Gone are the days of bulky-backed cathode ray TVs that took up way too much space and yielded only a sub-par picture quality in return. This is the era of high-powered, flat-screen televisions, tuned to 8K definition, and delivering a viewing experience that is out of this world. Having a state-of-the-art television set at home is crucial for enjoying quality leisure time. Most of us love to wind down in front of a TV set following a hard day at work. After all, television acts as a gateway to the never-ending world of entertainment. You can watch American Idol, Street Outlaws, and Hoarders on scheduled programming, or you can connect your TV to the web and stream your favorite content around the clock, provided you have one of those high-speed Cox internet packages to support your binge-watching needs. That’s the delectable benefit of setting up a premium television at home.
If you’re on the lookout for a radical TV set that can offer a larger-than-life picture quality, then you might come across big names like Samsung and Sony in the market, along with different types of display technologies, i.e. OLED and QLED. Which one should you get? This is where the quick know-how of these TV techs will come in handy. Stay tuned to this post for diving deeper into the OLED vs. QLED debate that can enable you to make an informed decision by the end.
Internal Makeup
OLED stands for ‘Organic’ LED TV and the magic is in its name. It is an altogether new type of LCD panel technology, which can be called ‘emissive’. OLED has a film of pixels that produce their light with the help of an electric current. These millions of pixels come together to create an image on the screen. Several brands ranging from LG to Panasonic roll out OLED TVs every year. On the other hand, QLED stands for ‘Quantum dot’ LED TV and is a variant of the regular LCD panel technology. In QLED, millions of microscopic quantum molecules, arranged inside a film, absorb light from a LED backlight source to form a picture on the screen. These dots do not create these own light like in OLED, instead, they refract light transmitted through layers of liquid crystal pools, which is why QLED is called a ‘transmissive’ TV technology. Samsung, TCL, and Vizio are the top makers of QLED television displays.
Brightness Level
Brightness level in the display setting refers to the visibility of dark areas on a screen. Pause your video on an image of a skyline against a night sky. An ideal brightness level should bring out the finer details of the New York buildings without obscuring them along with the twilit clouds. QLED TVs have been known to perform better in this category. Their LED backlight ensures a perfect brightness setting if the room is completely dark, giving a more holistic picture output. Even during daylight, QLED TVs brighten up the darker areas efficiently and go quite well with HDR content.
Image Contrast
The contrast in TV jargon refers to the intensity of white areas on a screen. Suppose you are seeing an image of cloud formations against a sunny sky. The best contrast setting will highlight the whiter portions of the clouds without blurring out the finer details and image rendering. OLED TV offers better contrast than QLED, which relies on an LED backlight source. OLED TVs simply turn off unused pixels, leading to infinitely darker blacks against beautifully lit whites, while QLED only dims the backlight, causing the blacks to appear more washed-out and greyed.
Viewing Angle
Not everyone in the house watches TV the same way. Some people sit adjacent to the screen on the couch in a dedicated manner, while others watch on from the corner dining table offhandedly, and a few even catch glimpses of the shows while walking about from one room to another, doing chores. An OLED TV gives the best viewing angles to all kinds of viewers. In contrast to QLED, which can cause the screen to appear brighter or darker from certain angles, OLED delivers a uniform display, making sure that everyone gets to enjoy the same picture quality, regardless of their seating position.
Size & Cost
Your TV choice might be great, but if you can’t afford it, there’s simply no use daydreaming about its stellar performance. QLED TVs are far more affordable than OLED TVs. Not only that, they come in multiple display sizes, ranging from 32 inches to 98 inches, whereas, OLED TVs are only available in five or so sizes in the market, which makes your options narrower.
OLED vs. QLED – Which One Should You Buy?
If you are a fan of superior picture quality and omni-directional angles, then, you better invest in OLED technology, which consists of self-powering pixels and deeper contrasts. On the other hand, if you are looking for a budget-friendly television set that fits your room just right, then you can go for QLED.