For the longest time, I’ve held a bitter grudge against LCD TVs. I still vividly remember buying my first flatscreen back in 2007, and immediately recoiling in disgust upon seeing how much worse the on-screen text looked in Xbox 360 games than they had on my ageing CRT set. Fast forward 20 years – a period in which I became obsessed with OLEDs – and I’m ready to give LCD another chance.
Alright, it’s not quite as simple as that. When I say ‘LCD’, I specifically mean ‘RGB mini-LED’, but hey – it’s still a traditional liquid crystal display, just with (quite a few) bells and whistles. But this tech ditches so many of the drawbacks of LCD, while also potentially improving on the few weaknesses OLED has – I think it could be the premier screen type for AV snobs going forward.
As managing editor of entertainment Matt Bolton recently argued, RGB TVs are a huge danger to OLED TVs… and I’m right there with him on that. Brighter, potentially cheaper (more on that shortly), and sporting incredible color deptch, the most tantalizing TV technology coming out of CES 2026 has made my obsessive eyes oh so excited.
Easy as RGB
The technology behind RGB mini-LED (or Micro RGB, as you will sometimes see it called) is fascinating… providing you’re a massive AV dweeb. Rather than use a single color of backlight behind the pixels, as LCD TVs always have, every LED in the backlight now has red, green and blue elements, meaning they can shine the correct color for the part of the picture they’re behind. This means much less color-filtering is needed, and yet you get a wider range of colors at the same time. It also makes them more efficient.
What does that mean for my inner OLED obsessive? A good chance of higher brightness compared to my go-to TV tech, combined with a precision level of backlight control that should limit the ‘halo effect’ that has dogged the corners of even the best LCD TVs for decades, where light leaks from bright areas to dark areas.
Even though Samsung has already shown us its giant 115-inch Micro RGB TV, I’m particularly excited to see what LG and its ‘Micro Dimming Ultra’ feature can produce in its first RGB panels.
Sure, OLED TVs can self-dim every single onscreen pixel. But then again, thanks to my Philips Hue Gradient Lightstrip, and the fact it projects the colors of whatever content I’m watching onto my lounge wall, I don’t really need every dark scene in my favorite film to be perfectly inky because the wall-illuminating technology boosts perceived contrast anyway.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m currently extremely happy with my 77-inch LG G3 OLED. What. A. TV. Thanks to its infinite black levels, incredible contrast and peerless screen uniformity, the South Korean manufacturer’s flagship panel of 2023 is comfortably the best television I’ve ever owned. And hoo-boy, have I bought a lot of them during my four decades on this spinning rock.
Still, a part of me will forever be enticed and intrigued by the shiniest new form of TV tech. Hence why I’ve owned 12 separate OLED panels since 2016. Somewhat pathetically, I can remember every single model number; be it the 10 LG sets or the Philips and Sony screens that made me cheat on my favorite OLED manufacturer.
OLED down the garden path
Over that time I’ve been jazzed by all the latest advances on the ‘Light-emitting Diode’ front. MLA brightness-boosting solutions. Primary Tandem 2.0 panels. Glare-ending ‘Reflection Free Premium’ screens. For all I appreciate the drastic increase in peak HDR brightness with the best OLED TVs year on year, my hyper focused eyes are now obsessed with the potential of RGB mini-LED sets.
Every manufacturer is boasting that RGB TVs will deliver well over 100% of the HDR color gamut, and I’m excited by the promise of going super-deep on colors. As someone who is bothered by color banding (where tonal changes that should be a smooth gradient have clear ‘bands’ dividing them) on his current LG OLED to an unhinged degree, this statement has me hoping that RGB tech can overcome this, either by delivering more advanced HDR color ‘upscaling’ on streamed content, or just with less color limitation on the panels.
When you’re playing one of the best PS5 games, it can be all too obvious when spotting the differences in gradients of certain hues while panning across a bright blue sky. I’m not saying Micro RGB panels can entirely cure this issue, but I’m hopeful they can reduce it.
I also have a slight problem with my LG OLED’s preset modes when it comes to colors. I tend to favor Vivid (hersey, I know) in most situations. That’s mainly because I prefer a cooler tone in movies over the earthier hues that my TV’s Filmmaker and ISF Expert modes offer.
Even still, I can’t shake the feeling my G3’s color accuracy isn’t quite on the money, which is only making me thirst more and more for Micro RGB.
Huge punch at smaller sizes
There’s also a good chance I’m going to have to plump for a smaller (and crucially cheaper) TV than my G3 in the not too distant future. I’m currently in the process of selling my apartment, and in all likelihood, the place I end up staying next won’t be able to accommodate a 77-inch screen.
Though the first, colossal Micro RGB sets that launched last year are pricey, that’s because they were huge. Considering they’re far closer tech-wise to mini-LED than they are to OLED, it’s not far fetched to expect them to drop lower than comparable mid-range OLEDs over the next few years.
Considering I may well have to channel my inner Scrooge Mode going forward while I downsize to a smaller place, the fact that Micro RGB TVs can potentially be more energy efficient is seriously seductive too. As much as I adore wall-dominating screen real estate, the notion of a super-bright 55-inch Micro RGB with amazing colors and almost OLED blacks has my Spide… AV sense tingling.
As I gradually make peace with a future that involves a smaller screen, I find my TV horizons are broadening. Five years ago, I would have rather taken a bath in sulphuric acid than own an LCD screen. Yet with Mico RGB becoming increasingly attractive? I say bring on the sulphur.
The best TVs for all budgets
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