Year of the mini-LED TV: Samsung, LG and TCL getting this huge upgrade

Year of the mini-LED Tv set: Samsung, LG and TCL getting this huge upgrade

(Prototype credit: Samsung)

I of the biggest advancements in TV design to come to the forefront during CES 2021 is mini-LED, the extra-tiny light-emitting diodes used in the backlights of some of the latest and greatest smart TVs. 2021 is shaping upwards to be the year of the mini-LED TV, as Samsung and LG bring together TCL in using mini-LED backlight technology to make TVs improve than e'er.

Hither's our quick overview of which TVs volition feature mini-LED in 2021, why mini-LED is such an improvement over traditional LCD sets, and why this mundane sounding engineering is i of the most exciting developments for TV shoppers in years.

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Basics of Mini-LED

Mini-LED may seem similar a relatively small-scale change, simply the technology offers real improvements to LCD-based TVs. Illumination and brightness is a key factor in making a great TV picture. Forth with color and contrast, brightness makes a huge difference in how well a TV can display an image. You lot can get a more than detailed explanation of mini-LED technology in our guide Micro-LED vs. Mini-LED: What's the deviation?, simply these are the broad strokes.

Year of the mini-LED TV — (Image credit: TCL)

Equally TVs have evolved over the decades, the technology used to put moving pictures in our homes has changed dramatically. Though older cathode ray tube and plasma technologies and electric current OLED TVs are self-immissive (producing their own lite), since the movement to LCD panels, the majority of TVs on the market have required a separate backlight as part of the Goggle box display. That once meant fluorescent lighting, simply modern TVs apply smaller, more efficient LED backlights.

Behind the LCD panel is one of several backlighting options, producing the calorie-free that makes the TV screen glow. On basic TVs this backlight might take the course of edge lighting, which rings the screen with LEDs, or full array backlighting, which uses a matrix of LED lights to provide consistent backlight beyond the screen, and more premium TVs feature full array with local dimming, which breaks up that lighting matrix into split addressable zones. These zones can exist brightened or dimmed independently, with brightness mapped to lucifer the brilliant or shadowy portions of the screen for a more than dynamic moving-picture show.

This local dimming is one of the driving factors behind the introduction of HDR formats, with LED brightness capable of reaching levels higher than past fluorescent-lit panels, with more than controlled backlight. The effect is a combination of lighting tech and media formatting that makes for deeper shadows, brighter highlights, and more vivid color.

Mini LED promises significant improvement over this development, allowing for a much higher number of discrete dimming zones. Measuring about i-5th the size of a standard LED light, mini-LEDs are seriously tiny. LEDs in the mini range are only 0.008-inch (200 microns) beyond. The smaller LEDs illuminate a smaller portion of the screen, and tin can exist clustered more closely together, allowing for zones that are express to a mere handful of pixels rather than sections of the screen that might mensurate several inches square.

But that's not the just thing that mini-LED offers. The smaller physical dimensions of these individual LEDs will too let LCD TVs to be thinner than they have always been earlier.

So with mini-LED promising thinner TVs that look better and brighter than always before, yous'd expect a big bound in cost, and to only run into this new technology in the about expensive models, right? Well, that'south where mini-LED offers its best characteristic – affordability.

Yous volition pay a little more for mini-LED-equipped TVs in the coming months, but probably non a lot. TCL'southward impressive 6-Series Roku TVs offering mini-LED backlighting for an extremely reasonable cost – under $1,000 for all but the largest 75-inch model – and the improvements to the motion picture quality are clear. We tin can just hope that this same price-conscious philosophy is practical to Samsung and LG'due south newest models, only nosotros'll have to await and run across.

Manufacturers bet large on mini-LED TVs

TCL introduced its commencement mini-LED Television receiver back in 2019, just the 2020 TCL vi-Series Roku TV (R635) refined the engineering science and brought it to an affordably-priced Idiot box. The result was one of the best TV values we've ever seen, and Samsung and LG were clearly paying attention, as they both have new mini-LED TVs on the fashion this year.

And now that major manufacturers have turned their attention to mini-LED, new innovations built on top of these tiny diodes are already emerging.

Samsung 8K Neo QLED TV — (Image credit: Samsung)

Samsung plans to bring the new applied science to information technology'south premium 4K and 8K TVs this year with the Samsung Neo QLED line. Samsung's mini-LED technology includes tiny diffusers built into each mini-LED, eliminating the need for a split diffuser console between the backlight and the LCD.

Samsung is pairing these mini-LEDs with its QLED breakthrough dot-enhanced LCD panels, and calling the new models Neo QLED, and information technology'south taking center phase on all of Samsung'southward premium 4K and 8K TVs. We've loved Samsung QLED TVs in the past, then we're excited to see how the new models are improved with the new tech.

LG is too jumping on the mini-LED bandwagon, adding the tiny backlights to several of it's mid-range LCD TVs, which information technology's calling LG QNED.

LG is taking a different tack, adding mini-LED backlight to its mid-range Nanocell TVs, and updating those panels with a hybrid technology that combines Nanocell filtering and quantum dot color boosting. That trio of enhancements merely might brand LG's new QNED TV line the best LCD based Boob tube on the market place, but we'll have to get information technology in for testing to be sure.

TCL 6-Series 8K Roku TV (R648) — (Image credit: TCL)

Finally, TCL is the only company offering mini-LED TVs that already has mini-LED sets on the marketplace. Afterwards introducing mini-LED to its eight-Serial TVs in 2019 and to the honor-winning 6-Series Roku Boob tube in 2020, TCL is introducing TCL OD-Cipher, a new implementation of mini-LED that eliminates the gaps betwixt the mini-LED backlight and the LCD console. The result should exist non only slimmer Telly designs, but also an even better implementation of mini-LED.

TCL's existing mini-LED designs will go on to sell throughout the new year, with the 2020 6-Serial 4K sets continuing on as the prime 4K offering in the new year. The TCL 6-Series model line will aggrandize with new 8K models in 2021, but mini-LED will go along to exist one of the defining features of the value-focused smart TVs.

Should yous hold out for a mini-LED TV?

With new mini-LED TVs on the horizon but at least a couple of months abroad, the reasonable question for Boob tube shoppers to enquire is whether mini-LED is worth waiting for. Should you hold out for a mini-LED Telly?

The answer is yes, but y'all don't accept to. Our TCL half-dozen-Serial Roku TV (R635) review named the affordable smart TV an Editor's Choice in part considering its mini-LED backlight delivered superior dimming and effulgence control, and it notwithstanding sits nigh the top of our best TVs list every bit the best TV value on the market.

If you desire to wait for a similar mini-LED set from Samsung or LG, you will need to wait until those TVs launch this spring. We expect to go more details almost models and pricing in February, and estimate that the new TVs will launch in March or April.

Going frontward, unless you're on the tightest of budgets, we volition definitely be recommending that shoppers opt for mini-LED when information technology'due south available. The improvement to picture quality is pregnant, and the increase to a TV'southward toll is negligible, making it a must-accept for Telly shoppers in the coming yr.

Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom'southward Guide, covering everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.