We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Whether you’re a console or PC gamer, your skills with a controller won’t get you far if you’re working with a dull screen. Fortunately, there are many great smart TVs on the market, and one type of premium picture technology that’s getting a lot of attention is Mini LED. These TVs use an LCD panel and a backlight system made up of LEDs that are much smaller than those found on a traditional LED LCD set. The result is much brighter and more contrasty picture quality, which is why Mini LEDs are actually some of the best TVs you can buy for gaming, especially if you play a lot of HDR titles.
It’s not uncommon for a Mini LED to exceed 1,000 nits (a measure of pixel brightness), which is a huge advantage for displaying specular highlights and vivid colors in games like “Astro Bot” and “Spider-Man 2.” And thanks to the improved lighting of Mini LEDs, they generally work well in brightly lit rooms. Mini LED TVs such as the Hisense UR9 and Sony Bravia 9 also incorporate features like local dimming – which divides the LEDs into small, gridded sections – for even more control over brightness and contrast.
This also helps reduce blooming, which is one of the few image issues you’ll have to deal with with just about any LED-backlit display. This happens when lighting from one area of a screen diffuses into another, and it can be especially noticeable when watching TV in a darker room. Subtitles and closed captions often fall victim to this weak aura of light, and unfortunately, that’s just the nature of the beast when it comes to LCD LED technology.
There are two types of Mini LED TV screens, and one is not necessarily better than the other
There are two main types of panels used for LCD LED TVs: in-plane switching (IPS) and vertical alignment (VA). While neither is a bad choice for a gaming TV, there are pros and cons of each display class that are worth discussing. If you plan to engage in a lot of cooperative activities on your couch, IPS panels tend to offer wider viewing angles, so image details won’t fade as much when you’re sitting off-center. On the other hand, VA displays generally do a better job of displaying inky blacks and overall contrast.
VA panels can be prone to what is called smearing. Since VA displays take time to transition from lighter to darker colors, this sometimes results in streaking that follows fast-moving objects. TV manufacturers often implement image processing that can reduce smearing, but it’s still something you might notice on mini LEDs with a VA display. Even more important than the LCD panel used are the types of gaming optimizations supported by a Mini LED TV.
Be on the lookout for native refresh rates of 120Hz or higher, as well as features like HDMI 2.1 connectivity, variable refresh rate (VRR), and automatic low latency mode (ALLM). These are the types of improvements that can make all the difference between bright, colorful gameplay and bright, colorful, sensitive. Lag kills, my friends, and you don’t want to be the poor soul who gets shot from a mile away because your TV can’t keep up with the action.
