About LCD TV's

Liquid-crystal display televisions or LCD TV's are televisions that use LCD technology to produce an image. Rather self explanatory is it not?

LCD TV's usually use a thin film transistor (TFT), because this allows for reduced size, especially depth reduction. Other sought after benefits of this technology include lower weight and reduced energy consumption when compared to other displays, such as CRT. LCD TV's by nature make great computer monitors and most modern computer monitors are LCD based.

It is widely believed that the LCD TV's technology is suited only for smaller sized flat panel televisions and monitors below 40" in size. Early LCD TV's could not compete with plasma technology for screens larger than this because plasma held the edge in cost and performance. However, LCD TV's now offer essentially the same performance.

These improvements in the LCD TV's technology have narrowed the technological gap, allowing producers to offer lower weight and higher resolution HDTVs at lower power consumption. LCD TV's are now more competitive against plasma displays in the market as well. A notable industry trend is that LCD TV's are now overtaking plasma TV's, particularly in the important 40" and above segment where plasma had it's enjoyed strongest support.

Manufacturers have announced plans to invest billions of dollars in LCD production over the next few years, with televisions expected to be the key market. Some manufacturers are also experimenting with extending color reproduction of LCD TV's. Although current LCD panels are able to deliver all sRGB colors using an appropriate combination of backlight spectrum and optical filters, manufacturers want to display even more colors. One of the approaches is to add a fourth, or possibly even a fifth and sixth color to the optical color filter array. Another approach is to use two sets of suitably narrowband backlights, with slightly differing colors, in combination with broadband optical filters in the panel, and alternating backlights each consecutive frame.

Fully using the extended color spectrum will naturally require work on the part of content providers, such as movie studios' DVD products and the video game industry. Otherwise, the only use of the extra colors would be to let the viewer boost the color saturation of their LCD TV's picture beyond what was intended by the producer, but avoiding the otherwise unavoidable loss of detail, also known as "burnout," in saturated areas. This changeover may take some time, but will ultimately greatly enhance the richness of color in media content.