One of the most interesting and promising novelties for this year 2022 in terms of imaging technologies are QD-OLED panels, an evolution of the already classic OLEDs that brings quantum dots closer to self-emissive pixels, promising enhance the intensity of colorsthe amount of brightness displayed on the screen while reducing possible image retention.

It is, therefore, an important improvement that already has the interest of many manufacturers, such as Sony, which has announced the A95K Bravia XR television for this spring, Dell with its Alienware AW3423DW, or Samsung itself with the QS95B television and the Odyssey G8QNB monitor. , teams with panels all courtesy of Samsung Display.

The technology is very promising and is attracting the interest of many potential future buyers, myself included. However, as is usual with almost all innovations, Not all that glitters is gold And there are pros and cons to keep in mind.

A triangular structure of subpixels

Triangular RGB sub-pixel structure of QD-OLED panels

In this specific case, the controversy has arisen as a result of the first tests carried out by the German medium Heise.de on the Alienware AW3423DW monitor with QLD-OLED panel, where they have observed a curious effect in the form of light visual artifacts in certain areas of the imagesuch as dark straight lines on light backgrounds, in some text depending on contrast, on the edges of some icons, or directly on the mouse cursor.

The reason for this effect has been explained by Samsung Display to FlatpanelsHD, where they have pointed out that it is due to a peculiar structure of the pixels that make up the images, or rather, of the RGB subpixels that make up each full pixel with a triangular shape instead of the classic rectangular to which we are accustomed in conventional OLED and LCD TVs.

Why this triangle-shaped structure? From Samsung they explain that in this way it is possible “improve the user experience in terms of color and HDR”. They have chosen this triangular structure to “optimize the optical characteristics of QD-OLED screens such as brightness, color intensity and durability”, the most promising points of the new technology.

Classic RGB subpixel structure, adjacent next to each other

Thus, instead of the subpixels being arranged adjacently in a PenTile-type distribution, which according to the manufacturer can compromise detail and precision, they are placed in a triangular shape formed by a array structure “3 (R,G,B) x (3440*1440)” which does not have this drawback.

Depending on the brand, these artifacts are common in other RGB display systems, although they are more accentuated the higher the contrast and the wider the color space that the panels can show, something in which QD-OLED technology especially stands out and the main reason why this effect can be accentuated in some cases.

So, is it very pronounced, is it very noticeable? Well, from Samsung and from the first tests mentioned before, it seems that it is not, although logically we will have to wait to see it for ourselves to be able to firmly assure it.

Artifacts are visible at first only if we sit very close to the screen and in specific cases such as highly contrasted texts and lines, if we see them at close range. In general, for most everyday uses when viewing moving images, such as videos, for movies, series, even video games, they state that “it should not be noticeable”.

While the first televisions and monitors finally arrive to be able to thoroughly test them first-hand, we have contacted Samsung to confirm this curious pixel structure, its advantages and disadvantages and we are waiting for more information to update as soon as it is available.

Via | FlatPanelsHD | heise.de
Subpixel photo | Mark Mantel at Heise