It’s the time of year when retailers are discounting last year’s TV models to clear stock and make way for the new line-up. With the demise of Vodafone TV and the debut of Sky’s new video-streaming boxes, many people are reconsidering their viewing options. Some will choose to go all-in on a new smart TV, using the built-in streaming apps and Freeview to meet their viewing needs.
There are some good deals still to be had on the old models. But buying the latest and greatest TV is a bit more complicated in 2023. That’s because market leader Samsung is going big on OLED (organic light-emitting diode) for its high-end TVs, a technology its key rivals, LG, Sony and Panasonic, have incorporated into their TVs for the past decade.
Samsung long maintained that OLED wasn’t good enough overall to meet viewers’ needs. It didn’t offer as bright a picture as the LED technology underpinning the company’s traditional line-up, and OLED screens were prone to “burn-in” if a static image or logo was displayed on them for too long.
On the flipside, LED TVs featured a backlit panel, rather than having each pixel of the screen individually lit, as with an OLED model. So it was harder to have a really good contrast ratio on an LED screen – the deep blacks that enhance a home cinema experience.
Both camps – the OLED-faithful and Samsung with its QLED-branded (quantum dot light-emitting diode) alternatives, have gradually narrowed the gap between the technologies, to the extent that it’s often hard to tell the difference. Samsung’s use of quantum dot panels dramatically improved the colour accuracy of its screens. The arrival of HDR (high dynamic range) in TVs added a new dimension as streaming providers embraced the standard, which delivers overall better screen quality for HDR-compatible movies and TV shows – whatever modern TV you are watching.
The wisdom has long been that an OLED TV is better for viewing in a dark room, while an LED one delivers better results in your typical lounge setting, where there’s light streaming through the window, for instance. Still, when I finally replaced my old Samsung TV two years ago, I opted for a Panasonic OLED. I’m happy to put the blinds down for a spell of day-time viewing in favour of crisp blacks for movie watching in the dark.
Samsung has decided to try to meet all viewing preferences, no doubt influenced by the success of its fellow Korean stablemate LG, a leader in OLED. Samsung’s Neo QLED range is still going strong in 2023, but for the second year, it has OLED TVs on offer. The 77-inch S95C is its flagship OLED model ($13,000), a beast of a TV that I encountered for the first time a few weeks ago, tucked into a dark corner of a room at Auckland’s Eden Park.
The screen quality was stunning, up there with any OLED I’ve laid eyes on to date, which is the common consensus from early reviews. It’s also incredibly thin due to the brains of the TV residing in a separate box that connects to the screen via a single cable.
OLED and HDR are clearly a winning combination, particularly as the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and Apple+ serve up increasingly cinematic content. But Samsung’s extensive Neo QLED range, while also delivering great picture quality, is a bit cheaper – the 55-inch Neo QLED 4K QN90C will set you back $4500, while the OLED equivalent S90C costs $5100.
Check out the pair side by side in a showroom and see if you can tell the difference. The margins are smaller than ever, but the old rule of thumb still applies – if you are mainly saving your TV for watching movies in a dark room, OLED is the way to go.
