TFT display vs IPS display are the two display technologies on LCD monitors that have been keeping a lot of buzz on Reddit (social platform). In the display market, consumers are often confused about TFT vs. IPS technology and don’t know how to choose. Next, we will make a detailed comparison between TFT display and IPS display from several angles.
What is TFT display?
TFT display panel is made of two pieces of glass substrate will liquid crystal sandwiched together, looks like a “sandwich bread”. When the electric current passes through the thin-film transistor in the lower layer, the liquid crystal molecules will be deflected, and at this time, if the light and dark state of the pixels are adjusted by the polarizer, and combined with the upper glass substrate and the color filter, a full-color picture will be formed.
TFT LCD displayWhat is IPS display?
IPS display technology is a “flat switching” technology developed by Hitachi, Japan, and is the dominant technology in LCDs today.
Ips Lcd DisplayTFT Display and IPS Display Same Characteristics
Both TFT and IPS displays are active matrix displays that cannot emit light on their own like LED or OLED displays, and therefore require the assistance of a backlight to produce an image. While traditional LCD displays usually use cold cathode fluorescent tubes or hot cathode fluorescent tubes, the new generation of LCDs use more energy-efficient LEDs as the backlight, and therefore tend to consume much less energy than traditional liquid crystal displays. Whether it is a TFT display or IPS display, it requires RGB color filters to produce colors. When we zoom in to view the screen of the display, we can see a pixel dot that makes up the display.
The Ips Has A 180 Degree Viewing AngleTFT display vs. IPS display: viewing angle
A normal TFT display has a viewing angle of about 170 degrees, which means that when you view it from the side, the picture will be significantly distorted. Unless you spend a higher price on a high-end TFT display, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to enjoy high-definition picture quality when multiple people are viewing the screen together.
In contrast, IPS display has changed the steering of the traditional liquid crystal molecules, and its horizontal and vertical viewing angles have reached 180°. We do not affect the display effect of the screen regardless of the direction from which it is viewed.
TFT display vs. IPS display: contrast ratio
LCD’s contrast value = display on brightness / display off brightness
IPS displays use Twisted Nematic (TN) mode, which makes it difficult for light to penetrate and look darker when the display is off. When turned on, IPS displays are able to increase the brightness value to 800 nits or more, TFT is nits are usually only up to 650 nits, so the overall contrast value of an IPS display will be a bit higher than a TFT display.
TFT display vs. IPS Displays: Color Clarity
Both IPS and TFT displays have a clear color display, and we can’t tell the difference with the naked eye. However, if we do a fine comparison through the instrument, we can see that the crystal curvature arrangement of IPS display is better, so in the display industry usually consider IPS display will be more advanced than TFT display.
TFT display vs. IPS display: response time
In the early days of IPS display, the response time was generally much slower than that of TFT due to the reaction time required for the liquid crystal molecules to convert. However, with the iteration of technology, IPS display by compressing the structural layer of liquid crystal molecules, can make the current to activate the liquid crystal molecules faster, its response time has long exceeded the TFT display.
TFT display vs. IPS display: cost
The TFT display has been around for a long time, and the technology and supply chain are very mature, so naturally the cost will be much lower than IPS display. Secondly, IPS itself is based on the development of TFT technology, in the process of improving the need to pay high research and development costs, this part of the cost will naturally be ultimately passed on to consumers.
In addition, in the market application, IPS display is usually used in the professional field or high-end games, these application scenarios on the screen refresh rate, response speed, picture quality, etc. have very strict requirements, so the cost of IPS display will naturally be much higher than TFT display.
TFT display vs. IPS display: energy consumption
However, whenever it comes to technology and products related to the display industry, it is inevitable that its energy consumption will be evaluated. Since IPS display needs to drive the liquid crystal molecules to make changes, it is obvious that IPS needs to consume more energy than TFT. And in order to adapt to the needs of some specialized fields, IPS display often need to add more expansion interface, these interfaces will make the device need to consume more power.
TFT display vs. IPS display: privacy
From the visual experience, TFT display is not as good as IPS display, but on the contrary, from the point of view of privacy, IPS display is not as good as TFT display. Because TFT display from the side of the screen, can not clearly see the content, which can play a certain role in preventing prying eyes, and we give the phone to paste the anti-peep film has the same thing.
TFT display vs. IPS display: image ghosting
Image ghosting is a serious display problem, which can make our monitor very difficult to use. However, image ghosting has nothing to do with IPS or TFT, it is usually caused by the LCD manufacturer is production process or incompatibility with the computer graphics card.
Conclusion
Through the above detailed comparison, I believe you have an in-depth understanding of IPS and TFT, next, we will do a summary:
- IPS and TFT are LCD a display technology, which IPS is based on TFT to do further improvements
- IPS contrast, color clarity, viewing angle are better than TFT
- TFT cost and energy consumption is lower than IPS, if not professional applications, TFT monitors usually have a higher cost-effective.
- image ghosting problem is usually caused by the LCD manufacturer’s reasons, and display technology has nothing to do.
