OLED or LED, which is better for display
This is the latest acronym - OLED vs. LED - but this time, deciphering the difference between the two was once a task easier than it is now. However, if you want to buy the best TV, you need to know the difference between them.
When OLED TVs debuted in 2013, they were praised for their perfect black color and outstanding color, but due to their inability to compete with LED/LCD TVs, the brightness levels suffered some shocks. The price difference between OLED TVs is also very large (not to be confused with QLEDs) and high-end LED/LCD LCD monitors. Everything has changed. OLED TVs are brighter than before, and prices have fallen, but LED TVs still have some obvious advantages. Let's take a look at how these two TV technologies are different and explore their respective advantages and disadvantages.
What is LED?
LED stands for light emitting diode. These are small solid-state devices that generate light as they pass through the semiconductor. Now, as a backlight for LCD displays, leds can be much smaller than compact fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, but they can become very bright. However, the size of the LED is not small enough to be used as a single pixel for TVs because they are too large. This is why LEDs can only be used as backlights for LCD TVs. Each LED can illuminate a small cluster of pixels. For more information on this topic, please see our LED and LCD comparisons.
What is OLED?
OLED represents an organic light emitting diode. Very simply, oled is made from organic compounds that emit light when powered. Compared with led, this does not seem like a big difference, but unlike led, oled can become very thin, flexible, and very small. In fact, OLEDs can be very small and can be used as separate pixels, with millions of people occupying your TV screen, lit and completely shut off independently. Due to this flexibility, when an OLED pixel is turned off, it is completely black.
Currently, LG is the only company that produces OLED panels. Sony and LG have signed an agreement to allow Sony to install LG OLED panels on Sony TVs - just like the Bravia series - but otherwise, you won't find OLEDs on any other TV screens sold in the United States. Samsung does create OLED smart phone panels, and there are rumors surrounding Samsung's possible production of OLED TVs, but the company has recently aggressively promoted its proprietary QLED technology, so this seems unlikely.
LG's OLED TVs and Sony's different image processors (LG's Alpha series and Sony's X1 series) perform differently on the job. Top TV makers—Samsung, Sony, and LG—make better processors than their competitors, which is why two TVs with the same panel look completely different. A good processor can greatly reduce problems such as stripes and artifacts, and produce more accurate colors.
Which is better, OLED or LED/LCD?
It is time for these two technologies to confront each other to see how they stack up, such as contrast, viewing angle, brightness, and other performance considerations.
Editor's Note: Since OLED TVs are still a premium display, we have compared OLEDs to LED/LCD TVs of the same price, with similar performance potential (except, of course, price).
Black layer
A demonstrative capability can produce dark, dark blacks, which can be regarded as the most important factor in obtaining excellent picture quality. Deeper blacks allow for higher contrast and richer colors (among other things) and therefore are a more realistic and dazzling image. When it comes to the level of blacks, OLED is the undisputed champion.
LED TVs rely on LED backlights to shine behind the LCD screen. Even with advanced dimming technology, the selective reduction of LED lights does not need to be unfolded in full, leading to the historical difficulties of television production in blacks and being affected by the influence of “light bleeding,” the light part of the screen creating a smog or cloth Rum is in the adjacent deep area. Even in the most advanced LED mode, these are unavoidable problems, although it is worth noting that Samsung’s 2018 Q9 QLED TV seems to be a major breakthrough in LED TV performance. In addition to eliminating these issues, this is A unique exception to this rule.
OLED TVs also do not have these problems. If an OLED pixel has no electricity, it will not produce any light, so it is completely black. For us, this is an obvious choice.
Winner: OLED
Brightness
When it comes to brightness, LED TVs have a great advantage. Light-emitting diodes have become very bright, but increased quantum dots make them brighter. OLED TVs can also become quite bright, and comparisons are no problem with such darker blacks.
Maximizing the brightness of OLED pixels not only shortens their lifetime, but also takes a little longer to recover to full black. With these factors in mind, it is important to note that all modern televisions—OLEDs, LEDs/LCDs, or others—give more brightness than enough. Then consider where the TV will be used. In a dark room, OLED TVs will perform best, and LED TVs will be more dazzling than them, making them more suitable for bright environments.
This means that Sony introduced some incredibly bright OLED models this year, and LG's next-generation OLEDs are also impressive, making them suitable for almost any situation, directing the sun onto the screen.
Winner: LED/LCD.
Color space
OLED was once the dominant in this field, but quantum dots improve the color purity, color brightness and color quantity of LED/LCD TVs by increasing the purity of the backlight, making them comparable to OLED TVs. Those looking for a TV with a wide color gamut and/or HDR will find OLED and LED models that support these features. A good contrast of the OLED will give it a slight advantage in HDR, but HDR has advantages in high-end LED/LCD screens because it can produce saturated colors under the OLED's ultra-high brightness.
LG's new Alpha 9 processor can push LG oled's colors to competitors, but we haven't spent enough time launching this product in 2018.
Winner: Draw
Response time and lag
The response time refers to the time required for each diode to go from "on" to "off." "With faster response times, less motion blur and artifacts (although source material).
The OLED uses its smaller diode as a single pixel, simply blowing the LED/LCD TV out of the water in response to time. In contrast, diodes in LED TVs are not only slower but also behind LCD screens and illuminate pixels instead of individual pixels. This leads to an overall slower change between the "on" and "off" states. In fact, OLED now offers the fastest response time in any TV technology today, making it a winner in this area.
As for input delays, LG has improved OLED TVs in this area, but we cannot test OLED TVs from other manufacturers. We do know that OLEDs are not inherently a bad choice from a lagging perspective, but it remains to be seen which input delays will be at least. Due to the input lag of LED/LCD TVs, the change from model to model is so large that it is difficult to compare OLEDs with LED/LCD TV competition. It can be said that OLED is undoubtedly the choice of gamers.
Winner: OLED
Viewing angle
OLED, once again, is the winner here. On the LED screen, the best viewing angle is the dead center, and the image quality will decrease as the color and contrast decrease. Although the severity varies from model to model, it is always obvious. An LCD panel manufactured by LG is called IPS, which has slightly better angular performance than the VA LCD panel, but it does not compete with the VA panel in the black level sector.
OLED screens can be viewed without degradation of brightness, at extreme viewing angles - up to 84 degrees. Compared with LED TVs, the maximum viewing angle of OLEDs is 54 degrees, and OLEDs have obvious advantages.
Winner: OLED
Size
OLEDs have made great strides in this area. When the technology is still in its infancy, OLED screens often dwarf LED/LCD displays. With the advancement of OLED manufacturing technology, the number of high-quality OLED displays is also increasing - it has now reached 90 inches - but they are still dwarfed by the largest LED display, which can reach a size of 100 inches or even farther.
Winner: LED / LCD
Life
LG said that you must watch 5 hours of OLED TV every day for 54 years before you reach 50% brightness. Since 2013, OLED TVs are only in the wild. Is this still true? For this reason, only we will award such awards to LED/LCD. Having a reliable record is worth it.
Winner: LED / LCD
Screen aging
We reluctantly include this section because burn-in is a misnomer (this is only an exacerbation) and for most people, this effect will not be a problem.
This effect we know comes from the boxy CRT TV era. When a static image is displayed for a long time, it will cause the image to “burn” on the screen. What actually happens is that the phosphor coated on the back of the TV screen will glow for a long time without rest, causing the phosphor to wear out and form a burned image. We think this should be called "depletion." "But... and so on.
The same problem also appears on plasma and OLED TVs because the luminescent compounds degrade over time. If you burn a pixel that is long and hard enough, you can make it dark earlier and exceed other pixels, creating a dark impression. However, in reality, this is not likely to cause problems for most people - you must intentionally misuse the TV to make it happen. Even the “bugs” (logos) used by some channels often disappear or are clarified to avoid causing aging problems. You have to watch ESPN every day, watch the game every day in the brightest case, and even that is unlikely.
This means that potential exists and should be noticed. (This is also a reason why there is a complete lack of OLED computer monitors in the market, because computer screens are more likely to display still images for several hours in a row.) Since LED/LCD TVs are not prone to aging, they have technically won this battle.
Winner: LED / LCD
power consumption
The OLED panel is very thin and does not require a backlight. As a result, OLED TVs tend to weigh less than LED/LCD TVs and are thinner. They also need less energy to make them more efficient.
Winner: OLED
Prices
Previously, LED/LCD TVs have easily won this award, but OLED TVs have launched this category on the basis of almost cost-effectiveness.
However, OLED TVs are high-end TVs during this period. In fact, OLEDs don't have any budget or mid-range levels (you'll be lucky enough to find that any OLED costs less than $2,000). However, the price of LED TVs can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, making them more accessible than oled. Although the price of high-quality LED TVs is almost the same as the price of oled, the price of LED TVs can still be compared with the price and price.
If this article is only about the value, then led/lcd will still win, but OLED has made great progress in a very short period of time, and its achievements are also worth having. Therefore, in general, it is still necessary to select the most appropriate product based on specific technologies.