Widescreen Gaming Forum

i never look at my computere monitor from anywhere except from head-on
so...i could care less about viewing angles

but.......if we talk about television lcd's then i would highly need great viewing angles, as i sit in a variety of positions while my t.v. stays in a fixed position

Not a huge issue to me, but by this time I think most LCD's should have good viewing angles all around. Just something that should be shored up and tidy eh? :wink:

Not a huge issue to me, but by this time I think most LCD's should have good viewing angles all around. Just something that should be shored up and tidy eh? :wink:

So it seems on paper, but not in real life. Manufacturers boost about their "wide viewing angles" and use it as a selling point. On the larger monitors, viewing angles become more crucial, since many have them too close and have to move head when watching it. As it is a selling point for manufacturers and retailers, so is it also a "returning point" for users.

I sold the 2405 because it was excessively bright even with the backlight on minimum.

And it had terrible viewing angles. Don't believe the number quoted in the specs (178 degrees). If you move your head 2 inches, dark tones (not black though) wash out.

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A TN panel with 150/135 in viewing angles would actually be an improvment for him then the 178/178 he bought. Don't you agree?

Specs should be a tool for users in any case. As you can see, many don't care about the specs for monitors (and more care in this poll). Those who don't care about specs for monitors, still care about specs for TV and they use the same model for reporting viewing angles (contrast less then 10).
When the tool becomes misleading as shown above, whats the point then with it unless they change it?

I don't have any issue with my present screen (L2335).

I think viewing angles comes into play very seriously when directed towards TV screens - then it becomes a ALMOST the most important issue.

While viewing angle is an important issue, I'm more concerned with things like ghosting, dead pixel policy (it should be zero or you get a new replacement free of any charges), and support.

From Alexpronko at [H]ardforums describing viewing angle issues(check the link for photo's of it):

I thought that I was being paranoid disqualifying it based on the "color wash", since everybody here seems to think that it's OK to have it (like on dell 2405). So with open mind I gave it another shot and have to say that it is unacceptable for me and I really don'tunderstand how can it not bother other people with S-PVA matrices ?! I played far cry, than watched DVD and you can clearly see loosing details when looking straight on, than details reappear when looking at slight angle but the colors also wash out. To make things worse there is this hard to describe glittering effect when looking at any gray scale colors. Even playing games it looks unnatural, anything grayish-black is glittering , like there is a flash light behind the screen there.

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I respect different opinions, but I must agree with Alexpronko. I can't understand why bad viewing angles doesn't bother some people. And, when people doesn't cry out, manufacturers doesn't prioritise getting this fixed either.
This I haven't tested yet, but maybe someone can? :) If you duplicate a detailed image into three, one on each side and one in the middle. Then you put it on a big *va based panel (24"+). They say that the image in the middle will be less detailed then the images on the side, and the images on the side will have a slightly washout. This is from looking at the screen straight on.

Considering those who screem bloody murder when there is one stuck pixel on a screen with a total of 2.304.000, one should think that they would want descent viewing angles as well and want manufacturers to do something about it.... :P

I don't really care about viewing angle on samller PC monitors (24" or under) as I'm the only one viewing it so as long as it looks fine from where I usually sit. That's perfectly fine with me.

Now for Big Screen LCD like my 37" and 42". It becomes more important as they are view by family member together but as long as it covers the 45 degree left and right well. then it's not a problem either as there's where the chairs ae at.

From Alexpronko at [H]ardforums describing viewing angle issues(check the link for photo's of it):

I thought that I was being paranoid disqualifying it based on the "color wash", since everybody here seems to think that it's OK to have it (like on dell 2405). So with open mind I gave it another shot and have to say that it is unacceptable for me and I really don'tunderstand how can it not bother other people with S-PVA matrices ?! I played far cry, than watched DVD and you can clearly see loosing details when looking straight on, than details reappear when looking at slight angle but the colors also wash out. To make things worse there is this hard to describe glittering effect when looking at any gray scale colors. Even playing games it looks unnatural, anything grayish-black is glittering , like there is a flash light behind the screen there.

link

I respect different opinions, but I must agree with Alexpronko.

I feel the same way, Tamlin. I read all 55 pages in that thread, and some people were taking shots at Alexpronko, sort of making fun of him "-what are you doing that you keep moving your head," etc.

Here's the thing about PVA and color wash (I keep calling it "screen wash" - gotta get my new terminology straight!) You don't have to move your head to see it. With my 21-inch Gateway, I could see the image shifting in tone and detail without moving my head an inch. Something in the center of the screen - a photo on a web page, a wall in a FPS, etc - would have a certain black level to it, and when I moved the photo to the side of my screen, or just walked around in the FPS, I could see it changing, getting lighter, more detailed and slightly washed out.

Once I noticed this, I couldn't stop noticing it.

But I think we should keep two things seperate - viewing angle is not always the same as color wash. What I want from a monitor is an even image across the screen whenI'm looking straight at it. I don't care what it looks like if I stand up, or lie on the floor, because I'm never going to use my monitor standing up or lying on the floor. Or use it by sitting off to the side, for that matter. I'm going to sit in my chair and face my monitor, and if it looks good like that, then hey - I'm happy.

I agree :) There are several things that can cause color wash: Bad calibration, bad viewing angles, uneven backlights and so on.

Still, viewing angles affect picture a great deal and people should get specs that reflect this. Here is another quote from behardware:

Beyond 100°, however, color intensity decreases faster. ISP (edit: IPS/s-ips/as-ips) monitors have (as written in their characteristics) almost total viewing angles, while PVA monitors do not. So, it isn´t logical to us that both technologies have equivalent viewing angles on paper, 178°. We already said that many times, this is due to the "norms" that are used by manufacturers and aren´t representative of real results. Figures for 5:1 or even 10:1 don´t really even have a point.

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And I agree. Todays viewing angle specs are not logical and even pointless.

Another interesting link from Behardware:

Another problem with this measure is that it only relates to one point in the middle of the monitor. With one eye positioned in a zero angle, compared to the center of the monitor, there is already a difference of a couple of degrees with the edges of the monitor. With a TN monitor over 20° angle for vertical viewing from below, the center of the image will still be OK but the top of the image will start to darken.

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On TN's they darken, on *VA's they loose detail when looking straight on the screen at 0 degree angle... This increases with size of screen if distance is the same to the screen.
In other words, still not a "perfect" image when looking directly at screen. Does anyone that voted 1 feel that they want to change their votes? ;)