Must-watch TVs

Understanding OLED, QLED, mini-LED and more

We can’t help but marvel at how big and beautiful televisions have become. Today’s TVs are huge, thin, smart and deliver an ultra-high-resolution picture that’s incredibly lifelike.

It’s easy to imagine what one would look like hanging on your wall when your friends are over for the big game, not to mention all the bingeing of TV shows and movies you’ll engage in this year (and maybe some video games too).

While they may look alike at first glance, let’s take a look at the variations among them.

LED. LED TVs, the oldest and least expensive option, use light-emitting diodes to illuminate the television instead of the fluorescent tubes of yester- year, which helps LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs offer a better picture.

Some TV makers have boosted the picture quality of LED TVs by adding “local dimming,” which dims lights that don’t need to be on, thus improving the black levels on the television.

OLED. Some premium TVs use OLED (pronounced “oh-led”) screens instead of LCDs, for an exceptional image and other bene ts, like wide viewing angles.

Televisions packed with OLEDs—organic light-emitting diodes—are incredibly thin because each pixel is its own light source; therefore, no backlighting is required. They also offer unprecedented contrast, since the TV can turn off pixels to show pure blacks.

OLED televisions are the most energy efficient of the bunch.

QLED. Some TV manufacturers are producing TVs powered by “quantum dot” technology, which offers a wider, more true-to-life color palette.

Often advertised as QLED TVs, these televisions are still LED-backlit LCD TVs, but they include a quantum-dot layer to produce the wider range of colors. Plus, they offer better brightness and contrast compared to LED TVs.

While not as thin as OLED TVs, QLED televisions can cost less.

Mini-LED. Offered by many brands, Mini-LED televisions feature tens of thousands of tiny lights behind the screen. This is a more efficient and effective way of handling backlighting, and provides more precise control.

Mini-LED TVs also offer improved contrast and brightness. Some TV makers have combined Mini-LEDs with quantum dots, for richer color. Like QLED TVs, Mini-LED TVs tend to cost less than OLED sets.

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