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HWM+HardwareZone.com Editor's Choice Tech Awards - Part 2

By Team HardwareZone - 13 Feb 2010

Best LED-backlit LCD TV

Best LED-backlit LCD TV

Before the 3D craze sweeping TV vendors recently, the buzz in the HDTV scene was with LED-backlit TVs. As opposed to conventional CCFL backlit screens, LED-backlit LCD TVs have the luxury of being slimmer, cooler and more energy efficient, but with a higher price tag due to its more demanding manufacturing costs. Two of the more notable LED backlit technologies are Direct and EDGE LED backlights.

However it's only recently that TV manufacturers have found a way to incorporate local dimming with EDGE LED technology. For our roundup, we managed to pick all three known types, Direct, EDGE, and the more recent EDGE LEDs with local dimming, for our Tech Awards nominees. We restricted the TV size in this comparison to mid-sized screens between 40 to 46 inches across as identical screen sizes were not available from all brands.

Nominees

  • LG SL90 (42-inch)
  • Philips LED LUX (42-inch)
  • Samsung B7000 (40-inch)
  • Sony BRAVIA X4500 (46-inch)

And the Winner is

The Sony BRAVIA X4500 is our best LED-backlit LCD TV.

Sony's BRAVIA X4500 isn't much for looks and features. What matters though, is that Sony has thrown all of its weight into the TV's video processing. Powered by direct RGB Dynamic LED lights with local dimming capabilities and blessed with a new DRC-MF V3 chip, the X4500's panel shone on both Blu-ray and DVD platforms. The X4500's black levels and crispness runs above and unparalleled among the four. Based on what our eyes have seen, you can't really question this exemplary Full HD display.

Scoring Breakdown
Criteria/Model LG SL90 Philips LUX Samsung B7000 Sony BRAVIA X4500
Physique 9.0 8.5 9.0 8.5
Features 8.5 9.0 9.0 8.5
Performance 8.5 8.0 9.0 9.5
Value 9.0 8.0 8.5 8.5
Overall 8.5 8.0 9.0 9.0
Price S$3999 S$5999 S$5399 S$5499

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed at the References section at the end.

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