LCD and OLED are two completely different display technologies, and are currently widely used in the field of smart phones and flat-screen TVs. At present, most users choose between these two display panel products. Which product should they choose? I will tell you the difference between LCD and OLED, and tell you how to pursue a balance between demand and budget.
LCDs create a variety of colors based on white light passing through color filters. After the white light passes through, it will form basic colors such as red, green, and blue, and the light transmittance of each pixel is controlled by the current to control the color of the pixel.
In the LCD display, it is very difficult to completely shield white light to display black. There will always be some light leakage, which is why most night scene displays cannot display true black. s reason.
LCD displays have been in use since the 1980s and were first used on “portable computers.” These screens have a “matrix” of pixels and are divided into active and passive matrices. The technology of the active matrix is more advanced and allows finer control, and has a faster switching speed than the passive matrix. The active matrix technology was introduced for the first time using a TFT edge matrix screen, but more variant technologies have appeared later, but basically all have the same working principle, and the cost has continued to decrease.
OLED is that each pixel emits light without the need for a separate backlight or color filter. And each OLED pixel can be assigned three colors of red, green and blue, and now there are manufacturers added yellow, but the principle is the same.
Due to the special properties of the OLED, it is not necessary to cover the light source like the LCD when displaying black, only the pixels need to be turned off and not light. This is why OLED displays can bring true “black”. OLED’s black is very deep and the contrast is extremely high. At the same time, it can even produce stunning effects when compared with elements such as white. OLED technology first appeared in the laboratory in 1987, and has become a very popular technology in the field of smart phones.
LCD vs OLED analysis
1. Black level: OLED wins
The black level refers to the extent to which the screen can be “black” when displaying the deepest colors. Since technologies such as LCD, DLP, or projection rely on filtering or shielding of white light, it is very difficult to display true black. Due to the self-luminous principle of OLED, as long as the light-emitting mechanism is turned off, it can bring true black.
2. Contrast: OLED wins
Contrast refers to the difference between the brightest white and the darkest black, while LCD has the advantage in brightness, while OLED has the darkest black. In general, OLED displays usually have higher contrast, because the advantage at the black level level will magnify this difference.
3. Perspective: OLED wins
In contrast to OLED, LCD panel has slightly worse viewing angle performance. In front of an OLED TV, no matter what angle the audience sits in, they can see the content on the screen with high-quality feelings.
4. Color gamut: OLED wins
The advantage of OLED in the color gamut is not obvious, because LCD panels now introduce quantum dot technology. Basically, the best LGOLED TVs and Samsung’s top quantum dot LCD TVs are comparable in color gamut. However, usually only the best LCD TVs are comparable to OLED TVs, so overall the color gamut performance is better.
5. Color uniformity: OLED wins
Because the backlight of LCD screen usually comes from the edge, it is more average in terms of uniformity of illumination. If the backlight can be evenly dispersed behind the screen, then a discrete backlight can bring better results. OLED does not require light source diffusion because each pixel can emit light by itself. In real life, even OLED displays are not completely unified, and even flexible OLEDs have appeared, but overall they are still better than LCDs.
6. Brightness: LCD wins
Since LCDs usually use a separate backlight, they generally bring better brightness. The best LCD and OLED have a gap of about 400NIT in brightness. Generally speaking, LCD is superior in brightness level. Higher brightness makes the screen have better visual effects outdoors or indoors during the day.
7. Power consumption: LCD wins
LCD At the same brightness level, LCD consumes less energy than OLED. The power consumption of LED panels depends on how many pixels there are, and higher-resolution OLED screens consume more power.
8. Cost efficiency: LCD wins
At present, LCD is the lowest cost display method, but OLED technology is continuously optimized with continuous progress and time. It’s unclear what the specific cost rate is, but in the future, OLED technology will continue to improve. After all, it will continue to be optimized and reduced in cost, which will eventually be comparable to LCD.
Our conclusion: OLED is better, but still needs development
OLED has a great advantage in the parameter comparison of image quality, which can be said to be a development trend of future display technology. At present, OLED is still limited by production costs, and the size has also encountered a bottleneck. Unless you have special requirements for this particular parameter of brightness, OLEDs are better than LCDs in most display parameters.
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