The technology fair CES (from January 4th to 7th, 2022 in Las Vegas) honors particularly innovative products and names the winners on its website. Also included: a new Samsung television. The term “QD display” refers to a new and very promising screen technology. It is curious, however, that Samsung is only presenting TV models with well-known display types at the fair. On request, the manufacturer does not say a word about the enigmatic award winner and puts off an official announcement later this year. COMPUTER BILD reveals what to think of it.
The best QLED televisions
Samsung
Test details
Per
Outstanding image quality
Very good anti-reflective coating
Samsung
Test details
Per
Outstanding image quality
Very good anti-reflective coating
Samsung
Test details
Per
Very natural colors
Very clear movements
Cons
Expensive
No analog connections
Samsung
Test details
Per
Outstanding image quality
Very good anti-reflective coating
Samsung
Test details
Per
Very clear movements
Brilliant picture with high contrast
Cons
Expensive
No analog connections
Samsung
Test details
Per
Very brilliant picture with high contrast
Perfectly natural colors
Cons
High surcharge for the rimless design
Back wall purrs with loud bass
Samsung
Test details
Per
Outstanding image quality
Very good anti-reflective coating
Samsung
Test details
Per
Very brilliant picture with high contrast
Perfectly natural colors
Cons
High surcharge for the rimless design
Back wall purrs with loud bass
Samsung
Test details
Per
Very clear movements
Brilliant picture with high contrast
Cons
Expensive
No analog connections
Samsung
Test details
Per
Very brilliant picture with high contrast
Perfectly natural colors
Cons
High surcharge for the rimless design
Back wall purrs with loud bass
Complete List: The Best QLED TVs
How do LCD, QLED and OLED differ?
For its new screen technology, Samsung wants to combine the advantages of the QLED screens with those of the OLED screens and at the same time avoid their disadvantages. QLED televisions are LCD TVs with so-called quantum dots for color enhancement for particularly brilliant images. A disadvantage of all LCD screens: They cannot display perfectly deep black, which limits the contrast in the picture. The reason for this is the so-called backlight, which lights up the images behind the LCD panel. OLED screens do not need a backlight, as each individual pixel lights up by itself. This enables perfect black and any high-contrast images. Films look correspondingly more vivid and clearer on OLED televisions. Disadvantage of OLED televisions: They are less bright than top LCD models, and permanently displayed still images can leave permanent shadows (“burn in”).
What is a QD display or a QD OLED display?
All screen types mix all displayable colors from red, green and blue subpixels together. Color filters are used to generate these three basic colors, but they absorb a lot of light. Samsung does without color filters in the new QD display. Instead, Quantum Dots are used as color converters. The microscopic luminous crystals convert blue light into red and green light. On the one hand, this promises higher efficiency and, on the other hand, it enables an interesting screen structure: the actual image initially generates a single-color, blue OLED screen with self-illuminating pixels – this guarantees perfect contrast. Before that, the Quantum Dots do the color conversion into red, green and blue, pixel by pixel. In this way, brighter images should be possible than with color filters. In addition, the monochrome OLED screen is said to be able to withstand still images better.
QD OLED display in detail: The self-emitting layer is a blue OLED screen with UHD resolution, the QD layer contains quantum dots that glow in red, blue and green.
What details are known about the Samsung QD OLED TV?
So far, only a few details are known about the upcoming QD OLED television from Samsung: It should be 65 inches (164 centimeters) in size and work with UHD resolution (3840×2160 pixels). Samsung also promises a refresh rate of up to 144 Hertz – interesting for connecting high-end gaming PCs. Four HDMI inputs are available for this, all in the new HDMI 2.1 version for 4K to 120 and 144 Hertz. Presumably, Samsung has outsourced the connections to the One Connect Box, as with its other top models. There is no more information yet.
What do you think of the Samsung QD OLED TV?
The technical approach of the new screen technology is promising and has been in development at Samsung for a long time. It is unclear how the newcomer will fit in between the other Samsung televisions with LCD screens: Samsung has announced the QN95B as the new UHD top model at CES 2022, while the QN800B and QN900B with 8K resolution are in the price range above. Like their predecessors, all of them will probably be available in 65, 75 and 85 inches. It remains to be seen whether Samsung will place the QD OLED TV in between in terms of price – that would amount to a price of around 4,000 euros. In addition to the television, Samsung also wants to bring a gaming monitor with a QD display onto the market. The CES also honored the Odyssey G8QNB with 34 inches, UWQHD resolution (3440×1440 pixels) in 21: 9 format and 175 Hertz with an Innovation Award. The trade fair organizer quite openly admits that he awards the awards on the basis of paper and not on the basis of tests and technical trials. Samsung is also not the only award winner for innovative screen technology. Sony is also one of them, as the information on the upcoming TV with QD OLED technology is much more specific: Sony TV 2022: OLED + QLED = super screen.
