Winter in Scandinavia can be beautiful. But let’s be honest – it’s usually just dark, and even when the sun is shining brightly, it can be so chilly that it gets right into your bones. Fortunately, we live in the age of great television series, fantastic films and global sporting events. This places high demands on the equipment you need to immerse yourself in the alternative universes on your screen and on sports fields around the world – from ski slopes and football pitches to the 4K HDR universes of superhero films.
A flat screen is no longer enough.
That’s why it’s good that technology offers us great and ever-improving opportunities to seek refuge in other worlds.
And the best way to get there is called Mini LED.
A revolution
Chinese home electronics giant TCL is also one of the world’s top manufacturers of Mini LED TVs. Of course, you might be tempted to say that’s because TCL‘s development department was the first to figure out how to increase the number of LED lights in TV screen backlighting. This happened in 2019, and since then TCL‘s idea has spread around the world – but with TCL still leading the way thanks to the head start it has gained by being a pioneer with a constant focus on development. In the six years that have passed, TCL has obtained more than 30 additional patents on micro lenses and local dimming technology.
The world of television has been marked by many major leaps forward. From black and white to colour, from large, clunky picture tubes to flat screens, from flat mono sound to stereo, soundbars and surround sound.
– The transition to mini LED is part of that history, says Sebastian Skarp, who, as Nordic Retail Marketing Manager at TCL, has a deep understanding of mini LED.
– It is the greatest development in the history of television to date.
Mini LED is used in large TV screens, which can easily be the entertainment centre in both the living room and the home cinema. TCL is firmly established in the market for large TVs – up to 115 inches.
Thousands of lights
If you have ever seen a mini LED TV next to a standard LED TV, you know how much brighter it is – even if the standard TV is among the brightest on the market.
The secret lies in light – and in the ability to turn off the lights.
Most modern flat screens are LCD TVs – i.e. televisions where the image is formed in pixels of liquid crystals. However, they are often referred to as LED TVs, because it is LED light that allows you to see the liquid crystals when you turn on the television. In a standard flat screen, there are relatively few large LEDs that illuminate large areas. This means that the screen cannot reproduce deep black colours, which often appear as dark grey instead. Similarly, the completely clear and sharp light reproduction can also be lacking. This means that light and shadow effects will often be a little blurred because the light does not hit the individual contrasts precisely.
All the major TV manufacturers struggled with this challenge for years. But it was TCL that found the solution with mini LED. In principle, it is based on the same technology, but the individual LED lights have been replaced by thousands of very small LED chips. This allows the light to be controlled with complete precision – and you, the viewer, benefit from razor-sharp images where black is black, white is white, and the contrasts between light and shadow are very clear. While a high-end LED TV can have up to a few hundred dimming zones – i.e. zones where the light can be turned up and down – the TCL TV 115C7K Premium QD-Mini LED TV, for example, has up to 2880 zones according to the product specifications. In addition, it has a 3000-nit screen that ensures extreme contrast, even in very bright or dark scenes, and enormous impact even in bright light.
At the same time, you get a great viewing experience regardless of the lighting in the room. In the dark, you can feel like you’re at the cinema – and even in bright light, you can clearly follow what’s happening on the screen. TCL has developed the technology – and so far has 34 unique patents on super-condensed micro-lenses that control the direction of light with complete precision.
– This helps to provide higher peak brightness, deeper blacks and far better HDR performance than you could ever dream of with even the best traditional LED TV, says Sebastian Skarp.
– The ability to reproduce more shadows and stronger colour reproduction due to precise light control provides completely new, wild experiences – whether you’re into fantasy, games, action or documentaries on screen.
Get ready for the Olympics
… Or sport in general. There is hardly anything that can bring us together in front of the television screen like a major sporting event.
When the Winter Olympics take place in Milan Cortina in northern Italy from 6 February this year, the athletes will have been preparing for this big moment for years. Your preparation doesn’t have to take as long – but you can be inspired by the same desire for perfection.
For example, by considering a mini LED TV. Winter sports are one of the areas where this new technology will really come into its own. The fast movements and lightning-quick shifts between bright light and deep shadow as skiers hurtle down the slopes are captured in high-quality displays from TCL, for example. You can go all in with the really big models that turn your home into a home cinema, or you can be more modest and choose a smaller version – for example, the MQLED85K, which Lyd & Billede has named the best TV of the year. Either way, the white snow, blue sky and rapid changes in the image really come into their own with Mini LED.
– The Winter Olympics take place at a time when the sun is low in the sky here in Scandinavia. It’s time to stay indoors and enjoy watching the world’s best athletes show off everything they’ve trained for on screen. It’s really big – and it’s based on gruelling preparation. Fortunately, it’s easier to prepare with the best possible equipment to follow the events, says Sebastian Skarp.
– With a Mini LED TV, you can see every detail; all movements are captured thanks to the screen’s fast response time, and the many zones ensure that everything is razor sharp and blur-free, so you can get the best experience from your sofa. And that’s regardless of whether you’re watching your TV after dark or when the winter sun is shining outside and lighting up the living room.
