Buying a new TV can be an overwhelming experience. You go to the store and you see a wall of them lined up, all showing the same video. They can all look similar, so how do you know which one to pick? This is especially true if you haven’t needed to purchase a new TV for a while.
The technological advancements in TVs, especially smart TVs, which most are these days, are impressive. Not only do you have to worry about the TV itself, but you also need to consider what smart features it could include. On top of those, you need to consider the inner workings of the TV, especially if you have an OLED TV. There are great OLED TVs on the market that provide users with an optimal viewing experience. Knowing how to balance finding that with landing on one that won’t crush your bank account is tricky, but there are some specs and features to keep an eye on when you’re looking at cheaper OLED TVs.
What Is the Difference Between QLED, OLED, and UHD? Which Is Best?
If you’re buying a new TV, you’ll want to know the difference between these different types of display technologies.
Peak brightness is vital for OLED TVs
This can make or break where you put the TV
OLED TVs use self-lighting pixels within their panels to illuminate based on what the picture is trying to show. This eliminates the need for a backlight and it helps produce a more vibrant color on your screen. Basically, the pixels cover a wide spectrum of colors and turn on and off to produce the colors of the picture.
While OLED panels are known for their strong dark color presence and high-end color profiles, they also offer the ability to produce contrast as well as almost anything on the market. With OLED TVs, you’re getting enriched vibrance of colors, especially in dark rooms. OLED TVs are perfect for darker rooms, especially for those movie nights that you want.
One of the most important specs to look at when comparing OLED TVs is its peak brightness. Peak brightness measures how well a small area of those pixels can reach their top illumination to enhance a scene. You’ll really notice this in scenes with an explosion or fireworks where the pop of color is highlighted.
Peak brightness for high-end TVs can reach over 4,000 nits, the unit of measurement for brightness. If you’re looking at cheaper OLED TVs, you want to make sure that your peak brightness is still above 1,000. The higher it goes, the better it is for enhancing your content. This is especially important for HDR content.
See what HDR formats the TV has
If you can get support, it makes the picture better
While some people may want to opt for a Micro-LED TV, you won’t find cheap versions of those any time soon. If you’re buying a newer OLED TV, chances are it supports High Dynamic Range (HDR) content. Most will support the base HDR10, which utilizes 10-bit color depth to showcase a wide variety of hues across your screen. If you’re watching HDR content, you need a TV that supports it to get the most out of the viewing.
You can watch HDR content on a TV that doesn’t support HDR10. But it won’t be enhanced with higher contrast and brightness.
Since OLED panels already enhance contrast and brightness, it makes sense that many of them can support HDR content. However, it isn’t as common for OLED TVs to support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision content. HDR10+ means the TV can adjust the brightness and color automatically on the fly, so you don’t have to touch it and it changes as the content changes.
Dolby Vision combines HDR10 and HDR10+ as it changes scene-by-scene to sharpen the picture, but utilizes 12-bit color depth for more lifelike imagery. If you can get a cheaper OLED TV that offers either HDR10+ or Dolby Vision support, you’re in luck.
Many users will pay attention to refresh rate
Sports fanatics need to keep an eye on it
Have you ever watched something that seemed choppy? This can happen when you’re watching live sports as the picture feels like it’s just lagging behind a bit.
If that’s the case, you could have a TV with a poor refresh rate. Refresh rate determines how smooth the picture on your TV looks, as it refers to the number of times the picture refreshes per second. You’ll almost always see 120Hz as the refresh rate on cheaper OLED TVs.
This means you’ll get double the amount of refresh rate as a standard TV does. This is important for gaming, as it can provide you with a smoother picture and more details to look at as you’re exploring a game’s world. It will also prohibit your TV from lagging behind and help against any lag that you might experience.
When watching sports on an OLED TV, a better refresh rate can keep up with the movement of a game. This is especially helpful when watching games where the movement is constant, like soccer or football. If you happen to find an OLED TV with 144Hz for a good price, snatch it up in a heartbeat.
Gamers will also care about HDMI 2.1 ports
This can give you the juice you need
Looking for HDMI 2.1 ports on OLED TVs can give you more from your gaming. They provide more bandwidth and higher resolutions for your gaming. If you plug your gaming system into an HDMI 2.1 port, it allows for 4K resolution at the common rate of 120Hz on OLED TVs. Some even allow 8K resolution at 60Hz.
If you’re playing something that has a high frame rate, you want a TV that is capable of handling it. You can pretty much assume that any game that requires quick decisions and has fast-paced action is going to have a high frame rate. HDMI 2.1 ports allow you to exploit that for a superior and lag-free gaming experience, as it provides 48Gbps of bandwidth.
HDMI 2.1 ports also support variable refresh rate (VRR), which works with the TV’s refresh rate to eliminate screen tearing. Plugging the console into the 2.1 port will automatically change the TV into an auto low-latency mode, marked on many TVs as a game mode, for a smoother experience.
Utilizing HDMI 2.1 can also give users the opportunity for better sound and audio equipment connections. Something like eARC is a 2.1 port, giving you better audio format options like Dolby Audio.
See how good the anti-glare coating is
This is something that varies a lot
As mentioned, OLED TVs work best in dark rooms. That’s why it’s important to understand what the anti-glare coating is for your TV. It’s not realistic for you to be moving your TV in and out of a room when the room may be bright.
You want a TV that’s going to still look good when it has some light shining on it. Some manufacturers, like Samsung, provide a matte finish on its OLED TVs, which reduces the reflections on the screen. This is particularly evident when you’re watching something during the day or in a room with lamps or lights and the content itself is darker.
For one, you want to ensure that your OLED TV has some kind of anti-glare coating on it. But it can be hard to compare how well they work unless you’re standing in front of them. You may have to rely on user reviews to see which one might stand up best in the room you want to put it in. When comparing pricing, look up what people have to say about the anti-glare. It could be worth spending a little more money if you want to put it in a brighter room.
OLED TVs have a lot that makes them great
If you want to buy an OLED TV, it’s important to understand what it excels in. First, consider what room you’re going to put it in. That can help you decide where to put extra money towards, as the anti-glare coating and the peak brightness play big roles in brighter rooms. If you’re a gamer or a sports fan, looking at refresh rate is vital. OLED TVs can really make your content pop and the better the specs, the more expensive they’ll be. If you want to compromise on a few things that don’t matter as much to you, you might find a good balance between price and performance.
