There are three popular formats for flat screen 3D TVs that are currently on sale. Plasma, LCD and LED.
LED is the latest to hit the market, so what is LED and how does it compare to LCD?
Confusingly LCD and LED both actually use LCD screens. The only difference is in the way that the light is used to generate the picture.
LED technology uses light emitting diodes (hence the name) to create the picture. These are very efficient at emitting bright light from little energy. Whilst LCD uses cold Cathode Flourescent Lamps to spread a white light across the back of the LCD which is then coloured to generate the image.
And there are in fact two types of LED – LED backlight and edge LED. LED backlight positions the diodes directly behind the screen to give deeper colours, higher contrast and a greater range of shades in the all-important dark end of the spectrum. Whilst the edge LED technology places white LEDs around the edge of the screen, which allows for much thinner screens (less than 1 cm thick!).
So when choosing between LED technologies, it’s a toss up between thinner screens and slightly richer colours.
But how does LED compare to LCD when choosing a 3D TV?
LCD technology has been around for a while and is being constantly improved to reduce energy consumption; improve tracking of fast moving scenes and improve depth and accuracy of colour. It also produces a very bright picture, making it ideal for watching outside darkened TV rooms.
So LCD is also an attractive option. But having viewed both LCD and LED screens at 3DTV Watcher, we think there is little to choose between the two, though LED gets our vote. Backlight LED is even brighter with deeper colours than LCD, whilst edge LED allows for amazingly thin screens – far thinner than conventional flatscreens.
So talk to the experts before investing in your new 3D TV, but we hope this is helpful in giving you a little background knowledge when talking to the 3D TV salesman.