Television can be considered the second most entertaining device after the smartphone as it is available in every home in today’s time. The invention of television gave common people a source of cheap and affordable means of entertainment. Moreover, it keeps us updated on the surrounding world. Although we have been taught from our childhood that is an “idiot box”, if used in the productive form then it can be also the best source for extracting knowledge.
In today’s time buying a television has become very difficult as there is so much variety available in the Indian market. One might have to deal with technical terms such as LED TV, LCD TV, UHD TV, QLED TV, OLED TV, etc. However, in this article, we will be discussing LED TVs and LCD TVs in detail.
LCD TVs
In an LCD TV, we can find a flat liquid crystal display screen, that is found in cellphones and computer monitors. LCD is made up of two layers of glass material, that are separated and stacked together. One of the layers is coated with a polymer that is capable of holding liquid crystals. Electric current is passed through each crystal, which allows the crystal to pass or block light to create images.
On an LCD screen, crystals don’t produce images. We need to provide an external source of light to the crystal so that image created by the LCD is visible to the viewer. We could find a wide range of resolutions in LCD TVs, ranging from 480p to 8K. Even we could expect more high resolution in the coming future.
LED TVs
An LED TV also uses an LCD screen that uses a light-emitting diode as a source of backlight. Earlier instead of LEDs, cold cathode fluorescent lamps were used that consume more power compared to today’s LEDs. We could find two types of LEDs used in the backlit of the LCD screen, that is White and RGB LEDs. The cost of White LEDs is less compared to RGB LEDs.
There are many types of local dimming backlight techniques for LED TVs, that dim the light behind the black areas of the actual image to make them darker. However, three types of backlight dimming techniques are used by the majority of LED TV manufacturing companies.
- Direct-Lit TVs
This is the most economical and oldest way of a lit method that is used by LED TVs manufacturers. In this type of method, LEDs are placed far away from the screen so that each light could spread more pixels. Generally, Direct-Lit TVs are thicker in size.
- Edge-Lit TVs
In this method of Lit, the light is projected to the back of the screen from the side. The pros of this kind of dimming are that it is not as effective as full array TVs. In this kind of TV, we could find more light on the corners of the screen than at the centre.
- Full-Array TVs
In this kind of LED TV, we can find that the entire screen is perfectly black. However, these are a little thicker than Edge-Lit LED TVs. They provide more contrast and shadow than any other kind of LED TV.
If talk about the main difference between LCD and LED TVs is the technology on which they work. Firstly, we have to understand that LED monitors are nothing, but just the improved version of the LCD screen. Moreover, we can say that all LED monitors are LCD screens, but not all LCDs are LED, monitors.
On the LCD screen, the backlight for creating a picture Display on the screen is done with the help of Cold cathode fluorescent lamps. A cold cathode fluorescent lamp(CCFL) is a tiny fluorescent bulb that is placed on the backside of the LCD screen.
If we talk about the LED monitor, it replaced the old technology of LCDs by using LEDs instead of Cold cathode fluorescent Lamps for Backlight Technology. Moreover, by the use of OLED technology (Organic Light-emitting Diode), we can exclude the need for backlighting in LED screens.
- Energy efficient
As we have seen the technology used behind the LCD and LED Screen, fluorescent Bulbs consume more energy than LEDs therefore LED TVs are more energy-efficient than LCDs. As per reports it has been found that 32-inch LED TV consumes 10W less power than the same size LCD screen. The power consumption increases with an increase in screen size.
- Contrast
As we know that LED screen uses full-array LED backlight instead of one big backlight, we can find LED TVs provide outstandingly more contrast than LEDs. On an LCD screen, we could find only black and white backlight technology, but we see in LED TVs backlighting is capable of emitting the entire RGB spectrum which provides more contrast to the display.
- Size
If we compare LED TVs with LCDs, the size of the Light-emitting diodes is very small compared to Cold cathode fluorescent lamps used in LCD TVs. CCFL are very thick, but the thickness of LEDs is almost negligible. Moreover, countless LEDs can be placed on a single panel of the LED screen. Therefore, we can conclude that LED TVs are thinner than LCD TV
- Viewing angle
It has been found that LCD TVs offer a good viewing angle compared to LED TVs. However, the direct view angle of LED is better than LCDs as the light source spread eventually on the screen providing a good viewing angle.
- Pocket friendly
As we know that LED TV is nothing but the latest technology of LCDs. Therefore, the initial cost of LEDs is a little more than the cost of LCD TVs. However, the could be a one-time investment. As the cost of maintenance is very less and the life span is very high for LED TVs as compared to LCD TVs. Moreover, LED TVs are way cheaper than LCDs if we calculate the cost in the long run.
- Maintenance
Before calculating the maintenance cost, we have to understand that LED TVs work in small diodes and LCD TVs on big cold Cathode fluorescent bulbs (CCFL). Therefore, if a single diode is damaged we can easily replace it. But in LCD we need to replace the entire Bulb if it gets damaged. Therefore, we can conclude that LED display is cheaper to maintain compared to LCDs.
- Weight
As we know that LED TVs are thinner than LCDs, therefore LCD TVs have more weight than LED TVs. As per reports, it has been found that LCD TVs have double the weight then LED TVs.
- Picture Quality
LED TVs contains all the latest technology, therefore they offer way better picture quality than LCD TV. LED has better picture quality because of modular light-emitting diodes, it can produce better contrast. Moreover, an LED produces RGB contrast, which is capable of expressing more black and white.
Final verdict
Here are some of the pros and cons of LED and LCD TVs
LCD TVs
Pros
- Available at a lower price
Cons
- Functioning on very Technology
- Low picture Quality
- The maintenance cost is quite high
- The life span is usually less than LED TVs
- Occupies more space
LED TVs
Pros
- Very good picture Quality
- Less maintenance cost
- They have a long life
- Occupies very less space
- Every penny is worth it
Cons
- The initial cost is quite high
You might have figured out by now that, LED TVs are the best ones. They have been considered the third-generation display. Moreover, they meet all the demands of the new generation. There are many smart LED TV androids, that will give you the best cinematic experience. Although its initial cost is very high in the long run, you will find the best return on your investment.