TV Evolution: Why OLED Screens Are So Cool

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

In my childhood, the very presence of a color TV in the family was considered prestigious. Nowadays, electronics stores are overflowing with fancy large-format panels that broadcast images of incredible quality. And among them there is a category of TVs, the picture on which looks especially beautiful and realistic. We'll walk you through the evolution of modern TVs and explain why OLED screens are the best you can buy today and in the near future.

Previously, the color picture on the screen was a joy in itself. We didn’t notice the shortcomings of old TVs because we didn’t see anything better. Everything changed with the advent of LCD screens and plasma panels. The first LCDs didn’t have good picture quality, and the small viewing angles made things worse. But on the other hand, these screens are flat, light and so compact!

In order not to miscalculate with the purchase of a TV today, you need to know how the TV industry will develop tomorrow. Think 4K is the best technology can do? No. In general, resolution is an important parameter, but not the only one. For many years, manufacturers competed in a quality race until LCD technology itself hit the ceiling.

All LCD TVs are good now, but not perfect. They can boast of both high resolution and decent picture, but they lack one essential quality - realism. Blinding sun that makes you close your eyes. A dark scene that gives you an unsettling chill. The future of television lies in ultra-realistic color reproduction and unimaginable brightness ranges.

True black

For years, engineers have struggled to solve the problem of color fidelity. It seemed that maximum realism could be achieved by increasing the brightness and vividness of the picture, but this did not work for black.

True black is not light, but its absence. The blackest objects for us are those that reflect the least amount of light, which means that a TV screen that claims to be realistic should be able not only to shine brightly, but also not to shine at all.

The peculiarity of an OLED screen is that each pixel in it works independently. To transmit black, the pixel is turned off, that is, it ceases to emit light. To understand the advantages of this technology, it is enough to remember what the night sky looks like in a forest and in a big city.

In the city, we almost do not see the stars, and the whole sky seems to be filled with a monotonous dim light. This reflects the lights of lanterns, light from windows and other attributes of the metropolis. And only when you are far from civilization, you can enjoy the true beauty of the night sky. Each star, each celestial body is clearly visible and stands out against the background of the endless blackness of space.

The city lights are the same backlighting on the LCD screen, which reduces contrast and deprives the picture of a lot of detail.

It is easier to fully feel the superiority of OLED if you put a conventional LCD TV side by side for comparison. Do you see the difference?

You might think that the need to reliably reproduce black is rare, but try to describe in one word such masterpieces of cinema as Interstellar, Star Wars, Batman by Nolan (Christopher Nolan) and the work of Tim Burton (Tim Burton). Yes, all of these films are dark, and, unfortunately, few of us have had the pleasure of seeing them for real. An OLED TV can correct this omission.