A love affair with light-emitting diodes

So what if I watch movies on my 13” laptop. It’s out of choice, you know, and preference. . . who am I kidding. I can’t STAND writing about HDTVs every day, especially when backlit LED-HDTVs show up on my “to write about at work” list. I used to leave work at work, but no more. It’s slowly infiltrated my home. In fact, I had my first ever dream about work the other night – yeah, I was writing about flat panels in my dreams, a state I reserve for fantastical adventures and alternate realities. Ahh well, maybe if I admit my late-coming appreciation of flat panels I’ll soothe my subconscious somehow. But first I gotta purge:

As I researched the new LED-LCDs (specifically from Samsung, who provide some great consumer electronics recycling options), I slowly got more and more excited. Sara, a graphic designer I’ve been working with on our upcoming catalog (featuring LEDs), kept prompting me to use more emotion in the copy. See, hear, feel! She encouraged. At one point I felt like I was creating a new genre, something like "electronic erotica" but no, it’s just a hunk of metal… but a hunk of delicious LED-energy-saving-edge-lit hunk of metal. No wonder it haunts my dreams.

Anyway, LED technology has got my heartstrings. One, they’re super efficient, which is big on my list. And they're not completely "new": I found out that they’ve been around for a while. 1907, in fact. A century and a shave later, they’ve made their way into mainstream electronics, thanks to their super efficient engineering. Made me think about how often people (not ME) use their TVs. Must be a lot, maybe every day. For movies, news, JPEG slide shows, gaming --- and now even MORE thanks to internet connections. The TV bulbs that produce all those images work day in and day out, so it makes sense that LEDs, which can consume up to 40% less energy than standard LCDs, would be the next big HDTV evolution. As I researched, I found out that their specialty is improving dynamic contrast ratios: While LCDs run hot on a single lamp, LEDs can be individually dimmed. As a result, individually dimmed pixels help eliminate color bleed and motion blur. This creates more precise colors, deeper dark areas, and brighter light areas. Delicious.

So, hopefully this eases my subconscious yearnings. And if not, I might have to make a little investment . . .