Understanding Led Technology

By Author: Lucy Carter
Total Articles: 102
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LED TV's and monitors are part of the new High Definition generation. Quite simply, LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology uses individual backlights which in many cases can be tuned on or off in areas to allow for precision control of the lighting emitted from the TV screen or monitor. This differs from traditional backlighting which uses a CCFL (Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) that involves several fluorescent tubes placed horizontally across the screen. The enhanced benefits of LED technology allow for a sleeker screen design plus improved brightness potential, colour reproduction and viewing contrast.

The following guide will help you get to grips with LED technology so you can decide for yourself whether it deserves the must-have hype.

Types of LED Lighting

The first thing to understand is that there are two distinct types of LED TV screens or monitors based on how the LED backlighting is arranged:

Edge-lit screens

This type of TV screen or monitor has a row of LED backlights placed around the edges of the screen panel, which shine into a multi-layered diffuser panel creating a uniform view. ...
... Because the lights surround the perimeter of the screen instead of being behind it, edge-lit models allow for an ultra sleek design.

Full-matrix screens

These models have their LED lights arranged across the back of the display, which then feed through a diffuser panel to make the backlighting even. The most effective LED TV's or monitors of this range have a feature called 'local dimming' or 'smart dimming' - this allows you to dim or switch off particular sections of the lighting elements while leaving other areas at full brightness. The result is enhanced picture contrast of black levels and other colours. It must be said that without this ability to fine tune the LED lighting to your tastes, LED TV's are generally very similar to traditional LCD TV's.

LED Viewing Quality

Colours

For on-point colour accuracy, LED TV's and monitors with coloured backlighting are the best option. The display is still impressive however with the other type of LED lights which are white.

Definition & Contrast

As explained above, LED TV and monitors with the 'local dimming' feature gives you the power to control the backlighting arrangement for an improved picture quality in terms of definition and colour contrast. The result of being able to dim or switch off certain sections of the LED lights allows for darker blacks and enhanced definition while viewing dark-lit images. The other models that don't have this feature are still high in viewing quality to the eye of the average person, but a true visual connoisseur will notice that uniform LED backlighting causes some areas of the screen to be better lit than others.

Angle of View

Because of the flat screen used by LED technology, it must be noted that this design suffers slightly from contrast degradation when the screen or monitor is viewed at angles of more than approximately 30 degrees from the centre. This issue has been significantly improved on over the past few years and has now advanced sufficiently to offer better viewing quality than plasma screens.

Size and Cost of LED TV's

Televisions with LED backlights are currently on offer in sizes that range from 46 to 70 inches. While they generally cost a fair amount more than their traditional LCD television counterparts, many people are happy to pay the extra cost to have the best picture quality possible.

Life Expectation

As a general rule of thumb, TV manufacturers say their products have the longevity of approximately 100 000 hours. Since LED TV's are quite new to the marketplace, this life expectation has not been fully confirmed as yet, however LED lights are known to last for a reasonably long period of time. LED backlighting technology is also said to suffer less degradation in colour over time than LCD models.

Power Usage

LED backlights offer better energy efficiency than CCFL-based backlights. It must be said however that a LED TV with the local dimming feature will use more electrical power than a traditional or edge-lit LCD TV that has the same screen size.

Whether you're looking to buy a LED TV or LED monitor, the above information gives you the key facts about this new technology so you can make the right choice when shopping around for your viewing needs. As there are now an increasing amount of models available from different manufacturers, it's crucial to do your research so you can be sure of finding the manufacturer and model that offers the best quality for your money.
Barry Knightly owns a LED monitor and TV retail outlet.