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What is Better Than NanoCell vs QLED

Which technology provides better picture quality: NanoCell or QLED? What technology should I select? Challenging questions today. Let’s find out why.

For immediate answers, LG Nanocell and Samsung QLED TVs in the same price range offer similar picture quality. To choose the right model, you need to compare two televisions side by side, and then you can see the difference on the screen.

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

Why Quantum Dots on 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 advanced LCD TVs that utilize nanoparticles to enhance color accuracy and vibrancy.
• QLED is a unique form of LED backlighting used chiefly (but not exclusively) by Samsung.
• Nanocell embodies LG’s cutting-edge, patented technology for color filtering.
• The picture quality of Nanocell and QLED TVs varies greatly depending on the model.

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

LCD Screen Backlight

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.

A picture is high-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.

When you look at the backlight color spectrum, you want to see three straight lines that are nice and clean. These lines should match the right strength and rhythm, showing three pure sine waves at the right wavelengths. Light always has impurities, causing each spectrum segment to expand to a specific value.

In practice, this means the presence of colored impurities in the backlight, which are undesirable. So, the quantum dots filter out these unwanted impurities, and the signal spectrum 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 to create a rich and accurate color image.

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 clearly explain its NanoCell technology, making it difficult to understand the role of nanoparticles. For more information on the physical processes in Nanocell screens, see this article on displaydaily.com.

Read this TV buying guide for more clarity.

Marketers discuss improving viewing angles with nanoparticles, but this varies depending on whether the matrix is VA or IPS. How well an ad claim about better contrast works depends on the screen type and how good the backlighting is. There may be a slight improvement in viewing angle and contrast, but these values depend more on other characteristics.

NanoCell TVs

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. The process resulted in large backlights on the screen and considerable unevenness in 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 occurs when the backlighting LEDs adjust their brightness based on the image’s brightness in specific areas. The results were good contrast, weak white plumes, and small halos. The price of such backlighting highly depends on the number of dimming zones.

The quality of illumination is much poorer when there is no local dimming system. This effect still occurs even with a full array of LEDs behind the display. 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. The QNED designation essentially implies the use of 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 exiting 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. QNED TVs have replaced them, offering 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 isn’t exclusive to one manufacturer; many companies offer TVs with this technology. Here, we will consider only Samsung TVs.

As we discussed earlier, the issue with LCD screens’ colors comes from the not-so-pure shades of red, green, and blue in the backlight. An admixture of shades to the primary colors leads to this effect.

QLED TVs share some similarities with Nanocell technology. Moreover, they improve color reproduction using nanoparticles, so-called quantum dots. In contrast, Nanocell uses color filters for images, while QLEDs rely on backlighting.

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

A layer of quantum dots elevates the quality of these three backlight colors (RGB). The backlight produces blue, which has a good signal spectrum. Red and green are generated from quantum dots stimulated by the blue backlight.

The emission of quantum dots relies on their size, allowing precise control to achieve specific colors like red and green.

In QLED displays, manufacturers position quantum dots 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 process produces a strong backlight, with clear RGB shades illuminating the pixels from behind.

By the way, the energy needed for the quantum dots to glow comes from the backlighting radiation. QD technology provides QLED TVs with an extensive HDR color spectrum.

The backlight now uses pure RGB colors for accurate colors and excellent brightness through the liquid crystal layer.

QLED TVs have the same backlighting issues as the NanoCell.

Various Types of Backlighting

Additionally, there is Edge LED side illumination, which is low-priced but has significant disadvantages for the image. Moreover, in side-illuminated displays, the matrix type significantly impacts contrast enhancement, ultimately overshadowing the effects of local dimming.

Additionally, the full-screen backlight Direct LED provides illumination, but without local dimming, fewer issues arise. Nevertheless, the noticeable disadvantages remain. 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 TVs have emerged, nearly eliminating picture issues related to backlighting. When dealing with more than a thousand zones, you start to see how few plumes and halos there are. Only a couple of hundred zones are showing decent results. Contrast and black levels are much improved. People refer to these televisions as Neo QLED.

Here you can find more information about different types of backlighting.

QLED — What’s the Difference Between Nanocell?

1. Quantum dots enhance backlighting efficiency.
2. Expansive HDR color spectrum.
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, this discussion does not consider the next-level TV quality of QNED and Neo QLED models.

When you look at NanoCell and QLED, it’s worth noting that these aren’t the top models for their brands anymore. There are more advanced QNED and Neo QLED models, which get the latest technology.

NanoCell and QLED TVs are mid-range options and shouldn’t be expected to match the picture quality of high-end models. However, they do come at a more accessible price point compared to the top-tier alternatives.

NanoCell and QLED technologies enhance color quality, making choosing one over the other difficult.

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

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.

NanoCell offers better viewing angles due to its IPS matrix, while Samsung provides better contrast with its VA technology. Today, both companies use these matrices to find TVs with improved viewing angles and contrast.

What is the best smart TV?

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

To pick a TV in a store, line up two models to compare their picture quality. Examine the image for color separation, perspective, realism, brightness, and detail in dark and light areas. The implementation of HDR technology plays a significant role here.

F.A.Q.