OLED displays are considered the ultimate when it comes to picture quality on televisions, as they can achieve absolute black levels. But in one important point, new LED TVs are clearly superior.
There are currently two dominant display technologies in the television industry: the tried and tested LED (Light Emitting Diode) and OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode). Film fans in particular have triggered a real hype about OLED technology. Because unlike LED technology, with OLED TVs each individual pixel lights up by itself and can be dimmed individually and completely if required. This leads to optimal image contrasts, i.e. an excellent display of light and dark image areas next to each other.
This is exactly where the usual LED displays weaken, because the liquid crystals need a backlight. In most LED TVs, this sits at the edge of the picture (edge LED) and distributes the light over the entire panel. This allows very thin cases, but unfortunately the display of image contrasts and especially dark scenes is not ideal.
LED is not just LED
With the best and most expensive LCD TVs, such as this Panasonic TX-65DXW 904, the lighting sits directly behind the display (direct LED). This allows the image to be divided into individual light areas – with the Panasonic DXW 904, for example, there are 512 so-called clusters. Compared to the edge LED solution, higher contrasts and black levels can be achieved. The disadvantages: thicker and heavier housing, fans required to cool the lighting, higher energy consumption, more expensive than edge LEDs.
Nevertheless, manufacturers such as Samsung and Sony prove that you can get a lot out of Edge technology with a number of tricks for better light distribution. Above all, the top LED models among TVs have a decisive advantage: they shine much brighter than the best OLED televisions. One of LG’s top models, the OLED65E7V comes up to 800 nits (luminance), which is a good value. The best LED televisions from Sony, Panasonic and Samsung now easily break the 1000 nits mark. The maximum is currently being reached by the new one Samsung Q9F with 2000 nits.
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Do you even need such a bright display?
On the one hand, televisions will need this extreme brightness in the future, for example to watch films in the new HDR and Dolby Vision format to display optimally. On the other hand, bright screens look much better in a bright environment. So if you have a sunny living room, windows behind you or leave the light on when you watch TV anyway and rarely watch films in total darkness, you might be better off with an LED television of the latest generation. In such cases, image brightness is more important than perfect black.
In addition, LED TVs are still significantly cheaper than OLED TVs and have a longer service life. OLED devices currently achieve around 20,000 hours, while LCD devices manage 100,000 hours. Because Samsung couldn’t get the short service life or the poor production yield under control, the manufacturer put everything on its own for a long time Quantum Dot Technology (QLED). He recently announced the first OLED TVs. The market leader in Germany is thus moving to brands such as Metz, LG, Lion, panasonic, Phillips and Sony on.