At CES 2017, the International Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas, Samsung announced a new generation of their LED technology, QLED, to compete against the baffling array of other acronyms, including LG’s OLED and SUHD and more traditional LED and HDTVs.
QLED? SUHD? I Just Wanted a TV
Backing up a few steps, QLED stands for Quantum LED, which works by overlaying an array of unfathomably tiny dots over each LED in the TV, each of which emits a different colour when certain wavelengths of light pass through them. Samsung claims this will allow their latest sets to emit billions of different colours, which, they claim, will provide a far brighter and more vibrant picture than those of their competitors.
The competitors range from standard LED TVs, which have been on the market for a number of years now, mostly in the form of High Definition TVs, or HDTVs, and even more recently the UHD, or Ultra High Definition TVs, and Samsung’s 2015 offering, the SUHD TV. What the ‘S’ stands for is up for speculation, but probably either ‘super’ or ‘Samsung’.
Many of Samsung’s competitors have proprietary improvements to compete with QLED. LG and Sony, for example, push OLED, or Organic LEDs, in their own sets, in which the LEDs are coated in a bioluminescent organic film which produces extra light when a current is passed through it.
How these super high-end variants of the technology compare to each other is yet to be seen, although it is likely to be more a matter of preference than one being strictly better than another.
How to Get the Most out of Your New Set
Even ignoring the cutting edge of technology, the chances are you can get a better picture out of your current HD or UHD TV, so it might be best to hold off on replacing it if you aren’t happy with the picture. Your TV might be able to display 4K resolutions, but if your aerial or dish are getting on, your TV simply won’t be getting the proper picture to display. If you live in Evesham TV aerial repair can be obtained through http://steveunettaerials.co.uk/services/tv-aerials-repair-installation-evesham/, for instance.
Other low-cost or even free things to try before writing off your current set include calibration, software updates and considering bias lighting.
