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If you're shopping for a new TV this year, you've probably heard about Samsung's QLED TVs.
It can be confusing to keep track of all of these names and acronyms, but we're here to help. In this guide, we'll answer all of your questions. What is QLED? What is Neo QLED? And which is better?
Key Takeaways
- Neo QLEDs are upgrades on QLED screens
- Numerous benefits of Neo QLED technology over other display types
- Neo QLED displays do not have burn-in isues.
- Samsung is not the only brand that uses the same mini-LED technology,
Here's everything you need to know about Neo QLED vs. QLED, including the differences between each type of TV, as well as some information on Samsung's other TV technologies.
What are QLED TVs?
QLED is a fairly recent innovation in the world of television technology. It stands for Quantum Dot LED, and it’s a type of display that uses liquid crystals and tiny nano-sized particles called quantum dots that are lit up by LEDs to create a brighter picture quality.
QLED displays have a number of advantages over other types of displays, including high brightness and color gamut, low power consumption, and the ability to produce deep blacks. QLED displays are also thinner than other types of LED TVs because they don’t require a color filter layer.
Have High Brightness
The QLED TV line-up has brightness levels ranging from 1,000 nits to 4,000 nits and this makes them ideal for UHD content. The high brightness levels make images and videos pop out from the screen even if you're watching them in bright rooms. This also means that you can watch your favorite shows even when there's sunlight coming through your window.
High Contrast from Any Angle
QLED displays offer clear visibility from any angle. It is essential for business people, gamers, and other people who use their devices all day long. Thanks to the unique capabilities of a quantum dot film, viewers will enjoy high contrast ratio and perfect color reproduction regardless of the viewing angle.
A Wide Color Gamut
QLED displays are capable of creating more natural and brighter colors than conventional LCDs. They provide a wide color gamut, which is important for creating true-to-life images. The light emitted by quantum dot technology is converted into pure red and green, which improves overall color accuracy.
Low Power Consumption
While providing high image quality, QLED displays consume less power than their predecessors. This feature makes them ideal for making energy-efficient gadgets that can be used for long hours without consuming too much electricity.
What is Neo QLED TVs
Neo QLED displays are the first displays to put Quantum Mini LED technology at the center of its advancements, offering improved brightness, contrast, and viewing angles in comparison to standard QLEDs.
In a nutshell, Neo QLEDs introduce a new form of display technology called Quantum Mini LED. These are smaller LEDs than the ones typically used in backlighting, and they're packed into a TV panel more densely than ever before.
The idea is that by adding more LEDs to the panel than before, you can make the picture quality better and brighter and more evenly lit across the screen. It also means that black levels are deeper since each zone can be controlled independently.
The Neo QLED TVs are Huge
Samsung Neo QLED is amazing. The displays are huge, and they look stunning. The new range has the usual array of HDMI 2.1 ports, so you can connect a game console and take advantage of features like 4K and 8K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.
Uses Local Dimming
Where most TVs rely on global dimming; in which the entire backlight will either be off or on, Samsung Neo QLED TVs use local dimming that can turn off certain parts of the backlight while leaving other parts on. This enables this type of display technology to deliver more accurate lighting and contrast than a TV that relies solely on global dimming.
Uses AI to Generate the Best Viewing Experiences
According to Samsung, their Neo QLED TVs feature an algorithm or AI technology to improve the display by making adjustments based on ambient lighting conditions in your room. This ensures that viewers have a great viewing experience irrespective of whether they are watching in bright light or in darker settings.
What Is the Difference between QLED and Neo QLED?
QLED TVs have been Samsung’s chief TV technology for several years now, but the company announced a new version for 2021: Neo QLED.
In simple terms, it is basically a traditional QLED TV with some technological upgrades. For instance, it uses a “Quantum Mini LED” backlight instead of the standard LED backlight.
Upgraded Technology
Samsung's Neo QLED technology, which was first introduced in 2021, represents a major evolution in the company's QLED TV lineup. It comes with several key upgrades to the previous version, including new AI-powered upscaling, brighter and more colorful imagery, and better sound.
Brightness
Increasing brightness while maintaining contrast is the holy grail of TV technology. Samsung's newly unveiled Neo QLED TVs represent the latest attempt to accomplish that goal, and they do it by packing in ten times as many LEDs in the backlight as QLEDs.
The extra lights can also be individually controlled to match the on-screen content more closely and thus improve contrast. When there's a bright object in dark scenes, for example, the TV can dim just those LEDs behind that bright object.
Neo QLED have More Realistic Colors than OLED TVs
The idea behind Neo QLED is to make a brighter display with more realistic colors than you get from traditional OLED TVs (Organic Light Emitting Diode). According to Samsung, its Neo QLED TVs offer 100% color volume, meaning that the image appears exactly the same if you change your viewing angle or the room gets brighter or darker.
Have High Contrast
Samsung Neo QLED TVs are designed to deliver incredibly bright whites and deep blacks, with a new dimming algorithm that brings out details in the dark areas of the picture.
"The blacks are deep and inky," says Samsung's Dave Das. "It's a dark room experience."
“The darkest scenes we saw were from Men in Black: International. Watching one scene where the MIB agents are following a lead through London at night, I was struck by how much detail was still visible in the blackness of an alleyway when the agents' car comes to a stop. The movie itself didn't have a ton of action or color, but what was there was rich and vibrant, and again with lots of detail in shadows and even some highlights.”
Is It Worth Upgrading to A Neo QLED?
If you're thinking of upgrading to new TV and you want the best picture quality possible, Samsung's Neo QLED models are definitely worth considering. These Samsung TVs use Quantum Mini LEDs to produce brighter, more colorful images that look great in any viewing environment. They also feature Samsung's latest processor, which delivers even better picture quality than last year's premium QLED models.
Uses AI to Improve Viewing Experience
These Samsung TVs - see more top TV brands - use AI technology to improve the viewing experience. It can scan content for faces, objects, and scenes and adjust the picture quality to make sure that everything looks as good as possible.
New QLED TVs are the Brightest
The Neo QLED TV is also the brightest. This means that you will be able to see details that are not visible to the human eye. It also means that you will be able to see more of what is going on in your room when watching movies or playing video games at night.
Its local dimming feature is also a big plus. This feature allows the TV to adjust its brightness level based on how bright or dark your room is at any given time.
This feature can be especially useful when you have a lot of windows in your living room or bedroom. If you are trying to watch a movie during the day but have lots of sunlight coming through your windows, this feature will help prevent glare from ruining your experience.
How Does the Brightness of a Neo-QLED Compare to A QLED?
That's a question that can best be answered with a look at the technology behind TV displays.
Most TVs today are either LCD or OLED TVs, and neither uses the same lighting system as QLED. QLED stands for "quantum dot light-emitting diode" and is a type of LCD panel.
A QLED TV
QLEDs use quantum dots; tiny nanocrystals that emit light when charged with electricity. The quantum dots are placed between the backlight and the display layer of an LCD TV and their job is to improve color quality by emitting more specific, saturated colors when they're illuminated. In essence, they're used to enhance an LCD panel's ability to produce vivid, accurate colors rather than being a replacement for it.
Mini Led Technology
Samsung Neo-QLED TVs go one step further because they feature mini LEDs instead of regular LEDs in their backlight. Mini LEDs significantly improve the contrast ratio by allowing more localized control over brightness levels on the screen.
This is because a mini LED is 1/40th the size of a standard LED, so these TVs can have 10 times as many LEDs as QLED TVs for increased brightness. They also have 100 times more zones of local dimming than previous QLED models, helping them create extraordinarily dark blacks alongside their bright highlights.
Can Neo QLED TVs Suffer a Burn-in?
Neo QLED TVs do not have burn-in isues. Fixed images can be displayed on Neo QLED and QLEDs for any period of time without any danger of burn-in. Neither Neo QLEDs nor QLEDs use organic matter susceptible to burn-in like OLED TVs do.
Which Neo QLED TVs Are Out There?
Samsung is the only brand that makes Neo QLEDs. However, if you want a TV that uses the same mini-LED technology, you have other options as well. LG uses the term QNED for the same technology, and such TVs are positioned right below their flagship OLED TVs. Other TV makers like TCL and HiSense also make mini-LED TVs. In fact, TCL was the first brand to introduce mini-LED TVs in 2019.