tft lcd vs led backlit brands

Confused about LED vs. LCD vs. TFT? Here"s everything you need to know. Creating or upgrading a device display or screen can involve a lot of different things, but it often comes down to one major question - what kind of display should you get?

So, there are 3 common displays LED, LCD and TFT available in the market. All terms refer to the flat-panel display, or screen, of a computer monitor or television set. In this article, we are going to differentiate between them. It will help you to choose a better one.

LCD stands for liquid crystal display. Works by adjusting the amount of light blocked. Usually has a backlight but might not (clocks, calculators, Nintendo Gameboy). The green-black ones can be very cheap and are a mature technology. Response time can be slow. An LCD display uses the light balancing qualities of crystals. Today LCDs are used in a great number of products and applications. Your TV, computer screen, calculator, cell phone and the dreaded alarm clock are all made of an LCD flat panel. Color LCDs produce the color based on two techniques: Passive matrix and active matrix. Passive matrix is the cheapest technology of the two. The other technology is called an active matrix or TFT. Active matrix displays produce really sharp and clear images.

This is a type of LCD with a thin film transistor attached to each pixel. All computer LCD screens are TFT since the early 2000s; older ones had slower response times and poorer color. Cost is now very good; power consumption is fairly good but dominated by the backlight. Has to be manufactured out of glass. The TFT layer is embedded in the screen itself, it reduces crosstalk between pixels. Crosstalk happens when a signal sends to a pixel also affects the pixel next to it. This makes the TFT technology the technology offering the best resolution and image quality. It also makes it a bit more expensive. Today TFTs have become the standard when producing LCD screens.

LED stands for a light emitting diode. As the name suggests, emits light rather than blocking it like LCD. Used for red/green/blue/white indicator lights everywhere. Some manufacturers advertise "LED" displays that are TFT screens with a white LED backlight, which is just confusing. Ones that are real LED screens are usually OLED.

Some devices actually have backlights made from Red, Green and Blue LEDs, normally referred to as RGB LED, which tend to have better color reproduction than any other display.

LED screen is just like saying that it is a plastic screen. You still have the WHOLE screen illuminated all the time and LED is "good" only for being more eco-friendly and probably more bright at max setting if you ever need this.

An LCD panel is, in fact, 2 layers of glass with some volume of Liquid Crystal in between. These two form the panel itself. The 2 layers are usually called Color Filter Glass (above) and TFT glass (below).

LCDs can’t completely prevent light from passing through, though, even during dark scenes, so dimming the light source itself aids in creating deeper blacks and more impressive contrast in the picture.

A standard TFT has a whole "lamp" behind it, illuminating the whole screen all the time. This way, you cannot have a true black, as it is still illuminated and stay grayish.

TFTs are a type of active matrix display that controls individual pixel updates several times per second on the screen to update the image relative to the content source.

TFT displays use more electricity than regular LCD screens, so they not only cost more in the first place, but they are also more expensive to operate.

LCDs use fluorescent lights while LEDs use those light emitting diodes. The fluorescent lights in an LCD are always behind the screen. On an LED, the light emitting diodes can be placed either behind the screen or around its edges.

In market, LCD means passive matrix LCDs which increase TN (Twisted Nematic), STN (Super Twisted Nematic), or FSTN (Film Compensated STN) LCD Displays. It is a kind of earliest and lowest cost display technology.

LCD screens are still found in the market of low cost watches, calculators, clocks, utility meters etc. because of its advantages of low cost, fast response time (speed), wide temperature range,  low power consumption, sunlight readable with transflective or reflective polarizers etc.  Most of them are monochrome LCD display and belong to passive-matrix LCDs.

TFT LCDs have capacitors and transistors. These are the two elements that play a key part in ensuring that the TFT display monitor functions by using a very small amount of energy without running out of operation.

Normally, we say TFT LCD panels or TFT screens, we mean they are TN (Twisted Nematic) Type TFT displays or TN panels, or TN screen technology. TFT is active-matrix LCDs, it is a kind of LCD technologies.

TFT has wider viewing angles, better contrast ratio than TN displays. TFT display technologies have been widely used for computer monitors, laptops, medical monitors, industrial monitors, ATM, point of sales etc.

Actually, IPS technology is a kind of TFT display with thin film transistors for individual pixels. But IPS displays have superior high contrast, wide viewing angle, color reproduction, image quality etc. IPS screens have been found in high-end applications, like Apple iPhones, iPads, Samsung mobile phones, more expensive LCD monitors etc.

Both TFT LCD displays and IPS LCD displays are active matrix displays, neither of them can produce color, there is a layer of RGB (red, green, blue) color filter in each LCD pixels to make LCD showing colors. If you use a magnifier to see your monitor, you will see RGB color. With switch on/off and different level of brightness RGB, we can get many colors.

Neither of them can’t release color themselves, they have relied on extra light source in order to display. LED backlights are usually be together with them in the display modules as the light sources. Besides, both TFT screens and IPS screens are transmissive, it will need more power or more expensive than passive matrix LCD screens to be seen under sunlight.  IPS screens transmittance is lower than TFT screens, more power is needed for IPS LCD display.

"Thin film transistor" and "light emitting diode" are two terms used to describe different parts of a liquid crystal display screen. It is possible for a LCD to use both TFT and LED technology at the same time. TFT technology handles how the pixels are displayed on the screen whereas LED refers to how the screen lights up. Most consumer LCD displays use TFT technology; however, some higher-end screens use Organic Light-Emitting Diode technology instead. LED are an improvement over fluorescent back-lighting technology.

TFTs are a type of active matrix display that controls individual pixel updates several times per second on the screen to update the image relative to the content source. These displays are built from a thin layer of transistors located on the back of the screen that handles screen animation. The display receives information from a computer or video source and updates the screen contents row-by-row so many times per second that it looks like the entire screen is updating content in real-time as opposed to being a collection of frames. A more advanced type of TFT technology called In-Plane-Switching improves the screen viewing angles.

Unless a LCD screen is called a Organic Light-Emitting Diode Display, it uses TFT technology. OLEDs improve upon TFT technology by illuminating the screen itself and making a backlight unnecessary to view screen content. OLEDs feature a more vibrant picture, a wider viewing radius, thinner screen, faster refresh rate and less power consumption than LCDs. OLED technology beats TFT technology for display quality, but is more expensive and requires a glass-covered screen.

A display that carries the LED tag in its name is still a LCD screen; the LED name is used because it"s shorter than the more descriptive names like LED-LCD or LED-backlit-LCD. LEDs are used as a static, one-color light source in power indicators and flashlights. LED screens use a non-colored LED light source to illuminate the screen; this provides a more dynamic brightness range than traditional fluorescent backlighting. LED screens are able to make black appear darker and the brightest colors appear brighter.

If a LCD screen doesn"t use LED backlighting or OLED technology, it uses a fluorescent lamp to illuminate screen content. Fluorescent lights aren"t as dynamic in brightness range as LEDs, but they are cheaper to manufacture and can still display a high-quality image. In addition to having inferior picture quality, fluorescent lights have a shorter lifespan, take up more space and use more power to operate than LED lights. TVs and monitors that use fluorescent back-lights are actually using the same technology that"s used to create fluorescent room lighting.

LCD: liquid crystal display. Works by adjusting the amount of light blocked. Usually has a backlight but might not (clocks, calculators, Nintendo Gameboy). The green-black ones can be very cheap and are a mature technology. Response time can be slow.

TFT: is a type of LCD with a thin film transistor attached to each pixel. All computer LCD screens are TFT since early 2000s; older ones had slower response times and poorer colour. Cost is now very good; power consumption is fairly good but dominated by the backlight. Has to be manufactured out of glass.

LED: light emitting diode. As the name suggests, emits light rather than blocking it like LCD. Used for red/green/blue/white indicator lights everywhere.

Some manufacturers advertise "LED" displays that are TFT screens with a white LED backlight, which is just confusing. Ones that are real LED screens are usually OLED.

OLED: organic LED (rather than silicon or germanium based like regular LEDs). Comparatively recent technology, so cost still quite variable and not available in really large sizes. In theory can be printed on plastic, resulting in lighter flexible displays with good brightness, good power consumption and good response time.

TFT LCD is a mature technology. OLED is a relatively new display technology, being used in more and more applications. As for Micro LED, it is a new generation technology with very promising future. Followings are the pros and cons of each display technology.

TFT Liquid Crystal Display is widely used these days. Since LCD itself doesn"t emit light. TFT LCD relies on white LED backlight to show content. This is an explanation of how TFT LCD works.

Relatively lower contrast：Light needs to pass through LCD glasses, liquid crystal layer, polarizers and color filters. Over 90% is lost. Also, LCD can not display pure black.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode is built from an electro-luminescent layer that contains organic compounds, which emit light in response to an electric current. There are two types of OLED, Passive Matrix OLED (PMOLED) and Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED). These driving methods are similar to LCD"s. PMOLED is controlled sequentially using a matrix addressing scheme, m + n control signals are required to address a m x n display. AMOLED uses a TFT backplane that can switch individual pixels on and off.

Low power consumption and flexible: OLED doesn"t rely on backlight and consumes less power. OLED is essentially created on plastic film. It is bendable and easy to process.

High contrast and vivid color: OLED emits light itself, can produce very bright image with beautiful color. And because OLED can be turned off, it can produce true black.

Stroboscopic effect: most OLED screen uses PWM dimming technology. Some people who are easy perceive stroboscopic frequency may have sore eyes and tears.

​Micro LED, sometimes called μLED is made up of tiny LED, measure less than 100μm. Another way of looking at this is that MicroLEDs are simply traditional LEDs shrunk down and placed into an array.

Replacing organic material with inorganic GaN material eliminates the need of polarizing and encapsulation layer, found in OLED. Micro LED is smaller and thinner, consumes less power.

Two of the more popular types of custom color LCD modules are TFT LCD Displays and custom FSC LCD modules. Both TFT LCD Displays(Thin Film Transistor) and FSC LCD Modules (Field Sequential Field Color) require a RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) LED backlight.

One concern many customers have with a TFT LCD display and a custom FSC LCD module is the half-life of the LED backlights. In other words, how long before the backlight starts to dim?

Let’s start by explaining what the term half-life means. Half-life is an engineering term which simply means “How many hours can the backlight be on before it is half as bright as when the backlight was first turned on?” This term is measured in hours. This does not mean it burns out at this time, but only dims. Half-life for many LED backlights can average between 50,000 hours and 70,000 hours.

An example of this is a 3.5 inch TFT. The half-life of the RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) backlight is rated at 50K hours. When 50K hours rolls around the light will be half as bright as when you first activated the display. When the same display runs for an additional 50K hours, that is a total of 100K hours, the brightness of the backlight is now half of what it was at 50K hours or one quarter, 25%, as bright as when it was first turned on.

It is close to impossible to replace the backlight on a TFT LCD display or a custom FSC LCD module once it is out in the field. Taking the display apart is not difficult; putting it back together is a whole different subject. LCD display modules need to be assembled in a clean room environment.

At this time the only other option is to replace the entire LCD module. This introduces issues that can be expensive. LCD modules have a tendency to be discontinued every few years. This means you may try to purchase replacement displays, only to find they have become impossible to locate. At this point the only option you have is to build a custom LCD display module. This can also be expensive and time consuming.

One possible option to obtain a longer half-life on your TFT LCD display or custom FSC LCD module is to build a custom display when you first design your product. The custom display would contain two RGB backlights. The concept is that the customer’s processor would turn on RGB backlight #1 for 1,000 hours, and then switch to the second RGB backlight for 1,000 hours. This rotating between the two sets of RGB backlight would double the half-life of the TFT LCD display custom FSC LCD.

We do not offer this option on any of our standard LCD modules, but have partnered with a supplier to engineer and design this display on LCD custom modules.

IPS (In-Plane Switching) lcd is still a type of TFT LCD, IPS TFT is also called SFT LCD (supper fine tft ),different to regular tft in TN (Twisted Nematic) mode, theIPS LCD liquid crystal elements inside the tft lcd cell, they are arrayed in plane inside the lcd cell when power off, so the light can not transmit it via theIPS lcdwhen power off, When power on, the liquid crystal elements inside the IPS tft would switch in a small angle, then the light would go through the IPS lcd display, then the display on since light go through the IPS display, the switching angle is related to the input power, the switch angle is related to the input power value of IPS LCD, the more switch angle, the more light would transmit the IPS LCD, we call it negative display mode.

The regular tft lcd, it is a-si TN (Twisted Nematic) tft lcd, its liquid crystal elements are arrayed in vertical type, the light could transmit the regularTFT LCDwhen power off. When power on, the liquid crystal twist in some angle, then it block the light transmit the tft lcd, then make the display elements display on by this way, the liquid crystal twist angle is also related to the input power, the more twist angle, the more light would be blocked by the tft lcd, it is tft lcd working mode.

A TFT lcd display is vivid and colorful than a common monochrome lcd display. TFT refreshes more quickly response than a monochrome LCD display and shows motion more smoothly. TFT displays use more electricity in driving than monochrome LCD screens, so they not only cost more in the first place, but they are also more expensive to drive tft lcd screen.The two most common types of TFT LCDs are IPS and TN displays.

LCD is the abbreviation for liquid crystal display. An LCD basically consists of two glass plates with a special liquid between them. The special attribute of this liquid is that it rotates or “twists” the plane of polarized light. This effect is influenced by the creation of an electrical field. The glass plates are thus each coated with a very thin metallic film. To obtain polarized light, you apply a polarization foil, the polarizer, to the bottom glass plate. Another foil must be applied to the bottom glass plate, but this time with a plane of polarization twisted by 90°. This is referred to as the analyzer.

In the idle state, the liquid twists the plane of polarization of the incoming light by 90° so that it can pass the analyzer unhindered. The LCD is thus transparent. If a specific voltage is applied to the metallic film coating, the crystals rotate in the liquid. This twists the plane of polarization of the light by another 90°, for example: The analyzer prevents the light getting through, and the LCD thus becomes opaque.TN, STN, FSTN, blue mode, yellow-green mode

However, the different colors occur only in displays that are either not lit or that are lit with white light. If there is any color in the lighting (e.g. yellow-green LED lighting), it overrides the color of the display. A blue-mode LCD with yellow-green LED lighting will always appear yellow-green.Static or multiplex driving method

Every LCD has a preferred angle of view at which the contrast of the display is at its optimum. Most displays are produced for the 6°° angle of view, which is also known as the bottom view (BV). This angle corresponds to that of a pocket calculator that is lying flat on a desktop.

LCDs without lighting are hard to imagine these days. However, since there are basically four different types of lighting, the type selected depends very much on the application. Here is a brief overview to clarify the situation:LED

Standard LCDs have a temperature range of 0 to +50°C. High-temperature displays are designed for operation in the range from -20 to +70°C. In this case, however, additional supply voltage is generally required. Since the contrast of any LCD is dependent on the temperature, a special temperature-compensation circuit is needed in order to use the entire temperature range, and this is particularly true for high-temperature displays (-20 to +70°C). Manual adjustment is possible but rather impractical for the user.

However, the storage temperature of a display should never be exceeded under any circumstances. An excessively high temperature can destroy the display very quickly. Direct exposure to the sun, for example, can destroy an LCD: This is because an LCD becomes darker (in positive mode) as it gets hotter. As it gets darker, it absorbs more light and converts it to heat. As a result, the display becomes even hotter and darker... In this way, temperatures of over 100°C can quickly be reached.Dot-matrix, graphics and 7-segment displays

The first LCDs were 7-segment displays, and they are still found today in simple pocket calculators and digital watches. 7 segments allow all of the digits from 0 to 9 to be displayed.

The semiconductor industry now offers a very large range of LCD drivers. We generally distinguish between pure display drivers without intelligence of their own, controllers with a display memory and possibly a character set, and micro-controllers with integrated LC drivers.

Many ask themselves, "What is the difference between an LCD display and a TFT-display?" or "What is the difference between a TFT and an OLED display?". Here are these 3 sometimes extremely different display technologies briefly explained. LCD vs. TFT vs. OLED (comparison).

- The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is a passive display technology. The operation and the structure are described above. Passive means that an LCD can only darken or let out light. So it always depends on ambient light or a backlight. This can be an advantage because the power consumption of a LCD display is very, very low. Sometimes even less than the accumulated power consumption of an E-paper display, which in static operation requires absolutely no energy to maintain the content. To change the contents, however, a relatively large amount of power is required for an E-paper display.

LCDs can also be reflective, so they reflect incident light and are therefore legible even at maximum brightness (sunlight, surgical lighting). Compared to TFT and also OLED, they have an unbeatable advantage in terms of readability and power consumption :; the "formula" is: Sunlight = LCD.

- A TFT-display (of Thin-Film Transistor) is usually a color display (RGB). From the construction and the technology it corresponds to the LCD. It is also passive, so it needs a backlight. This is in any case necessary except for a few, very expensive constructions. However, a TFT needs much more light than the monochrome relatives, because the additional structures on the glass as well as the additional color filters "swallow" light. So TFTs are not particularly energy-efficient, but can display in color and at the same time the resolution is much higher.

- OLED displays (by Organic-Light-Emitting-Diode) are as the name implies active displays - every pixel or sign generates light. This achieves an extremely wide viewing angle and high contrast values. The power consumption is dependent on the display content. Here OLEDs to TFTs and LCDs differ significantly, which have a nearly constant power consumption even with different display contents. Unfortunately, the efficiency of converting the electric current into light energy is still very poor. This means that the power consumption of OLEDs with normal content is sometimes higher than that of a TFT with the same size. Colored OLEDs are increasingly used in consumer devices, but for the industry, due to their availability and lifetime, currently only monochrome displays are suitable (usually in yellow color).

In the reaction time, the OLEDs beat each TFT and LCD by worlds. Trise and Tfall are about 10μs, which would correspond to a theoretical refresh rate of 50,000 Hz. Possibly an advantage in very special applications.

Finally the question "What is better, LCD, OLED or TFT?" Due to the physical differences you can not answer that blanket. Depending on the application, there are pros and cons to each individual technology. In addition to the above differences, there are many more details in the design and construction that need to be individually illuminated for each device. Write us an e-mail or call us: we have specialists with some 20- and 30-year experience. We are happy to compare different displays together with you.AACS and IPS technology

Let us start with the basics first; refresh the knowledge about TN and LCD displays in general, later we will talk about TFTs (Thin Film Transistors), how they differ from regular monochrome LCD displays. Then we will go on to the ghosting effect, so we will not only discuss the technology behind the construction of the TFT, but also some phenomena, like the ghosting effect, or grayscale inversion, that are important to understand when using an LCD TFT display.

Next, we will look at different technologies of the TFT LCD displays like TN, IPS, VA, and of course about transmissive and transflective LCD displays, because TFT displays also can be transmissive and transflective. In the last part we will talk about backlight.

Let us start with a short review of the most basic liquid crystal cell, which is the TN (twisted nematic) display. On the picture above, we can see that the light can be transmit through the cell or blocked by the liquid crystal cell using voltage. If you want to learn more about monochrome LCD displays and the basics of LCD displays, follow this link.

What is a TFT LCD display and how it is different from a monochrome LCD display? TFT is called an active display. Active, means we have one or more transistors in every cell, in every pixel and in every subpixel. TFT stands for Thin Film Transistor, transistors that are very small and very thin and are built into the pixel, so they are not somewhere outside in a controller, but they are in the pixel itself. For example, in a 55-inch TV set, the TFT display contains millions of transistors in the pixels. We do not see them, because they are very small and hidden, if we zoom in, however, we can see them in every corner of each pixel, like on the picture below.

On the picture above we can see subpixels, that are basic RGB (Red, Green, Blue) colors and a black part, with the transistors and electronic circuits. We just need to know that we have pixels, and subpixels, and each subpixel has transistors. This makes the display active, and thus is called  the TFT display. TFT displays are usually color displays, but there are also monochrome TFT displays, that are active, and have transistors, but have no colors. The colors in the TFT LCD display are typically added by color filters on each subpixel. Usually the filters are RGB, but we also have RGBW (Red, Green, Blue, White) LCD displays with added subpixels without the filter (White) to make the display brighter.

Going a little bit deeper, into the TFT cell, there is a part inside well known to us from the monochrome LCD display Riverdi University lecture. We have a cell, liquid crystal, polarizers, an ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) layer for the electrodes, and additionally an electronic circuit. Usually, the electronic circuit consists of one transistor and some capacitors to sustain the pixel state when we switch the pixel OFF and ON. In a TFT LCD display the pixels are much more complicated because apart from building the liquid crystal part, we also need to build an electronic part.

That is why TFT LCD display technologies are very expensive to manufacture. If you are familiar with electronics, you know that the transistor is a kind of switch, and it allows us to switch the pixel ON and OFF. Because it is built into the pixel itself, it can be done very quickly and be very well controlled. We can control the exact state of every pixel not only the ON and OFF states, but also all the states in between. We can switch the light of the cells ON and OFF in several steps. Usually for TFT LCD displays it will be 8-bit steps per color, so we have 256 steps of brightness for every color, and every subpixel. Because we have three subpixels, we have a 24-bit color range, that means over 16 million combinations, we can, at least theoretically, show on our TFT LCD display over 16 million distinct colors using RGB pixels.

Now that we know how the TFT LCD display works, we can now learn some practical things one of which is LCD TFT ghosting. We know how the image is created, but what happens when we have the image on the screen for a prolonged time, and how to prevent it. In LCD displays we have something called LCD ghosting. We do not see it very often, but in some displays this phenomenon still exists.

You may have seen this phenomenon already as it is common in every display technology, and even companies like Apple put information on their websites, that users may encounter this phenomenon and how to fix it. It is called image ghosting or image persistence, and even Retina displays are not free of it.

Another issue present in TFT displays, especially TN LCD displays, is grayscale inversion. This is a phenomenon that changes the colors of the screen according to the viewing angle, and it is only one-sided. When buying a TFT LCD display, first we need to check what kind of technology it is. If it is an IPS display, like the Riverdi IPS display line, then we do not need to worry about the grayscale inversion because all the viewing angles will be the same and all of them will be very high, like 80, 85, or 89 degrees. But if you buy a more common or older display technology type, like the TN (twisted nematic) display, you need to think where it will be used, because one viewing angle will be out. It may be sometimes confusing, and you need to be careful as most factories define viewing direction of the screen and mistake this with the greyscale inversion side.

We know already that TN (twisted nematic) displays, suffer from grayscale inversion, which means the display has one viewing side, where the image color suddenly changes. It is tricky, and you need to be careful. On the picture above there is a part of the LCD TFT specification of a TN (twisted nematic) display, that has grayscale inversion, and if we go to this table, we can see the viewing angles. They are defined at 70, 70, 60 and 70 degrees, that is the maximum viewing angle, at which the user can see the image. Normally we may think that 70 degrees is better, so we will choose left and right side to be 70 degrees, and then up and down, and if we do not know the grayscale inversion phenomena, we may put our user on the bottom side which is also 70 degrees. The viewing direction will be then like a 6 o’clock direction, so we call it a 6 o’clock display. But you need to be careful! Looking at the specification, we can see that this display was defined as a 12 o’clock display, so it is best for it to be seen from a 12 o’clock direction. But we can find that the 12 o’clock has a lower viewing angle – 60 degrees. What does it mean? It means that on this side there will be no grayscale inversion. If we go to 40, 50, 60 degrees and even a little bit more, probably we will still see the image properly. Maybe with lower contrast, but the colors will not change. If we go from the bottom, from a 6 o’clock direction where we have the grayscale inversion, after 70 degrees or lower we will see a sudden color change, and of course this is something we want to avoid.

We will talk now about the other TFT technologies, that allow us to have wider viewing angles and more vivid colors. The most basic technology for monochrome and TFT LCD displays is twisted nematic (TN). As we already know, this kind of displays have a problem with grayscale inversion. On one side we have a higher retardation and will not get a clear image. That is why we have other technologies like VA (Vertical Alignment), where the liquid crystal is differently organized, and another variation of the TFT technology – IPS which is In-Plane Switching. The VA and IPS LCD displays do not have a problem with the viewing angles, you can see a clear image from all sides.

Apart from the different organization of the liquid crystals, we also organize subpixels a little bit differently in a VA and IPS LCD displays. When we look closer at the TN display, we will just see the subpixels with color filters. If we look at the VA or IPS display they will have subpixels of subpixels. The subpixels are divided into smaller parts. In this way we can achieve even wider viewing angles and better colors for the user, but of course, it is more complicated and more expensive to do.

The picture above presents the TN display and grayscale inversion. For IPS or VA technology there is no such effect. The picture will be the same from all the sides we look so these technologies are popular where we need wide viewing angles, and TN is popular where we don’t need that, like in monitors. Other advantages of IPS LCD displays are they give accurate colors, and wide viewing angles. What is also important in practice, in our projects, is that the IPS LCD displays are less susceptible to mechanical force. When we apply mechanical force to the screen, and have an optically bonded touch screen, we push the display as well as squeeze the cells. When we have a TN display, every push on the cell changes the image suddenly, with the IPS LCD displays with in-plane switching, different liquid crystals organization, this effect is lesser. It is not completely removed but it is much less distinct. That is another reason IPS displays are very popular for smartphones, tablets, when we have the touchscreens usually optically bonded.

Now, let us look at the backlight types. As we see here, on the picture above, we have four distinct types of backlight possible. The most common, 95 or 99 per cent of the TFT LCD displays on the market are the transmissive LCD display type, where we need the backlight from the back. If you remember from our Monochrome LCD Displays lecture, for transmissive LCD displays you need the backlight to be always on. If you switch the backlight off, you will not see anything. The same as for monochrome LCD displays, but less popular for TFT displays, we have the transflective LCD display type. They are not popular because usually for transflective TFT displays, the colors lack in brightness, and the displays are not very practical to use. You can see the screen, but the application is limited. Some transflective LCD displays are used by military, in applications where power consumption is paramount; where you can switch the backlight off and you agree to have lower image quality but still see the image. Power consumption and saving energy is most important in some kind of applications and you can use transflective LCD displays there. The reflective type of LCD displays are almost never used in TFT. There is one technology called Low Power Reflective Displays (LPRD) that is used in TFT but it is not popular. Lastly, we have a variation of reflective displays with frontlight, where we add frontlight to the reflective display and have the image even without external light.

Just a few words about Low Power Reflective Displays (LPRD). This kind of display uses environmental light, ambient light to reflect, and produce some colors. The colors are not perfect, not perfectly clear, but this technology is becoming increasingly popular because it allows to have color displays in battery powered applications. For example, a smartwatch would be a case for that technology, or an electrical bike or scooter, where we can not only have a standard monochrome LCD display but also a TFT LCD color display without the backlight; we can see the image even in

strong sunlight and not need backlight at all. So, this kind of TFL LCD display technology is getting more and more popular when we have outdoor LCD displays and need a low power consumption.

On the picture above, we have some examples of how transmissive and reflective LCD displays work in the sunlight. If we have a simple image, like a black and white pattern, then on a transmissive LCD display, even with 1000 candela brightness, the image probably will be lower quality than for a reflective LCD display; if we have sunlight, we have very strong light reflections on the surface of the screen. We have talked about contrast in more detail in the lecture Sunlight Readable Displays. So, reflective LCD displays are a better solution for outdoor applications than transmissive LCD displays, where you need a really strong backlight, 1000 candela or more, to be really seen outdoors.

To show you how the backlight of LCD displays is built, we took the picture above. You can see the edge backlight there, where we have LEDs here on the small PCB on the edge, and we have a diffuser that distributes the light to the whole surface of LCD screen.

In addition to the backlight, we have something that is called a frontlight. It is similar to backlight, it also uses the LEDs to put the light into it, but the frontlight needs to be transparent as we have the display behind. On the example on the picture above we can see an e-paper display. The e-paper display is also a TFT display variation, but it is not LCD (liquid crystal), it is a different technology, but the back of the display is the same and it is reflective. The example you see is the Kindle 4 eBook reader. It uses an e-paper display and a frontlight as well, so you can read eBooks even during the night.

TFT stands for thin-film transistor, which means that each pixel in the device has a thin-film transistor attached to it. Transistors are activated by electrical currents that make contact with the pixels to produce impeccable image quality on the screen. Here are some important features of TFT displays.Excellent Colour Display.Top notch colour contrast, clarity, and brightness settings that can be adjusted to accommodate specific application requirements.Extended Half-Life.TFT displays boast a much higher half-life than their LED counterparts and they also come in a variety of size configurations that can impact the device’s half-life depending on usage and other factors.TFT displays can have either resistive or capacitive touch panels.Resistive is usually the standard because it comes at a lower price point, but you can also opt for capacitive which is compatible with most modern smartphones and other devices.TFT displays offer exceptional aspect ratio control.Aspect ratio control contributes to better image clarity and quality by mapping out the number of pixels that are in the source image compared to the resolution pixels on the screen.Monitor ghosting doesn’t occur on TFT displays.This is when a moving image or object has blurry pixels following it across the screen, resembling a ghost.

TFT displays are incredibly versatile.The offer a number of different interface options that are compatible with various devices and accommodate the technical capabilities of all users.

There are two main types of TFT LCD displays:· Twisted nematic TFT LCDs are an older model. They have limited colour options and use 6 bits per each blue, red, and green channel.

In-plane switching TFT LCDs are a newer model. Originally introduced in the 1990s by Hitachi, in-plane switching TFT LCDs consist of moving liquid pixels that move in contrast or opposite the plane of the display, rather than alongside it.

Relies on backlighting to provide brightness rather than producing its own light, hence, they need built-in light emitting diodes (LEDs) in their backlighting structure

The type of TFT LCD monitor or industrial display you choose to purchase will depend on the specifications of your application or project. Here are a few important factors to consider when selecting an appropriate TFT LCD display technology:Life expectancy/battery life.Depending on the length of ongoing use and the duration of your project, you’re going to want to choose a device that can last a long time while maintaining quality usage.

Image clarity.Some TFT displays feature infrared touchscreens, while others are layered. The former is preferable, especially in poor lighting conditions or for outdoor and industrial applications, because there’s no overlay and therefore no obstructions to light emittance.

The environmental conditions make a difference in operation and image clarity. When choosing a TFT for outdoor or industrial applications, be sure to choose one that can withstand various environmental elements like dust, wind, moisture, dirt, and even sunlight.

As a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-quality digital displays in North America, Nauticomp Inc. can provide custom TFT LCD monitor solutions that are suitable for a multitude of industrial and commercial indoor and outdoor applications. Contact us today to learn more.

As you might already be aware, there’s a large variety of versatile digital display types on the market, all of which are specifically designed to perform certain functions and are suitable for numerous commercial, industrial, and personal uses. The type of digital display you choose for your company or organization depends largely on the requirements of your industry, customer-base, employees, and business practices. Unfortunately, if you happen to be technologically challenged and don’t know much about digital displays and monitors, it can be difficult to determine which features and functions would work best within your professional environment. If you have trouble deciphering the pros and cons of using TFT vs. IPS displays, here’s a little guide to help make your decision easier.

TFT stands for thin-film-transistor, which is a variant of liquid crystal display (LCD). TFTs are categorized as active matrix LCDs, which means that they can simultaneously retain certain pixels on a screen while also addressing other pixels using minimal amounts of energy. This is because TFTs consist of transistors and capacitors that respectively work to conserve as much energy as possible while still remaining in operation and rendering optimal results. TFT display technologies offer the following features, some of which are engineered to enhance overall user experience.

The bright LED backlights that are featured in TFT displays are most often used for mobile screens. These backlights offer a great deal of adaptability and can be adjusted according to the visual preferences of the user. In some cases, certain mobile devices can be set up to automatically adjust the brightness level of the screen depending on the natural or artificial lighting in any given location. This is a very handy feature for people who have difficulty learning how to adjust the settings on a device or monitor and makes for easier sunlight readability.

One of the major drawbacks of using a TFT LCD instead of an IPS is that the former doesn’t offer the same level of visibility as the latter. To get the full effect of the graphics on a TFT screen, you have to be seated right in front of the screen at all times. If you’re just using the monitor for regular web browsing, for office work, to read and answer emails, or for other everyday uses, then a TFT display will suit your needs just fine. But, if you’re using it to conduct business that requires the highest level of colour and graphic accuracy, such as completing military or naval tasks, then your best bet is to opt for an IPS screen instead.

Nonetheless, most TFT displays are still fully capable of delivering reasonably sharp images that are ideal for everyday purposes and they also have relatively short response times from your keyboard or mouse to your screen. This is because the pixel aspect ration is much narrower than its IPS counterpart and therefore, the colours aren’t as widely spread out and are formatted to fit onto the screen. Primary colours—red, yellow, and blue—are used as the basis for creating brightness and different shades, which is why there’s such a strong contrast between different aspects of every image. Computer monitors, modern-day HD TV screens, laptop monitors, mobile devices, and even tablets all utilize this technology.

IPS (in-plane-switching) technology is almost like an improvement on the traditional TFT display module in the sense that it has the same basic structure, but with slightly more enhanced features and more widespread usability. IPS LCD monitors consist of the following high-end features.

IPS screens have the capability to recognize movements and commands much faster than the traditional TFT LCD displays and as a result, their response times are infinitely faster. Of course, the human eye doesn’t notice the difference on separate occasions, but when witnessing side-by-side demonstrations, the difference is clear.

Wide-set screen configurations allow for much wider and versatile viewing angles as well. This is probably one of the most notable and bankable differences between TFT and IPS displays. With IPS displays, you can view the same image from a large variety of different angles without causing grayscale, blurriness, halo effects, or obstructing your user experience in any way. This makes IPS the perfect display option for people who rely on true-to-form and sharp colour and image contrasts in their work or daily lives.

IPS displays are designed to have higher transmittance frequencies than their TFT counterparts within a shorter period of time (precisely 1 millisecond vs. 25 milliseconds). This speed increase might seem minute or indecipherable to the naked eye, but it actually makes a huge difference in side-by-side demonstrations and observations, especially if your work depends largely on high-speed information sharing with minimal or no lagging.

Just like TFT displays, IPS displays also use primary colours to produce different shades through their pixels. The main difference in this regard is the placement of the pixels and how they interact with electrodes. In TFT displays, the pixels run perpendicular to one another when they’re activated by electrodes, which creates a pretty sharp image, but not quite as pristine or crisp as what IPS displays can achieve. IPS display technologies employ a different configuration in the sense that pixels are placed parallel to one another to reflect more light and result in a sharper, clearer, brighter, and more vibrant image. The wide-set screen also establishes a wider aspect ratio, which strengthens visibility and creates a more realistic and lasting effect.

When it comes to deciphering the differences between TFT vs. IPS display technologies and deciding which option is best for you and your business, the experts at Nauticomp Inc. can help. Not only do we offer a wide variety of computer displays, monitors, and screen types, but we also have the many years of experience in the technology industry to back up our recommendations and our knowledge. Our top-of-the-line displays and monitors are customized to suit the professional and personal needs of our clients who work across a vast array of industries. For more information on our high-end displays and monitors, please contact us.

Before you get a new monition for your organization, comparing the TFT display vs IPS display is something that you should do. You would want to buy the monitor which is the most advanced in technology. Therefore, understanding which technology is good for your organization is a must. click to view the 7 Best Types Of Display Screens Technology.

Technology is changing and becoming advanced day by day. Therefore, when you are looking to get a new monitor for your organization, LCD advantages, and disadvantage,  you have to be aware of the pros and cons of that monitor. Moreover, you need to understand the type of monitor you are looking to buy.

That is why it is important to break it down and discuss point by point so that you can understand it in a layman’s language devoid of any technical jargon. Therefore, in this very article, let’s discuss what exactly TFT LCDs and IPS LCDs are, and what are their differences? You will also find out about their pros and cons for your organization.

The word TFT means Thin-Film-Translator. It is the technology that is used in LCD or Liquid Crystal Display. Here you should know that this type of LCD is also categorically referred to as active-matrix LCDs. It tells that these LCDs can hold back some pixels while using other pixels. So, the LCD will be using a very minimum amount of energy to function. TFT LCDs have capacitors and transistors. These are the two elements that play a key part in ensuring that the display monitor functions by using a very small amount of energy without running out of operation.

Now, it is time to take a look at its features that are tailored to improve the experience of the monitor users significantly. Here are some of the features of the TFT monitor;

No radiation, no scintillation, no harm to the user’s health. In particular, the emergence of TFT LCD electronic books and periodicals will bring humans into the era of a paperless office and paperless printing, triggering a revolution in the civilized way of human learning, dissemination, and recording.

It can be normally used in the temperature range from -20℃ to +50℃, and the temperature-hardened TFT LCD can operate at low temperatures up to -80 ℃. It can not only be used as a mobile terminal display, or desktop terminal display but also can be used as a large screen projection TV, which is a full-size video display terminal with excellent performance.

The manufacturing technology has a high degree of automation and good characteristics of large-scale industrial production. TFT LCD industry technology is mature, a mass production rate of more than 90%.

TFT LCD screen from the beginning of the use of flat glass plate, its display effect is flat right angles, let a person have a refreshing feeling. And LCDs are easier to achieve high resolution on small screens.

The word IPS refers to In-Plane-Switching which is a technology used to improve the viewing experience of the usual TFT displays. You can say that the IPS display is a more advanced version of the traditional TFT LCD module. However, the features of IPS displays are much more advanced and their applications are very much widespread. You should also know that the basic structure of the IPS LCD is the same as TFT LCD if you compare TFT LCD vs IPS.

As you already know, TFT displays do have a very quick response time which is a plus point for it. But, that does not mean IPS displays a lack of response time. In fact, the response time of an IPS LCD is much more consistent, stable, and quick than the TFT display that everyone used to use in the past. However, you will not be able to gauge the difference apparently by watching TFT and IPS displays separately. But, once you watch the screen side-by-side, the difference will become quite clear to you.

The main drawback of the TFT displays as figured above is the narrow-angle viewing experience. The monitor you buy for your organization should give you an experience of wide-angle viewing. It is very much true if you have to use the screen by staying in motion.

So, as IPS displays are an improved version of TFT displays the viewing angle of IPS LCDs is very much wide. It is a plus point in favor of IPS LCDs when you compare TFT vs IPS. With a TFT screen, you cannot watch an image from various angles without encountering halo effects, blurriness, or grayscale that will cause problems for your viewing.

It is one of the major and remarkable differences between IPS and TFT displays. So, if you don’t want to comprise on the viewing angles and want to have the best experience of viewing the screen from wide angles, the IPS display is what you want. The main reason for such a versatile and wonderful viewing angle of IPS display is the screen configuration which is widely set.

Now, when you want to achieve wide-angle viewing with your display screen, you need to make sure it has a faster level of frequency transmittance. It is where IPS displays overtake TFT displays easily in the comparison because the IPS displays have a much faster and speedier transmittance of frequencies than the TFT displays.

Now the transmittance difference between TFT displays and IPS displays would be around 1ms vs. 25ms. Now, you might think that the difference in milliseconds should not create much of a difference as far as the viewing experience is concerned. Yes, this difference cannot be gauged with a naked eye and you will find it difficult to decipher the difference.

However, when you view and an IPS display from a side-by-side angle and a TFT display from a similar angle, the difference will be quite evident in front of you. That is why those who want to avoid lagging in the screen during information sharing at a high speed; generally go for IPS displays. So, if you are someone who is looking to perform advanced applications on the monitor and want to have a wider viewing angle, then an IPS display is the perfect choice for you.

As you know, the basic structure of the IPS display and TFT displays are the same. So, it is quite obvious that an IPS display would use the same basic colors to create various shades with the pixels. However, there is a big difference with the way a TFT display would produce the colors and shade to an IPS display.

The major difference is in the way pixels get placed and the way they operate with electrodes. If you take the perspective of the TFT display, its pixels function perpendicularly once the pixels get activated with the help of the electrodes. It does help in creating sharp images.

But the images that IPS displays create are much more pristine and original than that of the TFT screen. IPS displays do this by making the pixels function in a parallel way. Because of such placing, the pixels can reflect light in a better way, and because of that, you get a better image within the display.

As you already know the features of both TFT and IPS displays, it would be easier for you to understand the difference between the two screen-types. Now, let’s divide the matters into three sections and try to understand the basic differences so that you understand the two technologies in a compressive way. So, here are the difference between an IPS display and a TFT display;

Now, before starting the comparison, it is quite fair to say that both IPS and TFT displays have a wonderful and clear color display. You just cannot say that any of these two displays lag significantly when it comes to color clarity.

However, when it comes to choosing the better display on the parameter of clarity of color, then it has to be the IPS display. The reason why IPS displays tend to have better clarity of color than TFT displays is a better crystal oriental arrangement which is an important part.

That is why when you compare the IPS LCD with TFT LCD for the clarity of color, IPS LCD will get the nod because of the better and advanced technology and structure.

IPS displays have a wider aspect ratio because of the wide-set configuration. That is why it will give you a better wide-angle view when it comes to comparison between IPS and TFT displays. After a certain angle, with a TFT display, the colors will start to get a bit distorted.

But, this distortion of color is very much limited in an IPS display and you may see it very seldom after a much wider angle than the TFT displays. That is why for wide-angle viewing, TFT displays will be more preferable.

When you are comparing TFT LCD vs. IPS, energy consumption also becomes an important part of that comparison. Now, IPS technology is a much advanced technology than TFT technology. So, it is quite obvious that IPS takes a bit more energy to function than TFT.

Also, when you are using an IPS monitor, the screen will be much larger. So, as there is a need for much more energy for the IPS display to function, the battery of the device will drain faster. Furthermore, IPS panels cost way more than TFT display panels.

1. The best thing about TFT technology is it uses much less energy to function when it is used from a bigger screen. It ensures that the cost of electricity is reduced which is a wonderful plus point.

2. When it comes to visibility, the TFT technology enhances your experience wonderfully. It creates sharp images that will have no problems for older and tired eyes.

1. One of the major problems of TFT technology is that it fails to create a wider angle of view. As a result, after a certain angle, the images in a TFT screen will distort marring the overall experience of the user.

Although IPS screen technology is very good, it is still a technology based on TFT, the essence of the TFT screen. Whatever the strength of the IPS, it is a TFT-based derivative.

Finally, as you now have a proper understanding of the TFT displays vs IPS displays, it is now easier for you when it comes to choose one for your organization. Technology is advancing at a rapid pace. You should not be surprised if you see more advanced display screens in the near future. However, so far, TFT vs IPS are the two technologies that are marching ahead when it comes to making display screens.

STONE provides a full range of 3.5 inches to 15.1 inches of small and medium-size standard quasi TFT LCD module, LCD display, TFT display module, display industry, industrial LCD screen, under the sunlight visually highlight TFT LCD display, industrial custom TFT screen, TFT LCD screen-wide temperature, industrial TFT LCD screen, touch screen industry. The LCD module is very suitable for industrial control equipment, medical instruments, POS system, electronic consumer products, vehicles, and other products.

On the other hand my PDAs do not show any measurable loss of light intensity from brand new to the day I sell them or otherwise quit using them. They have all had White LEDs as a backlight.

In fact, this is a good place to point out that using a "screen saver" on a laptop not only does not save the LCD (modern LCDs do not develop screen burn like a CRT in the first place) but it wears out the CCFL backlight. If you want to save your LCD screen do not use a screen saver, turn OFF the backlight.

I contend that the reason the LEDs dim at all over time is that they are overpowered in many applications. Some of those applications are as tail lights in cars and trucks. The manufacturers are trying to get the maximum brightness possible with as few LEDs as possible so they over power them to a point that is still deemed as satisfactory with regard to life expectancy.

Therefore, if you keep the brightness turned down to something less than full on your laptop that uses an LED source for backlight, I contend it will never dim a measurable amount for the life of the computer. At least this is born out with my PDAs. The same is not true with a CCFL when used at a lower than full setting. It still gets dim with usage. Note: by "measurable" I mean with a light meter, not with a subjective opinion as observed.

This new range of TFT LCD displays with unique characteristics come with the standard interfaces including MiPi, SPI, RGB, DisplayPort and eDP. However, to aid our customers and increase our flexibility of interfacing we are also offering proprietary interface boards which allow you to simply interface via the HDMI / USBC inputs. If you would like more information on this interface board, then please just contact us.

Another major development, available on most of the new range, is the full active LED dimming backlighting which is a technology improvement on edge lit displays. This new technology allows you to control certain parts of the screen and to optimize colours and shades.

You can still dim our edge-lit backlight products, by sending the right signals, but all the LEDs dim at once. This is what we call global dimming. Local dimming is drastically different from traditional edge-lit backlights in that the backlight is an array of LEDs pointing at the user like a direct backlight, but the difference is that each LED is individually controlled. The video input signal is received by our board and then it splits it.

On one side, it pushes the video to the LCD layer but on the other side, it processes the video, decides what the best brightness should be for each and every section of the LCD (divided into zones) based upon the image that is on it. Then it tells each LED what brightness to be for optimisation. The result is that the blacks are darker, the whites are brighter, and everything in between is more in tune with what they should be. And this is happening 60 times per second, wow, what a performance for optimization process!

You can achieve true HDR (High-dynamic-range) and can exceed HDR1000* specs.  The dynamic contrast ratio is virtually unlimited and as you can see can reach 10 Million to one (10M:1) and you can achieve peak brightness that’s daylight readable but have the colour and brightness depth of an OLED display.  We are seeing great interest in these displays in areas such as broadcast, medical and automotive industries as they value the quality of the image and performance that standard TFTs cannot offer.

An LED-backlit LCD is a liquid-crystal display that uses LEDs for backlighting instead of traditional cold cathode fluorescent (CCFL) backlighting.TFT LCD (thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display) technologies as CCFL-backlit LCDs, but offer a variety of advantages over them.

While not an LED display, a television using such a combination of an LED backlight with an LCD panel is advertised as an LED TV by some manufacturers and suppliers.

A 2016 study by the University of California (Berkeley) suggests that the subjectively perceived visual enhancement with common contrast source material levels off at about 60 LCD local dimming zones.

LED-backlit LCDs are not self-illuminating (unlike pure-LED systems). There are several methods of backlighting an LCD panel using LEDs, including the use of either white or RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) LED arrays behind the panel and edge-LED lighting (which uses white LEDs around the inside frame of the TV and a light-diffusion panel to spread the light evenly behind the LCD panel). Variations in LED backlighting offer different benefits. The first commercial full-array LED-backlit LCD TV was the Sony Qualia 005 (introduced in 2004), which used RGB LED arrays to produce a color gamut about twice that of a conventional CCFL LCD television. This was possible because red, green and blue LEDs have sharp spectral peaks which (combined with the LCD panel filters) result in significantly less bleed-through to adjacent color channels. Unwanted bleed-through channels do not "whiten" the desired color as much, resulting in a larger gamut. RGB LED technology continues to be used on Sony BRAVIA LCD models. LED backlighting using white LEDs produces a broader spectrum source feeding the individual LCD panel filters (similar to CCFL sources), resulting in a more limited display gamut than R