IPS vs OLED: Do you intend to purchase a TV? So you must be familiar with OLED. According to numerous websites, OLED is the newest kid on the block and by far the “greatest” panel type. Is OLED something you should pick, though? Or are more conventional LCD panels, like IPS, still preferable for you? To learn more, keep reading.
What is OLED?
You should be aware that OLED and IPS are completely different technologies before you start to mix the two. The OLED lacks a backlight, which LCD panels do. What, no backlight at all? How will the images then appear then?
The OLED is distinctive because each pixel emits its own light. You did read that correctly. Because each pixel may totally turn on and off, accurate black-and-white images are possible. To put it another way, the light is organic (the O in OLED stands for “organic”).
What is IPS?
One of three varieties of LCD panels is the IPS (in-plane switching) panel. Additionally, because it is an LCD panel, a backlight is present to display the colors of a picture. A TV with a gray image when it should be completely black is almost certainly an LCD panel.
The TN (twisted nematic) and the VA are two other LCD panels (vertical alignment). In terms of response time, the IPS falls between the TN and the VA among these three. It closely resembles a mid-range LCD panel. The IPS, on the other hand, boasts an outstanding 178-degree viewing angle, enabling you to enjoy excellent visuals even from side angles.
IPS vs OLED: Which Panel Type Should You Choose?
The question is, which should you choose? There isn’t a simple answer to this question, especially if you have diverse priorities and reasons for selecting your panel type. The resolution, contrast, reaction time, viewing angles, cost, and size all play a factor in figuring out which panel is best for you if you have any of these issues. Not to worry. We’ll talk about these elements below.
Refresh Rate & Resolution
The most prevalent element is resolution. When people are asked what they want in a TV, a high-resolution screen is frequently mentioned. The IPS and OLED TVs feature great resolution, which is fantastic news. They both support 4K Ultra HD resolution, so you may pick whichever monitor you prefer. Because not all LCD panel displays support 4K Ultra HD resolution, it’s advisable to check with the manufacturer before making a purchase.
The maximum refresh rate of most OLED displays is 120Hz, which is more than enough for the majority of games, especially at 4K UHD. The QD-OLED display from Samsung boasts the highest refresh rate at 175Hz.
Competitive and professional gamers, however, will always seek out the quickest panel because high refresh rates reduce input lag, and there are IPS displays with up to 390Hz!
Additionally, IPS monitors come in a wider range of form factors, with various screen sizes, resolutions, and aspect ratios. OLED panels often have refresh rates of 60Hz or 120Hz and are 4K.
The fact that OLED displays seem better while showing non-native resolutions is another benefit of the technology. Therefore, running a 4K OLED at 2560×1440 will look better than running the same resolution on a 4K IPS display if 4K is too demanding for your system.
OLED Image Retention/Burn-In
OLED screens’ main issue is image burn-in.
A static image on your TV or monitor may burn in and remain visible in the background if you leave it on for an extended period of time.
However, newer OLED models come with screen savers, pixel shifters, and other technologies that stop this from happening, so you still need to be careful.
Another issue is image retention, which is comparable to image burn-in but is temporary because it disappears after a short period of time or after you refresh the pixels utilizing a feature of a specialized display.
Even yet, if you spend a lot of time playing video games on an OLED display, fixed HUD elements like mini-maps, health bars, menus, etc., may continue to be visible after the image has changed. For this reason, a lot of games feature specialized options to automatically hide fixed game objects.
Overall, you still have nothing to worry about and may enjoy playing your favorite game for hours every day. Simply avoid keeping the same static image on the screen for too long and alternate between different types of media to force the pixels to update.
For instance, if you play a static-free YouTube video for a bit after spending four hours or more playing a game, you should be good.
Every program contains a lot of static parts, so burn-in is also a concern if you plan on working on office-related or color-critical tasks. However, as long as you play different content every so often, it won’t be a problem.
HDR (High Dynamic Range)
Both technologies offer benefits and drawbacks when it comes to HDR.
Due to its poor natural contrast ratio, IPS panels require an expensive full-array local dimming (FALD) implementation.
A FALD system consists of a large number of dimming zones (like zone 1152) that dim the screen’s intended dark areas without dramatically altering the intended bright areas. This greatly boosts the contrast ratio.
Even 1152 zones are insufficient for some difficult settings, though; if you have tiny, bright things against a dark background, like stars at night, the light from those items will bleed into the nearby dim zones, causing blooming.
Since every OLED pixel is self-emissive, a 4K panel effectively has over 8 million dimming zones, which results in significantly improved overall image quality without any blooming.
The main benefit of IPS panels is their increased brightness, particularly when combined with a tiny LED backlight. OLED displays are often limited to brightness levels of roughly 1,000 nits, while mini LED displays can reach peak brightness levels of around 2,000 nits.
Under normal lighting situations, 1,000-nits is still enough to produce strong highlights, but if you’re watching the screen in an especially bright room, HDR content can look unimpressive on OLED screens in comparison to small LED LCDs.
Therefore, it all comes down to personal taste.
OLED will give a superior HDR image quality if you have control over the lighting in your space. A excellent small LED display will provide a considerably brighter image that will easily overcome glare if you have a room with lots of illumination and no way to prevent it.
Remember that FALD and tiny LED backlights aren’t just for IPS displays. They can also be found combined with VA panels, which have better native contrast ratios than IPS panels but less uniform color reproduction.
While some IPS monitors have greater 100% Adobe RGB and 80% Rec.2020 coverage for more intense and rich colors, LG’s W-OLED displays cover 98% of the DCI-P3 color space (75% Adobe RGB, 70% Rec.2020).
The other wide gamuts are mostly utilized for professional color-critical work, whereas HDR video uses the DCI-P3 color space, therefore OLED screens show material as its authors intended.
There are OLED panels with a broader gamut coverage than W-OLED (80% Rec. 2020), like JOLED and Samsung’s QD-OLED; more on that later.
Although the image is slightly better on OLED displays when viewed from highly skewed angles, both IPS and OLED panels provide wide viewing angles and perfect color reproduction.
Longevity, Power Consumption and Design
OLED panels ought to last as long as LED ones, but as OLED TVs are still fairly new on the market, this hasn’t been confirmed.
Depending on the brightness settings you use, the power consumption of the two is essentially same.
OLED displays can be far thinner than LED LCDs, despite the fact that both panel technologies allow for extremely thin displays.
Contrast
Because the pixels on an OLED TV may be either black or white, it has an unlimited contrast ratio. If you’ve ever compared a picture on an IPS screen to one on an OLED screen, you’ll see that the OLED is far superior.
It’s also important to note that, despite OLED’s superiority, the contrast ratio of the IPS panel is not that poor. In comparison to the TN LCD panel, the IPS and VA offer a substantially higher contrast ratio.
Response Time
For those who play video games on their monitors and TVs, response time is important. Response time is the amount of time it takes for a pixel to change from one shade of grey to another. Gaming enthusiasts should definitely invest in a fast response time monitor because delayed images make it difficult to react.
The OLED offers a quicker response time compared to the IPS. A pixel can change colors in less than one millisecond. However, the IPS is not too awful, with a response time of about 4 milliseconds while using the overdrive and about 15 milliseconds otherwise.
Viewing Angles
Of course, it’s important to understand more about viewing angles if you have a large room. This is crucial if you want to watch TV with a big group of family and friends on movie nights because you can’t force everyone to sit in front of the TV.
Anyway, the IPS has a 178-degree viewing angle when it comes to angles of view. You can have a front or side image display with outstanding quality. However, considering the OLED screen is the greatest panel in terms of viewing angle, that is still not the best on the market.
Price
If you believe that OLED is winning this comparison, this can make you rethink your opinion. OLED TVs are gradually becoming more cheap, but they are still more expensive than IPS screens. IPS panels are widely accessible and commercialized, which increases manufacturer competitiveness. You can purchase a cheap or costly one because they come in every price range. Furthermore, the IPS panel is substantially less expensive because it comes in a variety of monitor sizes.
We finally reach the cost. It is impossible to compare an OLED display to, say, a $200 IPS monitor because there is no such thing as a cheap OLED display, nor can the two monitors’ image quality be compared.
It takes a costly FALD solution to provide an IPS monitor an image quality that is equivalent to that of an OLED panel. A 48″ OLED costs as little as $800, whereas tiny LED FALD monitors cost between $1,100 and $3,000.
Mini LED LCDs are more expensive but brighter and don’t have the risk of burn-in, but they have a worse contrast ratio, blooming artifacts, and a slower response time. Because of this, the majority of users choose OLED technology for HDR content.
Mini LED FALD displays using either IPS or VA panels will need to significantly reduce in price in order to be competitive in the future, when Samsung’s QD-OLED panels should offer even greater image quality at a lower price.
Screen Size
Speaking of size, the IPS can provide you with a variety of sizes, whether you want a tiny or a huge screen. You have a wide selection of alternatives to pick from with IPS displays, which range in size from 20 to 100 inches. The OLED screens, on the other hand, come in sizes of 55 or 65 inches. This would be inappropriate in a small room. OLED screens may eventually come in lower sizes, but you definitely wouldn’t be able to wait for them, especially because TV sizes are only going up.
You can select the superior option with the aid of these elements. Don’t forget to take into account your own tastes as well as how you want to utilize the monitor.
QD-OLED
The QD-OLED technology from Samsung outperforms rival OLED panels, the majority of which are produced by LG and JOLED.
QD-OLED panels, unlike LG’s W-OLED panels with a WBGR subpixel structure, rely on a blue self-luminescent layer rather of white subpixels, which essentially enables them to attain higher brightness, a wider color gamut, and improved burn-in resistance.
Conclusion
Which panel you choose to purchase is ultimately up to you. The short answer is that it is OLED if you are sensitive to contrast ratio and viewing angle (provided, of course, that money is no object). On the other hand, IPS panels are the best option if size and cost are your primary concerns. And the best part is that despite being reasonably priced, they have 4K Ultra HD quality.
