Important Things To Look Out For Before Buying A New Smart TV

One household item that makes people feel at home more is the Television. But it’s a nightmare if you mistakenly buy the wrong TV, either due to ignorance or low budget. To avoid any of such, we have put together a complete guide on things you should look out for before buying a new TV.

This is a guide that will always come handy whenever you or someone you know wants to get a new smart TV.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Big Differences To Note
3. Who Has the Better Contrast?
4. The Down Side of the Contrast King
5. New Advancements In TV Technology
6. What Type of TV Should You Buy?

Introduction: 

Having a smart TV at home is no longer the exclusive preserve of the super rich in society. But in order not to waste your money, knowing the right TV is important. There are a number of key details to run through that will help you select the best among the pack.

When you get to a shop where they sell your preferred brand, ask for QLED or ULED TV. These two abbreviations mean the same thing, so don’t be confused. They are good TVs.

First spec checked, you can then filter by size and budget. The size of the TV depends on what can fit in your space, and the budget is your pocket.

The Big Differences To Note: 

Find out the Panel (screen) Type. There are two major types of Panels, LCD and OLED.

An LCD panel works like cutting a piece of paper and putting a light at its back to shine through the paper cut to form an image.

OLED on the other hand works like using light bulbs to write or draw on the wall. They leave obvious impressions for a while.

In simple terms, LCD has a screen and needs light bulbs to display the screen, while in OLED, the bulbs make up the screen.

And this would lead to more and more differences. These differences would matter a lot if you buy a phone, computer, or monitor, but for TVs, You only need to know a few differences between LCD and OLED.

• LCD TVs are brighter.
• OLED TV is a case of black is dark and dark is black.

Who Has the Better Contrast?

OLED has better contrast and is pitch black cos Unlike LCD which overlays a black screen on the already existing backlight that is always on, OLED can just turn off the bulbs in the areas that show Black.

This makes the OLED TVs more expensive. Little wonder, OLED TVs, OLED Monitors, OLED anything else are quite expensive. This is why when a Samsung phone’s screen breaks, you spend a fortune to get it fixed.

The Down Side of the Contrast King: 

OLED TVs have a downside called “burn-in”. When you look at a bright light for a while and then suddenly look away, you will still be able to see images of that bright light. That is what burn-in is like.

When your OLED TV has been showing one thing consistently for a long time, even when you switch away, it feels like that thing is still showing on the screen.

For example, you can tell from the image below that the owner of this OLED TV watches a lot of CNN. 

So, unfortunately, OLED is not all roses. This is why many return to using LCD TVs, Plus remember, LCD is brighter.

New Advancements In TV Technology: 

On top of that, advancements have been made in LCD Technology to make it more “OLED-like”, to have better contrast and colours.

One of these advancements is known as QLED, which is like using multiple pieces of paper to block the backlight to make the overall picture better. QLED looks objectively amazing and if you see a QLED TV, you can only tell it is not OLED by putting it next to an OLED.

Even better than QLED is mini-LED. There are few mini-LED TVs but mini-LED being so good also means it is just as expensive as OLED.

Note that ULED is exactly the same as QLED, just a difference in acronym.

What Type of TV Should You Buy?

If you care about having a bright TV because your room or office is very bright and has a lot of incoming light, you should definitely buy a QLED/ULED or if you have more money to spend, buy a mini-LED TV.

Also if you are on a budget, then QLED/ULED should be your last bus stop.

If you want to buy a second-hand or used TV, buy a QLED. It is cheaper and there is no fear of burn-in because it is not OLED and so no matter how long the last owner used it, it should still look great!

Conclusion: 

Size matters, no doubt. The bigger the TV the more expensive it is, and in some cases like with OLED TVs, bigger TVs are brighter. If you want to put the TV in your living room, anything from 55” upwards is good enough. But if you are on a budget, you can pick a smaller TV because picture quality is more important than size.

And, of course, brand matters too. Be careful while settling for new brands that are cheap. A lot of them have not been tested consistently for us to have much to say about their durability.

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