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What do response time, frame rate, and refresh rate mean? It can be unclear knowing what to look for in a monitor. While shopping for a monitor, you should consider many factors, including the response time.
We created this monitor features cheat sheet so that your search for a new monitor is quick and easy. You can also check out ViewSonic Elite gaming monitors here. Here’s what you need to know about the response time of monitors and how it can affect your monitor viewing experience.
It can be unclear to figure out what to look for in a monitor when it comes to response time. This is because it is one of the most overlooked features, as it does not provide much for the average user. Your monitor’s response time describes how long it takes for colors to change from one to another. However, if you are looking for a gaming monitor or in a field where motion-dependent objects are heavily used, response time can be critical.
Overview of Response Time for Monitor
The response time of a monitor is the amount of time it takes to switch from one Color to another. For example, a millisecond (ms) is generally used to measure the time it takes for a picture to go from black to white to black again. Grey-to-gray (GtG) can also occur and black-to-white in some instances.
The average time it takes for black to white to black is 10ms. To give you one more reference point, LCD screens have response times of less than ten milliseconds. However, the shorter the response time, the better the image and motion production. However, the responsiveness of some panel types is better than others, with TN panels typically being more responsive than IPS panels. However, this is changing, especially with nano-IPS panels.
Black to White to Black
The standard response time indicator is black to white to black. Taking the time from fully engaged (white) to inactive (black) back to fully engaged (white) is the black to white to black measure. The time it takes for a pixel to change Color can be determined using this measurement. The total time of a liquid-crystal display, for example, is how quickly the liquid-crystal rises and then falls.
The response time from black to white to black is higher, meaning they shift more slowly. Therefore, monitoring ergonomics is of greater interest to people who use computers regularly and are interested in response times.
Gray-to-Gray
A gray-to-gray (GtG) image functions with what is called an intermediate gradation, meaning that these pixels are not fully inactive. For example, there are approximately 256 gradations of gray on LCDs. As a result, the gray-to-gray response times are much faster and are great for gamers and videographers alike.
However, it is important to note how they are measured. In contrast to black to white to black, which measures the round trip time, gray-to-gray is measured by selecting several time sequences and then averaging them. Therefore, this represents the total time it takes for a pixel to change colors in milliseconds.
The Process of Making Color
You’re probably wondering how Color is made with all this talk about black, white, and gray in the world. Each pixel on an LCD contains three subpixels. In addition, monitors can control millions of pixels (a 4K screen has about 8.3 million pixels). Three such subpixels are found within a single pixel, each of which has red, green, and blue filters. You can produce different colors by changing these three subpixels’ active and inactive parts.
In other words, response time measures how long it takes pixels to “turn off” or, more scientifically, block out light. The gray-to-gray toggle switches between shades of gray based on the color scheme. Nevertheless, intermediate gradations are used to produce color variations.