Direct view Micro LED displays are a relatively new display technology that so far has been publicly demonstrated only by Samsung and Sony, the two of which tend to experiment with variety of technologies in general. At IFA last week TCL, a major maker of televisions, threw its hat into the ring by demonstrating its ultra-large Micro LED-based Ultra-HD TV.

Dubbed the Cinema Wall 132-Inch 4K, TCL’s Micro LED television uses 24,000,000 individually controlled LEDs as RGB subpixels, and features a 1,500 nits max brightness level as well as a 2,500,000 contrast ratio (good enough to compete against OLEDs). The manufacturer claims that the TV can display a wide color gamut, but does not disclose whether they're using DCI-P3 or BT.2020.

Like other early-generation display products, TCL is not revealing if and when plans to release its 132-inch 4K Micro LED TV commercially, but the fact that that it has a device that is good enough to be shown in public (see the video by Quantum OLED channel here) is an important step. Just like other makers of Micro LED televisions, TCL might want to increase peak brightness supported by these devices, as many modern titles are post-produced using Dolby’s Pulsar reference monitor for Dolby Vision HDR, which has a peak brightness level of 4000 nits.

Numerous TV makers are currently investigating Micro LED technology as a viable alternative to OLED-based screens. While OLEDs tend to offer superior contrast ratio when compared to LCDs, they have a number of trade-offs, including off-axis color shifting, ghosting, burn-in, etc. WOLED has mitigated some of these issues, but it has also introduced others due to the inherient limitations of using color filters.

By contrast Micro LED TVs are expected to be free of such drawbacks, while still retaining the advantages of individual LEDs like brightness, contrast, fast response time, and wide viewing angles. As an added bonus, Micro LED TVs will not need any bezels and can be made very thin.

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Sources: Quantum OLED, MicroLED.info, LEDs Inside

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  • Santoval - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link

    Too much Van Gogh and Rembrandt (the cynic in me suspects because their paintings are in the public domain..). By the way, this how the Rembrandt painting at 0:44, called "The Night Watch", actually looks like : https://www.dw.com/image/45910106_403.jpg
    TCL didn't just amplify the painting's red channel a little bit when they processed the image for their presentation. They blew it up to kingdom come and then some! Even objects and faces that are not red at all in the original look like they are on fire in TCL's version. Come on guys, seriously?
  • mode_13h - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link

    Eh, without knowing how the camera was white-balanced, you can't be certain that was a display issue.
  • s.yu - Saturday, September 14, 2019 - link

    Yeah, it's impossible to judge display quality through a video feed anyhow.
  • nandnandnand - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link

    It has new invisible bezel technology.
  • peevee - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link

    If only there were something decent to watch. With Netflix online collection being full of their own branded sht and almost nothing else and Netflix DVD/BR collection and service quality dwindling, and with Hollywood in full-preach ultra-SJW mode, there is nothing worth of our limited time to watch on displays of this quality...
  • JeffFlanagan - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link

    Sounds like a personal problem. When you feel well enough to not say "SJW" unironically, a lot of things will look better.
  • Papaspud - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link

    Maybe ultra- woke would be more to your liking? And no, the stuff they are self producing is in general cringe worthy.
  • close - Monday, September 16, 2019 - link

    @Papaspud , it's not that I disagree with you on the quality of many (most?) Netflix shows... but you know that one show/series/movie you really love and think it's great? Yeah, that one. Well it's an absolute piece of garbage that's not worthy of being set on fire and you should be ashamed of thinking about it, let alone watching it and even liking it. Yeah... Absolute (objective) truths at their best, eh?
  • peevee - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link

    I feel well enough about most of things, but not the current sorry state of Hollyweird's propaganda.
  • nandnandnand - Friday, September 13, 2019 - link

    Try BitTorrent. Find some niche 70s exploitation movies.

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