Sony has entered the quantum age of televisions – specifically with its Bravia XR A95K lineup.
It just released the world’s first QD-OLED TV – which promises to be better, brighter, and more colour-responsive than any television in history.
That’s down to clever new quantum dot technology, which through some form of televisual magic uses organic light-emitting diodes stacked on top of each other to produce perfect blacks and near-infinite levels of contrast.
Unlike the current TV tech du jour – Micro LED – quantum televisions can maintain their performance at peak brightness levels, which results in incredibly vivid and real-to-life images. Sony also says that QD-OLED panels are more than 200 per cent more sustainable than bog-standard TV tech – so they should last you a good long time (which is handy, as this cutting-edge tech doesn’t come cheap).
What’s Sony’s QD-OLED technology anyway?
In order to understand exactly what quantum dot technology is, you need to know what it isn’t. An LED (light-emitting diode) is what most display technology uses to produce an image. Effectively, it’s a tiny light – no bigger than a single pixel – that can change colour. Have enough of these pixel LEDs and it will create a bigger image.
OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology improved upon simple LED by making that light even smaller (note: we could go into more detail and tell you that an OLED is made up of six layers which enables it to get real small, but if you really want to go in depth with this best read that here).
Now quantum dot technology improves upon OLED even further with the use of an additional blue backlight, behind those pixels. The backlight not only leads to greater energy efficiency but lets those dots convert some of the blue into red and green more naturally – resulting in a more vivid picture.
OLED (organic light-emitting diodes) panels produce an image
Interestingly, the technology itself was produced by Samsung, meaning while Sony might have been the first to get the TV tech in stores, there’s bound to be a few more players in the quantum game very soon.
The Sony QD-OLED TV Bravia XR A95K will be available later this year. For more information, go here.