If you’re looking to purchase a new television, you can be forgiven for being bamboozled by the vast array of acronyms, QLED and UHD included. They’re both modern television types, so what’s the difference between them?
In this article, we’ll explain the main differences between QLED and UHD, so that you can make an informed decision about which television to buy.
What are QLED and UHD TVs?
QLED stands for Quantum Light Emitting Diode, getting its name from the quantum dot technology that it uses in place of traditional LCD pixels. UHD stands for Ultra High Definition, which is essentially an improvement on the High Definition LED television, offering four times as many pixels, and allowing for a much more detailed image.
Most modern QLED TVs have the same number of pixels than UHD TVs (aside from those that are 8k), but there are important differences elsewhere. The main differences between QLED and UHD are:
Colour
UHD televisions use LED technology, with each pixel able to emit red, blue, or green light when illuminated by the screen’s LED backlight. These primary colours combine to produce a wide spectrum of colour on the television’s screen.
QLED televisions also use LED technology, but include a quantum dot filter that provides greater control over the colour of each pixel. The filter uses an aluminium compound that makes each pixel more efficient, and more penetrable with light, which allows not only a wider spectrum of colour, but also more accurate colour.
In summary, QLED TVs have a better colour range than UHD TVs. It can display a more accurate and vivid colour palette (including super deep blacks), allowing us to experience a closer version of the director’s final cut.
Brightness
QLEDs and UHDs both use LED backlights, but because of the QLED’s quantum dot technology, it’s able to produce a brighter picture than the UHD, while avoiding a “washed out” look.
Price
Because it uses advanced technology, you’ll pay more for a QLED television. Comparing a couple of Samsung’s products, you’ll pay $1495 for a 65” 4K UHD TV, and $2995 for a television of the same size and resolution that uses QLED technology—double the price. If you’re on a budget, you might want to wait for the price of QLED televisions to drop before purchasing one.
Brands
Samsung lead the way with their QLED series, providing a range of televisions of various sizes and resolutions. Kogan, JVC, and Hitachi are some other brands that produce QLED televisions, but Samsung is considered the best in the industry.
UHD televisions have been available for almost nine years, and as a result, are produced by tons of different manufacturers. Industry leaders include LG, Panasonic, Sony, and Samsung again.
What about OLED?
To complicate things further, there’s another type of television that you can purchase—OLED. This stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode, and again, the thing that distinguishes this type of TV is how it uses pixels to display imagery. In an OLED, a carbon-based pixel film is used to emit its own light without the need for a large backlight, which allows for remarkably deep blacks, “infinite contrast,” and super quick refresh rates. This makes OLEDs more expensive than most QLEDs, and much more expensive than UHDs.