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Buying a TV in 2026 is no simple task if you're unfamiliar with different TV technologies. Not only are there key differences between Mini-LED vs. OLED TVs, but each brand's marketing language further confuses what any given TV actually offers. Then, we have the emergence of RGB Mini-LED TVs and RGB Micro-RGB TVs... yeah, our brains hurt too.
In this video Kate breaks down what these TVs offer, the benefits, the trade-offs, and which is the best TV brand in the different display categories. We talk LG OLED, Samsung Neo QLED, Hisense ULED, TCL QD-Mini LED, Sony QD-OLED and more. Let us know what TV is on your radar for 2026
In this video Kate breaks down what these TVs offer, the benefits, the trade-offs, and which is the best TV brand in the different display categories. We talk LG OLED, Samsung Neo QLED, Hisense ULED, TCL QD-Mini LED, Sony QD-OLED and more. Let us know what TV is on your radar for 2026
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TechTranscript
00:00Modern TV technology and branding is so confusing right now.
00:04Buying a 4K TV in 2026 feels way more complicated than it should be.
00:09Not because the technology is impossible to understand,
00:12but because brands keep renaming these same core concepts.
00:16You've got LCD, mini-LED, micro-LED, RGB mini-LED, RGB micro-LED,
00:22Neo-QLED, QNED, SQD mini-LED, OLED, QD OLED.
00:27You guys, my brain hurts.
00:29But the good news is that a good amount of this really is just marketing.
00:33And in this video, I'll break down what these core display technologies actually are,
00:38how different brands describe them,
00:40and which differences truly matter when you're shopping.
00:46Let's start with mini-LED.
00:48Mini-LED is still an LCD TV,
00:50but instead of using a small number of large LEDs behind the screen,
00:55it uses thousands of much smaller ones.
00:57In this case, mini-LED is actually the name of the technology.
01:02These LEDs are grouped into local dimming zones,
01:05allowing the TV to control brightness more precisely across different parts of the image.
01:09That's why mini-LEDs can get extremely bright
01:12while still delivering much better contrast than traditional LED TVs.
01:16The main trade-off is possible blooming or light spilling over to parts of the scene
01:21that it shouldn't, especially in high contrast,
01:24because the LEDs are not individually controllable or self-emissive like OLED.
01:29But improvements to processing and more powerful processors
01:33that can manage a higher number or more complex quantity of local dimming zones
01:37can mitigate blooming greatly.
01:39Right now, mini-LED is the most active area of TV development
01:43because it offers major picture quality gains
01:45without the manufacturing complexity,
01:48namely size limitations and burning concerns that you have with OLED.
01:52It also is generally less expensive to produce than an OLED TV.
01:55I'll talk about OLED more a little bit later on in this video,
01:58but we have a couple more things to go over with mini-LED first.
02:03So since every TV brand is doing mini-LED,
02:07they've all developed ways to differentiate or plant their own flag in mini-LED.
02:12This is where marketing terms start to, let's say, muddy the waters a little bit.
02:17Ever since 2021, Samsung calls its mini-LEDs Neo QLED,
02:21even though they're still LCD TVs with mini-LED backlights and a quantum dot layer.
02:26In simplest terms, the quantum dot layer is a thin film that sits on top of the backlight
02:31and contains billions of tiny semiconductor nanocrystals, the quantum dots.
02:36That rolls off a little bit nicer off the tongue, don't you think?
02:39Anyway, those are what can convert a basic blue backlight into specific, vibrant colors.
02:45Samsung typically offers several new Neo QLED models every year,
02:50with models listed like QN95, QN90, QN85.
02:53The higher the number, the more premium the TV generally.
02:56At the time of recording this video,
02:58Samsung actually has not yet revealed the 2026 refreshes for the higher-end Neo QLED sets,
03:04only the QN80H and the Samsung QN70H, which prioritize size, coming in 100-inch versions.
03:12I would expect more Samsung TV news soon, so make sure you hit that subscribe button.
03:19Compared to Samsung, TCL uses the more literal term QD mini-LED,
03:24emphasizing the combination of mini-LED backlighting and quantum dots.
03:28More recently, TCL has innovated with SQD mini-LED.
03:32SQD builds on this idea by refining the quantum dot layer, the color filter, and processing
03:38to produce even purer colors, even at high brightness, giving us super quantum dot SQD.
03:45Again, the individual pixels themselves do not emit light,
03:49but how the backlight translates into a final picture has been greatly refined.
03:53I'm personally really impressed with what I've seen so far.
03:57To that point, I've already done a video about the first SQD TV, the TCL X11L,
04:02so make sure you go check that out if you want to learn more.
04:07HiSense brands its mini-LED TVs as ULED, mini-LED, where ULED is not a panel type,
04:14but an umbrella term for its processing and tuning.
04:17The U stands for ultra, with ultra features lumped together,
04:21ultra local dimming, ultra wide color gamut, ultra 4K resolution, and ultra smooth rate.
04:27Again, a lot of this is just marketing.
04:29But that's also why you're going to see HiSense TVs labeled as the U9, U8, U7, U6, year after year.
04:36Like with Samsung, the higher the number, the more premium the TV.
04:40But generally speaking, HiSense mini-LED TVs are some of our favorite value options.
04:44I personally had a U8 for a while, and I really liked it.
04:48LG takes a different approach by branding all of its LCD TVs as QNED,
04:53for quantum nanoemissive diode, basically quantum dots plus nanocells that absorb unwanted backlight
05:00to help with blooming, and of course, the mini-LED backlight.
05:03Honestly, that's all I want to say about QNED.
05:06When it comes to LG, we really only are recommending OLED TVs.
05:09Sorry, LG.
05:10But generally speaking, LG does not prioritize innovation with QNED mini-LED
05:16nearly as much as it does with OLED.
05:20Tradition of mini-LED uses white or blue LEDs behind the screen
05:25and relies on these filters or quantum dots I've already mentioned to create color.
05:30RGB mini-LED replaces those white or blue LEDs in the backlight
05:34with separate red, green, and blue sub-LEDs in each of the individual LEDs,
05:40which improves color accuracy, brightness, and efficiency.
05:43Samsung, Hisense, Sony, TCL, and LG are all tinkering with their own versions of RGB-based
05:50display technology.
05:51So, yes, I've been talking a lot about RGB mini-LED here on the channel.
05:56Maybe you've already heard some of these explanations of it.
05:59Sorry if that's repeating.
06:00But more importantly, when it comes to buying a new TV in 2026,
06:05you're probably not going to be buying an RGB mini-LED TV right now.
06:09They're more expensive to produce than traditional mini-LED backlights.
06:13They're not available widely, and frankly, we haven't been able to run benchmarks.
06:18Truthfully, me and most TV reviewers haven't had the chance to look at them
06:21in places other than controlled environments set up by these manufacturers.
06:27Just being honest here.
06:28Despite my hesitations, I do think RGB mini-LED will be what mini-LED simply is
06:34in the not-too-far-off future.
06:35I do like what I've seen so far.
06:38It has the same benefits over OLED that I've already mentioned.
06:41The possible concern, though, is color blooming or color crosstalk,
06:45where basically if an LED is producing red right next to where white is supposed to be,
06:50that white part might look pink just due to, you know, the colors bleeding over.
06:55It does not look very good when that happens.
06:57But by the time RGB is more budget-friendly, hopefully that will be refined.
07:04Not only do we have RGB mini-LEDs now, but we also have RGB micro-LED.
07:10This is not the same thing as micro-LED.
07:14You guys are my friends.
07:15I'll admit to you that I don't even quite understand how brands like Samsung and LG
07:19can actually use micro-LED in a TV name when RGB micro-LED is just a backlight of LEDs
07:27that are smaller than traditional mini-LEDs, sub-100 micrometer if we're getting technical.
07:33And right now, Samsung and LG are the key players.
07:35I have already made videos about both of their specific offerings that they displayed at CES
07:402026, but that's really all I need to say because micro-RGB currently only comes in
07:45massive, expensive screens that are not really consumer-ready.
07:49Not something that anyone watching this video is probably buying this year,
07:53but let me know if I'm wrong about that assumption.
07:57So I said that RGB micro-LED is not micro-LED.
08:01Micro-LED is a fundamentally different display technology.
08:05Like OLED, it is self-emissive, meaning each pixel produces its own light,
08:09and it's probably most associated with Samsung, which was kind of the first to market micro-LED TVs
08:15with the infamous wall, if you recall.
08:17Unlike OLED, micro-LED does not suffer from burn-in and can reach much higher brightness levels.
08:23Think like professional, massive billboard-style displays or the types of screens you're going to
08:28see in billion-dollar stadiums.
08:30Micro-LED is still extremely difficult and expensive to manufacture, especially at smaller screen sizes,
08:37honestly, which is why it remains largely limited to ultra-premium, very large displays.
08:42You guys actually love the video about Hisense's RGB-Y innovation I shared from CES,
08:48so if you want to see more talk or demos of micro-LED, let me know.
08:52Again, not really a consumer product, but there's no doubt micro-LED looks really impressive when you see it in
08:58person.
09:00We have finally made it to OLED.
09:02Thanks for bearing with us, guys.
09:04I have reviewed many OLED TVs here on the channel, so chances are you have a little bit of an
09:09idea of what makes it different from LED,
09:11but the short version, instead of using a backlight, each pixel in an OLED display produces its own light.
09:18That means when part of the image is black, those pixels are simply turned off, resulting in perfect blacks and
09:24exceptional contrast.
09:25OLED is best known for its cinematic image quality, great off-angle viewing, fast response times,
09:31though generally it can't reach the same peak brightness as Mini-LED and still carries some long-term durability burning
09:38concerns,
09:39even though those have, generally speaking, improved significantly in recent years.
09:45Also, OLED panels only come in specific sizes, so like 48, 55, 65, 75, 83, and 97.
09:53When it comes to OLED, LG is where it's at.
09:56They call their OLED OLED Evo, basically a next-gen OLED, and for 2026, you're looking at the LG G
10:02and C-Series latest updates with a primary RGB tandem OLED.
10:07Compared to RGB Mini LED, where the LEDs have sub-LEDs, this OLED technology uses a four-layer design in
10:14which individual red and green layers are each illuminated by separate blue emissive layers.
10:21I don't really need to get too into the weeds, just know that when it comes to the latest-gen
10:25OLED, our testing and anecdotal evidence show that it is a significant improvement for OLED as a whole,
10:32and that's why LG continues to be the best-selling OLED brand.
10:37QD OLED is another path to OLED refinement, led by Samsung, and then Samsung supplies OLED panels to Sony.
10:44QD OLED combines OLED with quantum dots by using blue OLED light and converting it to color through the quantum
10:51dots.
10:51This allows for higher color brightness and improved color volume compared to traditional OLED without relying on that white sub
10:58-pixel.
10:59Sony's Bravia 8 Mark II and Samsung's new S95H OLED are attractive options for 2026.
11:05They're definitely solid in terms of brightness, and compared to OLED or more traditional OLED, it's accepted that QD might
11:12be optimal for preventing burn-in long-term.
11:15I say might because it's actually quite hard to quantify.
11:18I should call out that Samsung is doing some pretty cool things when it comes to reducing glare on those
11:22QD OLED TVs.
11:23That's something that OLED traditionally struggles with, so keep that in mind if you're shopping for an OLED that you're
11:29going to put in a bright room.
11:33Behind the scenes, there is growing acknowledgement that TV naming conventions and marketing have become a little bit of a
11:39problem.
11:40In the conversations I've had with people at CTA and other industry events, there seems to be some active work
11:46happening around clear guidelines and more transparent terminology.
11:50Of course, nothing is finalized yet, but the fact that these conversations are happening at all signals that the industry
11:56understands this confusion is not sustainable.
11:58Heck, I'm following this stuff very closely all the time, and even I had to do a lot of research
12:03to make this video.
12:04And I also probably left out a lot of stuff just for the sake of making this the most useful
12:08for those watching this actually buying a TV.
12:11I mean, I haven't even mentioned 8K. Maybe we'll do that in another video.
12:15The easiest way for me to cut through all of this noise is to focus less on the branding and
12:20more on the fundamentals.
12:22Mini LED, Neo QLED, QD Mini LED, ULED, and QNED are variations of the same core idea executed with different
12:31levels of quality.
12:32OLED and QD OLED prioritize contrast and perfect pixel control.
12:36Micro LED is probably the future, but it is definitely not the present.
12:40So once you understand how the light is made and how it's controlled, the names hopefully will start to matter
12:45a lot less,
12:46and finding the right TV becomes a lot easier to spot.
12:50Hopefully this video helped you make some sense of it.
12:53Hit that like button if that was the case, and let me know if you like this type of breakdown
12:56content.
12:57Otherwise, that's it for me for this one. I will catch you next time.
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