LED, OLED, or FALD: How much a long-lasting TV costs

LED, OLED, or FALD: The screen war decided by black levels

A television that was already mediocre nine years ago continues to preside over the living room. Beside it, the latest HDR series leaves the owner speechless and with an uncomfortable question: how much do you have to shell out to avoid looking at your old screen in shame? The short answer is less than two years ago, but more than many believe.

The field has narrowed. In the high-end segment, OLED is synonymous with LG: Sony, Panasonic, and Philips buy their panels from LG Display and compete to see who can squeeze the most out of them. Samsung, on the other hand, continues to sell LED TVs at OLED prices, just under a new name.

Why does a Samsung LED cost as much as an OLED?

Because marketing comes at a price. The quantum dot technology that Samsung branded as QLED was already called Triluminos by Sony three years earlier, and Samsung itself rebranded its range as SUHD, a name designed to be confused with the standard UHD 4K. Vizio has done the same with XLED for its FALD technology. New names, the same physics underneath.

The real difference lies not in the label but in how the panel is illuminated. And that is where the numbers come in.

Local dimming zones: the metric that separates good from mediocre TVs

A LED panel does not turn on every pixel individually: it illuminates the scene in blocks. The more independent blocks there are, the better the contrast and the less noticeable the workaround becomes. In a cheap direct LED, a few zones turn off and light leaks into neighboring areas. In an edge LED, the lighting comes from the edges and the effect shouldn't exist. In a true FALD (Full Array LED Backlit) TV, the LEDs are spread across the entire screen.

The problem is that the FALD concept is vague: no one specifies how many zones are needed to earn the name. The figures from the 2016 and 2017 high-end models clarify this:

• Sony ZD9: 648 zones
• Panasonic DX902: 512 zones
• Toshiba ZL1: 512 zones
• Sony XE94: 256 zones
• Samsung KS9500: 150 zones
• Vizio P series: 128 zones
• Sony XE93 (edge LED): 64 zones
• Sony XE90: 32 zones

With those figures in hand, many recommendations circulating online fall apart: there are models with only 32 zones being sold as benchmarks. Some describe poorly implemented local dimming as unbearable in dark scenes with subtitles, where the text bar illuminates faces and distorts the image. It can be deactivated, yes, but then the screen loses the contrast that justified its price.

What screen size should you buy?

The rule repeated by those who have been through this is simple: the largest one that fits your space and your budget, adjusted to your viewing distance. For 1.5 meters, a 55-inch 4K HDR TV is more than enough. Those who bought a 55-inch a couple of years ago are regretting it now: the jump to 65 inches was unaffordable then, but it isn't today.

That is the current paradox. A 55-inch diagonal feels too small after just a week, and 65 inches is becoming the new reasonable floor for home cinema. What remains unanswered is the gap left by 60-inch models, as manufacturers are abandoning them.

4K, HDR, and brightness: resolution is secondary

Moving from 1080p to 4K is almost imperceptible at more than a couple of meters. What changes the experience is HDR: watching a sunset and having the sun actually dazzle you. That is why peak brightness has become the battlefield, with the Sony ZD9 declaring 4,000 nits while OLEDs struggle more in that regard.

The problem is that HDR continues to produce competing standards, raising the reasonable doubt that a format war will repeat itself. Buying today is a gamble.

The price of OLED and the antiestéticar of the blue pixel

LG's OLED range goes from €1,000 to €9,000, and anyone thinking they are all the same is mistaken. Those who defend this technology above all else point to cheap models in the low-end series as a risky purchase: the panel is a consumable, and the blue pixel, the weakest one, marks the end of the screen after about 15,000 hours. In other words, a nearly €2,000 TV that starts showing signs of wear after three years.

The advocated alternative is high-end LED FALD: less absolute contrast, more brightness, and a much longer lifespan. And a third, dying path: plasma, with blacks that current LEDs cannot replicate, power consumption of nearly 300 watts, and an ease of burn-in that killed it.

The unexpected twist: TVs without tuners

While the industry debates nits and zones, an American brand, Vizio, sells its FALD equipment calling them displays rather than televisions, without a built-in tuner, assuming that content will arrive via the internet and that traditional broadcast hardware is dispensable.

The shocking part is the price. The Sony ZD9 launched at €5,000. At El Corte Inglés, it has been seen for €2,900, and on a day without VAT, for about €2,400. Someone who bought it during the May sales got it for just over €1,300. The same screen. The lesson is not which one to buy, but when.