he 30 Second LED vs LCD Explanation
A very common question with television buyers is “what’s
the difference between LED vs LCD televisions”? Asking
the question this way implies that there is an actual
LED Only HDTV, that is not an LCD TV. However if a
television is not a Plasma, then it is an LCD. LCD means
liquid crystal display (the screen if you wish) An LED
tv has the same thing. It has an LCD display. So really
it’s either LCD or LED-LCD TV.
The main difference is in the type of “backlighting”
used to display the image on the LCD display screen.
First generation LCD TVs used fluorescent backlighting,
whereas modern LCD TVs utilize LEDs (Light Emitting
Diodes) to light up the LCD display. Some newer LCDs
even use LEDs around the perimeter of the LCD display.
These are called “Edge-Lit” LED-LCDs. So the question is
not “LED vs LCD”, but really “LED Backlighting vs
Fluorescent Backlighting ”.
By: Michael Cottier
Liquid Crystal Display is what LCD stands for, and you
thought crystals could only be a solid. Liquid crystals
were actually first discovered in 1888 and took more
then 100
years to progress into the LCD monitors that we see for
computers, laptops, calculators and so one. So why the
history lesson you ask, because most likely you are
interested in getting an LCD monitor for your computer,
but want to get the best deal and quality of monitor. So
you need to know everything that you can about LCD’s, or
you might purchase the wrong one for you.
The difference between a good old fashioned CRT monitor
and an LCD is not just the size, far from it. LCD’s
produce a clearer picture and use a digital connection
between
the computer and the monitor instead of an analog one
like CRT monitors. As we all know, digital is much
better then analog since there is less signal loss.
In addition to its picture quality as a main benefit,
LCD monitors also consume less power, which actually
saves you money on your electric bill. Sure it won’t be
much, but
after awhile the savings will add up and make up for the
cost difference between a CRT and an LCD monitor. So in
the end you paid just about the same amount for an LCD
as you would have for a big old clunky CRT monitor.
Okay let’s say you want to buy an LCD monitor now, but
you don’t know which one to get. Well let me first tell
you that all LCD’s are not created equal and the quality
really
depends on the manufacturer and a few certain other
aspects. There are so many LCD monitor manufacturers
these days that deciding which one to buy simply by the
company name is much too hard. What you should do to
find the best LCD monitor amongst all those other pesky
inferior ones, is to compare the contrast ratio. The
screen
with the highest contrast ratio will have better picture
and color quality, which is the whole reason we use a
monitor anyways, too look at it.
Another factor that determines the picture quality of
your LCD monitor is the response time. This basically
means how long it takes to transform the liquid crystal
to the
state that will display the correct color. The higher
the response time, the more blurry the images will be,
especially images moving on black backgrounds.
The connection between the LCD monitor and the computer
also makes a major difference in picture quality. LCD
monitors have an AGP port just like CRT’s do, but they
also have another port called DVI, which instead of
being analog it uses a digital signal. Digital
connections have less picture and color loss than an
analog one, but do
require you to have a DVI port on your computer. If your
computer doesn’t have one, then you have to buy a new
video card that does and install it.
Now that you have the basic knowledge that you need to
know when buying an LCD monitor, you are prepared to buy
one at your local store or online. Before you go
though, I just wanted to say that I have owned an LCD
for the past 2 years and I could never go back to a CRT
monitor, my eyes have been spoiled! The picture quality
is
just that good, plus not to mention how much more desk
space I have and the fact that I am using less power
feels good too. I guarantee that once you have an LCD
monitor
you won’t be able to go back to a CRT either.
