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In case you’ve been wondering if Direct View LED video wall vs LCD video wall is synonymous with ‘future vs past,’ you’ve come to the right place. The interest in video walls is only growing and we’ll be seeing more of those, especially within business environments, event solutions, and advertising industries. It all comes down to the technologies that drive both displays, so here’s some food for thought that’ll help with decision making.

Read on to learn about the difference between a Direct View LED video wall and an LCD video wall or go ahead and checkViewSonic’s LED video wall solutions now.

LED video wall vs LCD video wall comparison takeaways will be relevant for several forms of display technology and will help you make the right choice when exploring video wall options. Getting your message across to dozens if not hundreds of people daily is an important endeavor, and you want to make sure the display helps you connect with your audience, team, or community more easily.

In the past, the most common display technology for video walls was LCD, but today’s large-format all-in-oneLED displays have many advantages that have helped them become the new industry standard very quickly. In this post, we’ll discuss the differences between LED and LCD large format displays in more detail, give a general overview of each technology, and delve into the reasons why a high-quality all-in-one LED displayis invariably the best option for large-format display requirements.

Historically, LCD video wall display technology has been the most popular and it’s a good place to start with technical insights. LCD stands forliquid crystal display. Liquid crystals are sandwiched between the polarizing filters and electrodes and topped withthe display surface (something we casually refer to as a screen). The bottom part of the video wall is made of fluorescent lighting which backlights the liquid crystals. The light passes through the crystals and those – powered by varying electric current – produce the desired color.

LCD video wall displays are usually constructed by linking together four or more LCD screens. That’s because individual panels are not big enough and have size limits. The downside is, the bigger number of panels will be assembled, the heavier the display will become. That makes delivery and installation more difficult.

A major benefit of LCD displays is the sharp, crystal-clear image quality, which is especially apparent when you come up close to the display. Besides, its long-standing status as the most popular technology for video walls has helped to ensure the product’s relatively low price.

LCD technology remains a perfectly viable display option, but, aside from challenging delivery and setup, it is no longer regarded as the go-to video wall solution. Keep reading to find out more reasons.

While LCD is a multi-layered thick device, the LED is much thinner and more effective. In contrast to LCD technology, LED video walls are typically constructed from modules of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) making the whole display slimmer and with higher brightness capability (discussed later in the post). Each diode works as the actual display pixel — emitting Red, Green or Blue (RGB) values to create any desired color. Since the LEDs produce the image for the display themselves, they don’t need any backlighting or filtering which considerably reduces the number of layers.

The emergence of all-in-one LED displayshas also helped to improve the technology’s popularity. A Direct View LED display eliminates the LCD panel, resulting in a brighter picture and greater color clarity. Most importantly, it eliminates the grid issue and image uniformity when combining multiple LCDpanelstogether, so there are no lines breaking up the displayed content. This is whyDirect ViewLED technology can now create much larger video walls. The very latest all-in-onesolutions also integrate power, display,image stitching,and control systems for the ultimate user experience.

At the heart of the LED display vs LCD display comparison, it’s all about the use, impact, and price. In the sections below, let’s explore some of the various elements that make up the user’s experience and the cost-effectiveness of a video wall. That includes some of the plus points and drawbacks of these two competing technologies.

Let’s tackle the overall viewing experience. This is an area whereDirect ViewLED technology excels. Rather than serving as a backlight, the LED display adopts red, green, and blue LEDs for each pixel, and adjusts the values of each of those colors to create billions of possible colors for use on the display itself. Coloring the image directly from the light emitted from the diodes helps to provide a truer depiction of color, which can work magic in terms of heightening the audience’s sensory receptiveness.

Calibrating and synchronizing all the LCD screens require specific software that will add, both in costs and complexity, to the overall system. Each LCD panel operates, and therefore degrades, on an individual basis, which means they require calibration at different times. Panel degradation definitely adds up to the total cost of ownership.

Finally, it should be noted that added thickness of LCD displays — imagine over 110 mm — can also look cumbersome or unwieldy in an indoor space. This can detract attention away from the content being shown on the screen. By contrast, a high-end,All-in-One LED displaywill have a thickness of 25 mm – 35 mm with a 5 mm frameless edge. This is substantially less thick than LCD video walls and positively influences ideal viewing distance and immersion.

Even if LCD video walls are made of high-end screens, still their lack of brightness invariably results in poor visibility as soon as they’re viewed from a distance or under strong ambient light. This means that there are clear limitations when it comes to using an LCD video wall to display content.

Prior to the emergence of Direct View LED video walls, these limitations may have been more acceptable to the average user, but that has started to change. The high-end LED displays provide higher brightness while also making it possible to adjust brightness levels on the device itself. This often may be essential for optimizing the specific settings of the video wall (as low brightness images won’t be clear even if you can adjust the display for the strong ambient light).

Resolution-wise, most LCD displays come with 1080p but 4K UHD is available, which is the same as LED’s. However, the Direct View LED’s fine pixel pitch means that the LEDs are ultra-close to each other, so even when you’re closer to the display than usual, you’d still be able to clearly see the visuals. This can have an extra impact when showing vivid landscapes, detailed product images, design sketches or mechanical drawings in spaces of various sizes.The real-to-life color depiction is made possible thanks to the light being directly seen by human eyes without going through different materials which is the case for LCD. LED also delivers a wider color gamut, and the very best options on the market offer 120% coverage of the Rec.709 color space.

ViewSonic All-in-One LED video walls address the challenges of the past with finesse thanks to the Direct View technology and, for the most advanced models, Chip on Board (COB) packaging. For example, the multi-award-winningAll-in-One LED Displayprovides up to 4,440Hz ultra-fast refresh rates and 600-nit adjustable high brightness, offering an unparalleled viewing experience in any space.

Another important thing to remember when comparing LED display vs LCD display is the difference in shipping, installation, and all-around maintenance of a video wall. This is one of the areas where all-in-one LED video walls really outperform LCD video walls in almost every way imaginable, resulting in a far better experience for end users and greatly reducing the amount of time and effort needed to set the video wall up.

LCD large-format displays will have significantly higher shipping and installation costs. This is partly because an LCD video wall installation will require at least three people, often taking more than 4 hours. Furthermore, on top of free-standing models, LCD video walls can only be installed on a wall.

By contrast, an All-in-One LED Display can be installed in around two hours, thanks to the all-in-one modular design. Individual modules will automatically configure and calibrate to their location relative to the rest during installation.

One of the challenges associated with LCD video walls is the fact that each panel operates independently, so there is a realistic chance that one panel will wear out before the others. The core issue here is that if one panel wears out, the cost of tearing down the display to replace it and then deliver it will be high.Besides, the repair process takes around a month and during this time the LCD cannot be in use. After fixing, the display will need to be calibrated again. In the long term, this translates to high maintenance costs.

This is not true for LED video walls, thanks to the modular approach. In such cases, you would need to replace the single LED module without removing the whole screen. Besides, the LED modules can be swapped out while the display is powered on and in continuous use. This means anyone can replace a defective piece for quick and easy maintenance. The industry term for it would be “full front maintenance with no downtime”.

Each LCD display has different color and brightness, so calibration is needed upon installation. And each display will change over time (the degree of degradation of brightness and color performance also varies by each display), so users will take further time and effort to calibrate for maintenance.

LCD video walls have traditionally required an additional control box and a variety of other accessories and components to provide a smooth display and an acceptable user experience. Until relatively recently, this has also been true for LED displays and resulted in an unsatisfactory user experience, more complex maintenance, and day-to-day management. Often, a specialist technician would be needed to even get a large format display up and running.

Fortunately, the emergence ofAll-in-One Direct View LED displays has helped to change all of this. Such a comprehensive solution will combine everything the user needs in a single package. Imagine a control system, display system, and power supply that are all integrated together along with the image stitching technology. Crucially, such an approach results in a far superior and more user-friendly experience, with no need for specialist knowledge.

As the cherry on top, the all-in-one LED display can be turned on with just one click and is easy to operate with remote control. Additionally — aside from wireless content sharing — the display’s I/O port provides easy connection options.

These latest displays are compatible with AV control systems, includingCrestron, Extron, and AMX, providing excellent control and automation options without complicated setup. These devices also offer many connectivity options for maximum levels of convenience.

While LCD video walls have historically been the most popular option, improvements to LED technology and thus its greater affordability ensured a clear frontrunner of any Direct View LED wall vs LCD video wall debate. A high-quality, Direct View LED video wall will be easier to install, manage, and operate on a day-to-day basis. There are affordability benefits as well, and modern all-in-one solutions deliver excellent user-friendliness from the get-go.

A Direct View LED video wall, otherwise called LED display, will also offer a superior overall viewing experience, with improved brightness, color gamut, contrast, and all-around flexibility. Users will not need to worry about grid issues or irregular aspect ratios, and for these reasons, LED’s cutting-edge technology is widely regarded as the ultimate solution for large displays.

A video wall is not a one-size-fits-all solution. There are many options to choose from when designing a commercial building video wall display: the size and shape of the digital canvas, what type of content will be displayed and the purpose of the video wall. Operationally, you may focus on desired reliability, maintenance and serviceability of the equipment. Hardware and technology decisions ensure the video wall will deliver both the desired viewing and ownership experience.

One of these choices is deciding between an LCD display or an LED video wall. Continue reading to find out more about the basics, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each solution.

Most people are familiar with LCD technology, which stands for Liquid Crystal Display. These types of displays have a massive presence in this world, used in living rooms to watch movies, fast-food restaurants to showcase menus, airports to show flight schedules, and everything in between. LCD technology was developed in the 1960s and has been used worldwide as a standard for roughly 20 years. It is a tried-and-true technology that has stood the test of time and will be around for the foreseeable future.

On an LCD screen, the panel is illuminated by a light source and works through reflection or transmission of light. Overall, LCD displays have better viewing angles and less glare than LED screens. This technology was designed to be energy efficient and tends to be lighter in weight.

An LCD video wall is made up of multiple LCD panel monitors mounted on a surface to create a digital canvas, which then work together to create a unified experience. They operate 24/7 at a high brightness and have thin bezels that help create a seamless look when the displays are placed next to one another.

Bezel thickness and the brightness rating are among key attributes to consider for an LCD video wall display. Here is what each of these means and why.

Bezel:Bezel thicknesses for video wall displays are measured in “bezel-to-bezel” thickness.This is the thickness of the bezel when two displays are placed next to one another. Displays can be either large bezel or thin bezel.

Nits:Brightness is measured in Nits. A higher Nit value means the display will be brighter. A brighter display is necessary in a room that sees plenty of direct sunlight, or if the intent is to draw in visitors from far away. With LCD video walls, the price of the hardware goes up as the display size and brightness increase, and the bezel width decreases.

The next item to consider is the type of content that will be displayed on your video wall. LCD displays have high resolution screens — modern 4K displays have over 8 million pixels! This means that the content being displayed is highly detailed and crystal-clear. A viewer could stand less than 1 foot away from the screen and be able to see exactly what is being shown on the screen.

Like previously mentioned with LCD video walls, an important consideration in the decision-making process is the type of content that will be displayed on the video wall. LED video walls suffer from image degradation and pixilation from up close, so fine details will be lost, and text will be illegible. If detail from up close is important, LCD displays are much better suited for that situation.Content examples that are well-suited for an LCD video wall:

Video walls are relatively new. But LCD technology has had decades of mainstream adoption, and with that comes both familiarity and lower costs. If those are important to you, then an LCD video wall is likely the right choice.

LED video walls are similar to LCD video walls, but the digital canvas is built using LED panels. Individual LED panels can be anywhere from 12”x12” to 36”x18”, which is much smaller than LCD displays. LED panels have a larger presence in this world than most might think—they are found indoors and outdoors at stadiums, arenas, concert venues, airports, and in use as large digital advertisements in iconic places such as Times Square.

The module is a small rectangular board that contains all the individual LEDs (light-emitting diodes).Unlike LCD, there is no glass or color filter on the LED video wall panels. The individual diodes that are placed on the modules produce both color and light.

One of the most impressive features of LED panels is that they can be combined to create almost any shape, without a bezel interrupting the digital canvas. LED video wall panels can be placed on curved surfaces, 90-degree edges, and other non-standard surfaces. The smaller size of the panels in relation to LCD video wall displays means they can fill more space on a surface—they aren’t limited to standard 46” and 55” sizes as are LCD video wall displays.

As is the case with an LCD video wall, an LED video wall will add exciting drama and premium value to showcase spaces. LED panel displays don’t enjoy the benefit of decades of mainstream adoption as do their LCD counterparts. However, the technology curve is increasing their availability and lowering their costs. At this time, an LED video wall will have higher upfront costs compared to an LCD video wall. If cost is the main concern, then an LED video wall system will not likely fit into your budget

Limitless shapes and sizes:the smaller size of LED panels allows them to be combined to create unique canvases, including curved, 90-degree edge, and other combinations not possible with LCD displays

Shopping for a new TV is like wading through a never-ending pool of tech jargon, display terminology, and head-spinning acronyms. It was one thing when 4K resolution landed in the homes of consumers, with TV brands touting the new UHD viewing spec as a major marketing grab. But over the last several years, the plot has only continued to thicken when it comes to three- and four-letter acronyms with the introduction of state-of-the-art lighting and screen technology. But between OLEDs, QLEDs, mini-LEDs, and now QD-OLEDs, there’s one battle of words that rests at the core of TV vocabulary: LED versus LCD.

Despite having a different acronym, LED TV is just a specific type of LCD TV, which uses a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel to control where light is displayed on your screen. These panels are typically composed of two sheets of polarizing material with a liquid crystal solution between them. When an electric current passes through the liquid, it causes the crystals to align, so that light can (or can’t) pass through. Think of it as a shutter, either allowing light to pass through or blocking it out.

Since both LED and LCD TVs are based around LCD technology, the question remains: what is the difference? Actually, it’s about what the difference was. Older LCD TVs used cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) to provide lighting, whereas LED LCD TVs used an array of smaller, more efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate the screen.

Since the technology is better, all LCD TVs now use LED lights and are colloquially considered LED TVs. For those interested, we’ll go deeper into backlighting below, or you can move onto the Local Dimming section.

Three basic illumination forms have been used in LCD TVs: CCFL backlighting, full-array LED backlighting, and LED edge lighting. Each of these illumination technologies is different from one another in important ways. Let’s dig into each.

CCFL backlighting is an older, now-abandoned form of display technology in which a series of cold cathode lamps sit across the inside of the TV behind the LCD. The lights illuminate the crystals fairly evenly, which means all regions of the picture will have similar brightness levels. This affects some aspects of picture quality, which we discuss in more detail below. Since CCFLs are larger than LED arrays, CCFL-based LCD TVs are thicker than LED-backlit LCD TVs.

Full-array backlighting swaps the outdated CCFLs for an array of LEDs spanning the back of the screen, comprising zones of LEDs that can be lit or dimmed in a process called local dimming. TVs using full-array LED backlighting to make up a healthy chunk of the high-end LED TV market, and with good reason — with more precise and even illumination, they can create better picture quality than CCFL LCD TVs were ever able to achieve, with better energy efficiency to boot.

Another form of LCD screen illumination is LED edge lighting. As the name implies, edge-lit TVs have LEDs along the edges of a screen. There are a few different configurations, including LEDs along just the bottom, LEDs on the top and bottom, LEDs left and right, and LEDs along all four edges. These different configurations result in picture quality differences, but the overall brightness capabilities still exceed what CCFL LCD TVs could achieve. While there are some drawbacks to edge lighting compared to full-array or direct backlight displays, the upshot is edge lighting that allows manufacturers to make thinner TVs that cost less to manufacture.

Local dimming is a feature of LED LCD TVs wherein the LED light source behind the LCD is dimmed and illuminated to match what the picture demands. LCDs can’t completely prevent light from passing through, even during dark scenes, so dimming the light source itself aids in creating deeper blacks and more impressive contrast in the picture. This is accomplished by selectively dimming the LEDs when that particular part of the picture — or region — is intended to be dark.

Local dimming helps LED/LCD TVs more closely match the quality of modern OLED displays, which feature better contrast levels by their nature — something CCFL LCD TVs couldn’t do. The quality of local dimming varies depending on which type of backlighting your LCD uses, how many individual zones of backlighting are employed, and the quality of the processing. Here’s an overview of how effective local dimming is on each type of LCD TV.

TVs with full-array backlighting have the most accurate local dimming and therefore tend to offer the best contrast. Since an array of LEDs spans the entire back of the LCD screen, regions can generally be dimmed with more finesse than on edge-lit TVs, and brightness tends to be uniform across the entire screen. Hisense’s impressive U7G TVs are great examples of relatively affordable models that use multiple-zone, full-array backlighting with local dimming.

“Direct local dimming” is essentially the same thing as full-array dimming, just with fewer LEDs spread further apart in the array. However, it’s worth noting that many manufacturers do not differentiate “direct local dimming” from full-array dimming as two separate forms of local dimming. We still feel it’s important to note the difference, as fewer, further-spaced LEDs will not have the same accuracy and consistency as full-array displays.

Because edge lighting employs LEDs positioned on the edge or edges of the screen to project light across the back of the LCD screen, as opposed to coming from directly behind it, it can result in very subtle blocks or bands of lighter pixels within or around areas that should be dark. The local dimming of edge-lit TVs can sometimes result in some murkiness in dark areas compared with full-array LED TVs. It should also be noted that not all LED edge-lit TVs offer local dimming, which is why it is not uncommon to see glowing strips of light at the edges of a TV and less brightness toward the center of the screen.

Since CCFL backlit TVs do not use LEDs, models with this lighting style do not have dimming abilities. Instead, the LCD panel of CCFL LCDs is constantly and evenly illuminated, making a noticeable difference in picture quality compared to LED LCDs. This is especially noticeable in scenes with high contrast, as the dark portions of the picture may appear too bright or washed out. When watching in a well-lit room, it’s easier to ignore or miss the difference, but in a dark room, it will be, well, glaring.

As if it wasn’t already confusing enough, once you begin exploring the world of modern display technology, new acronyms crop up. The two you’ll most commonly find are OLED and QLED.

An OLED display uses a panel of pixel-sized organic compounds that respond to electricity. Since each tiny pixel (millions of which are present in modern displays) can be turned on or off individually, OLED displays are called “emissive” displays (meaning they require no backlight). They offer incredibly deep contrast ratios and better per-pixel accuracy than any other display type on the market.

Because they don’t require a separate light source, OLED displays are also amazingly thin — often just a few millimeters. OLED panels are often found on high-end TVs in place of LED/LCD technology, but that doesn’t mean that LED/LCDs aren’t without their own premium technology.

QLED is a premium tier of LED/LCD TVs from Samsung. Unlike OLED displays, QLED is not a so-called emissive display technology (lights still illuminate QLED pixels from behind). However, QLED TVs feature an updated illumination technology over regular LED LCDs in the form of Quantum Dot material (hence the “Q” in QLED), which raises overall efficiency and brightness. This translates to better, brighter grayscale and color and enhances HDR (High Dynamic Range) abilities.

There are more even displays to become familiar with, too, including microLED and Mini-LED, which are lining up to be the latest head-to-head TV technologies. Consider checking out how the two features compare to current tech leaders in

LCD flat-panel televisions, with their decreasing price points and performance improvements, are now the dominant type of television sold. However, how much do you really know about these TVs, and are these your only choice? The following guide unveils the facts about LCD TVs that you need to know.

An LCD TV is a flat panel television that uses the same LCD (liquid crystal display) technology found in cellphones, camcorder viewfinders, and computer monitors.

LCD panels are made of two layers of a glass-like material, which are polarized and glued together. One of the layers is coated with a special polymer that holds the individual liquid crystals. Electric current is passed through the individual crystals, which allows the crystals to pass or block light to create images.

LCD crystals do not produce light. An external light source, such as fluorescent or LED light bulbs, is needed for the image created by the LCD to become visible to the viewer.

LCD TV technology is resolution agnostic. In other words, LCD TVs can display a variety of resolutions, from 480p up to 8K, and, in the future, even higher depending on how TV makers want to provide consumers.

The LED designation on a TV refers to the LCD TV"s backlighting system, not the chips that produce the image content. LED TVs are still LCD TVs. These TVs use LED backlights rather than the fluorescent-type backlights of most other LCD TVs.

LED isn"t the only label that can be confusing with regards to LCD TVs. Another label that you might encounter is QLED, which is used mostly by Samsung and TCL. Vizio, on the other hand, uses the term Quantum.

These labels refer to TVs that use quantum dot technology to improve color performance. Quantum dots are an added layer of nano-sized particles, placed between an LED backlight and the LCD display layer in an LCD TV.

The dots are clustered in different sizes, with each size producing a specific color range when hit by the light from LEDs. The result is richer colors that can be displayed on an LCD TV screen, especially images at higher brightness levels.

Each pixel can be turned on and off individually, allowing OLED TVs to produce absolute black and more brilliant colors than either plasma or LCD. However, the main drawback is an overall lack of brightness. LCD TVs can produce higher brightness levels.

LCD and plasma TVs share one thing in common. Both are flat and thin and can be wall-mounted. However, inside those thin cabinets, these TVs employ different technologies to display images for TV viewing.

Plasma TVs use pixels made of self-emitting phosphors (a backlight isn"t required) to produce images. The advantage over LCD TVs is that each phosphor can be turned on and off individually, producing deeper blacks.

On the other end, plasma TVs can"t produce images as bright as an LCD TV. In addition, plasma TVs are subject to burn-in if a static image is displayed on the screen for too long a time period.

When shopping for an LCD or LED/LCD TV, you will hear terms like 60 Hz, 120 Hz, 240 Hz, MotionFlow, ClearScan, and more. What does this mean, and is it important when considering the purchase of an LCD or LED/LCD TV?

Those numbers and terms refer to how an LCD TV can handle motion. Although LCD TVs can produce bright, colorful images, one problem these TVs had from the outset is that the motion response isn"t that natural. Without some enhancement, fast-moving images on LCD TVs can exhibit lag or jerkiness.

Before you purchase an LCD TV, in addition to the core technologies discussed above, there are other things to take into consideration so that a specific brand and model is right for you.

Viewing angle: One weakness of LCD TVs is the relatively narrow viewing angle. You get the best results at the center seating position and good results within 30 to 45 degrees on either side of the center spot. However, as you move farther to either side, you"ll notice picture fading and color shifting. OLED and plasma TVs are less prone to this problem.

Connections: Depending on the brand and model of the TV, the type and number of connections may vary. Generally speaking, you can connect both an old VCR and the latest Blu-ray Disc player. If you have older analog gear (such as a VCR or DVD player without an HDMI connection), there are a growing number of TVs (both LCD and OLED) that may have limited options.

Smart TV: Most LCD TVs are equipped with some smart features. This allows you to stream content, such as Netflix, directly to your TV without an external device, provided the TV is connected to the internet.

Sound options: All LCD TVs come with built-in speakers, but the sound quality is often not good. If the sound quality isn"t satisfying, connect the TV to an external sound system, such as a soundbar or a home theater audio system. All LCD TVs, except for some with small screen sizes, can connect to an external audio system. Most have analog and digital connection options. Still, depending on the brand and model, only the digital connection option may be offered.

Who wouldn"t want a cell phone with a sharper, brighter display than the color LCDs in common use today — especially if it made the phone slimmer and doubled its battery life?

Such displays, using a technology known as Active Matrix-Organic Light-Emitting Diodes, in time could even unroll from a phone in the form of a thin, flexible sheet to display vivid images, games and videos on a screen the size of a cocktail napkin or larger.

Yet even basic AMOLED displays may not be common in handsets any time soon, say some industry analysts, because of limited manufacturing capacity. The 20-year-old technology still hasn"t ramped up sufficiently, even for the relatively small displays required by handsets.

The demand is certainly there. Tech-savvy consumers crave screens using AMOLED, which in nearly all respects are superior to LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays).

They"re already appearing in TVs such as Sony"s pioneering but puny 11-inch XEL-1 (selling respectably even at $2,500 retail) and LG"s announced 15-inch model. Microsoft"s new Zune HD incorporates an AMOLED display, as does Toyota"s Lexus.

OLED has found its way into a few handsets available in the United States, including Nokia"s N85, Samsung"s Impression (through AT&T) and newly announced Rogue (through Verizon Wireless), with many more on the market in Asia. N85 buyers on Amazon.com laud the display as "brilliant" and "bright and easily readable," though one criticized it for turning grays into browns.

OLEDs yield colors that are brighter, deeper and more natural than those from LCDs. Sony says its OLED TV can display a wider range of more colors than are prescribed as standard for U.S. television by the National Television Systems Committee.

They offer higher contrast levels than LCDs, which makes for crisper images. The stated contrast ratio for some OLEDs is 1 million to one, meaning the darkest dark is 1 million times darker than the lightest tone. In comparison, LCD contrast levels range between 1 and 5 percent of that figure, depending on the manufacturer.

OLEDs virtually eliminate the blurring and strobing that can occur on LCD screens when objects move quickly across the screen. And they have a wider viewing angle than LCDs, allowing several people to successfully see a screen from varied positions.

They also consume roughly half the power of LCDs, depending on what"s being displayed. That means a phone"s battery life could be doubled even without improvements in battery technology.

Light that lastsOne OLED shortcoming is that the displays wear out more quickly than LCDs. Television LCDs last 50,000 to 60,000 hours, according to manufacturers" claims, though their backlights can burn out, and as they deteriorate, the colors can change in hue.

But PMOLED maker RiT Display Corp. estimates OLEDs with a lifespan of just 7,000 hours would last most cell-phone users nine years — far longer than most people own their phones, and long enough to even recycle the phone through several users.

Unlike LCDs, OLEDs can be created on flexible surfaces. Today they"re usually created on glass substrates, making them rigid. But researchers are creating them on bendable plastic and on metal foil, either of which will reduce their weight and fragility.

Large, flexible, roll-out screens are three to five years away from the marketplace, said Janice Mahon, a vice president at OLED component maker Universal Display Corp. in Princeton, N.J.

Vinita Jakhanwal, an analyst with iSuppli Corp., said OLEDs will account for only 6 percent of handsets" primary displays in 2013, up from 2 percent this year.

Gartner"s O"Donovan disagrees, saying OLEDs will be on 20 percent to 30 percent of conventional handsets within three years, with so-called smartphones lagging behind because they have bigger, and therefore more costly, displays.

The main factor is limited availability. Only one factory, owned by Samsung Mobile Displays, is currently making AMOLED displays. Built six years ago at a cost of at least $1 billion, it"s still not profitable, Jakhanwal said. A second AMOLED factory, owned by LG, is due to begin production soon.

Compare that to 25 or more factories creating LCDs. And those factories can churn out 90,000 sheets of display material a month, compared with the OLED factory"s 20,000 sheets a month.

The scarcity and high cost of OLEDs are even delaying Sony"s plans to build a 27-inch OLED TV. And LCD makers are hoping to stem an OLED tide by developing new, thinner LCD technology.

Assuming manufacturing capacity does increase — and most believe it will — OLEDs will be even less expensive than LCDs, believes O"Donovan, because they use fewer parts.

"For 10 or 15 years, the OLED industry has been about to break out, and it"s still a $0 billion industry," said Bruce Berkoff, chairman of the LCD TV Association.

"I don"t think they"re about to displace the $150 billion LCD industry, but I think handsets and small devices are the right market for OLEDs, as opposed to TVs, because you can have a small percentage play and still be large enough to make an impact."

Glass substrate with ITO electrodes. The shapes of these electrodes will determine the shapes that will appear when the LCD is switched ON. Vertical ridges etched on the surface are smooth.

A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directlybacklight or reflector to produce images in color or monochrome.seven-segment displays, as in a digital clock, are all good examples of devices with these displays. They use the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made from a matrix of small pixels, while other displays have larger elements. LCDs can either be normally on (positive) or off (negative), depending on the polarizer arrangement. For example, a character positive LCD with a backlight will have black lettering on a background that is the color of the backlight, and a character negative LCD will have a black background with the letters being of the same color as the backlight. Optical filters are added to white on blue LCDs to give them their characteristic appearance.

LCDs are used in a wide range of applications, including LCD televisions, computer monitors, instrument panels, aircraft cockpit displays, and indoor and outdoor signage. Small LCD screens are common in LCD projectors and portable consumer devices such as digital cameras, watches, digital clocks, calculators, and mobile telephones, including smartphones. LCD screens are also used on consumer electronics products such as DVD players, video game devices and clocks. LCD screens have replaced heavy, bulky cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays in nearly all applications. LCD screens are available in a wider range of screen sizes than CRT and plasma displays, with LCD screens available in sizes ranging from tiny digital watches to very large television receivers. LCDs are slowly being replaced by OLEDs, which can be easily made into different shapes, and have a lower response time, wider color gamut, virtually infinite color contrast and viewing angles, lower weight for a given display size and a slimmer profile (because OLEDs use a single glass or plastic panel whereas LCDs use two glass panels; the thickness of the panels increases with size but the increase is more noticeable on LCDs) and potentially lower power consumption (as the display is only "on" where needed and there is no backlight). OLEDs, however, are more expensive for a given display size due to the very expensive electroluminescent materials or phosphors that they use. Also due to the use of phosphors, OLEDs suffer from screen burn-in and there is currently no way to recycle OLED displays, whereas LCD panels can be recycled, although the technology required to recycle LCDs is not yet widespread. Attempts to maintain the competitiveness of LCDs are quantum dot displays, marketed as SUHD, QLED or Triluminos, which are displays with blue LED backlighting and a Quantum-dot enhancement film (QDEF) that converts part of the blue light into red and green, offering similar performance to an OLED display at a lower price, but the quantum dot layer that gives these displays their characteristics can not yet be recycled.

Since LCD screens do not use phosphors, they rarely suffer image burn-in when a static image is displayed on a screen for a long time, e.g., the table frame for an airline flight schedule on an indoor sign. LCDs are, however, susceptible to image persistence.battery-powered electronic equipment more efficiently than a CRT can be. By 2008, annual sales of televisions with LCD screens exceeded sales of CRT units worldwide, and the CRT became obsolete for most purposes.

Each pixel of an LCD typically consists of a layer of molecules aligned between two transparent electrodes, often made of Indium-Tin oxide (ITO) and two polarizing filters (parallel and perpendicular polarizers), the axes of transmission of which are (in most of the cases) perpendicular to each other. Without the liquid crystal between the polarizing filters, light passing through the first filter would be blocked by the second (crossed) polarizer. Before an electric field is applied, the orientation of the liquid-crystal molecules is determined by the alignment at the surfaces of electrodes. In a twisted nematic (TN) device, the surface alignment directions at the two electrodes are perpendicular to each other, and so the molecules arrange themselves in a helical structure, or twist. This induces the rotation of the polarization of the incident light, and the device appears gray. If the applied voltage is large enough, the liquid crystal molecules in the center of the layer are almost completely untwisted and the polarization of the incident light is not rotated as it passes through the liquid crystal layer. This light will then be mainly polarized perpendicular to the second filter, and thus be blocked and the pixel will appear black. By controlling the voltage applied across the liquid crystal layer in each pixel, light can be allowed to pass through in varying amounts thus constituting different levels of gray.

The chemical formula of the liquid crystals used in LCDs may vary. Formulas may be patented.Sharp Corporation. The patent that covered that specific mixture expired.

Most color LCD systems use the same technique, with color filters used to generate red, green, and blue subpixels. The LCD color filters are made with a photolithography process on large glass sheets that are later glued with other glass sheets containing a TFT array, spacers and liquid crystal, creating several color LCDs that are then cut from one another and laminated with polarizer sheets. Red, green, blue and black photoresists (resists) are used. All resists contain a finely ground powdered pigment, with particles being just 40 nanometers across. The black resist is the first to be applied; this will create a black grid (known in the industry as a black matrix) that will separate red, green and blue subpixels from one another, increasing contrast ratios and preventing light from leaking from one subpixel onto other surrounding subpixels.Super-twisted nematic LCD, where the variable twist between tighter-spaced plates causes a varying double refraction birefringence, thus changing the hue.

LCD in a Texas Instruments calculator with top polarizer removed from device and placed on top, such that the top and bottom polarizers are perpendicular. As a result, the colors are inverted.

The optical effect of a TN device in the voltage-on state is far less dependent on variations in the device thickness than that in the voltage-off state. Because of this, TN displays with low information content and no backlighting are usually operated between crossed polarizers such that they appear bright with no voltage (the eye is much more sensitive to variations in the dark state than the bright state). As most of 2010-era LCDs are used in television sets, monitors and smartphones, they have high-resolution matrix arrays of pixels to display arbitrary images using backlighting with a dark background. When no image is displayed, different arrangements are used. For this purpose, TN LCDs are operated between parallel polarizers, whereas IPS LCDs feature crossed polarizers. In many applications IPS LCDs have replaced TN LCDs, particularly in smartphones. Both the liquid crystal material and the alignment layer material contain ionic compounds. If an electric field of one particular polarity is applied for a long period of time, this ionic material is attracted to the surfaces and degrades the device performance. This is avoided either by applying an alternating current or by reversing the polarity of the electric field as the device is addressed (the response of the liquid crystal layer is identical, regardless of the polarity of the applied field).

Displays for a small number of individual digits or fixed symbols (as in digital watches and pocket calculators) can be implemented with independent electrodes for each segment.alphanumeric or variable graphics displays are usually implemented with pixels arranged as a matrix consisting of electrically connected rows on one side of the LC layer and columns on the other side, which makes it possible to address each pixel at the intersections. The general method of matrix addressing consists of sequentially addressing one side of the matrix, for example by selecting the rows one-by-one and applying the picture information on the other side at the columns row-by-row. For details on the various matrix addressing schemes see passive-matrix and active-matrix addressed LCDs.

LCDs, along with OLED displays, are manufactured in cleanrooms borrowing techniques from semiconductor manufacturing and using large sheets of glass whose size has increased over time. Several displays are manufactured at the same time, and then cut from the sheet of glass, also known as the mother glass or LCD glass substrate. The increase in size allows more displays or larger displays to be made, just like with increasing wafer sizes in semiconductor manufacturing. The glass sizes are as follows:

Until Gen 8, manufacturers would not agree on a single mother glass size and as a result, different manufacturers would use slightly different glass sizes for the same generation. Some manufacturers have adopted Gen 8.6 mother glass sheets which are only slightly larger than Gen 8.5, allowing for more 50 and 58 inch LCDs to be made per mother glass, specially 58 inch LCDs, in which case 6 can be produced on a Gen 8.6 mother glass vs only 3 on a Gen 8.5 mother glass, significantly reducing waste.AGC Inc., Corning Inc., and Nippon Electric Glass.

The origins and the complex history of liquid-crystal displays from the perspective of an insider during the early days were described by Joseph A. Castellano in Liquid Gold: The Story of Liquid Crystal Displays and the Creation of an Industry.IEEE History Center.Peter J. Wild, can be found at the Engineering and Technology History Wiki.

In 1922, Georges Friedel described the structure and properties of liquid crystals and classified them in three types (nematics, smectics and cholesterics). In 1927, Vsevolod Frederiks devised the electrically switched light valve, called the Fréedericksz transition, the essential effect of all LCD technology. In 1936, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph company patented the first practical application of the technology, "The Liquid Crystal Light Valve". In 1962, the first major English language publication Molecular Structure and Properties of Liquid Crystals was published by Dr. George W. Gray.RCA found that liquid crystals had some interesting electro-optic characteristics and he realized an electro-optical effect by generating stripe-patterns in a thin layer of liquid crystal material by the application of a voltage. This effect is based on an electro-hydrodynamic instability forming what are now called "Williams domains" inside the liquid crystal.

In 1964, George H. Heilmeier, then working at the RCA laboratories on the effect discovered by Williams achieved the switching of colors by field-induced realignment of dichroic dyes in a homeotropically oriented liquid crystal. Practical problems with this new electro-optical effect made Heilmeier continue to work on scattering effects in liquid crystals and finally the achievement of the first operational liquid-crystal display based on what he called the George H. Heilmeier was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of FameIEEE Milestone.

In the late 1960s, pioneering work on liquid crystals was undertaken by the UK"s Royal Radar Establishment at Malvern, England. The team at RRE supported ongoing work by George William Gray and his team at the University of Hull who ultimately discovered the cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals, which had correct stability and temperature properties for application in LCDs.

The idea of a TFT-based liquid-crystal display (LCD) was conceived by Bernard Lechner of RCA Laboratories in 1968.dynamic scattering mode (DSM) LCD that used standard discrete MOSFETs.

On December 4, 1970, the twisted nematic field effect (TN) in liquid crystals was filed for patent by Hoffmann-LaRoche in Switzerland, (Swiss patent No. 532 261) with Wolfgang Helfrich and Martin Schadt (then working for the Central Research Laboratories) listed as inventors.Brown, Boveri & Cie, its joint venture partner at that time, which produced TN displays for wristwatches and other applications during the 1970s for the international markets including the Japanese electronics industry, which soon produced the first digital quartz wristwatches with TN-LCDs and numerous other products. James Fergason, while working with Sardari Arora and Alfred Saupe at Kent State University Liquid Crystal Institute, filed an identical patent in the United States on April 22, 1971.ILIXCO (now LXD Incorporated), produced LCDs based on the TN-effect, which soon superseded the poor-quality DSM types due to improvements of lower operating voltages and lower power consumption. Tetsuro Hama and Izuhiko Nishimura of Seiko received a US patent dated February 1971, for an electronic wristwatch incorporating a TN-LCD.

In 1972, the concept of the active-matrix thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid-crystal display panel was prototyped in the United States by T. Peter Brody"s team at Westinghouse, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Westinghouse Research Laboratories demonstrated the first thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD).high-resolution and high-quality electronic visual display devices use TFT-based active matrix displays.active-matrix liquid-crystal display (AM LCD) in 1974, and then Brody coined the term "active matrix" in 1975.

In 1972 North American Rockwell Microelectronics Corp introduced the use of DSM LCDs for calculators for marketing by Lloyds Electronics Inc, though these required an internal light source for illumination.Sharp Corporation followed with DSM LCDs for pocket-sized calculators in 1973Seiko and its first 6-digit TN-LCD quartz wristwatch, and Casio"s "Casiotron". Color LCDs based on Guest-Host interaction were invented by a team at RCA in 1968.TFT LCDs similar to the prototypes developed by a Westinghouse team in 1972 were patented in 1976 by a team at Sharp consisting of Fumiaki Funada, Masataka Matsuura, and Tomio Wada,

In 1983, researchers at Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC) Research Center, Switzerland, invented the passive matrix-addressed LCDs. H. Amstutz et al. were listed as inventors in the corresponding patent applications filed in Switzerland on July 7, 1983, and October 28, 1983. Patents were granted in Switzerland CH 665491, Europe EP 0131216,

The first color LCD televisions were developed as handheld televisions in Japan. In 1980, Hattori Seiko"s R&D group began development on color LCD pocket televisions.Seiko Epson released the first LCD television, the Epson TV Watch, a wristwatch equipped with a small active-matrix LCD television.dot matrix TN-LCD in 1983.Citizen Watch,TFT LCD.computer monitors and LCD televisions.3LCD projection technology in the 1980s, and licensed it for use in projectors in 1988.compact, full-color LCD projector.

In 1990, under different titles, inventors conceived electro optical effects as alternatives to twisted nematic field effect LCDs (TN- and STN- LCDs). One approach was to use interdigital electrodes on one glass substrate only to produce an electric field essentially parallel to the glass substrates.Germany by Guenter Baur et al. and patented in various countries.Hitachi work out various practical details of the IPS technology to interconnect the thin-film transistor array as a matrix and to avoid undesirable stray fields in between pixels.

Hitachi also improved the viewing angle dependence further by optimizing the shape of the electrodes (Super IPS). NEC and Hitachi become early manufacturers of active-matrix addressed LCDs based on the IPS technology. This is a milestone for implementing large-screen LCDs having acceptable visual performance for flat-panel computer monitors and television screens. In 1996, Samsung developed the optical patterning technique that enables multi-domain LCD. Multi-domain and In Plane Switching subsequently remain the dominant LCD designs through 2006.South Korea and Taiwan,

In 2007 the image quality of LCD televisions surpassed the image quality of cathode-ray-tube-based (CRT) TVs.LCD TVs were projected to account 50% of the 200 million TVs to be shipped globally in 2006, according to Displaybank.Toshiba announced 2560 × 1600 pixels on a 6.1-inch (155 mm) LCD panel, suitable for use in a tablet computer,transparent and flexible, but they cannot emit light without a backlight like OLED and microLED, which are other technologies that can also be made flexible and transparent.

In 2016, Panasonic developed IPS LCDs with a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, rivaling OLEDs. This technology was later put into mass production as dual layer, dual panel or LMCL (Light Modulating Cell Layer) LCDs. The technology uses 2 liquid crystal layers instead of one, and may be used along with a mini-LED backlight and quantum dot sheets.

Since LCDs produce no light of their own, they require external light to produce a visible image.backlight. Active-matrix LCDs are almost always backlit.Transflective LCDs combine the features of a backlit transmissive display and a reflective display.

CCFL: The LCD panel is lit either by two cold cathode fluorescent lamps placed at opposite edges of the display or an array of parallel CCFLs behind larger displays. A diffuser (made of PMMA acrylic plastic, also known as a wave or light guide/guiding plateinverter to convert whatever DC voltage the device uses (usually 5 or 12 V) to ≈1000 V needed to light a CCFL.

EL-WLED: The LCD panel is lit by a row of white LEDs placed at one or more edges of the screen. A light diffuser (light guide plate, LGP) is then used to spread the light evenly across the whole display, similarly to edge-lit CCFL LCD backlights. The diffuser is made out of either PMMA plastic or special glass, PMMA is used in most cases because it is rugged, while special glass is used when the thickness of the LCD is of primary concern, because it doesn"t expand as much when heated or exposed to moisture, which allows LCDs to be just 5mm thick. Quantum dots may be placed on top of the diffuser as a quantum dot enhancement film (QDEF, in which case they need a layer to be protected from heat and humidity) or on the color filter of the LCD, replacing the resists that are normally used.

WLED array: The LCD panel is lit by a full array of white LEDs placed behind a diffuser behind the panel. LCDs that use this implementation will usually have the ability to dim or completely turn off the LEDs in the dark areas of the image being displayed, effectively increasing the contrast ratio of the display. The precision with which this can be done will depend on the number of dimming zones of the display. The more dimming zones, the more precise the dimming, with less obvious blooming artifacts which are visible as dark grey patches surrounded by the unlit areas of the LCD. As of 2012, this design gets most of its use from upscale, larger-screen LCD televisions.

RGB-LED array: Similar to the WLED array, except the panel is lit by a full array of RGB LEDs. While displays lit with white LEDs usually have a poorer color gamut than CCFL lit displays, panels lit with RGB LEDs have very wide color gamuts. This implementation is most popular on professional graphics editing LCDs. As of 2012, LCDs in this category usually cost more than $1000. As of 2016 the cost of this category has drastically reduced and such LCD televisions obtained same price levels as the former 28" (71 cm) CRT based categories.

Monochrome LEDs: such as red, green, yellow or blue LEDs are used in the small passive monochrome LCDs typically used in clocks, watches and small appliances.

Today, most LCD screens are being designed with an LED backlight instead of the traditional CCFL backlight, while that backlight is dynamically controlled with the video information (dynamic backlight control). The combination with the dynamic backlight control, invented by Philips researchers Douglas Stanton, Martinus Stroomer and Adrianus de Vaan, simultaneously increases the dynamic range of the display system (also marketed as HDR, high dynamic range television or FLAD, full-area local area dimming).

The LCD backlight systems are made highly efficient by applying optical films such as prismatic structure (prism sheet) to gain the light into the desired viewer directions and reflective polarizing films that recycle the polarized light that was formerly absorbed by the first polarizer of the LCD (invented by Philips researchers Adrianus de Vaan and Paulus Schaareman),

Due to the LCD layer that generates the desired high resolution images at flashing video speeds using very low power electronics in combination with LED based backlight technologies, LCD technology has become the dominant display technology for products such as televisions, desktop monitors, notebooks, tablets, smartphones and mobile phones. Although competing OLED technology is pushed to the market, such OLED displays do not feature the HDR capabilities like LCDs in combination with 2D LED backlight technologies have, reason why the annual market of such LCD-based products is still growing faster (in volume) than OLED-based products while the efficiency of LCDs (and products like portable computers, mobile phones and televisions) may even be further improved by preventing the light to be absorbed in the colour filters of the LCD.

A pink elastomeric connector mating an LCD panel to circuit board traces, shown next to a centimeter-scale ruler. The conductive and insulating layers in the black stripe are very small.

A standard television receiver screen, a modern LCD panel, has over six million pixels, and they are all individually powered by a wire network embedded in the screen. The fine wires, or pathways, form a grid with vertical wires across the whole screen on one side of the screen and horizontal wires across the whole screen on the other side of the screen. To this grid each pixel has a positive connection on one side and a negative connection on the other side. So the total amount of wires needed for a 1080p display is 3 x 1920 going vertically and 1080 going horizontally for a total of 6840 wires horizontally and vertically. That"s three for red, green and blue and 1920 columns of pixels for each color for a total of 5760 wires going vertically and 1080 rows of wires going horizontally. For a panel that is 28.8 inches (73 centimeters) wide, that means a wire density of 200 wires per inch along the horizontal edge.

The LCD panel is powered by LCD drivers that are carefully matched up with the edge of the LCD panel at the factory level. The drivers may be installed using several methods, the most common of which are COG (Chip-On-Glass) and TAB (Tape-automated bonding) These same principles apply also for smartphone screens that are much smaller than TV screens.anisotropic conductive film or, for lower densities, elastomeric connectors.

Monochrome and later color passive-matrix LCDs were standard in most early laptops (although a few used plasma displaysGame Boyactive-matrix became standard on all laptops. The commercially unsuccessful Macintosh Portable (released in 1989) was one of the first to use an active-matrix display (though still monochrome). Passive-matrix LCDs are still used in the 2010s for applications less demanding than laptop computers and TVs, such as inexpensive calculators. In particular, these are used on portable devices where less information content needs to be displayed, lowest power consumption (no backlight) and low cost are desired or readability in direct sunlight is needed.

A comparison between a blank passive-matrix display (top) and a blank active-matrix display (bottom). A passive-matrix display can be identified when the blank background is more grey in appearance than the crisper active-matrix display, fog appears on all edges of the screen, and while pictures appear to be fading on the screen.

Displays having a passive-matrix structure are employing Crosstalk between activated and non-activated pixels has to be handled properly by keeping the RMS voltage of non-activated pixels below the threshold voltage as discovered by Peter J. Wild in 1972,

STN LCDs have to be continuously refreshed by alternating pulsed voltages of one polarity during one frame and pulses of opposite polarity during the next frame. Individual pixels are addressed by the corresponding row and column circuits. This type of display is called response times and poor contrast are typical of passive-matrix addressed LCDs with too many pixels and driven according to the "Alt & Pleshko" drive scheme. Welzen and de Vaan also invented a non RMS drive scheme enabling to drive STN displays with video rates and enabling to show smooth moving video images on an STN display.

Bistable LCDs do not require continuous refreshing. Rewriting is only required for picture information changes. In 1984 HA van Sprang and AJSM de Vaan invented an STN type display that could be operated in a bistable mode, enabling extremely high resolution images up to 4000 lines or more using only low voltages.

High-resolution color displays, such as modern LCD computer monitors and televisions, use an active-matrix structure. A matrix of thin-film transistors (TFTs) is added to the electrodes in contact with the LC layer. Each pixel has its own dedicated transistor, allowing each column line to access one pixel. When a row line is selected, all of the column lines are connected to a row of pixels and voltages corresponding to the picture information are driven onto all of the column lines. The row line is then deactivated and the next row line is selected. All of the row lines are selected in sequence during a refresh operation. Active-matrix addressed displays look brighter and sharper than passive-matrix addressed displays of the same size, and generally have quicker response times, producing much better images. Sharp produces bistable reflective LCDs with a 1-bit SRAM cell per pixel that only requires small amounts of power to maintain an image.

Segment LCDs can also have color by using Field Sequential Color (FSC LCD). This kind of displays have a high speed passive segment LCD panel with an RGB backlight. The backlight quickly changes color, making it appear white to the naked eye. The LCD panel is synchronized with the backlight. For example, to make a segment appear red, the segment is only turned ON when the backlight is red, and to make a segment appear magenta, the segment is turned ON when the backlight is blue, and it continues to be ON while the backlight becomes red, and it turns OFF when the backlight becomes green. To make a segment appear black, the segment is always turned ON. An FSC LCD divides a color image into 3 images (one Red, one Green and one Blue) and it displays them in order. Due to persistence of vision, the 3 monochromatic images appear as one color image. An FSC LCD needs an LCD panel with a