Home » Technology » NanoCell vs QLED
Home » Technology » NanoCell vs QLED

What is Better Than NanoCell vs QLED

Which technology will have the best picture for NanoCell vs QLED? Which technology to choose? Tough questions today. Let’s find out why.

If the answer is needed immediately and without any theory, LG Nanocell and Samsung QLED (Quantum Dot) TVs in the same price category have similar picture quality. To choose the right model, you need to compare two televisions side by side, and then you can see the difference in the screen.

Both technologies are used in LCD TV screens and use quantum dots. They are needed to improve picture quality.

Why Quantum Dots in a TV

Image problems on an LCD TV screen:

  • color accuracy
  • color saturation
  • contrast
  • black level
  • viewing angles
  • brightness level
  • color purity

The use of quantum dots in a display improves color reproduction. Colors become more prosperous and more saturated, and the accuracy of each color is improved.

Briefly about essential things:

  • Nanocell and QLED are LCD TVs with nanoparticles for hue enhancement.
  • QLED is a unique form of LED backlighting used chiefly (but not exclusively) by Samsung.
  • Nanocell is LG’s patented color filter technology.
  • With both Nanocell and QLED TVs, you’ll find a big difference in picture quality depending on the model.

In both cases, the goal is to achieve a more precise hue and the highest possible HDR color space.

Simple liquid crystal screens were first backlit with fluorescent tubes, but today, they are backlit with white LEDs (LED backlight).

Cells with liquid crystals regulate the amount of light for each subpixel, for blue, red, and green. In the right proportion, these three colors will form any existing hue.

The picture is quality if the subpixels produce pure blue, red, and green. However, color filters on phosphors in simple screens can not make these three tones pure.

Also read: LG Display has improved the color brightness of the latest generation of OLED panels.

Quantum dots are needed to filter the colors from the backlight to produce pure red, blue, and green. When the primary RGB is mixed, the other color shades become lush, accurate, and saturated.

Ideally, the backlight color spectrum should consist of three straight lines of the proper amplitude and at the right frequency, which means three pure sine waves with the correct wavelength. However, the nature of light is such that there are always impurities, and each segment on the spectrum expands to a specific value.

NanoCell vs QLED — Signal spectrum of the LCD backlight
NanoCell vs QLED — Signal spectrum of the LCD backlight

In practice, this means the presence of colored impurities in the backlight, and they are undesirable. So, the quantum dots filter out these unwanted impurities, and the signal spectrum’s signal becomes much narrower.

NanoCell LG

LG’s proprietary NanoCell technology uses nanoparticles as small as 1 nanometer. These particles are sprayed on the LCD screen and filtered out dull yellow to make the color image-rich and accurate.

LG 65-Inch Class QNED85T

LG 65-Inch Class QNED85T Series LED Smart TV 4K Processor Flat Screen with Magic Remote AI-Powered with Alexa Built-in (65QNED85TUA, 2024)

These one-nanometer nanoparticles are not precisely the quantum dots other manufacturers use in their TVs. Quantum dots that emit visible light come in sizes ranging from 2 to 7 nanometers.

LG does not exactly disclose its NanoCell technology, so it is impossible to tell in detail what happens in the layers of nanoparticles. For more information on the physical processes in Nanocell screens, see this article on displaydaily.com.

Marketers still talk about increasing the viewing angle due to nanoparticles, although it depends on the matrix type — VA or IPS. More advertising claims of improved contrast, although it depends on the matrix type and backlighting. There may be slight improvement in viewing angle and contrast, but these values depend more on other characteristics.

When NanoCell TVs first came out, they were the top-of-the-line LCD TVs of 2017. The price of these TVs depended heavily on the type of screen backlighting.

It could be a side backlight with LEDs on the sides of the display. This created large backlights on the screen and a big unevenness of color across the matrix area. White objects, such as film titles, had very visible light ghosts on a dark background. All this worsened the picture quality badly, which is why TV sets with such backlighting cost less.

The full array of LEDs behind the matrix produced much better results, and it was called FALD (Full-array local dimming). Local dimming was easily realized when the LEDs of the backlighting glowed depending on the brightness of the image in that area. The results were Good contrast, weak white plumes, and small halos. The price of such backlighting highly depends on the number of dimming zones.

Illumination without a local dimming system is of much worse quality, even if a full array of LEDs is behind the matrix. The contrast is very low, the black level is insufficient, and the black turns gray.

To improve the backlighting, mini LEDs were used. And the TV sets are now called QNED. The QNED miniLED televisions, which come with Nano Cell technology, really show high picture quality on the screen. LG claims that the two technologies NanoCell and Quantum dot are combined here.

But be careful. Not all QNED TVs have a mini LED backlight, so study the specifications. By definition, the QNED designation meant a mini LED backlight. However, something has changed: marketers have changed, and now you must be careful when choosing a TV.

Also read: Samsung’s QD-OLED panels achieve high brightness and color purity through their red, green, and blue subpixels.

NanoCell TVs are leaving the market. In the 2023 model lineup, LG has not introduced any new NanoCell models. Or rather, there are, but they are 2022 models carried over into the 2023 lineup. They have been replaced by QNED TVs, which share better quality.

Advantages of Nanocell

  1. Excellent color purity, ample color space;
  2. Cheaper than OLED, no risk of burn-in;
  3. Wide viewing angle (with some exceptions).

QLED

QLED technology is not the property of a single manufacturer, so TVs with this technology can be found in many companies. Here, we will consider only Samsung TVs.

As we have considered above, the problem of color in LCD screens lies in the not relatively pure tone RGB (red, green, blue) in the backlight. This means an admixture of shades to the primary colors.

SAMSUNG 65-Inch Class QLED 4K Q80D

SAMSUNG 65-Inch Class QLED 4K Q80D Series Quantum HDR+ Smart TV w/Dolby Atmos, Object Tracking Sound Lite, Direct Full Array, Motion Xcelerator, Alexa Built-in (QN65Q80D, 2024 Model)

QLED TVs are somewhat related to Nanocells. They also improve color reproduction using nanoparticles—so-called quantum dots. The most crucial difference with Nanocells is this: while Nanocell, according to LG, is its color filter technology, QLED is a backlight technology.

Also read: Unlike Crystal UHD, QLED TVs are part of Samsung’s premium lineup.

A layer of quantum dots enhances these three backlight shades (RGB). Blue comes from the backlight; it already has a good signal spectrum. But red and green come from quantum dots excited by the backlight’s blue part.

Since the emission of quantum dots strictly depends on the size of the dot itself, you get the exact colors red and green because it is easy to control the size of the quantum dot.

QLED screen structure
QLED screen structure

In QLED, quantum dots are placed between the film’s LED backlight and the LCD panel. The LED backlight mainly emits blue light. The light must first pass through the quantum dots to the viewer. The quantum dots function as an additional light source and emit a pure red and green color. This creates a strong backlight with clear RGB shades illuminating the pixels from behind. By the way, the energy for the quantum dots to glow comes from the backlighting radiation. QD technology gives QLED TVs a vast HDR color space.

Now, we have pure RGB colors in the backlight, and all the hues we get from them past the liquid crystal layer have accurate color reproduction and proper saturation.

QLED TVs have the same backlighting issues as the NanoCell.

There is Edge LED side illumination, which is low-priced but has significant disadvantages for the image. With side illumination, the type of matrix, rather than local dimming, plays a much more substantial role in improving contrast.

There is a full-screen backlight Direct LED, but without local dimming, there are fewer problems. However, the disadvantages are still very noticeable. These include white plumes and halos around objects on the screen.

The best backlighting for LCD screens is a full array of LEDs with local dimming, or FALD (Full-array local dimming).

In recent years, miniLED backlit televisions have appeared, and the problems with the picture caused by the backlighting have all but disappeared. There are no plumes and halos, especially if the number of zones is more than a thousand, and a few hundred zones show good results. Contrast and black levels are much improved. Such TVs are called Neo QLED.

Also read: Samsung’s 83-inch S95F flagship will be available with QD-OLED and WOLED panels.

QLED — What’s the Difference Between Nanocell?

  1. Quantum dots optimize backlighting;
  2. Huge HDR color space;
  3. The viewing angle depends on the price range and model.

NanoCell vs QLED: Conclusions

LG and Samsung are fighting for customers and constantly improving their TV models. Here, we look at TVs with the marketing names “NanoCell” and “QLED.” However, the QNED and Neo QLED models are the next level of TV quality and are not considered here.

When comparing the two technologies NanoCell and QLED it is necessary to take into account that these are no longer advanced models for their companies. There are more advanced QNED and Neo QLED models, which get the latest technology. But Nano Cell and QLED is already low-end model of the middle class and to demand from them a quality image on the screen is not necessary, but the price is less than the top models.

Both technologies, NanoCell and QLED, cope with improving the image’s color, so it is impossible to single out one of them.

miniLED

In 2017, there was talk about different viewing angles for each technology. However, it depended on whether the matrix was VA or IPS. LG used IPS matrices more, but Samsung used VA matrices. It was said that NanoCell had better viewing angles because of the IPS matrix, and Samsung had better contrast because of VA. Today, both companies use these two matrices in their models, and each can find TVs with better viewing angles and better contrast.

So today, when choosing a TV, you will be more guided by other characteristics, price, or design. However, NanoCell and QLED offer improvements equally; these technologies are not the main ones now.

You won’t always get it, but the best way to choose a TV in a store is to put two TV models side by side and compare the pictures on the screen. Check the contrast, viewing angles, color accuracy, rich colors, and detail in the dark and light areas of the image. This is where the implementation of HDR technology contributes its share.

F.A.Q.

Are NanoCell TVs Any Good? Absolutely! NanoCell TVs are a great middle ground between OLED and QLED TVs. They are also incredibly affordable.

If you're a true movie buff, or an avid gamer, OLED may be the way to go, offering fast gaming performance, deeper blacks, and brighter whites. NanoCell TVs on the other hand, may be a better choice for everyday households, with a fairer price, but still offering vivid colour and wide-screen angles.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top