QD-OLED combines quantum dot technology with OLED to create a new type of OLED television. Learn about the benefits of this unique technology for Smart TVs and monitors.
In early January 2022, during the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), Sony announced the Bravia XR A95K smart TV QD-OLED. Samsung created this technology, which combines the finest features of OLED with quantum dots (QLED) in an effort to create the ideal of both worlds.
The majority of new technology, just like all other innovation, generates interest and uncertainty among customers. In order to better understand how it works, what are the benefits of the novelty, and what are the significant distinctions between this sort of display and other technologies like LED and OLED displays, Blue Cine Tech has put up this in-depth article where you can learn everything there is to know about the QD-OLED and how it differs from other types of OLEDs.
What is QD-OLED?
The best of OLED and QLED
In a nutshell, QD-OLED is an innovative type of OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display technology that employs quantum dots to create colors. — Samsung calls this type of display, commercially, QD Display. As a hybrid display technology, it aims to take advantage of the already very impressive qualities of OLED, improving brightness and color through the use of quantum dots. The result is a TV with impressive levels of contrast and perfect blacks already present in OLED, offering a brightness traditionally only found in QLED TVs, with a quantum dot display.
To help you understand even better what QD-OLED is, we need to quickly explain how OLED and QLED technologies work.
QLED
QLED displays, which use so-called quantum dots to ensure images with high brightness and color fidelity, are in the category of LCD/LED screens. A QLED display uses four main elements to produce its images: an LED backlight, a quantum dot layer, an LCD matrix, and a color filter. The LED backlight produces all the brightness you see — and modern LED backlights can produce a lot of brightness, far more than OLED screens are capable of producing. But reaching that level is not that easy.
The solution found for this is to use a highly bright blue LED light source and subsequently balance the blue tones with quantum dots in red and green colors. Because these quantum dots can be tuned to emit specific colors and — surprisingly — can do so with an efficiency level of nearly 100%, QLED TVs deliver an impressive color accuracy without sacrificing brightness or needing to use more power.
From there, the white light passes through the LCD matrix (responsible for the images you see and determines how bright or dark areas of the screen are) and finally through the color filter, which converts white light into the “right” light. defining the amount of red, green and blue so that, in the end, the colors are as accurate as possible.
OLED
A smart TV with OLED uses only an OLED light source and a color filter to produce its image. To do this, it combines blue and yellow light from OLED sources to create an almost white light. The light then passes through a color filter made up of red, blue and green subpixels. Unlike traditional LCD TVs, which have a separate backlight that passes through a layer of pixels, in OLED each pixel emits brightness and color individually to create the image.
That way, each pixel is its own light source and can be completely dimmed if necessary. This means that a bright pixel can appear next to a completely black one without affecting the other, creating the exceptional contrast that smart OLED TVs are renowned for. And that’s not the only benefit: as the image doesn’t have to go through an LCD matrix, viewing angles are wide, while the overall build of an OLED TV is thin and light due to its simple structure.
There are some drawbacks.
There are, however, certain drawbacks with each one of these qualities. Despite displaying intense brightness and non-distorting colors, the QLED display doesn’t have the best contrast ratios – the measure of the difference between light and dark tones on the screen – and will also have darker and blacker tones that look more washed out, becoming closer to grey tones.
On the other hand, OLED panels suffer from the lowest maximum brightness level, and with high brightness, the tendency is for colors to be distorted. There is yet another important point: durability. OLED panels are subject to more intense wear, such as loss of brightness and color quality, in addition to the risks of burn-in, a problem that leaves spots on the screen after the organic LEDs that make up the display wear out.
What is QD-OLED and how does the technology work?
As stated earlier, QD-OLED (Quantum dot Light Emitting Diode) is a technology introduced by Samsung and mixes QLED with OLED. The company’s main objective is to take advantage of the two technologies: OLED, extracting its infinite contrast and dark tones with high precision and quality, while QLED takes its ability to generate more intense colors and brightness.
According to Samsung, a QD-OLED display has three main components: a first TFT layer that includes an electronic circuit to pass current through the OLED material, a second of blue OLED material that generates blue light, and a third layer of dots. quantum. These quantum dots are small semiconductor particles, with dimensions ranging from 2 to 10 nanometers. Together, they can convert white light into colored light without energy loss. The resulting color depends on the size of the quantum dot itself – larger dots, 10 nm, will generate red color and smaller ones, blue tones.
When blue light from each pixel passes through the quantum dot layer, green and red subpixels are created which, combined with the blue subpixel, form the RGB color model. In this color model, red, blue and green are added to produce other colors for the images you see on TV.
Other advantages include:
Also according to Samsung, QD-OLED displays can achieve a high contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. Also, by forgoing the LCD layer, the display’s response times, viewing angles and glare issues should be improved compared to traditional LCD displays. The new screens that use the technology also reduce, by up to 50%, the amount of blue light emitted, which is harmful to one’s eyes.
Has QD-OLED fixed OLED issues?
OLED faces several issues that may turn consumers off, despite the fact that it offers a higher level of quality than previous displays. The first of these is the feared image retention, also known as burn-in. The problem happens when the screen has static elements that change little over time: a game’s HUD or the Windows taskbar, for example. If the image is static and varies little over time, there is a risk that it will be permanently recorded in the pixels, leaving the screen permanently marked.
By all indications, QD-OLED should not represent the end of burn-in. According to the CNET, QD-OLED technology will not make much difference compared to that used in OLED displays. The manufacturer, on the other hand, claims to include an automatic mechanism that will reduce the danger of developing the problem in more recent smart TVs.
Another disadvantage of OLED displays is their limited life span. OLED screens lose quality faster than other technologies. Samsung has yet to address whether the new QD Display TVs will have longer lifespans.
When will QD-OLED smart TVs hit the market?
At CES 2022, Sony was the first to provide details on its upcoming QD-OLED panel. The new flagship Bravia XR A95K will come equipped with a Samsung sizes 55- and 65-inch. While no pricing or final release date has been given, the TVs will be released in 2022.
Alienware also revealed its next QD-OLED product. It is the first gaming monitor to ship the technology in the world. The AW3423DW is aimed at more demanding gamers, offering a refresh rate with NVIDIA G-sync, response time, and VESA DisplayHDR TrueBlack 400 certification.
Samsung, on the other hand, has not revealed any specific details about such devices. However, the company was the winner of this year’s “Best of Innovation” awards at CES 2022. In the publication about the award on the fair’s website, it is said that “Samsung’s 65-inch QD-Display TV is the world’s first true self-emitting RGB quantum dot OLED screen, combining the contrast levels of OLED RGB with the color and brightness of quantum dots”.
How much will QD-OLED TVs cost?
The Samsung S95B is a 4K UHD smart TV with QD-OLED technology, announced on March 17th by Samsung, which features resolution of 4K and is sold in the United States in two sizes — 55 inches for $2.199,99 and 65 inches for $2,999,99.
