Although much of the discussion of smaller LEDs is related to direct display use, the technology is also being looked at as a way to improve LCD backlights. The use of large numbers of tiny backlight LEDs would allow TV panels with 10s of thousands of small LEDs for better dynamic backlighting and even up to 9,000 or 10,000 for smartphones.
Analyst Comment
The use of more LEDs would mean better contrast, especially for HDR content, and helping LCD makers, especially AUO and Innolux, to fight the image quality of OLED. At IBC we reported on a number of monitors that use more than 2,000 LEDs in the backlights. At the moment these are just for professional broadcast monitoring and content creation, but the technology is bound to migrate down. (BR)
This monitor from Flanders Scientific has more than 2000 LEDs in the backlight. Image:Meko
Analyst Comment
On one hand, controlling this number of LEDs is not trivial, but on the other hand, the use of a big number of LEDs might help to smooth out performance differences and allow looser ‘binning’ than when a smaller number is used. More LEDs would help to reduce ‘halo’ effects and thinner and smaller LEDs, spread more evenly might make cooling easier. There would be less need for space for optical blending, so panels could also be thinner. It’s no surprise, then, that panel makers are looking at this. (BR)
