The new TV season is in full swing and we at Trusted Reviews are getting into the nitty gritty of reviewing as many models as we can (our test room overflows with new models).
We’ve highlighted RGB TVs as this new display technology has been built up by brands for a couple of years now.
Sony has been building up to RGB, with previews and black box events as they teased the True RGB line-up. Hisense has looked to RGB in its attempts to become a market leader in the TV field, while Samsung – as it always does – sees RGB as another method of delivering its bright and colourful picture quality.
Despite being in the early throes of the technology, there isn’t quite the level of positivity that even I was expecting.
The Hisense UR9 that I reviewed was ultimately a disappointment. The Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II seem to deliver on the expectations that Sony set for themselves, although to some they’re still not better than OLED. Samsung’s R95H delivered “unprecedented colour response”, though there have been reports of motion blur and, well, strangely, there haven’t been many reviews for it, and we’re well into July, which is unlike Samsung.
So while I wouldn’t say that something is amiss – these are the first-generation models after all – but expectations need to be reined in. These RGB models aren’t (yet) the coming of the TV Gods.
Might TCL have been right?
TCL, surprisingly, gave RGB backlit technology a body swerve, putting the emphasis on its new SQD Mini LED technology. It’s a similar concept to RGB (and indeed Mini LED) but uses more advanced Quantum Dots to deliver a broader range of colours. Essentially, TCL wanted a larger degree of control that it felt it could not get with RGB Mini LED.
To add to that point, TCL has also stated that it doesn’t see RGB as technology to pursue in the here and now. It has two RGB models in its 2026 line-up, but its SQD models are what it wants customers to buy. RGB is viewed as having potential and the future, but that future could be two or three years away.
LG hasn’t particularly embraced RGB, sticking with its OLED models as being its TV of choice. The same with Philips, who have positioned its RGB model within the middle of its range and stated that OLED remains better for picture quality.
The mixed messaging is something I’ve written about before, which is odd to me as you’d think the TV industry as a whole might come together and deliver similar, if not quite the same messages and impressions of the technology.
There’s no doubting that OLED has its issues and will continue to have them, but so far, RGB Mini LED hasn’t managed to shove OLED out of the way. If anything, it might have made OLED’s positioning even stronger. Maybe RGB is here a little too early.
Is RGB Mini LED better than OLED?
There’s an argument to be made that TV brands have made claims that suited them as to why RGB is needed rather than what suited customers. The market has always made noise about TVs getting brighter and more colourful, but most people after a new TV will probably have a look at your bog standard QLED model. There’s not the attraction, at least for the masses, to trade up to a better kind of TV experience that requires significant investment.
But with such hype behind it, and competing against OLED (despite what some may choose to think), RGB Mini LED has made the case that it is comparable to its OLED cousin, but hasn’t yet delivered the compelling evidence that it is better than OLED. That has allowed OLED to state it’s actually still very much in the game, and not worried about what RGB brings to the table.
Sure, RGB TVs will likely be better for rooms where there’s lots of ambient light, but why would you have a room where lights and daylight would wash out the colour and detail from TV. You’d swivel the TV so it doesn’t face direct sunlight (which you should do anyway). You might close the curtains (especially during this hot summer).
And on top of that, is there a pronounced superiority of RGB Mini LED over OLED? Comparisons with the two would suggest that RGB is better in some instances, but weaker in others; and you’d only be able to tell if you had an OLED and RGB TV sitting side-by-side. And how likely is that going to happen for customers?
Most content that’s mastered isn’t done so at 4000 nits – at least only in terms of peaks – and the launch of RGB TVs could (as Sony wishes) lead to films and TV series being mastered at higher brightness. But that is a chicken-and-egg situation – would that cause an increase in brightness with actual content because right now, to take advantage of RGB’s colour performance, there’s nothing you can watch that truly takes advantage of its performance.
And then there’s artistic intent, and in many cases this is not to deliver searing 3000 nit levels of brightness but, in more cases than you might think, less than 300 nits.
Might it be that the TV industry needs RGB TVs more than the customers who buy it, and those who create content that’s watched on TVs?
I like what I’ve seen of RGB TV technology so far, and I’ll be seeing the Bravia True RGB TVs close up in the near future, so I don’t want to cast my own opinion in stone just yet. But it’s worth remembering this is a new technology – if it’s good now, it can only get better, not worse.
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