Comparing VA and IPS Matrix

Mod­ern lap­tops and mon­i­tors use two types of matri­ces — VA and IPS. The first is cheap­er, the sec­ond is more expen­sive. But the dif­fer­ence between them is not lim­it­ed to price.

Matri­ces dif­fer in design and per­for­mance char­ac­ter­is­tics — col­or repro­duc­tion, view­ing angle, response speed, bright­ness and oth­er para­me­ters. There­fore, if you plan to buy a lap­top or mon­i­tor for any “spe­cial” pur­pos­es, such as com­put­er games or graph­ic design.

Differences between VA and IPS matrices

All the dif­fer­ences between the two types of matri­ces — VA and IPS — can be sum­ma­rized in one com­par­a­tive table:

In gen­er­al, there is no fun­da­men­tal dif­fer­ence between VA and IPS. How­ev­er, in some cas­es it is bet­ter to select only a cer­tain type of matrix.

Comparison between VA and IPS in most parameters

So, to com­pare VA and IPS, we select the fol­low­ing para­me­ters:

1. Illu­mi­na­tion uni­for­mi­ty;

2. Black Depth;

3. Con­trast;

4. Col­or effi­cien­cy when work­ing with HDR;

5. view­ing angle;

6. Response speed.

Illumination Uniformity

It should imme­di­ate­ly be not­ed that the lev­el of back­light uni­for­mi­ty depends not so much on the matrix itself, but on the qual­i­ty of the mon­i­tor itself. But if we imag­ine that the qual­i­ty of the LED pan­el (which can be locat­ed both direct­ly behind the lay­er of col­or pix­els and along its edges) is the same, then a com­par­i­son can be made.

The VA tech­nol­o­gy itself pro­vides a more uni­form pix­el spac­ing, which makes the back­light appear even, with­out any white or yel­low patch­es towards the edges. But IPS can have small “skews”, which are often locat­ed direct­ly in the cor­ners of the screen. How­ev­er, if the dis­play is of high qual­i­ty, the back­light will be uni­form.

But if absolute­ly uni­form illu­mi­na­tion is required — for exam­ple, if you spend a lot of time at a com­put­er or TV and look not at “one point”, but run your eyes around the screen, then it is bet­ter to choose VA.

Black Depth

Here the clear leader is VA. In 2019, the min­i­mum black bright­ness on such matri­ces is about 0.015 nits. And for IPS, this para­me­ter is 0.075 nits.

It is self-evi­dent that VA pro­vides deep­er and more nat­ur­al blacks. This is impor­tant when work­ing in dim­ly lit rooms, view­ing con­trast­ing images and films. In addi­tion, in some cas­es — for exam­ple, when work­ing with HDR con­tent — deep­er blacks pro­vide an increased visu­al “cin­e­mat­ic” image.

Contrast

And here VA is also in the lead. Sta­t­ic con­trast ratio — the dif­fer­ence between the bright­ness of a white and black point — on such screens can be up to 3500: 1, pre­cise­ly because of the deep black col­or.

But the max­i­mum sta­t­ic con­trast ratio of IPS matri­ces is much less and amounts to 1500:1.

The increased con­trast of VA matri­ces pro­vides both a high “cin­e­mat­ic” image and some­what reduces eye fatigue dur­ing pro­longed work at the cor­re­spond­ing mon­i­tor. In addi­tion, it visu­al­ly increas­es the detail of images.

Color efficiency (when working with and without HDR)

HDR tech­nol­o­gy — an expand­ed range of shades — helps to make images more impres­sive, sat­u­rat­ed and “juicy”. How­ev­er, the qual­i­ty of improve­ment large­ly depends on the matrix itself.

Due to the increased con­trast, VA pan­els pro­vide bet­ter col­or per­for­mance than IPS, but only when run­ning with­out HDR. It is worth includ­ing an extend­ed range of shades — and IPS “show their pow­er.” Of course, shal­low darks remain shal­low no mat­ter how much you want to improve them, but bright col­ors and shades become much more sat­u­rat­ed, impres­sive and sim­ply beau­ti­ful.

In addi­tion, IPS pan­els sup­port pro­fes­sion­al cal­i­bra­tion. For exam­ple, “fit­ting” to the sRGB gamut, which is the gen­er­al­ly accept­ed stan­dard when work­ing with graph­ic and web design.

In this way:

1. If you do not plan to work with HDR con­tent or plan very rarely, you should choose VA;

2. If you plan to work with HDR con­tent on a reg­u­lar basis or if you need to cal­i­brate to sRGB, then IPS is a bet­ter choice.

Viewing angle

And here the absolute leader is IPS. Matri­ces of this type pro­vide a view­ing angle of up to 178 degrees, and regard­less of the direc­tion of view, the col­ors will be real­is­tic and nat­ur­al. At VA already at an angle of 20–25 degrees there is a slight “shift of shades”, and after 50 degrees it becomes very notice­able.

There­fore, if you plan to look direct­ly at a mon­i­tor or TV, you can choose VA. But for greater free­dom of action, IPS is rec­om­mend­ed.

Response speed

And accord­ing to this para­me­ter, VA is clear­ly in the lead. Dis­plays of this type have a response speed of 1 mil­lisec­ond. There­fore, the mon­i­tors equipped with them are well suit­ed for gamers and fans of films with numer­ous dynam­ic scenes.

IPS dis­plays have a response time of 3 mil­lisec­onds. They are not well suit­ed for e‑sports, as in intense bat­tles, a trail remains behind objects on the screen.

Which is better to choose — VA or IPS?

If you have a choice between matri­ces of this type, then you should first of all deter­mine what you will use the mon­i­tor, TV or lap­top for.

IPS screens are great for:

1. Design­ers and artists. They not only sup­port sRGB cal­i­bra­tion, but also pro­vide nat­ur­al trans­mis­sion. What you see on the mon­i­tor is what you get on paper;

2. Own­ers of PlaySta­tion 4 Pro, oth­er lat­est gen­er­a­tion con­soles, graph­ics cards with HDR sup­port. Despite the desat­u­rat­ed black, the oth­er shades are brighter and rich­er.

VA screens, in turn, will be a good solu­tion for:

1. eSports­men. The min­i­mum response time decides;

2. Peo­ple who have to work a lot with doc­u­ments. Increased con­trast improves text read­abil­i­ty and reduces eye strain;

3. Lovers of “deep black”, espe­cial­ly in films.

4. How­ev­er, there is no fun­da­men­tal dif­fer­ence between VA and IPS. Both of these dis­play tech­nolo­gies pro­vide high image qual­i­ty.