LED Buying Guide: 6 things to know
Buying an LED TV can be confusing. LED vs LCD vs HDTV….I’m not a big tech geek that can appreciate every little nuance but I was about to shell out $1k so I figured there are at least some important points that should be learned.
1. An LED TV is just a new type of LCD TV.
All LCD-based TVs use dome kind of backlight to illuminate the liquid-crystal panel itself. The most common use fluorescent backlights (known as CCFL) but a growing number are using LEDs which are much more power efficient and enable thinner TVs.
Unlike plasma TVs which use a technology where each pixel is its own discrete light source, LCD is a “transmissive technology” where each pixel has to be illuminated from behind, or backlit. The result is that plasma TVs technically result in a better quality picture (I can’t tell a difference) but at a much higher price (…there, I CAN tell a difference).
So whether or not you want LCD or Plasma is your first choice…then if you decide LCD (which I obviously did) you should definitely decide to get an LED-LCD TV…no debating that.
But, what kinds of LED screens are there and how important are the differences really?
2.There are two types of LED backlight configurations
The original LED-based displays were backlit by what’s referred to as a “full array” of LEDs behind the LCD, across the back of the panel. As engineers tried to make TVs thinner and thinner they eventually developed another method of LED configuration that removed the extra layer of LEDs behind the LCD panel and moved them to the edges of the display…this is known as “edge-lit”. With this form of backlighting, the LEDs are affixed to all four sides of the TV and light is projected inward to the middle of the TV via “lightguides.” This is the most common form of LED TV available and the quality is every bit as good as the “full-array” versions (I think).
3. Each LED configuration can also offer “local dimming.”
With “local dimming”, portions of the backlight can be dimmed or brightened independently when different areas of the picture get darker or brighter. For example, the LEDs behind the words in the ending credits would illuminate while the ones behind the black background remain dim.
This helps reduce the amount of light that leaks through to darkened pixels, with the end result being that “blacks appear blacker”. Since black levels are crucial to contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks, the more the picture–and colors–appear to “pop”. Also, the image as a whole will seem crisper. LG’s Infinia LW5600 is probably the best “edge-lit” LCD display with local-dimming that’s available.
One downside to local dimming is an effect called “blooming,” which happens when brighter areas bleed into darker ones and lighten adjacent black levels. This is where the different TV manufacturers distinguish themselves and is probably one of the more important things to “get right” when purchasing an LED TV. Toshiba’s have pretty noticable “blooming”, for example whereas its pretty good among Samsungs and LG has absolutely gotten it perfect.
4. “Off-angle viewing” is still a concern among LCD TVs.
Unlike with plasma, one of the big downsides to LCD TVs is that the picture degrades if you’re sitting off to the side or the TV is placed too high or low, based on your eye level. This is unaffected by what type of LED backlighting is used. This is also another area where LG beats its LCD brethren. Samsung, for example, is probably almost equivalent to LG in terms of picture quality (at least in some of its models) but the picture quality immediately suffers if you move away from a very narrow “sweet spot”. LG has spent a considerable amount of R&D resources to address this and it truly is excellent. People categorically are impressed with the wide angle viewing ability across LG models.
5. LED backlighting is even more efficient than standard fluorescent backlighting.
LED-backlit LCDs are, inch for inch, the most efficient flat panels available and will definitely cut down on your power usage. A recent CNET.com survey found that LED TVs use, on average, about 101 watts, compared with 111 watts for standard LCD TVs. This isn’t going to save you thousands of dollars a year but every bit helps.
6. You have to calibrate the picture settings with an LED TV.
You can have the best LED in the world with the latest and greatest technology, but if it’s not set up correctly, it can look pretty average. LGs have an automatic picture calibration ability which does take some time to set up but is absolutely CRUCIAL for maximizing your picture quality and making the most of your hard-earned dollars…This is probably the simplest thing that most LED TV owners never do.
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