Samsung Will Soon Ship Micro LED TVs, But Mini LED Still Leads the Lineup (arstechnica.com) 26
Samsung has announced imminent availability (most models will start shipping this month) for its high-end Micro LED and Mini LED TV lineup. ArsTechnica adds: We'll get to Micro LED in a minute, but let's start with the mainstream high end, which comprises the Mini LED TVs. Samsung is giving these a proprietary "Neo QLED" label. The top-end QN900A is the most tricked-out 8K option, with 65-inch ($5,000), 75-inch ($7,000), and 85-inch options ($9,000). One step down while keeping the 8K banner flying is the QN800A, offered in the same sizes but at $3,500, $4,700, and $6,500, respectively. Since there's hardly any 8K content out there to enjoy, most people who aren't just looking for bragging rights will want to opt for the 4K models. The flagship there is the QN90A, at 55 inches ($1,800), 65 inches ($2,600), 75 inches ($3,500), and 85 inches ($5,000). One step down gets you the QN85A, which comes in the same sizes as the QN90A at $1,600, $2,200, $3,000, and $4,500.
While much of the hype in the world of TVs is currently focused on OLED, Samsung's LCD TVs remain the bestselling TVs in many regions, and in-depth technical reviewers like Rtings pretty consistently name Samsung's sets as the best non-OLED ones available in terms of picture quality, albeit not always in bang-for-buck. Samsung doesn't even make OLED TVs, though it produces OLED panels for other products. And to potentially battle OLED in the long term, Samsung is relying on Micro LED technology, which has individually emissive pixels just like OLED does. That means Micro LED matches OLED's chief advantage, which is that pixels of maximum brightness appear right next to pixels that are completely black. But Samsung claims the burn-in risk associated with OLED is not a factor in the same way with Micro LED.
Plus, OLED TVs have been knocked for not matching the HDR peak brightness of the best traditional LED TVs. Micro LED is said to combine the best of both worlds: perfect blacks with very high peak brightness and all the granularity you'd expect in between. Micro LED TVs have been talked up as the future TV tech for years, and they've been commercially available in very limited contexts before, but this year marks Samsung's first quasi-mainstream attempt to sell a bunch of them. They still won't be for everyone, though. They're sure to be colossally expensive for one thing, but they'll also only come in 110- and 99-inch sizes to start. Later, we'll get 88- and 76-inch sizes, but even those are bigger than most people's living rooms can accommodate. So for its more mainstream flagship TVs, Samsung is leaning on Mini LED, which is not the same as similarly named Micro LED. Mini LED TVs are still fundamentally the same technology as any other LCD TV the company has sold for years, but with a new approach that allows much more granular backlighting to reduce blooming around bright objects and other problems associated with LCD TVs while still delivering strong peak brightness.
While much of the hype in the world of TVs is currently focused on OLED, Samsung's LCD TVs remain the bestselling TVs in many regions, and in-depth technical reviewers like Rtings pretty consistently name Samsung's sets as the best non-OLED ones available in terms of picture quality, albeit not always in bang-for-buck. Samsung doesn't even make OLED TVs, though it produces OLED panels for other products. And to potentially battle OLED in the long term, Samsung is relying on Micro LED technology, which has individually emissive pixels just like OLED does. That means Micro LED matches OLED's chief advantage, which is that pixels of maximum brightness appear right next to pixels that are completely black. But Samsung claims the burn-in risk associated with OLED is not a factor in the same way with Micro LED.
Plus, OLED TVs have been knocked for not matching the HDR peak brightness of the best traditional LED TVs. Micro LED is said to combine the best of both worlds: perfect blacks with very high peak brightness and all the granularity you'd expect in between. Micro LED TVs have been talked up as the future TV tech for years, and they've been commercially available in very limited contexts before, but this year marks Samsung's first quasi-mainstream attempt to sell a bunch of them. They still won't be for everyone, though. They're sure to be colossally expensive for one thing, but they'll also only come in 110- and 99-inch sizes to start. Later, we'll get 88- and 76-inch sizes, but even those are bigger than most people's living rooms can accommodate. So for its more mainstream flagship TVs, Samsung is leaning on Mini LED, which is not the same as similarly named Micro LED. Mini LED TVs are still fundamentally the same technology as any other LCD TV the company has sold for years, but with a new approach that allows much more granular backlighting to reduce blooming around bright objects and other problems associated with LCD TVs while still delivering strong peak brightness.
SummaryIsTheArticle (Score:2)
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Yeah, this is pretty much copyright infringement, with zero original additions by the Slashdot "editors".
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You must be new here.
MiniLED? MicroLED? (Score:2)
It would be nice to know WTF these are.
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I'm not sure, but "Mini LED" already suggests some insecurity. A "Micro LED" TV just does not say "this conspicuous consumption is compensating for a certain Micro-something" strongly enough. I predict market failure until they rebrand as Super LED, or possibly Ultra LED.
Re:MiniLED? MicroLED? (Score:5, Informative)
MicroLED means the subpixels are LEDs. They can adjust color and brightness completely at a subpixel basis. Same as OLED, but without the drawbacks of burn in and wear.
MiniLED means It's still an LCD panel, but the backlight is more granular so that it can offer a different base level of brightness in a smaller area. Basically the backlight has a 'resolution' of something like 72x40 so they can pick backlight level for each region of about 108x108 pixels for an 8k display, or 54x54 pxels in a 4k display.
MiniLED is much more granular than traditional LED configurations, but it's still pretty far from the granularity offered by OLED or MicroLED. Pretty serviceable for, example, having deeply dark shadowy areas but less helpful for displaying a night sky that has high brightness differences over a tiny area.
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We have OLED panels, where each pixel is a LED based on an organic molecule. There are also semiconductor LEDs, usually a form of Gallium Arsenide, which is what we're all familiar with - blinky lights and all that. The thing is, the organic LEDs are much smaller, letting us cram a ton of pixels in a small area.
Regular LEDs are used in displays - lots of jumbotrons and other large displays are often semiconductor LED based.
Micro LEDs are basically shrinking down the regular semiconductor LED to let us have
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So for a quick course:
MiniLED TV is basically just like all other LED TV's. There is a LCD layer that determines the color and majority of the intensity of the pixels, and then there is a backlight that provides the light to pass through the LCD to actually create the image. The difference between LED TV's and "Mini
What is the difference? (Score:2)
Perhaps I'm just dense but what exactly is the difference between Micro LED and Mini LCD? Also, what is the difference between Mini LCD and LCD?
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Mini LED: a regular LCD panel that uses a relatively large number of LEDs for the backlight. These can offer decent "full array local dimming", but it's still just an LCD.
Micro LED: a new type of display where every subpixel (red/green/blue) is a separate LED light. No LCD is involved, the subpixels directly emit light. This basically gives you the advantages of OLED (infinite contrast ratios, extremely fast pixel response times) without the disadvantages (low brightness limits, burn-in and image retention
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Even if 99% of the content is shit, there still isn't enough time in the day to watch the 1% that's good, so that's not really a problem.
Hot energy hogs? (Score:4, Interesting)
The last time I read about Micro LED TV, it was at a conference and they had a Micro LED wall. The article I read noted that the energy requirements were huge and they needed dedicated air conditioners to keep the wall from overheating. I wonder if they have solved the heat and efficiency issues - anyone know?
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If they haven't solved the heat problem, at least it's going to make visually appealing space heaters.
Signed,
Canadians.
Looking at UST instead.. (Score:3)
Re: Looking at UST instead.. (Score:1)
Have you looked at LaserTV? Yes, it's a real thing. I'm not making it up.
It's like a DLP but you can put it a 12-18 inches away from the screen/wall instead of mounting it on the ceiling 10+ feet back. No blocking the image or getting blinded when someone gets up for a snack.
Re: Looking at UST instead.. (Score:1)
I see we now mod down purely technical information on /. now.
Burn-in will exist (Score:3)
If OLED suffers from burn-in then it'll be because it uses the same phosphor trick as all prior emissive display technologies preceding it.
MicroLED will be doing the same.
Low power LEDs come in various natural colours, but high intensity LEDs are all a natural blue. So, to produce a colour spectrum, or even a plain white, they require the same phosphors as every other display lighting method, including LCD. The only reason a back-lit LCD doesn't appear to suffer is because the burn effect is evenly spread there. And, as a result, can even be age compensated.
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Why do you assume that microLED displays use high intensity LEDs? You want to display pixels, not blind the viewers.
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They are very small each. If OLED needs phosphors per sub-pixel then it's a fair bet that so does uLED. Just like plasma and CRT did.
Another reason it would likely be done with phosphors is uniform intensity. If all the emitters are of the same type then you've naturally got good intensity uniformity.
Plus, the article even has Samsung admitting there is screen burn with uLED too.
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A traditional "LED TV" (LED backlight with LCD screen) needs white light, which they use blue LEDs + phosphor to achieve.
A micro-LED would need to use separate blue, red and green LEDs, yes? I can't see how phosphor would be needed or even not detrimental.
I'm just a layman, though.
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If OLED suffers from burn-in then it'll be because it uses the same phosphor
Okay let me stop you there. OLED does not use Phosphors. The burnin effect has a different mechanisms. There is no "trick" there is just fundamentally how the technology works. MicroLED uses a completely different technology which also has no phosphors so the assumption that a MicroLED will also burn in makes about as much sense as an LCD will also suffer from burn-in which it doesn't.
Low power LEDs come in various natural colours, but high intensity LEDs are all a natural blue.
It think you've reached the limit on your ignorance for one day. Please look up how LEDs work. Hint: The highest brightness
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If OLED suffers from burn-in then it'll be because it uses the same phosphor trick as all prior emissive display technologies preceding it.
What do you mean "if" and why are you using future tense? OLEDs suffer from burn-in. This is a fact. OLEDs have been widely available on the market for years and it's been well-established from actual usage that they suffer from burn-in if a static image is left on the screen for too long. And no, they don't rely on phosphorescence. The burn-in effect is in most cases due to the faster degradation suffered by the organic materials (the O in OLED) on which OLEDs are built.
Low power LEDs come in various natural colours, but high intensity LEDs are all a natural blue.
You're starting out with an incorrec
No Dolby Vision! (Score:2)