What causes text to be less sharp?
The subpixel layout has a large effect on this. TVs tend to have non-ideal subpixel layouts.
Yep, it's all about the subpixel layout.
TV's in general are bad compared to screens marketed as monitors.
All screens have some issues with subpixel layouts. Windows is pretty good at optimizing for screens with traditional RGB layouts. That's what ClearType was all about. But many (most?) traditional LCD TV's flipped the panel upside down for some reason, resulting in a BGR layout, which totally throws off current versions of ClearType and results in poor font rendering. Some gaming monitors do this as well, which is annoying.
OLED TV's have been particularly bad in this regard. In order to crank up brightness without over-volting existing elements many (most?) have added a white subpixel in addition to RGB, allowing for higher peak white brightness with less burn-in potential. This results in a WRGB layout. As bad as ClearType looks on BGR, it looks even worse on WRGB, with blocky text, and color fringing in some cases.
Some Linux window managers have added subpixel optimization for non RGB layouts. My Cinnamon Desktop in Linux Mint has a few options:
Antialiasing:
- None
- Grayscale
- RGBa
RGBA Order
- RGBA
- RGB
- BGR
- Vertical RGB
- Vertical BGR
The Greyscale and BGR settings worked great for me on my old Asus XG438Q monitor which was BGR, but I haven't found a setting I am truly happy with with the LG C3. Setting font antialiasing to Grayscale seems to help on OLED's, but it is not perfect.
I am hopeful that over time Microsoft will add BGR like Linux does, and that both will add better subpixel smoothing for WRGB, but as of right now, that has not happened.
And don't let me scare you away from getting an OLED screen. While it is noticeable with black text on white background, and can be annoying at first, you get used to it pretty quickly. It is almost completely imperceptible on white or light text on dark backgrounds, or with most other colors.
I would suggest maybe viewing an OLED TV displaying PC content in person first though, to see if you think you are happy with it. Just bear in mind that out of the box, settings for PC use may be pretty miserable, and make them look horrible, so google a settings guide for the model you are interested in and make sure you give setting optimal settings for desktop use a try first before passing judgment.
The "black text on white background" issue is the biggest downside to life with an OLED TV as a monitor. Everything else is absolutely superb in ways I didn't think possible before getting one. I
absolutely love my 42" LG C3 in games, movies and TV in ways I find difficult to properly express. I used to not "get" HDR, and the importance of true blacks, but now I do. It can truly be transformative, especially in titles with good HDR support. (Think Cyberpunk 2077)