It isn’t very often that folks in our industry can talk about unique opportunities to show our customers unique technologies. But that time is now.

The new 8-Series is the world’s first TV with mini-LED technology, and it’s powered by TONS of awesome tech. But even more importantly than the technology, I’m excited to discuss the benefits that mini-LED offers. 

First, a quick summary of what this is and why it’s truly unique.

When researching TV specs, you’ll inevitably come across something called “backlight type.” The three options you’ll typically see are “edge”, “direct”, or “full-array,” but none of these quite fit for our mini-LED backlight.

With a traditional backlight, there are LEDs that “shine” through the LCD layer of the TV, and that’s how you get your picture. Traditionally, the number of LEDs range from a dozen or so on a basic LED TV, but can go up to a few hundred on some of the best full-array, local dimming sets – such as our award-winning 6-Series. With our new mini-LED backlight, TCL has delivered a quantum-leap in the number of LEDs, with more than 25,000 on the 75-inch 8-Series! That’s one of the key differences that makes the 8-Series so great and it’s what helps this TV deliver an uncompromised viewing experience. 

But what’s the benefit to the customer? Remember, customers buy on the benefits they’ll receive, not the technology we technophiles all know and love. 

One of my favorite phrases to keep in mind: No customer who ever bought a drill wanted a drill. They wanted a hole.

So, let’s look at how the technology inside the new 8-Series translates to tangible benefits.

To summarize: the 8-Series delivers uncompromised contrast with first-to-market mini-LED backlight technology for exceptionally powerful and precise control of brilliantly bright and deeply dark areas of the image, delivering unparalleled depth and dimension.

What does that mean to you?

  • Unparalleled brightness. While this TV delivers great dark room viewing (more on that soon), customers often want to catch the ball game in the middle of the day, with the blinds up. With over 25,000 mini-LEDs (compared to a few hundred on other high-end TVs), you’ll get a bright, vibrant picture under all lighting conditions. Let your TV adjust to your life, not the other way around.
     
  • Quantum Contrast. Perhaps the most demonstrable benefit to the mini-LED backlight is our dramatically improved Contrast Control, what we call Quantum Contrast. Delivering stunning performance on an LED not only requires that you deliver great brightness, but also great contrast. With Full Array Local Dimming (FALD) sets, again like on our award-winning 6-Series, you’ll enjoy great local dimming. It’s the only way an LED TV can deliver the whitest-whites and blackest blacks on screen at the same time.

    Quantum Contrast is that, but on steroids! The best FALD TVs can deliver up to a few hundred zones, where they can control specific areas of the screen for brightness and darkness. Picture a scene in a movie of a pre-dawn horizon. It starts mostly dark. Then the sun starts to peek over the horizon at sunrise. A great LED TV will harness the power of its couple hundred zones to only “light up” the LEDs behind the sun, resulting in a captivating, lifelike picture. Now, picture that same scene with not just a hundred or so zones, but with close to 1,000 zones! Much more precise control of adjacent whites and blacks, making the difference between a great picture and a breathtaking picture!
     
  • Even light distribution. With the huge number of LEDs being so close together, the uniformity of the light they produce means that there will be even, smooth brightness across the picture even under the most demanding viewing situations (e.g. think of a hockey game’s bright-white playing surface) without the peaks-and-valleys of brightness that could plague other TVs.
     
  • Enhanced uniform reproduction of color. The backlight is the “horsepower” in a TV. With 25,000 “horsepower” driving the colors versus a few hundred horsepower on a traditional TV, your colors will have way more punch! And, don’t get me started on the QLED – Quantum Dot Color performance on the 8-Series 😊.
     
  • Wider viewing angles and a slimmer design. Because the LEDs are so tightly packed, they don’t need to be moved farther away from the front of the screen to get uniformity. Picture each LED as a little flashlight. You want all the “flashlights” to blend together to make one bright, uniform light. Generally, moving the backlight further back in the cabinet (and thus impacting the overall depth of your TV) is what allows the picture to become more uniform.

    With the mini-LED backlight, you not only keep the cabinet thin while maintaining uniformity, but also you get improved off-axis viewing. We all know that 8th guy who shows up to watch the game and complains about where he has as to sit, he’ll be happy watching the game with your new 8-Series!

So, all of this means one thing: TV without compromise. Not only does the 8-Series deliver excellent dark room viewing, but the mini-LED backlight and Quantum Contrast ensure delivery of enhanced black-level performance and outstanding bright room viewing. With all of this tech, you’ll always have the best viewing experience for that creepy late-night horror movie you watch with you family, in addition to that mid-day ball game with the blinds open and the whole gang over!