LED vs LCD
LED vs LCD is the hot topic television question everyone is asking. First there is no such thing as a LED only TV. In the case of LED vs LCD the TVs are categorized by the screen of the TV. For the subject at hand both types of TVs are LCD. LCD means liquid crystal display.
The crystals are designed in such a way that the electrical impulses it receives will determine how much each liquid crystal inside each pixel will twist. Much like your eyes when you go outside. Your eyes are the display (screen) and the sun is the light coming in, and the electrical impulses from your brain tells you how open or closed to make your eyes so you can focus outside. To squint or not to squint.
The Main Difference of LED vs LCD
That’s the way the crystal display works in a LCD TV. The main difference is what type of light is being used so you can see the picture on the screen. In a pure LCD TV the backlighting or light source is called a CCFL. Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp. In the case of a LED-LCD TV the backlight source is, well, LEDs. A LED is short for light emitting diode. Much like the kind you find on a Lite Brite. Where a CCFL is much like the kind of lighting you find in an office building.
What you should know about LED vs LCD Right Now
So when it comes to LED vs LCD there’s two main things you should know right now. There is no such thing as a LED only TV. LED is just a light source. There is LED-LCD TVs and LCD TVs. The other thing, the main difference between LED vs LCD is the backlighting used. LCD only TVs uses CCFLs and LED-LCD TVs use LEDs.
LED vs LCD – Is backlighting that important?
Is the backlighting that important? Absolutely. When you go outside and the sun is shining you see that the sun (much like a CCFL) is lighting up everything. Everything can be seen. CCFLs is a very non specific light source, and very loud, so to speak. A LED light source is very specific, works only in a certain area of the TV. It’s pinpoint accuracy compared to a CCFL where it’s light can go anywhere. That’s very important. However both deliver plenty of light to the display.
What does backlighting have to with LED vs LCD?
A LCD Screen in it’s simplest form is one polarized sheet of plastic and a non polarized sheet of plastic. Both pieces of plastic have grooves in them that match up to each other, and in between you have the liquid crystals that sit in the groves. These groves are commonly referred to as the pixels. There are three main states of being. Solid, liquid, and gas. However there are somethings that can exist in various states. Liquid crystals are one of them. They are neither a solid or a liquid and this is why they can twist in various ways. When the electric current is passed through the sheets of special polarized plastic the liquid crystals react in micro-micro seconds. They will move according the flow of electricity and the liquid crystal will twist in such a way that it will allow certain amounts of light to pass through.
LED vs LCD – How does the LCD Screen get it’s color
So how to you get color? The liquid crystal is actually divided up into three sub-pixels of red, blue and green. When the current is passed through and the liquid crystals react they are in fact only allowing certain colors of the red, blue, and green in their individual pixel to be displayed. It depends on how each part of the pixel reacts. And example would be, when the electrical current goes through, the three red, blue, and green liquid crystals in a one pixel will start to twist only allowing certain lights to get through. It could twist in such a way that it could completely block out the light and it could twist in such a way that only certain reds and blues get through to form a sort of violet. Understand this is explaining it in it’s simplest form. But it’s the basic idea of how a LCD display works.
LED vs LCD – How can the backlighting effect the picture if it’s using the same LCD screen?
Getting back to LED vs LCD. A LED light, like I said above, is not overbearing. It has the job of lighting up certain parts of the screen, so when the electricity passes through and the crystals twist the light coming from the LED will be shine straight through and not go anywhere else. However the CCFLs in a LCD only TV are not responsible for a certain area of the screen, but it’s shines everywhere. Using the sun again as an example. Your curtains can block out a flashlight, but if your curtains are hit with direct sunlight there’s a good chance the light will still get through. This is what happens a lot of the time with CCFL (LCD only TVs) The light is so overpowering that it will bleed into the other pixels of the LCD screen and the results can be disappointing.
You'll notice that the CCFL lighting is seeping/bleeding into the blacks making them grayish, while the whites are being blended with the blacks. The LED-LCD picture does not do this, in fact gives you a crystal clear picture.
An example can be seen to the right. But what is happening is the black that should be dark dark black is actually coming out blackish grey. The pure bright colors are becoming washed out, and the reds can look somewhat pinkish. CCFL lights can be so overbearing that the light can actually seep through the TV itself, over the polarized plastic and show above or below your screen. Picture a closed door, and the light is on in that room. The light will leak out the bottom of the door, and you, of course, can tell the light is on in the room. The same can happen with LCD only TVs. The light leakage and light pixel bleeding can dramatically alter the picture quality.
So backlighting is the main difference between LED vs LCD. What else?
That is the main difference when talking about LED vs LCD. But it goes much, much deeper. Since LCD (CCFL backlighting) will soon become a thing of the past while LED-LCD TVs are becoming the future and are already taking over. 2011 marks the first time that LED-LCD TVs and Monitors overtook vs sales of LCD only TVs and Monitors. The reasoning being, number 1, is the picture quality is so much better, much more vivid true-to-life colors. The second, since it’s the TV everyone it turning to, that’s the TV model that the newest innovations will be applied to. Such as 3D technology, Internet capabilities, Apps and so much more.
End Results
You’ve only seen one aspect of why LED-LCD is more superior. Please see our homepage that explains even more in depth the difference between LCD and LED. Other topics like power consumption, refresh rates, automatic dimming, etc… You’ll be shocked to see just how much the LED-LCD TV is winning the war in the LED vs LCD battle.
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