led edge lit lcd panel brands

2023-01-03 12:32:11

For many years, TVs with LED backlights have dominated the market. Manufacturers release many LED models every year that have different features. You won"t get the same excellent dark room picture quality as an OLED but LED TVs have a few more advantages than OLEDs (check out our article about OLED vs. LED). LED TVs" biggest advantages are their brightness, which allows them to get brighter than OLEDs, and they"re immune to permanent burn-in. LED TVs are also sometimes called LCD instead; LED refers to the technology used to create the backlight, whereas LCD refers to the technology used to produce different colors and shades. As all LCD models currently on the market use LED backlights, the two terms are often used interchangeably.

We"ve bought and tested more than 300 TVs with LED backlights, and below are our recommendations for the best TVs with LED panels that you can buy. See also our picks for the best TVs, the best PS5 TVs, and the best TVs for Xbox Series X.

The Samsung QN90B QLED is the best TV with an LED panel we"ve tested. It"s an impressive TV with amazing picture quality and a great selection of gaming features. It uses a Mini LED backlight, with way more dimming zones than most LED TVs, which allows for greater control over the local dimming feature for better dark room performance, with less distracting blooming around bright objects. It also gets exceptionally bright, meaning it can handle lots of glare in a bright room.

Unlike most high-end LED TVs, it"s also a good choice for a wide seating arrangement, as the image remains consistent when viewed at an angle thanks to Samsung"s "Ultra Viewing Angle" technology. It also has a great selection of extra features like a built-in Tizen smart interface that"s easy to use and has a ton of apps available to download, so you can easily find your favorite shows. It"s also excellent for gaming, as it supports 4k @ 120Hz gaming from the new-gen consoles, and it supports a variable refresh rate to reduce tearing.

The best LCD TV for a home theater is the Hisense U9DG. It"s a unique LED TV because it uses dual-panel technology. It means it has two LCD panels stacked on top of each other, delivering the equivalent of a local dimming feature with two million dimming zones; most other TVs only have a few hundred at most. This technology helps provide the TV with the best contrast ratio we"ve tested on any LED TV. The black level is nearly perfect, even in bright scenes, and there"s almost no blooming around bright objects.

This outstanding dark room performance with local dimming enabled results in an amazing HDR viewing experience. It displays a very wide color gamut for HDR content with great out-of-the-box accuracy, so colors appear how they should. Really small highlights pop the way the creator intended in HDR, but its overall HDR real scene peak brightness is just okay, and it"s not as good as the Samsung QN90B QLED. Still, the reflection handling is excellent, even if you"re watching movies in a room with a few lights around.

The best mid-range TV we"ve tested with an LED panel is the Hisense U8H. It"s an excellent TV overall, with fantastic contrast and an impressive Mini LED local dimming feature, delivering deep blacks in a dark room with very little distracting blooming around bright objects. It has exceptional peak brightness and reflection handling, ensuring it can easily overcome glare in a bright room. It has worse processing overall than the Samsung QN90B QLED, though, so it"s a bit of a step down. There"s more noticeable banding in areas of similar color, and it has slightly worse motion processing as well.

The best LED TV we"ve tested in the budget category is the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED. It"s a great TV overall, with superb contrast and fantastic black uniformity, making it a great choice for a dark room. It has a decent full array local dimming feature, but there"s a bit more blooming than there is on the Hisense U8H, and it"s not as bright. It has a wide color gamut, so colors look vibrant and realistic, and it displays HDR content the way the content creator intended.

It delivers an impressive gaming experience thanks to its low input lag and very good response time, ensuring a smooth gaming experience with very little blur. It even supports variable refresh rate technology to reduce screen tearing, but since it"s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, VRR only works over a much smaller range than it does on the Hisense U8H.

If you"re shopping on a tight budget, the best cheap LED TV we"ve tested is the Hisense A6H. It"s an okay TV overall, but unlike the more expensive models on this list, most sizes aren"t well-suited for a dark room, as blacks look gray and washed out in a dark room. On the other hand, it"s a good choice for a kitchen or any room where you tend to move around with the TV on, as the image remains consistent when viewed from the side.

The Samsung QN95B QLED is an excellent TV that offers nearly identical performance to the Samsung QN90B QLED, but its inputs are all housed in an external One Connect box. It makes it easier to keep your cable management clean, but it"s not worth the price difference.

Replaced the Insignia F50 QLED with the Hisense A6H, as the Insignia is discontinued and very hard to find. Replaced the Hisense U6H with the TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED, as it"s a bit better overall. Added the Samsung QN95B QLED, TCL 6 Series/R655 2022 QLED, and Insignia F50 QLED as Notable Mentions.

Replaced the Samsung QN90A QLED with the 2022 model, the Samsung QN90B QLED, and replaced the Hisense U6G with the 2022 Hisense U6H. Removed the Samsung QN85A QLED, as the Samsung QN90B is a better choice.

Restructured the article to better match user expectations. Added the Insignia F50 QLED as the "Best Cheap LED TV", and removed many out-of-date Notable Mentions.

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best LCD TVs to buy for most people in each price range. We factor in the price (a cheaper TV wins over a pricier one if the difference isn"t worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no TVs that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).

If you would like to do the work of choosing yourself, here is the list of all our LED TV reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no TV is perfect, most TVs are great enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.

led edge lit lcd panel brands

Advanced LED video wall with MicroLED models in 0.6, 0.7 and 0.9mm pixel pitches, and 1.2mm pixel pitch standard LED; with powerful processing, proprietary alignment technology and off-board electronics.

Planar® CarbonLight™ VX Series is comprised of carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility, available in 1.9 and 2.6mm pixel pitch (wall) and 2.6mm (floor).

From cinema content to motion-based digital art, Planar® Luxe MicroLED Displays offer a way to enrich distinctive spaces. HDR support and superior dynamic range create vibrant, high-resolution canvases for creative expression and entertainment. Leading-edge MicroLED technology, design adaptability and the slimmest profiles ensure they seamlessly integrate with architectural elements and complement interior décor.

From cinema content to motion-based digital art, Planar® Luxe Displays offer a way to enrich distinctive spaces. These professional-grade displays provide vibrant, high-resolution canvases for creative expression and entertainment. Leading-edge technology, design adaptability and the slimmest profiles ensure they seamlessly integrate with architectural elements and complement interior decor.

LED video wall solution with advanced video wall processing, off-board electronics, front serviceable cabinets and outstanding image quality available in 0.9mm pixel pitch

Carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility for various installations including virtual production and extended reality.

a line of extreme and ultra-narrow bezel LCD displays that provides a video wall solution for demanding requirements of 24x7 mission-critical applications and high ambient light environments

led edge lit lcd panel brands

The local dimming on LED TVs is a key way of introducing contrast. With this technology, the intensity of lighting adapts to the image shown achieving contrast ratios.

LED-backlit LCD, which uses light-emitting diodes for backlighting is a common type of display on televisions and laptops. Unlike pure LED screens these LCDs are not self-illuminating and are reliant on the backlighting for illuminating the display. It is an advancement on the preceding cold cathode fluorescent technology and some manufacturers and retailers may advertise this type of screen as an LED TV.

Edge-lit is a type of screen backlighting that has LED lights lining either the top and bottom edges of the screen or the perimeter of the screen. This form of backlighting differs from others as the screen is not lit from behind, and often produces a more muted effect. An opaque piece of plastic called a diffuser light guide distributes the lighting across the rear of an LCD panel.

Edge-lit LEDs can be individually brightened or dimmed to provide the high degree of backlight control that screened content demands. Edge-lit screens can achieve this in one of two ways:

Direct-lit backlighting uses LED lighting across a television back panel. This form of backlighting initially used Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs) before transitioning to LED. The lighting is behind the LCD panel to provide consistent lighting across the entire screen.

The use of LEDs creates an extremely bright picture. This can lead to black and naturally dark tones appearing too bright, a phenomenon known as ‘elevated black levels’. This appearance can really affect wide-screed films, especially as there is no way to alter the backlight of specific portions of the screen. This has led to the development of alternative backlighting arrangements that minimize the greying of black sections of the screen.

Both types of backlighting provide the illumination LED screens required to produce a visible image. The main difference is that direct-lit backlights sit behind the LCD panel to provide the necessary lighting whereas edge-lit screens have LEDs sitting at the perimeter of the screen. Here are some other notable differences:

The first generation of LED backlighting was edge-lit. However, this early form of edge-lit technology caused the development of hotspots on the screen and the overall lighting was inadequate. As LED design became more efficient and effective, Samsung revisited this type of backlighting with a market-leading edge-lit LED television in 2009.

Direct-lit panels use a simple array of LEDs to provide uniform lighting across an entire LCD panel. The adoption of direct-lit screen technology in the 2000s was driven by the availability of white LEDs that could replace existing CCFL technology.

Direct-lit performs across a range of viewing angles and colors, but it is limited by not being able to increase contrast, as the entire backlight has to be dimmed to change color intensity. This affects the ability of a screen to achieve a deep black tone. Full array lighting and flexible backlight technologies have superseded direct-lit lighting. They are more advanced and can achieve more nuanced imaging effects.

Edge Lit screens can achieve full, deep blacks as they can use local dimming technology to reduce lighting in areas of the screen that display black or dark colors.

led edge lit lcd panel brands

When comparing different models of televisions, you might see the term "edge-lit LED." All LED TVs are a type of LCD TV; the "LED" refers only to the kind of lighting source used to illuminate the LCD pixels in the television. There is more than one way to light the pixels. The two primary technologies are edge-lit and full-array.

In an edge-lit television, the LEDs that illuminate the LCD pixels are located only along the edges of the set. These LEDs face inward toward the screen to illuminate it.

These models are thin and light at the mild expense of some picture quality—specifically in the area of black levels. Black areas of the picture, such as a dark night scene, are not truly black but more like a very dark gray since the lighting is coming from the edge and illuminating the dark areas a bit more.

In some poorer-quality edge-lit LEDs, uniform picture quality can be a problem. Because the LEDs are along the edges of the panel, quality declines as you approach the middle of the screen because a uniform amount of illumination is not reaching the pixels further from the edges. Again, this is more noticeable during scenes of darkness; the black along the sides of the screen is more gray than black (and corners can appear to have a flashlight-like quality of illumination emanating from the edges).

Full-array LED televisions use a full panel of LEDs to illuminate the pixels. Most of these sets also have local dimming, which means the LEDs can be dimmed in different regions of the panel while other areas are not. It helps improve black levels, which appear closer to black than dark gray.

In general, full-array LED is a superior technology when it comes to picture quality, but edge-lit sets have one significant advantage: depth. Edge-lit LED TVs can be much thinner than those lit with either a full LED panel or traditional fluorescent (non-LED) backlight. For that reason, most of the super-thin sets you see in stores will be edge-lit.

If you"re looking for the best possible picture quality, you are most likely to find it in a full-array LED display with local dimming. If you are primarily concerned about the appearance of the television and want an extremely thin screen, edge-lit is the style that will fit your needs.

led edge lit lcd panel brands

There"s an unsung hero in your living room, a piece of technology that has been steadily advancing for years, providing better and better picture quality and more immersive entertainment, and it"s one you may not even know exists. I"m talking, of course, about the backlight in your TV.

What"s a backlight? Well, it"s the light source that is situated directly behind the LCD panel of the majority of TVs. It"s what makes the screen glow, what gives bright colors their vibrancy, and increasingly, what gives dark shadows their depth.

There"s a little more to the glowing panel of an LCD TV than you might expect. The LCD panel offers the shape and color components of an image, but it doesn"t actually produce any light of its own. And without light to produce the colors we see and project the image outward to the viewer, an LCD TV wouldn"t be worth much. Enter the humble backlight.

Behind the LCD panel is a backlight, and between the backlight and the LCD panel are usually a few layers of polarized filters, backlight diffusers, and other optical layers designed to turn this collection of tech components into a sharper viewable image.

You"ll have an LCD panel to provide much of the image content, and a backlight behind it to provide the light that makes that LCD panel visible and the colors vivid. But that backlight has undergone a lot of changes over time — several just within recent years. And a lot of the improvements we"ve seen in modern TVs can be traced to the humble backlight.

But with the advent of LCD-based flat screen TVs, the need arose for illumination, and originally that meant cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL), a technology that"s similar to fluorescent and neon lighting. But because these lamps generate heat that can damage a display and aren"t terrible energy-efficient, they"ve pretty much disappeared from today"s TVs.

Instead, they were replaced by one of the biggest innovations in modern TV technology: LED backlighting. With this change, TV manufacturers started calling LCD TVs with LED backlight "LED TVs" to differentiate them from the older CCFL-lit models. But with the last CCFL TVs going off the market a decade ago, it"s just as likely that TV makers have kept the LED nomenclature around to blur the distinction between LCD TVs and OLED panels, which use a very different (and largely superior) display technology.

Today"s TVs use a number of backlighting methods, which we"ll discuss below, but the biggest change has been the introduction of discrete backlighting zones. Instead of illuminating the entire screen, the LED backlights of a TV can be addressed individually, meaning that they can be turned on or off, dimmed or brightened as needed to provide brighter or darker portions of the TV picture.

But there"s a catch. Not every form of backlight offers the same level of control. As a result, not every TV has the same level of capability, even if it supports the same HDR formats.

Edge-lit displays illuminate the LCD panel by setting a row of LEDs along the top and bottom edges of a screen, or ringing the perimeter of the TV frame with LED lights. This light is then distributed across the back of the LCD panel with a special diffuser light guide, a semi-transparent sheet of plastic that allows the light from the LED in the TV bezel to illuminate a larger portion of the display.

It"s a very cost effective way to light a TV, since it uses the least amount of LEDs. It also offers some level of dynamic backlight control for HDR support. On sets that are equipped to do so, portions of the edge lighting strips can be darkened or dimmed to provide deeper blacks, or brightened to accentuate brighter portions of the screen. However, since they don"t directly light the LCD panel from behind, the effect is considerably muted when compared to other backlight technologies.

Both of these methods suffer from the use of broad, diffuse dimming zones, which mute the HDR effect considerably, and will often illuminate unwanted portions of the display, an effect called haloing.

Samsung AU8000 LED 4K Smart TVSamsung"s cheapest models often feature edge lighting, and the Samsung AU8000(opens in new tab) is a prime example of this. The TV"s high contrast ratio offers pretty good clarity and sharpness, but the lack of local dimming means that HDR content won"t look as good as it should, and you"ll see some noticeable elevated black levels.

A variation on edge lighting developed by Samsung and used in some Samsung QLED TVs is called dual LED. Instead of using a single color backlight for the TV, Samsung uses a combination of cool blue and warm yellow LED lights, and alternates between them based on the content of the scene to offer a modest improvement in picture quality.

Samsung Q70T QLED TV (2020 model)Samsung uses dual LED backlight as a half-step between edge lighting and direct-lit LED backlight in it"s better affordable QLED sets, and it shows. The alternating color temperatures do offer some improvement over basic edge lighting, but the result is still a less impressive picture, even with Samsung"s impressive QLED display. Check out our full Samsung Q70T QLED TV (2020 model) review for more.

Direct lit LED backlighting uses LED lighting across the back of the TV, directly behind the LCD panel, providing a fairly uniform amount of light across the screen. It also allows for a brighter picture, since it uses more LEDs, and is able to utilize more of the light coming from those LEDs.

However, an all-white back light alone has its limitations. Because the entire LCD panel is lit uniformly, there"s little to no dynamic range offered by the display.

One common problem caused by this uniform backlight approach is that darker portions of the display are still illuminated, resulting in black portions of the screen appearing grey, a phenomenon called "elevated black levels." It"s especially noticeable on letterboxed movies, which will have a distinct unwanted glow in the black bars above and below the picture.

Toshiba C350 Fire TV (2021 model)The Toshiba C350 is one of the better Amazon Fire smart TVs we"ve reviewed, but the direct LED backlight is something of a double-edged sword. It"s better and brighter than a basic edge-lit LED backlight, and picture is better as a result, but the lack of local dimming means that – despite the TV"s support for Dolby Vision and HDR10 formats – HDR content just doesn"t look very good.

Local dimming zones have become fairly common on TVs across the price spectrum, and more premium TVs have differentiated themselves by offering a greater number of backlighting zones with smaller, more tightly controlled light, which can minimize light blooms and haloing to provide better HDR performance and contrast.

TCL 5-Series Roku TV (S535)When it comes to value in TVs, the TCL name should be one of the first things you look for. The TCL 5-Series Roku TV (S535) is a great example of this, offering a QLED screen with full-array local dimming backlight that matches some of the best mid-range TVs, but at a lower price. The result is great picture quality and solid HDR performance.

Local dimming has been further refined with the introduction of mini-LEDs. By shrinking the LED size down to about one-fifth the size – mini-LEDs measure 0.008-inch (200 microns) across – more LEDs can be packed into the backlight panel, and much smaller dimming zones to be used.

Models from Samsung, TCL, and LG all utilize mini LED backlighting for its superior performance, and the combination of mini-LED and QLED color enhancement offers some of the best TV picture quality that"s ever been available.

Samsung QN90A Neo QLED TVWhen it comes to the several TVs on the market that have mini-LED backlight, the Samsung Neo QLED takes the top spot, holding the top position among the best TVs we"ve reviewed. It"s a great TV for many reasons, but the impeccable backlight and HDR performance of the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED TV makes it one of the best LCD TVs we"ve ever seen.

Ultimately, the best backlight is no backlight at all. This can be achieved in one of two ways: With current OLED displays or micro-LED technology, the latter of which isn"t yet available to regular consumers.

OLED displays have individual pixels that light up without the need for a separate illumination source, creating a self-emissive display panel that doesn"t need any sort of backlight.

Because illumination can be controlled at the level of individual pixels, OLED technology offers the highest level of contrast and HDR performance, with no light blooming, and true black reproduction as individual pixels go dark.

Sony Bravia XR A80J OLED TVSony"s excellent OLED TVs highlight how awesome OLED can really be, with category-leading picture quality and cutting edge technologies that make the most of the premium TV technology. The Editor"s Choice Sony Bravia XR A80J OLED TV does this in spades, providing an excellent premium OLED experience.

Shrinking mini-LEDs down even smaller, you get micro-LED. Measuring as small as 50μm — about 0.002 inches across — micro-LEDs are 1/100th the size of a conventional LED. That"s small enough to cluster them together for individual pixels, creating another form of self-emissive display. The first micro-LED TVs are on sale now, but with prices in the tens of thousands of dollars, they"re not really something the average consumer would even consider.

You can get a more detailed explanation of mini-LED technology in our guide Micro-LED vs. Mini-LED: What"s the difference? or read Micro-LED vs. OLED TV: Which TV tech will win? to see how the two leading self-emissive technologies compare.

Samsung MicroLED TVKnown for a long time as simply "The Wall" Samsung"s first micro-LED TVs are coming this year, and are available for pre-order… in Korea. We"ve seen these displays in person, and they are astonishingly good, but between the wall-sized screens necessary for 4K resolution and the mortgage-sized price tag, it may be several years before this is a viable technology for the average TV shopper.

But there"s more than one way to approach full array with local dimming, because TVs will offer different numbers of dimming zones and local domain can be achieved with either standard LEDs or mini LEDs.

And there"s a direct relationship between backlight quality and TV price, so what is the best option when you don"t want to pay an extra $1,000 for the category-leading quality of OLED – even the affordable Vizio OLED TV is $1,199(opens in new tab) – or shell out tens of thousands for a giant micro-LED TV?

For most people, we recommend looking for a TV with mini-LED, like the Editor"s Choice Samsung Neo QLED QN90A, or the more affordable TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635). Mini LED backlighting hits the sweet spot for affordability and improved backlight performance. If you want better than average backlight control without spending the extra money for an old TV, a mini LED TV is the way to go.Our favorite TVs

led edge lit lcd panel brands

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led edge lit lcd panel brands

Modern LCD TVs rely on LED backlighting to produce the visuals you see on the screen. But their picture quality and price can differ based on their backlighting system. So, what are these backlighting systems, and how are they different?

LCD TVs can be grouped into three categories based on the type of LED backlighting system: Direct-lit, edge-lit, and full-array. As the name suggests, direct-lit TVs feature a panel of LEDs placed directly behind the display stack. Full-array TVs have a similar LED placement, but the number of LEDs is significantly more, and these LEDs are divided into different zones. But unlike both direct-lit and full-array TVs, edge-lit TVs have LEDs on the perimeter, and depending on the TV, these LEDs may or may not be grouped into multiple zones.

The LED backlight zones in full array and edge-lit TVs are significant as they enable the manufacturers to implement a feature called local dimming. It allows TVs to control the backlight on a scene-by-scene basis. So the TV can turn off LED backlighting in parts of the screen where it’s supposed to be darker while keeping other parts lit. As a result, LCD TVs with local dimming can produce deep, uniform blacks and have a better contrast ratio than the LCD TVs that don’t have this feature.

Direct lighting is the newest of the three types backlighting in LCD TVs. The first commercial direct-lit LCD TVs emerged around 2012 and are essentially an off-shoot of the full-array TVs.

As direct-lit TVs require fewer LEDs and no backlight control, they are cheaper to produce and thus typically limited to the entry-level and mid-range segments of a TV manufacturer’s portfolio.

But, the lower number of LEDs also means they have to be placed farther away from the screen to offer sufficient light coverage across the panel. As a result, direct-lit TVs are usually thicker than TVs with other backlighting systems.

Additionally, the lack of backlight control limits the contrast ratio of direct-lit LCD TVs to the native contrast ratio of the panel. So if a direct-lit TV uses a VA-type LCD panel, it will have a reasonable contrast ratio, but TVs with IPS-type panels have a poor contrast ratio.

Sony X85J is a direct-lit 4K LCD TV. It uses a VA-type panel and comes with features like HDMI 2.1 ports, VRR support, and Android TV operating system.

Edge LED backlighting first appeared in TVs in 2008, allowing for a thinner profile than LCD TVs with other backlighting solutions. But as the LEDs are placed on the rim of the screen, edge-lit TVs require a diffuser to light up the entire display adequately. This adds to their cost, making them slightly more expensive than direct-lit TVs. But given that backlighting is just one part of an LCD TV’s cost, you will find both cheap and costly edge-lit TVs on the market.

Some edge-lit TVs also come with local dimming support. But the number of backlight zones is typically far lower than in full-array TVs, and the individual LEDs are responsible for lighting up entire columns of the screen. So edge-lit local dimming is much less precise, and the benefit in terms of contrast ratio is minimal.

Full-array TVs have the best backlight implementation among LCD TVs. Not only do these TVs have a large number of LEDs, but the LEDs are also divided into multiple zones for dynamic backlight control. So, depending on the number of backlight zones and local dimming implementation, full-array TVs can have modest to excellent improvement over the native contrast ratio of the LCD panel.

Unfortunately, LCD TVs with full-array local dimming can also suffer from various screen artifacts, such as blooming and black crush, depending on the number of backlight zones and the overall local dimming implementation.

The Samsung QN90A is one of the best LCD TVs on the market and it uses full-array local dimming. The TV has 4K resolution, HDMI 2.1 port, and a 120Hz VA-type panel.

If you are shopping for a new TV and curious about its backlighting system, you can consult the TV’s specifications. Manufacturers generally mention whether an LCD TV is direct lit, edge lit, or full array. In the case of full-array TVs, the number of local dimming or backlight control zones is also listed in the TV’s specifications. This number is usually different for different sizes of a particular TV and can impact the amount of contrast ratio gain you can expect.

OLED TVs are self-emissive and don’t need a backlight, unlike LCD TVs. Instead, each pixel of an OLED panel can generate its own light and be switched off to display the perfect black color. So, OLED TVs essentially offer pixel-level local dimming. As a result, they have a near-infinite contrast ratio and are generally considered to have the best picture quality. But they are also typically more expensive than LCD TVs and can suffer from burn-in.

All-in-all, the backlight system of an LCD TV can impact its picture performance. And if you are shopping for a new TV, full-array TVs generally have the best picture quality. But if you are restricted by your budget, direct and edge-lit TVs can also deliver good visual performance. But make sure to read expert reviews to get a better idea about the overall quality of a particular television.

led edge lit lcd panel brands

But there"s a catch. Not every form of backlight offers the same level of control. As a result, not every TV has the same level of capability, even if it supports the same HDR formats.

However, an all-white back light alone has its limitations. Because the entire LCD panel is lit uniformly, there"s little to no dynamic range offered by the display.

OLED displays have individual pixels that light up without the need for a separate illumination source, creating a self-emissive display panel that doesn"t need any sort of backlight.

led edge lit lcd panel brands

Most people find themselves entangled in a perplexing situation while choosing the right TV for themselves. Buyers of big brands like Sony, Samsung and LG see their purchase as a safe deal as they are established brands and we have seen their performance for a long time now. However, individuals seeking to choose from amongst the budget offerings are the ones who are more likely to get confused in selecting the right TV that could be the best bang for their buck.

This article will give you an insight into the technical aspects of different TVs and by the end of this write-up, you yourselves would be armed with adequate technical knowledge to choose the best TV for yourself.

Most television companies, as well as sellers, misguide consumers by saying that this particular TV is not LCD but LED. So, first of all, we need to understand that all TVs are basically only

LCDs. What we refer to as LED is simply an update to the existing LCD panels. The panel technology is the same, however, the backlight is entirely different. Those LCDs that use LEDs as a light source are generally termed as LEDs. In short, a LED-backlight is a replacement for the uniform CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Light) backlight that previously gave LCD TVs its brightness.

Initially, there were only CCFL-backlit LCDs, but with advancement in technology, these CCFL were replaced by LEDs, as not only they dramatically reduced power consumption by over 40 percent compared to conventional CCFL-backlit LCDs, we got more control over the image quality by modulating these individual LEDs.

In the LED-backlit LCDs, LED lights can switch on and off individually, which allows the image to have greater contrast, bright whites and deep black in the same image. Thus, producing a superior picture when compared to CCFL-backlit LCDs. LCD TVs with LEDs also offer better response time in comparison to CCFL-backlit LCDs.

In the traditional LCDs, the CCFL lights were spread all across the surface behind the display screen, but there was no control over them. It means that when we switched on our TV, the entire surface behind the screen used to get illuminated by these CCFL lights that were always ON, and we were unable to control their dimming in specific areas of the screen.

Because of this, even the dark part of the picture used to be illuminated like the rest and we were unable to achieve images with convincing blacks, as light passed through the dark part of the picture and made it appear grey. In other words, the contrast of CCFL-backlit LCD panels isn’t very good. However, a plasma TV doesn’t have this problem as each pixel can light up or switch-off according to the demand of the picture.

Now coming to LCDs that use LEDs as the source of illumination, there are basically three types. One is Full-array backlighting, another is Edge-lit backlighting (ELED) and third is direct-lit LED backlights (DLED).

The term full-array is used where LEDs cover the entire back-side of the LCD panel. Full-array TVs are high-ends TVs that are heavier and often thicker, but they provide better picture quality as all parts of the screen are evenly backlit. They offer the most effective local dimming, as the LEDs are more in number and are spread over the entire back surface of the panel. The independent dimming of each LED in these TV sets helps in achieving perfect blacks. But, as they are costlier to manufacture, they are rare.

Edge LEDs use an array of LED backlights along the outer edges of the screen that use lightguides or diffusers to fire light across into the centre of the screen.

This technology allows the designing and manufacturing of exceptionally thin TV sets. Edge-lit sets also have a cost-benefit over direct, local dimming versions (DLED) as fewer LEDs are used in them. Because of which, they are power efficient too.

However, technically, it is the least effective system in terms of achieving a high contrast ratio as it does not offer ‘local dimming’. The black levels are not as deep and the edge area of the screen has a tendency to be brighter than the centre area of the screen. The Edge TVs not only struggle to produce a high contrast, they can also get affected by Murra Effect, which can cause light to bleed from sides to gradually overpower the entire screen.

Direct-lit LED backlights are an offshoot of full-array backlighting, though they use significantly fewer LEDs across the back of the panel. In this technology, several rows of LEDs are placed behind the entire surface of the screen.

As the LEDs are behind the LCD panel in DLED TVs, dual modulation works far more efficiently and the TVs can have better overall brightness and contrast. Using a feature called local dimming, the LEDs are divided into a number of zones that can be individually controlled, so some portions of the backlight can be dimmed while other remain illuminated.

Direct-lit LEDs can have around 200+ LED lights arranged all over the screen in clusters. Visually it is the most impressive technology, though it’s more expensive and adds extra millimetres to the depth of the TV, these TVs have local dimming that improves the blackness of an image and produce best in class picture quality, with an exceptional contrast ratio of up to 10,000,000:1. They have the ability to implement new levels of peak light output and give superb motion reproduction. Some EDGE LEDs also stake claim to local dimming, but in these TVs, it is hardly able to bring the desired effect.

Apart from being more expensive and adding to the depth of the TV, these DLED TVs might display ‘Halo Effect’ for bright images on a dark background, in which constellations of LED lights from behind the screen can cause bright objects to appear with a slight ring around them.

Though different brand TVs might be using the same DLED or ELED backlighting, their image quality might differ considerably depending on how many lights are used and how they are aligned. In some budget Edge-lit TVs, LEDs are aligned on only one side, either upper or lower edge of the TV panel, while others might have LEDs on both upper and lower edges of the panel. The high end TVs might even have a row of LEDs on all four edges of the panel. Some manufacturers use both Edge and Direct LED systems for LCD TVs. The best professional monitors use direct LEDs.

Though bigger brands like Sony, Samsung and LG also prefer EDGE-lit LED backlighting in their TVs, they complement it with some of their indigenously formulated technology to enhance the picture quality.

TV manufacturers lay more stress on producing TVs with ELED technology as it not only cut down upon their expenditure but allows them the liberty of producing ultra-slim TV sets that can appeal the masses with their aesthetically designed panels.

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ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In an effort to meet LCD manufacturer design flexibility demands, the 3M Optical Systems Division today announced that it has developed a unique solution called Uniformity Tape that will allow LCD manufacturers to reduce the number of LEDs required for edge-lit LED LCD panels at a low cost, without sacrificing brightness or efficiency.

LEDs are becoming brighter and even more efficient-requiring fewer bulbs to achieve target brightness for a given display. Until now, there have been limitations as to how far LEDs can be spaced apart at the edge of an LCD panel because of dark areas that appear between LEDs when they are too far apart. This scenario is commonly referred to as "head-lighting" because it looks like the dark space on the road between the headlights of a car.

3M"s Uniformity Tape is a clear tape, which has adhesive on one side and a micro-replicated optical pattern on the other side. It is adhered to the edge of the light guide, which faces the LED light sources. The tape is designed to increase the spreading of light in the light guide from each LED, which greatly increases the allowable LED spacing. The optical pattern is spatially uniform, meaning that no positional registration of LEDs is required along its length. The Uniformity Tape keeps the edge of the display closest to the LEDs uniform in brightness when the spacing of light sources is increased. This allows panel manufacturers to save money by removing unnecessary LEDs. Uniformity Tape can also increase LED spacing by up to three times the current spacing, while maintaining edge uniformity for a given bezel size.

"As LED technology continues to improve and becomes even brighter, some backlight designs are currently using more LEDs than needed for a brightness specification in order to avoid head lighting or thick bezels. Uniformity constraints have also prevented manufacturers from removing LEDs to save on cost," noted Gilles Georges, 3M global marketing manager. "By spacing LEDs further apart for edge-lit LED LCD panels, 3M"s Uniformity Tape allows light to travel inside the light guide at wider angles-allowing manufacturers to design wider spacing between LEDs without any dark areas."

When combined with 3M"s Dual Brightness Enhancement Film (DBEF), Uniformity Tape allows display manufacturers even more design freedom to innovate and use less LEDs to create a backlight that not only meets energy standards, but also remains competitive at a low cost. Furthermore, Uniformity Tape helps device manufacturers meet the growing number of energy efficiency standards around the world.

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Shopping for a new TV is like wading through a never-ending pool of tech jargon, display terminology, and head-spinning acronyms. It was one thing when 4K resolution landed in the homes of consumers, with TV brands touting the new UHD viewing spec as a major marketing grab. But over the last several years, the plot has only continued to thicken when it comes to three- and four-letter acronyms with the introduction of state-of-the-art lighting and screen technology. But between OLEDs, QLEDs, mini-LEDs, and now QD-OLEDs, there’s one battle of words that rests at the core of TV vocabulary: LED versus LCD.

Despite having a different acronym, LED TV is just a specific type of LCD TV, which uses a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel to control where light is displayed on your screen. These panels are typically composed of two sheets of polarizing material with a liquid crystal solution between them. When an electric current passes through the liquid, it causes the crystals to align, so that light can (or can’t) pass through. Think of it as a shutter, either allowing light to pass through or blocking it out.

Since both LED and LCD TVs are based around LCD technology, the question remains: what is the difference? Actually, it’s about what the difference was. Older LCD TVs used cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) to provide lighting, whereas LED LCD TVs used an array of smaller, more efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate the screen.

Since the technology is better, all LCD TVs now use LED lights and are colloquially considered LED TVs. For those interested, we’ll go deeper into backlighting below, or you can move onto the Local Dimming section.

Three basic illumination forms have been used in LCD TVs: CCFL backlighting, full-array LED backlighting, and LED edge lighting. Each of these illumination technologies is different from one another in important ways. Let’s dig into each.

CCFL backlighting is an older, now-abandoned form of display technology in which a series of cold cathode lamps sit across the inside of the TV behind the LCD. The lights illuminate the crystals fairly evenly, which means all regions of the picture will have similar brightness levels. This affects some aspects of picture quality, which we discuss in more detail below. Since CCFLs are larger than LED arrays, CCFL-based LCD TVs are thicker than LED-backlit LCD TVs.

Full-array backlighting swaps the outdated CCFLs for an array of LEDs spanning the back of the screen, comprising zones of LEDs that can be lit or dimmed in a process called local dimming. TVs using full-array LED backlighting to make up a healthy chunk of the high-end LED TV market, and with good reason — with more precise and even illumination, they can create better picture quality than CCFL LCD TVs were ever able to achieve, with better energy efficiency to boot.

Another form of LCD screen illumination is LED edge lighting. As the name implies, edge-lit TVs have LEDs along the edges of a screen. There are a few different configurations, including LEDs along just the bottom, LEDs on the top and bottom, LEDs left and right, and LEDs along all four edges. These different configurations result in picture quality differences, but the overall brightness capabilities still exceed what CCFL LCD TVs could achieve. While there are some drawbacks to edge lighting compared to full-array or direct backlight displays, the upshot is edge lighting that allows manufacturers to make thinner TVs that cost less to manufacture.

To better close the local-dimming quality gap between edge-lit TVs and full-array back-lit TVs, manufacturers like Sony and Samsung developed their own advanced edge lighting forms. Sony’s technology is known as “Slim Backlight Master Drive,” while Samsung has “Infinite Array” employed in its line of QLED TVs. These keep the slim form factor achievable through edge-lit design and local dimming quality more on par with full-array backlighting.

Local dimming is a feature of LED LCD TVs wherein the LED light source behind the LCD is dimmed and illuminated to match what the picture demands. LCDs can’t completely prevent light from passing through, even during dark scenes, so dimming the light source itself aids in creating deeper blacks and more impressive contrast in the picture. This is accomplished by selectively dimming the LEDs when that particular part of the picture — or region — is intended to be dark.

Local dimming helps LED/LCD TVs more closely match the quality of modern OLED displays, which feature better contrast levels by their nature — something CCFL LCD TVs couldn’t do. The quality of local dimming varies depending on which type of backlighting your LCD uses, how many individual zones of backlighting are employed, and the quality of the processing. Here’s an overview of how effective local dimming is on each type of LCD TV.

TVs with full-array backlighting have the most accurate local dimming and therefore tend to offer the best contrast. Since an array of LEDs spans the entire back of the LCD screen, regions can generally be dimmed with more finesse than on edge-lit TVs, and brightness tends to be uniform across the entire screen. Hisense’s impressive U7G TVs are great examples of relatively affordable models that use multiple-zone, full-array backlighting with local dimming.

“Direct local dimming” is essentially the same thing as full-array dimming, just with fewer LEDs spread further apart in the array. However, it’s worth noting that many manufacturers do not differentiate “direct local dimming” from full-array dimming as two separate forms of local dimming. We still feel it’s important to note the difference, as fewer, further-spaced LEDs will not have the same accuracy and consistency as full-array displays.

Because edge lighting employs LEDs positioned on the edge or edges of the screen to project light across the back of the LCD screen, as opposed to coming from directly behind it, it can result in very subtle blocks or bands of lighter pixels within or around areas that should be dark. The local dimming of edge-lit TVs can sometimes result in some murkiness in dark areas compared with full-array LED TVs. It should also be noted that not all LED edge-lit TVs offer local dimming, which is why it is not uncommon to see glowing strips of light at the edges of a TV and less brightness toward the center of the screen.

Since CCFL backlit TVs do not use LEDs, models with this lighting style do not have dimming abilities. Instead, the LCD panel of CCFL LCDs is constantly and evenly illuminated, making a noticeable difference in picture quality compared to LED LCDs. This is especially noticeable in scenes with high contrast, as the dark portions of the picture may appear too bright or washed out. When watching in a well-lit room, it’s easier to ignore or miss the difference, but in a dark room, it will be, well, glaring.

As if it wasn’t already confusing enough, once you begin exploring the world of modern display technology, new acronyms crop up. The two you’ll most commonly find are OLED and QLED.

An OLED display uses a panel of pixel-sized organic compounds that respond to electricity. Since each tiny pixel (millions of which are present in modern displays) can be turned on or off individually, OLED displays are called “emissive” displays (meaning they require no backlight). They offer incredibly deep contrast ratios and better per-pixel accuracy than any other display type on the market.

Because they don’t require a separate light source, OLED displays are also amazingly thin — often just a few millimeters. OLED panels are often found on high-end TVs in place of LED/LCD technology, but that doesn’t mean that LED/LCDs aren’t without their own premium technology.

QLED is a premium tier of LED/LCD TVs from Samsung. Unlike OLED displays, QLED is not a so-called emissive display technology (lights still illuminate QLED pixels from behind). However, QLED TVs feature an updated illumination technology over regular LED LCDs in the form of Quantum Dot material (hence the “Q” in QLED), which raises overall efficiency and brightness. This translates to better, brighter grayscale and color and enhances HDR (High Dynamic Range) abilities.

And now to make things extra confusing, part of Samsung’s 2022 TV lineup is being billed as traditional OLEDs, although a deeper dive will reveal this is actually the company’s first foray into a new panel technology altogether called QD-OLED.

For a further description of QLED and its features, read our list of the best TVs you can buy. The article further compares the qualities of both QLED and OLED TV; however, we also recommend checking outfor a side-by-side look at these two top-notch technologies.

There are more even displays to become familiar with, too, including microLED and Mini-LED, which are lining up to be the latest head-to-head TV technologies. Consider checking out how the two features compare to current tech leaders in

In the world of TV technology, there’s never a dull moment. However, with this detailed research, we hope you feel empowered to make an informed shopping decision and keep your Best Buy salesperson on his or her toes.

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Lightboxes can be built to your specifications regarding size, color temperature, and frame color. Single and double-sided [illuminated on the front and rear face] light panels are also available. Edge-lit panels are 8mm or about 1/3-inch thick a light panel including a flip-open frame [now called a lightbox] has a thickness of 0.625 to 1.50-inches. Illumination across the LED light panel from edge-to-edge is within 10% so a dark center is not a concern. Read more

Light panels have many uses in retail environments such as lighted shelves, signs or as a lightbox for photographic transparencies, stained glass and faux windows. For interior lighting applications, the panel performs well as a ceiling troffer, lighted wall, under cabinet light and under stone such as Onyx, quartzite or translucent man-made countertops. Read more

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