The LG and Samsung OLED HDTVs at the SID Show
Both LG and Samsung had prototypes of their flagship next generation 55 inch OLED TVs on display at the Society for Information Display SID Show in Boston June 5-7.
The LG 3D OLED TV with its running demo was absolutely stunning – visually it was the most impressive TV I have ever seen. And if you have read any of my Display Shoot-Out articles you know that I am a tough grader for displays and don’t readily hand out compliments (for displays). On the flip side, this was a prototype unit and I was watching a manufacturer’s demo – and all good demos are finessed to be seductive – and I admit to being seduced at the show. But in our DisplayMate Labs and Shoot-Out facilities everything is objective and we have our own suites of test patterns, test photos, test videos, and instrumentation, plus I become just like Mr. Spock, incapable of being swayed or seduced by human emotions… So I am looking forward to testing a production unit later this year…
LG OLED TV Technical details that impressed me:
1. IGZO: The LG OLED has an IGZO Metal Oxide Active Matrix backplane. You may recall that IGZO technology has been making headlines for months, first rumored to be the Retina Display for new iPad 3. It wasn’t ready in time, so this was the first IGZO display I’ve seen.
2. Color Gamut: The LG OLED has a Color Gamut that is 118% of the Standard sRGB / Rec.709. That is somewhat larger than the Standard, and will produce images that are a bit on the vivid side – and some people like it that way – but hopefully LG will provide an option for an accurate 100% Standard Color Gamut for purists. The larger Color Gamut will also allow the TV to compensate for the loss of color saturation at high ambient light levels – we’ll see if LG adds that functionality.
3. 3D OLED TV: The LG OLED is a 3D TV and it produced excellent 3D using LG’s FPR technology that uses the same Passive Glasses that are found in most 3D movie theaters. The 3D image and picture quality were excellent – just as in my 3D TV Display Technology Shoot-Out.
4. White Sub-pixels: The LG TV uses WRGB OLEDs, meaning there are White sub-pixels in addition to the traditional Red, Green and Blue sub-pixel primaries for every single pixel (this isn’t PenTile WRGB). Ordinarily I don’t like White sub-pixels because they are used to artificially increase image brightness at the expense of color saturation and accuracy. It all depends on the color management strategy and most manufacturers do a poor job of it. LG assured me that they are mindful of this issue and that the primary function of the White sub-pixels is for producing bright white backgrounds for Apps and internet applications with text. I hope so…
5. Glossy Screen: The one thing I did not like on the LG OLED prototype was its glossy screen. Although the Screen Reflectance was relatively low, it was still a giant mirror and I could see everyone watching the TV in the booth whenever the images were dim or black. To be fair the TV was in a brightly lit area of the show and most people that buy an expensive high-quality TV like this one will put it in a home theater with controlled or reduced ambient lighting. A glossy mirror-like screen is fantastic for watching in total darkness, but very few people do that, and it’s even dangerous as you can run into things when you get up… So I hope that LG adds some sort of haze finish and/or additional anti-reflection treatments.
Samsung had more than one OLED TV at the SID show:
The Samsung 3D OLED TV with its running demo was very nice but definitely not in the stunning category like the LG 3D OLED TV in my opinion. The running demo was mediocre and that might be the source of the problem. One surprising technical point – the Samsung OLED is using a Low Temperature Poly Silicon LTPS Active Matrix backplane, which is very expensive to manufacture. This first model is designed for showing off their OLED TV technology and almost certainly will be sold at a loss…
The Samsung 2D OLED TV was in my opinion horrendous because its color saturation was turned up so high that it was beyond gaudy and into visually repulsive territory in my opinion. Samsung has this thing about flaunting color saturation rather than flaunting color accuracy. They make excellent state-of-the-art display hardware, but when it comes to calibrating their own products they degrade the picture quality and accuracy with exaggerated marketing features and effects that are designed to make them stand out (scream) in stores and in marketing materials. To prove my point, the new Apple iPad 3 has a Samsung display that is perfectly calibrated by Apple and produces better picture quality and accuracy than any Samsung branded product that I have ever seen. See my predictions for the Apple Television below…
Pricing: The first generation of both the LG and Samsung 55 inch OLED TVs are predicted to cost $8,000 or more – so sales will be limited to early adopters with deep pockets. Like every other new technology the manufacturing costs and retail prices will fall over time. Eventually, the manufacturing costs for OLEDS will be lower than for LCDs because they don’t require backlights and other optical components. But that will take years…
A Shoot-Out: Once both OLED TVs are in production it will be really interesting to do a side-by-side HDTV Shoot-Out. I can’t wait…