Televisions just like most tech can get very confusing. This is especially true if you are a first-time TV owner or have little to no interest in tech. They can easily leave you wondering about what type of television to get and which is best for what reason. This confusion is not helped by the fact that brands have coined their technologies and these names only add to the quagmire. So allow us to ease the confusion by breaking it down for you.
First, a history lesson. To remind us where we have come from and the important strides we have achieved. It is easy to forget where we have come from in today’s world of 8K TVs. Cue your “today’s kids would never know” memes. Most early televisions used Cathode ray tubes to display content. As with any other technology that has been phased out, CRTs were inefficient and did not have the best picture quality. They also demanded that the television set should be huge to accommodate them. Fast forward to today, the market is dominated by flat-screen televisions with technologies such as LCD, LED and OLED taking the bulk of most TV sales. Now, what TV screen technology is best for you? Let’s get right into it.
LCD
This is the most common screen type. Liquid crystal displays have been used for a very long time. They were the basis of most early flat-screen televisions. They use a backlight that then illuminates the display in front of it. LCDs are some of the brightest televisions in the market. They are cheaper but with the caveat of very high power consumption. They also have limited viewing angles, which is a key characteristic that you should look out for when shopping for your television. They have low colour separation but they mostly do the job.
LED
These are the most common types of displays and are a gateway into the premium television space. LEDs can light individual diodes which leads to accurate colour separation and true blacks. This occurs when these diodes in the LED display are completely turned off. This means that they consume less power. They are however more expensive than LCDs
OLED
These are a step above normal LEDs. The O added here stands for organic pixels. They support even wider viewing angles and are more expensive and more efficient. They however are pricier than the previous displays that we have discussed above. Companies such as Samsung and LG use this technology in their flagship televisions. They are among the best displays we have around.
QLED
Again, these are LED displays with a twist. The Q here stands for quantum dot. These are the most premium displays that we shall discuss today. Expect power efficiency, better viewing angles, vivid colours and bright pictures from this kind of display. These are as bright as LCDs but with the advantages of an LED. They are very expensive. Almost too expensive to justify.
Television displays also have hidden characteristics such as HDR support that might interest you when looking for your new television set. When looking for a television, buy one that works for your eye. The best advice we can give in this case is to sample all these displays with our overviews and get what works best for you and your eye, or the space you want to have the television situated.