More than 60% of the world population is using LCD/LED TVs these days and the remaining are trying to upgrade their old TV. When we go to buy a LCD/LED TV there are couple of terms who should aware of. In the case of normal TV the thing is simple, only the screen size has to be specified other things are pretty standard. One of the important thing is LCD and LED classification. Still lot of people thinks LED TV is far better than LCD TV. Let me start from there. An LED TV is nothing but an LCD uses LED back-lighting. TV manufactures advertise this display as LED which is not true LED display but is often called so. The basic difference between the two is that an LED TV uses light emitting diodes for the backlighting, where as an LCD uses fluorescent lamps as backlights. There are two types of LED backlighting Edge lit and full array.
1. Screen Size
Diagonal length of TV screen.
2. Aspect Ratio
Ratio of the TV width compared to height. e.g. 16:9
3. Resolution
The greater the number pixels, the greater the picture. e.g. 1920(H) x 1080(V)
4. Dynamic Contrast Ratio
The difference between the brightest whites and darkest blacks a TV can show. e.g. 1,000,000:1
5. Viewing Angle
The max viewable angle when viewing left to right. The closer to 180* the better.
6. Edge lit LED
Refers to the placements of LEDs along the edges of an LCD display. Due to such arrangements the edges might appear to be brighter than the rest of the picture. Edge lit panels are slimmer in dimensions but can also cause bleeding of light around the edges.
7. Full Array
Refers to placements of LEDs which are arranged in a full matrix or array, this gives uniform and even back-lighting.
8. Bleeding
LCDs block out unwanted light coming from their backlit source, bleeding occurs when the back-light behind the LCD surface is not 100% blocked. The results to some areas appearing lighter than the rest especially on a dark or black background. Almost all LCDs suffer some amount of bleeding.
9. Response Time
Latency or response rate means how quickly the screen can refresh a video image. It basically means the rate at which the LCD can display moving images. It is generally measured in milli seconds (ms) and you should look for TVs with faster response time.
10. Refresh Rate
The number of times your LCD screen refreshes itself per second is known as refresh rate giving you clear, uninterrupted image. Generally the refresh rate is measured in Hertz(Hz). A refresh rate of 120 or 240 Hz refers to the number of times a frame is drawn each second.
11. Ambilight
Invented by Philips, Ambilight refers to the ambient light which is generated corresponding to the video content currently being played on the screen. This effect gives you a feel of a much larger and immersive TV screen.
12. Ghosting
Appearance of a false image on the screen refers to ghosting. This generally happens when a previous image displayed on the screen can still be seen.
13. Bezel
A bezel refers to the outside edges of a Liquid crystal display screen or any screen for that matter.
14. 1080i and 1080p displays
Video mode displaying 1080 lines of vertical resolution is written in shorthand as 1080p, the ‘p’ stands for progressive scan where as on the other hand a 1080i display is shown in 16:9 aspect ratio which gives a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Here the i stands for interlaced.
15. Progressive scan
Also known as non-interlaced scanning is a method of displaying or transmitting a video images in which all the lines of each frames are drawn in a sequence.
16. Interlaced video
This form of transmitting or storing moving images scans only the odd lines, then the even lines of each frame are drawn alternately.
So, these are the common LCD/LED terms used by the manufacturers. The Ghosting, bleeding are problems that commonly seen in displays. I hope this article will be helpful for the next visit to a TV shop. Have a Happy Weekend.
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