THE 2021 SMARTHOUSE TV GUIDE

If you thought LCD, LED, OLED, and QLED were confusing, then brace yourselves, because 2021's TV lineup from the big players like Samsung, LG, and TCL is rolling out a swathe of new terms like QNED, Mini-LED, MicroLED and Neo QLED.

To make it easy for you, we have broken down into simple terms what all this means – so take a moment to read through SmartHouse's handy guide and switch off the confusion.

LCD-LED

After Plasma came LCD and LED TVs, and they have been around the longest of the ones on this list.

Both LCD and LED TVs use liquid crystal displays. The difference is how they're illuminated: as LCD displays don't emit their own light, they need to be backlit. LED TVs improved on the large backlights LCD TV used by replacing them with light-emitting diodes, either behind the screen or (more commonly) around the edges.

LED TVs are common and affordable today, but have limitations in areas such as contrast range – which is where all the new technology comes into play.

MINI-LED

Pioneered by TCL, Mini-LED TVs are an evolution of standard LED displays and a more affordable alternative to OLED, which has been around for some time.

Mini-LED uses LCD screens with the LED backlighting found in some LED TVs, which unlike edge-lit displays, can be switched on and off to improve contrast in specific areas.

The key difference is that because the LEDs are so small – 0.2mm and below – manufacturers can now incorporate tens of thousands of dots into a single display. This allows for far more precise control of contrast than before – you get deeper blacks and more vibrant colours.

This places Mini-LED up against OLED – and as we'll see a bit later, some manufacturers of QLED TVs such as TCL and Samsung are marrying them with Mini-LED backlighting, so it's not just a stand-alone technology.

OLED

OLED is primarily manufactured by LG, which in turn supplies to Sony and several other brands, including Loewe and Chinese manufacturer Hisense.

OLED uses carbon-based films sandwiched between semiconductors to supply them with electrical current. Each pixel emits its own light.

Being self-emissive, OLED has no need for a backlight, resulting in thinner TVs. With OLED, each pixel can be switched on and off individually.

That means OLED displays can produce excellent blacks simply by turning the necessary pixels off; they also use less power and deliver excellent contrasts.

QLED

MicroLED is the very newest kid on the block. MicroLED is the other self-emissive technology on this list, and does away with OLED's organic films in favour of tiny inorganic LEDs: one red, one green, and one blue per pixel. How tiny? Less than 0.15 millimetres. For a standard 4K TV, you'll need more than eight million of them.

MicroLED displays can shine much brighter than OLED, and don't risk burn-in or degradation like OLEDs can. Like OLED, MicroLED can switch off individual pixels for deeper blacks; additionally, at least on Samsung's MicroLED TVs, the unit can accept multiple sources in split-screen view.

The downside? Because the LEDs can thus far only be made so small, MicroLED displays, which are only set to release in consumer configurations from Samsung this year, are huge and expensive; they also aren't yet 8K-ready. Samsung's initial offering is 110 inches, with 99, 88, and 76-inch models also slated for the near future, and even the smallest will run you well into five figures, with the biggest topping $120,000 AUD. Unless you're filthy rich, best to just watch this space.

MICRO-LED

Competing against OLED is QLED (quantumdot light-emitting diode, formerly known as SUHD), manufactured by Samsung and used in its own TVs as well as models from companies like Hisense Hitachi and TCL.

QLED takes an LCD screen and adds a quantum dot filter, which improves contrast and makes for more vibrant colours than regular LED. Whites are particularly impressive on QLED displays, and they can achieve higher brightness levels than OLED.

Samsung's Neo QLED and LG's QNED displays are essentially quantum dot LCD screens married to Mini-LED backlights, with LG adding its “NanoCell” (the N in QNED) technology that improves colour accuracy from different viewing angles. Samsung, meanwhile, has developed new algorithms to control dimming and power distribution.

Lastly, QLED TVs are available in a wider array of sizes than OLED.