LED TVs vs. LCD TVs

With the large manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung as Toshiba bringing out new LED TVs, we thought it was time the difference between the technology was explained. Luckily our friends at Sony have made a helpful info graphic which shows how 3 technologies that they use in their LCD TVs differ from each other.

First we have the HCFL (hot cathode fluorescent lamp) backlit LCD TV used in the WE5 range. This technology is split into 6 layers, there is the HCFL layer which uses half the power of conventional cold cathode fluorescent lamps. Then the Diffusers which spread the light across the panel in a uniform way. After, there are the Polarisers which align the image produced by the main LCD (liquid crystal display) panel, and obviously the LCD panel between them. Then there is an antiglare coating which makes the backlight appear brighter and gives a mirror like finish to the screen.

The next screen type is the LED backlit LCD TV which is used in the Sony Bravia X4500 series. This technology uses the same technology after the backlight layer but it’s the backlight layer that makes the difference. This backlight layer is made of groups of red, green and blue LEDs that glow at various intensities in order to give deeper and purer colour definition in comparison to traditional white LEDs and the cathode fluorescent lamp systems.

The last screen type is the Edge LED LCD TV which is used on the Sony ZX1. This technology is a lot different and looks pretty damn clever in comparison to other screen technologies. Basically it still uses the coloured LEDs to create deep colours on screen but the LEDs are on the edge of the screen instead of directly at the back. This means the light from the LEDs bounces off the backlit panel and is then focussed forward with the use of the light guide plate. All this means that the TVs using this technology can be extremely thin with the ZX1 at just 9.9mm as an example.