OLED display Explained | Why LG dominates in OLED Displays

If you have visited a TV retail shop of late then you must have come across the term OLED and chances are that those TVs are the most expensive of all the others. In this article we will break down for you What OLED is and how it works and also answer common questions and queries that may be bombarding you.

OLED technology in Televisions has been around since its debut in 2007 in Sony’s XEL-1. At that time these TVs were very pricey and still are mostly due to cost of production. They had a lot of short comings that consumers never thought was worth their money. It wasn’t until 2013 that these TVs started taking off and more households have been purchasing them ever since.

LG and Sony are the two notable companies in this space as Samsung sought a different path after giving up on the technology some years back.

Quick questions answered.

• What does OLED stand for? Organic Light Emitting Diodes.
• How does it differ from LED TVs? Its pixels are self illuminating hence does not require a back light.
• Does it produce deep blacks as stated? Short answer, Yes.
• When was the first OLED TV produced? Back in 2007 by Sony model XEL-1.
• Which is the most expensive consumer OLED TV? LG Signature ZX at $30,000.
• Does Samsung produce OLED TVs ? Short answer, NO.

How exactly does OLED work?

First of all OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diodes. It consists of pixels which are self illuminating meaning that they produce their own light. Pixels stand for Picture Elements and they are these small dots that make up the images that you see on your screen.

This happens when the individual pixels are excited by passing an electric current through it. In contrast with LED TVs which normally has a back light hence bulky, OLED TVs tend to be thinner and less bulkier since they do not require a backlight to form images on the screen.

This self illumination is what makes OLED produce the ‘true’ black that you see in almost every OLED review or advertisement. It’s ability to switch on and off pixels provides a high contrast ratio hence issues such as the ‘halo effect’ or the white haziness seen around dark objects is unheard of.

Let’s get a bit technical Shall we……

A conventional LED panel is made up of has layers of P- type and N- type semi semi conductors which they use to produce their electrons and holes but in an OLED panel Organic molecules are the ones being used to produce the electrons and the holes.

A typical OLED has 6 layers. First is the top and bottom layer. The top layer is referred to as the Seal while the bottom layer is known as the substrate.

In between the top and bottom layer we have the Positive terminal also called the Anode and the negative terminal also known as the Cathode. In between the Cathode and the Anode we have the two Organic layers known as the Emissive layer where the light is produced which is near the Cathode and the Conductive layer which is next to the Anode.

It all starts when an electric current is received by the Cathode (negative terminal) and released by the Anode ( positive terminal). At this point the conductive layer is being made more positive while the Emissive layer is being made more negative.

Since positive holes are more mobile than the negative electrons, the positive holes jump from the Conductive layer to the emissive layer. For every Electron that meets a hole a counter balance Is reached has energy is produced for a very short period of time in the form of a photon. (light particle)This process happens many times a second.

And this is how OLED panels produce light. As long as an electric current is being produced light will continuously be produced in the panel to form images .

Pros and Cons of an OLED TV.

Pros.

• It has a long life which is rated at an average of 100,000 hours which is about 11 years of continuous use.
• It has excellent levels of black. This is one of the key selling points of OLED .Since the pixels are self illuminating, each pixel can turn off individually hence achieving that deep black and a high contrast ratio.
• It has a wide viewing angle meaning that at whatever angle you sit from the TV you will have a perfect and clear vision of the TV unlike the Conventional LED TV.
• These TV’s tend to be very thin. Some LG OLED TV’s are even thinner than the smart phone you have. This is attributed to the fact that you don’t have a backlight hence the bulk is reduced by a big margin.

Cons.

• These TVs tend to be more expensive than the regular LED TVs.
• They are not bright enough as the regular LED TVs. Studies have shown that some of the LED TVs are twice as bright as the OLED panels.
• TV burn in. A burn in is simply a stagnant image that does not move even if the channel or video is changed. This is caused when you constantly view a particular channel or video with a constant image not moving. Consider watch CNN every morning before you go to work and every evening when you arrive from work. The CNN logo will get embedded on the screen vaguely after some time which can be annoying but with improvement in technology this issue is being addressed.

Conclusion.

In general, these TVs are really premium from the thinness to the great viewing angles that they offer. The key selling point that beats out any other TV in the space is the ability to form true, deep black and quality images.

Though there is an upcoming technology known as Microled that might just be better in every way but it is still in its early stages and is yet to be released to the consumer market. In fact Samsung one of the key player’s in this Microled space. Currently OLED is still king and it will take a few more years for Microled to be available mostly due to how expensive it is.

Some of these setbacks are being solved as the technology advances and gets cheaper so they should not hinder you from getting yourself one of these OLED TVs. Honestly the advantages outweigh the limitations, so if you have the funds just get yourself one and prepared to be wowed!