Opinions and Info #5

Apr 2010

‘LED TV’ vs. ‘LCD TV’

There’s no denying that LED-backlit LCD TVs are LCD TVs that contain LEDs as a source of backlighting instead of traditional CCFL bulbs. But when it comes to introducing the technology at the retail level, the issue can lend to a lot of customer confusion. For one, if you call it an LED-backlit LCD, the customers’ eyes will likely glaze over. But if you call it an LED TV, aren’t you misinforming him? After all, the only truly “LED” TVs on the market are ones like that 11″ Sony OLED beauty that was introduced a few years back. Right?

Some would say it’s all semantics, but judging from the industry debate, it’s clear that whether you agree with one side or the other, it’s an issue that requires addressing.

“LED TVs”
If features like slim form factor, energy savings, and better picture quality, can’t be achieved using traditional TFT LCD technologies, than how can we possibly use the same name? And if light source has nothing to do with naming a flat panel, why do we call a plasma a plasma?

Then again, the difference between TFT-LCDs with CCFL backlights and LCDs with LED backlights is significant enough that consumers need to understand the benefits. In this respect, you’re selling yourself short by selling these flat panels simply as LCDs.

According to Robert Gumiela, Director of Marketing for CE at Samsung Electronics of Canada Inc., there is a bevy of differences between LCD and “LED” that warrant dropping the LCD moniker.

“What has four wheels, a steering wheel, and an engine?” he asks, showing us a diagram of a golf cart, a tractor, and a Maserati. “It would be rather interesting playing eighteen holes using a Maserati, cruising the Autobahn on a tractor, or plowing fields with a golf cart. They share a commonality of being vehicles and providing transportation, but their differences outweigh their similarities.”

He moves on to his next example. This time, the photo depicts a calculator, a wristwatch, and a clock radio. “They are all true liquid crystal displays,” he says, “but it would be quite interesting using them to watch TSN in HD. What we know as an LCD TV is really a TFT-CCFL liquid crystal display device that combines a variety of technologies to product a high-definition video image.”

Analogies are great, but Gumiela cites eight points that he feels really bring his position home.

* LED is a solid state semi-conductor opposed to a CCFL which uses a fluorescent lamp to produce light;
* LED light is significantly faster in rise and decay time which results in better contrast ratios and better motion performance;
* The liquid crystal substrate is modified to account for faster LED response time. (Sure, there is a substrate that contains liquid crystals, but you have to have a thin film transistor layer to actually control them. And because LED performs differently, that TFT is different.);
* The LED light path uses a number of substrate elements (light plates, prisms) which is distinctly different to a conventional CCFL ;
* The LED colour gamut (typically 105% of HD colour gamut) is distinctly different to a conventional CCFL;
* LED panel substrates utilize enhanced polarization films;
* LED utilizes significantly less power than conventional CCFL;
* LED light technology contributes to a remarkably different mechanical or cosmetic design.

While Samsung is a big proponent on this front, the Korean manufacturer is not alone in its stance. Listen to any Bay Bloor Radio radio ad and you’ll note that the downtown Toronto retailer clearly distinguishes among plasma, LCD, and LED TVs.

According to Richard Bowden, the retailer’s Director of Sales, customers find it easier to understand the situation this way. “Category One: Plasma. Category 2: LCD (we explain the basics; the rear-mounted fluorescent tubes, etc.) Category Three: LED. (we explain the sub-categories of full array and edge lit).

“To clients,” he continues, “they seem to want to know which is the newest technology, which is most energy efficient, and of course which is the thinnest. At the end of the day, there is a lot of LCD, LED, ABC going around. Of course the most important thing is to reinforce that most premium brands are exiting the LCD label and moving to LED.”

However, Bowden does admit that the TVs are discussed as somewhere along the lines of the next-generation LCD TVs, which means the three-letters aren’t completely lost in translation.

To the counter-points noted in the opposite section, Gumiela muses: “I’m still trying to watch the hockey game on my LCD clock radio. I tried changing the back light, but to no avail.”

Samsung Canada’s Robert Gumiela poses proudly in front of a series of complex diagrams and calculations that he feels justify why LCD TVs with LED backlighting should be called LED TVs.

“LCD TVs”
Regardless of the lighting technology, and the technical modifications made to facilitate the advantages found in LED backlit LCD TVs, they’re still ultimately LCDs. We don’t use the lighting source to determine the moniker attached to a TV; we use the type of panel. Otherwise, CCFL models would be called CCFL LCD TVs.

If you tell a consumer he’s buying an LED TV, then he takes it home and presents it to his propeller-head friend as such, said friend will probably laugh hysterically at him for being duped by the retailer. Imagine that customer furiously rushing back into the store to yell at the sales guy who “misinformed” him about what he was buying.

Gumiela is right in that you can’t ride a tractor along the green during an 18-hole game, nor use a Maserati to transport farm equipment. But the modes of transport can be distinguished by more specific names: a golf vehicle, a farming vehicle, and a luxury vehicle, for example. Similarly, we have CCFL LCD, LED LCD, or even to a greater extent, full-array LED LCD, edge-lit LED LCD, and so forth.

Fred Breitner, Owner of Great Metropolitan Sound in Toronto, ON, likens the situation to the idea of the “borderless TV.” It’s named as such because the bezel extends to the very edge of the unit, thus making it look as if there’s no border. But when you actually turn the TV on to view video, it’s misleading, because there is indeed a border around the actual picture.

Andrew Thompson, Marketing Manager, CE, at Sharp Electronics of Canada Ltd., uses a different analogy: rear-projection TV. “If you look at the evolution of RPTV,” he explains, “there have been multiple new fundamental technologies introduced; there was CRT, microdisplay (LCD, LCOS, D-ILA), DLP, and now laser. But we haven’t changed how we refer to them; they are still RPTV.”

“LCDs are barely all the way through their development cycle,” he adds. “We cannot create a new category type of TV every time there is an advancement.”
To Gumiela’s eight points, Thompson counters his own.

* There are many solid state components in an LCD TV, not just the backlight;
* It’s a component that improves performance, just like a higher performing processor. We upgrade our processors every product cycle, and CPUs used now are many times more powerful and dynamic than ones used just several years ago, yet we don’t change the TV category;
* But it’s still a liquid crystal substrate, right?;
* These are the same types of components used in CCFL edge lit displays for PCs and laptops enabling light guidance and addressing uniformity issues inherent in edge-lit displays. Nothing new nor significantly unique about the technology;
* CCFL is capable of similar colour gamut coverage. Sharp, for example, used 4 and 5 wavelength CCFL backlights to reach similar numbers;
* There is a plethora of polarization film manufactures and flavours. Fundamentally these are not different for LED backlit displays;
* HCFL backlighting also offers a low power alternative to CCFL, yet we don’t see “HCFL TVs” advertised as a product category;
* Depends on the definition of “remarkably different”. Is the difference between one and two inches “remarkable” enough to justify a new display category?

Breitner says it’s the new name that confuses customers, not trying to explain the differences between LCD with LED backlighting and CCFL. In fact, he says Great Met sees at least one customer a day who’s looking for that new LED TV, and is dead set that he doesn’t want that old LCD stuff.

For his part, Breitner agrees with all of Gumiela’s claims, especially that there are tons of technical differences between the technologies. “But,” he shrugs, “they’re still LCD TVs. And there’s no reason to obfuscate this.

Christine Persaud

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