Sony says it is creating a brand new backlight tech for LCD TVs, utilizing RBG LEDs. “However wait, aren’t all backlights RGB LEDs?” If that is what you are pondering, no, really most aren’t. What’s your subsequent thought? “Absolutely somebody has executed this earlier than?” Truly, sure, Sony did, about 20 years in the past. However this evolution of the tech, initially often known as Triluminos, guarantees higher shade and distinction than what was doable earlier than. It would even rival OLED by way of image high quality.
In the meanwhile Sony is barely speaking in regards to the know-how, not any particular product the place it may be discovered. Nonetheless, the very fact Sony’s speaking about it does suggest we’ll see this tech in actual TVs quickly. This is why it is attention-grabbing.
Backlights, RGB and in any other case
Two firm’s takes on LED backlighting. All 4 of those TVs are exhibiting the identical picture. Every TV on the prime is similar mannequin because the one in entrance of it, simply with their liquid crystal layer eliminated so that you’re trying instantly on the LED backlight. Notice how the TVs on the fitting, with extra zones and higher backlight management, can present a brighter lantern.
First, a short step again to clarify backlights. All trendy TVs that are not OLED are LCD. These have numerous names, like QLED, QNED, and naturally the deceptive “LED.” Mini-LED is an development that has smaller LEDs than different LED LCD applied sciences, and usually extra of them. Then there’s MicroLED shows, which are not LCDs, however they don’t seem to be fairly regular TV dimension… but.
LCD, or liquid crystal show, has a liquid crystal layer (therefore the identify) that creates the picture. Nonetheless, that layer does not create the gentle. It might probably solely manipulate it. The job of making the sunshine falls on, you guessed it, the backlight. This backlight could be a sequence of LEDs organized throughout the again of the TV, or embedded within the edges or body of the TV. We dive into this extra in our article on how LCD TVs use mini-LED, twin panels and quantum dots to tackle OLED, however to know what makes this new Sony tech attention-grabbing, all you must perceive is that there is a backlight with a bunch of LEDs that creates gentle, and a layer in entrance of it that manipulates that gentle to type a picture.
Blue LEDs, utilized in most backlight designs, excite purple and blue quantum dots (center layer on this diagram). This now RGB gentle is then manipulated by an LCD layer to create the picture you see.
Sometimes the LEDs in trendy backlights are all blue. This blue gentle not solely creates all of the blue gentle you see, however when interacting with quantum dots, additionally creates purple and inexperienced gentle. For probably the most half this will work very well, and lots of shows utilizing this methodology look actually good. There are some limitations, which this new Sony backlight methodology goals to repair.
R’s, G’s and B’s
In Sony’s new design, the backlight makes use of RGB LEDs, doubtlessly providing finer management.
Although RGB backlights have been executed earlier than, the tech has superior in ways in which enhance what was doable in these previous variations. Most notably, this new tech is a variant of mini-LED. As its identify suggests, mini-LED has smaller particular person LEDs however extra of them in contrast with a standard LED backlight. Extra LEDs permits for higher management of the backlight array and normally means higher picture high quality. For the reason that liquid crystal layer cannot fully block gentle, the backlight itself has to go darkish to create black. Much less-expensive fashions will solely have just a few “zones” that may be addressed individually. This can lead to blooming. For instance, image a streetlight on a darkish night time. On an OLED TV the sunshine is vibrant and the remainder of the display may be completely black. On a price range LED LCD, the sunshine is vibrant, but it surely has a type of halo round it the place the LEDs are vibrant however the content material desires them to be darkish. With plenty of LEDs there’s finer management and fewer probability of blooming. For extra, try our article OLED vs. LED vs. Mini-LED vs. LCD: What is the Finest?
Sony’s development right here is RGB mini-LEDs, that are usually only one shade, normally blue (extra on this in a second). By having extra discrete management over not solely brightness but additionally shade, there’s the potential for a lot higher shade quantity.
Which brings us to…
Colour quantity
Take this with a grain of salt, because it’s from Sony and attempting to hype the corporate’s new tech, however theoretically, the totally different applied sciences might carry out this fashion. Colour quantity charts may be complicated at first look, however primarily the bigger the dice, the brighter the colours are with out shedding saturation. How vibrant can a deep purple be? If a film reveals a vibrant blue sky, how vibrant can or not it’s whereas nonetheless being a deep blue shade? Sony is saying its RGB backlight can do that higher than blue LED, mini-LED, or both taste of OLED.
The secret right here is “shade quantity.” Basically, that is how a lot shade may be created at totally different brightness ranges. A show may be very vibrant, but it surely would possibly sacrifice shade saturation to be that vibrant. For example, think about somebody on TV carrying a purple shirt with a vibrant highlight on them. A TV that does not have good shade quantity would possibly show that shirt as a shade of pink as a substitute of the purple it really was.
Shows of every kind have lengthy sacrificed shade accuracy for brightness. Their designers figured, typically rightly, that brightness offered extra TVs than shade. Today, all TVs are a lot vibrant, so they should discover methods to enhance picture high quality in different methods. Aspect-by-side, with the fitting content material, a TV with higher shade quantity can look richer, extra life like, extra vibrant.
The one gentle you want in a TV is purple, inexperienced and blue. On this advertising and marketing diagram, Sony is asserting that it is capable of produce way more purple than what’s doable with different mini-LED designs.
Can this new backlight tech rival OLED by way of general image high quality? Effectively, it will rely. It is possible it will likely be brighter than OLED, as mini-LED TVs typically are, and Sony is saying this new tech might create shows with 4,000 nits. That is very, very vibrant, and the corporate guarantees higher shade quantity as effectively. For the reason that backlight nonetheless will not be capable of “flip off” particular person pixels like OLED, its distinction ratio technically will not be pretty much as good. Nonetheless, with sufficient zones and good processing, each of which Sony has stated it has been engaged on, it is doable that with most content material the distinction shall be exhausting to differentiate.
That is all theoretical, after all. It is a new tech and we’ve but to see it in an actual product. Sony has traditionally made some great-looking TVs. Sony has additionally, traditionally, made some actually costly TVs. This may very well be the previous, however it would undoubtedly be the latter. Whether or not the tech’s efficiency will justify its worth is one thing we’ll have to attend and see. Sony additionally is not the one one engaged on RGB backlights for the near-future. Samsung, Hisense, and TCL are additionally engaged on variations of the know-how. All variations of the tech have nice potential, however after all we’ll need to see how they’re really carried out earlier than we will say which firm did it greatest.
Sony hasn’t revealed potential availability, however we’ll possible see extra at CES 2026, subsequent January.
Along with masking audio and show tech, Geoff does photograph excursions of cool museums and areas world wide, together with nuclear submarines, plane carriers and medieval castles. He additionally paperwork epic 10,000-mile highway journeys and extra.
You may try Funds Journey for Dummies, his journey guide, and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. Observe him on Instagram and YouTube.
