In today’s episode of You Asked: What is local dimming anyway? Who will be able to beat the mini LED RGB TV? And why is everyone so obsessed with brighter TVs?
Why is everyone obsessed with brighter TVs?
@weirdNamja asks: Why is everyone obsessed with getting the brightest picture they can? Is retinal burnout the new trend or what?
We get this question every now and then, but it requires a quick answer. It’s not like everyone is obsessed with a blindingly bright TV that’s maxed out to the brim. Rather, a brighter TV means you’ll have a better-looking HDR (high dynamic range) picture.
As long as the TV has a local dimming feature and does a good job with it, this means that the bright areas stay brighter and the darker areas stay dark, giving you a nice picture that pops off the screen. Add improvements in color and brightness, and TVs look better than ever.
What is local dimming and why is it important?
@kk77gelb25 asks: Can you explain to me what local dimming is? I have a 55 inch Hisense U7N TV but for some reason I can’t find good graphics settings. The default colors are way too washed out for the price I paid, and when I try to increase the contrast or saturation I can’t see anything in dark scenes (default black is basically gray).
Local dimming is pretty much what it sounds like. This allows the TV’s backlight to make local brightness adjustments rather than radiating light evenly across the entire picture. With even light distribution, you get a flatter, less dynamic image. With local dimming you get different bright and dark areas, and HDR highlights can really pop. This is another reason why bright televisions are attractive.
This is also why manufacturers boast about the number of dimming zones in their televisions. The more zones you have, the more control you have over contrast throughout the image. However, as someone I know often says, it’s not how many dimming zones you have, but how you use them.
For this particular TV, setting Local Dimming to High should help improve contrast.
As for the washed out colors, that’s an interesting observation. If anything, TVs are often a little too saturated or less accurate in standard mode. But maybe that extra punch is just what you prefer.
If the TV is set to Filmmaker mode for more accurate colors intended by the creator, you may miss some of this effect. Or if you’re viewing in a bright room, the ambient light could wash out the image.
A good approach is to use the Theater Day and Theater Night modes and make small individual adjustments to each. In a bright room, increase the brightness in Theater Day mode. At night, customize Theater Night mode to suit you best. By switching between these modes and Filmmaker Mode, you can find the setup you like best. It’s also a good idea to test these settings on dark scenes.
Mini-LED, RGB-LED and the QD-OLED question
Bruce Wayne asks: Nobody makes an 83-inch QD-OLED panel, so I’m leaning towards the LG C6H. FYI: The room I’m going to put it in has showers, so I don’t need harsh brightness. My question is: which mini or micro RGB LED TVs do you think could be a better option? Without actually testing it, what is your gut feeling between LG, Samsung and Sony as to who will have the best implementation of this technology? Whose colors will be as good or better than QD OLED’s? You see, I have one Sony X900H& A LG G4. I’m completely happy with both TVs, but I always felt like I was “missing out” on the QD-OLED colors! I know the new 2.0 LG panel with the Gen 3 Alpha 11 processor is supposed to come very close to that, but I’m wondering about the new RGB LEDs. I’m looking forward to your well-founded opinion! Thanks.
If budget wasn’t an issue, the simplest answer would be to buy them all and see which one works best. But if you take a more realistic approach, the LG C6H seems to be a big winner. Even if you don’t spend any hands-on time seeing how powerful the LG G5 was, an improved version of this panel is very promising.
Based on previous processing power, Sony is also looking extremely competitive with its RGB Mini LED TV. The Bravia 9 is already impressive, and whatever Sony does to improve it will likely be strong, with its own unique approach to RGB implementation.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on other brands. With Dolby Vision 2 on the horizon and support from Hisense and TCL planned, their options should also remain on the shortlist.
Dolby Vision, Darkness and Dolby Vision 2
@bigbro8439 asks: I was one of the early adopters of HDR and DV. However, when I used it, I was very disappointed. Watching series like “The Man in the High Castle” or “GOT” was often too dark. I even bought two new high-end OLED TVs, but they didn’t provide enough brightness. As with my previous Sony 83A90J, the image was still too dark. It’s nice that we can see it as the creator intended, but not when all the details disappear in a big black blob. OK. Now Dolby comes along with DV2 and actually admits that DV1 was way too dark for almost all TVs, let alone projectors. To enjoy this, we as consumers will need to buy a new TV that can play DV2 and perhaps get an even better NF or ATV subscription contract.
This frustration is understandable. The viewing conditions are very important. Watching Dolby Vision content in a controlled, dark room on a flagship TV can be a very different experience than watching it in a brighter environment or on less powerful hardware.
If you recently purchased a TV specifically for Dolby Vision and now find that it doesn’t support Dolby Vision 2, that’s disappointing. Unfortunately, this is how technology evolves. We don’t typically see big jumps from one year to the next, but format updates can still leave some buyers behind.
Dolby Vision 2 support is still an open question for some brands, although it’s likely that wider support will be achieved over time. In the meantime, it’s worth seeing what Dolby Vision 2 looks like on TVs from brands that plan to support it soon, especially if they offer cheaper options.
