Introduction
Television technology has advanced rapidly over the past decade, yet even among the latest innovations, OLED TVs stand out above the rest. OLED, which stands for organic light-emitting diode, utilizes proprietary display technology to produce unmatched picture quality and a truly exceptional viewing experience.
First envisioned back in the 1950s, OLED displays saw scattered research up through the 1990s when pioneers like Kodak and Pioneer began actively developing early OLED panels and prototypes. The first commercial OLED TV debuted in 2008, a proof-of-concept 40-inch model from Samsung. However, it took until 2012 before LG introduced the first widely available 55-inch OLED TV to market.
Since then, LG has led the way in OLED panel production capacity and affordability, bringing OLED technology firmly into the mainstream. Progress and enhancements continue at a rapid pace too. 4K resolution OLED TVs now dominate the high-end market while increased production scale has substantially reduced costs over the years. Even 8K OLED models have recently released to push the leading edge even farther.
With picture quality that has to be seen to be believed combined with an extensive and expanding range of model options, there’s never been a better time to invest in an OLED TV. This guide will highlight 12 compelling reasons why buying an OLED television should be at the top of your shopping list in 2023.
Reason #1: Unparalleled Picture Quality
Without question, the number one reason to choose OLED is the unrivaled picture quality the technology delivers across the board. Each of the over 8 million pixels on an OLED panel emits its own light independently. This means OLED TVs can produce truly infinite contrast, with the deepest, darkest blacks right alongside intensely vivid colors and details.
The difference this makes is immediately obvious even to the untrained eye. Images appear almost three-dimensional in depth and clarity. HDR content shines through OLED displays in ways that traditional LED/LCD televisions simply can’t match. From bright highlights to subtle shadows, every part of the picture springs to life with realism that has to be seen firsthand to fully appreciate.
While specifications certainly don’t tell the whole story, they do help quantify the picture quality advantage well. OLED TVs essentially achieve infinite contrast, compared to LED/LCD ratios of just 1000-5000:1. They cover nearly 100% of the demanding DCI-P3 color gamut, where many LED/LCD sets still hover around 70-80%. Paired with High Dynamic Range content, the colors and contrast OLED provides transforms shows, movies, games and more into an incredibly immersive experience.
Reason #2: Impossibly Thin Design
With each pixel producing its own illumination, OLED panels require no separate backlight layer whatsoever. This allows manufacturers an incredible amount of freedom when designing OLED TV chassis. The result is that OLED televisions can be astoundingly thin, often less than 0.2 inches for 55-65 inch screen sizes. Even the largest 77+ inch screens typically come in under 0.3 inch thickness.
Without the need to accommodate bulky backlights and diffusion layers, OLED TVs have an amazingly sleek, minimalist appearance. They seem to almost disappear when wall mounted, becoming one with their surroundings. This lends itself perfectly to modern interior design and open floor plans. Clean lines and elegance define form factor of OLED displays.
The lack of backlights also contributes to the flexibility seen in some OLED panel production. Curved OLED TV models leverage this beautifully to create an extra level of immersion. And concepts from brands like LG Display demonstrate that expandability will only increase through advances like rollable OLED screens.
Reason #3: Excellent Energy Efficiency
Going hand in hand with those self-illuminating pixels, OLED TVs also shine when it comes to energy efficiency. Dark scenes and content with letterboxing bars require far less energy on an OLED panel since black pixels emit no light at all. Tests indicate OLED TVs utilize up to 30-50% less power compared to LED/LCD televisions in typical mixed viewing.
For environmentally-conscious consumers, choosing OLED technology means you can save energy without sacrificing picture quality in the slightest. OLED TVs certainly cost more on the front end, but the long term energy savings help offset this over years of use. And of course, less energy wasted means reducing your overall environmental footprint.
Reason #4: Remarkably Wide Viewing Angles
One area where older LCD technology suffered major drawbacks was viewing angles. Step just slightly off-axis from an LCD panel and colors shift towards blue, contrast fades away, and black levels become washed out grey. This made enjoying bigger screens from wider seating positions almost impossible without distortion ruining the experience.
The precise control OLED technology exerts over each individual pixel solves these off-angle issues spectacularly. OLED screens maintain their stellar picture quality with deep blacks, vibrant hues and all even when viewed from extreme side angles. You’ll enjoy the same immersive images from wherever you sit.
For households that frequently entertain large groups or multi-purpose rooms, OLED TVs make perfect sense. No one ends up with the subpar seat thanks to this huge advancement. Suddenly bigger screen home theater enjoyment becomes realistic even for open floor plans versus needing a dedicated light-controlled cinema room of the past.
Reason #5: Blazing Fast Response Times
While specifications only reveal part of real-world performance, the numbers illustrate why OLED excels when displaying high motion content. Thanks to response times measured in microseconds rather than the milliseconds of LCD displays, OLED panels offer far better motion clarity with less perceived blur. Fast action stays smooth and sharp rather than showing trailing artifacts that ruin immersion.
Inputs translate into instant on-screen results with exceptional quickness. This really enhances gaming responsiveness to player commands and keeps sports and action films looking clean in movement-heavy scenes. When every millisecond matters, OLED TVs have a definite edge to make the content look as intended rather than masked behind the limits of slower display pipelines.
Reason #6: Cinematic HDR Support
High Dynamic Range content extends the limits of contrast, color, and brightness beyond what used to be possible in home theaters. To unlock HDR‘s full visual potential requires displays that can actually reproduce this expanded range while hitting specialized HDR color space targets. In both these areas OLED technology delivers in spades.
OLED TVs emit up to 800 nits peak brightness while still hitting 0 nits absolute black at the same time. This range covers the necessary scope for popular HDR formats. And their wide color gamut has no issues achieving greater than 90% DCI-P3 coverage expected. Pairing an OLED screen with HDR-10 and Dolby Vision content results in a visual experience identical to the best commercial cinemas. Movies and shows exhibit finer detail and wow-factor that instantly immerses the viewer.
Reason #7: Sounds as Good as it Looks
Truly cinematic experiences depend on audio just as much as brilliant visuals, especially in eras where LCD/LED TVs trimmed down built-in speakers to cut costs. Here too OLED televisions have redefined expectations of integrated sound quality. High-end OLED models now incorporate impressive multichannel speaker arrays directly into breathtakingly thin chassis designs.
Backed by processing that leverages Dolby Atmos 3D sound, premium OLED TVs fill rooms with expansive, detailed audio without the need for secondary equipment. Cinematic immersion extends from screen to soundstage flawlessly. Even entry-level OLED options make noticeable steps up from the hollow, anemic speakers of old. Across the board, audio matches the groundbreaking pictures OLED TVs achieve.
Reason #8: Future-Proof Quality
For buyers weighing OLED TVs versus more traditional LED/LCD options, OLED technology represents the definitive way forward panel advancements are clearly headed. Major manufacturers like LG Display continue pouring extensive research into further perfecting OLED capabilities while also improving sustainability and cost factors. Even microLED development depends on knowledge gained from OLED panel evolution over the years.
Adopting OLED TV models now means your investment stays viable and technologically relevant for far longer than buying outdated LED/LCD screens. The stunning self-illuminated images OLED panels produce aren‘t going anywhere. If anything, rapid enhancements so far point to bigger and better OLED-based televisions hitting the market each new model year. Staying on the leading edge of display tech guarantees excitement about future upgrades rather than feeling left behind the curve.
Reason #9: Minimal Burn-In Risk
One downside of early OLED evaluations focused heavily on image retention and burn-in potential when static images remain on-screen excessively long. This stems from the nature of organic light-emitting pixels slowly degrading over extremely long usage. However, thanks to major advances in emitter compounds and control electronics, modern OLED panels last orders of magnitude longer before showing even minor effects.
Manufacturers also employ ingenious pixel shifting and screensaver features that imperceptibly alleviate cumulative strain. It takes truly abnormal usage habits before image retention manifests at all on new generation models. Current projections estimate well over 100,000 hours before a cumulative 30% loss of original luminosity, roughly equivalent to watching 7+ hours of TV daily for ten years!
While no technology eliminates the possibility entirely over extreme periods, modern OLED TVs pose negligible risk of burn-in under normal viewing conditions and vary content watching. This concern has become mostly outdated as longevity continues improving year after year. For the average consumer, burn-in belongs nowhere on the list of considerations given proper care.
Reason #10: More Size and Model Options Than Ever
The extensive selection of OLED TVs now available proves the technology successfully continuing down the path to mainstream adoption. While the very first OLED models rarely exceeded 55 inches diagonally due to yield and production limits, screen sizes have substantially increased in recent years. Now 65 inches represents the most popular category, with 48 and 77+ inch options readily available too depending on model tier.
Pressing the leading edge, LG and Sony both debuted spectacular 97 inch 8K OLED behemoths during 2022 as well. Prices remain high temporarily given low economies of scale for panels this large, but expect even bigger dimension offerings down the road.
Likewise, major brands offer varied model families spanning different price points and feature sets. Top tier OLED TVs include the most advanced processors and sound components for those wanting the ultimate luxury experience with all the bells and whistles. More budget-focused selections still retain core OLED panel quality but trade some features for more appealing price tags. Even entry-level OLED models outperform all but the best older LCD/LED displays across metrics. With OLED TVs catering to wide-ranging buyers, finding your perfect fit proves distinctly achievable.
Reason #11: Intuitive and Integrated Smart Experiences
Modern televisions depend extensively on smart platforms and connected functionality rather than simply displaying cable/satellite feeds. Here too OLED TVs shine thanks to incorporating state-of-the-art processors and software ecosystems into many models. Fast, responsive interfaces grant access to all the most popular streaming apps and services. Voice assistants offer impressive hands-free control over settings and content search.
Third party device integration makes it simple to cast or mirror content from smartphones and tablets. Some OLED TVs even work with smart home ecosystems to become display hubs integrating with other appliances, security cameras, lighting, and more. Staying on the cutting edge means enjoying conveniences only the latest technologies enable. OLED TVs open up worlds of possibilities beyond just passive viewing.
Reason #12: Tailored for Gaming Greatness
Console and PC gaming constantly pushes hardware to its limits by throwing fast motion, quick camera pans, speedy reaction times, and complex graphical effects into the mix. OLED TVs seem almost purpose-built to provide the absolute best gaming experience possible even under these intense demands. It‘s no coincidence that the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X target 4K 120Hz signals and extensive HDR format support given gaming pushes TV capabilities hardest.
By combining phenomenally fast response metrics with deep black levels and minimal input lag, OLED panels keep up flawlessly with every sudden shift players instigate. Features like variable refresh rate (VRR) and auto low latency modes (ALLM) further enhance gaming responsiveness. Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync compatibility smooths gameplay in supported titles by correcting screen tearing on the fly. HDR visuals add incredible realism through expanded brightness and color to environments and effects. Even cloud gaming services benefit since OLED pixels react instantly to streamed content.
While fantastic for movies and video, OLED televisions particularly excel when used as primary gaming displays. Their unmatched characteristics directly answer the strenuous demands games levy in order to achieve maximum immersion. Gamers who upgrade to OLED can expect discover rich new levels of realism through spectacular dynamic range translating inputs into near instant on-screen reactions.
Conclusion
If premium picture quality, beautiful aesthetic design, and an overall exceptional viewing experience matter for your next TV purchase, OLED televisions check every box and more. The self-illuminating, precisely controlled pixel arrays OLED panels utilize revolutionize home theater enjoyment. Vibrant, ultra-realistic images pair with the latest cutting edge features and connectivity to consume content in entirely new ways.
With major manufacturers like LG investing billions into next generation production capacity, OLED TV model options explode while costs gradually decline towards mainstream affordability. Never before has such a revolutionary display technology promising such an enormous leap in advancement become so widely accessible. The time is absolutely right in 2023 for everyone desiring television greatness to join the OLED revolution!
