Today, LED backlighting for many of the revolutionary advances in the production of TVs has ultimately turned into an additional feature that often complicates the choice in the direction of a device, since you need to think about the advantages of each individual option in order to make an informed decision.
Indeed, when buying a TV, you don’t want to make a mistake in the end by buying something that actually represents yesterday’s technology, which does not make sense to use in modern realities. Fortunately, there are actually no serious difficulties in this matter, and its importance is quite exaggerated.
Advantages and disadvantages of LED as such
Each version of LED technology has its own advantages, namely:
- Higher degree of profitability.
- The ability to create televisions with fairly thin screens.
- The total lack of mercury in the LEDs.
These advantages are considered in relation to other backlight technologies that were previously used in other types of TVs.
It is worth noting a few minuses that are characteristic of all types of LED backlighting:
- Initially, this type of backlight does not provide an improvement in the viewing angles of the LCD.
- Thinner models with side illumination may suffer from uneven screen illumination.
- LED backlighting can ultimately provoke unwanted local dimming on the screen.
Of course, such deficiencies are mostly eliminated in various models of monitors and TVs, as the technology is constantly being improved. At the same time, you need to correctly understand that not only one backlight affects the quality of the picture on the TV.
The high image quality that modern TVs allow to watch could be due in large part to the fact that the developers began to use LED backlight technology. At the time, the advent of LED TVs was able to make a real revolution on the market, because the new backlight provided a significant improvement in color quality, as well as significantly increased image brightness. However, many people have a well-founded question about which is better to choose - Edge LED or Direct LED. After all, each option differs in its advantages and disadvantages, which must be taken into account in the selection process.
What are their main differences?
Today, all existing major manufacturers of TVs use only two types of backlights - Edge LED or Direct LED.
Between themselves, they differ in quantity, as well as in the geometric arrangement of the LEDs. Depending on how the latter are arranged, the characteristics of the matrix can vary, while each type of backlight differs in its features and advantages. For this reason, choosing a TV, in each case, you need to weigh all these points and think about what is still better to choose - Edge LED or Direct LED. Next, we consider the features of each option.
Edge
The use of this backlight provides for the distribution of LEDs on the sides of the screen. In this regard, this technology is often called side lighting.
Edge Benefits
This technology has several advantages:
- Extremely thin matrix, and in this regard, the TV itself.
- Relatively high brightness.
- An acceptable level of contrast.
The main advantage of using this technology is that the TV can ultimately become ultra-thin, which often acts as a decisive factor in favor of the choice of such devices. To date, there has been a clear trend towards the fact that, choosing between Edge LED or Direct LED, they often give their preference to the first option for the reason that modern manufacturers make ultra-thin screens with this technology.
It is also worth noting the fact that the lateral distribution of LEDs provides a high degree of energy efficiency.
Disadvantages of Edge
The technology also has certain disadvantages:
- Highlights on the edges of the screen.
- Problems associated with uniform illumination in certain models.
If you make a choice in favor of Edge LED, then you should immediately be prepared for the fact that the cost of such a TV will be slightly more, since they use a specialized reflective surface, necessary for extremely uniform distribution of backlight, as well as eliminating any noticeable differences in brightness. If we talk about the disadvantages of this technology, it is also worth highlighting the presence of certain highlights at the edges of the screen, and when playing, for example, a bright snowy landscape near the edges of the screen, the snow will be much brighter compared to the image in the center.
In dark scenes, you can often pay attention to the effect of a kind of light, and, in particular, this is due to the fact that the LEDs are located around the perimeter of the screen, and the brightness in this area is quite logical. It is worth noting the fact that different TVs display light differently, as a result there is always the possibility that you will be able to find a device that has the smallest possible picture differences. If on the TV there is such a function as local dimming, then in this case you can completely forget about what the flashes are and that they can spoil the mood from watching certain moments.
Direct
The type of backlight Direct LED provides for the distribution of LEDs over the entire area behind the matrix.
In this case, local dimming technology can be used very effectively and conveniently when the processor sets the brightness level of certain groups of LEDs, thereby increasing the contrast level, and at the same time ensuring extremely uniform illumination.
Direct Benefits
Considering the advantages of Direct LED technology, it is worth highlighting the following:
- Even illumination.
- Fairly high level of contrast.
- The lack of flare at the edges.
- Acceptable brightness level.
Direct disadvantages
Also, LED Direct has some disadvantages compared to its analogue:
- Higher power consumption.
- Not so thin matrix thickness.
- Relatively large Input Lag.
What to choose?
As mentioned above, there is no exact definition of which particular option is more relevant in a given situation. You can pay attention to many factors, choosing between which option is more optimal - Direct LED or Edge LED: where the picture quality is better, where more energy is consumed, after all, which TV has a more attractive design in itself.
Thus, if the thickness of the device does not have any role for you, and you don’t have any intention to use it as a monitor for various computer games, then Direct backlighting technology is quite suitable, but if you are a fan of exceptionally thin devices, then in this case Edge is the best choice. It is better to independently compare the operation of each backlight in the store so that you can decide for yourself which particular option is more acceptable. According to users of such televisions, in the end, the choice of backlight is largely a matter of personal taste.