What's the real difference between these different types of TVs and monitors you
see on sale all the time? You know, LCD, OLED, QLED? You might know some of the
basics, but there's actually a lot more than meets the eye. In fact, some of the
most important differences are in the smallest elements that make up the
picture, the little red, blue, and green sub pixels. And knowing about how these
sub pixels differ between display types can help you make a smarter buying
decision. To start, you need to know why most displays use those three specific
colors: red, green, and blue. They're the primary colors of light. And by
combining them, you can make just about any color you'd like. But exactly how
pure those colors are, that makes a big
difference in how rich and accurate the picture will end up looking. In fact,
one big advantage current displays have over those old style CRTs is that CRTs
usually had a hard time accurately hitting up the RGB phosphor dots that
coated the inside of the screen's glass. These dots created colored lights when
the display shot a beam of electrons at them, making them a forerunner of what
we now think of as sub pixels. By contrast, modern sub pixels are placed
in fixed positions in different patterns that can help with perceived visual
quality or the display's lifespan. And these fixed positions also make them
more color accurate than CRTs. But standard LCDs still struggle with color
purity, at least to some extent. This is because they work by shining a white LED
backlight through a color filter that makes the sub pixels red, green, or
blue. But that white backlight is what's
often called broad spectrum, meaning it's composed of many colors other than
those three primaries. This, plus the imperfect color filtering, means that
LCDs aren't exactly perfect at reproducing colors accurately. And even
many more expensive OLED displays, even with their deeper blacks and superior
contrast, have a similar issue since they rely on individual white OLEDs with
color filters on top of them. Although it's possible to have pure red, green,
and blue OLED sub pixels, the problem is that the blue sub pixels have
historically tended to degrade faster because blue has a shorter wavelength
and thus higher energy required than red or green. However, you do commonly see
actual RGB OLED displays on phones,
which we tend to replace before we notice the blue sub pixels degrading.
That being said, we aren't saying you'll have a bad experience with these display
types, especially as material improvements over the years have led to
better color quality, but if you want a display with very color accurate sub
pixels, something with quantum dots might be your answer. We'll tell you why
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by emitting a pure single color light
when another light source hits it. But there are two main types of quantum dot
displays on the market right now. The first is the standard QLED which
typically works with a backlight of pure blue LEDs along with red and green
quantum dots. These three colors combine to make white which then goes through a
color filter. But this white is composed of purer red, green, and blue than you'd
get on a conventional LCD, resulting in deeper, more saturated colors. The other
pricier kind of quantum dot display is the QD OLED, which, as you can likely
guess, combines the superior contrast and black levels of an OLED with the
color reproduction of a QLED. These displays also use a blue emitter layer
along with red and green quantum dots which take the place of a conventional
color filter, meaning higher brightness and richer colors than a conventional
OLED. And you also don't have to worry about the blue wearing down faster
because the whole emitter layer is blue. They also have more accurate colors on
fastm moving objects than LCDbased displays because quantum dots have very
fast response times. Something to consider if you watch sports or play
lots of video games. That's a lot of different ways to combine red, green, and blue, but hopefully this will help
you decipher that alphabet soup of different TV types a little better on
your next trip to Best Buy. But if you'd like to know why some displays ship with
sub pixels that are straight up dead right out of the box, watch this video