500 Hz PC monitor prototype is quickest panel ever

Screens with excessive refresh charges are capable of depict fast-paced motion extra easily than normal 60 Hz screens. At present’s screens can go as excessive as 360 Hz, however BOE, a Chinese language electronics firm, is engaged on growing speeds to 500 Hz. And it has the prototype to show it.

At present’s PC screens sometimes use a skinny movie transistor (TFT) array made with amorphous silicon, the identical kind of non-crystalline materials present in merchandise like photo voltaic cells. In line with a report noticed by Tom’s {Hardware} and Wccftech from a Chinese language publication on Sina.com, BOE, whose enterprise consists of making show panels for smartphones and tablets for the likes of LG and Apple, has been engaged on making it extra environment friendly to interchange the silicon TFT energetic layer with an oxide TFT one, permitting the corporate to make a monitor prototype that may refresh 1920×1080 pixels 500 instances per second.

“Oxide semiconductor show know-how has the benefits of excessive mobility, low off-state present, easy course of know-how, and enormous dimension, which may meet the twin wants of future product high quality enchancment and power consumption discount and has grow to be an inevitable pattern in know-how and market growth,” the Sina.com report reads, primarily based on a Chinese language-to-English translation by Google.

The show panel maker is reportedly ready to make use of oxide TFT LCDs to struggle shiny spots, enhance panel reliability, and scale back energy consumption by as a lot as 15 p.c. Nevertheless, Sina.com’s report pointed to varied forms of shows BOE is engaged on, together with a 13.3-inch 4K one, so it is unclear if all these options carry over to the five hundred Hz prototype.

BOE did not disclose plans to truly launch the five hundred Hz monitor, so do not go throwing away your 360 Hz panel simply but. However the firm did share a video claiming to depict a “500Hz+” 27-inch monitor. The monitor’s 1920×1080 decision is not shocking, as groundbreaking refresh charges will probably be more durable to achieve with the extra pixels of, say, QHD or 4K decision. In line with the video, the five hundred Hz monitor additionally makes use of the 8-lane Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) normal and 8-bit coloration.

Once more, it is unclear if we’ll ever see a 1080p at 500 Hz monitor obtainable for buy. And we would want graphics playing cards with sufficient energy (and availability) to make all of it price it. It could even be attention-grabbing to see how a lot of a right away distinction 500 Hz would make visually in comparison with at present’s quickest screens, that are already very spectacular. When you go from 60 Hz to 144 Hz, it is onerous to return, and transferring to 360 Hz brings even finer enhancements to speedy scenes and video games.

Ought to BOE convey its 500 Hz panel to market, it would not be the primary time we have seen oxide TFT know-how utilized in monitor growth. For instance, in 2011, Samsung used an oxide TFT-LCD to make a 4K monitor prototype that ran at 240 Hz, one thing the corporate is realizing with the Odyssey Neo G8 32-inch gaming monitor this 12 months.

For now, 500 Hz continues to be out of attain, giving our eyes time to regulate to the chance.