Don’t Buy a Mini LED TV Without Checking These 5 Things First

Mini LED TVs are increasingly becoming one of the most common types of TVs on the market. Although they are essentially LCD TVs, they use tiny LEDs for backlighting, giving them the name Mini-LED. This inclusion of smaller LEDs allows TVs to offer a brighter picture and have better backlight control. All popular TV brands, including major manufacturers like Hisense, LG, Samsung, Sony, and TCL, offer mini-LED TVs in their product portfolio. More importantly, you can find Mini-LED TVs in all price segments. However, despite using the same underlying technology, Mini-LED TVs can offer different levels of performance. This can make choosing the right model when buying a new TV a little tricky.

Fortunately, a significant portion of a Mini-LED TV’s performance is governed by specific core features. By understanding these basics, you can be better informed and select the right model from the multitude of options available on store shelves. Remember that any TV using smaller-than-standard LEDs for backlighting may be called a mini-LED TV, and brands often use different marketing names to help their TVs stand out in a crowded market.

One of the big advantages of using smaller LEDs in a Mini-LED TV is the possibility of greater backlight control. Your TV can be more specific about where it wants the LEDs to dim to simulate blacks when it has more LEDs. However, because Mini-LED TVs can feature anywhere from several thousand to tens of thousands of individual LEDs, TV manufacturers rely on local dimming zones to implement backlight control. Controlling individual LEDs for backlight control would require a lot of hardware and processing power.

The number of dimming zones can have a significant impact on the overall backlight performance. A TV with a lower number of zones does not have the same accuracy as a TV with a higher number of zones. As adding zones increases costs, more affordable and smaller models generally have fewer zones, compared to more expensive and physically larger models. Unfortunately, not all TV manufacturers explicitly reveal the number of dimming zones on their TVs, and even when they do, they only market that number for larger TVs because they have more zones. This is where you may need to rely on third-party websites, like Rtings.com, to get an idea of ​​the number of zones.

Besides the number of zones, equally important is the dimming algorithm, which determines when a particular zone is dimmed depending on the scene. Therefore, simply having a higher number of dimming zones does not guarantee better image quality. That said, no matter how good a dimming algorithm is, it cannot magically improve performance when there are very few zones. Although there is no specific figure for the number of dimming zones, the best 55/65-inch TVs typically have more than 1,000 zones. However, with the right algorithm, some TVs with even around 500 zones work very well. That said, having a larger number of zones definitely helps.

One thing that many Mini-LED TV buyers don’t often think about is their TV’s display panel technology. Although you might think that all Mini-LED TVs have the same basic panel technology, the reality is different. Modern Mini-LED TVs can have VA (vertical alignment) or IPS (in-plane switching) type LCD panels. Both types of billboards have their advantages and disadvantages, and their presence can have a significant impact on the overall quality of the image. While VA-type panels are known for their superior native contrast ratio, IPS-type panels have significantly better viewing angles. IPS-type panels also offer better color accuracy, response time, and motion clarity.

That said, other technologies found in modern Mini-LED TVs can often alleviate some of the drawbacks of each panel type. For example, a good implementation of local dimming can improve the contrast ratio of an IPS-type panel, and the use of quantum dots can improve the color accuracy of a VA-type panel. Still, if any of these performance settings are important to your viewing experience, you may want to choose one panel over another. For example, IPS can be very useful if you watch your TV quite frequently with a group of friends or family members. Likewise, if you like to see vibrant colors and deeper blacks on your TV, a VA-type panel would make more sense.

Remember that the majority of Mini-LED TVs leverage VA type panels due to their superior contrast ratio. However, you can still find IPS-type panels on certain budget models or specific sizes of certain TVs.

Although Mini-LED TVs are often touted for their high peak brightness, the individual brightness of different models can vary. This means you can’t take for granted that if you buy a Mini-LED TV it will be very bright and will easily handle glare and reflections in a bright room. If the TV isn’t bright enough, it may appear washed out, flat, and difficult to see in rooms with lots of ambient light. Maximum brightness levels can also impact the color volume and HDR performance of the TV.

Even though TVs get brighter every year, the most affordable models tend to have lower peak brightness levels than more expensive, high-end models. So, it is extremely important to check the brightness of the Mini-LED TV you are planning to buy. Although TV manufacturers tout brightness levels in their marketing materials, it’s best to confirm the numbers through testing by third-party evaluators.

If you love gaming and want to use the latest generation gaming consoles or a gaming PC, it becomes very important to ensure that your Mini-LED TV has the necessary gaming features to deliver a good experience. One of the first things to look for are HDMI 2.1 ports, which are essential for enjoying 4K gaming at 120Hz or a higher refresh rate, if supported by your TV. Older HDMI ports do not have sufficient bandwidth to transmit such a signal.

Another must-have feature is variable refresh rate (VRR) support. Depending on the game, your hardware may push frames at different rates depending on the scene, and if your TV doesn’t support VRR, an uneven frame rate will result in screen tearing artifacts. VRR essentially ensures that your TV can match the refresh rate with the number of incoming frames. There are different VRR technologies in the market, such as Nvidia G-Sync, AMD FreeSync, and HDMI VRR. Make sure your TV supports the VRR technology used by your gaming hardware.

You’ll also want low input lag for a responsive experience and fast response time for good motion handling. Although you can find details of HDMI ports and VRR support in the manufacturer’s documentation, input lag and response time are best revealed in third-party testing of TVs.

Besides all the features we’ve mentioned, it’s a good idea to make sure that your chosen Mini-LED TV has various great features. One such feature is support for various HDR formats. It’s pretty common for popular streaming services to host HDR content, and while HDR10 and HLG support is pretty much a given for a Mini-LED TV, you’ll also want support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+. These are dynamic HDR formats with frame-by-frame or scene-by-scene metadata that your TV can use to optimize brightness and deliver the best viewing experience. Dolby Vision is a more common format, but more and more services also use HDR10+.

ARC or eARC support is also crucial if you want to connect a soundbar or AV receiver to your TV via HDMI. eARC is more advanced and allows lossless transfer for surround sound formats. Finally, the operating system of the smart TV is also very important. While all modern smart TV operating systems offer access to the best streaming services and apps, many are full of ads, spy on everything you do, and have a cluttered interface. It’s best to do some research into what smart TV operating systems your upcoming Mini-LED TV has, and if you’re not happy with that, you can probably invest in a streaming media player as a workaround.