TVs Are Getting Brighter, We Tested: Here’s Why It Matters

Main takeaways:

• High-end TV brightness has evolved from around 1,000 nits to more than 4,000 nits, driven largely by Mini and Micro-LED technologies.
• TVs with exceptional peak brightness (such as the TCL
• TVs measuring less than 1,000 nits in fine mode are still enough to get a good viewing experience, including watching movies and gaming in HDR.

Anyone who’s ever been to a Best Buy or Target store knows the “wall of TVs” — a long aisle of TVs with each set set to eye-catching brightness. This mode is often called “Shopping Mode,” “Live,” or “Dynamic” depending on the brand. Here at CNET, we’ve been saying for a very long time that Vivid is great for selling TVs, but Not for watching TV.

CNET tested TVs in our area Dedicated laboratory Since the turn of the 20th century, we’ve had a wealth of data covering every aspect of TV performance – across hundreds of models. However, televisions have changed a lot in that time, and so have the things we watch on them. It doesn’t seem possible, but TVs keep getting better every year, and one of the most obvious ways is the amount of brightness they can provide.

So, using test data that my colleagues and I at CNET TV Lab collected, I saw how brightness has increased over the past few years. With this knowledge, I’m here to help you decide what kind of brightness you can expect when choosing a TV, and what all that extra light actually does.

Read also: The best TVs of 2026

Our data confirms that the TV’s brightness has exploded

Over the past few years, TV manufacturers have been engaged in a brightness war, and it continues to this day. In 2026, the TCL QM8L is announced as being capable of up to 6,000 nits, which according to Valerionplacing it within the scope of “outdoor sports display”. Do we need this in the living room?

Until 2025, the brightest TV we’ve reviewed is Physio PX65-G1. Released in 2019, it was brighter than any TV before or since, at 2,900 nits – however, that’s still half as bright as TCL claims. At the time of the Vizio’s release, most of the TVs we reviewed were under 1,000 nits. In the past 18 months, TVs have been able to dramatically increase brightness output, from a maximum of 2,900 nits to more than 4,500, and the new QM8L (review coming soon) It even says to go to 6000. Most “normal” TVs also increase the maximum brightness to between 1000 and 1500.

The huge improvement in brightness levels has been largely driven by LED-based models like the TCL QM8 series and Hisense U8QG – The last one I measured at over 4000 lumens. With the move to small and even micro LEDs, manufacturers have been able to fit thousands of times more light sources into their TVs, increasing the brightness.

There are two models that are capable of delivering high brightness and resolution, and the best one is the Hisense U8Q. As you can see from the chart above, the Hisense wasn’t the only TV that managed to achieve exceptional brightness, but not all of them were bright in its “fine” mode. Some of them were half bright. The trend is most evident with TCL X11L, TCL QM9K and LG G5which has the highest brightness for its technology, but is half as bright in its movie modes.

There is some physics at play here. There are a range of tricks that manufacturers can use to boost the apparent brightness of their TVs, for example, by changing the ‘white’ colour, aka Color temperature. We naturally consider TVs with a blue tint, or those with a high color temperature, to be brighter. Since the backlight is often made of blue LEDs, this naturally changes the color response from ‘accurate’ to ‘blue’. This can help inform Vivid mode, which is very bright and immediately impressive, but it’s not something you can sit down and watch often. Everything can seem very real, like the cartoon “Uncanny Valley”.

While the technology that pushes the envelope relies on LEDs, OLED It was not without progress. LG’s move to “four-stack” technology — which effectively fuses two OLED panels together — has helped boost the G4’s brightness significantly. With the launch of the G6, we’ve seen that continued increases in light output have been minimal since then. Designs like the G5 and G6 can’t compete with the absolute torches that are the latest micro RGB TVs, and most people don’t need them to do so either.

Why brightness isn’t everything

When you see a TV advertised as “Oh my god, the brightest thing ever,” it’s usually because the model is set to Lambada: The Forbidden Dance: Vivid mode. Setting it to Movie or Filmmaker will make it look a lot better, but what about all that brightness you paid for? Why can’t TV manufacturers make TVs work well at higher brightness levels?

I haven’t yet formally reviewed any 2026 TVs as I write this, but I have measured a fair number, and none of the models reach the highs set last year. Is the brightness war really over? It’s too early to tell, but the move to MicroRGB could mean TVs will be more colorful instead of terribly bright.

This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Last year, at the launch of the LG G5, the company’s technicians showed us a demo of how bright the screen was. Then one of the technicians said something to the effect of, “I don’t want to turn the TV on like this all the time,” before quickly turning it off. This is one of the issues that limits how bright you can get – running your TV at maximum brightness all the time is actually not good, especially if it’s OLED.

Operating any TV at full power reduces the life of the diodes, and therefore the life of the panel itself, and with still images can increase the risk Keep the image or burn it. In the G5’s case, it looks so good actually when set to movie mode — which is still bright — that I gave it a Labs award for best color accuracy.

Brightness is an important consideration, but it’s only one part of the image quality pie. Color and contrast are equally important. Think of all the movies that take place at night, usually a chase scene of some sort. It’s usually very dark and it’s hard to see what’s going on, especially on a TV that doesn’t display shadow detail well. Can you think of scenes that are mostly white? There’s not nearly as much, so filmmakers don’t always use light colors as much as dark colors.

Some of my favorite TVs are actually very dim. the QM6K It’s one of the best TVs under $1,000, but it struggles to get 600 nits. The LG C4 is an excellent TV, but its exact setting, as tested by CNET, is below 1,000 nits. However, it’s still bright enough for playing games and watching movies.

How much brightness do you really need?

With the invention and spread of high dynamic range content, the brightness that a television needs to transmit has increased dramatically. There are several content brightness levels, the most common being 1000 nits and 4000 nits. As of now, there’s no reliable way to know which content is set to which brightness level, and to have your TV use it. One company wants to help.

While Dolby Vision is one of the mainstays of HDR, Dolby has produced a sequel designed to improve the picture quality of TVs from budget to premium models. Dolby Vision 2 technology allows content creators and TV makers to take advantage of all the extra light output. However, we still have at least 12 months to go until we can see compatible content or devices.

So Dolby Vision 2 Coming, but where is this brightness most useful now? In one word: gaming. Unlike streaming platforms like Netflix, game developers can set the HDR brightness of their games to whatever they want. As part of my lab system, I test each new TV using a range of gaming tests, including playing fast-paced action games, and I’ve found that extra brightness can help the picture stand out and improve immersion. Playing a video game like Call of Duty on Xbox is the easiest and most fun way to tell the difference between a 3000 nit TV and a 1000 nit set.

Although it doesn’t hurt to buy a bright TV, most TVs can provide a good picture. Even budget models like the excellent Hisense QD7. Their features, like Dolby Vision and an upcoming update, help these TVs deliver the great picture you want without paying for a bunch of LED lights you don’t need.

CNET Buying Tips

Next time you’re in a big box store and see a bunch of screens, you can really take a look at the TVs that catch your eye. Yes, they’re bright, but look for those little tricks, like the overly blue cast or the rosy red ones. What companies want you to do is compare live situations, so making a decision on this is almost impossible. As always, it’s best to do your homework when buying a TV — check CNET, other review sites, and Reddit. Sometimes a bright TV will look good at maximum brightness in your home, but not always. The good news is that TVs are generally better and brighter than they were a decade ago, and they continue to improve, so you’re less likely to buy a turkey.