We’ve been on plenty of Adventures in AV at this point, but none of them have involved quite as much physical activity as my recent trip to Germany.
That’s right, the European tech event of the year, IFA, is currently taking place in Berlin, and I spent the best part of Wednesday and Thursday darting from hall to hall in a change from my regular schedule of judging TVs from the comfort of our air-conditioned testing facility.
I spent my time checking out everything that the biggest names in AV had to offer, and with a premier TV technology making its European debut at the show, it’s safe to say that it was quite an eventful show.
Samsung, Hisense, TCL and Sony all had something to show, whether that was a TV that was ready to hit the market, or one that was well into development.
Samsung and Hisense appear to be the furthest ahead, with the former offering a 115-inch “Micro RGB” model (you can find my thoughts on that TV here), and the latter launching a 116-inch model – meaning it snatches the title of “biggest RGB LED TV” by a whopping inch.
These two manufacturers are taking quite a similar approach, considering they’re in direct competition. Big, bold and bright is the message they were sending, and their respective TVs certainly lived up to that.
TCL, on the other hand, had an RGB Mini LED TV on show, but it didn’t really seem to make that much of a fuss about it. Instead, it was more focused on highlighting its current Mini LED range, which includes a trio of five-star TVs in the form of the C8K, C7K and C6K, and its 98-, 100-, and 115-inch TVs were once again in the spotlight.
Could this be a sign from TCL that it’s willing to hold out on seeing where this technology goes before jumping in headfirst like Samsung and Hisense? I’m not quite sure yet, but it’s still ahead of Sony, which is playing its cards even closer to its chest.
That’s right, Sony made its grand IFA return this year; well, sort of. I was treated to a behind-closed-doors demonstration of how it plans to use the new panel technology in its upcoming Bravia TV lineup – though there’s still plenty of mystery surrounding Sony’s approach.
We don’t know when it plans to launch a TV with this panel technology, and it’s still finalising plenty of aspects regarding the picture performance. That being said, Sony’s demonstration was probably the most useful, as it demonstrated the unnamed RGB LED-equipped Bravia prototype alongside the Bravia 9 Mini LED, as well as a QD-OLED and Primary RGB OLED TV for comparison.
Interestingly, every manufacturer is taking a different stance on the TV technology, but some common themes unite them, all of which seem to be positive attributes of the flashy new panel technology.
Colours have been turned up to 11
One of the most obvious benefits of the RGB LED display tech is how it brings colours to live with immense vibrancy and richness. Sony, Samsung and Hisense all displayed their respective sets next to or nearby TVs using more conventional panel technologies such as OLED and Mini LED.
In every instance, the new RGB LED-equipped models dazzled, with awe inspiring colour volume that, in comparison, made the OLEDs and Mini LEDs look quite dull. Now, most manufacturers had their display models set to their vibrant modes in order to really hammer this difference home, but it was evident either way.
Sony’s prototype was captivating, with rich, luminous pinks, purples and blues in a clip from Disney’s Frozen 2, while some other demo footage (also on the Sony set) of a blacksmith handling motel metal featured glowing hues of orange, red and yellow. The richness of these colours can’t be understated, and I was surprised by how flat and uninteresting the Bravia 9 looked next to this TV.
Hisense also had some demo content to show off its RGB LED TV, though it mostly appeared to be abstract content with oodles of colour to show off the capability of the display tech. That being said, it looked great in person, with vibrant yellows and blues that were an immediate feast for the eyes.
Rounding things off with Samsung, I saw its 115-inch Micro RGB TV in all its glory at the show during a behind-closed-doors demo, and it too ticked a lot of boxes when it comes to punchy colours.
A segment from Disney’s live action Aladdin remake really allowed this set to shine, with dedicant costumes in a wide array of colours all looking gloriously vivid on the new display. I did find the colours to punch a little too hard in a short clip from a nature documentary, which ironically made it look a lot less natural, but I understand that Samsung’s intent was to show what this panel is capable of, and it did just that.
Blooming good backlight control
Backlit TVs have always been on the back foot to OLED when it comes to presenting bright subjects on dark backgrounds. That halo of light you see around the bright subject, or even on the black letterboxing bars in 21:9 content, is called blooming, and its often evident on even the most accomplished Mini LED TVs.
RGB LED, however, might have an answer for this, and it’s a very clever on indeed. Now that these TVs don’t have to rely on a white backlight, and instead have individual red, green and blue LEDs on hand which it can control with granular precision, we needn’t worry about the ghostly white auras that have plagued backlit TVs up until now.
Blooming still occurs, but as described by Sony, the colour will now match the brighter subject on screen, which makes it look a lot more natural. I was shown a short clip of Marvel’s Black Widow, which featured the eponymous hero is in a dark room with a red light source in the background.
Now, there was a well controlled red halo around that light, but it didn’t bother me as in the real world, you’d see that same red glow around the light source anyway. This makes it all feel a lot more natural, and generally speaking its a very clever way of eliminating what can be quite a serious issue.
Samsung’s Micro RGB TV was also supremely talented when it came to cutting back on blooming, as a film sequence involving two characters talking in a dark forest setting didn’t exhibit any noticeable blooming; adding another level of immersion to the picture that I wasn’t expecting to experience.
Black depths that might just rival OLED
Following on from my previous point, black depths haven’t ever really been a strength of backlit TVs either, with letterboxing bars and sequences from films that involve lots of shadows often appearing as dark grey rather than true, deep black.
OLED has always been the king in this regard, and while significant improvements to Mini LED have been made in recent years, it’s never been able to quite catch up. RGB LED, on the other hand, is where this changes.
Sony, TCL and Hisense all featured demo content that highlighted this, as these backlit TVs exhibited black depths that could give OLED run for its money. While I’ll need to investigate further, ideally with an RGB LED and an OLED side-by-side, to see how comparable the two technologies are, this is by far the most impressive panel technology I’ve seen when it comes to rivalling OLED in this key area.
So, what’s next?
RGB LED, or Micro RGB, or RGB Mini LED, whatever you want to call it, is about to hit the TV scene at full force, as this quartet of high-profile manufacturers has committed to incorporating it into their current and future lineups.
It’s early days, and an exhausting 24 hours of seeing them back to back is certainly not the best way to form any concrete judgements, but the first signs are promising.
If you want to become an early adopter, then you’d best have plenty of room and some deep pockets, because these super-sized next-gen TVs won’t come cheap. That being said, give it a year or two, and I think we could see this panel technology trickle down into the mainstream much like Mini LED and OLED did all those years ago.
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