LG is a household in screen technology. The various line up of products can become confusing. Among the product line of LG is UHD Laser and OLED TV. These products are unique and different. While the LG UHD Laser is a projector, the OLED is a television. They both give amazing visual experiences. However, each has its strengths and weaknesses.
The LG UHD Laser uses a laser to project to a larger screen size, giving you a full-on theater viewing experience. On the other hand, the OLED TV uses LED technology to offer better light, colors, and visuals for your viewing experience. If you’re stuck trying to decide whether to purchase the LG UHD Laser or the LG OLED, then keep reading to find out which is best for you.
LG UHD Laser (Short Throw) vs. LG OLED: Side-by-Side Comparison
| LG UHD Laser (Short Throw) | LG OLED | |
|---|---|---|
| Item Category | Projector | Television |
| Price | $966 | $599 – $4,299.99 |
| Display Technology | DLP | OLED |
| Bluetooth? | Yes | Yes |
| Viewing Angle | Standard | Wide Viewing Angle |
| Screen Size | 90″ to 120″ | 42″ to 97″ |
| Color Accuracy? | Yes | Yes |
| Display Resolution | 4K UHD | 4K OLED |
| Weight | 2 kg | 16.8kg |
| Power Consumption | 140W | 115W |
| USB? | Yes | Yes |
| HDMI? | Yes | Yes |
- 4K UHD Display
- Up to 2700 ANSI Lumens brightness
- Display a 120” screen from just 7. 2 inches away from the projector surface
- HDR10 compatible
- Alexa is built-in
- Cognitive Processor XR understands how humans see the real world to deliver intense contrast with deep blacks, high peak brightness, and natural colors
- XR OLED Contrast Pro technology allows you to feel the beauty of OLED with immersive depth and realism, pure black, and lifelike brightness
- Billions of accurate colors and impressive picture quality that is natural and beautiful, enhanced by XR OLED Triluminos Pro
- Input lag as low as 8.5ms and BRAVIA XR exclusive features for the PlayStation 5 – Auto HDR Tone Mapping & Auto Genre Picture Switch
- BRAVIA XR TVs with HDMI 2.1 features such as 4K/120, VRR, and ALLM
- Google TV with Google Assistant organizes your favorite content all in one place
- Stream from Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, HBO Max, Peacock and many more
- Also, stream from your Apple device with AirPlay 2 support
- Enjoy streaming high-quality 4K UHD quality movies included with the BRAVIA CORE app, exclusively on select Sony TVs
LG UHD Laser vs. OLED: What’s the Difference?
These wonderful devices aim to provide amazing viewing experiences but are from a different model. Although they provide brilliant images and motion pictures indoors, the LG UHD Laser (Short Throw) provides flexibility and can be used for a conference video or cinematic purpose. The display technology defines LG OLED TV and provides full video immersion for users. It enhances the home setting and gives the welcome home aura. Aside from this small detail in their purpose, these unique LG products are separated by their specs and other elements that went into their production.
Display Type
The Ultra HD Laser (Short Throw) uses Digital Light Processing to display on surfaces. A 20,000 hours lamp life aids it. This means that if you use your Short Throw for five hours daily, its lamp will last 11 years.
If you are concerned about brightness, LG UHD Laser confidently covers a whopping brightness of up to 1,500 lumens. The device can project 100 inches at a distance of 4.7 inches from the backside to the screen. Its lens-to-screen projection from 16.6 inches distance is also 100 inches. You definitely have nothing to worry about having that perfect image on your screen, no matter where you are projecting from.
OLED is the leading television technology; it uses organic lighting emitting diodes to provide the best lighting ambiance to your sight. Hence, all LG OLED television has self-lighting capabilities. This presents you with more transparent and brighter colors, including a sharper black. Its contrast is also spectacular, ensuring you get the best visuals possible. With the pure black feature of LG OLED TV, you’ll be able to see all the subtle details you would otherwise have missed on a screen other than an OLED. This is possible through OLED’s millions of pixels.
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Picture Quality
The Laser TV delivers impressive image quality and has a dynamic tone mapping feature. This feature enables the Laser TV to optimize images on a frame-by-frame basis to provide you with better-moving pictures. As projectors are often displayed on a separate screen, the LG Laser TV comes with three-channel laser technology to ensure that you get the best color accuracy there is, despite your viewing frame of choice.
While both devices offer you a fantastic viewing experience, the LG OLED display uses its self-lit lights to deliver crisper and sharper colors and images. The Laser TV attempts to catch up with several unique features to improve its picture quality; the OLED is the better choice for people who want brighter and crisper colors and screen quality.
Screen Size
Another prominent feature that differentiates both devices is the screen size. As the LG OLED is a television, you can enjoy an exciting viewing experience that suits your tastes in 42, 48, 50, 55, 65, 77, 85, and 97-inch sizes. While the OLED might offer users better, sharper pictures, the Laser TV provides a theater experience.
The Laser TV can project vivid and bright pictures on any frame as wide as 120 inches. You get to experience an incomparable experience every time you watch TV. The large screen will make you feel like you are watching movies in the theater or playing games in the virtual world.
While the OLED might be better for incomparable motion and static images, the Laser TV definitely outshines the OLED if you prefer larger screen sizes. The best part is that you can take the experience to any room around your house and still get realistic UHD pictures.
©Evgeny Atamanenko/Shutterstock.com
Connectivity
Both the Laser TV and the LG OLED offer users fantastic connectivity experiences. Both devices allow you to share pictures and videos from your mobile device. The Laser TV helps to protect your images and videos to a larger screen, while the OLED has a screen sharing option to share your screen with the television.
Both devices also come with Bluetooth connectivity, Wi-Fi, and USB ports, allowing you to connect with other devices as well.
Design
The Laser TV comes in a rectangular box with a compact design that seamlessly blends into any room in your home. This also means that, unlike the LG OLED, it doesn’t have a 120-inch screen display. It takes up less space and can be placed in any corner of your home to provide amazing viewing experiences.
The OLED television, on the other hand, boasts a luxury design that is bound to upgrade the looks of your living room. Whether you opt for a screen size as large as 65 inches or something smaller, its ultra-thin display makes it easy for the television to blend in with your room and not appear imposing while delivering stellar picture quality.
LG UHD Laser vs. LG OLED: 6 Must-Know Facts
- The LG UHD Laser (Short Throw) projector has a true motion feature to make animation much more fluid.
- Both the Laser TV projector and the LG OLED come with Bluetooth, USB ports, and mobile sharing to improve connectivity.
- Laser UHD Laser uses Digital Lighting Process to display, while LG OLED TV uses LED to display.
- LG OLED TV power consumption is lesser at 115W, whereas LG UHD Laser consumes 140W.
- LG UHD Laser weighs considerably less at 2kg when compared to LG OLED TVs.
- LG OLED has a better viewing angle than LG UHD Laser.
- 4K UHD Display
- Up to 2700 ANSI Lumens brightness
- Display a 120” screen from just 7. 2 inches away from the projector surface
- HDR10 compatible
- Alexa is built-in
- Cognitive Processor XR understands how humans see the real world to deliver intense contrast with deep blacks, high peak brightness, and natural colors
- XR OLED Contrast Pro technology allows you to feel the beauty of OLED with immersive depth and realism, pure black, and lifelike brightness
- Billions of accurate colors and impressive picture quality that is natural and beautiful, enhanced by XR OLED Triluminos Pro
- Input lag as low as 8.5ms and BRAVIA XR exclusive features for the PlayStation 5 – Auto HDR Tone Mapping & Auto Genre Picture Switch
- BRAVIA XR TVs with HDMI 2.1 features such as 4K/120, VRR, and ALLM
- Google TV with Google Assistant organizes your favorite content all in one place
- Stream from Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, HBO Max, Peacock and many more
- Also, stream from your Apple device with AirPlay 2 support
- Enjoy streaming high-quality 4K UHD quality movies included with the BRAVIA CORE app, exclusively on select Sony TVs
The LG UHD Laser and LG OLED TV in the News
LG is constantly innovating their products to offer top-of-the-line viewing experiences to their consumers. Since February 2023, LG has updated the brightness of the UHD Laser, increasing its capabilities to 3,000 lumen. This has improved the UHD Laser’s performance in brighter lighting conditions. The contrast ratio has also seen an improvement, allowing for more vibrant colors and deeper blacks. And Lastly, the Smart TV feature now includes more support for streaming apps, plus voice control capabilities. When it comes to the LG OLED TVs, we have seen improved picture quality with the introduction of AI, including AI Sound Pro and AI Picture Pro. There has also been an advance in support for gaming systems such as NVIDIA G-SYNC and AMD FreeSync.
The Future of the LG UHD Laser and LG OLED TV
As more technological advancements are made, we can expect even more updates to these LG products. In the following six to 18 months, we may see even better brightness capabilities for the LG UHD Laser, and support for HDR formats such as Dolby Vision IQ. The LG OLED TVs could see improved connectivity with the introduction of ports for HDMI 2.1 and eARC support, as well as more design options.
LG UHD Laser vs. LG OLED Tv: Which One is Better for You?
The laser projector uses a light beam to display images on any preferred flat surface up to 120 inches. This surface can be a dedicated screen or any wall of your home. On the other hand, the OLED TV offers less screen size for viewing but brighter and sharper colors. It also provides fluid animation and the ability even to adjust the vibrancy of the colors.
It’s important to recognize that these two technologies are very different as they are made to cater to two different audiences with different needs. This means that there is no clear winner between the two as it is based on your needs and your viewing preferences.
If you prefer quality pictures at an affordable price, then purchase the OLED TV offered by LG. If you want a larger screen size and do not necessarily care about details, it’s better to buy the LG UHD Laser. While the Laser TV grants you a more immersive experience, it does so at the cost of crisp pictures and might not be the best option for gaming. OLED televisions, on the other hand, are excellent for gaming as they provide brighter images and videos alongside fluid movements on the screen.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Photo by Alex Litvin on Unsplash.
