03 · Backlit lineage
IPS & honest color
IPS was built to fix the thing TN gets wrong. Instead of twisting light, it swings the crystals flat, in the same plane as the screen, so the picture barely moves when you do. That is the whole pitch. Look from the side, from above, from a friend's chair, and the color stays put. The trade is contrast. An IPS black is really dark gray, and in a dark room you can sometimes catch the corners glowing. Editors and anyone who shares a screen still reach for it, because color you can trust beats inky black for most of what people actually do.
Straight on, both panels look fine. Drag to swing your angle, then flip the panel type. Watch IPS hold its color while TN falls apart, the difference that put IPS in every design studio.
Station 01
Color you can trust
Color accuracy is the reason IPS exists. Here are the three color gamuts that matter, drawn over the full range your eyes can see. Flip between them to see how much of each a good IPS panel can actually show.
Station 02
The black it gives up
Contrast is where IPS loses to VA. Both screens below show the same night scene. Drag from a bright room to a dark one and watch what happens to the black.
Station 03
The glow it hides
Every upside has a catch. For IPS it is a soft haze in the corners of a dark screen when you look from an angle. Slide your viewing angle and watch it show up.
The tradeoff
What IPS nails, and what it gives up
IPS is built around color and angles. The bill comes due in the dark.
Strengths
- The widest viewing angles of any LCD, close to 178 degrees, with color that barely shifts.
- The most accurate, consistent color, which is why editors and pros trust it.
- Fast enough response for most gaming, with none of VA's dark smear.
Weaknesses
- The lowest contrast of the LCDs, around 1000 to 1, so black reads as dark gray.
- IPS glow: dark scenes haze over in the corners when you look from an angle.
- Black never looks truly black in a dark room, where VA pulls ahead.
Questions
IPS, quick answers
What is an IPS panel?
IPS stands for in-plane switching, a type of LCD where the liquid crystals rotate flat, parallel to the screen. That layout keeps color and brightness steady from almost any angle, which is why IPS is the panel people pick for color work and screens that more than one person looks at.
Why do IPS panels have worse contrast than VA?
IPS crystals cannot block the backlight as completely as VA, so the darkest black is really a dark gray. That puts most IPS panels around 1000 to 1 contrast, while VA reaches 3000 to 1 or more. In a bright room you rarely notice. In a dark room you do.
What is IPS glow?
IPS glow is a faint haze that shows up in the corners of a dark screen when you look from an angle, and it is easiest to spot in a dark room. It comes from the IPS structure leaking a little light off-axis. Almost every IPS panel has some, and it is not the same as defective backlight bleed.