2017 LG OLED TV Display Technology Shoot-Out

 

Dr. Raymond M. Soneira

President, DisplayMate Technologies Corporation

 

Copyright © 1990-2017 by DisplayMate Technologies Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

This article, or any part thereof, may not be copied, reproduced, mirrored, distributed or incorporated

into any other work without the prior written permission of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation

 

 

 

Introduction

Over the last 75 years there have been only four display technologies that have been developed and used in the production of direct-view TVs. They are: CRT, LCD, Plasma, and OLED, in historical order. But as new technologies evolved over time others became no longer competitive. For CRTs, which ruled during the 20th century, TV production came to an end about 10 years ago, and for Plasma TVs, production ended in 2014. Rear projection TVs with DLP and LCOS technology also disappeared within the last 10 years. Each failed as the result of the intense competition from LCDs, which now account for most of the displays used in products from smartphones to TVs.

 

But starting in 2010, a new display technology called OLED (for Organic Light Emitting Diodes, which should not be confused with LEDs) made a dramatic entrance for smartphone displays. Over the last 7 years OLEDs have improved at a very impressive rate so they now exceed the performance of the best LCDs in smartphones. TVs are much larger and much more challenging to manufacture, so OLED TVs arrived later. The first OLED TVs launched in 2013 to impressive rave reviews.

 

For consumers, the new OLED TVs are the natural successors to replace their previous or aging Plasma and CRT TVs because they provide even better perfect Black Levels and Infinite Contrast Ratios for accurately reproducing dark picture content. OLEDs have a unique set of native strengths and performance advantages that contrast and compete with LCD’s own unique set of native strengths and performance advantages. We’ll cover these issues including comparisons between both TV display technologies.

 

The 2017 LG OLED TV

The 2017 OLED TV that we review here is LG’s newest flagship OLED TV. Every OLED generation has provided significant performance enhancements and improvements. LG has not only been significantly increasing the Peak Brightness of the OLED display, but also improving its calibration accuracy, so the 2017 model has the Highest Absolute Color and Contrast Accuracy of any display that we have ever measured.

 

In June 2017 at the SID Display Week Conference, the display industry’s premier annual event, the LG OLED TV won a “Best in Show Award” chosen for “the ability to generate excitement within the display industry” so the LG OLED TV impressed many experts in the display industry.

 

All of the 2017 LG TV models use the same OLED panels. The LG OLED TVs come in 55, 65, and 77 inch screen sizes, with both flat screen and curved screen models (and other options like high-end audio and speakers). We lab tested a retail production 65 inch flat screen 4K LG OLED TV, model 65E7.

 

In this article we will scientifically examine, measure and analyze the display performance, the picture quality, and the accuracy of the 2017 OLED TV from LG with a 65 inch screen, including the new 4K Ultra HD and HDR High Dynamic Range modes, and also compare OLED to LCD TV performance in a number of key areas.

 

Article Overview

This article has the following Major Sections:

 

• TV Color Accuracy and Luminance Accuracy and Contrast Accuracy

• 3 TVs in One

 

• OLED and LCD Technology Background

• HDR High Dynamic Range Content

 

• OLED TV Results Highlights with LCD Performance Comparisons

• OLED TV Conclusions

• OLED TV Lab Measurements and Comparison Table

 

 

TV Color Accuracy and Brightness Accuracy and Contrast Accuracy

All consumers want High Picture Quality, but in order to provide High Picture Quality, a TV display must produce Accurate Picture Colors, plus Accurate Picture Brightness (Luminance) for all of the colors, and also produce Accurate Picture Contrast with an Accurate Intensity Scale.

 

Since the eye judges Color, Brightness, and Contrast separately, they also need to be measured and evaluated separately, which we then analyze throughout the article. All three of them are required in order to deliver accurate and beautiful High Picture Quality.

 

• Absolute Color Accuracy

Delivering great color with high Absolute Color Accuracy is incredibly difficult because everything on the display has to be done just right. In order to deliver accurate image colors, a display needs to closely match the standard Color Gamut that was used for producing the content being viewed – not larger and not smaller. In addition the display also needs an accurate Intensity Scale, and an accurate White Point.

 

Color Accuracy is particularly important for TVs, and their accuracy has been steadily improving as the result of many manufacturers, including LG, using fully automated color calibration with instruments at the factory instead of having assembly workers visually tweaking the colors. All 4K TVs must support two Color Gamuts so they need to implement Color Management in order to get the second smaller sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut to also appear correctly, which is produced from the wider native DCI-P3 Color Gamut. Each Color Gamut must be accurately calibrated at the factory. We measure and analyze the Absolute Color Accuracy for each of the two Standard TV Color Gamuts below.

 

• Absolute Luminance Accuracy

In order to produce an accurate TV image, the display also needs to produce an Accurate Brightness (Luminance) value for every color throughout its entire Color Space. Many displays produce Accurate Colors but produce them with inaccurate Luminance values, so the pixels in the image appear with a systematically incorrect distribution of color and brightness, which distorts the appearance of the picture. Absolute Luminance Accuracy is a very important picture quality metric.

 

Every color in the TV’s Color Space for a given Color Gamut and White Point has a particular Luminance value with respect to the Luminance for the White Point that must be accurately reproduced, which we will measure and analyze for all of the Reference Colors in each of the two Standard Color Gamuts. We will measure and analyze the Absolute Luminance Accuracy for each of the two Standard Color Gamuts below.

 

• Absolute Picture Contrast Accuracy

The Contrast Accuracy for all Picture Content is determined by the Absolute Accuracy of the Intensity Scale (sometimes called the Gray Scale), which generally gets less much attention from consumers and reviewers, but it is extremely important because it not only controls the Picture Contrast within all displayed images, but it also controls how the Red, Green and Blue primary colors mix to produce all of the on-screen colors. So if the Intensity Scale doesn't accurately follow the Standard that was used in producing the content then the Picture Contrast as well as the Colors and Intensities will be inaccurate.

 

The Standard Intensity Scale is logarithmic (like the eye and not linear) and its logarithmic steepness is called the display’s Gamma, which must remain constant throughout the entire Intensity Scale. The steeper the Intensity Scale the greater the image contrast and the higher the saturation of displayed color mixtures. We will measure and analyze the Absolute Picture Contrast Accuracy and the Absolute Accuracy of the Intensity Scale for each of the two Standard Color Gamuts below.

 

• Color Volume versus Color and Luminance Accuracy

Instead of measuring and evaluating the Color and Luminance Accuracy of a TV, some manufacturers and reviewers measure and evaluate the Color Volume produced by the TV display. The Color Volume is a 3-dimensional metric that measures the Peak Luminance (the height) for every color within the TV Color Gamut (the area). The larger the Color Volume the greater the range of colors and brightness that the TV display can produce.

 

The Color Volume is the maximum Uncalibrated Color Space that the TV display can produce. But all TV Picture Content is produced from Industry Standards that specify the maximum calibrated Luminance for every color within the Standard TV Color Space, as we have explained above. So the actual true Calibrated Color Volume is always less than the maximum Uncalibrated Color Volume. For example, if you double the Red Primary Peak Luminance, the maximum Uncalibrated Color Volume would increase substantially, but the Calibrated Color Volume based on the Color and Luminance Accuracy would not change at all.

 

So the Color Volume is not a useful or meaningful metric for evaluating Calibrated TVs.

It is the TV Color Accuracy and Brightness Accuracy and Contrast Accuracy that provide the best set of metrics for High TV Picture Quality.

 

 

3 TVs in One

All 4K Ultra HD TVs must also accurately display the extremely large base of existing 2K Full HD picture content, which has a smaller Color Gamut in addition to a smaller resolution.

 

The latest high-end TVs are now actually 3 TVs in One because they need to show Picture Content from 3 different TV Content Standards:

1. 2K Full HD TV Content

2. 4K Ultra HD TV Content

3. HDR High Dynamic Range Content

We lab test and analyze the performance of all 3 TV Content Standards for the 2017 LG OLED TV for accuracy and picture quality below.

 

• 2K Full HD High Definition TV Content

If you have a reasonably up-to-date TV purchased within the last 5 years, you most likely have a 2K Full HD 1920x1080 pixel resolution flat screen LCD or Plasma TV with an sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut Standard. Most existing TV Content is for the Full HD resolution and Color Gamut. This content not only includes Over The Air (OTA), Cable, and Satellite TV broadcasting, but also Blu-ray, DVD, digital camera, web content, internet streaming, and computer content, including photos, videos and movies, which are all based on the sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut Standard. Since most existing TV Content is based on 2K Full HD, any TV that you buy now or in the foreseeable future will need to support and accurately display Full HD content with an sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut.

 

• 4K UHD Ultra High Definition TV Content

The newest TVs have an Ultra HD 3840x2160 pixel resolution, also called 4K, which is twice the resolution of Full HD and has 4 times the number of pixels. They have a new wider DCI-P3 (Digital Cinema Initiative) Color Gamut Standard that is 26 percent larger than the current sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut, with more saturated Red and Green Primaries that provide noticeably richer and vibrant accurate picture color content. However, many 4K Ultra HD TVs do not have a full 100% DCI-P3 Color Gamut.

 

• HDR High Dynamic Range Content

High Dynamic Range, HDR, is the latest state-of-the-art enhanced 4K TV performance standard. HDR is designed to provide an enhanced TV viewing visual experience by providing much brighter picture content highlights, and also providing much better rendering and shadow detail for darker picture content. Right now there is still only a relatively small amount of HDR content, but it is starting to grow rapidly with both 4K Blu-ray titles and 4K streaming from Amazon, Netflix, Vudu, and others. Dolby Vision is another competing HDR standard.

 

 

OLED and LCD Technology Background

First we’ll provide some background information on OLED and LCD technology, and then discuss the native strengths of each TV technology.

 

• There are No LED TVs!

There is still a lot of consumer confusion regarding LED TVs versus OLED TVs… The first thing we need to clear up is the widespread misunderstanding created by the marketing of “LED TVs” – there aren’t any! The so-called LED TVs are just LCD TVs that have a backlight that is made of white LED lights. The LEDs are not the display, just the backlight, nothing more! OLEDs are an entirely different class of emissive imaging display technology (that doesn’t use a backlight). Unfortunately, many people think they already have an LED TV or OLED TV at home, but they actually have an LCD TV…

 

• OLED TV Display Technology

OLEDs are thin solid state devices that directly emit colored light. OLED displays have been improving rapidly with increasing screen size, peak brightness, color gamut, and power efficiency. They don’t need a backlight and supporting optical components. As a result, OLED TVs are considerably thinner (with the TV screen just 0.2 inches deep and the OLED panel itself only 0.1 inches deep for this 65 inch model) and are considerably lighter than LCD TVs. OLED displays are also rimless, with the picture going right to the edge of the panel without a visible outer bezel. It is also easier to make OLED TVs with curved screens, which we discuss below.

 

Because the OLED sub-pixels are all individually electrically powered to emit light, they can produce perfect Black Levels (by staying off) and accurately reproduce very dark picture content, which is a major competitive advantage for OLEDs. Plasma and CRT TVs were also particularly good with Black Levels and dark picture content, so OLED TVs are the natural successors to the former Plasma and CRT TV markets, and actually perform significantly better than them.

 

OLED displays first appeared in consumer products in 2010 on smartphones with small 4 inch screens. Making a large TV size OLED display is considerably more challenging, so that took a few years more. LG introduced their first generation 55 inch Full HD OLED TV in 2013, which was the best TV display we had ever tested up to that time – and virtually all reviewers agreed that OLED TVs outperformed the best Plasma and LCD TVs in producing the very highest picture quality preferred by both reviewers and videophile consumers. The 2017 model that we test here is LG’s newest flagship OLED TV.

 

LG has implemented some special OLED technology for their TVs. Rather than laying out three separate sets of OLED Red, Green, and Blue sub-pixels throughout the screen, the LG TV instead has a single uniform set of OLED White sub-pixels throughout made as a combined stack of Red, Green, and Blue OLED colors for each sub-pixel. The sub-pixels then each have their own individual Red, Green and Blue color filters that select the specific Red, Green or Blue OLED color for that sub-pixel. This approach greatly simplifies the OLED production, improves yields, and lowers the manufacturing costs. In addition, LG has also added a 4th clear sub-pixel to every pixel that just produces pure White. This increases the display’s power efficiency and also improves color accuracy and color management.

 

• LCD TV Display Technology

LCDs have dominated the TV market for over 10 years. LCDs all have a separate backlight of LEDs that illuminate the LCD panel from behind. The LCD panel produces its picture by controlling the amount of light that is transmitted through every sub-pixel on the screen. With a separate backlight it is easier to significantly increase the TV Brightness, which is a major competitive advantage for LCDs.

 

However, LCDs have trouble producing Black Levels and dark picture content because they have native Contrast Ratios of only 1,000 to 4,000, so they are unable to completely block all of the backlight when trying to produce Black or low light levels for dark picture content. This can result in a noticeable dark gray background surrounding and within picture content, which also reduces both the image contrast and the color saturation of dark picture content.

 

To improve Black and dark picture content, high-end LCDs utilize Local Dimming of the backlight, which reduces the LED backlights in regions of overall darker content implemented in real-time from frame-to-frame. But those regions are then unable to reproduce any bright sub-pixel content anywhere within the same region. In addition, adjacent regions need to have similar Local Dimming levels to reduce any discernable patchiness across the screen. So there are a complex set of compromises for Local Dimming that need to be made real-time from frame-to-frame. We’ll examine Local Dimming in more detail below.

 

The latest high-end LCD TVs also have Quantum Dots, which can efficiently produce the very saturated Primary Colors that are required for 4K and HDR picture content.

 

• Flat and Curved Screen TVs

Both OLED and LCD TVs now come in both flat screen and curved screen models. For 2017 we tested a flat screen OLED model, however in 2015 and 2013 we tested curved screens. For curved screen TVs it is very important to note that the curvature is actually relatively small, only about 2.1 inches (5.3 cm) in-depth (from the edge to the screen center) on a 65 inch OLED TV – the curvature is not that noticeable. That slight curvature has a real purpose – it significantly reduces the reflections of ambient light from the screen, which improves image contrast and the appearance of dark picture content. The slight curvature also reduces the (keystone) visual picture distortion that viewers see in the screen image geometry with a perfectly flat screen TV, both from the central Sweet Spot and also at larger viewing angles.

 

Because the screen curvature is small, it is barely noticeable when watching the screen from normal viewing distances, particularly in low ambient light, which is ideal for watching TV. Since we are all accustomed to watching perfectly flat screens some people don’t like the change in screen geometry (even though curved screens actually show less visual geometric distortion than flat screens). Note that flat screen TVs are easier to wall mount, and curved screen TVs are easier to place on furniture. Fortunately many high-end TVs are available with either curved or flat screens. Whether you prefer a curved or flat screen is primarily subjective, but a slightly curved screen does provide several important objective optimal visual advantages, which are explained in detail in this earlier article.

 

• OLED TV versus LCD TV Performance

Both OLEDs and LCDs can produce excellent state-of-the-art TV displays. But OLED and LCD technologies have different inherent native strengths and weaknesses, so neither display technology wins in all situations and all viewing conditions.

 

• LCD’s inherent strengths favor overall brighter picture content under medium to high ambient light viewing conditions because they have native higher Peak Luminance, but they also have much higher native Black Levels and much lower native Contrast Ratios than OLEDs.

 

• OLED’s inherent strengths favor low to medium ambient light viewing conditions because they have perfect native Black Levels and Infinite Contrast Ratios, but they also have lower native Peak Luminance than LCDs.

 

Both display technologies continue to work hard to enhance their native strengths and minimize their native weaknesses in order to appeal to the widest possible audience, viewing conditions, and picture content.

 

• For LCD TVs, the main challenge is to lower their Black Level, which is accomplished by Dimming the brightness of the LCD backlight when the picture content is darker. That lowers the Black Level but that also lowers the Peak Luminance at the same time.

 

The underlying issue is that both bright and dark picture content are often close to one another, so backlight compromises that favor either Black or Bright are required. Some LCD TVs apply Dimming to the entire full screen backlight, but all high-end LCDs now use Local Dimming that divides the screen into as many zones as possible. Then each backlight zone is adjusted real-time and frame-to-frame according to the picture content within that zone and adjacent zones. The more zones the better. We examine the issues and consequences of Local Dimming below.

 

For watching TV in higher ambient lighting, the typically higher native picture brightness of LCD TVs helps to raise the picture quality that is washed out by ambient light falling on the screen, which reduces both color saturation and picture contrast. Under these less than ideal viewing conditions the brighter the picture the better it will look in ambient light, but the best TV picture quality will always be in the lowest possible amount of ambient light.

 

• For OLED TVs, the main challenge is to improve their Peak Luminance, which has been steadily increasing. The underlying issue is that every sub-pixel in an OLED display is directly powered with electrical current to emit its light. Higher brightness requires more power, so the display backplane must be able to carry high current levels for all 33 million sub-pixels that emit light.

 

The key to appreciating and seeing the very best outstanding picture quality that OLED TVs can deliver is by watching TV in as low as possible ambient lighting, because any light that falls and reflects off the screen will wash out its stunning picture contrast from the perfect Black Levels and Infinite Contrast Ratio. In low ambient light the OLED picture contrast and colors are absolutely stunning, and the picture quality incredible!

 

 

HDR High Dynamic Range Content

High Dynamic Range, HDR, is the latest state-of-the-art enhanced 4K TV performance standard that was introduced at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show by the UHD Alliance, an industry consortium. TVs, Blu-ray players, and content that meet their standard receive a Ultra HD Premium HDR certification, Right now there is still only a relatively small amount of HDR content, but it is starting to grow rapidly with both 4K Blu-ray titles and 4K streaming from Amazon, Netflix, Vudu, and others. Dolby Vision is another competing HDR standard. The 2017 LG OLED TVs all support both HDR and Dolby Vision. The discussion below is for the Ultra HD Premium HDR Standard.

 

HDR is designed to provide an enhanced TV viewing visual experience by providing much brighter picture content highlights, and also providing much better rendering and shadow detail for darker picture content.

 

• HDR Brightest Picture Content

HDR is designed to add pizzazz to video content by significantly increasing the TV's peak Brightness for some portions of the brightest picture content. The Peak Brightness (Luminance) for TVs supporting the new HDR standard must exceed 540 nits for OLED TVs and 1,000 nits for LCD TVs, but only for a small fraction of the entire picture for a fraction of the time. This is not about having a brighter TV, but about being able to add bright highlights to the picture. It’s meant to be like icing on a cake – don't over do it...

 

• HDR Dark Picture Content

Another requirement for High Dynamic Range is accurately reproducing Dark Picture Content in addition to Bright Picture Content, and more importantly being able to simultaneously do both Bright and Dark Picture Content at the same time on any image being displayed. The Black Level requirement for the new HDR standard is less than 0.05 nits for LCD TVs, and less than 0.0005 nits for OLED TVs, which is 100 times lower than for LCDs. OLED TVs can already do this because of their Infinite Contrast Ratios and Perfect Black Levels. However, LCD TVs only have native Contrast Ratios from 1,000 to 4,000, which limits their ability to show dark picture content, and HDR requires a minimum Contrast Ratio of 20,000 for Ultra HD Premium. So LCDs need to implement Local Dimming and other advanced picture processing in order to achieve their High Dynamic Range Black Level requirement. We’ll examine Local Dimming in more detail below.

 

• HDR versus Vivid modes

Many older TVs already extend the Dynamic Range of all picture content in Vivid picture modes with Dynamic Brightness and Contrast, and other "advanced" picture "enhancements" that many manufacturers advertise. This often leads to significantly exaggerated colors and contrast. What makes HDR totally different and considerably better is that it is a production standard implemented by the content producers when they are making their content – they add the HDR effects that they want you to see on their content. It is then up to the TV hardware to implement the HDR effects encoded into the picture content by the content producers.

 

• HDR Content Producers

So the success of HDR will depend how well the content producers use it. One major reason why 3D TV fizzled is that the content producers did a poor job of 3D, particularly with the exaggerated in your face 3D effects. Hopefully, HDR will be used appropriately and nicely to add interesting bright highlights to the picture content. It is totally up to the content producers. Right now there is still only a relatively small amount of HDR content, but it is starting to grow rapidly, so we'll see...

 

• HDR Metadata and EOTFs

All HDR content includes additional information encoded into the TV signal called Metadata, where the content producer specifies how to properly reproduce their content. HDR content can specify Peak Brightness levels all the way up to a dazzling 10,000 nits, although no current TV is capable of reaching that level. So each TV needs to make a number of adjustments to better match its performance capabilities with those specified by the producer of the content.

 

All Picture Content consists of a string of digital data together with instructions on how to convert the numerical data values into Brightness (nits) for every sub-pixel on the screen. For all pre-HDR content (referred to as SDR for Standard Dynamic Range), this is accomplished with an Industry Standard fixed Intensity Scale, often called a Gamma curve, which every TV must produce in order to deliver an accurate picture. For HDR content this has been extended into a more generalized and variable Electro-Optical Transfer Function, EOTF. The content producer specifies the EOTF that they want, and then the TV adjusts that EOTF to provide a match to its performance capabilities, making a series of compromises to deliver the best overall rendering of the content, which is called Tone Mapping. The 2017 LG OLED TV uses Dynamic Tone Mapping to further improve the rendering of very bright picture content.

 

 

The Display Shoot-Out

For this article we lab tested a retail production 65 inch flat screen 4K LG OLED TV, model 65E7. All of the 2017 LG TV models use the same OLED panels. The LG OLED TVs come in 55, 65, and 77 inch screen sizes, with both flat screen and curved screen models (and other options like high-end audio and speakers).

 

To examine the display performance of the 2017 LG OLED TV we ran our in-depth series of Display Technology Shoot-Out Lab tests and measurements in order to determine how the latest OLED TV displays have improved. We take display quality very seriously and provide in-depth objective analysis based on detailed laboratory tests and measurements and extensive viewing tests with both test patterns, test images and test photos.

 

We’ll cover all of the above issues and much more, with in-depth comprehensive display tests, measurements and analysis that you will find nowhere else.

 

 

Results Highlights

In this section we review and also explain the principal results from the DisplayMate Lab tests and measurements covered in the Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table under the following categories:  Display Specifications,  Screen Reflections,  Brightness and Contrast,  Colors and Intensities,  Absolute Color Accuracy,  Absolute Luminance Accuracy,  Viewing Angles,  Display Light Spectra.

 

This Results Highlights section has extensive background information and analysis for the 2017 LG OLED TV display.

You can skip these Results Highlights and go directly to the LG OLED TV Conclusions for a more brief performance summary and analysis.

 

• Topics Covered in Results Highlights

The Results Highlights section includes the following topics:

 

• TV Picture Modes

 

• Two Standard Color Gamuts

 

• High Picture Quality and Accuracy Measurements and Analysis

   Absolute Color Accuracy

   Absolute Luminance Accuracy

   Absolute Contrast Accuracy and Intensity Scale

 

• Picture Brightness and Contrast Measurements and Analysis

   Picture Brightness

   Low Screen Reflectance

   Picture Black Levels and Contrast Ratio

 

• SDR and HDR Viewing Tests and Measurements and Analysis

   Full HD Content Viewing Tests

   HDR High Dynamic Range Modes

   Ultra HD and HDR Viewing Tests

 

   LCD Local Dimming Tests with Screen Shots

   Changes with Viewing Angle and Position with Screen Shots

   Response Time and Motion Blur Tests with Screen Shots

 

• TV Picture Modes

All high-end TVs include a number of user selectable Picture Modes, each with different intended viewing conditions and applications that provide different color, brightness, contrast and calibration settings, and selectable picture processing options. The 2017 LG OLED TV has 8 selectable Picture modes, plus 5 selectable HDR modes, and 1 Dolby Vision mode.

 

We will analyze three of the most important Picture Modes: the native display mode that delivers the highest brightness, contrast, and color saturation, called the Vivid mode, and the two Cinema modes that deliver the most accurate colors and picture quality for the Normal Rec.709 2K Full HD content, and the Wide DCI-P3 4K Ultra HD content. We also measure the HDR Cinema, HDR Standard, and HDR Vivid modes.

 

For all of the tests and measurements we used the default factory settings for each of the modes and did not make any additional changes or adjustments.

 

• Two Standard TV Color Gamuts

The OLED TV fully supports the two standard TV Color Gamuts, the new DCI-P3 Wide Color Gamut that is used in 4K Ultra HD TVs, Digital Cinema and HDR, and also the traditional smaller sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut that is used for producing virtually all current TV content including Over The Air (OTA), Cable, and Satellite TV broadcasting, but also Blu-ray, DVD, digital camera, web content, internet streaming, and computer content, including photos, videos and movies.

 

Measurements:

Since the TV supports two Color Gamuts it has to implement Color Management in order to get the second smaller sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut to also appear accurately, which is generated from the wider native DCI-P3 Color Gamut. Each LG OLED TV display is individually calibrated at the factory. The OLED TV has an accurate 103% of the DCI-P3 Wide Color Gamut, and an accurate 100% percent of the sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut.

See this Figure and the Colors and Intensities section for the measured Color Gamuts.

 

• High Picture Quality and Accuracy

The next series of Lab Tests and Measurements analyze the Picture Quality and Accuracy. Each LG OLED TV display is individually calibrated at the factory for maximum accuracy.

 

In order to produce High Picture Quality, a TV display must produce Accurate Colors, plus Accurate Brightness (Luminance) for all colors, and also produce Accurate Picture Contrast with an Accurate Intensity Scale. We examine each of these in detail next. Since the eye judges Color, Brightness, and Contrast separately, they also need to be measured and evaluated separately. All three of them are required in order to deliver accurate and beautiful pictures. First we will analyze the Lab Measurements and then look at some challenging picture content in the Viewing Tests sections below.

 

• Absolute Color Accuracy

Delivering great color with high Absolute Color Accuracy is incredibly difficult because everything on the display has to be done just right. In order to deliver accurate image colors, a display needs to closely match the standard Color Gamut that was used for producing the content being viewed – not larger and not smaller. In addition the display also needs an accurate (pure logarithmic power-law) Intensity Scale, and an accurate White Point.

 

Color Accuracy is particularly important for TVs, and their accuracy has been steadily improving as the result of many manufacturers, including LG, using fully automated color calibration with instruments at the factory instead of having assembly workers visually tweaking the colors.

 

Since the LG OLED TV supports two Color Gamuts it needs to also implement Color Management in order to get the second smaller sRGB / Rec.709 Gamut to also appear correctly, which is generated from the wider native DCI-P3. Each TV Color Gamut is individually calibrated at the factory.

 

Measurements:

The Absolute Color Accuracy of the 2017 LG OLED TV is Truly Impressive as shown in these Figures. It has a very impressive Absolute Color Accuracy of 0.7 JNCD for the 2K Full HD sRGB / Red.709 Color Gamut used for all Full HD TV content, and 1.0 JNCD for the Wider DCI-P3 Color Gamut used for 4K Ultra HD TVs and Digital Cinema. In addition, the White Points for both Color Gamuts are also very accurate, within 0.4 JNCD from the D65 Standard White Point.

 

The 2017 LG OLED TV is the Most Color Accurate display that we have ever measured (TV or Smartphone, OLED or LCD).

Its Absolute Color Accuracy is Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect, and is very likely considerably better than any display or TV that you have.

 

See this Figure for an explanation and visual definition of Just Noticeable Color Difference JNCD and the Color Accuracy Plots showing the measured display Color Errors of 41 Reference Colors for each of the Color Gamuts. See the Absolute Color Accuracy section and the Color Accuracy Plots for measurements and details.

 

• Absolute Luminance Accuracy

In order to produce an accurate TV image, the display needs to produce an Accurate Luminance (Brightness) value for every color throughout its entire Color Space. Many displays produce Accurate Colors but produce them with inaccurate Luminance values, so the pixels in the image appear with a systematically incorrect distribution of color and brightness, which distorts the appearance of the picture. Absolute Luminance Accuracy is a very important picture quality metric.

 

Every color in the CIE Color Space for a given Color Gamut and White Point has a particular Luminance value with respect to the Luminance for the White Point that must be accurately reproduced. We measured the Absolute Luminance Accuracy for each of the 41 Reference Colors in each of the two Standard Color Gamuts and analyzed the results.

 

Measurements:

For the 2K Cinema Normal Rec.709 Color Gamut the Average Luminance Accuracy is within 3% over the entire Color Gamut for the Reference Colors. For the 4K Cinema Wide DCI-P3 Color Gamut the Average Luminance Accuracy is also within 3% over the entire Color Gamut for the Reference Colors. So the image colors are reproduced with very accurate brightness throughout both Standard Color Gamuts

 

These High Absolute Luminance Accuracy results for the 2017 LG OLED TV are Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect.

See the Absolute Luminance Accuracy section for measurements and details.

 

• Absolute Contrast Accuracy and Intensity Scale

The Picture Contrast Accuracy of all Picture Content is determined by the Absolute Accuracy of the Intensity Scale (sometimes called the Gray Scale), which generally gets less much attention from consumers and reviewers, but it is extremely important because it not only controls the Picture Contrast within all displayed images, but it also controls how the Red, Green and Blue primary colors mix to produce all of the on-screen colors. So if the Intensity Scale doesn't accurately follow the Standard that was used in producing the content then the Picture Contrast as well as the Colors and Intensities will be inaccurate.

 

The Standard Intensity Scale is logarithmic (like the eye and not linear) and its logarithmic steepness is called the display’s Gamma, which must remain constant throughout the entire Intensity Scale. The steeper the Intensity Scale the greater the image contrast and the higher the saturation of displayed color mixtures.

 

Measurements:

The measured Intensity Scale for the 2017 LG OLED TV is very accurate with a constant logarithmic Gamma of 2.17, which is very close to the Standard Intensity Scale and Gamma of 2.20, and is Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect.

 

Figure 3 shows the measured logarithmic Intensity Scale alongside the industry standard Gamma of 2.20.

See the Colors and Intensities section and Figure 3 for measurements and details.

 

• Picture Brightness and Contrast

The next series of Lab Tests and Measurements analyze the overall Picture Brightness, and then the Black Levels and Contrast Ratio for the TV, which are especially important for accurately reproducing subtle dark image content and shadow detail.

 

• Picture Brightness

High Picture Brightness for TVs is considered important by most consumers because TVs are viewed under a wide range of ambient lighting conditions, and the high image brightness helps to compensate for the reduction in picture contrast and color saturation when ambient light is reflected off the screen. Under ideal dark viewing conditions (like in movie theaters and home theaters) relatively low picture brightness is all that is needed. The visual Brightness (Luminance) is measured in terms of cd/m², which is often referred to as nits.

 

Measurements:

The 2017 LG OLED TV delivers fairly bright images for normal TV picture content, which have Average Picture Levels (APL) of 25% or less (compared to an all white screen that has 100% APL). The accurate Cinema modes are designed for viewing in lower ambient lighting, so they aren’t as bright as the Vivid mode.

 

For the Cinema modes the default Peak Brightness is 280 nits for the factory default OLED Brightness menu setting of 80, but the user can increase it up to a maximum of 330 nits for an OLED Brightness menu setting of 100. The Vivid mode has a very high Peak Brightness of 460 nits.

 

Comparison with LCDs:

Some LCD TVs can produce over 600 nits in SDR picture modes, which is only necessary in high ambient light. The Brightness (Luminance) for LCD TV displays generally doesn’t vary with APL. However, with Local Dimming (needed for improving their Black Levels and Contrast Ratio) the maximum brightness within a Dimming Zone on the screen is reduced whenever Local Dimming is applied to that Zone. For very low APLs with Local Dimming the Peak Brightness can decrease substantially, so that some picture content could become much dimmer or even nearly invisible. For example, a star field at night with a black background at night (or in outer space) could appear completely black without the tiny points of stars being visible, or seen with dim stars and a background that isn’t quite black. We examine LCD Local Dimming in detail below.

 

• OLED Record Performance Improvement: Very Small Picture Brightness Variation with Average Picture Level APL

Typical TV Picture Content has Average Picture Levels of 25% or less. But for higher APLs the Picture Brightness for all OLED displays decreases with the increase in APL of the Picture Content. At 50% APL the Picture Brightness for most OLED smartphone displays decreases by 25%, and for the 65 inch 2016 OLED TV it decreases by 34%.

 

But in a major OLED Technology Performance Improvement, for the 2017 LG OLED TV Cinema modes, there is only a very small decrease in Picture Brightness with Average Picture Level: just a 3% decrease at 25% APL, a 4% decrease at 50% APL, and only a 5% decrease at 90% APL, which is an almost all white screen. One important benefit is that the 2017 LG OLED TV also performs really well when viewing PC and web text content that often has APLs of 50% or more.

See the Brightness and Contrast section for measurements and details.

 

• Low Screen Reflectance

The screens on all displays are mirrors that reflect light from everything that is illuminated anywhere in front of the screen (especially anything behind the viewers), including lamps, ceiling lights, windows, direct and indirect indoor and outdoor sunlight, which washes out the on-screen colors, degrades image contrast, and interferes with seeing the on-screen images. The lower the Screen Reflectance the better. In fact, decreasing the Screen Reflectance by 50 percent doubles the effective Contrast Ratio in Ambient Light, so it is very important.

 

Measurements:

Most TVs, monitors, smartphones and tablets have a Screen Reflectance of 5 percent or more. The previous Low Reflectance Record that we have ever measured was the 2016 LG OLED TV with just 1.1 percent, a 4:1 advantage in effective Contrast Ratio in Ambient Light over most displays. The 2017 LG OLED TV has a very impressive 1.2 percent screen Reflectance, very close to the record low Reflectance that we have ever measured for any display.

See the Screen Reflections and Brightness and Contrast sections for measurements and details.

 

• Picture Black Levels and Contrast Ratio

The Display’s Maximum Contrast is the Ratio between its Peak White Brightness (Luminance) and its darkest Black Luminance on the same image, one of the more important measures of display performance.

 

Measurements:

OLEDs are light emissive displays that produce perfect image Blacks with 0 cd/m² Black Levels resulting in an infinite Contrast Ratio. This is visually striking with darker picture content, and when watching very wide screen movies on the TV, the letterbox outer borders are invisible for a nice visual effect. See the Brightness and Contrast section for measurements and details.

 

Comparison with LCDs:

LCDs are light transmissive displays that cannot fully block the backlight so they produce very dark grays instead of perfect Blacks. This results in native Contrast Ratios (Peak White to actual Black on the same image) in the range of 1,000 to 4,000 for LCDs. For bright picture content the dark gray blacks and colored content normally aren’t noticeable, but with darker picture content the dark gray background glow can be quite noticeable and it diminishes both the picture contrast and color saturation. The Black Levels can be significantly reduced by selectively dimming the backlight when there is darker picture content with a technology called Local Dimming, which we examine in detail below.

 

• SDR and HDR Viewing Tests and Measurements and Analysis

The next series of tests summarize the Measurements, Analysis and Viewing Tests for the SDR and HDR modes.

 

• SDR Full HD Viewing Tests

Most existing TV content is for the Full HD resolution, which not only includes Over The Air (OTA), Cable, and Satellite TV broadcasting, but also Blu-ray, DVD, digital camera, web content, internet streaming, and computer content, including photos, videos and movies. So the picture quality and accuracy of Full HD content is still extremely important.

 

The Full HD content viewing tests for the 2017 LG OLED TV were simply exceptional, with the picture quality Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect, as the result of its excellent Absolute Color Accuracy, Luminance Accuracy, and Contrast Accuracy together with perfect Black Levels. The very challenging set of DisplayMate Test and Calibration Photos that we use to evaluate picture quality looked absolutely stunning and Beautiful, even to my experienced hyper-critical eyes.

 

Even with large changes in viewing position and viewing angle, the picture quality remained excellent with no visible changes in the near perfect image contrast and no changes in the perfect Blacks Levels, and just slight changes in brightness and relatively small changes in color with angle. So everyone watching the TV sees an excellent picture regardless of their viewing location, which we analyze in detail below.

 

Comparison with LCDs:

LCDs deliver excellent picture quality for bright picture content. However, when the picture includes regions with relatively dark or Black content, then the visible background glow from the limited Contrast Ratio diminishes both the picture contrast and the color saturation. The Black Levels can be significantly improved by selectively dimming the backlight when there is darker picture content with a technology called Local Dimming, which we examine in detail below.

 

• HDR High Dynamic Range Modes

The 2017 LG OLED TVs all received an Ultra HD Premium HDR certification from the UHD Alliance industry consortium, plus they support Dolby Vision in addition to HDR. Right now there is still only a relatively small amount of HDR and Dolby Vision content, but it is starting to grow rapidly for both 4K Blu-ray titles and 4K streaming from Amazon, Netflix, Vudu, and others.

 

HDR Measurements:

The 2017 LG OLED TV significantly exceeds the Ultra HD Premium specified minimum HDR Peak Luminance for OLED TVs of 540 nits in all of its HDR modes – we measured 750 nits for all the HDR modes in our Lab tests. We measured the Color Gamut for HDR content to be a very accurate 101 to 103 percent of the DCI-P3 Color Gamut for the HDR modes. The White Points for the HDR modes are also almost identical to the SDR Cinema and Vivid modes.

See the this Figure for the measured Color Gamuts and White Points and the HDR Measurements section for measurements and details.

 

HDR Peak Luminance Levels:

For LCD TVs, the Ultra HD Premium specified minimum HDR Peak Luminance is 1,000 nits. As a result, on the 2017 LG OLED TV some of the brightest HDR image detail above 750 nits will be reproduced, but not appear as bright as on LCD TVs.

 

HDR Black Luminance Levels:

High Dynamic Range also requires very low Black Levels. OLED TVs have perfect Blacks so they easily meet the 0.0005 nits HDR Black Level specification, but LCD TVs need Local Dimming to meet their (higher) 0.05 nits Black Level, which we examine in detail below.

 

EOTF and Tonal Mapping:

Matching the specified picture content with the TV’s capabilities is accomplished by varying the HDR Electro-Optical Transfer Function, EOTF for the particular content being viewed. The content producer specifies the EOTF that they want, and then the TV adjusts that EOTF using Tonal Mapping to match its native performance capabilities, making a series of compromises to deliver the best overall rendering of the content. LCD TVs must make EOTF compromises both at the bright-end for Peak Brightness, and at the dark-end because of their higher Black Levels. OLED TVs are already perfect at the dark-end so no compromises are needed there, but they have lower Peak Brightness, so they need to make larger EOTF Tonal Mapping compromises than LCDs at the bright end.

For 2017 the LG OLED TV has a much higher HDR Peak Luminance and enhanced Dynamic Tone Mapping compared to the 2016 LG OLED TVs.

 

• Ultra HD and HDR Viewing Tests

Watching and then comparing the same Blu-ray movie titles with and without HDR content on the 2017 LG OLED TV, first viewing the older pre-HDR disc editions, and then with the same movies released with an Ultra HD Premium HDR Blu-ray edition provided dramatic and very noticeable visual differences and enhancements in each movie that we watched – the brighter picture highlights from the higher Peak Luminance of the HDR picture modes and better dark content and shadow detail, together with the advanced expanded re-editing and re-encoding of the content by its producer resulted in more striking and beautiful picture content. The movies that I watched that visually demonstrated this best were: X-Men Days of Future Past, The Martian, and Star Trek Into Darkness.

 

Comparison with LCDs:

While LCD HDR TVs all exceed 1,000 nits for the brightest HDR picture content, the perfect Black Levels on the OLED TV provide an Infinite Contrast Ratio and therefore also an Infinite Dynamic Range in picture content, but at a lower Peak Brightness. So while the peak HDR highlights are not as bright on the 2017 LG OLED TV, in many cases the Perfect Black Levels and Infinite Contrast Ratio on the OLED TV give the impression of having a higher Visual Dynamic Range than on LCD HDR TVs.

 

• LCD Local Dimming

Many high-end LCD TVs include Local Dimming, which can visually lower the high Black Levels in LCDs. Local Dimming is actually required for LCD HDR TVs in order to meet the Ultra HD Premium maximum Black Level specification of 0.05 nits, which is equivalent to a minimum Contrast Ratio of 20,000, and is much higher than the typical 1,000 to 4,000 native Contrast Ratios of LCD TVs.

 

With Local Dimming technology the TV backlight is typically divided into independently dimmable zones that allow dark areas of an image to have darker less visually noticeable Black levels, which can be noticeable with darker image content on LCDs. There are two levels of this technology: Edge Local Dimming, where the zones are all based along the top and bottom outside edges of the screen, and Full Array Local Dimming, where a much larger number of zones are distributed equally spaced throughout the entire area of the screen, typically with up to 200 zones.

 

Local Dimming changes both the dark and bright picture content:

With Local Dimming, complex algorithms are needed to make a complex set of compromises between image Brightness and Black levels across the screen, and all the zones have to be adjusted real-time frame-to-frame with the changing video content. When a particular zone is darkened it produces lower Black levels but the zone can no longer produce bright pixel content anywhere within the zone, so its Peak Brightness is reduced by the same amount that the Black level is lowered with dimming. A factor of 2 improvement in the Black level means that the Peak Brightness is reduced by the same factor of 2 everywhere in the zone – a tradeoff that diminishes some bright picture content in return for a Darker Black Level. Another crucial issue is that adjacent and nearby zones must all have similar coordinated dimming levels so that visible differences between adjacent zones, which can give rise to visually noticeable quilting, halos, and blooming effects, are not visually apparent. This means that many areas in an image cannot be sufficiently darkened when the picture content in nearby zones is brighter.

In addition, all of these issues for LCDs apply to both SDR and HDR content.

 

Screen shots demonstrating Local Dimming:

Below are photographic screen shots of OLED and LCD TVs taken side-by-side to demonstrate these Black level and Local Dimming issues. Both photos were taken of screen images made with just single pixel width horizontal lines centered on the screen – the line in the top photo is one third of the screen width for examining Edge Local Dimming, and the line in the bottom photo (for 2015 TV models) is the full width of the screen for examining Full Array Local Dimming. The photos were taken in the dark, with no light falling on the screens, but with the lab area behind the TVs dimly backlit for visual reference. A few tiny lights in the lab below the TVs are also seen. The LG OLED TVs remain perfectly Black except for the single pixel width lines.

The LCD TVs show large scale areas of the screen with a visible gray background glow due to the Local Dimming management issues mentioned above.

 

Edge Local Dimming versus Full Array Local Dimming:

Most of the latest LCD TVs use Edge Local Dimming with the zones arranged along the top and bottom edges of the panel because it results in a much thinner TV display. However, the Edge Local Dimming zones illuminate full top-to-bottom vertical columns, while Full Array Local Dimming zones illuminate smaller localized areas. As a result, the Edge Local Dimming does not perform as well as the Full Array Local Dimming.

 

The photos below demonstrate the complex compromises and limitations of Local Dimming.

 

 

 

• Changes with Viewing Angle and Position

Large screen TVs are often watched by multiple viewers from a wide range of viewing positions and angles. We examined how both OLED and LCD TVs perform at 45 degrees away from the ideal central Sweet Spot with 0 degrees Viewing Angle. All displays and display technologies show some variation in both color and brightness with Viewing Angle. The smaller the change with Viewing Angle the better.

 

Even at a 45 degree Viewing Angle the 2017 LG OLED TV shows relatively small changes in both Color and Brightness, and no changes in the Black Level, Contrast Ratio, and Intensity Scale.

 

• For the LG OLED TV the Brightness (Luminance) decreases by just 24 percent at 45 degrees – see below.

   For LCD TVs there is typically a 50 percent or greater decrease in Brightness at 45 degrees.

 

• For the LG OLED TV the Black Level remains at 0 nits and the Contrast Ratio remains Infinite at 45 degrees.

   For LCD TVs there is a large increase in Black Level and a Large Decrease in Contrast Ratio with Angle.

 

• For the LG OLED TV there is no change in the Intensity Scale or Picture Contrast at 45 degrees.

   For LCD TVs with IPS technology there is a very small change in the Intensity Scale with Viewing Angle.

   For all other LCD technologies like VA LCDs there is a large change in the Intensity Scale with Viewing Angle.

   See the Change in TV Picture Quality with Viewing Angle article that compares an LG IPS LCD TV to a VA LCD TV.

 

• For the LG OLED TV the Color Gamuts increase slightly with Viewing Angle – see below.

   For LCD TVs with IPS technology there is a small 3% increase in the Color Gamut with Viewing Angle at 45 degrees.

   For all other LCD technologies like VA there is a large (typically 50%) decrease in Color Gamut with Viewing Angle at 45 degrees.

   See the Change in TV Picture Quality with Viewing Angle article that compares an LG IPS LCD TV to a VA LCD TV.

 

Measurements:

For the 2017 LG OLED TV the Color Gamuts both increased slightly by about 10% at 45 degrees Viewing Angle. Most of the Color Gamut increase arises from the larger shift of the Blue Primary, which is much less important for visual Color Accuracy than the Red and Green Primaries, which have much smaller shifts with Viewing Angle. This results in a moderate 3.4 JNCD shift of White Point at 45 degrees. The Full HD sRGB / Rec.709 mode Color Gamut increased from 100% to 110% and the Ultra HD DCI-P3 mode Color Gamut increased from 103% to 114%. Most LCDs and other display technologies experience a decrease in Color Gamut and Color Saturation with Viewing Angle, however a small increase in Color Gamut is desirable for larger Viewing Angles because the image appears geometrically compressed. See the Viewing Angles section and Figure 4 for the measurements and details.

 

• Screen Shots

From the screen shots shown below, the 2017 LG OLED TV looks almost identical at a 45 degree Viewing Angle from the side as it does at 0 degrees Viewing Angle from the center of the screen.

 

• Comparison with LCDs

For LCD TVs, the variation with Viewing Angle depends significantly with the particular type of LCD technology. IPS LCDs show relatively small changes in Color and Intensity Scale with Viewing Angle, but most manufacturers of large screen TVs use a different LCD technology called VA (Vertical Alignment) or equivalent technologies that perform similarly. VA LCDs show particularly large changes with Viewing Angle, including large decreases in Color Saturation and Contrast.

 

The photos below are screen shots of the OLED and VA LCD TVs at 0 degrees and 45 degrees Viewing Angles for visually comparing the changes with Viewing Angle. For the 45 degrees side Viewing Angle, the keystone geometric distortion that is normally seen from that position has been removed to make the comparison with 0 degrees more straight forward. Note that the best way to visually evaluate changes with Viewing Angle on a TV is to look at a fixed image while you shift your viewing position. The photos below are of a Red Barn Door from the DisplayMate Multimedia with Test Photos Edition.

 

The 2017 LG OLED TV shows only a slight color change between the 0 and 45 degrees Viewing Angle positions. On the other hand, the VA LCD TV shows relatively large changes in hue, saturation, and image contrast between the 0 and 45 degrees Viewing Angle positions for the reasons explained above.

 

 

 

• Response Time and Motion Blur

Motion Blur is a well known issue with LCDs that is seen with rapidly moving objects in the picture, and also when the camera itself moves or pans, which shifts the entire screen image all at once. It arises because the Liquid Crystal, which is the active element within an LCD, is unable to change its orientation and light transmission rapidly enough when the picture changes from one frame or refresh cycle to the next. OLEDs, as solid state emissive devices, have very fast Response Times: LG specifies the OLED Response Time at 0.1ms, which is much more than a factor of 10 faster than LCDs.

 

For the Response Time and Motion Blur tests we photographed a DisplayMate Multimedia with Motion Edition Test Pattern moving at a moderately fast Ultra HD 2,544 pixels per second using a Nikon DSLR camera with a shutter speed of 1/320th of a second, which is faster than the Refresh Rate and motion compensation rate for the TVs. At 2,544 pixels per second it takes 1.2 seconds for the image to move diagonally across the entire screen, so the motion is only moderately fast.

 

The 2017 LG OLED TV screen shot below shows a single crisp image, without any visible latent blur or ghost images left over from earlier refresh cycles or any shading in the image. This indicates a Response Time that is significantly faster than 5ms.

 

For the LCD TV screen shot it is possible to make out a total of 4 images of the moving diamond-box (the current and 3 earlier images) on the gray background at the 120 Hz refresh rate, indicating a Response Time in the neighborhood of 20 ms for this LCD.

 

 

 

 

Figure 1 Color Gamuts Click to Enlarge

Figure 2 Color Accuracy Click to Enlarge

Figure 3 Intensity Scale Click to Enlarge

Figure 4 Viewing Angles Click to Enlarge

 

 

Conclusions:   An Outstanding OLED TV Display…

The primary goal of this Display Technology Shoot-Out article series has always been to publicize and promote display excellence so that consumers, journalists and even manufacturers are aware of and appreciate the very best in displays and display technology. We point out which manufactures and display technologies are leading and advancing the state-of-the-art for displays by performing comprehensive and objective scientific Lab tests and measurements together with in-depth analysis. We point out who is leading, who is behind, who is improving, and sometimes (unfortunately) who is back pedaling… all based solely on the extensive objective careful Lab measurements that we also publish, so that everyone can judge the data for themselves as well… Follow DisplayMate on Twitter to learn about our future display technology coverage.

 

Conclusions Overview

In the Conclusions sections below, we first summarize all of the results, then review several of the most significant display topics, and then discuss the future of OLED TVs. See the main Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table for all the DisplayMate Lab measurements and test details, along with Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5. See the Results Highlights section above for a more detailed introduction and overview with expanded discussions and explanations.

 

An Outstanding OLED TV Display

The 2017 LG OLED TV performed exceptionally well throughout all of the Lab Measurement Tests and Viewing Tests. It has a Truly Impressive OLED display, with absolutely stunning and beautiful Picture Quality across the board, even at large Viewing Angles. It is unquestionably the Best Performing TV that we have ever tested or watched…

 

In terms of Absolute Picture Quality and Color Accuracy the 2017 LG OLED TV is Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect. Even in terms of the exacting and precise Lab Measurements it is close to ideal, and it breaks many TV Display Performance Records, which are listed below.

 

OLED TV Picture Quality

The 2017 LG OLED TV is far better than the best Plasma TVs in every display performance category, and even better than the $50,000 Sony Professional CRT Reference Studio Monitors that up until recently were the golden standard for picture quality.

 

Based on our detailed lab tests and measurements the 2017 LG OLED TV has the Highest Absolute Color Accuracy, the Highest Absolute Luminance Accuracy, and the Highest Contrast Ratio with perfect Black Levels of any TV that we have ever tested. With close to text book Calibration Accuracy it is Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect and even qualifies as a Professional Reference Studio Monitor.

 

The LG OLED TV has also won the top display industry awards at both the 2016 and 2017 SID Display Week Conference, the display industry’s premier annual event, where the LG OLED TV won a “Best in Show Award” chosen for “the ability to generate excitement within the display industry” so the LG OLED TV impressed many experts within the display industry itself.

 

Improvements in OLED TV Performance

Every 2017 LG OLED TV test and measurement category matches or improves on the 2016 LG OLED TV performance, which produced the best TV performance we had measured up to that time.

 

• The Highest Absolute Color Accuracy of any display we have ever tested – within 0.7 JNCD (including Smartphones to TVs).

 

• Excellent Absolute Luminance Accuracy – within 3% over the entire Color Gamut.

 

• Excellent Absolute Contrast Accuracy – text book perfect Intensity Scale with a logarithmically straight and accurate Gamma of 2.17.

 

• 50% higher Cinema mode Peak Luminance of 330 nits. Vivid mode Peak Luminance is 460 nits.

 

• 20% Higher HDR Peak Luminance of 750 nits, plus new Dynamic Tone Mapping to further improve the rendering of very bright picture content.

 

• A major OLED Technology Performance Improvement: Very Small Picture Brightness Variations with Average Picture Level APL

Typical TV Picture Content has Average Picture Levels APL of 25% or less. But for higher APLs the Picture Brightness for all OLED displays decreases with the increase in APL of the Picture Content. At 50% APL the Picture Brightness for most OLED smartphone displays decreases by 25%, and for the 65 inch 2016 OLED TV it decreases by 34%. But in a major OLED Technology Performance Improvement, for the 2017 LG OLED TV Cinema modes there is just a 3% decrease at 25% APL, a 4% decrease at 50% APL, and only a 5% decrease at 90% APL, which is an almost all white screen. One important benefit is that the 2017 LG OLED TV also performs really well when viewing PC and web text content that often has APLs of 50% or more.

 

The 2017 LG OLED TV matches or breaks new TV Display Performance Records for:

• The Highest Absolute Color Accuracy (0.7 to 1.0 JNCD) – Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect

• The Highest Absolute Luminance Accuracy (±3%) – Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect

• Very High Absolute Contrast Accuracy and Intensity Scale (with a constant Gamma 2.17) – Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect

• Perfect Black Levels and Highest (Infinite) Contrast Ratios – Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect

• Very Accurate Color Gamuts for DCI-P3 (103%) and sRGB / Rec.709 (100%) for the Cinema and HDR Picture Modes

• The Highest Peak Brightness for an OLED TV (330 to 460 nits for SDR and 750 nits for HDR)

• The Lowest variation in OLED Luminance with Average Picture Level (3% at 25% APL and 5% at 90% APL)

• The Lowest Screen Reflectance (1.2 percent)

• The Highest OLED Contrast Rating in High Ambient light (227 to 375 for SDR and 625 for HDR)

• The Smallest Brightness Variation with Viewing Angle up through 45 degrees (24 percent)

• Very Fast Response Time and no Visible Motion Blur

• Almost every display lab test and measurement shows improvements compared to the 2016 LG OLED TV.

 

See the Results Highlights section and the Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table along with Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5 for all of the measurements and details.

 

OLED TV Performance Summary

 

• 3 TVs in One

The 2017 LG OLED TV is in effect 3 TVs in One, and it performed very accurately and exceptionally well in all 3 TV Picture Content Standards: 2K Full HD TV, and 4K Ultra HD TV, and the new HDR High Dynamic Range TV, meeting and exceeding the required specifications for Ultra HD Premium certification.

 

• HDR High Dynamic Range Picture Quality

HDR was just introduced last year at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show. For the new HDR standards and new HDR content, the 2017 LG OLED TVs all received an Ultra HD Premium certification from the UHD Alliance industry consortium, plus they all support Dolby Vision in addition to HDR. Right now there is still only a relatively small amount of HDR and Dolby Vision content, but it is starting to grow rapidly for both 4K Blu-ray titles and 4K streaming from Amazon, Netflix, Vudu, and others.

 

Watching and then comparing the same Blu-ray movie titles with and without HDR content on the 2017 LG OLED TV, first viewing older pre-HDR disc editions, and then with the same movies released with a Ultra HD Premium HDR Blu-ray edition, provided dramatic and very noticeable visual differences and enhancements in each movie that we watched – the brighter picture highlights from the higher Peak Luminance of the HDR picture modes and better dark content and shadow detail, together with the advanced expanded re-editing and re-encoding of the content by its producer resulted in more striking and beautiful picture content.

 

• OLED HDR versus LCD HDR

The 2017 LG OLED TV significantly exceeds the specified minimum HDR Peak Luminance for OLED TVs of 540 nits by 40% in all of its HDR modes, which measured 750 nits in our Lab tests. While LCD HDR TVs all exceed 1,000 nits, the perfect Black Levels on the OLED TV provide an Infinite Contrast Ratio and therefore also an Infinite Dynamic Range in picture content, but with a lower Peak Brightness than LCDs. So while the peak HDR highlights are not as bright on the 2017 LG OLED TV, in many cases the Perfect Black Levels and Infinite Contrast Ratio on the OLED TV give the impression of having a higher Visual Dynamic Range than on LCD HDR TVs.

 

• Watching OLED TVs in Low Ambient Light

The key to appreciating and seeing the very best outstanding picture quality that OLED TVs can deliver is by watching TV in as low as possible ambient lighting, because any light that falls and reflects off the screen will wash out its stunning picture contrast from the perfect Black Levels and Infinite Contrast Ratio. In low ambient light the picture contrast and colors are absolutely stunning, and the picture quality incredible!

 

• Improving OLED TVs

For the newest OLED TV, LG has continued to systematically improve the display performance of their already high performance OLED TVs. In almost every display lab test and measurement category the 2017 OLED TV shows significant improvements compared to the 2016 OLED TV that we tested last year. Those continuing improvements are what lead to top display performance, which we hope LG will continue with in the next generation OLED TVs. For 2018, it is a safe bet that we will see further improvements in the Color Gamut, Color Accuracy, Luminance Accuracy, and Viewing Angle performance.

 

The biggest challenge for all OLED displays is continuing to increase their Peak Brightness (Luminance). The underlying issue is that every sub-pixel in an OLED display is electrically powered to emit its light. Higher brightness requires more power, so the display backplane must be able to carry high current levels for all 33 million sub-pixels that emit light. On the other hand, LCDs have an entirely separate backlight, so it is much easier for LCDs to increase their Peak Brightness by using more and brighter White LEDs in the separate backlight.

 

Higher Brightness is important in order to improve the screen visibility and picture quality in higher ambient light viewing conditions (even though low ambient light always results in the best TV picture quality). Higher Peak Brightness is also needed for showing the new HDR High Dynamic Range content, which can specify picture highlights all the way up to 10,000 nits, although no TV is capable of reaching that. Right now all LCD HDR TVs are required to exceed 1,000 nits, and the current record is about 2,500 nits. OLED HDR TVs are required to exceed 540 nits, and the 2017 LG OLED TV goes up to 750 nits. However, both OLED materials and device structures are continuing to improve, and smaller OLED displays are now reaching 1,000 nits (for the low APLs needed for HDR), so we will likely see OLED TVs reaching that level in the near future.

 

• The Future of OLED

The TV market has always been incredibly competitive, and it has always been extremely hard for new display technologies to get a foothold. Different display technologies have different native strengths and competitive advantages, so it is essential that we have at least two leading competing TV technologies to serve different viewing environments and applications. Over the last 7 years it has been exciting to watch OLED technology flourish and earn its rightful place as a premier display technology alongside established LCDs... and it will exciting to watch the relatively new OLED technology continue to evolve and improve in the future...

 

 

DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology

All displays can be significantly improved using DisplayMate’s proprietary very advanced scientific analysis and mathematical display modeling and optimization of the display hardware, factory calibration, and driver parameters. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement, prototype development, display performance improvement and optimization, testing displays to meet contract specifications, and production quality control so that they don’t make mistakes similar to those that are exposed in our public Display Technology Shoot-Out series for consumers. This article is a lite version of our advanced scientific analysis – before the benefits of our DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology, which can correct or improve all of these issues. If you are a display or product manufacturer and want to significantly improve display performance for a competitive advantage then Contact DisplayMate Technologies.

 

 

Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table

Below we examine in-depth the OLED display on the 2017 LG OLED 65E7 TV based on objective Lab measurement data and criteria.

 

The measurements are listed under these section headings:

Display Specifications,  Screen Reflections,  Brightness and Contrast,  Colors and Intensities,

Absolute Color Accuracy,  Absolute Luminance Accuracy,  Viewing Angles,  Display Light Spectra.

 

For additional background information see our 2016 LG OLED TV Display Technology Shoot-Out

For comparisons with the other TVs and Multimedia displays see our Display Technology Shoot-Out series.

 

Display Specifications

 

Categories	2017 LG OLED TV Model 65E7			Comments
Display Technology	OLED TV Display Panel Pixels have 4 RGBW Sub-Pixels for Red, Green, Blue and White			Organic Light Emitting Diode
Display Size	64.5 inches Flat Screen Model Tested			Size is the Diagonal screen length. Available with both Flat and Curved Screens.
Supported Color Gamuts	4K mode  –  DCI-P3 Standard Color Gamut              2K mode  –  sRGB / Rec.709 Standard Color Gamut			The LG OLED TV supports 2 Color Gamut Standards.
Screen Shape	16:9 = 1.78 Aspect Ratio			The 16:9 Aspect Ratio is a perfect match for Widescreen TV video.
Screen Area	1778 Square Inches			A better measure of size than the diagonal length.
Display Resolution	3840 x 2160 pixels 4K  Ultra HD			Screen Pixel Resolution. Double the Resolution of a Full HD 1920 x 1080 TV.
Total Number of Pixels	8.3 Mega Pixels			Total Number of Pixels.
Pixels Per Inch	68 Pixels Per Inch			Sharpness depends on the viewing distance and PPI. See this on sharpness and visual acuity for displays
20/20 Vision Distance where Pixels or Sub-Pixels are Not Resolved	Appears Sharp from 50 inches or more   Appears Sharp from 4.2 feet or more        Appears Sharp from 1.3 meters or more			For 20/20 Vision the minimum viewing distance where the screen appears perfectly sharp to the eye
TV Appears Perfectly Sharp at Typical Viewing Distances	Yes			Typical Viewing Distances for this screen size are 8 feet (2.4 meters) or more.
Screen Reflections All display screens are mirrors – but that is actually a very bad feature… We measured the light reflected from all directions and also direct mirror (specular) reflections, which are much more distracting and cause more eye strain.   Our Lab Measurements include Average Reflectance for Ambient Light from All Directions and for Mirror Reflections. Note that the Screen Reflectance is exactly the same for all of the Picture Modes.   The 2017 LG OLED TV has very close to the record lowest 1.1% Reflectance that we have ever measured for any display.
Categories	2017 LG OLED TV			Comments
Average Screen Reflection Light From All Directions	1.2 percent for Ambient Light Reflections Excellent			Measured using an Integrating Hemisphere and a Spectroradiometer.
Mirror Reflections Percentage of Light Reflected	2.1 percent for Mirror Reflections Excellent			These are the most annoying types of Reflections. Measured using a Spectroradiometer and a narrow collimated pencil beam of light reflected off the screen.
Brightness and Contrast The TV Brightness and Contrast varies with the Picture Modes and the Average Picture Level APL of the Picture Content.   All Measurements are for 0 degrees Viewing Angle.
Categories	Vivid mode Native Wide Gamut	4K Cinema mode DCI-P3 Gamut	2K Cinema mode sRGB/Rec.709 Gamut	Comments
Brightness for Standard Picture Modes There is only a very small decrease in Luminance with Average Picture Level for typical TV Picture Content. The Cinema modes have just a 5% Luminance decrease at 90% APL, which is an almost all white screen.   For the Cinema modes the default Peak Brightness is 280 nits for the factory default OLED Brightness menu setting of 80, but the user can increase it up to a maximum of 330 nits for an OLED Brightness menu setting of 100.
Very Low Level Picture Content Measured Peak Brightness For 1% Average Picture Level	Brightness 460 cd/m2  For Low APL	Brightness 280 cd/m2 For Low APL	Brightness 280 cd/m2 For Low APL	This is the Peak Brightness for a screen that has only a very low 1% Average Picture Level.
Typical TV Picture Content Measured Peak Brightness For 25% Average Picture Level	Brightness 450 cd/m2 For Typical TV APL	Brightness 272 cd/m2 For Typical TV APL	Brightness 272 cd/m2 For Typical TV APL	This is the Peak Brightness for typical TV content that has a 25% Average Picture Level.
Smart TV and PC Content Measured Brightness For 50% Average Picture Level	Brightness 318 cd/m2  For Medium APL	Brightness 268 cd/m2 For Medium APL	Brightness 268 cd/m2 For Medium APL	This is the Peak Brightness for typical Smart TV and PC content that has a 50% Average Picture Level.
Mostly White Screen Measured Peak Brightness For 90% APL Full Screen White	Brightness 217 cd/m2  For 90% APL	Brightness 265 cd/m2 For 90% APL	Brightness 265 cd/m2 For 90% APL	This is the Brightness for a mostly all white screen with 90% Average Picture Level.
All White Screen Measured Peak Brightness For 100% APL Full Screen White	Brightness 150 cd/m2  For 100% APL	Brightness 170 cd/m2 For 100% APL	Brightness 170 cd/m2 For 100% APL	This is the Brightness for an entirely all white screen with 100% Average Picture Level.
HDR High Dynamic Range Modes
HDR High Dynamic Range Measured Peak Brightness For 10% Area White Window	HDR Cinema   Peak Brightness  752 cd/m2   HDR Standard   Peak Brightness  754 cd/m2   HDR Vivid   Peak Brightness  750 cd/m2			These are the Peak Brightness for the HDR Picture modes measured using a 10% Area Window for Peak White.   For OLED TVs the standard is 540 cd/m2 or more.
HDR High Dynamic Range Measured Color Gamut Measured in the dark at 0 lux   See Figure 1	HDR Cinema   Color Gamut  102% of DCI-P3   HDR Standard   Color Gamut  103% of DCI-P3   HDR Vivid   Color Gamut  101% of DCI-P3			These are the measured Color Gamuts for the HDR Picture modes.   See Figure 1 for the plotted Color Gamuts. See Figure 2 for the definition of JNCD.
HDR High Dynamic Range Measured Color of White Color Temperature in degrees   See Figure 1	HDR Cinema  White Point    6,540 K    2.2 JNCD from D65   HDR Standard   White Point  11,158 K    8.3 JNCD from D65                  HDR Vivid   White Point  12,415 K    9.4 JNCD from D65			These are the measured White Points for the HDR Picture modes.   See Figure 1 for the plotted White Points. See Figure 2 for the definition of JNCD.
Contrast for Low Ambient Light
Black Brightness at 0 lux	0 cd/m2 Outstanding	0 cd/m2 Outstanding	0 cd/m2 Outstanding	The Black Luminance is true zero for the OLED.
True Contrast Ratio at 0 lux Relevant for Low Ambient Light	Infinite Outstanding	Infinite Outstanding	Infinite Outstanding	This is the native true Contrast Ratio for the display.
Contrast for High Ambient Light
Typical TV Picture Content Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light   For 25% Average Picture Level	Contrast Rating 375 for High Ambient Light Excellent for TVs	Contrast Rating 227 for High Ambient Light Excellent for TVs	Contrast Rating 227 for High Ambient Light Excellent for TVs	Measures how easy it is to see the screen picture content under high ambient lighting. The higher the Contrast Rating the better.   Depends on the Screen Reflectance and Brightness. Defined as Maximum Brightness / Average Reflectance. See High Ambient Light Screen Shots
Colors and Intensities   Figure 1 Color Gamuts Click to Enlarge   Figure 2 Color Accuracy Click to Enlarge     Figure 3 Intensity Scale Click to Enlarge   The Color Gamut, Intensity Scale, and White Point determine the quality and accuracy of all displayed images and all the image colors. A Color Gamut that is larger than the Standard Gamut is definitely Not Better because the display needs to match all of the standards that were used when the content was produced.   All Measurements are for 0 degrees Viewing Angle.
Categories	Vivid mode Native Wide Gamut	4K Cinema mode DCI-P3 Gamut	2K Cinema mode sRGB/Rec.709 Gamut	Comments
Color of White Color Temperature in degrees   Measured in the dark at 0 lux   See Figure 1	12,747 K 10 JNCD from D65 White   Intentionally Bluish   See Figure 1	6,578 K 0.4 JNCD from D65 White   Very Close to Standard   See Figure 1	6,483 K 0.2 JNCD from D65 White   Very Close to Standard   See Figure 1	D65 with 6,500 K is the standard color of White for most consumer and TV content and needed for accurate color reproduction of all images.   JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference. White Point accuracy is more critical than other colors.   See Figure 1 for the plotted White Points. See Figure 2 for the definition of JNCD.
Color Gamut Measured in the dark at 0 lux   See Figure 1	Vivid mode 130 percent sRGB / Rec.709 Gamut   103 percent DCI-P3 Gamut   Intentionally Vivid Native Wide Gamut mode   See Figure 1	4K Cinema mode 103 percent DCI-P3 Gamut   Very Close to Standard Accurate 4K Cinema mode   See Figure 1	2K Cinema mode 100 percent sRGB / Rec.709 Gamut   Fairly Close to Standard Accurate 2K Cinema mode   See Figure 1	The 2K sRGB / Rec.709 is the color standard for over 95 percent of all current TV content and is needed for accurate color reproduction.   The new 4K DCI Color Gamut is 26 percent larger than the sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut.   See Figure 1
Absolute Color Accuracy
Absolute Color Accuracy Average Color Error All Colors within the Gamut   For the 41 Reference Colors Just Noticeable Color Difference   See Figure 2	Vivid mode Intentionally Vivid Colors   Intentionally Not Accurate Not Analyzed	4K Cinema mode Average Color Error From DCI-P3 Δ(u’v’) = 0.0039 1.0 JNCD   Excellent Accuracy Accurate 4K Cinema mode   See Figure 2	2K Cinema mode Average Color Error From sRGB / Rec.709 Δ(u’v’) = 0.0027  0.7 JNCD   Excellent Accuracy Accurate 2K Cinema mode   See Figure 2	JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.   See Figure 2 for the definition of JNCD and for Accuracy Plots showing the measured Color Errors.   Average Errors below 3.5 JNCD are Very Good. Average Errors  3.5 to 7.0 JNCD are Good. Average Errors above 7.0 JNCD are Poor.
Absolute Color Accuracy Largest Color Error All Colors within the Gamut   For the 41 Reference Colors Just Noticeable Color Difference   See Figure 2	Vivid mode Intentionally Vivid Colors   Intentionally Not Accurate Not Analyzed	4K Cinema mode Largest Color Error From DCI-P3 Δ(u’v’) = 0.0190 4.8 JNCD for 100% Blue   Very Good Accuracy Accurate 4K Cinema mode   See Figure 2	2K Cinema mode  Largest Color Error From sRGB / Rec.709 Δ(u’v’) = 0.064 1.6 JNCD for 100% Red   Excellent Accuracy Accurate 2K Cinema mode   See Figure 2	JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference.   See Figure 2 for the definition of JNCD and for Accuracy Plots showing the measured Color Errors.   Largest Errors below   7.0 JNCD are Very Good. Largest Errors  7.0 to 14.0 JNCD are Good. Largest Errors above 14.0 JNCD are Poor. This is twice the limit for the Average Error.
Absolute Luminance Accuracy
Absolute Luminance Accuracy Average Luminance Error All Colors within the Gamut   For the 41 Reference Colors See Figure 2	Vivid mode Intentionally Vivid Colors   Intentionally Not Accurate Not Analyzed	4K Cinema mode Average Luminance Error Over the Entire Gamut 3 percent   Excellent Accuracy Accurate 4K Cinema mode	2K Cinema mode Average Luminance Error Over the Entire Gamut 3 percent   Excellent Accuracy Accurate 2K Cinema mode	The Luminance Error is the difference between the actual and standard Brightness (Luminance) for any specific color within the entire Color Gamut.   Average Errors below 5 percent are Very Good Average Errors  5 to 10 percent are Good Average Errors above 10 percent are Poor   See Figure 2 for the 41 Reference Colors.
Absolute Luminance Accuracy Largest Luminance Error All Colors within the Gamut   For the 41 Reference Colors See Figure 2	Vivid mode Intentionally Vivid Colors   Intentionally Not Accurate Not Analyzed	4K Cinema mode Largest Luminance Error Over the Entire Gamut 6 percent for 100% Blue-Magenta   Very Good Accuracy Accurate 4K Cinema mode	2K Cinema mode Largest Luminance Error Over the Entire Gamut 7 percent for 100% Magenta-Red   Very Good Accuracy Accurate 2K Cinema mode	The Luminance Error is the difference between the actual and standard Brightness (Luminance) for any specific color within the entire Color Gamut.   Largest Errors below 10 percent are Very Good Largest Errors 10 to 20 percent are Good Largest Errors above 20 percent are Poor This is twice the limit for the Average Error.   See Figure 2 for the 41 Reference Colors.
Intensity Scale and Image Contrast Accuracy
Intensity Scale Determines Image Contrast   See Figure 3	Vivid mode Intentionally Irregular   Intentionally Not Accurate Not Analyzed	Intensity Scale Very Smooth Logarithmically Straight Excellent   See Figure 3	Intensity Scale Very Smooth Logarithmically Straight Excellent   See Figure 3	The Intensity Scale controls image contrast needed for accurate Image Contrast and Color reproduction. See Figure 3
Gamma for the Intensity Scale Gamma Standard is 2.20 Higher has more Image Contrast   See Figure 3	Vivid mode Intentionally Irregular   Intentionally Not Accurate Not Analyzed	Gamma 2.17 Excellent Close to Perfect	Gamma 2.17 Excellent Close to Perfect	Gamma is the log slope of the Intensity Scale. Gamma of 2.20 is the standard and needed for accurate Image Contrast and Color reproduction. See Figure 3
Image Contrast Accuracy	Intentionally Irregular	Excellent	Excellent	See Figure 3
Categories	Vivid mode Native Wide Gamut	4K Cinema mode DCI-P3 Gamut	2K Cinema mode sRGB/Rec.709 Gamut	Comments
Viewing Angles The variation of Brightness, Contrast, and Color with Viewing Angle is especially important because large screen TVs are often watched by multiple viewers from a wide range of viewing positions and angles.   Figure 4 shows the measured changes in Intensity Scale and Color Gamut between 0 and 45 degrees Viewing Angle. Figure 4 Viewing Angles Click to Enlarge     The variations with Viewing Angle are essentially identical for all of the screen modes.
Categories	Vivid mode Native Wide Gamut	4K Cinema mode DCI-P3 Gamut	2K Cinema mode sRGB/Rec.709 Gamut	Comments
Brightness Decrease at a 45 degree Viewing Angle	24 percent Brightness Decrease at 45 degrees Small Brightness Decrease Very Good			Most displays have lower brightness (Luminance) when viewed at an angle away from the central sweet spot of 0 degrees.
Contrast Ratio at 0 lux at a 45 degree Viewing Angle	Infinite Contrast Ratio at 45 degrees Outstanding			For OLEDs the Black Level does not change with Viewing Angle so the Contrast Ratio remains infinite.
White Point Color Shift at a 45 degree Viewing Angle   See Figure 4	Fairly Small Color Shift at 45 degrees Δ(u’v’) = 0.0134  3.4 JNCD  Very Good   See Figure 4			JNCD is a Just Noticeable Color Difference. See Figure 2 for the definition of JNCD.   See Figure 4
Change in Intensity Scale at a 45 degree Viewing Angle   See Figure 4	Intensity Scales remain unchanged at 45 degrees     See Figure 4			For OLEDs the Intensity Scale does not change with Viewing Angle.   See Figure 4
Change in Color Gamut at a 45 degree Viewing Angle   See Figure 4	sRGB / Rec.709 Gamut increases to 110% at 45 degrees              DCI-P3 Gamut increases to 114% at 45 degrees   Most of the Color Gamut increase is from the Blue Primary A small increase in Color Gamut is desirable for larger Viewing Angles See Figure 4			The OLED TV Color Gamuts increase somewhat with Viewing Angle due to the optical path through the sub-pixel filters within the display.   See Figure 4
Display Light Spectra OLEDs are emissive displays that use specially formulated Organic LED materials to produce the Red, Green, and Blue Primary Colors.   Figure 5 shows the Light Spectra for the Red, Green, and Blue Primaries on the LG OLED TV. Figure 5 Display Spectra Click to Enlarge     Rather than laying out three separate sets of OLED Red, Green, and Blue sub-pixels throughout the screen, the LG OLED TV instead has a single uniform set of OLED White sub-pixels throughout made as a combined stack of Red, Green, and Blue OLED colors for each sub-pixel. The sub-pixels then each have their own individual Red, Green and Blue color filters that select the specific Red, Green or Blue OLED color for that sub-pixel. This approach greatly simplifies the OLED production, improves yields, and lowers the manufacturing costs. In addition, LG has also added a 4th clear sub-pixel to every pixel that just produces pure White. This increases the display’s power efficiency and also improves color accuracy and color management.

 

 

About the Author

Dr. Raymond Soneira is President of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation of Amherst, New Hampshire, which produces display calibration, evaluation, and diagnostic products for consumers, technicians, and manufacturers. See www.displaymate.com. He is a research scientist with a career that spans physics, computer science, and television system design. Dr. Soneira obtained his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Princeton University, spent 5 years as a Long-Term Member of the world famous Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, another 5 years as a Principal Investigator in the Computer Systems Research Laboratory at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and has also designed, tested, and installed color television broadcast equipment for the CBS Television Network Engineering and Development Department. He has authored over 35 research articles in scientific journals in physics and computer science, including Scientific American. If you have any comments or questions about the article, you can contact him at dtso.info@displaymate.com.

 

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Article Links:  2016 LG OLED TV Display Technology Shoot-Out

 

Article Links:  Absolute Color Accuracy Display Technology Shoot-Out

Article Links:  Display Color Gamuts Shoot-Out NTSC to Rec.2020

 

Article Links:  Display Technology Shoot-Out Article Series Overview and Home Page

Article Links:  Mobile Display Shoot-Out Article Series Overview and Home Page

 

 

 

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