The argument for the past few years regarding the performance of plasma displays versus LCD panels has always come down to the contrast ratio. LCD’s are physically lighter, can produce the same resolution and don’t have the “leaking” issues associated with plasmas but just haven’t ever been able to hit the brightness levels of plasma displays which have contrast ratios of up to 10,000:1.  Some of Samsung’s displays released within the past year have pushed closer, hitting the mark of 4,000:1, and some of the newest Full HD displays being released will touch higher reaching 6,000:1, but that still only hits 60% of plasma.  Well, that’s all about to change.

Samsung has released its first LCD screen using LED backlighting.  The LE40M91 uses LED light sources instead of CCFL panels allowing this LCD panel to produce a dynamic contrast ratio of a plasma best 10,000:1.  This means richer colors, darker blacks and even brighter whites.  As an added bonus, the LED sources double the life of the CCFL panels with an average life span of about 30,000hrs.  That’s almost 3.5yrs of constant viewing. This first display is only capable of producing images in 1080i, but it is a great first article to show the potential of LED backlit LCD panels.