In the continuous battle between plasma and LCD, those manufacturing the latter came up in 2006 with a new technology, promising to revolutionize LCD impact on the market, and to impress the buyers up to the point to consider spending something extra for improvement in quality. Those taking the step up in promoting the so called LED LCD TV were people from Samsung that presented their latest gig at the IFA show, in September 2006. Since that time, other manufacturers followed their steps, and it seems that this technology advancement is here to stay. Back then, they promised better clarity and accuracy for fast moving sequences, a richer color gamut, and a high dynamic contrast ratio. We will talk about the technology advantages right away, but first we will try to clarify a little what stands behind these advantages.

Technical matters

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode, and it is pretty self explanatory, if we take in consideration the fact that any LCD needs a backlight, in order to display the image and make it visible to the human eye.
LCD screens, as they are designed nowadays, have an internal light source, which makes the images on the screen visible, even when there is no light in the room. In order to understand more, imagine the LCD screen as being comprised of layers. Going from back to front, the first layer is the backlight, and it has the role of emitting light towards the screen. This light cannot be too powerful, as this will only make us see no distinct images on the screen. That is why it is very important to adjust the amount of light, and this is done automatically by LCD technology, through light valves. Also, a polarizing filter is used to polarize the quantity of light, so that just enough light may pass in order to display correctly images on the screen.

LED Backlighting

The LED technology has two ramifications: one consists of white LED backlight, and the other of RGB LED backlight. It is hard to say that this is exactly a competition, as white LED technology has been especially used for smaller LCD screens. However, even if RGB LED technology is considered to be better in terms of performances, it is still quite expensive and that is why it has to conquer the manufacturers. Let’s see how each one works.

White and RGB

White LED backlight: Even if it is called a white LED, it is actually a blue one covered in yellow phosphor; this way, it gives the illusion of a white light.

RGB LED backlight: This one consists of a red, a blue and a green LED, which are used to determine different levels of white. You will only find such a backlight in high end products.

The advantage of RGB LED technology rests with the amount of color richness it can deliver. Through its reliable red, green and blue LED’s, the light projected onto the screen nearly matches the color of the pixels that construct it; this means that the colors are more accurate, when compared to white LED lighting. The colors appear vivid, making for a difference and bringing something new for LCD technology.

Manufacturers are still holding back on using RGB LED for backlighting their products, as the cost is too high. Rumor has it, however, that such new LCD TV’s will hit the streets starting with 2010.

How Does it Work?

The LED is the source of light and its main responsibility is to distribute light evenly towards the entire screen. Two configurations are usually used for LCD’s: array and edge lit. For the first, we have LED’s distributed uniformly in the back, while for the other, the LED’s are place only on one side. Both deliver what technology promises, but the first consumes more power, and it does give brighter lighting. In order to understand better, we need to add that the light provided by LED’s is focused into a diffuser which deals with distributing the light. Most LCD manufacturers prefer side-mounting the LED’s for backlighting, because of lower energy consumption. With the pressure of new products to be eco-friendly, their choice is easy to understand. Also, this way, the final product is thinner and sleek, which also makes for a great appearance.

LED LCD TV Advantages

While understanding the technology is important, another thing that interests us more is what advantages this brings to us. Here they are:

  • less energy consumption (up to 40% less than other LCD TV’s)
  • it is eco-friendly
  • ultra-slim appearance
  • better picture quality
  • more accurate colors
  • it increases panel life
  • better contrast ratio

Winning the Fight Against Plasma?

The main reason why LCD manufacturers come up with better and better improvements is their continuous fight against plasma. In the past, plasma advocates always claimed that the colors delivered by their favorite HDTV type are nothing short of extraordinary, which was not exactly the same thing with LCD TV’s. While an increase in quality over traditional LCD’s is noticeable, the debate whether LED LCD’s will be able to win against plasma is still going strong.

It is true that full array RGB LED backlight is capable of delivering deeper blacks and more accurate colors, while also being able to reduce the blur for fast moving scenes, but this type of LCD TV is yet to become popular as its price can be quite daunting.

The Bottom Line

LCD manufacturers have succeeded in bringing something new with LED technology, but they still have a long road ahead in order to impose new standards on the market. A good thing is that their prices for LED LCD TV’s has started to drop, which makes for increased sales, and, of course, profit. This means one thing for us, consumers: they will invest more in this technology, which means that we will benefit of better products in the future.