This Overlooked Feature Is Affecting Your OLED's Image Quality

If all you're looking for is the best visual quality, there's little reason to choose anything other than an OLED. OLED displays provide the best contrast ratios of any panel type, have faster pixel response times, and are generally made for an optimal viewing experience. However, not all OLED displays are equal, and despite paying a premium sum for a premium display, you might be disappointed if you overlook the screen's surface coating.

The main selling point of OLEDs is the color contrast that allows true ink-like blacks. Regardless of whether you're getting an entry-level model or a premium QD-OLED, all OLED TVs and monitors are supposed to share this advantage. However, if you buy one that has a matte coating, you might find that these true blacks are nowhere to be found. This is because matte finishes disperse light — if you shine a flashlight on a matte coating, it gets dispersed across the screen, instead of reflecting off a single point.

This becomes a problem if you're putting your OLED TV or monitor in a room that is well-lit, as each light that bounces off the display will disperse across the entire panel, desaturating the blacks. This is easily solvable by lowering the lights, but it's something to keep in mind if you plan on putting your OLED monitor in a relatively well-lit room. In such cases, you should opt for an OLED with a glossy coating – provided no lights are directly aimed at the glossy screen – or a non-OLED monitor altogether.

If you want an OLED that functions decently even with lights around, you should aim for models with glossy coatings. Unfortunately, when you're buying a TV from an online store, such as Amazon, the type of coating can be difficult to find.

To figure out what type of coating an OLED monitor or TV is using, look for a specification called "Screen Surface Description." This isn't listed on the product specifications page when you scroll down, but you'll find it alongside basic information like the manufacturer and the size near the top. A matte surface is less prone to glare but delivers worse visuals in brighter rooms, whereas glossy finishes keep the sharp image quality but show strong reflections under direct light. So long as no lights are directly aimed at the screen, glossy coatings generally yield better results.

A matte coating will always result in raised blacks in lit-up environments, but the severity of the issue depends on the type of OLED that you have. The main types of OLEDs that struggle in bright light are QD-OLEDs due to their lack of a traditional polarizer. For brightly lit environments, we recommend getting an alternative type of OLED, such as WOLED, or an LCD.