Home Entertainment & Automation Services in Matthews, NC.
Home Entertainment & Automation Services in Matthews, NC.
Home audio and Video Services in Matthews, NC.  TV installation, Surround Sound, Home Entertainment Systems
LED vs LCD TVs

How are LED TVs different from LCD TVs?

Simply stated, an LED TV is an LCD TV that is lit with an LED (light emitting diode) light source instead of CCFLs (cold cathode fluorescent lamp). Manufacturers such as Samsung began the trend of marketing the LED-lit LCD TV as an “LED TV” likely in an attempt to easily differentiate the product from typical CCFL lit LCD products.While an LED TV is still technically an LCD TV, just get used to seeing this type of designation. We don’t really have a problem with it and it does, among other things, seem to make it easier to say it out loud.

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An LCD TV is comprised of several layers. The front layer is a piece of glass filled with liquid crystals that move and change to produce the images we see on the screen. But images can only be viewed when the screen is illuminated. This requires a light source. The light source is the difference between LED TV and conventional LCD TV.

Here’s a simple explanation of how it works: Conventional LCD TVs use fluorescent tubes (CCFL) to provide light to illuminate the LCD panel and make the images viewable. In an LED TV, the LCD panel is lit from behind with an LED-based backlight. LED lights can be more precisely controlled and can produce richer blacks and a better contrast ratio for a more vivid viewing experience.

Edge Lit vs. Rear Lit

With LED TVs, edge-lit technology is what allows some sets to be less than 1-inch thick. The LEDs are actually arranged around the very edge of the screen, allowing the display to be very thin, since the lighting technology isn’t positioned behind the screen. While this does indeed grant a thinner display, it typically (this is changing now) precludes te manufacturer from setting up a system that optimizes contrast across various areas of the screen.

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Smart Dimming and Zones

Several manufacturers are optimizing their LED backlit displays to produce different amounts of backlighting on different areas of the screen. In this way, you can see content that contains bright areas on the screen along with very black areas. Think of a candle lit in a dark room. With your typical edge lit display you have one level for the overall backlight. With Smart Dimming, you can brightly light the part of the screen with teh candle, and then all but turn off the LEDs behind the black areas of the screen.

Should you expect to pay more for LED TV? What are the benefits of LED vs. LCD?

LED TVs like those form Westinghouse Digital are often edge-lit, which means they are generally more energy efficient, weigh less and cost less than full array LED TVs. Some LED TVs are engineered and produced so efficiently that they may even cost less than conventional CCFL lit LCD TVs. The bottom line is that LEDs are getting cheaper and cheaper and soon we estimate they will actually be easier and cheaper to produe than CCFL backlit displays.

LED TVs in general use less energy (and are therefore more efficient and economical to operate) than conventional LCD TVs. LED TVs are also thinner and weigh less than LCD TVs and generally create a brighter picture. For those who are environmentally concerned, LED TVs also contain no Mercury or Lead.

Presented by Westinghouse Digital and edited by Clint DeBoer

http://www.audioholics.com/education/display-formats-technology/led-vs-lcd-tvs

Custom Installation Services, LLC – First choice for low voltage wiring in Charlotte, NC and surrounding areas

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Top 10 Blu-ray Releases for December 22

district-9-openerDistrict 9, Family Guy, It Might Get Loud highlight this week’s sparse release schedule.

Not a whole lot to choose from if you’re looking to add to your Blu-ray collection this week.

Maybe the studios figure that everyone’s done the holiday shopping already, so no need for a bunch of marquee releases this week. The short list is highlighted by District 9, this year’s very well-received sci-fi thriller. And the reviews of the Blu-ray high-def disc are already matching the praise with the video quality—one review on Blu-ray.com mentioned that just about every frame (in 1.85:1 aspect ratio) features reference-quality video.

Combine that with what should be a stellar DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack and we may have a latecomer for demo disc of the year with District 9.

Speaking of quality audio, one movie you probably did not hear about but is definitely worth checking out is It Might Get Loud. If you’re a documentary fan and guitar fan, this is a must-have. It features guitar heroes Jimmy Page, Edge and Jack White talking about what they know best.

Also this week, Family Guy is at it again with another Star Wars spoof out on Blu-ray. Something Something Something Dark Side gives the raunchy cartoon’s take on The Empire Strikes Back this time. Unfortunately it’s in the traditional 4:3 (1.33:1) aspect ratio and not widescreen, but we’ll overlook that for all the laughs.

And here’s the full list for this week, from Blu-ray.com:
(500) Days of Summer
All About Steve
American Pie Presents: The Book of Love
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
District 9
Extract
Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side
Ichi
It Might Get Loud
Jay Johnson’s Bootcamp Christmas: Ultimate 3×30
Jay Johnson’s Bootcamp Christmas: Ultimate Abs
Jay Johnson’s Bootcamp Christmas: Ultimate Body Vol. 1
Jay Johnson’s Bootcamp Christmas: Ultimate Cardio
Maldeamores
Staten Island

 by Arlen Schweiger

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/top_10_blu-ray_releases_for_december_22/

Custom Installation Services, LLC – Home Theater, Audio and Video services in North Carolina and South Carolina

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Review: Panamax MX5102 UPS

panamax_mx5102MX5102, a great addition to any theater, offers battery backup and voltage monitoring.

The Panamax MX5102 delivers exactly what it claims — battery backup and voltage monitoring. While there are other choices out there, the Panamax has its own feature set that may make it perfect for your application.

On looks alone, the Panamax MX5102 is a winner. The black brushed aluminum case just begs to be shown off.

The Panamax MX5102 ($649.95) would make a great addition to any home theater.

Build, Features
It isn’t hard to know that the Panamax MX5102 UPS is a quality piece of equipment. You just have to pick it up. At 27 pounds, its diminutive case belies its weight. The MX5102 comes with a number of cables. Short coax and Ethernet jumpers are included as well as telephone cords (does anyone use these anymore?) and a pair of adapters for rack mounting.

The back of the unit includes 10 outlets in four different banks. Each of the banks is isolated from the others so that any noise from one component can’t contaminate the power going to the other banks. The most important in this case is Bank 4 with the 2 UPS outlets. These two outlets receive power from the batteries (at a 10ms delay when the power goes out).

Bank 1 is always on which is good for gear that you never want to power down (aside from power outages). Bank 2 is the switched bank that provides a shutdown delay. Bank 3 is for high current devices like amps and subwoofers and includes a startup delay. This means that your amps turn on last and off first. Both of these delays are designed to reduce speaker “thumps” that occur when the amplifier amplifies another piece of gear that is turning on.

The front of the unit includes a rather large readout, two buttons, and a few lights. The button to the left is the power On/Off. The button to the right is the Meter Dimmer/UPS Test button. With a quick press, the display will cycle through various levels of brightness until you find the one you like. If you press and hold the button, the UPS will run a test cycle.

Putting it to the Test
The first test of the MX5102 came barely 30 minutes after turning it on for the first time. We had just finished installing a projector and screen and were taking a break after preliminary setup when the power went out.

We saw the lights go out and ran to the home theater. The Panamax MX5102 was beeping (as it was supposed to) and the projector was still on. We switched the projector off and noted the amount of time left on the battery. According to the manual, the MX5102 should be able to maintain full power for 3 minutes at full load. While to the uninitiated that doesn’t sound like very much, most of the competition is in the same camp (similar APC models can run up to 6 minutes at full load).

We had an SMS-1 plugged into the second UPS outlet. According to the readout, we could have run the SMS for another 60 minutes. Obviously, with most gear you’re going to have plenty of time to shut everything down before the batteries die. We’ve had the power go out a number of times since then and the unit has never failed to maintain power to our projector so that we could cool down the bulb properly.

Needs Removable Power Cord, More UPS Protection
We really have only two complaints about the MX5102. We’d really like to see a removable power cord rather than a fixed one. Secondly, we feel a little confused that only two of the outlets are UPS protected.

The Panamax M5102 does has LAN protection and IR control. In our application, our power rarely varied much off of 120 (as low as 116 rarely above 120) so voltage regulation was not as needed as the additional LAN protection. The fact is that if you have one unprotected inlet for a surge, your entire system is compromised. With the MX5102, we are completely protected.

Read the entire review at Audioholics.com.

 

Summary
Product: Panamax MX5102 UPS

Performance: 5 out of 5

Value: 3.5 out of 5

MSRP: $649.95

Pros:

IR control
Battery backup works flawlessly
Fantastic aesthetics
Easy to read display
Cons:

No detachable power cord
Only two outlets are backed up by the battery

 By: Audioholics.com

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/review_panamax_mx5102_ups/

Custom Installation Services, LLC – Home Entertainment Audio and Video services in North Carolina.

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