Katarzyna Petru
Which televisions are the most durable – OLED or LED LCD? A long-term test conducted by RTINGS provides surprising conclusions that could change the approach of many buyers. As part of an accelerated durability test, RTINGS examined 100 televisions from various brands that operated for 18,000 hours over 3 years. This is significantly more than most users will ever “rack up” on their home TV – RTINGS emphasises that this corresponds to over 12 years of watching for 4 hours a day.
Extreme conditions, but equal for all
The test was intentionally more demanding than normal use. TVs were switched off for less than 8 hours a day, which increased the load on components, accelerated heating, and material wear. Such tests are standard in equipment longevity studies, and the key point is that the same conditions applied to all models, making the results comparable.
Emergency LED backlighting is the main issue with LCD
After just 10,000 hours, RTINGS noted a clear trend: thin LCD TVs with edge LED backlighting fail significantly quicker than models with direct backlighting, FALD, or miniLED. By the end of the testing period, the situation looks even worse:
20 out of 100 TVs experienced complete failure
24 others had serious partial faults
only 2 models could be effectively repaired
“Backlighting issues are definitely the most common point of failure. 34% of all tested LED TVs had at least one damaged diode. Problems with image uniformity are also very common – heat causes the internal layers of the panel to delaminate, leading to spots, discoloration, and image degradation,” says RTINGS. Nearly 60% of LCD TVs with edge LED or without local dimming experienced a total or partial failure. RTINGS also highlights the phenomenon of ‘burn-in’ in LCD edge LED – although the mechanism is different from that in OLED.
Domino Effect and Faulty Designs
In several cases, RTINGS observed a chain reaction – the failure of a few LED lights caused the entire backlighting to turn off. In one test, just three damaged LEDs were enough for the entire LED system in the Vizio television to stop working, much like old Christmas lights after one bulb blows. Such designs significantly increase the risk of total failure.
Better LCD, but still worse than OLED
More expensive LCD TVs with FALD or miniLED performed significantly better – their failure rate was around 25%, which is much lower than in cheap and slim edge LED models. Interestingly, LG and TCL were the most reliable. RTINGS highlighted two brands:
TCL – only 1 total failure out of 10 tested models
LG – very low fault rate, mainly due to the fact that LG OLEDs performed exceptionally well
OLEDs the most durable despite burn-in
OLED TVs also experienced burn-in during testing, which was inevitable under such extreme conditions. RTINGS notes, however, that previous burn-in tests clearly show that with varied content, this issue does not occur in normal use.
“In summary – despite a small risk of burn-in, OLED TVs are the most durable technology and cause the least problems. LED TVs degrade faster, especially thin edge LED models and budget constructions. If choosing LCD, it’s best to opt for full backlighting with local dimming” – summarises RTINGS.
The full RTINGS report is available on their website, and detailed information about which LCD models use edge LED, direct LED, FALD or miniLED can be found in the FlatpanelsHD database.
