TV shops are full of acronyms: LED, QLED, Mini-LED, OLED. They sound like different generations of the same thing, but they are really two different ways of making light, with a few upgrades layered on top. Once you understand the engineering, choosing the right TV for your room becomes much easier.
Two families of screen
LCD-based TVs (sold as LED, QLED and Mini-LED) use a backlight behind a liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystals act like millions of tiny shutters, letting light through or blocking it for each pixel.
OLED TVs have no backlight at all. Each pixel is made of organic material that glows by itself when current flows through it, and turns fully off when it does not.
LED: the standard LCD TV
An "LED TV" is an LCD TV lit by LED lights along the edges or across the back. It is bright, affordable and long-lasting. Its weakness is black levels. Because the backlight is always on behind the shutters, some light leaks through, so dark scenes look greyish in a dark room.
QLED: better colour
QLED TVs add a layer of quantum dots, tiny particles that glow in very pure colours when light hits them. The result is brighter, richer colour than a standard LED TV. It is still an LCD with a backlight, so black levels depend on how the backlight is controlled.
Mini-LED: better contrast
Mini-LED TVs use thousands of very small LEDs behind the screen, divided into many zones that can dim independently. Dark parts of the picture get dimmed backlight while bright parts stay bright. This local dimming greatly improves contrast, though bright objects on black backgrounds can show a faint halo.
OLED: perfect black
Because each pixel produces its own light, a black pixel is completely off. That gives effectively infinite contrast, excellent viewing angles and very fast response for sports and gaming. OLEDs have historically been less bright than the best LCDs, and a static image shown for very long periods, such as a news channel logo for many hours a day, carries some risk of burn-in. Modern OLEDs include pixel-shifting and refresh routines that reduce this.
| LED | QLED | Mini-LED | OLED | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black levels | Fair | Fair to good | Very good | Perfect |
| Peak brightness | Good | Very good | Excellent | Good to very good |
| Viewing angle | Fair | Fair | Fair to good | Excellent |
| Burn-in risk | None | None | None | Low, not zero |
| Price | Lowest | Moderate | Higher | Highest |
Which one should you buy?
- Bright living room, daytime viewing, news channels: QLED or Mini-LED. Brightness wins and there is no burn-in concern.
- Dark room, movies, gaming: OLED gives the most cinematic picture.
- Tight budget: a good LED TV with 4K resolution and HDR support.
Screen size and viewing distance
For a 4K TV, a comfortable viewing distance is roughly 1 to 1.5 times the screen diagonal. A 55-inch TV (about 140 cm) suits a distance of about 1.4 to 2.1 metres. If you sit farther away, go bigger. Use the unit converter to switch between inches and centimetres.
Specs that matter more than the acronym
- Refresh rate: 120 Hz makes sports and games smoother than 60 Hz.
- HDR formats: support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision improves compatible content.
- Processor: better image processing improves upscaling of regular TV channels, which is most of what many families watch.
- Sound: thin TVs have small speakers. Budget for a soundbar.
Frequently asked questions
Is 8K worth it?
For most homes, no. There is very little 8K content, and at normal viewing distances most people cannot see a difference from a good 4K TV.
Do OLED TVs use more electricity?
It depends on the picture. OLED uses less power on dark scenes and more on bright ones. Check the energy label for typical yearly consumption.