OPINION: Reflections are the bane of my TV reviewing life. Whether I’m watching a TV show or film, or trying to take a picture of the TV in use; I either see reflections of myself, my laptop or the ‘Trusted Reviews’ branded cushions (try and see if you can spot them in pictures on the site).
It’s annoying, and I wish TV manufacturers did more to combat it but alas, there are reasons why they won’t (or can’t), but if you’ve cash to spare then you’ll be glad to know that the fight against reflections is being fought at the premium end of the TV market.
High-end OLEDs and Mini LEDs have attempted, with varying levels of success, to remove reflections from the viewing experience. It can be difficult to achieve this as anti-reflection tech can have an adverse effect on other areas.
Viewing angles could end up being narrower, limiting the picture quality depending on where you sit. Sharpness and contrast can also be negatively impacted. It’s a “win some, lose some” endgame when implementing anti-glare screens.
It might sound like a lost cause but LG reckons it’s figured the whole thing out.
The war against glare and reflections
With each panel generation in its flagship G-series model, the Korean electronics brand has been working to diminish reflections. The G3 OLED featured LG’s Vanta Black AR (anti-reflection) coating which reduced reflections by up to 30% and specular reflections (the brighter ones) by up to 70%. It didn’t remove reflections completely but it reduced the size and brightness.
With the upcoming G5 OLED, LG has pushed the boat out to stop reflections from affecting these five core areas: black levels, contrast, vivid colours, resolution and gradation.
At an event for UK journalists, LG demonstrated the new G5 OLED against the 2024 Samsung S95D, which has its own anti-glare reflection screen. A bright light was pointed towards both, and you can see the effect for yourself.
As you can see, the LG OLED on the left handles bright lights better than the Samsung OLED does. The effect is exaggerated somewhat, the level of brightness and directionality of the light isn’t as typical in the average home.
Still, the comparison works in terms of showing how well the LG OLED deflects ambient light and gets on with its business when up against another anti-glare screen. Black levels and contrast are still strong and colours are still perceptually vivid and colourful, rather than the slightly dimmer colours seen on the Samsung.
That’s not to say that the Samsung approach is bad. There’s a compromise to be made and the company felt it was worth sacrificing the depth and richness of black levels to get rid of reflections.
However, I saw the Samsung S95F OLED in Korea last year and the black levels looked much better. The difference between it and LG G5 OLED won’t be as pronounced as it was in the demonstration carried out at Dolby Soho, so Samsung fans, don’t be alarmed.
This tech might be more useful in less expensive TVs
Will this anti-reflection technology be coming to less expensive TVs? Sadly, the answer is no. For LG, this technology is wrapped up in its Primary RGB Tandem OLED panels, so the G5 and M5 OLED, along with the Panasonic Z95B and Philips OLED+910 and OLED+950 will feature that technology.
TVs such as the C5 OLED and Philips OLED810 will have to settle for the OLED EX panels, which don’t have the same level reflection tech inside.
I find that disappointing because I think the mid-range TVs are the ones that should have anti-glare and reflection tech. I see why TV brands wouldn’t place this level of technology in those TVs – it’s expensive to develop, and you want your flagship stars to have a performance advantage. That’s why they’re the flagship but, and I may be completely wrong, I think there’s a miscalculation on the type of person who would buy an S95F or G5 OLED.
I think the actual person is a home cinema enthusiast who has plenty of disposal income money. If true, they’d likely watch in a room with control over the lighting conditions.
The average person watches TV in all types of conditions, so to me it makes more sense to have anti-reflection and glare tech implemented for people who are more likely affected by ambient light but don’t have the money to spend on pricier sets.
That strategy would do the greatest amount of good for the most amount of people. There’s a reason why the Philips OLED8- series and LG C-series are respectively each company’s most popular TVs. Rather than withhold that tech for the premium TVs that not as many people buy, the mid-range market is where it’d have the greatest benefit.
