By choosing modern TV, most buyers do not fully understand how led differs from oled models, what strengths and weaknesses each of these technologies has. It is easy to get confused here, since both terms sound almost the same and are widely used by marketers promoting each of their areas of development of television technology.
What is LED andOLED
In fact, both words mean that special semiconductor devices are used in TVs - LEDs (LED - from English Light- Emitting Diode) that start to glow brightly when flowing through them electric current... They can be thought of as miniature bulbs that emit red, white, green or blue, depending on the chemical composition of the crystal or phosphor. Over time, a separate group of LEDs has emerged, using the same principles, but built on organic polymers. Therefore, an additional letter O was added to their name - organic (OLED). These devices are made in the form of polymer films, therefore they are extremely thin and flexible.
At first glance, the difference between the consonant concepts led and oled is small, and it lies only in the manufacturing technology and physical properties of diodes. However, the areas of their application in modern televisions differ dramatically. First of all, the designation LED TV does not at all mean that the image in it is created by point LEDs. They only illuminate the usual liquid crystal matrix, replacing the overall, wasteful and short-lived fluorescent lamps... It would be more correct to say - LCD TVs with LED-backlighting, but the term first announced by Samsung has taken root and is widely used in the market today.
Real LED screens built from arrays of multi-colored LEDs, due to their relatively large size, are used today only as information boards in stadiums, train stations, concert halls and presentations. But in OLED TVs, organic elements applied on a flexible base really make up a pixel matrix with which you can get color image... This technology allows you to make TV receivers with ultra-thin and even curved screens.
LED andOLED models: what are their strengths and weaknesses?
To do right choice between LED and OLED TV, it is necessary to consider and weigh all the strong and weak sides every technology. Let us take the most important technical indicators of TV-receivers as evaluation criteria.
- Brightness ... In this category, LED TVs are in the lead. They can seamlessly use the LED backlight at maximum brightness. But the service life of their organic counterparts (especially of blue color) directly depends on the intensity of the pixel glow. Therefore, OLED TVs are not recommended to expose the highest screen brightness.
- Contrast
and the depth of black.
Here is an unconditional victory for OLED technology. The most painful problem of LCD TVs is the inability to achieve natural blacks on the screen. Even if the liquid crystal, which works like a window blind, is completely closed, still a little light will seep through it. This gives dark areas of the screen a characteristic purple or gray tint.
OLED TVs do not require matrix backlighting as their screens are themselves composed of an array of light-emitting elements. Therefore, every pixel in the dark area of \u200b\u200bthe image is simply off, ensuring true blacks. Because of this feature, OLED screens also demonstrate higher contrast: the range between the darkest and lightest areas of the screen is much wider than that of LCD counterparts. - Screen uniformity ... The clear leader is OLED. The lateral type of matrix backlight, which is most often used in modern LCD TVs, has one negative effect - it does not allow you to uniformly illuminate the entire surface of the screen. When the panel is completely darkened, overexposed areas are observed around its perimeter, which are especially noticeable in the evening. For OLED TVs, this problem does not exist.
- Color gamut.
Today, some premium LED TVs offer a wider color gamut than their organic competitors. For example, leading manufacturing companies use for this purpose multi-color LED backlighting based on Wide Color LED and Triluminos phosphors, as well as Quantum Dots technology. So far, the winner of this nomination is LED TV.
- Viewing angles ... OLED devices are in the lead here, the image on which does not fade or change color even at critical viewing angles. In modern LED TVs, these indicators depend on the construction technology of the LCD matrix. For example, IPS-screens demonstrate a decent picture when viewed at an angle of up to 178º, but the simplest TN-panels darken already at 90º.
- Energy efficiency. It is difficult to determine a winner in this category. The energy consumption of an OLED TV depends not only on the brightness setting, but also on the scene shown on the screen. For example, displaying nighttime landscapes will consume much less energy than displaying Miami Beach's sunny shores. In LED TVs, this parameter is more stable, since it depends only on the brightness of the screen backlight, which was initially set. Therefore, formally, they can be considered more economical.
- Terms of operation ... Today, in terms of durability, LED technology is ahead, since white backlight LEDs can work stably up to 70-100 thousand hours. Organic devices still have much shorter service lives, for example, the fastest-wearing blue OLED phosphor lasts no more than 7 thousand hours. Red and green LEDs last longer, but this doesn't make much sense, since the overall color rendering of the pixel is seriously distorted.
- The cost
... Definitely, LED TVs are still much cheaper. Suffice it to say that a decent 50-inch LCD model with lED backlight can be bought today for about $ 500, and top-end devices that can compete with OLED counterparts by using the most advanced technologieswill cost a maximum of $ 8000. Today OLED TVs are rapidly falling in price, but still their price is still about 5 times higher than the cost of LED devices (with the same diagonal).
As you can see, there are significant differences between led and oled technologies. LED TVs captivate with their cost, wide selection of diagonal solutions and long terms exploitation. OLED models offer fast response times, unlimited viewing angles and lifelike color rangeespecially in dark details. In addition, they are thinner than LCD models and can have a curved screen. Do not forget that OLED is a young, promising and actively developing technology for building TVs, while LCD models, even with LED backlighting, have practically exhausted all their possibilities for moving forward.
Choosing a modern TV, the buyer is faced with a lot of questions, including what is the difference between LCD and LED TVs. Indeed, at first glance, these flat TV panels are no different. And the technology is the same in them - LCD matrixconsisting of two plates. Liquid crystals located between them, under the action of an electric current, like a camera shutter, transmit or block light. Depending on the level of the applied voltage, an image is formed on the screen. However, they have their own characteristics that allow you to determine which one is better.
Functions of modern TV
Before proceeding to consider the advantages and disadvantages of these types of televisions, it is worth determining the importance of modern television equipment. The variety of models allows meeting different user needs. Today TVs act in different capacities.
Before buying a TV, you should first of all decide what needs it should satisfy. If we consider the price criterion, LCD models will be slightly cheaper than similar LED TVs. But is it worth saving in this case, and how are these TVs fundamentally different?
Features of LCD TVs
As already noted, LCD TVs are based on multilayer structure (glass plates with polarizing filters and a layer of liquid crystals). Light from sources - in this case, thin cold cathode fluorescent lamps, which are located behind the matrix, passes through the LCD grating. It consists of many cells, each of which, depending on the voltage, transmits a different amount of light (polarization). Thus, due to the combination of primary colors (green, red and blue), a picture is formed on the screen.
The LCD grille needs backlighting, which is what LCD and LED models differ in.
When LCD TV appeared on the market, they immediately gained consumer confidence. Their advantages over previous types of TVs were obvious:
- narrow TV panels that are easy to mount on a wall or ceiling;
- low power consumption (specific figures are given in the article about);
- no flickering and static screen voltage;
- correct geometry of the image;
- full HD resolution support.
Features of LED TVs
Thanks to the good work of marketers, it is positioned as innovative. Although, in fact, this is all just a type of LCD TV, which is distinguished by backlighting. More advanced RGB LEDs are used as light sources. Today LED TV is the most popular and demanded model. They use two types of backlighting: Direct LED and Edge LED.
In the first case, the LEDs are located right behind the matrixlike lamps in LCD models. In the second, the backlight is located from the edges of the screen and is evenly distributed thanks to a special diffusing film. Depending on the diagonal, the LEDs can be installed on one side or on two. In models with a large diagonal, the backlight can be installed around the entire perimeter.
Direct LED technology avoids side light and uses Local Dimming technology. At the same time, the side-type Edge LED is more energy efficient and allows the creation of models less than a centimeter thick.
The main advantages of LED TVs:
- light weight and slim body;
- clear, high-contrast picture with rich color reproduction;
- volumetric and realistic image, without distortion;
- the premium models use Local Dimming, which greatly improves picture quality.
What is the Difference Between LCD and LED
- In LED models, due to the absence of lamps, no mercury used... This makes them environmentally friendly and safe for disposal.
- LEDs are more energy efficient than lamps. According to statistics, such light sources can save up to 40% of the electricity used to operate the TV.
- LCD TVs are not always inferior to updated models. For example, they outperform some budget LED devices. Due to the cheaper technology, they have difficulties with diode control.
- Opportunity even distribution of LEDs only Direct LED backlight provides - these are the models that outperform conventional LCDs. Local dimming, which gives a certain advantage to LED models, is not possible with Edge technology.
- For video games, both devices support modern game consoles and prefixes.
- In terms of service life, LED also outperforms LCD, since fluorescent lamps burn out faster during service. Thanks to RGB LEDs color accuracy LEDs last much longer.
What is the best TV? Of course, LED models outperform LCD. But the image quality depends not only on the type of backlighting, it should not be a decisive factor. It is also important to pay attention to additional technologies that affect the video signal. Therefore, some models of LCD TVs with CCFL lamps, with a good video processor, may well compete with LED TVs.
In order to answer the question, how does LCD differ from LED, it is necessary to say a few words about the technology of LCD displays. LCD, you guessed it, is an abbreviation for Liquid Crystal Display - liquid crystal display. Thus, it becomes clear that LCD and the more well-known popular name LCD are one and the same. To understand the difference between LED and LCD, it is worth taking a closer look at the LCD technology.
1. Differences between LCD and LED
As mentioned above, LCD is a technology for manufacturing liquid crystal screens. The essence of the technology is the use of liquid crystal molecules, which are located between the layers of the matrix. These molecules are able to change their position, depending on the strength of the electric field, thereby refracting light at different angles. In other words, liquid crystals are a kind of light filter that, depending on the voltage, blocks or passes one of the primary colors.
The first LCD TVs used fluorescent lamps as the light source. However, this solution did not allow the production of large screens with good quality image, since it was impossible to achieve an even distribution of light. It is because of this that new system lighting - LED.
LED is a technology for illuminating molecules of crystals. It is economical and efficient. LEDs in LED backlighting provide brighter and more uniform light.
In addition, due to the compactness of such a system, it became possible to implement several options for implementing LED backlighting:
- Side lighting;
- Illumination along the entire perimeter (top and bottom, as well as on the sides);
- Back light.
Thus, it becomes clear that there is no difference between LCD and LED, since LED is a method of backlighting in LCD screene. It is not correct to say that there is some difference between LCD and LED, since these are two components of one technology.
Due to inappropriate marketing advertising, many believe there is a difference between LED and LCD TVs. But as mentioned above, there is no difference. All things considered, there is no difference between LCD and LED. The difference may be in the way the lighting is implemented in LED displays. Today there are two options:
- LED - LED backlight;
- Fluorescent backlight.
The second method is already considered obsolete, although TVs with fluorescent backlighting can still be found in stores. Their advantage is their low cost.
2.LED backlight
LED backlighting was developed and introduced relatively recently. Its main advantage is bright and even illumination, as well as economical energy consumption. Thanks to LED technology for illuminating molecules of crystals in LCD displays, it is possible to achieve uniform illumination of even large screens. Thanks to various design solutions for the implementation of LED backlighting, manufacturers have been able to produce large LCD TVs that are of high quality, not inferior to small displays.
Nowadays, thanks to lED technologyLCD TVs are not inferior in quality to their direct competitors - plasma panels. In some parameters, LCD TVs are even superior to plasma. For example, an LCD display has a longer life, that is, it is more durable.
Another advantage of LED backlighting is its high flicker rate. Few people know that the frequency of 100 Hz, which we cannot see, affects the organs of vision, and even the human psyche. First of all, this is expressed in the feeling of eye fatigue, as well as in general fatigue during prolonged TV viewing. LEDs in LED backlighting have a blinking frequency of 480 Hz, which is absolutely harmless and has no negative impact on humans. In addition, this frequency improves the image quality.
Modern LCD TVs with LED backlighting, due to their obvious and indisputable advantages, are in the greatest demand among buyers all over the world. They are more economical and durable.
3. TFT / LCD monitor: Video
It's time to buy new tv? You are probably choosing between different technologies, and you are interested in the question, how is LCD different from LED? So, you should definitely get acquainted with this article, which puts all the dots on the "and".
What is the main difference between LCD and LED?
This is the main question for many people who are planning their home theater... Yesterday we were considering the possibility of purchasing a television with a cathode ray tube (CRT) or even a projector. And today we see other names: LCD, DLP, OLED, laser TVs. LED (light-emitting diode) TVs also appeared. Let's take a look at what these letters mean and which ones represent the best purchase.
LED TVs are also LCD TVs. Just a slightly different type. Correctly speaking, the real name of this technology is "LCD TVs with LED backlight", but this name is too long and most people simply will not remember it, so we usually see only three letters - "LED".
Both types of TVs use liquid crystals to control the brightness of individual dots. Without going into details, such a display consists of two sheets of polarizing material, between which there is a liquid crystal solution. When an electric current passes through liquid crystals, they are ordered, which changes their ability to transmit light. You can imagine each such crystal as a shutter, which can be open or closed.
Thus, both LED and LCD TVs use lCD technology... You may ask, “So what? Do they differ from each other in any way? " There is a difference and it lies in the way the backlight is generated - the kind of light that has to pass through the liquid crystals. This is how LCD differs from LED. Conventional LCD TVs use a fluorescent lamp as their source of light, while LED TVs use a set of small LEDs that more efficiently convert electricity into light.
LED advantages
TVs, which, among their other characteristics, have the abbreviation LED, have a number of advantages.
- First, LEDs can be significantly smaller than fluorescent lamps, which means that the matrix has a smaller size and weight. As a result, the thickness of the entire TV can fit one inch.
- Secondly, LED TVs are more energy efficient. But most importantly, they can form deeper blacks, which give the picture extra depth.
- Several fluorescent lights are used to illuminate the entire screen and cannot be turned off in some places. At the same time, in order to form a completely black color, we need to completely turn off the backlight. This feature is possessed by LED displays, in which you can "turn off" individual pixels and areas of the image.
This allows for deeper blacks and higher contrast. Let's imagine a starry sky is displayed on the screen. It should be almost completely filled with black, and only single points (stars) have high brightness. Traditional LCD screens are not capable of displaying such an image with high quality. And if it is possible to completely turn off the highlighting of entire areas in the image, then it will greatly benefit. As a result, we see a really black sky, on which only single points shine.
Don't waste your money
I want to warn buyers that not all LED TVs have this ability. If those LED TV models that can turn off the backlight in local areas are comparable in image quality with plasma ones, then those that can illuminate only the entire field with LEDs at the same time are very close to conventional LED TVs. Therefore, having figured out the difference between LCD and LED TVs, it should be remembered that the latter can also produce a picture of very different quality. Before you shell out a large sum for an LED TV, you should make sure that it has the benefits described above.
However, even if you buy an LED TV that cannot dim certain areas, you still get
several advantages. The TV will be lighter and thinner, which means it is easier to mount such a model on the wall. It consumes less electricity. The picture is more vivid than in the case of a conventional LCD. However, I consider all these advantages only as a free addition to the main thing. If your budget is tight and therefore a TV with plasma panel is not considered as an option, it can be replaced by LED TV. Otherwise, I would recommend choosing "plasma". They may be too power hungry and look more massive, but the picture quality on their screen can not surpass any other type of TV. I advise you to choose a regular LCD screen only if there is not enough money for other options.
