Mini LED vs. OLED: I've tested dozens of TV with both display types, and this one's better

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TV technology seems to change every year, and if you're shopping for a new set, you might not even know where to start. Choosing the perfect TV for your needs can feel overwhelming, but it's not too tough once you break things down. 

Right now, there are two main technologies to know about: Mini LED and OLED. These two TV styles work in noticeably different ways, and each one has its own set of benefits and limitations. 

Also: The best OLED TVs you can buy

In short, in an OLED TV (organic light-emitting diode), each pixel lights up when the set applies electricity to it. To make different colors, the set passes lights through different filters. If electricity isn't applied to a pixel, it stays black -- for the darkest of dark colors.

Mini LED (which can also be referred to as QLED or QNED, depending on the manufacturer) uses a backlit LCD panel where each pixel is made up of red, green, and blue color filters combined to create different colors. 

Where the "Mini" part comes in is that, instead of a single large backlight, the display has thousands of small ones. In this setup, individual areas, not individual pixels like on OLEDs, turn off when they need to be black.

Specifications

You should buy the Mini LED TV if...

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1. You want to save a little money or want a bigger TV

Of course, this depends on size and brand, but as a general rule, Mini LED TVs cost less than their OLED counterparts. 

Looking at the latest lineup of TCL TVs, for example, customers can get last year's 65-inch TCL QM8K for $1,499 (or as low as $998 at the time of writing), while a 65-inch OLED from Sony or LG costs closer to $3,000. And prices only get steeper the larger you go. 

So if you're looking to snag a big screen on a more modest budget, Mini LED is the way to go. While you won't get as sharp a picture, you'll still get a great-looking screen coupled with decent sound for streaming, live sports and news, and console gaming. 

2. You want (or need) a brighter TV

The way the panel produces images means Mini LED TVs can achieve a higher overall brightness than OLED sets. The gap between the two has narrowed quite a bit in recent years thanks to technology developments, but Mini LED is still the clear winner. 

For example, "LCDs can produce 3-4 times the brightness of OLED when displaying a full-screen white image, allowing them to maintain a wider color volume even in the bright area while keeping great contrast of black levels," adds Wong.

Also: TCL QM8 review

The Hisense U8QG, another fantastic Mini LED set, can emit 5,000 nits of brightness with 5,600 dimming zones. This is most beneficial if you watch TV in a room with a lot of natural light or in a room with harsh overhead lighting that might cause glare.

3. You're concerned about burn-in

Burn-in, when part of an image on a TV remains as a ghostly background, even when another image is on screen, is rare, television manufacturers say. But it's not so rare that it never happens; Google, Sony, and LG, among others, all have specific tips to avoid it. 

If you look at Reddit or manufacturer support forums, you'll find repeated complaints about image burn-in. This usually happens only if a user plays the same game or watches the same channel for a very long time, but the point is, it can happen. 

Because of their screen construction, Mini LEDs are significantly less susceptible to this issue. OLED sets have introduced technologies to avoid burn-in, but if you want to avoid it completely, go with a Mini LED.

You should buy an OLED TV if...

Adam Breeden/ZDNET

1. You want the best picture quality and viewing experience

If you're simply looking for the best picture quality, you'll want to go with OLED. Since the set can control lighting on a pixel-by-pixel basis, it generally produces a clearer image with improved contrast and darker blacks. 

Mini LED TVs are brighter, but that isn't always a good thing, as images can sometimes appear washed out. OLED also offers much better viewing angles than Mini LED TVs, which is ideal if your seating is off to the side. 

Also: LG G6 vs. Samsung S95H

While LG, Sony, and Samsung continue to push OLED technology brighter and brighter with innovations like layered panels and improved processors, you'll still get a much dimmer picture than with a Mini LED.

2. You want the best gaming experience

If you're a competitive gamer, you know that every millisecond matters. Between Mini LED and OLED, the latter has a faster response time, or the time it takes pixels on the screen to switch from one color to another. While Mini LED TVs and monitors have a response time as low as 1 ms, some OLED sets have a response of just .1 ms. 

An OLED TV is also more likely to support VRR technology like Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync to prevent screen tearing and stuttering.

Additionally, OLED TVs were among the first to support Dolby Vision Gaming 4K at 120Hz, making for more fluid graphics. For casual gamers, either option will do just fine. But if you take your gaming sessions seriously and want the best TV display for it, go with an OLED.