Learn about the different led technologies

As you probably already know, LED displays are electronic devices that base their operation on light-emitting diodes (in English, light-emitting diode). Its use offers maximum luminosity even in sunlight, low electricity consumption and a useful life that can reach 120,000 hours, among other advantages of LED screens. Now, do you know the different LED backlight technologies?

So that you can familiarise yourself with them, today we explain some of the most common. Pay attention!

Some basic facts about LEDs

LED screens are very similar to LCD screens (liquid crystal display, or liquid crystal display), although they use a more homogeneous backlight technology. They work in a similar way to conventional LCD monitors, but with 40% lower power consumption, and without affecting the resolution or brightness of the image. What’s more, the images offer even higher contrast, as well as an even higher black gamut.

Today, there are several types of LED technologies on the market, which are marketed in combination with LCD displays. One of the most common is Edge LED technology, in which diodes are located at the ends of an LCD monitor. In this way, the screens are much thinner, with thicknesses that sometimes do not exceed 3 cm. Likewise, we should also refer to Full LED or Full Array LED technology, in which the diodes are distributed over the entire surface of the screen.

Having made this clarification, let us see in greater detail what characteristics these two LED technologies present, and we will also talk about others that are currently for sale.

Types of LED technology

• Edge LED. With this type of screen, the light-emitting diodes are distributed along the entire edge of the screen, either completely surrounding it or occupying only one of the four ends. However, the presence of light reflectors ensures homogeneous illumination over the entire surface of the screen, although not with as much precision as in Full LED monitors. Of course: Edge LED screens are thinner than the latter.
• Full LED with screen. The distribution of diodes in Full LED screens is already used by many televisions. In this case, the LEDs intended for backlighting are hidden behind the LCD screen, encompassing it in its entirety. Hence, the feedback it offers is more homogeneous than that of the Edge LED. Of course: as a disadvantage compared to this latest technology, it should be noted that the thickness of the screen will be somewhat greater. On the other hand, displays that use RGB LEDs (that is, with red, green and blue primary colours) provide an even greater colour palette.
• Direct LED. This system is not used much, since the image quality it provides is inferior to the previous cases. In addition, it requires televisions to be thicker, given the distribution of LED lighting. Direct LED screens have the diodes located on the back. This characteristic is very similar to that of the Full LED, but with a difference: the number of LEDs is clearly less, so the lighting is not as good. Although they represent an improvement in brightness compared to the Edge LED, they do not offer the performance of the Full LED. Likewise, they do not usually have the local dimming option (we will see what it consists of below).
• Edge LED with local dimming. Each LED diode has an artificial intelligence that allows it to turn on and off automatically. In other words, the diodes are illuminated by sectors, depending on the information received from the images broadcast and from the digital processor of the board. This particularity means that, if a program or movie has been recorded under excessive or insufficient light conditions, the Edge LED with the local dimming function can correct this problem, thus offering images of great realism. However, there may be viewers who prefer to do without this automatic setting, especially if they are going to watch a film noir, horror or expressly shot in dark or night environments. When this occurs, local dimming can be disabled.
• Full LED with local dimming. The Edge LED technology screen has the same advantages when it comes to correcting lighting problems during broadcast. In this case, the light is even more homogeneous, and although, as mentioned, the screen tends to be thicker.
• OLED. It is based on the use of organic light-emitting diodes (in English, organic light-emitting diode). This type of diode has an electroluminescent layer made up of a film of organic components. These react to a certain electrical stimulation, generating and emitting light by themselves. OLED does not require a backlight.

Compared to home LCD screens, in all these cases, the black tones are even more intense on these monitors. We can even say that all these technologies are equivalent to that of plasma screens, since the quality of the images is very similar.

The main advantages of LED technology

Compared to other technologies, interactive display LED technology has several advantages.

• LCD screens with LED backlighting have a lower power consumption than conventional LCD screens (saving up to 40%). However, it is necessary to know the particularities of each product to evaluate the electricity consumption of LED screens.
• In sufficient quantity, LED diodes make the backlight uniformity better. The percentage of contrast considered in LED screens is practically the same as that of plasma screens. Also, the image on the flat screen will appear more vivid with the contrast change and deep blacks will be seen in dark sequences.
• If we compare the neon lights of standard LCD screens with the LEDs of LED TVs, the latter achieve a more powerful backlight.
• For those who doubt whether to buy a screen with LED lighting or a plasma screen, it must be said that the latter does not use liquid crystal. To explain very briefly, its use is based on self-powered gas cells that allow the illumination of the more than two million pixels they contain. Unlike what happens with LEDs, plasma does not require a backlight system connected to the monitor, although its power consumption is higher than that of LCD and LED screens.