Color Ghosting Test
Tests saturated Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow moving elements over dark and gray fields to expose slow subpixel transition times, red trailing, or black-level smearing commonly observed on VA panels.
- Observe the saturated color bars moving across black, dark gray, and mid gray backgrounds.
- Look for trailing smudges of specific colors (e.g. red or purple trails behind dark objects).
- Note if dark shades smear significantly worse than bright colors (classic VA panel black smear).
Different color subpixels (Red, Green, Blue) often experience asymmetrical rise and fall times in liquid crystal panels. On Vertical Alignment (VA) panels in particular, transitions from pitch black to dark colors can take 20–50ms—causing visible purple or dark purple smudges trailing behind moving objects.
What This Test Checks
- Saturated primary (Red, Green, Blue) and secondary (Cyan, Magenta) pixel transitions.
- VA panel black smearing and deep shadow response time lags.
- Color-fringed trailing edges caused by asymmetric liquid crystal rotation.
- Differences in pixel speed between light-to-dark and dark-to-light color transitions.
How to Perform the Test
- Observe the moving saturated color bars across black and dark gray backgrounds.
- Check if the red bar or blue bar leaves a wider smear trail than green.
- Notice whether dark-background lanes exhibit significantly worse trailing than mid-gray lanes.
- Increase movement speed to 1440 or 1920 px/s to exaggerate color smudging.
What to Look For
- Black smearing: A thick purple or dark smudge trailing behind colored shapes on pure black.
- Color fringing: The leading edge appears normal, but the trailing edge shows an offset red or blue trail.
- Uniformity: On IPS and OLED panels, all colors generally exhibit uniform response times.
Common Display Problems & Diagnostic Guidance
Why do dark games smear on VA monitors?
In VA (Vertical Alignment) LCDs, liquid crystals are aligned vertically at 0% brightness. Rotating them out of this resting state requires substantially more electrical energy and time, causing 30–50ms transitions out of deep black.
Red Trailing on Fast IPS Panels
Certain Nano-IPS and KSF phosphor backlights use slow red phosphors that decay slower than green and blue LEDs, causing a faint red glow behind fast white/gray objects.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I reduce VA black smearing?
Increasing the Black Equalizer / Shadow Boost in your monitor OSD slightly lifts deep blacks into dark grays where liquid crystal transitions are substantially faster.
Does OLED have color ghosting?
No. OLED subpixels emit their own light and switch states in under 0.1 milliseconds, completely avoiding liquid crystal color transition lag.