Updated on November 7th 2018 to correct syntax
In my last topic I tackled the technological differences between LED and OLED. The article made OLED sound like the clear winner in most respects. OLED does have some downsides though and they are definite considerations before purchasing.
Price
OLED sets have dropped in price considerably in the last 2 years. However even today OLED sets are roughly double that of their LED counterparts. Even if the picture quality of the OLED TV gives it a little more wow factor is it worth twice the price?
Brands/Selection
There are currently only 2 real players in the OLED market in North America. LG and Sony are 100% of the market. To narrow things even further Sony is using LG’s screens for its sets. This makes the two products very similar from an image quality perspective. Sony maintains that they do additional tuning and image processing to produce “ultimate” picture quality but at the core they are the same hardware.
Image Retention or “Burn in”
OLED screens are susceptible to “Burn in”. This is a result of leaving a static image on the screen for a long period. Something like a news ticker or the UI from a video game are the worst offenders. After a while this damage can be permanent and the image will remain on the screen even after the TV is powered off.
All OLED TV’s now have systems in place to lessen the possibility of “Burn in” but it can still happen in the right circumstances.
Vertical Banding
Both LED and OLED TV’s can have or develop vertical bands that show up in certain situations. The effect is most noticeable when solid colours are displayed across the entire panel. Dark to medium grey images will usually show the worst of problem.
Unfortunately this is due to the manufacturing process and is more or less a “lottery” as to how much banding your set will likely have. All manufacturers view some banding as acceptable and will not replace the TV unless it is excessive. Even the replacement TV will have banding and could actually be worse!
Brightness
OLED TV’s reproduce colour very well and when you see it in person they almost look 3D. Colours seem to pop right off the screen. Where they come up short is brightness. OLED TV’s can be anywhere from 20 to 50 percent less bright then their LED counterparts. This can mean that in a bright room the image can wash out and be hard to see. If your primary TV room is brightly lit and you can’t control the light level this could be a deal breaker.
Long Term Reliability
Samsung is one of the largest manufacturers of displays on the planet. They also manufacture the bulk of the OLED screens used in cell phones world wide. You may be asking “Why don’t they make an OLED TV then?”
Samsung believes that OLED has two major shortcomings. Brightness, which we’ve discussed already, and reliability.
Samsung has stated that the price to performance factor just isn’t there. They also say they are not confident in the long term reliability of OLED technology in screens the size of a contemporary TV. They feel the better approach is to continue to improve upon LED technology.
This says a LOT given their experience level with OLED panels.
As an OLED TV owner I can attest to seeing some of these issues with my current set. Brightness is an issue from time to time. Especially when playing video games in the daytime hours. It can be difficult to see darker scenes.
Also the vertical banding problem has appeared after about 12 months of use. I was lucky as it didn’t show up right away but it is there now. It doesn’t show up in about 95% of normal TV use but it is definitely there.
I’ve not had any issues with image retention but I am careful not to leave static images on for too long.
Should you buy an OLED set? It’s a tough call. I love the way images POP on mine. Was it worth it to me … probably. Would I buy it again? Maybe. I’d take a good long look at some to the newer LED sets first though. They’ve come along way to matching OLED’s wow factor in the last year or so.
NoShade's 