Hardware The Dark Side of Overdrive

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/monitors/2009/02/06/the-dark-side-of-overdrive/1

LCD monitor manufacturers have constantly pushed response times down with overdrive technology, which increases the voltage to force the liquid crystals to change colour states faster. Sadly, there are some side effects associated with this - we explain the cause and detail how to spot the problems yourself.

 

*hums intro for fear of the dark*

I remember drama at 'CPL' when they started using TFT screens, wonder if they had such noticeable lag back then.
Interesting stuff.

 

Interesting read. This is something I was unaware of and despite having a 2405WFP, do not notice. I guess I'm lucky in that respect - or maybe just rubbish at gaming?

This now seems like buying a new monitor is a shot in the dark. I'd like to think its really only the cheaper models out there I need to be wary of, or is it?

 

Well I don't notice any odd/bad effects on my SyncMaster 226BW so I'm happy!

Good to see another "explain a technical idea simply and interestingly" article. And embedded videos too? Oh ambassador, you spoil us.

 

Cheers for the in-depth review. Not something that really concerns me though, but I know some people will read this like they breathe air.(Not sure what I meant by that)
I wonder how my two 1907fp's would look in landscape next to a 3007wfp or a 2407fp.
Anyone want to send me one so I can find out?

 

No problems with my Advent X19W. Well worth the £90 I paid for it.

 

Very well done, this article is!
I've got PVA LCD and I'm well aware of it's drawbacks. Input lag is short enough and ghosting is noticable only if you know where to look but it's not as fast as I would like(I have read rumours that Eizo's overdrive works slightly different way). But image quality is breath-taking. Especially in games like Crysis or Oblivion.
I wonder when we'll see impressive & fast display without technologies like overdrive.

 

Well I've just ordered a Dell 2408WFP, it has terrible output lag

It won't be delivered until Monday.

(Did you see what I did there?)

 

no problem on 27" Dell

 

happy that i bought it, wanted to go for 24 incher but 27 Dell is different category - colors, black levels, uniformity and of course size

 

I've got a Viewsonic VA1930wm. I loved it at first, for about a year. Then I noticed the intolerable ghosting after I set it next to a CRT.

Since then I've gone back to my flat trinitron that will do 1600x1200 @85hrtz. I've been searching for a 4:3 LCD that can keep up with my CRT. It seems as though every LCD I've looked at so far, has some form of ghosting. On a CRT, my eyes can perfectly track moving objects on screen. With LCD's, if they blur even the slightest, I lost track and often, will get a headache.

 

I have a 3007WFP-HC and as reported in the article, have never noticed input lag. It does suffer from a not-too-fast response rate and some moderate backlight bleeding. However it is still a beautiful panel which is quite good for most gaming and even for amateur colour image manipulation.

 

ah, inverse ghosting is horrible!

i used to get a little bit of that in my LG L226WTQ.

so for a TN panel, if it's spec says 5ms, that means there's no overdrive??

 

i think due to the manufacturing process they have faster pixels, no need for overdrive

nice article and very well written. it would be nice to see an in depth look at the actual processes involved in making monitors too though

 

Interesting read. I'm planning on getting a new screen soon, but the Nec MultiSync 24WMGX3 is too expensive. Any other good candidates that are cheaper?

 

What about S-PVA panels such as the BenQ FP241W? How are they different from PVA screens?

 

Ahhh, this is the audiophile agruement for PCs! Finally, WE have something to get annoyed about

But more seriously yes and no. I'm guessing because the good folks at bit-tech review and look indepth at so much stuff through their monitors, which they also reviewed, they're going to be more sensitive than the average person.

The key here is NEVER (and I mean this) look for it in your own panels. You can live for ages and not notice a thing, but once you see it, well, that's the quick way to your credit card limit.

Thanks for the article! It's makes the most complicated purchase slightly easier (or more difficult )

 

As an owner of a 2405FPW... I can say I don't actually notice any lag at all. I'm sure it's there if people say so, but I'll be damned if I can notice any lag between me moving the mouse, and it actually moving. Any lag there is is way smaller than any human response time anyway, so let's be honest, does it really matter?

I've already decided my next screen will be IPS... but not because of any issue with input lag, which if we're honest, only really effects gamers.... or so they say! No one's reaction times are so fast as to be nerfed by the lag on my monitor, and if they say they are, they're just BSing to make themselves sound "leet"

I can't comment on the Samsung as I've never seen it, and can't do the split monitor tests here, but I've tried my damnedest to notice anything in everyday and gaming use... and failed.

Aren't we in danger of pushing the industry into spending money on this problem, which IMO would be better spent investing it into producing panels with the fidelity of IPS at the price of PVA? For me, the benefits of that would outweigh 10ms of lag.

 

I bought one of these a good few months ago thinking that given its the 3rd or 4th encarnation of Dell's 24" line it would be nigh on perfect...

It lasted 5 minutes out of the box until it was put back in, sealed up and sent straight back to where it came from.

It seems i've just been incredibly lucky with TFT's and in the past had the three screens with the lowest in/output lag in existance (finally landing on my 30" Dell which I *was* going to replace with the 2408).

I noticed the lag just on the cursor on the desktop and games were unplayable for me on it.

I even looked for a new 30" that didn't fall foul to the issue but the newest 30" models all seem to have more inputs and more image processing gubbins to introduce delays, as far as i'm concerned, TFT's havn't moved forward since the 3007WFP that is god knows how many years old now!