GoKawiilAdam Breeden/ZDNET
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TV technology seems to change every year, and if you're shopping for a new set, you might not even know where to start. Choosing the perfect TV for your needs can feel overwhelming, but it's not too tough once you break things down.
Right now, there are two main technologies to know about: Mini LED and OLED. These two TV styles work in noticeably different ways, and each one has its own set of benefits and limitations.
Also: The best OLED TVs you can buy
In short, in an OLED TV (organic light-emitting diode), each pixel lights up when the set applies electricity to it. To make different colors, the set passes lights through different filters. If electricity isn't applied to a pixel, it stays black -- for the darkest of dark colors.
Mini LED (which can also be referred to as QLED or QNED, depending on the manufacturer) uses a backlit LCD panel where each pixel is made up of red, green, and blue color filters combined to create different colors.
Where the "Mini" part comes in is that, instead of a single large backlight, the display has thousands of small ones. In this setup, individual areas, not individual pixels like on OLEDs, turn off when they need to be black.
Specifications
Mini LED OLED Light source Thousands of LED backlights Self-emissive Contrast High (zone-based dimming) Infinite (pixel-precise control) Black levels Deep with levels of blooming True black Peak brightness Very high (up to 2000+ nits) Moderate (usually between 800-1200 nits) Color volume High Very high Response time Fast - Between 1ms to 3ms Faster - Between 0.03ms to 0.1ms Burn-in None Possible
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