LCD 24'': Iiyama B2403WS, Samsung 245T (page 5: Viewing angles and movies)

Viewing angles

We take pictures of the monitors from a 50° angle from all sides. The claimed viewing angles in a product’s characteristics are often exaggerated.

There are three types of technology to choose from: TN, MVA and PVA, the last two being closely related. For comparison, we added an IPS, the Dell 3007WFP HC. If you are a regular reader of our LCD surveys, you won’t be surprised by results, which are entirely normal.

First of all, for lateral viewing angles the IPS is by far the best. If this is the most important criteria for you, this is the type of technology you need. In second place comes the 245B, a TN panel. In the past (2 years ago), TNs were rather catastrophic from the side angles. Now, it is possible for several people to share a screen even if they aren’t perfectly in front of it. Finally, we have the PVAs and MVAs, which are equal. Beyond 40° from both sides, there is a loss of contrast, which however isn’t too extreme. In fact, there are only really problems in the vertical plane.

Vertical viewing angles : The IPS screen always offers an image that is almost perfect at 50° and even beyond. In this area, other technologies are largely inferior. The PVAs are behind with a rather abrupt loss of contrast with an image that is still visible though not as flattering (black is more gray, white is pale, loss of depth). It’s the same but even more sudden with MVA panels. Finally, we have the TN screen. From above, the image loses all of its contrast. From below, it turns black. This complicates things when you want to use this screen as a TV and depending on the size of viewers, the monitor may have to be inclined.

TN 3 ms : Iiyama Prolite B2403WS

PVA 6 ms : Samsung SyncMaster 245T

PVA 6 ms : Acer AL2416W

PVA 6 ms : Dell 2407WFP rev.4

MVA 8 ms : LG L245WP-BN

TN 5 ms : Samsung SyncMaster 245B

MVA 8 ms : ViewSonic VX2435wm

IPS 6 ms : Dell 3007WFP HC
Something to note so as not to penalize the LG L245-BN in evaluating its test results is the fact that it is equipped with a panel that is slightly glossy. This isn’t comparable to some laptops, however, care should be taken to block out ambient lighting so that they won’t be seen on the screen or reduce visibility.

Rendering in movies

Ideally these Full HD 24 inch screens should display movies perfectly. Unfortunately, they aren’t TVs and for this reason the manufacturers didn’t integrate image correction circuits that mask MPEG compression, smooth out objects, and which upscale non Full HD sequences. The image is shown as it is received, compressed, with color defects and aliasing.

The 245T does slightly better than the others due to its wide gamut. Color fidelity is superior and less affected by solarization, which is typically seen in sunsets. On this screen, all shades and the color gradient are better reproduced. On the other hand, this doesn’t improve compression or shimmering, which is still very noticeable on this monitor.

The Iiyama has neither a wide gamut nor correction circuits. The result is that there is solarization in complex scenes and video noise in large uniform color areas.

Whatever the monitor, to more enjoy your movies regardless of the encoding format, step back!

In the absence of correction circuits, there is however a solution, at least if you are equipped with a recent ATI or NVIDIA graphic card. Their drivers emulate this correction with more or less success as we discussed in our article ATI and NVIDIA correct the twinkling effect of LCDs in movies .