LCD and LED - what's the difference?

18 November 2009

With CRT technology officially checking itself out of the display market during the course of the last 12 months, a new battle has begun between the LCD and LED camps, driving further competition and price competitiveness into the market.

What's all the commotion about? And are the two display technologies really all that different?

"The physical difference between LCD and LED is small, however, the effects of that small difference are huge," says Levina de Matos, Samsung product manager at Tarsus Technologies.

de Matos says that LED displays are actually LCD displays in every way except for the mechanism used for backlighting the panel.

"However, where conventional LCDs make use of a Cold-Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) technology to deliver light into the display, LED displays, as their name suggests, make use of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) technology to deliver light into the panel," she explains.

"This small change makes a dramatic difference to the performance of a panel," she continues, "and for an idea of what those differences are one simply needs to take a closer look the superior characteristics LED has over conventional CCFL lighting.

"LED technology, whether implanted in a flat panel display or some other form of device is generally chosen because of the bright light it produces with much less power than traditional lighting mechanisms," de Matos continues.

"And the display industry is no different," she says. "LED displays are generally brighter, more power-efficient, and thinner and lighter than their CCFL (LCD) counterparts, making them perfect for use in notebook computers."

However, mobile computing isn't the only place that LED display technology shines.

"The flat-panel television and large format display space are both areas that are beginning to benefit from the use of LED technology to backlight a display," she says.

"In the television space, LED technology is bringing viewers the clearer, crisper visuals that are needed to truly enjoy the effect of high-definition video. In the large format display space LED technology has the ability to bring down the power consumption of these classically very power-hungry display devices, while giving enough backlighting to display crisply and clearly even when used in outdoor environments where there's a high degree of ambient light," she says.

While LED has been a great leap forward, de Matos says that the industry is only beginning to discover uses for LED technology in the display context.

"There's a ton of research taking place in the market today - using different coloured LEDs to boost colour production and experimentation with different switching mechanisms to boost power-efficiency," she says.

"We're in for a real treat over the coming years, however, only a handful of the brightest scientists know what the future of flat panel display technology will look like in ten years time," she concludes.