It's official! OLED TVs really are good for your eyes

OLED screens receive 'Eye Comfort' certification
(Image credit: LG)

Remember when your parents said, "If you watch one more TV show, your eyes will go square"? Well, it's not true. And it's definitely not true of LG's OLED TV panels – and now there's proof. 

LG Display's OLED screens have just received 'Eye Comfort Display' certification from independent inspectors TÜV Rheinland.  

TÜV Rheinland's eye comfort certification tests are performed in accordance with the ISO 9241-307 standard and focus on three main concerns: flicker, blue light content, and high-quality imaging. 

Most LCD TVs use LEDs, too, but usually the brightness levels are regulated by PWM (pulse width modulation) – aka, flicker. As reported by TV, gaming and media publication FlatpanelsHD, TÜV Rheinland found that LG Display's OLED panels passed its tests for flicker, while further tests have found the panels to be almost flicker-free. 

The testers found that LG Display's OLED TV panels consist of 34 per cent blue light, lower than the 50 per cent threshold. LG Display said, "while the highest spec 65-inch LCD panels produce 64 per cent blue light, LG Display’s OLED panels emit only half that amount".

It's worth pointing out that Samsung gained the same certification from TÜV Rheinland for its mobile OLED displays earlier in the year. Samsung's OLED smartphone screens were said to emit 61 per cent less blue light than conventional LCD smartphone displays. Samsung has said that these advancements will be brought to mid-size OLED panels in the future.

TÜV Rheinland said OLED TVs, "met every testing criteria including in the high colour range and High Dynamic Range categories. The company scored 0.87% in the light reflection category, which is half of that of LCD panels".

LG Display's OLED TV panels are used in all OLED TVs, which include LG, Sony, Hisense, Panasonic and Philips. And LG Display has said it will be encouraging its partners to use TÜV's certification mark.

Excessive levels of blue light have long been linked to health problems such as eye damage, vision loss and insomnia, so it's important to do some screen research before settling down to binge-watch another series of Line of Duty. And it's a great excuse to buy a new OLED TV...

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Becky has been a full-time staff writer at What Hi-Fi? since March 2019. Prior to gaining her MA in Journalism in 2018, she freelanced as an arts critic alongside a 20-year career as a professional dancer and aerialist – any love of dance is of course tethered to a love of music. Becky has previously contributed to Stuff, FourFourTwo, This is Cabaret and The Stage. When not writing, she dances, spins in the air, drinks coffee, watches football or surfs in Cornwall with her other half – a football writer whose talent knows no bounds.