Every TV Type Explained | OLED, mini-LED, QLED, LCD, LED, QD-OLED & More

Summary

In this video, Caleb Dennison offers a comprehensive guide to various TV technologies, from CRT to the latest micro LED. He explains the evolution of flat screens, the rise of LCD and LED, and the advent of OLED. Caleb also touches on the premium qled and mini LED qled TVs, comparing their performance to OLED. He predicts the future of TV tech, including the emergence of MLA OLED, QD OLED, and the potential of emissive quantum dot displays. The video is designed to inform and entertain viewers, providing a clear understanding of TV technology options.

Takeaways

• 📺 The video script provides an overview of different TV technologies, including CRT, rear projection, plasma, LCD, LED, OLED, QLED, Mini LED, and Micro LED.
• 🔬 CRT TVs, also known as tube TVs, were the first and used cathode ray tubes to create images but were heavy and phased out around the year 2000.
• 🎥 Rear projection TVs were large and used three color light cannons to project images but suffered from alignment issues and poor brightness and contrast.
• 🌌 Plasma TVs introduced flat screens and used gas to create light but were eventually outperformed by other technologies and phased out.
• 📱 LCD TVs became popular for their light weight and ease of mounting, initially using compact fluorescent light bulbs for backlighting.
• 💡 LED TVs improved upon LCDs by using LEDs for backlighting, allowing for thinner designs and brighter displays.
• 🍇 OLED TVs use organic compounds that emit light when electrified, offering excellent contrast and color accuracy but can be expensive.
• 🔵 QLED TVs are a Samsung innovation that uses quantum dots to enhance the LED backlight, aiming to compete with OLED in terms of color and brightness.
• 📊 Mini LED TVs are a refinement of LED TVs with smaller and more numerous backlights to improve contrast and reduce blooming effects.
• 🔍 Micro LED is an emerging technology that offers brilliant brightness and contrast as an emissive display, but it's currently expensive and primarily available in large formats.
• 🌟 The video suggests that while TVs continue to evolve, the current market leaders are OLED for premium emissive displays and Mini LED QLED for the best backlit options.

Q & A

What was the first type of TV mentioned in the script, and how long was it the dominant technology?

The first type of TV mentioned was the CRT TV, also known as the tube TV. It was the dominant technology for a little over 65 years, starting from its creation in 1934 by Telefunken in Germany.

What was the main issue with rear projection TVs, and why were they considered a 'huge pain'?

Rear projection TVs had issues with maintaining the alignment of the three color light cannons, or convergence, which could result in a blurry, rainbow-looking image. They were also not especially bright and had poor contrast, making them a 'huge pain' to use.

How do plasma TVs create their image, and what was considered futuristic about them?

Plasma TVs create their image by using tiny pixel pockets of gas in the screen. When electricity is applied, the gas turns into plasma and lights up phosphors. They were considered futuristic because they represented a significant shift to flat screens and offered a new, advanced technology at the time.

What is the difference between an emissive display and a transmissive display?

An emissive display is a screen where each pixel lights up individually, such as in OLED TVs. A transmissive display requires a backlight or light system at the back of the TV to shine through layers to light up pixels, like in LCD and LED TVs.

Why did LCD TVs initially become popular despite their inability to produce deep blacks?

LCD TVs became popular because they were lighter, easier to move around, and easier to mount on walls compared to plasma TVs. Their cool factor and brighter images overshadowed their inability to produce deep blacks.

What is a mini LED TV, and how does it improve upon standard LED TVs?

A mini LED TV is an LCD TV with a backlight that uses much smaller and more numerous LEDs to create a more refined backlighting system. This allows for better black levels, reduced blooming and halo effects, and improved overall picture quality compared to standard LED TVs.

What is the main advantage of OLED TVs, and why are they considered superior to LED and QLED TVs in certain aspects?

The main advantage of OLED TVs is that they are emissive displays, meaning they do not require a backlight and can produce perfect blacks. They also offer excellent color accuracy, saturation, and can get sufficiently bright for most situations, making them superior in contrast and color performance compared to LED and QLED TVs.

What is QLED technology, and how does it differ from OLED?

QLED technology uses quantum dots, tiny nanoparticles that glow efficiently when light is shone on them, to enhance the LED backlight's capabilities. QLED TVs are brighter and more colorful than standard LEDs but still suffer from backlight blooming and halo effects, unlike OLED TVs which have better black levels and contrast.

What are the three types of OLED TVs mentioned in the script, and how do they differ?

The three types of OLED TVs mentioned are standard OLED, MLA OLED, and QD OLED. Standard OLED is the original technology known for its excellent contrast and color accuracy. MLA OLED and QD OLED are newer, brighter versions that come at a premium, with QD OLED being the latest and potentially offering the best performance.

What is micro LED technology, and why is it not yet widely available for consumer purchase?

Micro LED technology is an emissive display that does not require a backlight, similar to OLED, but with the ability to get incredibly bright. It is not yet widely available because it is very expensive and challenging to produce at 4K resolution for normal screen sizes.

What is the potential future for emissive quantum dot displays, and what challenges do they face?

Emissive quantum dot displays have the potential to become a new type of emissive display technology, offering high performance. However, they face challenges in proving their performance and reducing costs, which are necessary for mainstream adoption.

Outlines

00:00

📺 Evolution of TV Technologies

The video script starts with an introduction to various TV technologies, including LED, QLED, OLED, Mini LED, and Micro LED. The speaker, Caleb Dennison, with over 23 years of experience, aims to simplify these technologies for viewers. He plans to discuss how each TV type works, their advantages and disadvantages, and how they evolved over time. Starting from the basics, he mentions the CRT TV, also known as the tube TV, which was the first type of television and was used for over 65 years until being phased out around the year 2000. He then transitions into discussing rear projection TVs, known for their large size and the challenges of maintaining color alignment. The script sets the stage for a historical journey through TV technology, leading up to more modern types like plasma TVs, which introduced the flat screen concept.

05:00

🚀 LCD and LED: The Path to Modern TVs

This paragraph delves into the advent of LCD TVs, which were lighter and more convenient than their predecessors. Initially, LCD TVs used compact fluorescent light bulbs for backlighting, but this was later replaced with LEDs, leading to the term 'LED TVs,' which are actually LCD TVs with LED backlighting. The speaker highlights the public's excitement over the thinness and brightness of LED TVs, despite their initial inability to produce true blacks. The paragraph also touches on the rivalry between Samsung and LG, leading to the development of QLED TVs by Samsung. QLED TVs use quantum dots to enhance color and brightness, aiming to compete with OLED TVs. The speaker notes the ongoing evolution of TV technology, with OLED TVs being praised for their color accuracy and thinness, but also their high cost.

10:01

🌟 OLED and the Rise of Mini LED

The paragraph discusses OLED TVs in detail, explaining that they are emissive displays like plasma TVs but use organic compounds instead of gas. OLED TVs are noted for their superior brightness, color accuracy, and thin form factor. However, they face competition from QLED TVs, which offer high brightness and color accuracy but suffer from backlight blooming issues. The speaker then introduces Mini LED TVs, which use smaller and more numerous LEDs to improve backlight control and reduce blooming. Mini LED TVs are positioned as the premium choice among backlit TVs, offering excellent HDR performance and contrast. The paragraph also mentions the ongoing development of new OLED technologies like MLA OLED and QD OLED, which promise brighter displays.

15:02

🛠️ The Future of TV: Micro LED and Emissive Quantum Dots

In the final paragraph, the speaker looks towards the future of TV technology, focusing on Micro LED and emissive quantum dot displays. Micro LED is described as an emissive display that doesn't require a backlight, offering the brightest and highest contrast displays currently available. However, the technology is currently expensive and challenging to manufacture in smaller screen sizes. The speaker also mentions the modular nature of Micro LED displays, which allows for flexibility in screen size and shape but can result in visible seams. Lastly, the paragraph touches on the potential of emissive quantum dot displays, which could become a significant technology in the future, pending improvements in performance and cost reduction.

Keywords

💡LED

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. In the context of the video, LED is used to describe a type of backlighting technology used in LCD TVs. LEDs offer advantages such as energy efficiency and long lifespan. The video explains that 'LED TVs' are actually LCD TVs with LED backlighting, which has become a standard for modern TVs due to their ability to get brighter and thinner, as mentioned when discussing the evolution from CRT to LCD TVs.

💡QLED

QLED stands for Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diode. It is a display technology that enhances the color and brightness of LCD TVs by using quantum dots, which are tiny nanoparticles that emit light when stimulated. The video discusses how Samsung introduced QLED TVs to compete with OLED, marketing them as brighter and more colorful. However, they still suffer from backlight blooming issues, which is a characteristic of transmissive displays.

💡OLED

OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. Unlike LCD and QLED, OLED is an emissive display technology where each pixel emits its own light, eliminating the need for a backlight. This results in superior contrast ratios and true blacks. The video highlights OLED's advantages such as thinness, brightness, and color accuracy, positioning it as a premium TV technology. It also mentions the evolution of OLED with MLA OLED and QD OLED, which are brighter versions of the traditional OLED.

💡CRT

CRT stands for Cathode Ray Tube, which was the technology used in the earliest televisions. The video describes CRT TVs as heavy and bulky, using a cathode ray tube to project images onto a phosphorescent screen. They were the dominant technology for over 65 years until being replaced by flat-screen technologies like LCD and plasma.

💡Plasma

Plasma TVs are emissive displays that use tiny gas-filled cells to create images. The video explains that plasma TVs were a significant step forward in flat-screen technology, offering a wide color gamut and good contrast. However, they were eventually outcompeted by LCD and OLED technologies due to issues with burn-in and efficiency.

💡LCD

LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. It is a technology that uses liquid crystals and a backlight to create images. The video discusses how LCD TVs initially used compact fluorescent light bulbs but later transitioned to LED backlighting, which improved their brightness and slimness. LCD TVs are now the most common type of TV due to their affordability and performance.

💡Mini LED

Mini LED refers to a type of backlighting technology that uses smaller LEDs to create a more precise and uniform light distribution. The video explains that Mini LED TVs, which are a variant of LCD TVs, offer improved contrast and reduced blooming effects compared to standard LED TVs. They are positioned as a premium option within the LCD TV market.

💡Emissive Display

An emissive display is a type of display technology where each pixel generates its own light, such as in OLED and micro LED TVs. The video emphasizes the superior contrast and black levels achievable with emissive displays, as they do not rely on a backlight. Emissive displays are contrasted with transmissive displays, which require a backlight and can suffer from issues like blooming.

💡Transmissive Display

A transmissive display is a type of display that requires a backlight to shine through layers of material to create an image, as seen in LCD and QLED TVs. The video discusses how transmissive displays can be thicker and may suffer from backlight-related issues like blooming, which detracts from the image quality, especially in dark scenes.

💡Micro LED

Micro LED is an emerging emissive display technology that uses microscopic LEDs to create each pixel. The video describes micro LED as the brightest emissive display with excellent contrast and color accuracy. However, it is currently very expensive and challenging to manufacture, particularly at smaller sizes, which limits its availability and affordability.

Highlights

LED, QLED, OLED, Mini LED, and Micro LED are the various types of modern TVs, each with unique features and technologies.

Caleb Dennison, with over 23 years of experience, simplifies the understanding of different TV technologies.

The evolution of TV technology from CRT to rear projection, plasma, and LCD screens is outlined.

Plasma TVs, known for their flat screens, used gas to create images but faced issues with brightness and contrast.

LCD TVs initially used compact fluorescent light bulbs but later transitioned to LED backlighting for improved brightness and thinness.

OLED TVs, introduced around 11 years ago, use organic compounds for self-illuminating pixels, offering superior color and contrast.

QLED TVs, introduced by Samsung, use quantum dots to enhance LED backlighting, aiming to compete with OLED's color performance.

Mini LED TVs improve upon QLED by using smaller LEDs for better backlight control and reduced blooming effects.

Micro LED is an emerging emissive display technology that offers exceptional brightness and contrast but is currently expensive and challenging to manufacture.

Emissive quantum dot displays are a potential future technology that could offer the benefits of quantum dots without the need for backlighting.

The video provides a comprehensive guide to help viewers make informed decisions when purchasing TVs.

OLED TVs are praised for their color accuracy and are often awarded as the best TVs year after year.

QLED TVs are marketed as a premium alternative to OLED, with improvements in brightness and color range.

Mini LED QLED TVs are positioned as the top-of-the-line LCD TVs, offering the best contrast and backlight control in backlit displays.

The video discusses the potential of MLA OLED and QD OLED as newer, brighter variants of OLED technology.

Micro LED's modular nature allows for customizable screen sizes but currently exhibits seams that can affect image quality.

Transcripts

LED qled OLED mini LED micro LED so many

LEDs hey if you're confused about all

the different TV types out there I get

it I've been at this for over 23 years

and all those acronyms still make my

head spin not to worry though I'm about

to explain every TV type in terms that

are super easy to understand

[Music]

welcome back everyone I'm Caleb Dennison

and I suppose this video was a long time

coming I'm super excited to create this

sort of crash course that explains every

TV type what makes them work and

therefore how they are different a few

advantages and disadvantages to each

also you can make more informed purchase

decisions or you know maybe you want to

pocket some knowledge to pull out at a

cocktail party I don't know maybe that's

just my life anyway for those TV

enthusiasts out there who are just here

for some fun maybe to see if I screw

anything up or for anyone who might be

worried that I'm about to get deep in

the technical weeds and lose you just

understand that I'm gonna make this the

most understandable guide I know how

which will involve intentionally not

getting into the weeds and just

providing the most essential information

and from there if you want a deeper dive

well I'll make some new videos doing

that as well if you want me to which

brings me to my final talking point

before diving in if you have questions

or want to request a video the comment

section down below is the place to do it

I love reading your comments well most

of them plus it helps me meet you where

your needs are so get typing and while

you're down there slap this video with a

like maybe subscribe if you do like and

want to see more business done now let's

do this

[Music]

so to understand where we are and where

we're going it helps a lot to know where

we've been right so let's take a quick

trip back in time work our way through

modern day and then maybe take a peek

into the crystal ball and see what might

be coming in the near future with that

in mind we'll start with the CRT TV also

known as the tube TV this is what

started it all and we were all pretty

happy with it for a little over 65 years

yeah the first CRT TV was made in 1934

by Telefunken in Germany and these TVs

evolve from black and white to color

from Tiny to relatively large and

eventually we're phased out around the

year 2000 give or take they used a

cathode ray tube hence CRT to beam

photons at a screen that was coated with

phosphorus to make a picture they were

very heavy relative to their size and as

we later learned not particularly great

for the environment now along with the

CRT TV we also later got the rear

projection to which back in their day

were more simply known as big screen TVs

these huge boxes used three color light

cannons to project an image on a screen

from behind hence rear projection and

while they provided a very big picture

they were generally a huge pain in the

because you had to keep the three light

cannons in perfect alignment or

convergence or you got this blurry

rainbow looking image and also they

weren't especially bright the contrast

was terrible but we loved it because

they were huge and made it feel like

being at the movies at home then came

the plasma TV and along with it the term

flat screen TV and this is when TVs

basically divorced the 4x3 square like

aspect ratio and moved squarely into the

16x9 rectangular screen shape moved

squarely into a rectangle that didn't

come out the way I meant it to they went

from squares to rectangles okay anyway

plasma TVs had tiny little pixel pockets

of gas in the screen and when you put

electricity to the cast the gas turned

into plasma and lit up phosphors and I

mean plasma TVs were about as futuristic

as it got at the time this whole flat

screen TV thing was a big deal and even

though all TVs today are flat screens

that term still kind of holds on but the

flat screen part of the plasma became

kind of a distraction from what was

really cool about the technology it was

an emissive display so okay time for a

very quick terminology explainer because

this is going to matter as we go forward

an emissive display is a screen whose

picture comes from each pixel lighting

up individually a transmissive display

for the purposes of this discussion is

one that has a backlight or a light

system at the back of the TV that has to

shine through a bunch of layers in order

to get lit up pixels as you can imagine

transmissive displays one with some sort

of backlight tend to be thicker while

emissive displays which don't need any

backlight at all tend to be thinner

anyway when last we left our new friend

the plasma TV it was the flat panel

Pioneer but a lot of work was being done

with LCD screens to make them usable for

TV applications LCD TVs were also flat

panels but but they were way way lighter

easier to move around and generally

considered the coolest thing ever to hit

the TB Market because they were a piece

of cake to mount on the wall now at

first LCD TVs had a compact fluorescent

light bulb in the back shining through

all those different layers so that you

got a nice image on the screen and they

were pretty great they got brighter than

plasma TVs and were just generally so

cool that the public didn't really

notice that they couldn't produce blacks

very well or at all things that were

supposed to be black were really just

kind of a Milky grape but nobody cared

because look how cool it is but then

someone figured out that using the same

kind of light bulb in our TVs that we

used in our lamps was Antiquated and

that is when the LED came into Play We

ditched the light bulbs for LEDs and

suddenly the race to make the thinnest

possible TV was on but also LEDs could

get a lot brighter than old-school light

bulbs so the so-called LED TVs were All

the Rage for multiple reasons and they

still are today now keep in mind this

was still an LCD TV with a backlight

it's just that the backlight changed to

LED so we started calling them LED TVs

instead of LCD TVs much to the annoyance

by the way of dudes like me I am also

annoyed at the term instapot but that's

I'm just going to leave that alone I

already did that rant okay so now at

this point we are more or less at modern

day we've got LED TVs we have plasma TVs

and then Along Comes OLED this was

actually about 11 years ago almost

modern day anyway OLED stands for

organic light emitting diode and in many

ways they were like a plasma TV but

instead of using gas they used organic

compounds that would light up when you

put electricity to them OLED TVs were

way lighter and ridiculously thin

because they didn't need phosphorus or

even glass to contain everything they

were also quite a bit brighter than

plasma TVs if not quite as bright as LED

TVs and the colors were unlike anything

we'd seen on a TV before because the red

green and blue light that they made were

more exact so you could come up with all

these new color combinations and since

then OLED TVs have been at the Forefront

of TV tech routinely winning best TV

Awards year after year from just about

everyone also they started out really

expensive and even though they've come

down in price over time they're still

expensive compared to many LCD based TVs

anyway OLED TVs were so Superior in just

about every way except perceived motion

that plasma TVs died a very quick and

rather unceremonious death rip plasma I

still have one though by the way the

story goes that LG was the only OLED

panel producer around so they pretty

much owned OLED entirely until just last

year I mean you could get a Panasonic or

a Sony or a Vizio OLED TV but LG made

the panels Samsung meanwhile was tired

of LG cleaning their clock with this

OLED business Samsung and LG if you're

not aware are bitter South Korean Rivals

I mean to many of us it's kind of funny

but it is no laughing matter to them

corporate Espionage is a real thing

anyway Samsung was like you know what we

know our LED LCD TVs are brighter and

we're getting better and better at the

black levels we just need to take the

color to the next level so we can claim

that our TVs are better than OLED TVs

and then we'll get a bunch of other

brands on board with using it and then

it'll be everyone against LG and thus

the qled TV or qled TV was created the Q

in qled stands for Quantum dots Quantum

dots are tiny nanoparticles that glow

with great efficiency when you shine

light on them and Samsung uses them to

make its LED backlights even more

powerful so qled TVs got brighter more

colorful with brighter colors and then

Samsung marketed the crap out of qled

and said you know anyone else can do

this if they want to to you can use the

term qled too let's just take the TV

Market over with these things well that

didn't exactly work because as bright

and colorful as qled was it still had

this one Achilles heel that reviewers

and critics like me just could not get

over and that was backlight blooming

Halo and generally not great black

levels so OLED being enemies of display

is more or less perfect in those areas

those are all transmissive display ones

with a backlight problem so then how do

we make the backlight better mini LED

yes let's take the area backlights that

we're using in qled TVs and make them

way tinier and then use way more of them

we will Master black levels eliminate

blooming and Halo through sheer brute

force of numbers and so we have the mini

LED TV it's still in LCD TV it's still

backlit it's just a much more refined

backlighting system also Quantum dots

are still involved so they are mini LED

qled TVs I know I know I'm sorry don't

shoot the messenger okay so let's just

like frame this as in where we are today

so we have LED TVs which are decent

quality TVs that are ridiculously

affordable but don't have especially

great performance when it comes to color

contrast and motion then we have qled

TVs which are more premium with higher

overall brightness more accurate color

as well as brighter color decent motion

resolution and generally solid contrast

and backlight control but you still get

a little halo effect or blooming around

bright objects on dark backgrounds then

we have mini LED qled TVs which are at

the top of the LCD TV or transmissive TV

food chain these are the most premium

LCD based TVs they can get incredibly

bright have excellent HDR performance

and the best contrast and backlight

control available along with Vivid

colors and very good color accuracy

still there backlit so you may see

backlight fluctuations a tiny little bit

of blooming or Halo but usually not much

now as the industry is increasingly

embracing mini LED backlighting as the

norm we may see more variations in how

many LED TVs perform right now they're

mostly just premium but generally

they're the best you can buy when it

comes to a backlit TV then in the other

camp we have OLED which requires no

backlight at all offers excellent

contrast near perfect black levels

incredible color accuracy and saturation

and can get sufficiently bright for most

situations these have been and continue

to be the preferred TV for dedicated

movie rooms or entertainment spaces

where you can control the lighting in

the room or if you just want the best

looking TV but now we have two new kinds

of OLED TVs to get familiar with there

is the new MLA OLED and QD OLED both of

these are basically brighter OLED TVs

and they come at a premium them as

regular OLED TVs continue to drop in

price I'll have another video soon on

how MLA OLED and QD OLED are different

and what the advantages and

disadvantages are for each but to keep

things simple just understand that OLED

now comes in three flavors all of them

very premium they're standard OLED MLA

OLED and QD OLED so if we're adding them

all up that's six types of TVs to choose

from so okay we're done now right we're

good for a bit nothing more to worry

about learning well yeah you're good

until next year maybe yeah sorry TVs are

still evolving so if you want to have

the latest and greatest we've got a

couple more Technologies coming down the

pipe in the coming years slowly making

its way onto the scene now is micro LED

you're welcome now you might think this

is another backlit display because it

says LED where the back lights are even

tinier than mirror mini LED but that's

not the case like OLED micro LED is

another kind of emissive display makes

its own light no backlight but it is the

brightest emissive display of all so it

has the perfect wax and amazing contrast

but that contrast is cranked up to 11

because micro LED can get so incredibly

bright like almost blindingly right the

downside to micro LED for now and the

reason you're not likely to see it for

sale on the floor of your preferred

electronic store is that it is super

expensive and it's really hard to get 4K

resolution at normal screen sizes

because the pixels aren't as Tiny as

they are on the other types of TVs we

talked about the other interesting thing

about micro LED displays at least for

now is that they're modular which has

its upsides and downsides see again just

for now anyway micro LED panels are

these smaller squares and you can stitch

them together to make a display of

varying sizes and shapes that's

flexibility and that's a good good thing

but the downside is that there are seams

and while you can't really see these

seams between these panels when the TVs

are super bright at least not from a

normal viewing distance you can see them

when they're dimmer at least if you look

closely enough now until this last

January most micro LED displays were

basically the size of an entire wall but

they're being scaled down to normal TV

sizes like 55 inch and 65 inch screen

sizes so we'll see where micro LED goes

this year but I still think we're a year

or two out until these become

competitive with qled or OLED and

finally if you dig deep enough while

doing TV research you could hear about

emissive quantum dot displays these Go

by different acronyms I'm not going to

run through them all but the idea is

that the quantum dots that are currently

used to enhance existing TV Technologies

might become an emissive display Tech

all on their own and if they do

wow they could be really amazing but

like all new TV tech will want to see

how they perform and we'll need them to

come down in price for a few years

before you would ever want to consider

buying one unless you're just made of

money and like to show off having the

latest and greatest stuff which if

that's you no judgment just just say it

so that's my little history lesson and

state of the TV industry all wrapped up

into one video I hope you enjoyed it if

you need to refresh your memory on

anything we'll have timestamps down

below for each TV type so that you can

easily review Thanks as always for

watching everyone hope you found this

video both fun and informative if you

did and even if you didn't would you let

me know down in the comments below then

I'll know that you actually watch the

whole thing and might like to be able to

say things don't forget to like And

subscribe while you're at it I'll see

you on the next one and until then

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