lcd panel test video brands

Back in 2016, to determine if the TV panel lottery makes a significant difference, we bought three different sizes of the Samsung J6300 with panels from different manufacturers: a 50" (version DH02), a 55" (version TH01), and a 60" (version MS01). We then tested them with the same series of tests we use in all of our reviews to see if the differences were notable.

Our Samsung 50" J6300 is a DH02 version, which means the panel is made by AU Optronics. Our 55" has an original TH01 Samsung panel. The panel in our 60" was made by Sharp, and its version is MS01.

Upon testing, we found that each panel has a different contrast ratio. The 50" AUO (DH02) has the best contrast, at 4452:1, followed by the 60" Sharp (MS01) at 4015:1. The Samsung 55" panel had the lowest contrast of the three: 3707:1.

These results aren"t really surprising. All these LCD panels are VA panels, which usually means a contrast between 3000:1 and 5000:1. The Samsung panel was quite low in that range, leaving room for other panels to beat it.

The motion blur results are really interesting. The response time of the 55" TH01 Samsung panel is around double that of the Sharp and AUO panels. This is even consistent across all 12 transitions that we measured.

For our measurements, a difference in response time of 10 ms starts to be noticeable. All three are within this range, so the difference isn"t very noticeable to the naked eye, and the Samsung panel still performs better than most other TVs released around the same time.

We also got different input lag measurements on each panel. This has less to do with software, which is the same across each panel, and more to do with the different response times of the panels (as illustrated in the motion blur section). To measure input lag, we use the Leo Bodnar tool, which flashes a white square on the screen and measures the delay between the signal sent and the light sensor detecting white. Therefore, the tool"s input lag measurement includes the 0% to 100% response time of the pixel transition. If you look at the 0% to 100% transitions that we measured, you will see that the 55" takes about 10 ms longer to transition from black to white.

All three have bad viewing angles, as expected for VA panels. If you watch TV at an angle, most likely none of these TVs will satisfy you. The picture quality degrades at about 20 degrees from the side. The 60" Sharp panel is worse than the other ones though. In the video, you can see the right side degrading sooner than the other panels.

While we didn"t test these TVs for gray uniformity, black uniformity, or out-of-the-box color accuracy, these can also vary between individual units due to manufacturing tolerances. Still, we can make some assumptions that the experiment bears out:

It"s unfortunate that manufacturers sometimes vary the source of their panels and that consumers don"t have a way of knowing which one they"re buying. Overall though, at least in the units we tested, the panel lottery isn"t something to worry about. While there are differences, the differences aren"t big and an original Samsung panel isn"t necessarily better than an outsourced one. It"s also fairly safe to say that the same can be said of other brands. All panels have minute variations, but most should perform within the margin of error for each model.

The Samsung QN90B QLED is the best TV with an LED panel we"ve tested. It"s an impressive TV with amazing picture quality and a great selection of gaming features. It uses a Mini LED backlight, with way more dimming zones than most LED TVs, which allows for greater control over the local dimming feature for better dark room performance, with less distracting blooming around bright objects. It also gets exceptionally bright, meaning it can handle lots of glare in a bright room.

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The Hisense U8H matches the excellent brightness and color performance of much pricier LCD TVs, and its Google TV smart platform is a welcome addition. But it’s available in only three screen sizes.

The Hisense U8H is the best LCD/LED TV for most people because it delivers the performance of a much pricier TV yet starts at under $1,000, for the smallest (55-inch) screen size. This TV utilizes quantum dots, a full-array backlight with mini-LEDs, and a 120 Hz refresh rate to deliver a great-looking 4K HDR image. It’s compatible with every major HDR format. And it’s equipped with two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 inputs to support 4K 120 Hz gaming from the newest Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Add in the intuitive, fully featured Google TV smart-TV platform, and the U8H’s price-to-performance ratio is of inarguable value.

Chief among the U8H’s many strengths is its impressive peak brightness. When sending it HDR test patterns, I measured an average brightness of 1,500 nits, with peaks just north of 1,800 nits (a measurement of luminance; see TV features, defined for more info). To put that into perspective, consider that the 65-inch version of our budget 4K TV pick (the TCL 5-Series) typically costs around half as much as the 65-inch U8H but achieves only around 30% to 40% of its brightness. On the other side of the coin, the 65-inch version of our upgrade pick (the Samsung QN90B) costs almost twice as much as the 65-inch U8H, but it achieves only nominally higher brightness. Adequate light output creates convincing highlights and image contrast and (when necessary) combats ambient light from lamps or windows. It is a necessity for any TV worth buying—especially if you hope to watch HDR movies or play HDR games—and the U8H simply outpaces most TVs in its price range (and some in the next price bracket up, too).

That’s not to say the U8H has pixel-precise light control—it’s not an OLED TV, after all—but it does a terrific job most of the time. In fact, in our tests, the U8H bested last year’s upgrade pick, the Samsung QN90A, in certain scenarios: The intro to Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix features the filmmaker against a pitch-black backdrop. Though last year’s QN90A failed to maintain perfect control over dimming elements during this scene (the black backdrop brightened distractingly once a sufficient amount of brighter content appeared on screen), the U8H did not. (For the record, the newer QN90B also passed this test.) The U8H’s mini-LEDs also help the screen look uniformly bright: Although the U8H is still not as good as an OLED TV in this respect, it shows very little indication of being a backlight-driven display, even during tricky scenes with large swaths of dim lighting.

The U8H’s brightness, black-level integrity, and local-dimming abilities make this an excellent TV for watching HDR content. The U8H is capable of playing HDR content in all of the major formats (HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG), but when it comes to impressive HDR, what’s under the hood is much more important than format compatibility. The most crucial thing for good HDR is high brightness and deep color saturation, and the U8H’s quantum dots achieve the latter. It’s not as simple as just having quantum dots, however: While many TVs (even the budget options) have quantum dots nowadays, what is often not taken into account is that brightness directly affects color saturation. For example, both the 2022 TCL 6-Series and the Hisense U8H are equipped with quantum dots, mini-LED backlights, and local dimming. But because the U8H is notably brighter than the 6-Series, it also achieves a higher total color volume. During our color-volume testing, the U8H exhibited color ranges at more than 100% of the DCI-P3 color space (the range of color needed to properly display HDR content), and it is capable of roughly 10% more total color volume compared with the 6-Series.

What does this mean in real-world terms? It means that the Hisense U8H truly excels as a modern 4K HDR TV, whether you’re watching the latest episode of Rings of Power or playing Overwatch 2. While watching HDR content side by side on the U8H and on our upgrade pick, the Samsung QN90B, I was truly surprised by how similar they looked at times, given that our upgrade pick is much more expensive. That said, though the U8H achieves impressive results where light output and color volume are concerned, it also exhibited some occasional video processing and upscaling issues (see Flaws but not dealbreakers), which videophiles and AV enthusiasts may take umbrage with. But in general, the picture quality punches well above its weight, metaphorically speaking.

And thanks to Hisense’s inclusion of Filmmaker Mode, it’s easy to rein in the U8H’s brightness abilities for a more-subdued and filmic experience in a darker room. Our measurements revealed that this mode has a very accurate white balance, mostly accurate colors (green is a bit oversaturated, but not egregiously so), and a perfect “dark room” gamma (which controls how quickly the video signal transitions from dark to light). Additionally, the TV’s 120 Hz refresh rate means it can play Blu-ray discs at 24 fps without the judder that’s usually present on TVs with 60 Hz refresh rates.

In terms of design, the Hisense U8H is not as svelte as our upgrade pick, but it’s plenty sturdy and doesn’t look or feel cheap. Two narrow, metal feet jut out from beneath the panel and steadily hold the TV. They can be attached in two separate spots, either closer in toward the middle of the panel or out toward the edges, to account for different-size TV stands. The feet are also equipped with cable organization clasps—a nice touch for keeping your TV stand free of cable clutter. Though the TV is primarily plastic, its bezels are lined with metal strips, providing a bit more durability in the long run. I moved it around my home, and it was no worse for wear, but we’ll know more after doing some long-term testing.

The Hisense U8H has some difficulties with banding, or areas of uneven gradation, where transitions that should appear smooth instead look like “bands” of color (sometimes also called posterization). Like many current 4K HDR TVs, the U8H uses an 8-bit panel rather than a 10-bit panel, which affects the color decoding and color presentation process. This is usually relevant only with HDR video and games. When playing games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, I saw a few instances where the content wasn’t rendered correctly and displayed ugly splotches of color on the screen. However, this almost always occurred during static screens (such as a pause menu or loading screen); I rarely spotted it during actual gameplay. Hisense has stated that it would address the problem in a future firmware update, but at the time of writing it was still present. This is a flaw that may give dedicated gamers pause, but we don’t consider it to be a dealbreaker for most people.

I also saw occasional instances of banding with TV shows and movies, though they were few and far between. The U8H isn’t the best at upscaling sub-4K content, so videos with a 1080p or lower resolution looked a little soft. You can get better overall video processing and upscaling by springing for our upgrade pick (this is one reason it’s more expensive, after all).

Finally, like most TVs that use vertical alignment (VA) LCD panels, the U8H has a limited horizontal viewing angle, which may be a bit annoying if you’re hoping to entertain a large crowd. Our upgrade pick uses a special wide-angle technology to address this.

Looking for the best video editing monitor? With video resolution, color fidelity, bit rate and dynamic range constantly evolving, you need to make sure you"re viewing and editing your footage on a monitor that can keep up with the recording quality of your camera. In this guide we rank the best monitors, prioritizing key features like color accuracy, resolution and brightness uniformity, so you can be sure you"re getting the very best view of your footage.

High definition digital video is now recorded in two main color standards: Rec. 709, and DCI-P3. Ensure your chosen monitor can display as close to 100% of the colors in these recording standards as possible. DCI-P3 has the wider color gamut (more colors) and therefore you"ll need to splash out on a higher quality display if you want near-full reproduction of this color space.

Dell produces several excellent monitors for video editing, but the U3223QE offers the best value of them all. This 31.5-inch panel can display 100% of the sRGB color space, but more importantly for video, there"s 100% Rec. 709 coverage and 98% DCI-P3 coverage - the latter being exceptional.

Add an excellent, highly adjustable stand, and a USB 3 hub and you really won"t find a better quality monitor for video editing without spending considerably more.

Sure, this screen isn"t exactly "cheap", but if you"re serious about video editing, you need wide color space coverage so you"re able to see as much color as possible in your footage. Seriously cut-price screens just can"t display enough colors for accurate color grading, but with 100% Rec. 709 and an impressive 98% DCI-P3 color coverage, the Dell UltraSharp U2723E comes close to much pricier displays for color accuracy.

It also packs 10-bit color depth and an excellent 2000:1 maximum contrast ratio, all inside a smart case with ‘InfinityEdge’ ultra-thin bezels. Video ports include HDMI, DisplayPort, plus there"s a built-in USB 3.0 hub and 2x USB-C ports, one of which can supply up to 90w of power to an attached laptop.

As we"d expect from a premium IPS-based monitor, the U2723QE"s image quality impresses right out of the box, with excellent color vibrancy, contrast intensity and uniformity, none of which shifts if you change your viewing angle. During our testing we also found Dell"s color space coverage claims to be spot-on, as was the factory-calibrated Delta E color accuracy of <2. Even color and brightness uniformity were top notch.

Built-in reference modes match most of those on the Pro Display XDR, to the point where it’s possible to run them side-by-side with little noticeable difference between the two when producing non-HDR content. The calibration and fine-tuning options to customise those modes are also welcome, enabling precise matching to other screens in use. For SDR content, the Studio Display’s 600 nits of brightness easily outperform the equivalent offerings from others such as LG’s 4k 27” UltraFine screen – and there is constant brightness across the panel with an extremely wide viewing angle.

Like HP"s DreamColor Z31x, this is also a 17:9 aspect ratio panel with a native 4096 x 2160 resolution for displaying Cinema 4K footage. 99% AdobeRGB coverage and 98% DCI-P3 coverage ensure you"re seeing a near-flawless color reproduction of your video and images, and there are preset modes for all common video color space standards.

Curved monitors often use VA (Vertical Alignment) LCD tech, which can"t provide the color, contrast and viewing angle consistency of an IPS (In-Plane Switching) LCD display. But Dell has pulled out all the stops and equipped the U4021QW with a 10-bit curved IPS LCD panel with 178/178-degree viewing angles.

What"s more, where most curved ultrawide screens are based around VA panels - an LCD technology which tends to trail IPS screen tech when it comes to color and contrast consistency - the PD3420Q"s superior IPS LCD panel boasts 178/178-degree viewing angles, a 5ms GtG response time, and it can display 1.07 billion colors.

The 16:9 aspect ratio used to be considered wide in the monitor world, then we got 21:9, and now this, the widest ultrawide monitor on the market, with an eye-popping 32:9 ratio. This is a monitor targeted mainly at gamers, but it also makes sense for videographers.

Keen fans of mathematics may have worked out that the 32:9 ratio makes this screen twice as wide as a 16:9 panel, meaning you could display full width 16:9 footage in one half of the screen, while editing software comfortably on the other side.

Not all monitors really need to be curved, but being a whopping 49-inches wide, the CHG90 really benefits from its 1800R curvature. Video color space coverage isn"t quoted, but 99% sRGB and 92% AdobeRGB from this wide-gamut 10-bit display are respectable figures. Less appealing is the monitor is based around a VA-type panel, which won"t quite have the color and contrast uniformity of an IPS screen. But that"s the trade-off for getting so much screen real estate.

We evaluate a monitor with particular attention given to its core image quality, including brightness, contrast, color vibrancy and accuracy. While this can - and will - be assessed by the experienced eye of our professional reviewer, some manufacturer screen specs can only be definitively judged by an "electronic eye" - a monitor calibrator. Where possible, a calibration device will be placed on the screen to verify its advertised color space coverage, brightness output and consistency, and factory color calibration accuracy. Beyond image quality, we"ll also scrutinise the monitor"s display and data ports to ensure acceptable connectivity, and will give a thorough assessment of build quality, including the range of ergonomic adjustment in its stand. Only then will we determine if a screen is worthy of use by a discerning imaging or video enthusiast.Round up of today"s best deals

Display and Video 360 experiments is an integrated testing framework that helps you start A/B testing on an individual or a group of creatives, audiences, bid strategies, or targeting tactics by comparing insertion orders or line items.

You can split cookies into mutually exclusive groups and experiments to test different combinations for targeting, settings, and creatives to discover which perform best. Use these findings to optimize the performance of campaigns mid-flight or for planning future campaigns.

Display & Video 360 uses user-based identifiers to help your experiments adapt to third-party deprecation by using backup identifiers for diversion when a third-party ID isn’t available. This increases the chances of having one identifier available for any one ad impression.

The line item or insertion order that controls the standard for comparisons in the experiment. You can make variants and compare them against the original baseline for testing.

Used in determining the result"s statistical significance to test the probability that there"s a real performance difference between the baseline and variant:

Navigate to the Diff tab to review the differences between the branches of an experiment. This allows you to see if the only difference is the variable you are testing with. You can correct any differences before the experiment goes live, removing potential bias or the risk of experiment providing irrelevant results. When variant arms have more than one line item, Display & Video 360 will auto-match comparisons based on the minimum number of differences observed.

Only test 1 variable per experiment. Keep all arms of the experiment (baseline and any variants) the same, except for a single variable that you"re testing.

Create insertion orders or line items for your experiments by duplicating them, rather than creating them from scratch. This makes it easier to ensure that the items in your experiments are identical, except for the single dimension you"re testing as a variable.

Experiments in Display & Video 360 lets you split traffic at the insertion order or line item level, which can test any setting or targetable dimension beyond just creatives.

Experiments in Display & Video 360 lets you compare advertising campaign tactics such as targeting and settings, while Google Optimize lets you compare different sites or landing pages.

Experiments in Display & Video 360 uses a frequentist model similar to other performance measurement solutions for advertisements, while Google Optimize uses a Bayesian model that"s better suited to manage low sample size comparisons.

Advanced LED video wall with MicroLED models in 0.6, 0.7 and 0.9mm pixel pitches, and 1.2mm pixel pitch standard LED; with powerful processing, proprietary alignment technology and off-board electronics.

Planar® CarbonLight™ VX Series is comprised of carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility, available in 1.9 and 2.6mm pixel pitch (wall) and 2.6mm (floor).

Advanced LED video wall with MicroLED models in 0.6, 0.7 and 0.9mm pixel pitches, and 1.2mm pixel pitch standard LED; with powerful processing, proprietary alignment technology and off-board electronics.

Advanced LED video wall with MicroLED models in 0.6, 0.7 and 0.9mm pixel pitches, and 1.2mm pixel pitch standard LED; with powerful processing, proprietary alignment technology and off-board electronics.

LED video wall solution with advanced video wall processing, off-board electronics, front serviceable cabinets and outstanding image quality available in 0.9mm pixel pitch

Planar® CarbonLight™ VX Series is comprised of carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility, available in 1.9 and 2.6mm pixel pitch (wall) and 2.6mm (floor).

Carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility for various installations including virtual production and extended reality.

a line of extreme and ultra-narrow bezel LCD displays that provides a video wall solution for demanding requirements of 24x7 mission-critical applications and high ambient light environments

Dell offers a Premium Panel Exchange that ensures zero "bright pixel" defects on Dell Consumer, Professional, UltraSharp, and Gaming including Alienware monitors.

Unyielding commitment to quality and customer satisfaction has driven Dell to offer a Premium Panel Exchange as part of the standard limited hardware warranty. Even if one bright pixel is found, a free monitor exchange is supported during the limited hardware warranty period.

Premium Panel Exchange is available for Dell Consumer, Professional, UltraSharp, and Gaming (including Alienware) monitors that are sold with computers or as stand-alone units, with a standard 1-year or 3-year limited hardware warranty. Customers who purchase an extended warranty can also take advantage of this coverage during the limited hardware warranty period.

In this quick guide we’ll cover what Dirty Screen Effect looks like, what’s happening on a technical level, and what, if anything, you can do to get rid of it. We’ll also touch on the notion of the so-called “panel lottery” and how that plays into how clean — or dirty — your new TV screen might look.

Dirty Screen Effect (DSE) is a term that’s used to describe an LCD panel that has inconsistent luminance performance across its surface area. It can appear as random splotches, uniform lines, wide bars, and, in some cases, vignetting (a slight darkening toward the corners). DSE once plagued plasma TV panels as well. But since those are no longer in production, we’ll keep this explainer focused on LCD-based TVs.

As a reminder, any TV that uses an LED backlight also uses an LCD panel, so TVs marketed as LED, QLED, and mini-LED are all susceptible. Due to what causes DSE on a technical level, some may argue it can only apply to LCD-based TVs. However, similar effects can be seen in OLED-based displays — thus the term is often applied — so we’ll include those types of TVs as well, but address them separately.

Some DSE is severe and some is so faint you may not notice it unless you look hard for it. As a very clear example of what DSE looks like when exposed by testing slides, we’ve included an example below.

There are a number of factors stemming from the manufacturing of an LCD panel that can cause Dirty Screen Effect, from variance in backlight distribution to variance in TFT switching for sub-pixels, to variance in conductivity and/or capacitance of transparent electrodes. That’s super-nerdy, though, and the actual cause is less important than the common theme here: inconsistency.

In panel manufacturing, there are numerous variables that can be introduced that would cause an LCD panel to have groups of pixels that shine less bright than others. This variance is, unfortunately, part of the tech that makes our TVs. And the manner in which different manufacturers handle that variance is also … you guessed it: Varied.

Dirty Screen Effect also can be caused by damage to the panel in shipping or mishandling of the TV during the setup or installation process. Generally speaking, it’s recommended one avoids “pinching” or otherwise exerting pressure on the front of the TV screen.

From what I’ve seen, DSE — ranging from insignificant to severe — seems fairly common among newly manufactured LCD-based televisions, due primarily to the nature of LCD panel manufacturing. Very broadly, the less expensive a TV is, the more likely it is to exhibit some level of DSE. More expensive TVs are not immune to the issue, but some manufacturers have tighter quality assurance tolerances for their high-end products so — again, very broadly speaking — DSE tends to be less prevalent among those models.

DSE as a symptom of age is virtually impossible to track, however — again, anecdotally — I have witnessed DSE creep into a TV’s display panel slowly over time and worsen with age. I’ve seen it happen in TVs I own, TVs friends and family have owned, and TVs installed in commercial environments such as hotels and bars.

First, a warning: Once you see DSE on your TV, it’s tough to “un-see.” So, if you are happy with your TV’s performance and wish to stay that way, then you may wish to subscribe to the “ignorance is bliss” theory and forego the following tests.

If, however, you suspect that your new TV may have levels of DSE that you deem to be unacceptable, you can use this YouTube video (also posted at the top of this article) to look for signs of DSE. In our video, we not only provide testing slides that help to expose DSE, but guide you on how to spot it.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to eliminate DSE. Some websites suggest loosening the screws on the back of a TV to lessen the strain on the panel. We do not recommend this tactic as it could stand to void an active warranty. Also, it’s not very likely to work.

Most TVs offer a “game mode” which, due to its tendency to brighten everything on-screen, can help to obscure DSE. But this is really just a Band-Aid measure. The DSE is still there, but it may be less obvious. Another somewhat helpful tip to reduce the appearance of DSE in LCD panels is to view the TV from as direct an angle as possible. As you move off-axis (view a TV from an angle) DSE tends to become more obvious.

The so-called “panel lottery” refers to the game TV buyers unwittingly play when purchasing a TV. Sometimes you “win the panel lottery,” which is a way of saying that the TV you got was in especially pristine shape and shows no signs of DSE. It’s also a term used to easily express that there’s such a variance in panel quality that it’s virtually impossible you’ll win a perfect panel. In other words, it’s all up to chance.

DisplayTester makes it possible to test almost every aspect of your device"s LCD/OLED screen. Using Google Cast it is possible to test the display quality of your TV. It is designed to allow full screen testing also on devices with soft keys (hiding the soft keys in ICS and later, immersive mode in KitKat and later).

Here we would like to show you a simple method to check LCD display quality. You can get a good idea of whether the basic display quality is good or bad just by looking at how some simple test images are displayed, just like in the introductory quiz. First of all, we would like you to get a sense of how important it is that "image data can be properly displayed" by checking the display of the LCD that you currently use, (that"s right, the one you are using to view this page!).

The test items use colour / monochrome patterned images to check gradation expression, and simple images to check brightness / chromaticity variation. Downloads are available of several test images, such as gradation patterns. We would like you to display the downloaded test images in photo retouching software or a viewer that can reproduce colour accurately. As we mentioned at the start of this article, you have to be careful as in many cases colours cannot be displayed accurately in web browsers. (Currently only a few browsers such as Safari and Firefox 3.x can handle colour management).

Before starting your visual check of the display quality, please return to your LCD"s setting to default, and select Adobe RGB or sRGB as the image quality mode. If these modes are not available it is fine to set the colour temperature to 6500K and gamma to 2.2. If you cannot adjust the colour temperature and gamma, simply adjust the brightness and contrast so that they are easier to discern. Of course, if it"s an LCD environment that has been colour calibrated it"s OK to leave it as it is.

The average LCD takes some time for the monitor to stabilize after it is switched on so, after start up, please wait at least 30 minutes or so before doing the test. (Most EIZO monitors are an exception to this as they are equipped with our proprietary dimming function and the monitor stabilizes in a short time after start up.)