TCL took to the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, announcing improved Mini-LED technology for its 8-Series 8K TVs.
The company’s new Vidrian Mini-LED displays fuse tens of thousands of LED backlights and their circuitry directly into the panel’s glass substrate. The result is that the local dimming effect should be far superior to ordinary LED TVs, allowing for subtler shading and an increased sense of depth with images on screen, the company said. The new Mini-LED panels will also boost contrast and luminance, and should be more durable too.
TCL’s 8K Mini-LED TVs will be available in 65-inches and 75-inches when they’re launched later this year. The company has also promised to launch its first 8K Roku TVs later in the year.
And although TCL didn’t make any official announcement, Techradar reported that the Vidrian Mini-LED displays will also be coming to TCL’s lower cost 6-Series TVs. Previously, TCL’s 6-Series TVs have used just full array backlights and quantum dots to boost colour saturation. With the upgrade to Mini-LEDs, we can expect a serious boost in black levels and contrast ratios. Mini-LED will also mean the TVs are capable of superior brightness, potentially making the TVs a better option than OLED for watching HDR content or daytime viewing.
The good news for consumers is that TCL’s 6-Series range has always been extremely affordable, and though the move to Mini-LED might see prices go up a bit, officials were keen to stress at CES that competitive pricing is important for the company.
Besides Mini-LED, TCL also served up a new batch of QLED TVs. It’s launching three new QLED series for 2020, including the top-end X915 sets with support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. The 8K resolution X915 TVs run the Android TV platform, feature automatically retracting cameras and are IMAX Enhanced certified. They’ll be available in 65-inch and 75-inch versions, the company said.
There’s also two 4K QLED options to choose from in the C815 and C715 series. The biggest difference between the two is that the C815 series features built-in Onkyo speakers, but other than that they’re pretty similar, with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+. The C815 series will be available in 55, 65 and 75-inch options, while the C715 comes in 50, 55 and 65-inch sizes.
TCL said some of its new 2020 TVs will be able to support “next generation gaming” with support for 120Hz frame rates at 4K resolution. TCL’s THX Certified Game Mode TVs can also perform with variable refresh rates in order to optimise gaming content on the fly, so that both gameplay and cutscenes are rendered as native.
The company also launched a new soundbar, the TCL Alto 9+, which is a 3.1 channel soundbar that’s certified Roku TV Ready. Lastly, TCL promised some over-the-air updates for its current batch of TVs, with new HDMI 2.1 features such as improved eARC control to be delivered later in the year.
