LG QNED mini-LED TVs are its best LCDs for 2021, but they’re not as good as OLEDs

This story is part of THESE, where our editors will bring you the latest news and the hottest gadgets from fully virtual CES 2021.

CES 2021 is coming up quickly, but LG was eager to present the last four-letter word to the television world. The manufacturer, best known for great OLED TVs like the CX series, is coming out with a new line of televisions called QNED. Based on the most common LCD TV technology instead of YOU ARE, QNED combines the advantages of its NanoCell technology with quantum dots for improved color, contrast and brightness, according to LG.

QNED TVs will occupy the top of LG’s 2021 LCD TV lineup, but company representatives have been careful to say that they won’t deliver the same level of picture quality as its OLED TVs. LG hasn’t announced any new 2021 OLED TVs, but is expected to do so closer to CES.

QNED is just a letter away QLED, a technology touted by Samsung and TCL with largely similar foundations (LED LCD backlighting and quantum dots), so confusion is inevitable. LG says its QNED TVs will use Mini-LED backlight technology, a bit like TCL Series 6 and 8 series QLED TVs, which again improve brightness and contrast compared to traditional LED backlights. Samsung has yet to announce mini-LED TVs, but it does release extremely high-end wall-mounted TVs that use MicroLED technology.

Read more: Mini-LED LCD TV technology: tiny lights lead to better picture quality

LG has yet to provide much additional information about its QNED sets. It didn’t say exactly how NanoCell and quantum dots would work together (both technologies traditionally focus on color enhancement) or provide more specs – other than saying TVs would have “up to” 30,000. mini-LED and 2,500 local gradation zones, probably in the larger sizes. It also didn’t announce exactly which models would use QNED or what screen sizes and resolutions (4K and / or 8K) they will have. Company representatives promised more details closer to CES; LG has a press conference scheduled for January 11.

Meanwhile, TV buyers are faced with another confusing and similar brand name. At CNET, we’ll do our best to sort it out once we get more information. How QNED compares with QLED and other high-end LCD TVs, or with OLED TVs, however, is the bigger question, and ultimately that answer will have to wait for criticism. Stay tuned.