In rating the best TVs, Tom's Guide takes a two-pronged approach. First, it analyzes lab test results, and second, it reports on viewing experiences. In both ratings, QLEDs outperformed OLEDs this year.

Of course, this does not mean that all QLEDs performed better than all OLEDs in 2021. In fact, in almost every situation we would recommend one of the best OLED TVs over the best QLED TV. Samsung's QN90A Neo QLED TV.

Samsung touted Neo QLED as a game-changing TV panel technology. However, we did not have high hopes for the Neo QLED claim, as most good TV brands are guilty of branding and rebranding so-called "proprietary" components used in their products. The same can be said for the LG G1 OLED TV with OLED evo, another new technology that guarantees a higher viewing experience from all of the best LG TVs.

Tom's Guide TV lab tests tell a compelling story for the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED TV: LCD/LED TVs have always beaten OLEDs in brightness, but the QN90A beats any product we have seen. Maximum brightness reached 1813.83 nits; the LG G1 OLED TV's maximum brightness was only 412.05 nits. The difference was obvious, especially while watching Sunday football and cheering for fantasy players. My eyes were glued to the Samsung TV for every big play. [Measurements were taken using an X-Rite i1 Pro spectrophotometer and SpectraCal CalMAN Ultimate calibration software. The Samsung QN90A Neo QLED was able to reproduce 99.51% of the Rec 709 color space, which is practically perfect for an LCD TV. The LG G1, on the other hand, reproduced 133.92% of the Rec 709 color space, providing the widest color gamut we have ever seen, well above the basic color standard. However, last year's 2020 non-EVO LG GX OLED TV was slightly better, at 134.42 percent.

Finally, the accuracy of the TVs is measured by the Delta-E rating. The smaller the score, the more ideal (0 is perfect), and the Samsung QN90A scored 2.6; the accuracy of LG's OLED panels remains superior, with the LG G1 scoring 1.6. This means that the LG G1's image is slightly more faithful to the filmmaker's finished product.

Although similar in name, QLED and OLED TVs are not the same thing. In fact, the two are competing technologies for television displays: QLED is essentially an improved version of LCDs used by manufacturers such as Samsung, TCL, and Vizio; QLED adds a quantum filter to provide more contrast and color than one would expect from an LCD; and OLED is an improved version of LCDs, with the addition of a quantum filter to provide more contrast and color than is expected from an LCD.

In an OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panel, individual pixels emit light. This allows some areas of the screen to be completely turned off, creating so-called true black. Many smartphones, monitors, and even the Apple Watch use OLED displays, but the feature is far more pronounced on 65-inch TV screens. Watching shows and movies, one can see amazing contrast in dark scenes.

In other words, QLEDs still can't beat OLEDs in terms of jet blacks, but they do have their advantages, and even more so if Samsung's QN90A Neo QLED TV is its champion. It is the brightest TV we have ever seen, and in both anecdotal and lab tests, it brought clear improvements over the best Samsung TVs of the past; the Neo QLED was better than the regular Samsung QLED, while the OLED evo was not much better than the regular LG OLED. And that is precisely why QLEDs won this year.

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