Why TCL is Suing Samusng over MiniLEDs - DTNS Weekend October 3, 2026

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2:13welcome to a dtns weekend edition gratefully provided to you and thanks for your support of this show and this week we have a lawsuit two tv manufacturers going at each other over the definition of mini LED. And I couldn't think of anybody better to help us understand this than Mr. Robert Heron. Welcome back to the show, Robert. Hey, Tom. It is good to see you. Thank you. Heron Fidelity still is the enterprise in which you endeavor, right? I am busy as ever. That's good. Good to hear. Well, let's start before we get to the actual lawsuit. Let's start with explain to people, you know, in the brief version, what is a mini LED?

2:54For every LCD TV that you look at, the liquid crystal display, it features a lighting system on the back of that panel that shines through color filters and pixel filters to create the picture you see. And it specifically refers to that lighting system. And the mini LED is, in effect, typically a grid of LEDs across the back of the display. Now, in some low-cost models, they will simplify that down to just a single string of LEDs along the side or the bottom that scatter light across the reflector on the back. But in essence, that mini-LED is, in fact, just a grid of LEDs that provide the light source that gets converted into the color and detail we see on the screen.

3:39And then I know that FALD is a part of this as well. What is that? Full-array local dimming, or local dimming for short. And what that means is for, say, a grid of LEDs or for a string of LEDs, you have per LED control where you can manipulate the individual LED that represents the light that's hitting a particular pixel and to be able to modulate that light lighter or darker in order to help improve the apparent contrast of the picture you see. So in the best case example, you would have a grid of LEDs behind that screen, that LCD display you're looking at. And in a sense, you could think of it as that mini LED array is a lower resolution version of the picture, and it brightens or darkens areas of that picture to best enhance that picture you're looking at.

4:28And that full array local dimming specifically refers to something like that grid array of LEDs and the ability to control them individually or within groups as in zones across the whole display. And that helps with contrast and black levels and that sort of gradient stuff sometimes you see in dark scenes, that kind of thing, right? Totally. And in combination with actually controlling the individual LCD pixels themselves, you can also help basically improve things like when you watch a Letterboxd movie, they won't light up the LEDs that are behind the black bar. So they appear even darker or in shadow detail and things like that as well.

5:05There's a balance between being able to make make that part of the screen that should be black as black as possible, while at the same time preserving your bright detail and pop where you need it. OK, so let's get to the dispute. Why is TCL suing Samsung when Samsung's like, we got LADs? What are you mad about, bro? In my view, at its core, it is a marketing dispute. And TCL is claiming that Samsung has taken its use of specific terms too far, specifically the mini LED terminology, at least in some ways that they would consider to be at least misleading. And that's assuming any of these terms had any agreed upon definition here in North America.

5:47It would be awesome if there was some sort of a standards body that offered and officiated such things and would define exactly what these terms mean for the average consumer. so we could have some common terms and verbiage in terms of how we describe these things. There is such a body in China, of course, and all of these companies that we're talking about right now are all members of this particular standards body. And they define things like the size of an LED, if it's mini or micro or whatever, in addition to things like what is considered full array local dimming. But they do not mix those terms together.

6:21Those are just separate definitions within that standards body. And so that's why TCL isn't suing Samsung in China? I would say so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As part of this complaint, they also say that by labeling some of their most entry-level TVs as this mini-LED, establishing that moniker on these TVs, It is implying to the general public that it offers a level of performance that an LED-equipped TV with full-array local dimming would be able to produce when, in fact, these particular TVs do not offer that full-array local dimming characteristic, even though they may and probably are backlit arrays of LEDs behind that screen.

7:04Yeah, so that's interesting because this suit is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, where, as you mentioned, there isn't a standards body. I imagine Samsung could point to the Chinese standards in its defense, right? And that might be one aspect they would pursue in this. And that's another thing to point out is that Samsung has not responded to this complaint at all, as far as I'm aware of at this point. And if they did say point, though, at the Chinese standards body that them and TCL are members of, they could point out that, look, while the size of the LED does have some specific defined characteristics in terms of how you measure that to determine if it's a regular LED or a mini LED or a micro LED, it is a separate definition in terms of full array local dimming.

7:52And those two are not, as far as I know by reading those documents, mixed together in any way. And one does not have to equal the other, even though the TV nerds of this world would love it to be that way. And they consider it as such, where you wouldn't use that term mini-LED unless it was offering some form, even in the most basic sense, of full array local dimming. Yeah. Episode prep gets messy when research, Slack threads, and script trackers are all in different places. That's where ChatGPT work comes in. Give it the goal and connect to the tools where work happens, like apps and files, and it can help pull the pieces into a draft you can review without you having to re-explain the project at every step.

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11:59Not for everyone. Individual results vary. risks and benefits at springsleep.com. It seems like Samsung probably has the law on its side to be like full array local dimming is a different thing than mini LED, but TCL has the spirit of the law on its side, which is like when you say mini LED, people assume you mean more than just the size of the LED that you have that local dimming available. If you, if you had to guess which side do you think prevails if this ends up going to court, which it might not. They might settle out of court. I would like to, not the entire complaint, I think, because in some ways there is also parts of the complaint that describe how TCL's business was affected negatively regarding this use of marketing.

12:52And when it comes down to actual numbers sold, if you actually look at how many TVs TCL sold year over year, comparatively, they ended up actually selling more, but perhaps they didn't sell even more Yeah, that's going to be their argument. But we could have imagined how many more we could have sold. One thing it would be nice to see come out of this, though, and again, maybe it would take something like the Society of Information Displays or some body here in the United States to just say, hey, look, if you're going to use mini LED or have a few checkmark boxes on the box as you purchase it where it says, OK, it's mini LED.

13:27It's also full array local dimming. And you just have checkmark boxes on these things. So people are more aware of, of what features this particular TV is going to have before you buy it. Because in particular, the three TVs that they mentioned in this complaint from Samsung are 20, 26 models that are pretty, as far as all reviews I've seen of them, and I have not personally seen any of these TVs, but they're pretty mediocre TVs. Like we're talking not very bright, okay. color, somewhat good detail in terms of color performance and pixel performance, but overall, and options I wouldn't recommend for most gamers.

14:04Besides that, we're talking like some of the most entry-level TVs, and they're being marketed in such a way that it could, if you didn't pay more attention to the specs and do a little research beforehand, you're going to find out that this might not be the be-all end-all. And there's a reason it cost as much as it did when you purchased it. Yeah, I think that's my last question to touch on is average consumer, you know, Black Friday sales coming soon, singles day sales coming soon. If you're out there and you know that mini LED is a better technology, but maybe you don't know all about it to look through all the specs and be aware of this, you should be aware that there's this difference in what Samsung is selling.

14:46Are there any other recommendations or rules of the road that you would want to pass on to consumers to be aware of regarding this sort of thing? I mean, I appreciate a good deal as much as the next person. And I am also very picky about the TVs that I own. My current TV, believe it or not, is at least six years old and it still looks fantastic. So I chose at that point to buy something that at the time, while it wasn't the max price on it, it's not a cheap TV when I bought it, but I've had it for a good long time and I still appreciate it every day. And that would be one thing I would consider as well.

15:21One, know the particular model of what it is you're looking for like now, and then keep an eye on that price as the sales roll through and then get what you want at a great price and at least know when it is at a good price. And for the least expensive TVs out there, just be aware that while it's going to produce a picture, it's probably going to look fine for most applications. But if you're in some specific niche, like say a gamer who needs specific resolution and refresh rate support, or you appreciate bright, colorful pictures and you want great HDR support or some combination thereof, be aware that those TVs are still not in that bargain basement pricing.

16:08And you got to know really what model it is you're looking for. And if you're looking at things like computer monitors, it becomes even more, it's even more convoluted there because of the way they name these products and it makes it even more challenging to figure out oh was this the one with 288 hertz or 240 hertz or or what have you so i i think a lot of people should if you're if you're just looking for some basic information about a particular tv for me the big the big important things are what what are you actually watching on the set uh it does is it going to be bright enough for the particular room you're going to put it in and ideally it's going to have good color for when you do happen to feed it an hdr format that supports a wide color palette and can give you a picture that's just going to look closer to real life and and just impress your eyeballs especially over the long term that you own this thing and if it's a samsung that says it's a mini led and it's cheap be aware samsung makes some wonderful tvs they may still be the number one manufacturer overall and they have some OLED panels that are just freaking fantastic applications.

17:14But at the same point, they also will sell you that 55 inch,$300 or less TV that, wow, I really want you to think twice before you purchase it. Well, Robert, thank you very much for helping us understand not only this lawsuit, but, you know, strategies for shopping for televisions. If folks want to follow you and what you're doing these days, where should they go? You can always hit me up at heronfidelity.com. And from there, you'll be able to find me in various other places where I have my work or my writing somewhere online. Fantastic. Thanks again, Robert. Appreciate it, man. My pleasure. And thank you folks for supporting us at patreon.com slash DTNS, and for being along with us in all the various ways that we make the show.

17:56But Patreon is, of course, the major funder of what we do. So big thanks to everyone there. We will see you again on Monday. Talk to you then.

18:19This show is part of the Frog Pants Network. Get more at frogpants.com. Diamond Club hopes you have enjoyed this program.

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