LCD, LED, or OLED TV: What’s the best?

Strapline: Knowing the difference between LCD, LED, and OLED TVs

It is hard to imagine a home without a TV to switch on at the end of a long day. Even the best laptop and smartphone cannot replace the TV we all want at the centre of our home entertainment system even today.

While watching Netflix content on your phone is fine on the way home, everyone wants some TV time once they get home. This makes it very important to consider all features before getting a new TV. Of these, one of the most important is display technology.

Different TV display technologies

With old TV out of the way, we are left with three choices today, which you can categorise by their display technology. Here is a look at each in brief.

LCD vs LED vs OLED

While all of them come with flat screens that make them sleek and elegant, not all of them are the same. Read on to see the benefits of each.

What is an LCD?

The Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV mainly uses a backlight that shines through liquid crystals. This is how it controls the colours and brightness to create the image you see.

 Advantages of LCD

• LCD TVs consume 25 percent less power than CRT TVs and are hence more energy efficient.
• LCD TVs have an approximate lifespan of 60,000 hours (which can vary according to how frequently you use them), and this makes them quite long-lasting.
• LCD TVs are known to give you wide viewing angles and, thus, better image quality.
• LCD TVs consume less heat.

What is LED?

There are also the LED TVs, which are often considered the evolution of LCDs. They feature a backlight made of LED lights, which then go through filtering layers to produce your image.

 Advantages of LED

• LED TVs consume 50 percent less power than LCD TVs, making them more energy efficient.
• LED TVs have more uniform lighting to give you a clearer picture on your screen. The contrasts are higher, and the images are sharper.
• LED TVs are environment-friendly as they are mercury-free.
• LED TVs can have a lifespan of over 1,00,000 hours, which makes it clear that they can last longer than LCD TVs.

What is OLED?

However, today, nothing can be more covetable than a sleek and stylish OLED TV that gives you benefits that neither of the above can give. Here, light is mainly produced from an electric current that is produced by organic material. The difference between LED and OLED technology is that in OLEDs, each pixel produces its own light. This means there is no need for a separate backlight as in the case of an LED technology.

 Advantages of OLED

• OLED TVs don’t depend on backlight but on individual pixels, giving you deep blacks. Added to that is the superior colour accuracy and contrast ratio.
• OLED TVs have the most superior viewing angles, thanks to the absence of backlighting.
• OLED TVs are generally light and easy to move. This is because their internal components mostly contain plastic and other organic materials.
• The materials used in manufacturing an OLED TV make them last longer. As they are flexible, they are less prone to damage.
• OLED TVs emit less blue light, which means they are better on your eyes.
• OLED TVs have a fast response time with just no lag.

Which one should you pick?

From all this, it’s quite clear that the debate mainly lies between whether to go for an LED or an OLED TV. If you are a photographer or someone in the field of art or gaming, then a piece of advice would be to go for an OLED TV. However, these can be quite expensive. On the other hand, if all you want is a TV to enjoy a few movies at home or in the lobby of your office, then an LED TV would suffice. LCDs are too outdated today, and you’d be better off staying away from them.

With that, here are a few more words of advice before we send you TV shopping. After all, buying a TV is a big investment and must be done promptly. Also check the resolution offered, refresh rate, screen size, connectivity options and operating system before buying a TV as these can really affect your usability and satisfaction with the purchase.