Perhaps, one of the greatest inventions of mankind - a television, is
certainly a work of marvel. Whether one enjoys viewing cricket/football matches
on weekends with friends, enthusiastically jumping out of the sofa set at every
boundary/goal scored or if one relishes watching movies alone at night,
contemplating the message conveyed in it up until dawn, or if one is a
passionate gamer and savours each latest title launched for one’s gaming
console, or even if one keeps oneself abreast of the latest happenings around
the world - a television has something in store for all.
While the uses and benefits of a
television are immense, the very choice of it among hundreds of products
offered by dozens of manufacturers trying to beat one another by advertising
their flashy USPs is a different story altogether. With several display
technologies among LEDs, OLEDs, and QLEDs and various display resolutions among
HD Ready, Full HD and 4K in which they are offered along with the different
interface options among Smart, Non-smart, Android, choosing the right
television that is perfect for one’s requirement is a gargantuan task.
So today, we will make purchasing a television a breezy process for all.
Now, if you are a frequent visitor to the posts on this blog, you might be
probably aware that we take each topic from the grass root level and
we will do the same with this post as well. We will begin with the basics
first, discuss the different types of display technologies available in the
market along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. Following which, we
would analyse the various display resolutions offered in televisions and how it
influences the clarity and sharpness of content as screen size varies. Next, we
will proceed onto discussing the three types of user interfaces among
Non-Smart, Smart and Android, televisions come manufactured with and how one
should go about choosing one of these for one’s television as per one’s use and
requirement. Following the display resolution, we would examine the optimal screen
size one should decide on keeping the viewing distance and one’s preferred
display resolution in consideration. Next, we will move onto deciding which are
some of the best televisions available in the market that not only offer
excellent picture quality but are also made of high-quality and durable
components, thereby offering the most value for one’s money.
TELEVISION DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES
LED
As the name suggests, an LED television makes use of Light Emitting Diodes
(LEDs) as a source of light behind the screen. LED televisions are a very
popular choice among buyers all across the world primarily because of two
factors: first, low energy consumption, which is an inherent trait of light
emitting diodes and second, relatively thin form factor.
However, a major touting that made LED televisions so popular over their
predecessors - LCD televisions, was cited to be its superior picture quality
and improved viewing angles. However, in reality, none of it was actually true.
LED televisions did not improve upon the image quality or viewing angles.
Rather, they improved upon energy efficiency over its predecessors,
thereby reducing electricity consumption.
Now, having discussed the LED display technology in televisions, let us proceed
to explore its advantages and disadvantages.
PROS:-
- Energy consumption. Perhaps the greatest
advantage of LED televisions is the fact that they are quite economical to
use. Typically, they consume 40–45 per cent less energy than their LCD
counterparts.
- Shelf life. LED televisions due to
their utilization of LED light source can last decades. However, for
ensuring longevity of the display panel of LED televisions, one should
keep in check that these televisions are used in environments where
temperatures lie within the range of 5–45 degree celsius.
- Picture quality. With adequate contrast,
decent blacks, crisp and sharp images, LED technology in televisions has
certainly proved to be a boon for enthusiasts.
- Pleasing aesthetics. LED technology has
completely transformed the perception about televisions. In olden times,
televisions were associated with big, bulky boxes of entertainment, but
with the advent of LED technology in televisions, they have reduced in
bulk and depth so dramatically that they are now considered to be symbols
of luxury rather than just sources of entertainment.
CONS:-
- Display dims with age. LED televisions can
typically last for 35,000–40,000 watch hours. However, as number of watch
hours pile up, LEDs, just like any other source of light, get dimmer and
the content displayed on the screen is not as bright as what it was when
the television was new. Typically, after 25,000 watch hours, the maximum
brightness gets reduced to 60 per cent of original. Though, 25,000 watch
hours would translate to roughly two decades of moderate use, it’s only
the enthusiasts that might find the need to replace their television a
little sooner than a decade mark.
- Restricted viewing angle. LED televisions do
provide an immersive viewing experience with sharp image quality, accurate
colours and adequate contrast. However, one can take full advantage of
their image reproduction prowess from a maximum angle of 50–55 degrees on
either side from the center that translates to a total viewing angle of
100–110 degrees. Beyond which, the colours appear a little washed out and
the content no longer looks as sharp. So, in settings where a large number
of members are viewing a program spread out beyond the optimal viewing
angle range, the ones viewing the content from further away the optimal
angle range would not experience the content to be as colour rich and
detailed as someone viewing the content from the center would do.
OLED
OLED stand for Organic Light-Emitting Diode. A layer of organic compounds is
sandwiched between the two electrodes - one positively charged and the other
negatively. When electric current passes through the electrodes, holes and
electrons combine in the sandwiched organic layer, releasing energy in the form
of photons of light. The colour of the light depends upon the type
of organic compounds used. Typically, most major manufacturers place several
types of organic films on the same OLED panel to make colour displays. The
brightness of the display is controlled by the amount of electric current
applied: the brighter the display the more is the current drawn.
Now, let us discuss the Pros and Cons of this display technology.
PROS:-
- Perfect blacks. Unlike LED display technology that makes use of light emitting diodes to work as the source of backlight, OLED panels do not have any such requirement. In OLED panels, individual pixels produce their own light, thus, when viewing content on OLED televisions, the scenes in which darkness or night is to be portrayed, the pixels of that area on the screen do not light up at all, thereby giving viewers a viewing experience that is unmatched by any other display technology.
(Illustration of perfectly black pixels in an OLED television where the
content is not displayed and comparison of the same content on an LED
television)
- Near ideal viewing angle. OLED televisions have
a viewing angle of about 170 degrees which converts to 85 degrees on
either side from the center. This translates in content appearing as
colour rich and as sharp to someone viewing it right from the center as it
would to someone viewing it from one of the corners. This quality of OLED
televisions makes them an ideal choice for homes where the television is
to be installed in a common setting and large number of viewers are to
relish the content together.
- Faster response time. Response time refers
to the time it takes for the individual light emitting diodes to turn from
‘on’ to ‘off’ state. Lower response time in comparison to LED televisions
ensures less motion blur and promotes an overall more immersive viewing
experience.
- Lesser input lag. This facet of OLED
televisions is especially a boon for die-hard gamers. Input lag refers to
the time taken to display the action performed via the external controller
device on the screen. Most major manufacturers of OLED televisions claim
the input lag to be lesser than 25 milliseconds on their products. With
input lag as low as 25 milliseconds, one can expect a seamless gaming
performance with virtually no time difference between action performed via
the controller and the onscreen reaction.
CONS:-
- Display brightness. OLED televisions, when
considered alone are bright enough for most environments and it’s only
when one considers the display brightness levels in a brightly lit room,
an OLED television appears a little dimmer in comparison to the other
display technologies. This is mainly due to the fact that organic
compounds used in the OLED panel are self-emissive and have no backlight.
On the other hand, LED televisions, because of the LED sourced backlight
can get several times brighter than an OLED panel and would give better
viewing results in brighter settings.
- Screen burn-in. Burn-in refers to the
phenomenon of permanent retention of certain aspects of an image on the
screen due to excessive use. Most cases of burn-in are a result of static
images such as a channel logo or the vital information about a game
character being displayed uninterrupted on the screen for several hours
every day over a period of few years. However, in majority of homes,
televisions are not used such extensively, therefore, burn-in can
virtually be considered as an extremely rare occurrence.
QLED
QLED stands for Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diode. QLED technology entails
placing a layer of quantum dots in front of a regular LED backlight panel. Unlike
OLED displays, QLED panels are not self-emissive i.e. individual pixels do not
emit their own light. Rather, just like LED televisions, a backlight sourced by
light emitting diodes is brought into use to provide the illumination. The
layer of quantum dots is made up of tiny semi-conductor crystals ranging
between 2-10 nanometres in diameter, and produce different
colours depending upon their size. For instance, the smallest dots produce
blue, while the larger ones produce red. Basically, the size of the particle
dictates the wavelength of the light it emits, hence different colours are
produced. QLED panels are capable of producing over a billion different
colours, while both LED and QLED panels produce just a few million.
Now, having understood the key points of QLED display technology, let us
proceed to discuss its advantages and disadvantages.
Since QLED televisions use the same LED sourced display panel, as in the case
of LED televisions, all the advantages and disadvantages of LED technology
apply to QLED televisions as well. Additionally, there are specific Pros and
Cons exclusive to QLED technology, which we will discuss.
PROS:-
- Brightness levels. When it comes to
brightness capabilities, QLED panels outshine every other category of
display technologies. Even in the brightest of environments, QLED
televisions can reproduce some of the most vivid and bright images.
Therefore in settings, where one can not possibly curtail the amount of
light entering the room or if one favours watching one’s preferred content
on television in brighter environments, QLED televisions deliver well.
- No occurrence of screen
burn-in. Since
QLED televisions are based on LED display technology, occurrence of
burn-in is completely non-existent in QLED displays due to the inorganic
nature of LED panels.
CONS:-
- Backlight bleed. Backlight bleed is
characterized by leakage of backlight around the edges or corners of the
display panel. This phenomenon can also be observed in LED televisions to
some extent. The cause of such occurrences revolves around the fact that
pixels on QLED and LED televisions rely on backlighting by light-emitting
diodes and are not self-emissive. As a result, some amount of backlight
leaks around the corners of the display panel. Though, it takes an eagle’s
eye to observe such an occurrence and most users would not notice it at
all, enthusiasts and steadfast gamers might find such phenomenon in QLED
and LED displays mildly distracting.
Now, having discussed the three types of display technologies that are
prevalent in the market, let us examine the different display resolutions one
can find in a television screen.
DISPLAY RESOLUTION
Display resolution is measured by the number of pixels contained on a display
screen. It is expressed in terms of number of pixels on the horizontal axis and
the number of pixels on the vertical axis. The sharpness of an image depends
upon the resolution and size of the display screen.
For the same pixel resolution, an image will appear sharper on a small screen
and would gradually lose its sharpness as the size of the display screen is
increased. Therefore, as a rule of thumb, the bigger the display screen, the
higher should be the display resolution to facilitate pleasurable viewing
experience.
Display resolution is denoted as ‘A x B’, where A denotes the
number of pixels along the width of the display screen and B denotes the number
of pixels along the height of the display screen. The product of A and B gives
the total number of pixels in the screen.
Now, the display resolutions one can find in a television screen are:-
- HD Ready. This display
resolution is commonly seen in entry level televisions and the number of
pixels along the width and the height of the screen are 1280 x 720.
Another pixel configuration that comes under the umbrella of HD Ready
resolution is 1366 x 768. HD Ready resolution is often known by the
numeric name 720p.
- Full HD. Full HD display
resolution has 1920 pixels along its width and 1080 pixels along its
height, i.e. 1920 x 1080 pixels. The numeric name for Full HD resolution
is 1080p.
- Ultra HD. Ultra HD resolution is generally found in premium televisions. The number of pixels along the width and the height of the screen are 3840 x 2160. The numeric name for Ultra HD resolution is 4K as these display screens have four times the number of pixels found in Full HD displays.
So, having analyzed the different resolutions of television displays,
let us proceed to understanding the user interface options available in
televisions.
USER INTERFACE
Non-Smart. A non smart television is the one that can majorly only
be used to view content provided by one’s set top box/cable network provider,
but can not be natively used to consume media from online video services like
YouTube, Netflix, Hotstar etc. So, there is only little one can accomplish by a
non-smart television. However, with the advent of plug-in
devices like Google Chromecast, any non-smart television can be turned
into a modular smart one by casting content from one’s mobile phone/PC to the
non-smart television. On the flip side, non-smart televisions make up for the
lower segment of television market, and by deciding to purchase one, one would
also miss out on other substantial qualities a decent television should have -
higher display resolution, lower refresh rate, wider viewing angles, better
sounding speakers, etc. Hence, only if one is considering a purchase within a
strict budget would a non-smart television make for a decent choice.
Smart. The greatest advantage of a smart television is the fact
that it can natively connect to one’s home’s Wi-Fi network and thus one can
seamlessly enjoy content from online video services. Moreover, most smart
televisions also have an in-built voice search functionality that allows the
users to search for their preferred content by simply speaking the
name/description of the content. Also, with Google Chromecast built-in in
majority of smart televisions, one can relish content from one’s PC or mobile
phone on the television screen without requiring to plug-in any external
device. That said, though one can install more than adequate applications and
streaming services on a smart television from the manufacturer’s installed app
store, one might find few applications specific to Google Play store which one
can install only on an Android television. For this very matter, smart
televisions occupy the sweet spot between limited functionality of
the non-smart televisions and the extensive versatility of full-fledged Android
televisions.
Android. Android is the most widely used operating system in the
world. Therefore, people coming from Android mobile phones/tablets would find
themselves at home with Android televisions. Unlike smart televisions which
only let the users install the limited number of applications and services included
in the manufacturer’s installed app store, Android televisions open the world
to a whole new level of Android specific content such as Google Play Store
which houses tons of applications and popular games, Google Play Movies and TV
which lets one stream the latest movies and popular TV shows, some of which are
exclusive to Google Play Movies and TV. Additionally, the familiarity of menus,
the ease of interactivity one gets with Android televisions
is unmatched by any other user interface.
Having examined the different user interfaces available in televisions and the
benefits and shortcomings of each, let us proceed to analyzing the optimal
screen size one should consider while purchasing a television, keeping the
distance between the screen and one’s seating arrangement in calculation.
(Android TV User Interface depicting Android specific applications)
VIEWING DISTANCE AND OPTIMAL SCREEN SIZE
Screen of any display, be it television be it monitor be it mobile phone etc.
is always measured diagonally, i.e. from one corner to opposite non-adjacent
corner of the screen. For calculating the optimal screen size, the display
resolution also needs to be kept into consideration apart from the viewing
distance.
Lower screen resolution translates to lesser number of pixels in a given area
of the screen which results in image appearing blurry. Therefore, to counter
blur while viewing a lower resolution display, typically HD Ready display, one
needs to view the content from farther away than what is required in Full HD or
Ultra HD displays.
As a rule of thumb, the better the display resolution of the television screen,
the closer one can view the content from, without the content appearing
pixelated or vague.
Now, let us discuss the relation between screen size (measured diagonally) and
the viewing distance for various display resolutions.
- For HD Ready display. When a 720p display is
in consideration, the maximum screen size is calculated by dividing the
viewing distance (in inches) by ‘2.5’. The obtained result would
be the highest screen size one should decide on for the viewing distance
in consideration. For example, for a viewing distance of 10 feet, i.e. 120
inches, the maximum screen size one should go for is roughly 49 inches.
For a screen size beyond 49 inches, keeping the same viewing distance in
calculation, the content would start appearing pixelated and blurry, thus
not pleasurable.
- For Full HD display. For a 1080p screen, the
maximum screen size is calculated by dividing the viewing distance (in
inches) by ‘2’. The obtained quantity would be the greatest
screen size that one should decide on for the viewing distance in
consideration. For illustration, for a viewing distance of 10 feet, i.e.
120 inches, the maximum screen size one should settle on is 60 inches.
- For Ultra HD display. Since a 4K display
packs in four times the number of pixels of a Full HD screen, for the same
screen size, one can be seated at half the distance when viewing a 4K
display as compared to a 1080p display and the content would still be
enjoyable. More number of pixels in a 4K panel ensure that one does not
see individual pixels and enjoys a sharp and crisp image even when viewed
up close. For a 4K display, the largest screen size is calculated by
dividing the viewing distance (in inches) by ‘1.8’.
Illustrating with an example, for a viewing distance of 10 feet, i.e. 120
inches, the maximum screen size that would impart pleasurable viewing
experience in a 4K display would be approximately 65 inches.
Note:- The results of the above analysis produce maximum effective
screen size one can comfortably settle on and enjoy an immersive experience.
However, in practice, it is advisable to opt for a slightly lower screen size
than the results produced by performing the calculations for the respective
display resolutions.
(Ideal viewing distance for various
screen sizes of a 1080p resolution display)
Now, having studied the relation
between viewing distance and the maximum screen size one should opt for, let us
proceed to zero in on some of the best televisions available in the market that
not only offer great picture quality, thus an immersive viewing experience, but
are also made of components that offer reliable and long-lasting service,
thereby providing most value for the money spent.
Note: In our constant endeavour to assist you in making an informed buying decision, we test the new launches of the products on multiple parameters, and if they stand tall in our analysis we periodically add them to the below mentioned list of our recommended products. So, if you plan to make the purchase at a later time, you may visit the links once again at the very time of buying to ensure that the purchase turns out to be a very fruitful one.
Screen size up to 32 inches
Best Choice 1, My Preferred Choice, Best Choice 2, Best Choice 3, Best Choice 4, Best Choice 5, Best Choice 6, Best Choice 7, Best Choice 8, Best Choice 9, Best Choice 10, Best Choice 11, Best Choice 12, Best Choice 13, Best Choice 14 and Best Choice 15
Screen size between 40 and 50 inches
Best Choice 1, Best Choice 2, My Preferred Choice, Best Choice 3, Best Choice 4, Best Choice 5, Best Choice 6, Best Choice 7, Best Choice 8, Best Choice 9, Best Choice 10, Best Choice 11, Best Choice 12, Best Choice 13, Best Choice 14, Best Choice 15 and Best Choice 16
Screen size 55 inches and beyond
Best Choice 1, My Preferred Choice, Best Choice 2, Best Choice 3, Best Choice 4, Best Choice 5, Best Choice 6, Best Choice 7, Best Choice 8, Best Choice 9, Best Choice 10, Best Choice 11, Best Choice 12, Best Choice 13, Best Choice 14, Best Choice 15 and Best Choice 16
