What is an IPS Display?

1.What is an IPS Display?

IPS display refers to IPS panel, IPS (In-Plane Switching, plane switching) technology is the LCD panel technology launched by Hitachi in 2001, commonly known as “Super TFT”. It is an LCD wide viewing angle technology, which is widely used in the manufacture of LCD-TV. It can effectively improve the color difference and other problems that appear on the TN screen when the viewing angle is poor. The main manufacturers: Hitachi, LG, NEC, IPSa.

There are three types of commonly used panels for monitors: TN (Twisted Nematic), IPS (In-Plane-Switching), and VA (Vertical Alignment).

The biggest feature of the IPS panel is that its two poles are on the same plane, unlike the electrodes of other liquid crystal modes, which are arranged three-dimensionally on the upper and lower sides. This technology optimizes the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules and adopts a horizontal arrangement. When encountering external pressure, the molecular structure sags downward slightly, but the overall molecules are still horizontal.

When encountering external force, the firmness and stability of the molecular structure of the hard screen liquid crystal is far superior to that of the soft screen! Therefore, it will not produce picture distortion and affect the color of the picture, which can protect the picture effect to the greatest extent from being damaged. There is also an S-IPS panel that is an improved version of IPS.

IPS hard screen technology changes the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules, and adopts horizontal conversion technology to make the response speed of the liquid crystal screen faster and more stable. When dealing with continuous dynamic images, one of the major advantages of horizontal conversion is to speed up the deflection speed of liquid crystal molecules, which is reflected in the advantages of fast response speed of IPS hard screen, which makes the movement trajectory of the image more delicate and clearer.

2.The development of IPS panels.

The first generation of IPS technology proposes a new arrangement of liquid crystals for the disadvantages of TN mode to achieve a better viewing angle

The second-generation IPS technology (S-IPS or Super-IPS) uses herringbone electrodes and introduces a dual-domain mode to improve the grayscale reversal phenomenon of the IPS mode at certain angles.

The third-generation IPS technology (AS-IPS or advanced Super-IPS) reduces the distance between liquid crystal molecules and increases the aperture ratio to obtain higher brightness.

3. What is the working principle of IPS display?

IPS is a wide viewing angle technology. The general TN display has so-called visual problems, because the liquid crystal molecules stand up, and the brightness changes due to the different transmittances from the side, and the contrast decreases.

In IPS, the liquid crystal molecules inside do not stand up, but are twisted by a transverse electric field, so there is no asymmetry of the tilt angle of the liquid crystal molecules.

The viewing angle characteristics of this screen are the best, but the driving mode is more complicated, the response speed is slower, and it is more difficult to manufacture, and the yield rate is not high.

4. Advantages of IPS display

1). Fast response

The image movement track of the IPS screen is more delicate and clearer, which solves the problem of image smear and jitter. Displays equipped with IPS screens have better dynamic picture quality, no afterimage and smearing phenomenon, which provides a “Buff” bonus for players’ competitive experience in many games with frequent viewing angle transitions and drastic changes in the picture.

2). Large viewing angle

The viewing angle of the IPS hard screen panel can reach 178 degrees. The degree of color change when viewed from the front and from different angles is called the color distortion rate. According to the research results, the color distortion rate value obtained by the IPS hard screen is almost indistinguishable with the naked eye. out, which means that the effect of viewing the picture from the front or the side is the same.

3). True colors

The IPS screen has been praised by professionals for its more accurate color performance, especially after being used by professionals in the field of professional design, it is generally believed that the display of the IPS screen effectively reduces the error between the design and the final product sample.

4). Excellent picture

IPS hard-screen LCD TV can perform excellent dynamic high-definition pictures, especially suitable for moving image reproduction, without afterimage and smearing, it is ideal for watching digital high-definition images (especially fast-moving pictures, such as competitions, racing games and action movies). ideal carrier.

5). Touch without water marks

It can be applied to touch screen and somatosensory games.

6). Environmental protection and power saving

The liquid crystal molecules of the IPS screen are arranged horizontally, which increases the light transmittance of the liquid crystal screen and reduces the power of the backlight, thereby achieving the effect of energy saving and power saving. Generally speaking, the service life of IPS screen is more than 70,000 hours.

7). Color accurate

Because of the color inversion, brightness conversion and other properties of the IPS screen, bright, saturated and natural high-quality pictures can be seen from any angle. Relatively speaking, the IPS panel has better consistency and more details, which is suitable for ultra-high grayscale and fine display requirements.

8). Size advantage

The 42-inch LCD TV with IPS screen technology has an area of 67.58 square inches more than the 40-inch LCD screen of the old LCD, which reduces the defect of the original picture.

5. Differences between IPS, TN and VA

1). The color of IPS is accurate and the degree of reproduction is high. The VA panel has a softer picture, and the color will be lighter than that of IPS. The color performance of TN screen is poor, but the dynamic performance of TN will be stronger than that of IPS and VA. Therefore, there are many products on the market. Gaming monitors with high refresh rates all use TN panels.

2). In contrast comparison, VA has the best contrast performance, followed by IPS, and finally TN has the worst contrast performance. Contrast can be simply understood as a gradient from black to white. The more layers, the better the color performance.

3). The highest color accuracy is IPS, the VA panel is relatively soft, and the TN panel’s game screen color performance will be slightly worse.

4). If you like the color of the screen to be more accurate, you can choose an IPS screen; you can choose a TN screen for long-term use.

6. Disadvantages of IPS display.    

1). High power consumption

The reason for the high power consumption is directly related to the technical characteristics of the IPS panel. The biggest feature of the IPS panel is that its two electrodes are on the same surface, unlike other liquid crystal mode electrodes that are on the top and bottom. Two sides, three-dimensional arrangement. Since the electrodes are on the same plane, the liquid crystal molecules are always parallel to the screen in any state, which will reduce the aperture ratio and reduce the light transmittance. Therefore, IPS applications on LCDs will require more backlight brightness.

2). the drive voltage is higher

When the driving voltage is applied to the electrodes of the IPS panel, the liquid crystal molecules close to the electrodes will gain greater power, and it is no problem to quickly twist 90 degrees. However, the upper liquid crystal molecules that are far away from the electric level cannot obtain the same power and move more slowly. Only by increasing the driving voltage can the liquid crystal molecules far away from the electrodes also obtain a lot of power. Therefore, the driving voltage of IPS will be higher, generally 15V.

3). Light leakage and insufficient black purity.

There is a risk of light leakage from the edges of the screen of the IPS panel. Due to the horizontal arrangement of liquid crystal molecules, the penetration of light is weakened. In order to present bright colors more accurately, it is necessary to increase the luminosity of some backlights, so that the IPS screen has the phenomenon of light leakage. The larger the screen, the larger the area of light leakage at the edge.

4). Considering the cost, the cost of IPS screen is higher than that of other LCD screens.

7. Conclusion

IPS is also displayed based on the “liquid crystal panel”, and the way to make the liquid crystal panel display the picture is to “install the light source on the back”, and use the liquid crystal molecules under each pixel to control the amount of light transmission, so as to achieve the required mapping. display color.

As a representative of the newly developed IPS technology, Fast-IPS has been very popular in recent years. It actually speeds up the movement speed of liquid crystal molecules during the mapping process (about 4 times that of ordinary IPS), so that the color of the pixels is more accurate. The change is accelerated, and the result of this improvement is a significant increase in the refresh rate of the picture.

Nano-IPS uses a technology that enhances color performance. It adds a new layer of optical nano materials between the liquid crystal molecules and the backlight to absorb excess light in the backlight layer, thereby making the color more accurate. manifested.

IPS panels have superior true color values, the most consistent image and creamy smooth contrast。

Graphic designers prefer IPS for superior gray scale and better image quality. It is like luxury brand car compared to the others.

Major medical equipment makers like GE Medical, Philips Medical National Display, they prefer IPS because Doctors require stable color characteristic in any viewing angle.”

IPS product guarantees consistent gray scale display and luminance over a very wide viewing angle.