Both LED and LCD are Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) systems. The difference is that with an LED HDTV you have a bank of LED’s (Light Emitting Diodes) behind the LCD display.
If you are like me the first time I heard the information above I said, “Huh, what does that mean?”
Basically what it does is makes it possible for the liquid crystal display to show brighter colors and blacker blacks by increasing the contrast of the display. In other word you get a sharper picture with the LED display.
With that sharper picture also comes a sharper price. That’s right to get an improved picture you are going to pay more.
Is The Sharper Picture Worth It?
This depends upon you, your budget and the size of your TV.
LED Backlit TV’s are usually only available in the larger sizes for example the smallest one I know of is the Sharp Aquos LC32LE700UN 32 Inch 1080p for under $1000.00 but this is a rare find. Most of the LED backlit TV’s are 40 inches or larger and well over $1000.00.
You can actually get a bigger normal LCD TV for about the same or a lower price and if you drop down to the 720p you can actually get on that is less expensive and has a built in DVD Player like the LG 32LG40 32-Inch 720p
Another thing to take into consideration is the type of LED used for the backlight. For example I am pretty sure that the Sharp mentioned above uses a white LED array for the backlighting while this still make the picture crisper it really doesn’t compare to the tri-colored LED Arrays you find on some of the other brands such as the Sony Bravia XBR KDL-46XBR8 46 inch 1080p HDTV. But then again the price doesn’t really compare either.
To boil it down,
If money is not an object and you are getting a large (over 40 inches) TV then for the best picture quality you should look for a tri-colored LED Backlit LCD HDTV.
If money is a concern or you are looking for a smaller (under 40 inches) TV then you should just look at the top of the line LCD 1080p HDTV’s
Source: LED vs LCD HDTV’s
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