LED television is on the move! As they become more widely available and prices fall, sales are increasing at the expense of LCD TVs in particular, but also plasma TVs. And to be honest, it’s not hard to see why this trend is happening. In my opinion, there are very good reasons why, in terms of the benefits that come with upgrading (yes, that’s the right word), to an LED TV.
For technicians, the main difference is that they are LED lights instead of CCFLs, and it is the use of LED lights that offers the energy efficiency that all manufacturers demand so strongly of us! However, in all seriousness, the energy savings are real and can be as high as 40%.
I guess we’ve all gotten used to the pace of technology advancement by now. We are used to it with our PCs and Laptops, the same goes for HD TV technology. The rate of progress in the last two years has been spectacular. And the main area that manifests itself is image quality. All you have to do is watch an LED TV (especially a 1080p, 240Hz with a high contrast ratio) and you’ll notice a considerable degree of improvement, certainly over previous versions of LCD and plasma TVs.
This is mainly because LEDs, (or Light Emitting Diodes to give them their full name), in addition to saving energy, also provide a brighter image. This is because they give a better quality of white light, apparently it has something to do with holistic spectra (which I don’t claim to understand).
Another major benefit of LED TVs over LCDs is screen life. LCD screens have long been known to lose their brightness, sharpness and suffer from motion blur. Historically, the problem with plasma displays has been screen burn-in. I had a previous LG Plasma and after only a couple of years there were signs of screen burn. Now, a few more years in the future, the frames of the sports channels are well recorded! It’s still a decent image, but our new LED tops it in terms of image quality, brightness, and contrast.
However, switch to an LED screen and you will have a longer life with a much stronger and brighter image quality for much longer.
This is another benefit of the better quality light produced by an LED-lit TV. Of course, another benefit of this
better quality of light is that the colors on the screen are much more vivid and brilliant. With that brightness comes contrast that can beat anything older HDTVs can offer.
If you can get a set that includes “local dimming” (where the black parts of the image are actually turned off, so they’re the deepest black imaginable), then contrast is further improved. You can only get this local dimming feature on TVs with LED lighting.
High-quality images and overall image quality are, I think, the main benefit of LED TVs.
The way LED lighting is configured on new TVs offers a design advantage in that the screen can be made ultra-thin. This makes the design really very elegant! Now, brands like Sony, LG and Samsung are also introducing the ultra-thin (wraparound) bezel. These new sets look quite different and the slim bezel seems to make the 3D (where you have it) stand out even more in your viewing area. It also makes for quite attractive pieces of furniture even when turned off!
Most of the current LED TVs launched on the market have high brightness screens. Now you may think this would give a reflection, like some of the early plasmas, but it doesn’t. Screens are designed to enhance the image by making it a little brighter and more vibrant. Glossy screens are also more durable, helping to further increase the longevity of your TVs.
And the final benefit of technological advances is that most new TVs now include comprehensive Wi-Fi and internet apps (about time on this second issue, by the way). This means you can stream content from the Internet (in HD from some sources) and connect almost any device you want.
In short, these advances make your television a hub or entertainment center for the whole family. This technology gives you access to amazing archives of content, be it movies, any TV show ever made, and of course online content like Netflix, YouTube, etc. Nowadays you really don’t need to leave the house to be entertained, because with one of the latest LED TVs, everything is at your fingertips.
So there are a lot of amazing benefits to upgrading to an LED TV. These include exceptional high image quality, energy savings, wireless communication, and stunning design and endless content. This is a breakthrough in home entertainment and now that prices are starting to come down, I think it’s fair to assume that LED TVs are here to stay.
