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Monitors

 

Monitors are somewhat ignored and abused even though they are your primary source of information. LCDs introduced new problems which took a long to time get recgonised and resolved. 

 

Pixel Soup: The ongoing legacy of LCD

 

Rather than displaying a clean, new image 60 times a second LCDs operate in a such a way that frames blend or overlay on top of each other, this is measured in pixel responce time. Even the fastest LCD screens suffer greatly from this flaw but things like strobing backlights and black frame insertion can achieve results similar to the old, superior CRTs.

 

Strobing backlights can be achieved using a tweak to lightboost monitors but it has become a more refined feature included in some screens like the Eizo Foris FG2421 and the LG 24GM77 which has peaked my interest as the Eizo is known to have issues.

 

Here is an example of LCD motion blur:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, a fast monitor with a strobing backlight displays moving content MUCH more clearly and that's barely taking into consideration the extra fluidity of 120hz / reduced input lag from the screen updating twice as often.

 

LCD's also have signal processing which is where a  large portion of input lag comes in to play.

 

I have a BenQ XL2411T personally, it's pretty solid but I don't use lightboost because reduced contrast/purple tint outweights the benefit it has. It was updated with native low motion blur support and possibly some other changes under the name XL2411Z.

 

A look into terms use for specifation:

 

Contrast Ratio: Is the difference between the brightest and darkest darkest color the screen is capable of displaying a typical contrast ratio is 1000:1. (Higher is obviously better)

 

Dynamic Contrast Ratio: Is a meaingless marketing ploy where the backlight changes brighness to multiply the contrast value they can sell to you. If a contrast ratio is over 5000:1 odds are it's mislabled or false advertising.

(Ignore this stupid specification)

 

Response Rate: The time it takes (in milliseconds) for a pixel to change from black to white or to transition from one shade of gray to another e.g. "1ms GtG". A faster response rate will equal less LCD blur

 

Pixels Per Inch  is density of pixels on a display (Per Inch), a high resolution and small screen size equals a high PPI count. For example:

 

A 1080P 24"  Monitor has only 84.25 pixels per inch.

 

Whereas a 1080P 5.5" touchscreen phone would have a massive 401 pp

 

Pixel Density (PPI) is one of the main factors as to how "Sharp" a screen looks, most notably with text. The further away the screen is the less pixel density is required to look sharp and crisp. Apple coined the term "Retina" for displays which reach the sharpness threshold for their operational distance, though this doesn't take into consideration varying eyesight.

 

For desktop displays, especially ones skewed towards gaming, pixel density isn't really much of a factor. We don't have screens fast enough to justify it, let alone the hardware to power it. However with mobile devices we have hit a limit in the opposiste direction, with pixel densitys so high that there is no real reason to increase it any more.

 

The diagram below shows a hyperthetical comparion of 10 PPI vs 20 PPI. Higher pixel density lowers  the need for anti-aliasing. As you can see the circle on the right looks much "rounder" than the one on the left, the same principle applies with curves in games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Display Types: There are various panel types availible, the general rule of thumb is that colour accuracy and responce time are polar opposites. IPS panels offer much more vibarent colours and a wider contrast range while TN offers more washed out colours with much less blur and input lag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a gaming monitor you are going to want the fastest possible responce rate combined with a strobing backlight technology (Lightboost, Motion 240, Turbo 240 etc). The idea of strobing backlights stemed from people forcing lightboost on 2D mode using driver tweaks, this is still ongoing but it has become an offical feature among many gaming oriented screens now.