LG OLED TVs get ‘Perfect Black’ verification – confirming what I already knew
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LG Display, sister company of LG Electronics, has announced that the OLED panels used in the company’s TVs recently received a “Perfect Black” verification. The verification process was performed by the independent quality assurance lab UL Solutions and applies to LG’s 42- to 97-inch OLED panels.
LG’s TVs were measured by UL Solutions in a “brightly lit environment”, similar to a “living room in broad daylight”. In this situation, the black levels were 0.15 nit — about 40 percent lower than the standard Perfect Black criteria of 0.24 nit, according to the company’s release.
No more black
OLED TVs are among the the best 4K TVs and have long been known for their “infinite contrast”, a capability LG has promoted since the first sets to use the technology were released. Anyone who has seen an OLED TV can attest that the blacks do indeed look perfectly black, and they remain so when viewing images from a seat far off center.
As for the measurements quoted in LG Display’s press release, once you dip below 1 nit, any differences are basically unmentionable. To the human eye, a black level of 0.24 nit and a black level of 0.15 nit will both appear as perfect black.
Given these minuscule differences, the main goal of LG’s verification process seems to be to prove that its OLED displays can maintain their incredibly deep black levels, and the resulting infinite contrast, in bright environments, rather than the dim ones preferred by movie fans. – those who are more inclined to pay extra money for the best OLED TVs.
Analysis: The battle in the living room between OLED and mini-LED flares up
Why is LG suddenly bragging about OLED’s incredible black level performance, something we already knew very well was the case? The likely reason is that mini-LED QLED TVs are gaining market share, especially with more affordable models like the one from TCL and Hisense thrown into the mix along with Samsung, Sony, and also LG’s more premium offerings.
Mini LED TVs can achieve the same infinite contrast as OLED, but do so by modulating zones in their backlighting using a process called local dimming. To render deep black shadows, LEDs in the specific zone where they appear can be turned off completely.
OLED TVs, on the other hand, are self-emitting – each pixel in the screen is its own light source. The individual pixels in the TV can also be completely turned off and modulated to display a very low black level. This capability gives it an edge over regular LED and also mini LED TVs, where backlight bleeding can occur in high contrast images, producing a visual artifact called ‘blooming’.
Even with this limitation, mini LED TVs are capable of nearly OLED-like black levels with infinite contrast, and the best models manage to keep blooming to a minimum — so much so that most viewers wouldn’t notice. They can also deliver much higher peak brightness than OLED, with even low-cost models like the Hisense U8H we tested that they were twice as bright as an average OLED.
High brightness is the most important thing in a typical living room environment, and this is where mini-LED QLED TVs offer a distinct advantage over OLED. To put LG’s somewhat odd announcement into perspective, the company seems to be trying to communicate that OLED will continue to do what it does best, even in a bright room.
I can’t say it’s a statement as plain as black and white. But when it comes to the black part, message received.