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Samsung Display will stop producing LCD panels by the end of the year. The display maker currently runs two LCD production lines in South Korea and two in China, according to Reuters. Samsung tells The Verge that the decision will accelerate the company’s move towards quantum dot displays, while ZDNetreports that its future quantum dot TVs will use OLED rather than LCD panels.

The decision comes as LCD panel prices are said to be falling worldwide. Last year, Nikkei reported that Chinese competitors are ramping up production of LCD screens, even as demand for TVs weakens globally. Samsung Display isn’t the only manufacturer to have closed down LCD production lines. LG Display announced it would be ending LCD production in South Korea by the end of the 2020 as well.

Last October Samsung Display announced a five-year 13.1 trillion won (around $10.7 billion) investment in quantum dot technology for its upcoming TVs, as it shifts production away from LCDs. However, Samsung’s existing quantum dot or QLED TVs still use LCD panels behind their quantum dot layer. Samsung is also working on developing self-emissive quantum-dot diodes, which would remove the need for a separate layer.

Samsung’s investment in OLED TVs has also been reported by The Elec. The company is no stranger to OLED technology for handhelds, but it exited the large OLED panel market half a decade ago, allowing rival LG Display to dominate ever since.

Although Samsung Display says that it will be able to continue supplying its existing LCD orders through the end of the year, there are questions about what Samsung Electronics, the largest TV manufacturer in the world, will use in its LCD TVs going forward. Samsung told The Vergethat it does not expect the shutdown to affect its LCD-based QLED TV lineup. So for the near-term, nothing changes.

One alternative is that Samsung buys its LCD panels from suppliers like TCL-owned CSOT and AUO, which already supply panels for Samsung TVs. Last year The Elec reported that Samsung could close all its South Korean LCD production lines, and make up the difference with panels bought from Chinese manufacturers like CSOT, which Samsung Display has invested in.

Samsung has also been showing off its MicroLED display technology at recent trade shows, which uses self-emissive LED diodes to produce its pixels. However, in 2019 Samsung predicted that the technology was two or three years away from being viable for use in a consumer product.

SEOUL, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) said on Tuesday it will extend production of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for TVs and monitors, as stay-at-home trends of the coronavirus pandemic created an uptick in demand.

Samsung Display"s decision to extend LCD production in South Korea for an unspecified period of time overrides its announcement in March that it would end all production by the end of the year to focus on more advanced technology.

Samsung Display said the length of the extension would depend on market conditions. It had said in late October that it was considering a "short-term" extension.

Samsung had produced LCD panels in both South Korea and China, but it earlier this year sold a majority stake in its Suzhou LCD production unit to TCL Technology Group Corp"s (000100.SZ) China Star Optoelectronics Technology unit.

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

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."

Have you ever left your TV or monitor on for days, stuck on the same image? You return to your screen, only to find an image burned into the display. No matter what you do, it won"t go away. It is a permanent image burn.

Why do monitors and TVs get image burn? Why can"t manufacturers prevent LCDs and plasma screens from a burnt image imprint? Moreover, what can you do to fix an image burn?

Before flat-screens and crystal displays, most TVs and monitors featured CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) technology. In CRTs, individual pixels comprise a red, blue, and green phosphor component. Depending on the intensity of each phosphor component, the pixel appears to the human eye as a unique color.

Plasma displays use plasma, a gaseous substance containing free-flowing ions. When the plasma is not in use, the particles in the plasma are uncharged and display nothing. With the introduction of an electric current, the ions become charged and begin colliding, releasing photons of light.

This is a very simplified version of how a plasma screen works. However, the main thing to understand is that plasma screens use phosphor material (like CRTs) to turn those photons into images.

LCD and LED do not work in the same way as CRTs, either. LCD and LED screens use backlit liquid crystals to display colors. Although manufacturers market screens using LED and LCD, an LED screen is still a type of LCD. The white backlight filters through the liquid crystals, which extract particular colors per pixel.

LCD and LED displays don"t suffer from the same type of image burn as CRTs and plasma screens. They"re not completely clear, though. LCD and LED screens suffer from image persistence. Read on to find out more about image persistence.

Before you can fix screen burn-in, take a second to understand why these images burn in the first place. LCDs and LEDs don"t suffer from burn-in as seriously as plasma screens. But static images can leave an imprint on both display types if left alone for too long. So, why does image burn happen?

Plasma screens also suffer from phosphor deterioration. Plasma burning occurs when pixels on the screen are damaged through long exposure. The phosphor loses its intensity and only shows the light it was fed repeatedly. In this case, the still image, which causes the burn.

LCD and LED screens can also experience image burn, though the image burn process can take longer to develop into a permanent issue. In addition, LCD and LED screens suffer from another issue, known as image retention (also known as image persistence or an LCD shadow).

Image retention is a temporary issue that you are more likely to notice before it becomes a permanent issue. However, proper image burn can still affect LCD, LED, and OLED screens.

The other thing to consider is that LED and OLED image burn-in, when it happens, is irreversible. That"s because of how LED and OLED screens work. Individual pixels within an LED display decay when they emit light.

Issues arise when a screen shows a single news channel 24 hours a day, every day, causing channel logos to burn-in, along with the outline of the scrolling news ticker and so on. News channels are a well-known source of television burn-in, no matter the screen type.

Image burn-in fixes exist for LCD and plasma screens. How effective an image burn-in fix is depends on the screen damage. Depending on the length and severity of the image burn, some displays may have permanent damage.

My personal rule of thumb is to turn off the display if I plan on being away for more than 15 minutes. That way, it is difficult to get caught out, plus you save yourself money on electricity costs and monitor or TV wear and tear.

Another prevention method is to reduce screen contrast as much as you can. Unfortunately, most screens aren"t calibrated correctly, often pushing the contrast and brightness settings too high.

If your plasma or LCD screen already has image burn-in, you can try turning on white static for 12 to 24 hours. The constant moving of white-and-black across your screen in random patterns can help remove the ghost image from your screen.

Pixel-shift constantly slightly adjusts the image on your screen, which varies the pixel usage to counteract image burn. You might have to enable a pixel or screen shift option in your screen settings. Pixel-shift is a handy feature for LED and OLED screens that cannot recover from image burn and should help counteract an LCD shadow.

Other modern screens feature built-in screen refresh functions that the manufacturer will advise using to remove image retention and image burn issues.

While the Deluxe version uses advanced algorithms to repair burned screens and prolong plasma and LCD longevity, the official site is no longer up and running, and there is no way to download the full version officially.

If you have television burn-in, you can attach a laptop to your TV using an HDMI cable, extend your desktop to the television, and share the white screensaver. Hopefully, that will shift your television burn-in.

So if the fear of the mere possibility of burn-in is your primary concern, the decision is simple: Buy an LCD-based display instead. But know that you"re sacrificing the best picture quality that money can buy. Here are some points to keep in mind:

What can you do to prevent burn-in on that new TV? As we mentioned, vary what you watch a bit. In particular, don"t watch something that has the same static areas displayed onscreen, nonstop for days on end.

The logos and news tickers on cable news channels are examples of those static areas -- they have elements that never move, and they remain on screen the entire time you"re watching. That means if you leave your TV running Fox News, CNN, MSNBC or ESPN all day long and don"t watch enough other programming, you"re more likely to get burn-in. Or at least, image retention, which we"ll discuss in a moment. If you play the same game for 8 hours a day, every day, the onscreen status display or HUD is also a likely culprit for burn-in.

To repeat, you can watch those channels, play games or whatever else to use your TV as a TV, your phone as a phone, etc. You just shouldn"t watch only those channels, all day every day. And if that sounds extreme, know that emails I"ve gotten from readers about burn-in always have some variation on "well I only watched that channel for 5 hours a day." If that sounds like you, get an LCD.

As long as you vary what"s displayed, chances are you"ll never experience burn-in. That varied content will age your screen evenly. So in a 24-hour period you watch a movie, play some games, binge some TV shows, they"re all varied enough that you should be fine.

We"ve designed the OLED screen to aim for longevity as much as possible, but OLED displays can experience image retention if subjected to static visuals over a long period of time. However, users can take preventative measures to preserve the screen [by] utilizing features included in the Nintendo Switch systems by default, such as auto-brightness function to prevent the screen from getting too bright, and the auto-sleep function to go into "auto sleep" mode after short periods of time.

You"re not crazy, probably. That"s just an extreme case of image retention. Chances are it will go away on its own as you watch stuff that isn"t the same still image of the puppy.Here"s a section of a 2018 LG C8 OLED TV screen displaying a gray test pattern after 5 hours watching CNN on the brightest (Vivid) mode. They"re the same image, but we"ve circled the section with the logo on the right to highlight it. To see it better, turn up the brightness. In person, it"s more visible in a dark room, but much less visible with moving images as opposed to a test pattern. Since it disappeared after running LG"s Pixel Refresher (see below), this is an example of image retention and not burn-in.Sarah Tew/CNET

This is an extreme case, largely just to illustrate what happens. In reality, it"s going to be far more subtle. Watch a lot of the same TV news station, like CNN in the example above? Not sure how your heart can handle that, but let"s say you do. That station"s identifying logo is a prime candidate for image retention and eventually burn-in. Ditto the horizontal borders of the "crawl" on the bottom of the screen.

If you play the same video game for hours and days on end, that game"s persistent scoreboard or heads-up display might burn in. Basically, anything that stays on screen for a long time and doesn"t change can cause image retention and perhaps, eventually, burn-in.

Apple, for one, flags users of OLED-screened iPhones, like the X, 11 and 12, that burn-in is a possibility. Here"s the quote from its support page for the products:With extended long-term use, OLED displays can also show slight visual changes. This is also expected behavior and can include "image persistence" or "burn-in," where the display shows a faint remnant of an image even after a new image appears on the screen. This can occur in more extreme cases such as when the same high contrast image is continuously displayed for prolonged periods of time. We"ve engineered the Super Retina and Super Retina XDR displays to be the best in the industry in reducing the effects of OLED "burn-in."

Also, OLED technology has gotten better. Billions of dollars have been spent on OLED manufacturing and R&D, and that"s ongoing. So stories you may have heard about "burn-in" likely entered the zeitgeist years ago about older OLED displays. You just don"t hear about newer OLEDs having these issues except in extreme situations like those discussed above. You"d likely hear a LOT more stories about OLED now that the two largest phone manufacturers, and many smaller ones, use OLEDs in millions of phones and have for years.

"There is generally no warranty coverage for image retention by TV companies and display manufacturers. Image retention may result when consumers are out of normal viewing conditions, and most manufacturers do not support warranty for such usage regardless of the type of display," said Tim Alessi, director of new products at LG.

When CNET reached out to Samsung for details, the representative defined "normal consumer use" as "use of the product by consumers in a home environment for viewing content and/or gaming in a typical manner. It doesn"t cover business use." In other words, those ESPN logos you see burned into the screens at your local sports bar would not be covered.

Pretty much all OLED TVs also have user settings to minimize the chance of uneven wear or burn-in. One is called something like "Screen Shift" (on LGs) or "Pixel Shift" (on Sonys), which moves the image slightly around the screen. They also have built-in screensavers that pop up after extended idle time. You should also enable screen savers on connected devices like game consoles and streamers.

The most comprehensive independent tests for burn-in on TVs was run by the aforementioned review site RTings. In August 2017 they began a burn-in torture test with LCD and OLED TVs, followed by a "real life" torture test in 2018. They stopped regularly updating the test in 2020, but that was after the equivalent of 5 years of normal use on multiple TVs, and still they felt that most people will never have an issue with burn-in.

Before you check it out, keep in mind what they"re doing is not normal use. You"d have to be trying to wreck a TV to make it look that bad, which is literally what they"re trying to do. That said, the information is still valuable, and the main takeaway is that OLED is indeed more susceptible to burn-in than LCD.

With OLED TVs, it"s something to keep in mind if you"re a TV news junkie, or only ever play one video game. Keep an eye out for image retention or uneven wear. If you spot it, perhaps switch up your viewing habits, adjust the TV"s settings, or run the pixel refresher a few times. And if you watch content with hours of the same static image each day, or just keep CNN, Fox or CNBC on in the background all day, you should probably get an LCD TV.

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Modern TVs use one of two popular panel types: Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) or a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel lit by LED lights. Each type uses different technology to display an image; an OLED can individually turn on each pixel, whereas pixels in an LCD panel need voltage to be applied, and they rotate to allow light through, producing the image. However, between each type, if the same image remains on-screen for a long period, then the pixels remain in that position even after the on-screen display changes. This is why it"s most noticeable when watching content with static elements for long periods.

OLEDs tend to suffer more burn-in than LCD panels, but once again, it"s all about the luck of the draw and you can still receive an LED-backlit LCD TV with severe image retention. There are also two popular types of LCD panels: VA and IPS, and IPS panels are generally more prone to image retention, but that doesn"t mean VA panels are immune to it, either.

Although it may be easy to think temporary image retention and burn-in are the same, they"re actually different. While image retention is a temporary issue, burn-in is permanent. Only OLED panels suffer from burn-in, as LED TVs appear to be immune to it according to our long-term testing. If you constantly watch content with the same static elements on an OLED, like leaving it on the news all day or using it as a PC monitor, without watching anything else, then the pixels get stuck on the same color and have trouble displaying other colors. This is permanent damage, but we don"t expect it to be an issue for people who watch varied content; you should only really worry about burn-in if you"re going to use your OLED as a monitor. You can learn more about our 20/7 OLED burn-in test here.

Varying content:Watching content with varying images is always the best way to avoid image retention. Even if you"re using your TV as a PC monitor, you can hide the taskbars, use a screensaver, or simply use the TV to watch movies after a long day of work.

Considering a flat-panel TV? The latest LED-LCD and plasma TVs deliver outstanding picture quality, and both display technologies get a little better every year. Each type has a different set of strengths that make it more suitable for certain viewing situations.

Some people mistakenly believe that so-called "LED TVs" use a new display technology. The term is frequently used by TV manufacturers and many retailers, but LED TVs are just LCD TVs that use an LED backlight instead of a fluorescent one. LED-LCD TVs generally have better contrast and more accurate colors than fluorescent-backlit models, and the LEDs are also very energy efficient.

At this point (9/13), nearly all LCD TVs from major brands use LED backlights, except for very basic models and TVs designed for outdoor use. For more information, see our video on LCD backlighting.

If you poke around the Internet you"ll find a ton of information (and some misinformation) about today"s flat-panel TVs. The chart below provides a quick comparison of plasma and LED LCD. Display

Plasma Pros: excellent contrast and black levels; effortless motion; uniform illumination over the entire screen area, good picture depth; often priced lower than LED-LCD models with similar screen size and features

Cons: limited screen sizes: 42"-65"; some models not as bright as most LED-LCD TVs; not as energy-efficient as LED-LCDs and typically generate more heat; a plasma panel is usually a bit heavier and thicker than an LED-LCD panel

LED-LCD Pros: models with advanced local dimming backlights can have black levels rivaling plasma; LED-LCD panels are thin and lightweight — especially models with edge-lit backlights; this is the most energy-efficient display technology

There are two basic ways to increase a TV"s picture contrast: either make whites look brighter, or blacks look blacker. LED-LCD TVs are typically brighter than plasmas, while plasmas are known for producing deeper black levels. And for that reason we have tended to recommend LED-LCD TVs for use in rooms where the TV is competing with lots of other light sources in the room, like windows or lamps. Plasma"s blacker blacks can be best appreciated in a room with the lights dimmed or darkened.

The reason plasmas excel at picture contrast is that each pixel — actually each subpixel — is self-illuminated, allowing very precise, controlled lighting. On the LED-LCD side, higher-performing models use sophisticated LED backlighting that can switch clusters of LEDs on and off based on the picture content. The general name for this ability is "local dimming." Originally, local dimming only referred to expensive high-end models that used a full-array backlight — a grid of LEDs that covered the back of the screen. Only a couple LED-LCD TVs still employ that technology, and local dimming is used to describe edge-lit displays that have a less precise but still effective form of dimming.

Viewing angle limitations are more of an issue for LED-LCD TVs than for plasmas. All LCDs use a backlight, and the LCD pixels act like shutters, opening and closing to let light through or block it. This shutter effect causes increasing variations in picture brightness as viewers move further off axis.

All 1080p HDTVs have the same screen resolution — 1920 x 1080 pixels — but they don"t always deliver equal picture clarity. Most sets can display flawless still images, but moving objects on screen are more difficult to display cleanly. This can be especially apparent if you watch lots of things with fast action, like video games or sports.

For LED-LCD TVs, motion handling has been more of a challenge because of the way they create the picture. But many of today"s LCD TVs are better equipped to display fast motion without blur. If you want smoother motion with an LCD, look for a model with a 120Hz or 240Hz refresh rate. These sets include sophisticated processing that can virtually eliminate motion blur.

To watch 3D TV, you"ll need a TV with a screen capable of displaying 3D video — it can be a plasma or LED-LCD. You"ll also need compatible 3D glasses, either "active" or "passive" to match the type of 3D TV you have. For the most theater-like 3D experience, you"ll need a source of 3D video, like a 3D Blu-ray player or 3D channels from your cable or satellite TV provider. But if you don"t have a source of 3D content, you can still get a taste of 3D because nearly all current 3D TVs include built-in 2D-to-3D conversion. The feature adds a bit of 3D-like depth to regular 2D material. For more info, see our intro to 3D, watch our video about 3D TV, or check out our in-depth 3D TV FAQ.

TV makers don"t mention longevity much anymore, but the last time we checked, both plasma and LED-LCD TVs from major brands have a rated lifespan of 100,000 hours. And that doesn"t mean that if your TV reaches the 100,000-hour mark it will simply stop working. That number represents the estimated time when the TV"s display panel will produce a picture that"s only half as bright as when it was new. After the "half brightness" point the TV will still be usable, just somewhat dimmer.

But logging 100,000 hours of use takes a longtime. If you were to watch for 6 hours a day, every day, it would take over 45 years! There are other parts in a TV other than the illumination component that could fail over time, but over the years the TV manufacturing process has grown more precise and consistent. The bottom line is that a new LCD or plasma TV should last at least as long as a typical tube TV.

You do a lot of daytime viewing in a room with windows lacking blinds, curtains or drapes. An LED-LCD"s bright picture will still look crisp and colorful in bright light; some LCD screens also resist glare.

An LCD TV is sometimes referred to as a "transmissive" display. Light isn"t created by the liquid crystals themselves; instead, a light source behind the LCD panel shines through the display. A diffusion panel behind the LCD redirects and scatters the light evenly to ensure a uniform image.

The display consists of two polarizing transparent panels and a liquid crystal solution sandwiched in between. The screen"s front layer of glass is etched on the inside surface in a grid pattern to form a template for the layer of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals are rod-shaped molecules that twist when an electric current is applied to them. Each crystal acts like a shutter, either allowing light to pass through or blocking the light. The pattern of transparent and dark crystals forms the image.

The multi-layered structure of a typical LCD panel. Because they use red, green and blue color filters in place of phosphor dots, LCD TVs are completely immune to screen burn-in.

LCD TVs use the most advanced type of LCD, known as an "active-matrix" LCD. This design is based on thin film transistors (TFT) — basically, tiny switching transistors and capacitors that are arranged in a matrix on a glass substrate. Their job is to rapidly switch the LCD"s pixels on and off. In an HDTV"s LCD, each color pixel is created by three sub-pixels with red, green and blue color filters.

An important difference between plasma and LCD technology is that an LCD screen doesn"t have a coating of phosphor dots (colors are created through the use of filters). That means you"ll never have to worry about screen burn-in, which is great news, especially for anyone planning to connect a PC or video game system.

A plasma TV is sometimes called an "emissive" display — the panel is actually self-lighting. The display consists of two transparent glass panels with a thin layer of pixels sandwiched in between. Each pixel is composed of three gas-filled cells or sub-pixels (one each for red, green and blue). A grid of tiny electrodes applies an electric current to the individual cells, causing the gas (a mix of neon and xenon) in the cells to ionize. This ionized gas (plasma) emits high-frequency UV rays, which stimulate the cells" phosphors, causing them to glow the desired color.

Because a plasma panel is illuminated at the sub-pixel level, light output is very consistent across the entire screen area. Plasmas produce the widest horizontal and vertical viewing angles available — pictures look crisp and bright from virtually anywhere in the room.

Because plasma TV screens use a phosphor coating like CRT-based TVs, the possibility of screen burn-in exists, though it"s unlikely to happen with current models. To reduce the chance of burn-in, be sure to follow the manufacturer"s recommendations on setup and use.

Choosing which type of monitor panel type to buy will depend largely on your intended usage and personal preference. After all, gamers, graphic designers, and office workers all have different requirements. Specific types of displays are best suited for different usage scenarios.

IPS monitors continue to be the display technology of choice for users that want color accuracy and consistency. IPS monitors are really great when it comes to color performance and super-wide viewing angles. The expansive viewing angles provided by IPS monitors help to deliver outstanding color when being viewed from different angles. One major differentiator between IPS monitors and TN monitors is that colors on an IPS monitor won’t shift when being viewed at an angle as drastically as they do on a TN monitor.

Another important characteristic of IPS monitors is that they are able to support professional color space technologies, such as Adobe RGB. This is due to the fact that IPS monitors are able to offer more displayable colors, which help improve color accuracy.

With regard to gaming, some criticisms IPS monitors include more visible motion blur coming as a result of slower response times, however the impact of motion blur will vary from user to user. In fact, mixed opinions about the “drawbacks” of IPS monitor for gaming can be found all across the web. Take this excerpt from one gaming technology writer for example: “As for pixel response, opinions vary. I personally think IPS panels are quick enough for almost all gaming. If your gaming life is absolutely and exclusively about hair-trigger shooters, OK, you’ll want the fastest response, lowest latency LCD monitor. And that means TN. For the rest of us, and certainly for those who place even a modicum of importance on the visual spectacle of games, I reckon IPS is clearly the best panel technology.” Read the full article here.

TN monitors, or “Twisted Nematic” monitors, are the oldest LCD panel types around. TN panels cost less than their IPS and VA counterparts and are a popular mainstream display technology for desktop and laptop displays.

Despite their lower perceived value, TN-based displays are the panel type preferred by competitive gamers. The reason for this is because TN panels can achieve a rapid response time and the fastest refresh rates on the market (like this 240Hz eSports monitor). To this effect, TN monitors are able to reduce blurring and screen tearing in fast-paced games when compared to an IPS or VA panel.

For general-purpose use, these shifts in color and contrast are often irrelevant and fade from conscious perception. However, this color variability makes TN monitors a poor choice for color-critical work like graphic design and photo editing. Graphic designers and other color-conscious users should also avoid TN displays due to their more limited range of color display compared to the other technologies.

TN monitors are the least expensive panel technology, making them ideal for cost-conscious businesses and consumers. In addition, TN monitors enjoy unmatched popularity with competitive gamers and other users who seek rapid graphics display.

These high-end VA-type monitors rival IPS monitors as the best panel technology for professional-level color-critical applications. One of the standout features of VA technology is that it is particularly good at blocking light from the backlight when it’s not needed. This enables VA panels to display deeper blacks and static contrast ratios of up to several times higher than the other LCD technologies. The benefit of this is that VA monitors with high contrast ratios can deliver intense blacks and richer colors.

These monitors also provide more visible details in shadows and highlights, making them ideal for enjoying videos and movies. They’re also a good fit for games focused on rich imagery (RPG games for example) rather than rapid speed (such as FPS games).

MVA and other recent VA technologies offer the highest static contrast ratios of any panel technology. This allows for an outstanding visual experience for movie enthusiasts and other users seeking depth of detail. Higher-end, feature-rich MVA displays offer the consistent, authentic color representation needed by graphic designers and other pro users.

There is another type of panel technology that differs from the monitor types discussed above and that is OLED or “Organic Light Emitting Diode” technology. OLEDs differ from LCDs because they use positively/negatively charged ions to light up every pixel individually, while LCDs use a backlight, which can create an unwanted glow. OLEDs avoid screen glow (and create darker blacks) by not using a backlight. One of the drawbacks of OLED technology is that it is usually pricier than any of the other types of technology explained.

When it comes to choosing the right LCD panel technology, there is no single right answer. Each of the three primary technologies offers distinct strengths and weaknesses. Looking at different features and specs helps you identify which monitor best fits your needs.

LCD or “Liquid Crystal Display” is a type of monitor panel that embraces thin layers of liquid crystals sandwiched between two layers of filters and electrodes.

While CRT monitors used to fire electrons against glass surfaces, LCD monitors operate using backlights and liquid crystals. The LCD panel is a flat sheet of material that contains layers of filters, glass, electrodes, liquid crystals, and a backlight. Polarized light (meaning only half of it shines through) is directed towards a rectangular grid of liquid crystals and beamed through.

Note: When searching for monitors you can be sure to come across the term “LED Panel” at some point or another. An LED panel is an LCD screen with an LED – (Light Emitting Diode) – backlight. LEDs provide a brighter light source while using much less energy. They also have the ability to produce white color, in addition to traditional RGB color, and are the panel type used in HDR monitors.

Early LCD panels used passive-matrix technology and were criticized for blurry imagery. The reason for this is because quick image changes require liquid crystals to change phase quickly and passive matrix technology was limited in terms of how quickly liquid crystals could change phase.

Thanks to active-matrix technology, LCD monitor panels were able to change images very quickly and the technology began being used by newer LCD panels.

Ultimately, budget and feature preferences will determine the best fit for each user. Among the available monitors of each panel type there will also be a range of price points and feature sets. Additionally, overall quality may vary among manufacturers due to factors related to a display’s components, manufacturing, and design.

The 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR display has an IPS LCD panel supporting a resolution of 2732 by 2048 pixels for a total of 5.6 million pixels with 264 pixels per inch. To achieve Extreme Dynamic Range required an entirely new display architecture on iPad Pro. The all new 2D mini-LED backlighting system with individually controlled local dimming zones was the best choice for delivering the extremely high full-screen brightness and contrast ratio, and off-axis color accuracy, that creative professionals depend on for their workflows.

The Liquid Retina XDR display can support up to 1000 nits of full-screen brightness. It can also support up to 1600 nits for highlights in up to 40 percent of the screen area when the rest of that image is black or at brightness up to 600 nits.

Unlike the previous design that takes light emitting from one edge of the display and evenly distributes it across the entire back, the Liquid Retina XDR display uses over 10,000 custom-designed mini-LEDs spread uniformly across the entire back of the display, delivering higher LED density than any other display of its kind. These mini-LEDs are grouped into an array of over 2,500 individually controlled local dimming zones. This delivers incredibly deep blacks right next to bright image areas, achieving a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.

The Liquid Retina XDR display improves upon the trade-offs of typical local dimming systems, where the extreme brightness of LEDs might cause a slight blooming effect because the LED zones are larger than the LCD pixel size. This display is designed to deliver crisp front-of-screen performance with its incredibly small custom mini-LED design, industry leading mini-LED density, large number of individually controlled local dimming zones, and custom optical films that shape the light while maintaining image fidelity and extreme brightness and contrast.

Additionally, custom algorithms run on the advanced display engine of the M1 chip, working at the pixel level to control the mini-LED and LCD layers of the display separately, treating them as two distinct displays. These proprietary algorithms coordinate the mini-LED and LCD layers across transitions to deliver the optimal visual experience. Transitional characteristics of local dimming zones, such as a slight blur or color change while scrolling against black backgrounds, are normal behavior.

The Liquid Retina XDR display delivers P3 wide color. The color gamut afforded by the P3 primaries is larger than sRGB, offering richer and more saturated colors, especially with certain reds, yellows, and greens. The result is rich and vibrant color that’s also used in the digital cinema industry. Every Liquid Retina XDR display is also calibrated at the factory for color, brightness, gamma, and white point for a consistent visual experience.

ProMotion technology automatically adjusts the display refresh rate up to 120 Hz (twice the rate of typical LCD displays) to the optimal rate for the content. The result is ultra-smooth scrolling and incredible responsiveness on the display, whether you’re using your finger or Apple Pencil. True Tone technology subtly adjusts the white balance onscreen to match the color temperature of the light around you, so images on the display look as natural as on a printed page. The cover glass on the Liquid Retina XDR display has an on-axis reflection of 1.8 percent due to a custom antireflective coating. As a result, iPad Pro delivers industry-leading reflectivity for a more comfortable viewing experience indoors and out.

Dirty Screen Effect (DSE) is a term that’s used to describe an LCD panel that has inconsistent luminance performance across its surface area. It can appear as random splotches, uniform lines, wide bars, and, in some cases, vignetting (a slight darkening toward the corners). DSE once plagued plasma TV panels as well. But since those are no longer in production, we’ll keep this explainer focused on LCD-based TVs.

As a reminder, any TV that uses an LED backlight also uses an LCD panel, so TVs marketed as LED, QLED, and mini-LED are all susceptible. Due to what causes DSE on a technical level, some may argue it can only apply to LCD-based TVs. However, similar effects can be seen in OLED-based displays — thus the term is often applied — so we’ll include those types of TVs as well, but address them separately.

There are a number of factors stemming from the manufacturing of an LCD panel that can cause Dirty Screen Effect, from variance in backlight distribution to variance in TFT switching for sub-pixels, to variance in conductivity and/or capacitance of transparent electrodes. That’s super-nerdy, though, and the actual cause is less important than the common theme here: inconsistency.

In panel manufacturing, there are numerous variables that can be introduced that would cause an LCD panel to have groups of pixels that shine less bright than others. This variance is, unfortunately, part of the tech that makes our TVs. And the manner in which different manufacturers handle that variance is also … you guessed it: Varied.

From what I’ve seen, DSE — ranging from insignificant to severe — seems fairly common among newly manufactured LCD-based televisions, due primarily to the nature of LCD panel manufacturing. Very broadly, the less expensive a TV is, the more likely it is to exhibit some level of DSE. More expensive TVs are not immune to the issue, but some manufacturers have tighter quality assurance tolerances for their high-end products so — again, very broadly speaking — DSE tends to be less prevalent among those models.

DSE as a symptom of age is virtually impossible to track, however — again, anecdotally — I have witnessed DSE creep into a TV’s display panel slowly over time and worsen with age. I’ve seen it happen in TVs I own, TVs friends and family have owned, and TVs installed in commercial environments such as hotels and bars.

Most TVs offer a “game mode” which, due to its tendency to brighten everything on-screen, can help to obscure DSE. But this is really just a Band-Aid measure. The DSE is still there, but it may be less obvious. Another somewhat helpful tip to reduce the appearance of DSE in LCD panels is to view the TV from as direct an angle as possible. As you move off-axis (view a TV from an angle) DSE tends to become more obvious.