Simply TV Wall Mounts

LED TV has brought a whole new range of tv’s to the electronics market, citing breakthrough picture quality in an energy-efficient and eco-friendly package. But what is an TV LED and how does it compare to an LCD TV?

Many of the new TV’s out there go by the name LED TV, but they’re actually not an LED TV as such – they’re actually an TV LCD with an LED backlight, and can cost almost twice as much as their LCD TV or plasma TV counterparts.

So why have a LCD TV with an LED backlight? Until now LCD TV’s used florescent tubes to light the screen. As these tubes are always on, some light would always leak through and so the TV had trouble producing deep blacks, which affected the perceived sharpness. The tubes also lacked a wide range of colours, meaning the colour saturation of the image could be limited.

An LED TV uses light emitting diode’s to illuminate the display by mounting tiny lights in rows either behind the display or around the edge of the display (known as ‘edge-lit’ displays).

It’s difficult to say which method is better as both have their own pros and cons. Edge-lit LED TV’s can be made ultra thin as the LED’s are on the side of the display. As they have fewer light emitting diodes in them they’re also less expensive than their backlit alternatives.

Backlit displays on the other hand can create deeper blacks by using ‘local dimming’, shutting off LED’s in dark areas of the image and preventing unwanted light shining through. Of course, these additional LED’s come at a price as backlit LED’s tend to be more expensive.

So backlit is better, right? Well not necessarily. The additional LED’s on backlit tv’s can’t be shut off individually and needed to be shut off in larger groups. This means that light areas that are next to dark areas can be darkened when they should stay light. The opposite is true too – by counteracting this darkening affect by lightening the image can cause blacks to be lighter in areas surrounded by lighter images.

A tv screen with every LED lit separately would be a true LED TV which, while possible, would be very expensive and currently only used for very large billboards.

But some there are some clear advantages of LED TV’s over LCD TV’s and plasmas. LED TV’s use less power than their LCD or plasma counterparts and do not use mercury, so are better for the environment. They also have more balanced colour contrast and stronger colours, making images sharper and more vivid.

At the end of the day the choice is really up to you and as with any big purchase it’s important to research it fully before you buy. Take a visit to your local retailer and compare the different tv’s against your budget. Make sure you choose one you loved watching and that meets your requirements – and once you’ve got it go home and enjoy it!

With so many TV LCDs on the market it’s difficult to tell which ones best for you. A great place to start is by considering the following five aspects of TV LCDs.

The first aspect is the viewing angle. If you often have friends over to watch TV, you’re going to want a wide viewing angle so everyone can see. Many TV LCDs suffer when being watched at wide angle – blacks tend to lighten and colours fade. Some, such as the Samsung LCD TV do better than others depending on the panel, so look out for those with In-Plane Switching panels, which help to reduce these effects.

Next is motion resolution. If you’re a big sports fan, you’ll want to find a tv that can handle fast sports action with minimal motion blur. The higher the motion resolution, the less blurring you’ll see on the tv.

Although plasma screens tend to deliver better motion resolution when compared to LCDs, there are plenty of TV LCD’s on the market that you’ll be very happy with. Many have motion-compensated frame interpolations up to 200Hz which come very close to plasmas with minimal artifacts; and with their slimmer size and lower power consumption, offer a much more rounded purchase.

Next up is built in HD freeview tuners. There are many free HD channels to enjoy now, including ITV HD and BBC HD and all you need is an aerial to enjoy them – no satellite dish needed!

Another important factor is the screen size. It’s always tempting to buy the largest TV you can afford, but consider your room size first. Sit too close and you’ll notice undesired video artifacts – sit too far away and you’ll lose the detail. Having too large a screen can also cause headaches and promote poor posture – having too small a screen can cause headaches.

Large screens, such as those larger than a 32 inch lcd tv, also weigh more and are more difficult to move if required. For added flexibility, consider investing in tv wall mounts. Professional tv wall mounts can support your TV with ease and allow a range of movement where required.

The resolution what you’re watching can also affect the viewing distance. Lower resolution programmes will need you to sit further away to avoid seeing compression and scaling artifacts. However, these effects are being lessened by today’s upscalers, which are doing a much better job than those a few years ago.

Conversely, higher resolutions will allow you to sit closer and enjoy the great detail that is HD TV. For detailed information on recommended viewing distances for your TV LCD, read our viewing distance post here.

Whichever TV LCD you choose, make sure it meets your requirements before purchasing. Take a trip to a local retailer and have a sit in front of a store TV at the same distance you would when at home, it’ll give you a great idea of which one works for you. Once you’ve found it, have a shop around, get it ordered, and start enjoying your new TV.

I’m often asked what is a TV LCD? LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Diode and examples of tv LCD displays are all around us. From large scale displays hung from tv wall mounts to photo viewers, microwaves, digital clocks and car dashboards, LCD displays are now a integral part of our lives, and it’s hard to imagine a day spent without watching or using one.

The most common type of ‘liquid’ crystal used in LCD TVs is twisted nematic – a naturally twisted crystal that reacts to electric currents by untwisting to various extents according to the voltage being passed through it.

By pressing this crystal between parallel panes of polarized glass, it’s possible to manipulate the intensity of light that passes through it, and change the display from light states (where the crystals are fully twisted) to dark states (where the crystals are fully untwisted), and grey states in-between.

A TV LCD display such as a Samsung LCD TV then, consists of thousands of arrays of tiny crystals called ‘pixels’, that are manipulated together to form images on the screen. The process of manipulating these crystals is called ‘addressing’, where each pixel is individually turned on or off to create a image for the viewer.

The light for the TV LCD is created with an array of florescent bulbs or (more recently) LED’s (light emitting diodes) that emit light through the polarized glass behind the liquid crystal, backlighting the display. As the crystals allow all wavelengths of light to pass through, the full spectrum of colour can be harnessed and manipulated to create the images required.

To display different colours, each pixel is divided into three sub-pixels – red, green and blue – that work together to achieve the hue. With each sub-pixel able to create up to 256 colours, the use of all three sub-pixels means a single pixel can produce up to an amazing 16.8 million colours – amazing!

So why choose a TV LCD?

With each pixel on an LCD display having it’s own transistor electrode, TV LCD’s can feature smooth, wide, saturated and evenly lit images with none of the lines that older projection TV’s used to suffer from, even on a 32 inch lcd tv or larger.

With all that light and so many pixels, it’s no surprise then that flat panel TV LCD displays also tend to be significantly brighter and have higher contrast ratios than the older CRT displays. This means that a TV LCD won’t wash out in brightly lit rooms, glare under direct light, or flicker, which can cause eye strain.

TV LCD’s also support wide viewing angles of up to 160°, allowing the display to be viewed from almost anywhere in the room. They’re also significantly thinner than older projection TV’s, allowing them to be mounted wherever they’re needed using tv wall mounts.

And last but not least, the average lifespan of a tv lcd display is around 60,000 hours – that 2500 days of constant watching or almost 7 years – so find some good lcd tv deals online and get yourself one!