What is OLED? This is what you need to know

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• What is OLED? This is what you need to know

What is OLED? Although this is now a fairly common panel technology, for OLED TVs and high-end smartphones like the iPhone 11 Pro, you may still have a hard time understanding what these four letters mean to you as a consumer. The television market is full of difficult acronyms, some more useful than others. (Let's not get started on model names, either! The TX-55GZ1500 doesn't exactly roll out of language.) OLED, however, is a crucial term to know if you're looking for a new TV or just to understand the latest discussions about the best TVs today. In fact, many of the newest and most efficient TVs are equipped with OLED panels, and it's getting harder to avoid them. Short for ``Organic Light-Emitting Diode,'' the acronym OLED describes a type of panel that televisions use, such as LED-LCD, plasma, or CRT. It's different from the other types of panels that came before it, but the general idea is exactly the same: OLED panels help bring images and videos to life before your eyes. For a long time, we've said that OLED is the next big thing in home entertainment, but now it's definitely there. OLED TVs offer better picture quality (think blacker blacks and clearer whites), lower power consumption, and faster response times than traditional LED TVs.

(Image credit: LG) Even as OLED TVs become more and more widespread, why doesn't everyone have them? Today, they are still prohibitively expensive, and for years only a few companies have used the technology in their televisions. That's certainly changing, though, with some OLED sets now selling for triple-digit sums, and incoming 48-inch OLED panels should bring these costs down even further. But is OLED worth it? We have brought you everything you need to know about the big buzzword screen in the article below.

OLED FAQ: Answers to Quick Questions

• OLED is better than LED? They're different OLED excels in certain areas, such as contrast, color accuracy, and black levels, although low light can bother you.
• OLED is better than 4K? OLED TVs tend to have sharp 4K resolution, but most 4K TVs don't have OLED panels. Pick and choose as you like!
• Is OLED better for my eyes? OLED panels emit about half the amount of blue light as equivalent LCD screens, which should reduce the risk of eye damage and stop nightly programming to keep you awake at night. You should get these benefits for OLED smartphones too.
• Why is OLED so expensive? They are expensive and difficult to produce, and many models break down the factory line. (Of course, only those who work make it to retail.)
• What is the lifespan of an OLED TV? Any OLED TV should last for years of use. In 2016, the Korea Times reported that LG OLED TVs had a lifespan of more than 100,000 hours (11 years of constant use).
• Do I have to worry about running on OLED? Probably not. Image retention is not a widespread problem and you are unlikely to be affected by it, although we have more on this below.

(Image credit: Panasonic)

What is the difference between OLED and LED?

All. They may seem, but the processes are completely different. OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode, with "organic" referring to the carbon film found inside the front panel of the glass display. OLED panels emit their own light when an electrical current is passed through, while the cells of an LCD-LED display require an external light source, such as a giant backlight, for brightness.

Image Credit: LG Display This backlight is what separates LCD screens from their LED variants. A traditional LCD screen has a backlight (called a cold cathode fluorescent light, or CCFL) that is uniform across the back of the screen. This means that whether the image is black or white, it lights up with exactly the same brightness on the panel. This reduces what we call "hot spots" or areas of super bright light, because the actual light source illuminating them is uniform. It all started a few years ago when engineers from companies like Samsung and Sony introduced an array of LEDs as backlights, meaning if a certain part of the screen was black, these LEDs were behind that part and could be turned off to make it look more dark. It's a better solution than a CCFL backlight, but it still has its problems. Since this is a light behind the LCD that produces the light rather than the LCD layer itself, the light is not completely in sync with the pixel in front of it. The result is an effect called ``bloom'', whereby LED light from bright parts of the image passes into dark areas. This is what separates OLEDs from LCD/LED displays. On an OLED TV screen, the pixels themselves produce light, so when they need to be black, they can be turned off entirely, rather than relying on a backlight to turn them off. turn off on your behalf.

Image Credit: Hisense (Image Credit: Hisense)

What are the advantages of OLED?

The result is remarkably dark blacks in an image, and when you combine that with the brightness of the whites an OLED panel is capable of producing, you end up with an incredibly vibrant image. LG and Panasonic, roughly the most consistent producers of OLED TVs on the planet, like to use the term "infinite contrast" to describe how the self-illuminated pixels turn off completely when playing black giving them an "absolute" black color instead. of a "relative" black that describes just how dark a pixel is compared to the brightest pixel on the screen. For years, there was a question mark over the longevity of OLED panels, while production lines were impossible to make profitable due to high failure rates. But as companies like LG pour billions into OLED development, with the likes of Philips and Sony joining the fray, its affordability is improving, even if it's still much more expensive than competing technologies. The benefits of OLED go beyond simple static image quality to the responsiveness and smoothness of the screen itself, meaning gamers and home theater enthusiasts will love OLED TV.

OLED panels provide deeper blacks and vivid color contrast (Image credit: LG Display) (Image credit: LG Display) OLED panels are capable of a refresh rate as low as 0.001 ms, which, as For reference, it is approximately 1000 times faster than a standard LED-backlit LCD panel, while also being superior to the now-abandoned plasma technology. And, because the light source they use is so small, the depth of the screen sizes has decreased at the same rate. That means OLED TVs have incredibly deep blacks and brilliant peak whites, improved color accuracy, and smooth, responsive motion—and all from a form factor that's just a few millimeters deep and much lighter than standard TVs.

What OLED TVs are available now?

OLED TVs have been on the market since 2012, and various manufacturers have tacked on the technology over the years. Previously, OLEDs were only produced by Samsung and LG. But Samsung has abandoned the technology due to its cost and difficulty in production, and has no plans to restart production any time soon. More recently, Hisense has ditched its OLED lens as well. LG, on the other hand, has regularly released OLED games in recent years. In the 2020 LG TV lineup, we expect a new range of OLED TVs, including LG CX series OLED, LG GX GX series OLED and LG Signature ZX 8K OLED, as well as many more. .

Image Credit: LG Display If you're not a big fan of LG TVs, there are plenty more OLED TVs to look forward to in 2020. Panasonic's 2020 TV lineup includes the higher-end Panasonic HZ2000 OLED, while other OLED TVs the mid-range. as the Philips 55OLED754 continues to perform well in our tests. You can also check out our guide to the best OLED TVs to see the five best OLEDs we've had the pleasure of seeing on the site. LG 55" Class OLED E9 Series...

How much do OLED TVs cost?

OLED TVs are certainly cheaper, but they're still far from what we'd call affordable. Prices for LG sets start at €1,600 in the US and €1,200 in the UK, and Panasonic's are even more expensive. The scarcity of OLED TVs on the market means that this small number of players in the market are more or less free to charge exactly what they want. We're not going to see prices go down until we have more competition. That being said, usually when one company starts to move forward, others quickly catch up. Prices are expected to drop as manufacturers are able to solve problems in the supply chain and demand for these phenomenal technologies increases.

Do I have to worry about running on OLED?

What is OLED theft? Recording or image retention occurs when an image or sequence is played back so frequently and continuously on a television that it leaves a permanent mark on the panel, which is obviously not ideal for a home television. You don't have to particularly worry, as this usually only happens when displaying a static image or looping sequence, such as with a display unit in a showroom or retail store. Either way, you should get a multi-year warranty, and we don't see many home theater fans using their OLED TVs like that.

(Image credit: Toshiba) TV makers like LG are also working to limit this risk, with screen saver features, a screen-switching feature that "slightly moves the screen at regular intervals to preserve the quality of the screen." image" and "Adjust logo brightness, which can detect static logos on the screen and reduce brightness to reduce permanent image retention" (via LG.com). But if you plan to leave your TV on all day, say to keep the kids entertained for long hours with reruns of the same TV show, then OLED may not be the way to go. Good panel technology for you.

What future for OLED TV?

OLED is an expensive panel technology that has finally managed to gain traction, after spending while we wrote an opinion piece in 2014 about how the technology might be dead. That obviously hasn't been the case, and we see plenty of impressive OLED models coming onto the market, even though prices still take a while to fall within the reach of regular consumers.

Panasonic TX-65CZ950 OLED (Image credit: Panasonic) But just because OLED isn't affordable doesn't mean it won't get better. A $1,600 / €1,200 price tag isn't what we'd consider budget, but it's a lot cheaper than what OLED sold for just a year ago. This trend will always be good news for the consumer, even if manufacturers may have something else in mind. Samsung is one of a number of TV makers looking to develop what's called QD-OLED: a new type of OLED panel that uses quantum dot emitters to enhance brightness. The technology is in development, but when it arrives, it could merge competing QLED and OLED technologies and make previous production methods obsolete. These are obviously big claims, and we haven't seen these new hypothetical signs being used yet, but we'll be sure to keep you posted as this does/doesn't happen. The original reporting in this article was by Jamie Carter.

• Convinced? Head over to our roundup of the best OLED TVs you can buy right now.