edge-lit

Not content to wait for Apple to OK a TV-to-iPhone pairing, Samsung went ahead and developed its own multimedia-friendly touch screen that also happens to control its highest-end TV announced at CES this year, the UNC9000 series. The newfangled clicker has a color touch screen said to ease use of the TV's many features, and can even display broadcast TV content while a Blu-ray (for example) plays on the big screen. Integrated Wi-Fi and infrared enables the remote to command both the TV's interactive features--a QWERTY keyboard is a big help here--and other AV devices. It also allows you to browse content (video, music, photos) on connected computers and other DLNA devices in the home.

Aside from the remote, the UNC9000 distinguishes itself from less-expensive Samsung HDTVs by virtue of its amazing thinness. The company won't specify exactly how thin, but it's the thinnest TV we've seen announced at the show (LG showed a TV that's as thin as a quarter at its press conference, but that model was a concept piece without a model number or release date). It achieves its thin depth by virtue of placing all of the associated electronics, like the TV tuner and circuit boards, inside the pedestal stand. The stand can also be converted to a wall-mount bracket. … Read more

Update May 6, 2010: Pricing and further details added and modified. For a closer look at the Quad Pixel technology, which Sharp is calling Quattron, check out the slideshow. Also, according to Sharp, the 68-inch version will not be available until 2011.

LAS VEGAS--As Sharp heads into 2010, it isn't talking much about 3D, but it is touting some technology and design updates to its line of UltraBrilliant edge-lit Aquos LED LCD TVs, and a larger screen size: a 68-inch model it says is an industry first.

Sharp delivered a lot of information at a press conference announcing the … Read more

"LED" means "thin and more expensive" to most TV shoppers, but that's not the whole story. LG, for example, offers three distinct varieties of LED backlighting among the models it announced at CES 2010, and the LE7500 series occupies the middle range of "expensive." This set is edge-lit, meaning the LED elements are arranged along the edge of the panel and shine toward the middle. Judging from the edge-lit models we reviewed last year, mainly from Samsung, the arrangement necessitates some trade-offs in picture quality for the privilege of being thin.

Unlike those … Read more

We've already checked out one Samsung LED-based LCD TV this year, the UNB7000 series, but that's not gonna stop us from reviewing the less expensive version, logically called the UNB6000 series. The verdict? Still expensive, stylish and solid performing, minus a few issues like a fluctuating backlight and less than stellar uniformity.

In fact, aside from Yahoo Widgets, available on the 7000 but not on the 6000, the two edge-lit LED-based LCD displays (whew!) are basically the same. The 7000 uses a skosh more power and gets the tiniest bit blacker, while the 6000 gives ever-so-slightly better shadow … Read more

As HDTVs become more common--some would say commoditized--TV makers go to ever-greater lengths to justify higher price tags. Nobody is going as far as Samsung this year. The company is the only one thus far to announce a full lineup of edge-lit LED-based LCDs which cost a mint yet offer the most advanced technology and design you can get--at least until OLED comes along.

Each model among the three series of Samsung's "Luxia" lineup measures just 1.2 inches thick, thanks to that LED lighting system, which is also responsible for the TVs' excellent energy efficiency. The … Read more

Samsung announced its new lineup of "LED TVs" at CES in January, and gave CNET editors a walk-through today to preview the technology. The company also set prices, and as expected, it'll cost you a fortune to take one of these thin models home.

The name "LED TV" sounds simple enough, but it's important to remember that these inch-thin sets are actually otherwise normal LCD (liquid-crystal display) TVs that use LEDs (light-emitting diodes) instead of the standard fluorescent backlights. But it gets even more confusing. We've reviewed LED-based LCD displays before, most recently the Sony KDL-55XBR8 and Samsung LN46A950--the two best-performing LCD TVs we've ever tested. A lot of the credit for those TVs' excellent picture quality can be attributed to their local dimming technology; groups of LEDs behind the screen can be dimmed or turned off to achieve those deep, inky blacks we all love so much.

The 2009 Samsung LED TVs we're previewing here do not utilize local dimming, so we don't expect them to match the picture quality of the local dimming sets. Of course, we'll know more once we can review one. In the meantime, we'll refer to the new displays as "edge-lit LED-based LCDs." More complex, we know, but also quite a bit more accurate.

The slideshow above goes into the nitty-gritty behind, or along the edge of, the technology. The short story is that the LEDs themselves are arranged along all four edges of the screen, and a special "light guide" sends light toward the middle. The result, according to the company, is similar uniformity characteristics to standard backlit LCD displays.

Edge-lit LED-based displays are also 40 percent more energy-efficient than standard Energy Star-certified LCD sets, and measure just 1.2 inches thick.

The downside is that they're extremely expensive. The cheapest model, the 32-inch UN32A6000 ($1,599), will cost more than twice as much as the company's standard 1080p 32-incher, model LN32B530 ($749) does.… Read more

As if 240Hz, 1080p/24 compatibility and contrast ratios in the millions aren't confusing enough, get ready for more product differentiation in the LCD TV space: two different kinds of LED lighting schemes. On one hand are relatively tried-and-true "local dimming" LED-based LCDs, which generally give great picture. In the other are "edge-lit" LED-based LCDs, which if the new Sony KLV-40ZX1M ($3,999) is any indication, do not.

We're sure the distinction won't stop marketers from trying to equate the two, however, and simply call them all "LED TVs," expecting consumers to assume that all LED-based LCDs give great picture. In fact, one company, Samsung, has already said it wants to create a separate "LED TV" category to differentiate the more-expensive, higher-tech-sounding sets from their lowly fluorescent-backlit cousins.

Also, who knows, maybe Samsung's upcoming edge-lit models, namely the 6000, 7000, and 8000 series HDTVs announced at CES, will perform better than the Sony KLV-40ZX1M we just reviewed. Lighter black levels and imperfect uniformity hampered its picture--as you might expect, the edges of the picture were brighter than the middle (go figure!). It sure looks cool though.

Read the full review of the Sony KLV-40ZX1M.… Read more