As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time inspecting and analyzing the characteristics of pixels across various display types, I regularly consider whether a particular year feels more like an incremental step forward or something closer to a revolutionary leap. I’m happy to report that 2024 proved to be a fantastic year for improvements in display technologies, and it provided a good preview of where the industry is focusing its near-term efforts.
Pixel Processing
Every videophile and professional reviewer compares a display’s video scaling and artifact mitigation to those of Sony’s best TVs. While Sony’s video engineers remain the masters of their domain, in 2024, manufacturers like LG and Samsung significantly improved video processing performance and capabilities, bringing their image-improving technology practically on par – at least in their premium offerings.
Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED 4K TV
LG’s latest G-series OLED televisions exemplify world-class pixel processing that assists with making low-quality content look its best. The G-series is also a perfect companion for the newest video game consoles and their support of high refresh rates and 4K HDR video formats. Samsung’s work on machine-trained image enhancement has made its flagship QN900D 8K LCD TV look incredible when upconverting anything from 720p or 1080i live sports to the latest high-bitrate 4K UHD Blu-ray movie. While I have some reservations about AI’s influence on artistic intent, Samsung’s most capable smart TV delivers artifact-free and pleasing eye candy.
Samsung Neo QLED 8K QN900D – image by Robert Heron
Calibration for the Masses
Display calibration ensures that the resulting imagery accurately reflects the content as its author initially envisioned. While all TVs and projectors provide some picture preset or level of picture control that can produce something in the ballpark of reference output, few incorporate the comprehensive color correction features found on professional video monitors used to edit and grade commercial content.
The calibration software pioneers at Portrait Displays have diligently promoted the benefits of display calibration and worked with manufacturers to craft bespoke solutions for their products. However, they realized their job would be much easier and cost-effective if a TV’s core hardware integrated the required picture controls. In early 2024, Portrait Displays announced its collaboration with the multimedia chipset experts at MediaTek to create a line of smart TV hardware dubbed Pentonic. The Pentonic series of chipsets has enabled value-performance TV manufacturers like Hisense and TCL to add advanced calibration capabilities to their lineup for owners seeking reference-grade imagery. MediaTek’s flagship Pentonic 2000 system on a chip (SoC) will power the next generation of TVs up to 8K resolution at 120Hz with machine-trained image processing and integrated support for the latest video formats, voice assistants, and wireless networking options.
MediaTek Pentonic 2000 SmartTV Chipset
OLED Advances
The self-illuminating organic light-emitting diode (OLED) delights our eyes with practically perfect contrast that makes colors pop. From micro-sized displays used in AR/VR applications to televisions as large as a queen-sized bed, OLED research and development brought significant improvements to consumers in 2024.
OLED display manufacturers, like LG and Samsung, can boost brightness and efficiency by stacking the light-emissive materials in a structure dubbed tandem OLED. First featured in automotive display applications, tandem OLED designs have transitioned to become premium display options for some of the latest laptops and tablets, including the new Apple iPad Pro and Dell XPS 13 laptop.
Tandem OLED – LG Display
The multi-layer design of tandem OLED structures better spreads the heat and stresses of operation across more active materials, allowing for improved brightness and longevity. The stacked OLED layers in a tandem display also allow for better fine-tuning of the emitted color and emission spectra. The latest tandem OLED displays minimize the risks of permanent image retention (AKA burn-in) while offering up to 1000 nits of sustained fullscreen output with complete coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. The precise patterning of OLED materials required for tandem OLED manufacturing relies on fine metal mask (FMM) technologies that seem unlikely to scale beyond the size of relatively small notebook and tablet screens. In addition, the price premium of tandem OLED technology further hampers its application to larger computer monitors or big-screen TVs.
Apple iPad Pro (2024)
Nearly all premium smartphones sold today feature a Samsung mobile OLED display. Consider the Samsung OLED-equipped Pixel 7 Pro from 2022 compared to the 2024 Pixel 9 Pro XL: improved emitters and host materials have doubled the display specs for average and peak brightness! Hands-on testing revealed that the Pixel 9 Pro XL can briefly approach 2500 nits of light output before settling back to a brilliantly impressive 2000 nit level. The LTPO backplane technology featured in the latest OLED mobile displays also enables superior adaptive refresh rate control to as low as 1 Hz for increased power savings without introducing flicker artifacts.
The Brightest Pixels
The spec for eye-catching video formats like HDR10 and Dolby Vision defines a maximum brightness of 10000 nits – a very “forward-looking” goal that seemed practically impossible only a few years ago. Today, the best LCD TVs leverage the brilliant intensity of the miniaturized light-emitting diode (AKA miniLED) to make these brightness and contrast goals attainable.
Illuminating LCD televisions with thousands (or 10s of thousands) of miniLEDs enables them to achieve peak brightness levels unmatched by other home theater display technologies. These dense arrays of LEDs can also improve local dimming to enhance picture contrast by more granularly reducing the light applied to darker portions of the picture and boosting brightness where needed.
A few months ago, I had the opportunity to spend quality time optimizing Sony’s BRAVIA 9 television. While doing some HDR measurements, the TV produced peak-brightness measurements approaching 3500 nits – more than double the light output of the best OLED televisions. I was even more pleased to see similar (or greater) luminance delivered by the 2024 Hisense U8 Series and TCL QM8 Class TVs for a fraction of the price of Sony’s flagship LCD.
TCL QM8 Class TV (QM851G) – Image by Robert Heron
The award for the brightest TV of 2024 goes to the Hisense UX110. This flagship $15000, 110-inch, 225-pound monster 4K screen features a miniLED backlight system with a claimed 40000 local dimming zones and 10000 nits of peak brightness. However, recent tests revealed that the UX110 could briefly exceed 15000 nits of light output during HDR playback. Considering that most HDR content we experience has a maximum luminance level of 1000 nits, the UX110’s dynamic tone mapping system will be heavily tasked with adapting video content to a display with this brightness level.
Hisense UX100 – Image by Robert Heron
Supersized Screens For All
While the Hisense UX110 and its light cannon of a display deserve the attention and praise it has received, 2024 will also be remembered for the exploding selection of increasingly affordable supersized televisions. A few years ago, an 83-inch OLED or 85-inch LCD TV would have been at the upper end of screen size options available to consumers with a budget to afford the premium price for that much screen real estate. Today, LG’s 97-inch OLED and TCL’s 115-inch LCD televisions come with a 5-digit price tag for pushing the extremes of each display technology. However, all LCD manufacturers are crafting 4K screen options around the 100-inch size, and some models approach value-pricing territory. Street pricing for some of the largest Hisense and TCL 4K TVs is currently hovering around $1500. Even LG has a 98-inch LCD available for $2500. While these value supersized TVs may not entice hardcore videophiles, they are an attractive option that could fill a wall where something like a projector wouldn’t be practical or bright enough.
The Not-so-distant Future
While televisions with 8K resolution are few and far between, premium projectors will soon have 8K input and output as a checkmark spec. One example is Samsung’s The Premiere 8K UST projector, which received the “industry’s first 8K Association (8KA) certification for 8K projectors.” Hisense has also publicly demonstrated a prototype LX-series 8K RGB laser projector. Still, the JVC DLA-NZ9 remains the only projector with an effective 8K pixel resolution (via pixel-shifting its 4K 3-chip system) that you can purchase today.
Hisense LX-series 8K UST projector
2024 also marked the first public preview of emissive display prototypes utilizing quantum dot light-emitting diode (QD-LED) technology. The quantum dots used in today’s displays act as efficient converters that transform the light of a blue LED into white or other colors like green and red. However, the active materials in a QD-LED display emit light directly when electrically stimulated. This inkjet printable display system offers the perfect contrast of OLED but with inorganic materials that promise improved longevity and lower cost. Like the difficulties in developing blue LEDs and phosphorescent blue OLED materials, display chemists are still optimizing the blue-emissive QD materials to last years instead of days of operation.
Samsung Display QD-LED display prototype
Manufacturers are gearing up for another season of display announcements. While it is unlikely we’ll see the introduction of any Earth-shattering new pixel technologies, improvements will be made across the board for the cornerstones of good image quality: brightness, contrast, and color gamut. The desirable display advances at today’s price premiums will find their way into tomorrow’s models that more people can afford and enjoy.
Robert is a technologist with over 20 years of experience testing and evaluating consumer electronics devices, primarily focusing on commercial and home theater equipment.
Robert's expertise as an audio-visual professional derives from testing and reviewing hundreds of related products, managing a successful AV test lab, and maintaining continuous education and certifications through organizations such as CEDIA, the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), and THX.
More recently, Robert has specialized in analyzing audio and video display systems, offering comprehensive feedback, and implementing corrective measures per industry standards. He aims to deliver an experience that reflects the artists' intent and provides coworkers and the public with clear, insightful product information.
- Robert Heronhttps://www.avnation.tv/author/robert-heron/
- Robert Heronhttps://www.avnation.tv/author/robert-heron/
- Robert Heronhttps://www.avnation.tv/author/robert-heron/
- Robert Heronhttps://www.avnation.tv/author/robert-heron/
