AfterDawn: News

Philips cancels fluorescent backlights in flat screens

Electronics manufacturer, Philips has decided to drop the plans to include the fluorescent stroboscopic lights that illuminate many of their flat screen televisions and provide much of the clean up duties for getting rid of motion blur and smear that tend to plague those types of TVs. Instead, Philips has decided to focus on LED backlights that give a more precise burst of light, take up less space and are more efficient to run.

Current LCD TVs emitt a constant stream of light, while Philips' plans with their LED backed televisions actually send out small bursts of light which trick the human eye into thinking the picture is brighter and sharper than it really is. While their previous fluorescent technology, dubbed Aptura was touted as a major advance in technology and a potential cash cow for the lighting division, Philips has since rescinded their support for such technology.



"If we want to continue developing this backlighting technology, we'll have to make new investments. At the same time, LEDs (light emitting diodes) are getting ripe for the market and they enable thinner TV sets, so we've chosen to invest in those," says a Philips spokeswoman.

Philips actually unveiled its flickering backlight technology some time ago and it is featured in several high end flat panel televisions, however it may take some time for televisions equipped with this technology to reach a cheap enough asking price for mainstream consumption.

Source:
Reuters

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 12 Mar 2007 6:30

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• 6 comments

• ZippyDSM

  sounds good but,are leds better?

  12.3.2007 08:17 #1

• hughjars

  They have good stability and long lives (if the voltage/current is nice & constant) zippy.
  
  They could be a fair 'solution' (but backlighting itself strikes me as a less than ideal method of doing this).
  
  Personally I'm interested in the latest OLED TVs which do away with the backlight and all of it's 'issues' altogether.

  12.3.2007 08:59 #2

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by hughjars:They have good stability and long lives (if the voltage/current is nice & constant) zippy.
  
  They could be a fair 'solution' (but backlighting itself strikes me as a less than ideal method of doing this).
  
  Personally I'm interested in the latest OLED TVs which do away with the backlight and all of it's 'issues' altogether.got any links? ^^

  12.3.2007 09:11 #3

• hughjars

  Of course -
  
  http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/0,239035250,240003240,00.htm
  
  http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=23515
  
  http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/oled_tv_technology.htm
  
  This Samsung looks very very nice
  (note the date, they have been developing these for quite a while - although extracting the max return from their 'ordinary' LCD investment(s) may hold this tech back from appearing on the market) -
  
  
  
  
  Further details here - http://www.physorg.com/news4160.html

  12.3.2007 10:18 #4

• crof27

  slightly off topic, i just wish the tv mnfctrs would get their heads together and decide then design wot is the best way forward for tv's either plasma or led coz both of them sem to have their plus and minus points surely there must be some sort of easy medium between them that works best cos so far my old tube tv seems to work better all round on picture ie: no blurring or lose of definition in colours than plasma/led screens. to me it seems like a step back before we go forward.

  22.3.2007 04:30 #5

• ZippyDSM

  hughjars
  
  I'd rather have the model in the background :D

  22.3.2007 04:43 #6