last year we saw the first olab panel that could hit 2100 nits namely The Meta panel with MLA or microlens array technology introduced by LG display so let's see what the second generation meta panel can bring to the table shall we using a profile calorimetry research CR 100 calorimeter to measure a 3% window test pattern you can see the meta to panel reaching a peak brightness of 3,000 nits and Beyond granted this figure was obtained at the panel's native white point of nearly 10,000 Kelvin but it's undoubtedly the highest peak luminance we've ever measured from any TV sized OLED screen so far so how has LG display achieved this well let's start by revisiting the concept of MLA or microl lens array technology first implemented on LG displays meta panel last year where a layer of micrometer sized convex lenses is deposited on the OLED panel to extract higher light output from the screen on a conventional olab panel not blessed with such a technology a not insignificant proportion of light would be lost through internal Reflections within the panel which is of course quite inefficient with MLA billions of minuscule convex lenses are deposited on the OLED panel using Ultra precise patterning effectively creating more than 5,000 micr lenses per pixel on the 77 in 4k display although smaller screen sizes will have less microl lenses per pixel due to lower pixel aperture ratio these microl lenses have been designed in a specific shape to redirect light that's reflected internally back out towards the screen and eventually the user drastically reducing light loss and enhancing viewable light output the improved light scattering from MLA also leads to wider viewing angles with less luminous drop of axis than conventional olet panels with with this quick MLA refresher out of the way let's take a look at several new Innovations deployed by LG display on the company's second generation meta panel two of which are directly responsible for achieving an unprecedented olet Peck brightness of 3,000 nits the first Improvement is an evolution from MLA to MLA plus where the lens shape has undergone further optimization through light efficiency data analysis to dramatically amplify light volume and impr proof uniformity to explain the second Improvement we have to go back to the metab booster algorithm implemented on last year's first gen meta panel which maximizes the pig brightness of different areas on screen by first analyzing the Luminous data contained within the input video signal then optimizing the power delivery to different parts of the panel on the latest meta 2 panel with MLA plus technology LG display has five fine tune the algorithm to not only increase Peak brightness by more than 42% to 3,000 nits but also enhance HDR color luminance by over 114% to 1500 nits on a 3% window according to the company's internal measurements this combination of pig white and HDR color boosting has been aply dued meta multi- booster by LG display now while the company has specified an HDR Pi brightness of 3,000 nits and color brightness of 1500 nits as the maximum capabilities of its meta to panel Please be aware that these numbers were recorded at panel native whiteo and are bound to measure lower at a more accurate color temperature of d65 white Point commonly used within the film and broadcast industry moreover it is entirely up to individual olet TV manufacturers whether to take advantage of the full potential of the meta to panel or to adopt a more conservative approach especially to comply with EU energy regulations for instance with this in mind LG display also prepared an alternative meta to panel with MLA plus Hardware but without meta multi- booster software algorithm delivering a peak brightness of 2300 nits which is around 10% higher than last year's first gen meta panel because the 2300 knit sample was a pre-production unit with a rudimentary non-optimized s so slapped behind its HDR presentation including shadows and midtones would track brighter than the St 284 PQ reference making it very difficult for us to draw meaningful conclusions regarding any increase in perceived brightness during side-by-side comparisons against last year's LG G with first gen meta technology nevertheless while watching some dark HDR content we brought ourselves we spotted one major advantage of the latest meta to panel over its predecessor courtesy of a new feature called detail enhancer which has been designed to improve near black gradiation and color accuracy through detering techniques the exact technicalities of LG displays detail enhancer feature remain confidential but the end result was a significant reduction in near black chrominance overshoot artifacts compared to last year's LG G3 which was equipped with a first gen meta panel as well as smoother gradiation with less posterization going from dark to Bright in this low light sequence from the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray of Monster Hunter of course mini LED TVs don't suffer from near black chrominance overshoot artifacts and have steadily grown in market share particularly when it comes to larger screen sizes which can be purchased at a keen price however there is no doubt whatsoever in our mind that OLED still delivers overall Superior picture quality to mini LED TV B thanks to oled's self- emissive characteristics where every single Pixel can be switched on and off independently of each other OLED can maintain luminous accuracy on smaller objects whereas mini LED has to dim down smaller areas of bright elements to minimize blooming artifacts mini LEDs inability to accurately illuminate small bright objects is also made worse by movement on screen for example during this demo where the move rectangle darkened down and brighten up as it travel across different local dimming zones on screen or in this clip showing how a rapidly moving Circle would dim down to the point of Vanishing because the mini LED local dimming zones were struggling to keep up with the transitions last but not least oled's pixel level light control can ensure each element on screen remains color accurate unlike mini LED whose colors on one part of the screen would be affected by other elements due to how local dimming Works while certain quarters may be attracted by mini LED televisions being available in 85 in and larger sizes at non- exorbitant prices the good news is that LG displays MLA technology will be available in an 83 in screen size for the first time this year alongside 55 in 65 in and 77 in 4K olet TV panels not to mention Cutting Edge gaming monitors with high refresh rates some of these end products have actually been announced at CES 2024 which we have covered in a dedicated video you can watch by clicking here
