Summer is coming, and that means the
plasma TV that bathed you in warmth all winter will soon become between you, your air conditioner and comfort. Yes, we love the images that are pumped out by the emissive cells of a plasma display, but as a
general rule, LCDs spin the electric meter more slowly. This benefit is not lost on The LCD TV Association, which has launched its GreenTV logo program to tout the fact. The baseline requirement for an LCD TV to wear the badge is ambient light sensors that adjust the backlight brightness, a feature good for at least a 30-percent reduction in electricity consumption. The association has more plans as well, so expect to see environmentally-conscious features like recyclable parts, fewer heavy metals, and LED backlights get billing as well. With the EPA's Energy Star ratings
coming to TVs this year, being "green" could be a real differentiator in the market -- and we all know that more badges on the box mean more sales, right?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
locke6854 @ May 6th 2008 7:12AM
Light sensor technology on LCDs exists, but most people turn it off because it throws off the picture (i.e. not very accurate)
I believe local dimming LEDs are where we are today. Large sized affordable OLEDs are too far away right now.
I'm actually surprized that the trend this round was more 120hz displays instead of LEDs with local dimming.
Ron @ May 6th 2008 9:11AM
All things being equal I would buy a tv thats saves a bit on power usage if it comes down to it. Electricity is very cheap where I live but its good to pay it forward!
Matthew Brundage @ May 6th 2008 9:30AM
LED backlighting will significantly cut electricity usage -- even without the auto-brightness feature.
Student Driver @ May 6th 2008 12:58PM
Great idea, but I have yet to see any of these systems work right. My Mitsubishi rear projection CRT used a function called "IRIS" to do this. On paper it seemed great, but in reality you get a TV that is constantly jacking its own brightness up an down. I hope this is a lot better.
locke6854 @ May 6th 2008 1:25PM
well, theres 2 different things... light sensor adjusts backlight according to what the room light is, independant of whats on the display.
IRIS, and sony's ACE, and other implementations of dynamic contrast will continually adjust the backlight according to whats on the display. Where it gets confused is when the tv displays a bright white and deep black at the same time.
Turn both dynamic contrast AND light sensor on, and you get unpredictable and uncontrollable results.