Choosing LED TV

In case you regarded all LCD TVs to be the same you could not be more wrong. The producers of LCDs have created so many enhanced technologies in their strive for being competitive in the sphere of picture quality advantages of plasma-based flat-panel TVs. However, the best one turns out to be LED backlighting with local dimming. It should be said that any LED TV is an LCD TV. But at the same time, not any of them features local dimming technology.

You should also know that all LCDs incorporate some kind of a backlight that is aimed at illuminating the LCD panel. In the majority of cases it is fluorescent backlights. They are also called CCFL. However, now there is a tendency to make use of LED backlights. Among LEDs’ advantages is low energy consumption, but not only that. What is more important they are able to carry deep black levels that often provide better quality than the best plasma sets.

Nowadays there exist two main types of LED backlights. One of them is local dimming. This type of backlights is used in such sets as the Samsung 8500, the LG LH90, the Toshiba SV670, and the Vizio VF551XVT. It enables the backlight to dim or even switch off in various places across the screen. The second type is called edge-lit. It is used in sets like the Samsung B8000 models. There is also another type but is provided only by a single manufacturer today. It is found on Sharp’s LC-LE700UN series. These LED backlights do not use local dimming but are set behind the screen. However, it does not have any significant effect on picture quality.

As the tests show, the best type is local dimming. Thus, those sets that incorporate this feature are rated as the best LCDs.