LED TV's

wutadumsn23

I had heard about them, but had never seen one until today. While I was waiting for a haircut I strolled over to the Base Exchange (Military's version of Walmart pretty much) and I was heading my usual direction towards the electronics department when something caught my eye, literally. I stopped and stared for about a minute in disbelief of what I was seeing. First I thought it was some new LCD or Plasma monitor, but I thought no way it is way too clear for either of those. I then glanced at the price tag of around $3,100.00 and right next to that I saw LED. Like I said I had heard of LED, but had never seen one. I am not 100% positive what brand it was, but I know it was a 55" and had a contrast ratio of 3,000,000:1!!!! I think it was a Samsung, but holy ****, I sat there watching the movie they were playing (Inkheart) and I was amazed at the picture clarity. It felt like I was actually there, and the picture looked like it was real life!!!! I currently have a 60" Sony 1080p LCoS rear projection set that I am extremely happy with, but one thing I noticed about the Sammy was that it was a 55" but looked much smaller than that. I actually thought it was a 42", but the movie was playing in widescreen (eventhough it was a Blu-Ray) so it had a black bar at the bottom and the top of the screen, which may have made it look smaller. My Sony is a beast and looks like it, the Sammy just looked small. However, this small flaw aside, I can't wait for these to get more affordable (for my measly paycheck anyway, lol). I promise I will have one, it was simply amazing.

Ender

Samsung makes the best LED HDTV.

nguyendot

From what I have scene (all things the same), the LED versions fall short of the standard TOC (touch of color) versions right now. The main thing right now about the LED from Samsung is the thickness (<1").

I prefer the color and contrast on the TOC version, but I'm sure the LED will get much, much better. Wait it out, the best has yet to come.

Hillbilly61

LED technology is all about how the required backlighting works for the LCD picture elements. For LCD to work it needs a light source shining through the rear of the LCD elements. LED will/is supposed to give a more even backlight over convententional flurescent backlighting and will definitely result in a longer life and thinner TV screen.

As far as clarity and color, etc, that is ALL the LCD and TV screen processor technology you are seeing, not the LED effect. Glad you liked it! But, this has nothing to do with the LED backlighting being used. Everything else being equal, you'd get about the same quality picture if a flurescent backlight was used (just an increased chance of slightly brighter/darker areas on the screen).

cnh

Hillbilly61 wrote: »

LED technology is all about how the required backlighting works for the LCD picture elements. For LCD to work it needs a light source shining through the rear of the LCD elements. LED will/is supposed to give a more even backlight over convententional flurescent backlighting and will definitely result in a longer life and thinner TV screen.

As far as clarity and color, etc, that is ALL the LCD and TV screen processor technology you are seeing, not the LED effect. Glad you liked it! But, this has nothing to do with the LED backlighting being used. Everything else being equal, you'd get about the same quality picture if a flurescent backlight was used (just an increased chance of slightly brighter/darker areas on the screen).

You're right HB,

But that translates in to better black levels and contrast ratios...a main weakness for LCDs...

cnh

danz1906

Ender wrote: »

Samsung makes the best LED HDTV.

I saw the Samsung LED at Best-Buy,and it was Impressive!

heiney9

My brother has a 55" Samsung LED and the picture is amazing. Black levels and contrast are like nothing I've ever seen. Certainly better than a std. LCD TV.......worth twice the price (right now) maybe not....but they will come down in price.

H9

Monster Jam

LED = for Officers
LCD = for Enlisted


Just kidding!!

dane_peterson

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Samsung only have edge-lit LED LCDs as of right now?

I have yet to see a full LED LCD display in person. I guess I haven't really been looking too hard though.

Airplay355

Sure they will come down in price and then something better will come out and we will be saying LED is good but blah blah is better. It's just expensive so I'll wait until the price comes down. This is the same conversation that happened when plasmas came out, LCD's came out and it's going to keep happening.

wutadumsn23

Monster Jam wrote: »

LED = for Officers
LCD = for Enlisted


Just kidding!!

LOL, then I am screwed my poor E-5 A$$ won't be able to afford this anytime soon. I couldn't be anymore clueless as far as LED goes so thanks for clearing it up for me guys. I was just very impressed with the picture is all and wanted to share.

green1706

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

I had heard about them, but had never seen one until today. While I was waiting for a haircut I strolled over to the Base Exchange (Military's version of Walmart pretty much) and I was heading my usual direction towards the electronics department when something caught my eye, literally. I stopped and stared for about a minute in disbelief of what I was seeing. First I thought it was some new LCD or Plasma monitor, but I thought no way it is way too clear for either of those. I then glanced at the price tag of around $3,100.00 and right next to that I saw LED. Like I said I had heard of LED, but had never seen one. I am not 100% positive what brand it was, but I know it was a 55" and had a contrast ratio of 3,000,000:1!!!! I think it was a Samsung, but holy ****, I sat there watching the movie they were playing (Inkheart) and I was amazed at the picture clarity. It felt like I was actually there, and the picture looked like it was real life!!!! I currently have a 60" Sony 1080p LCoS rear projection set that I am extremely happy with, but one thing I noticed about the Sammy was that it was a 55" but looked much smaller than that. I actually thought it was a 42", but the movie was playing in widescreen (eventhough it was a Blu-Ray) so it had a black bar at the bottom and the top of the screen, which may have made it look smaller. My Sony is a beast and looks like it, the Sammy just looked small. However, this small flaw aside, I can't wait for these to get more affordable (for my measly paycheck anyway, lol). I promise I will have one, it was simply amazing.

LED TV is a term used by Samsung to describe its line of LCD (liquid crystal display) TVsthat use LED backlighting.
LED-backlit LCD TVs do differ from conventional LCD TVs in some important areas:
1- They can produce a very bright image and deep blacks (doesn't work for Edge-LED
2- With Edge-LED lighting they can be extremely slim.
3- They can offer lower power consumption.
4- They can offer a wider colour gamut, especially when RGB-LED backlighting is used.

Lsi9

So as far as I understand the Pioneer Kuro is still the king as far as consumer TV...I saw a 240 hz TV and thought it looked unnatural and the screen whether it was the settings or not had artifact all over. I would like a flat panel TV but nothing has enticed me enough from my 50" Sony SXRD bought in 2005

wutadumsn23

Lsi9 wrote: »

I would like a flat panel TV but nothing has enticed me enough from my 50" Sony SXRD bought in 2005

+1, I can't stop ranting about my 60" SXRD I bought in '06. I love it.

billbillw

Another SXRD lover here. My 55"er has been going strong for about 20 months now. Might be time to get a spare bulb and plan to clean the mirror, but it still looks better than any LCD that I've seen. Plasma is still the king in a dark room though. The latest Pannys (V10 series) are not far behind the fabled (and discontinued) Pioneer Kuro line, but can be had for a very good price.

wutadumsn23

billbillw wrote: »

Another SXRD lover here. My 55"er has been going strong for about 20 months now. Might be time to get a spare bulb and plan to clean the mirror, but it still looks better than any LCD that I've seen. Plasma is still the king in a dark room though. The latest Pannys (V10 series) are not far behind the fabled (and discontinued) Pioneer Kuro line, but can be had for a very good price.

I had my bulb blow up on me last week, luckily I had a spare from a buddy of mine in the basement. Def. time for me to order a replacement bulb though. Found em for about $100 online, so I may order two, lol.

jon s

A LED TV is just a LCD display that uses LEDs instead of CCFL (cold cathode flourescent lighting) to light up the image. The advantage of LEDs is that power consumption is very low. There are two types of LED displays; edge-lit and local backlight.

Edge-lit displays have the LEDs along the edge of the screen. This allows the screen to be extremely slim, but a severe issue is light uniformity. On a dark image, the edges are brighter where the LEDs are located. If there is a bright object on a dark background, it can have a brighter area leading up to the object.

Local dimming LEDs have LEDs lined up behind the LCD panel. If you have the same dark image with a bright object, only the LED behind that object will be lit. This type of LEDs give a better image than edge-lits but are a lot more expensive, and the the screens are thicker.

A poorly implemented LED design is when the LEDs dim and brighten as the image changes and there is an obvious transition in the image quality. This is how LEDs obtain their contrast, by controlling the LEDs light output.

The big disadvantage of ALL LCDs overall is off-axis viewing. If you are not directly inline with the image, the picture quality suffers. If you off to one side, too high or below the screen, the image washes out, losing color and contrast and this gets pretty severe.

To me, the best technology is still plasma. The discontinued Pioneer Kuro plasma had the best measured contrast ratio, measuring 30,000:1 with truly deep blacks. NO other display has surpassed the Pioneer Kuro in measured contrast. You cannot trust a manufacturers rating as it is largely exaggerated. As an example, Panasonic's G10 plasma, rated 1,000,000:1 contrast actually tested at 3,000:1. Sam Sung's TOC LED LCDs were rated 2,000,000:1 but measured at 10,000:1.

Plasma's advantages include a sharper looking image (go ahead and compare them, plasmas are sharper...) and no loss of image quality when viewed off-axis. Another big advantage is that Plasma prices are probably better than LED based LCDs for the same screen size. Panasonic's are probably the best plasma's out there now, but their contrast ratio is not quite as good as some of the LCDs. Pioneer sold their Kuro technology to Panasonic but the technology has not been carried over yet. Plasma's primary disadvantage is power consumption, which is twice as high as LCDs.

You will hear that Plasma's have a tendecy to burn in the image... this is true of LCDs as well and is caused when the contrast is cranked up. To get the best image and longevity of ANY display, people should have their sets ISF calibrated for the maximum picture quality. You won't regret it...