Are you looking for a new television (TV) for your home? Purchasing a TV is more than just buying the largest and most expensive model with the highest resolution. There are many types of TV technologies today, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. With so many features to consider, buyers like you are often left confused and unsure of which TV technology is ideal for your family. We compare the most popular TV technologies – OLED, QLED, and Neo QLED to give you a better idea of what each of them are known for.
What is OLED?
OLED, or Organic Light-Emitting Diode is a type of display panel made up of multiple individual light-emitting pixels that emit their own light when an electric current is passed through them. Each tiny pixel in the OLED panel produces light in proportion to the amount of electric current it gets; when there is a lot of current, the pixel generates a lot of bright lights; when there is no current, the pixel does not emit any light. In an OLED TV, all of the pixels work together to create an image and display everything you see on the screen.
OLED panels are superior to LCD screens in that LCD screens have only one backlight that generates light equally across the panel, whereas OLED emits light individually. Because OLED screens can have bright white pixels illuminated immediately next to a completely black pixel, this allows for excellent colour contrast and picture quality.
What is QLED?
QLED stands for Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Diode, and it’s similar to a regular LED TV except that it has a quantum dot layer built-in in front of a regular LED backlight panel. This layer of quantum dots is smaller, with individual dots varying in size from two to ten nanometres in diameter and emitting different colours depending on their size. The unique colours they produce provide a new way for screens to produce primary colours that are more saturated and precisely defined. They are gradually being recognised as the go-to choice for high-quality dynamic range TVs because of their capacity to produce brighter and more brilliant brightness and colour intensity.
What is Neo QLED?
Neo QLED TVs, which stand for New Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Diodes, are QLED TVs with smaller and more numerous ‘mini LED’ lights that replace the traditional LED lights in the backlight array. These ‘mini LED’ lights result in a significantly higher number of dimming zones across the panel, allowing bright lights and dark areas of a scene to look their best in the proper shade, darkness, or brightness. Typical LCD or LED TVs will not be able to achieve this perfectly.
OLED vs QLED
QLED TVs have improved picture quality as compared to OLED TVs. Their multiple mini-LED backlights, better full-array local dimming, bright highlights and better viewing angles help them outperform OLED TVs. However, because OLED TVs can turn off unused pixels completely. They offer greater contrast in their displays compared to QLED TVs. This is because QLED TVs, even those with the most effective local dimming features, still allow some light through pixels that are supposed to be completely black, leading to a decrease in contrast.
Both OLED and QLED TVs have similar resolutions, colours, and video processing capabilities.
| OLED | QLED | ||
| Pros | Cons | Pros | Cons |
| Greater contrast | Less TV sizes | Higher picture quality | Lower contrast |
| Better uniformity | Brighter displays | ||
| Better overall HDR image | More TV sizes | ||
QLED vs Neo QLED
Neo QLED TVs are an improvement from QLED TVs. However, they are not drastically better. The most significant difference between the two is simply the usage of LED backlighting in both technologies. Neo-QLED uses new mini-LED backlighting while QLED uses traditional mini-LED backlighting. With more LEDs and dimming zones compared to QLED TVs, Neo QLED controls light subtly and with more precision, resulting in a better contrast ratio.
OLED, QLED and Neo QLED TVs each have their own advantages and disadvantages. These TV technologies are all great for a relaxing entertainment experience at home and capable of delivering decent picture quality, contrast ratio and vibrant colours. Weigh the pros and cons to find one that’s most suitable for you.
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