Heard of LED TV? Now LED PC monitors are here.

17th October 2009
Heard of LED TV? Now LED PC monitors are here.
The screen of the Benq LED monitor is an illustration sourced from Wikipedia, showing LED backlighting on an LCD panel.

Benq debuts 24 inch and 21.5 inch full HD LED-backlit monitors in India
TV makers have been confusing the public in recent months with announcements of “LED TVs”. Customers might assume these are somehow different from the LCD TVs that are the ‘in’ thing these days. That is right and wrong.

LED TVs are LCD TVs, with one difference: the back lighting – which allows one to see a good image, even when the ambient light is quite high – is achieved using power efficient LEDS or light emitting diodes rather than incandescent sources or fluorescent lighting. This uses less power and retains the contrast ratio – between blacks and whites – that earlier back lighting provided.

This week Taiwan-based Benq became the first to offer the same LED backlit LCD technology on full high definition,( that is the so called 1080p HD resolution), for two sizes of PC monitors. the 24” LED widescreen Full HD 1080p V2400 Eco and the 21.5” LED V2200 Eco. Both new LED models enable an ultra-high dynamic contrast ratio of 5 million:1 for intense blacks and extreme whites. Because LED is a stable light source, it can provide flicker-free performance ideal for long-term viewing and improved visual comfort.
The energy-efficient, mercury-free LED panels of the V Series Eco claim approximately 36% less power consumption than traditional displays. Additionally, the new models are lighter (-14.6%) and thinner (-21.2%) than CCFL (cold cathose fluorescent ) displays of comparable screen size. BenQ LED V2400 Eco and V2200 Eco cost Rs.18999 & 14999 and are available through all BenQ dealers across India.
A quick comparison will show that these are considerably cheaper than LCD TVs of the same size…. Which leads us to recommend, buying a TV tuner for less than a thousand rupees and letting these PC monitors do double duty as PC and TV.

Notebooks have already gone LED backlit and now that Benq has done similarly for desktop monitors, we are predicting LCD displays for TV or PC will be LED back lit by default in a year or so…. By which time OLEDs or organic light emitting diode displays will force us into obsolescence once more!

( for a tech background see our special feature LED v LCD   )