OLED vs LED – Which is Best?

Our installs for OLED and LED TV’s have changed over the past few years. Prior to 2018, it was extremely rare to install an OLED TV but nowadays, it’s half our installs. A prime example is our recent install in West Des Moines for a Sony XBRA8G series OLED TV. This 55” has come down $500 in the past six months and is now more affordable at $1700.00. Since TV purchasing is changing, here are a couple key factors when comparing the OLED vs LED TV.

Contrast Ratio: This is the difference between how bright and how dark a TV shows an image. The OLED TV wins by a land-slide in darkness but the LED wins in brightness. You might consider the room involved as the OLED is better suited for darker rooms and night viewing vs. LED’s and their brightness. If a room is brighter or watching more content during the day, you can’t go wrong with choosing the LED. Each pixel for an OLED is self illuminating and the pixels in an LCD are illuminated by a backlight. We believe more people choose the OLED for contrast as the blacks are a true black and the LED black can seem more like a charcoal gray at times.

Viewing Angle: While sitting directly in front of an LCD TV, you have the best spot for viewing and the picture looks colorful and bright. As you start to move to either side, the picture color and contrast starts to become distorted. No matter what viewing angle for the OLED TV, you’ll have the same picture quality.

Price: Right now, OLED’s are twice as much as LED TV’s but it’s going in the right direction. Our personal opinion is if it’s your primary TV, you might want to consider the OLED. Since our installers work with so many types of TV’s, their feedback is valuable information. So far, every install for an OLED has come back as being the right choice and customers approve.

The best way to make the OLED vs LED decision is to do a side by side comparison. In our showroom we discuss and show the differences between the OLED and LED. We’ll break down the difference between LG and Sony as they are now the main players. Samsung has the QLED and that’s a whole different ball game. The QLED is an excellent choice as well and will be going head to head with OLED’s providing stiff competition.

FINAL TIP: If wanting to know which size is best (OLED or LED), do the painter’s tape approach. As an example, if wanting to know if a 55” or 65” would be a better fit, check the specs of the TV of choice and put up blue painter’s tape, step back, and it will hit which fits best.