven´t received an answer.
In this type of situation, the easiest solution is to find a screwdriver and take a look for yourself. The only problem is, in this case undoing to monitor to a look at the panel would ruin the product. We were very lucky to be the first to test a monitor that will be released at best at the end of 2005/early 2006. So, we weren´t going to break it.
Still, there is a trick, which sometimes works with LG monitors. Switch off the monitor by pressing simultaneously the Menu control and a hidden menu can appear showing the panel type. This was partly the case here. The menu displayed the panel manufacturer but not the component reference. It stated AU-Optronics and to our knowledge, AU doesn´t produce IPS panels. In this case it would probably be the M201UN02, an 8 ms response time 4/3 format P-MVA panel.
We were confronted with a real problem. Here was a monitor which will soon hit stores and is presented as an IPS, while it is in fact, and tests confirm, a P-MVA.
A second problem arose after studying the menu. We saw an option which when activated gave us the option of manually modifying the panel origin. Three options are available: AUO, standard choice, Fujitsu and LGP (for LG-Philips). If we think about it, the reason for this choice is a bit frightening. This monitor would be sold, depending on the manufacturer stock, as a different panel. Some will have the same as us, an AUO 8 ms Premium-MVA. Color adjustments are good, reaction time far better than IPS monitors. Except for viewing angles (see further) it is the best choice available.
Others will have in their monitor an IPS panel. If it is the same since our last tests, reaction time will be less, the contrast ratio lower, black less deep, but with wider viewing angles. Movie quality might also be less good.
Others who aren´t as lucky will get the Fujitsu, a severe punishment. We remind you that we tested their latest 8 and 12 ms panels in our last big 19" monitor survey,
4, 6, 8 ms, TN, IPS, VA.... Two monitors included Fujitsu panels the Iiyama H1900 and Sony SDM-HS95P and had lower reaction times than the others. LG is still enquiring and will come back to us ASAP to shed some light on this situation, which is a bit of a problem for everyone.
In the meantime, here is a comparison of these two monitors with some of our references.
Samsung S-PVA 6 ms panel: Samsung SyncMaster 770PThe result is comparable to that provided by AUO P-MVA 8 ms panels. It’s good but a bit lower that fast TN monitors.
AU-Optronics TN 4 ms panel: BenQ FP91VAt its best the image is perfect. Those who have a good sight will barely see a transparent image behind the main object. At its worst there are two simultaneous images. This is really difficult to see and capture as it only briefly appears on the monitor. Most pictures were closer to the first result.
CRT: Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 930SBReaction test 2: 3D design, dark scenes in games
This time we looked at afterglow with two opposite colors, white and black. This can represent the afterglow generated when a scene in a game goes from dark to white or is even of interest to graphic designers when an object moves in wire frame mode in a different colored background.
AU-Optronics P-MVA 8 ms panel: Belinea 10 20 35W
NC S-IPS 16 ms panel: LG L2040PWe made this test before contacting LG but our suspicions began to rise. The result is much too similar with the two monitors.
As always, here are a few additional performances to compare with these fine monitors. They have great results even if their reaction time is a bit lower than fast TNs:
Samsung S-PVA 6 ms panel: Samsung SyncMaster 770P
AU-Optronics TN 4 ms panel: BenQ FP91VAfterglow is steady and almost equals zero with this 4ms. This shows the enormous progress made this year. The afterglow is much lower than the one observed with a cathode monitor:
CRT : Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 930SB
