Is TCL's X95 the brightest TV ever?

Luca Fontana

1/9/2023

Translation: machine translated

TCL was the first TV manufacturer to launch Mini LED on the market. Since then, the Chinese tech giant has been constantly pushing the technology forward. The latest innovation: a 5000 nit bright TV (that's brutally bright).

The Digitec and Galaxus editorial team reports directly from Berlin from IFA 2023. You can find all the news and background information published so far in our overview:

At the beginning of the week, TCL presented the X95, the next evolutionary step in its mini-LED range, at this year's IFA. It should be able to do one thing above all: shine damn bright.

The brightest TV in the world?

Let's start with this: What is Mini LED anyway? I'd actually need a whole article to explain it properly. Good, I've written that one before. At this point, I'll try to be brief. Very briefly.

Mini LED means that thousands of closely spaced LEDs provide the backlight for your TV. And where there should be black, the LEDs dim down. This is called local dimming. The more dimming zones a television has, the more precise the dimming. This ensures better black levels - and therefore better contrasts. It also prevents annoying blooming, a kind of halo that occurs when bright edges are not precisely illuminated against a dark background.

The X95 is said to have over 5000 such dimming zones. As far as I know, there is no manufacturer that can create more such dimming zones. Not even Samsung or LG. The challenge is to make the LEDs small enough to fit as many of them as possible behind your TV. We're talking about sizes such as 0.152 millimetres per LED. Crazy, isn't it?

Almost more impressive, however, is the brightness of the X95: It is said to reach 5000 nit peak brightness. According to me, this is also a top value in the TV industry. At the trade fair stand, I was told that this brightness corresponds to the light reflections in real life. So when you see the sun glistening in the water on the TV, it should be just as bright as when you see the sun glistening in the water in real life.

If you're now imagining the TV burning your eyes out of your head, don't worry. The 5000 nit refers to the highest possible peak brightness, and this is only achieved in very small areas of the picture. Just the sparkle in the water. A lamp. Or the sun on the horizon. The rest of the image is bright, but not so bright that you can now only watch TV with sunglasses.

If you're thinking about buying one, you won't have to wait too much longer: The bright mini LED TV should be available from October in 85'' and 98'' inch sizes and cost around 6,000 francs.

Can it be smaller - and cheaper?

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.» more

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