LED Televisions

What About LED Televisions?

The latest wave of televisions, commonly called “LED” televisions are actually LCD TV's which are back lit by LEDs, AKA light emitting diodes instead of fluorescent lights. In other words, they are still LCD sets.

Allow me to explain. The panel, or screen, on a LCD television basically consists of an outer layer of what are called liquid crystals which generate small dots, which can change colors, called pixels. This is the layer we actually see but it does not emit any light. Any type of video image contains a lot of light. An older 27 inch tube TV burns up to 250 watts. An average plasma set uses the same but is bigger than a tube TV which uses the same power. A similar size LCD with fluorescent, or “TFT” back-lighting, uses about 115 watts and a so-called LED TV (LCD TV with LED back-lighting) uses around 100 watts. Most of this power is used to generate the light that allows us to see the image being projected!

In summary, LCD screens need a source of light to shine through them for us to see the picture and the light source in so-called LED TVs is LEDs, instead of fluorescent lights found in the previous generation of LCD televisions. However, they are still LCD televisions. The benefits of these screens are that LEDs are cheaper and more durable than TFT bulbs and do not require a high voltage power supply. The cons are that the light source is not any more balanced than fluorescent and the TV sets on the market are overpriced even for the stage of marketing they are in. The same displays are used in laptop, notebook and desktop computer systems widely now and prices are the same or less for systems with LED backlighting.

Soon, televisions with LED backlighting will be more commonplace and much less expensive. The early adopters will have theirs and the price will come down.

In the meantime, some companies are working on true LED screens. Before long we shall start seeing televisions in which each individual pixel is its own light source. LED and OLED will be the craze then too, just read about what you're looking at before you commit!