LED Vs LCD – LG Vs Samsung Vs Sony – Selecting the Best

While buying a new age TV, the biggest dilemma faced by a customer is to select between LCD Vs LED TV. In big cities, you will find only LED TV’s. LCD TV is now available only in small cities and towns. On e-commerce websites, you may find both :). I will explain the reason for same later in the post. I also faced this dilemma and did a lot of research on this topic. I could not find much information from a layman perspective. There are loads of Technical Jargon to differentiate 2 technologies.

I thought of presenting the findings in a simplified manner so that layman can understand the same. To start with, i was looking for a 42 inches Full HD TV, I would like to add that if you are planning to buy Full HD TV below 40 or 42 Inch then there is no point of purchasing FULL HD LED TV. A human eye cannot find/identify the difference between HD Ready and Full HD in small screen sizes.

In 42 Inch segment, the rate differential between LCD and LED TV is between 12k-15k.  After completing my research on the internet and visiting 6-7 big retail chains, I could find only 2 differences between these 2 technologies

1. Power consumption in LED is much less compared to LCD. In LCD power consumption is 180W and in LED, it’s 110 W
2. LED TV is slightly slim compared to LCD TV

I checked all the available LED & LCD models of Sony, LG & Samsung (3 brands shortlisted by me). My conclusion was that there is a difference of just 5-10% in Picture quality between LED & LCD of the same brand but it all depends on the manufacturer. Just to share my findings on same

1. LG use IPS panel which is much superior compared to PVA panels used by Samsung & Sony.
2. PVA panel category has many sub-variants that differ in picture quality.
3. Samsung has something called Panel Lottery system wherein only after purchasing the TV, customer know which panel he has received. It can be a Good or Bad one so it’s a lottery whereas in LG you will get IPS panel for sure.
4. Samsung mentions mega contrast ratio for Dynamic Contrast Ratio, that is not clearly specified in real terms. On some blogs, it’s mentioned that this ratio is 60,000:1 or 70,000:1 whereas in LG, Dynamic Contrast ratio is 1,00,000:1, therefore, LG has superior Dynamic Contrast ratio based on the blogs.
5. Another advantage of IPS panel over PVA panel is once you press the IPS panel slowly, it will not distort picture & panel is rock hard. On the other hand, PVA panels are soft panels and distort picture. PVA panels are bit elastic
6. IPS panels have a wide viewing angle of 179 degrees compared to other panels.
7. Please ensure that there are at least 3 HDMI ports in your shortlisted model else you will not be able to connect multiple devices simultaneously e.g. DTH, Home Theater, DVD Player etc.

Comparison of LCD and LED

I compared mid-range LCD and LED of Sony, LG and Samsung. My conclusion is as follows

1. Sony is bit expensive compared to features provided, i ruled out it in the first round.
2. A human eye cannot find out the difference between the LED and LCD. Therefore, there is no point in going for LED by spending 12k-15k additional.
3. One of the leading store executives told me that there is not much difference between LCD and LED technology. It is just a backlit illumination technology. Companies are pushing and projecting LED technology as superior over LCD because margins are high in LED compared to LCD. Therefore, you will find less no of models of LCD compared to LED
4. Buy LED only if you are planning to play Games on TV that need very high response time. For normal TV viewing, not much difference between FULL HD LCD and FULL HD LED TV
5. Now LED is ruled out, the choice was restricted to Samsung or LG LCD TV.
6. On 2 accounts i.e. Better Dynamic Contrast Ratio and Superior IPS panel of LG, I decided to buy LG over Samsung LCD TV.
7. Another advantage of LG is that it’s LCD TV’s are 42 inches whereas Samsung and Sony are 40 Inch so you will get 2-inch extra viewing screen.
8. I must say LG is Value for Money in terms of overall package i.e. have a superior panel, picture quality and features.

I am using this model from last 4 years and trust me it’s value for money & picture quality is as good as LED. As i mentioned, Human Eye cannot find the difference between LCD and LED TV.

Last but not the least when you are spending a huge amount on the purchase, please ensure you don’t get a display or used unit/piece. Some tips on the same from my end

1. Always buy from Authorized & Trustworthy Stores like LG Shoppe, Sony Centre, Reliance Digital or Chroma
2. Always mention to a salesperson that you need only fresh unit and you will return it back if you will get a display unit. Normally, display units are sold at 30% discount.
3. Just check with Salesperson on the location of LG warehouse and take assurance from him that unit will be dispatched from LG warehouse. You can ascertain this at the time of delivery because Tax invoice will be issued from LG warehouse address. Please note that it will not be LG invoice but of some local dealer who is handling distributorship of LG for that area as LG cannot directly sell to the customers. Just check LG warehouse address/details online and match the address with address on Tax invoice
4. When you receive the delivery, just check the packaging and cross check tape marks i.e. whether the tap was removed & sealed again. In demo piece, you will find multiple tape marks that can be easily identified on either top or bottom. In my case, i checked minutely and found that it is sealed only once through very thick tape that is used by LG. It should not necessarily have LG watermark else you will find cardboard layer removed if it was sealed, removed and then again sealed.
5. The TV unit that i received, It’s manufacturing date was just 8 days back from the Date of invoice e.g. if i purchased on 19th Dec then in my case manufacturing date of TV unit was 11th Dec. Please check manufacturing date, ideally manufacturing should be between 3-4 weeks from the date of invoice
6. Lastly, LG installation engineer showed me through MENU that usage hours is ZERO and i sigh a relief.

Update:

Based on queries on this forum, i would like to clarify following points

1. For 3D TV, it makes sense to buy screen size of 55 inches or more.
2. Based on reviews available, Passive 3D is better compared to Active 3D.
3. In my personal opinion, Smart TV is a waste of money. A TV should be bought just for TV viewing. For applications, you have smartphones. Moreover, the premium paid for smart features is too high.
4. I will not prefer extended warranty. It comes with lots of ifs and buts. If there is any manufacturing defect in LED TV, you will come to know within few months of use.
5. If you buy online, you may get a good discount. Instead of cashback offers, you should prefer cash discount. There is a misinformation shared by offline retailers that if you will buy online then you will not get warranty or company will not install. It is totally wrong. All the vendors listed on leading e-commerce websites like Amazon or Flipkart are authorized dealers. Still if you have doubt, you can clarify from the vendor before purchase. If you get VAT paid bill then you need not worry. At the same time, You should be beware of dynamic pricing of E-Commerce.
6. One of the key reasons for the short life of LED TV is exposure to a magnetic field, voltage fluctuation and high moisture level. Therefore, keep speakers, voltage stabilizers etc away from your LED TV. To protect TV, you can also use a surge protector.
7. If you wish to play any particular file format on your LED TV, it is advisable to play on the demo unit in the nearby showroom before purchase. The information available on the web is not correct. In some of the cases, after purchase buyer comes to know that specific format required by him is not supported.
8. Whenever you are comparing TV in the showroom, both the sets should be on company default settings. In order to promote a particular brand, sometimes showroom guys tweak the settings. Therefore, the picture quality of a particular brand looks superior compared to others.
9. Last but not the least, the model availability may vary from city to city. Therefore, kindly shortlist the models available in your city before posting your query.

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