Simple Guide To Understanding Led Tv Technology

By Author: Lucy Carter
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In a nutshell LED TV's are part of the new generation HDTV (High Definition Television) family, They seem to be all the rage these days - this rests on the fact that they're built using LED (Light Emitting Diode) backlights to illuminate the display screen, rather than the traditional fluorescent tubes found on other types of LCD TV's. This makes all the difference in terms of enhanced colour, brightness and contrast quality as well as their appearance which is super sleek and thinner than most other flat screens.

The following guide will help you understand LED TV technology and its features so you can make the right choice when shopping around.

The Different Types of LED TV's

In the same way that traditional LCD TV's differ in terms of how their fluorescent lights are arranged, it's important to know that there are two main types of LED TV's based on how their LED backlights are placed:

Edge-lit LED's

These models are distinguished by having a row of LEDs around the edges of the display screen panel which create a uniform light source that shines into a multi-layered diffuser panel. Because ...
... the lighting elements are around the perimeter and not behind the screen, it allows for an ultra stylish and slim design.

Full-matrix LED's

A LED TV of this type has its lighting elements fitted across the back of the display and uses a diffuser panel to make the backlight uniform. Increasingly, they offer the added feature of 'local dimming', which lets you lessen or switch off certain lighting elements while keeping other areas at full brightness. This results in excellent picture contrast - an improvement on earlier versions of LED TV's that suffered from poor black levels. The dimming feature goes by different titles depending on the manufacturer - other names to look out for are 'focal light' or 'smart dimming'. Without this added feature, LED TV's are actually very similar to the more traditional LCD TV's.

Picture Quality

Colour

For the best in colour accuracy, LED TV's with coloured backlighting are recommended. The other type of models which have white backlighting still offer an impressive picture quality however.

Contrast

While it's generally not a problem for the average person, it's been noted that uneven backlighting in LED TV's causes some areas of the screen to be better lit than others. The local dimming feature in full-matrix LED TV technology allows you to fine-tune the backlighting to rectify this - your picture quality will be an improvement on earlier LED TV models because by dimming certain areas you can create darker blacks and better detail in dark scenes.

Viewing Angles

It has been said that a shortcoming of LED lighting technology is that even the best LCD TV's suffer from contrast degradation when viewed from angles of more than approximately 30 degrees from the centre. This issue has been significantly improved over the years however and now LED's models now boast better viewing angles than plasma TV's.

Cost and Size

Currently, LED backlight televisions come in sizes that range from 46 to 70 inches and tend to cost significantly more than the more traditional LCD television models. This has not stopped their popularity however because they offer the best quality of display.

Power Usage

Full-matrix LED TVs with the local dimming feature use more electrical power than an edge-lit or LCD TV of the same screen size. Compared to plasma TV's however, they use slightly less power. Overall, the energy consumption in LED edge-lit models is usually the best among all TV technologies.

Longevity

Most manufacturers set the lifetime of LED TV's at about 100,000 hours. Due to being fairly new on the marketplace, they don't as yet have much of a track record to be able to fully confirm this however, LED backlight themselves generally last long and they suffer less degradation over time than their LCD TV counterparts which tend to experience a mild change in colour as they get older.

If you've decided a LED TV is a must-have, the above guide will help you choose the model that is best suited to your needs and your budget. Above all, it's important to compare the range of offerings available on the marketplace so you can be sure to find the best deal.
Barry Knightly owns a LED TV and electronics repair business.