LCD v Plasma: turf war heats up

A new front has opened up in the battle of the big screens with the launch of a new LCD display technology that may finally bridge the picture quality gap with plasma.

This month Samsung and Sony are introducing new LCD television sets to Australia that feature built-in LED (light-emitting diode) backlighting, which they say offers radically improved picture quality while slashing energy consumption.

LED backlighting is made up of numerous tiny lights, each of which can be individually controlled, unlike the standard fluorescent tubes used in regular LCD TVs. The result, say manufacturers, is much sharper colour and contrast and a smaller energy footprint.

"There are some technological improvements in television displays that are incremental and some that are quantum. LED backlighting is quantum," said Kurt Jovais, director of marketing at Samsung Australia.

He said the company's new Series 9, which is available this month, boasts a dynamic contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1 compared with the 10,000:1 to 70,000:1 range of ratios normally associated with LCD.

"It adds noticeably more brightness, colour, and the contrast ratios really are on a par with plasma ratios," he said.

Gary Brown, visual products manager at Harvey Norman, described LED backlighting as "the next exciting development for television technology", and said the picture quality of the new ranges was "discernibly different" from existing LCD displays.

Jan Ergen, a senior product manager at Sony, said the key difference between LED backlighting in its new new Bravia XBR series and a normal LCD picture quality was "contrast and colour reproduction".

But he added that another important feature in the turf war between Plasma and LCD was the display of motion - an area in which LCD has historically lagged behind plasma.

For avid sport viewers, the company has incorporated 200hz motion reproduction into its new Bravia Z4500 range due out just before Christmas, doubling that of other commercially available LCD televisions.

"The result is the smoothest and clearest motion reproduction to be achieved by an LCD TV," the company said.

Robin Jowett, chief executive of green TV comparison shopping site comparison net, said LED was one of several new technologies on the horizon with the capability to reduce TV power consumption.

"Early plasma devices were very power hungry but have been superseded with much more efficient models using both plasma and LCD technologies. LED, OLED [organic light emitting diodes] and laser technologies will continue to improve on the current technologies," he said.

Although there are some conceptual similarities, LED backlighting technology in LCD televisions is very different to OLED, which is a distinct display technology that promises to enable creation of extremely energy efficient, wafer-thin TVs that may one day replace plasmas and LCD TVs altogether.

Mr Jowett said although there were still hurdles to be overcome, OLED technology appeared to be the most promising both in terms of energy efficiency and commercial viability.

"OLED technology was initially targeted at handhelds where minimum power consumption is paramount which means it has become a really good candidate for a larger display technology using minimal power consumption. The other big factor in favour of OLED technology is that it is very cheap to manufacture."

Although most TV manufacturers have a stake in the new format, few expect the OLED displays to hit the Australian market in any meaningful way before 2010.

- © Fairfax NZ News