LCD computer monitors for movies

[Swanny115]

Hello,
Whats the best LCD PC Monitor for watching streaming content like movies or sports and why?

 

[ssddx]

well first you have to determine what size monitor you want.

as far as resolution goes, 1920x1080 is best for current 1080p content.

the larger the monitor the less "sharp" it may appear, but this is always the case. for example my 40" 1080p tv looks less sharp than a 22" 1080p monitor.

if you are worried about getting the absolute best color accuracy and a very wide viewing angle look at 8bit ips panel monitors. if you want a decent monitor that is just a step below this you might want to look into 6bit ips or va panels. tn panel monitors are the absolute cheapest and will work just fine but don't expect top performance out of a lower grade product.

as far as led or ccfl backlighting is concerned, they are pretty much equal in the pc monitor market.

 

[jaguarskx]

Generally speaking, a VA panel offers very high static contrast ratio compared to TN panel and IPS panels. VA panels generally have static contrast ratio up to 3000:1, but high end ones can be up to 4000:1. TN and IPS panels are generally up to 1000:1 and TN panels tend to be slightly overstated.

Static contrast ratio should not be confused with dynamic contrast ratio which basically increases or decreases the contrast of the entire monitor at once based on lighting conditions. The higher the static contrast ratio, the easier it is to see details in dark scenes. The lower the static contrast ratio, the more chances of very dark colors will blend into black; this is referred to as "black crush".

Color accuracy on VA panels are not quite good as IPS panels when both are correctly calibrated, but still much better than TN panels. The viewing angles can be considered slightly narrower than IPS panels because one common characteristic of VA panels is a slight off center contrast shift, but most people should not be able to discern it. TN panels have the worst viewing angles which means contrast and colors can shift the more off center you are to the center of the screen.

VA panels historically have had the slowest response time of the three general LCD panel tech; TN, IPS and VA. But at 8ms it is more than fast enough to watch action movies. IPS panels can have response times as low as 5ms, but those are generally reserved for the more expensive H-IPS and S-IPS panels. The more economical e-IPS panel are 8ms, but as stated before it will be fast enough for action movies. TN panels are as fast as 2ms.

Overall, I prefer H-IPS panel monitors for general use, gaming and watching movies; I have two such monitors. I may purchase a VA panel monitor when I decide to trash my TN panel monitor; while it's was inexpensive and is only used may 6 hours per month, I guess just the fact that it's a TN panel monitor irritates me and I have somewhat high standards.

TN panels can be used to watch movies, but with the afore mentioned limited viewing angles, means at most no more than two people should be watching the movie at the same time. That shouldn't be a problem in most cases because I doubt you and a group of friends cuddled together to watch a movie on a 21.5" - 27" monitor.