LED monitor - er no, it's LCD with LED backlighting. Rubbish by Bolin



Bolin
Hi all, just bought a new LED (Light Emitting Diode) monitor for my PC. Now it has arrived it says on the box that it is an LCD screen with LED backlighting.

I hadn't understood at the time of purchase that it wasn't a straight LED screen.

Now it is up and running, it looks RUBBISH :(

The colours at the bottom are too washed out, or those at the top are too dark. Trying to change the height or angle of the screen to improve things only results in either the top or bottom looking OK and the other looking extremely washed out or extremely dark.

With a solid colour displayed to fill the screen, it looks different shades in different places.

To me this looks like a typical LCD screen from a few years ago, and I thought nothing of them then - this is no better, despite saying 'LED monitor' on the box. Seems to be a dodgy description (but allowed by the ASA) to fool people like me into buying it.

I suppose a 22" LG LED full HD monitor for £76 delivered was bound to have a catch.

Does all this make sense and sound about right? I'm going to see if I can compare it to a small LED TV (if the latter has a VGA input) to check that a PROPER LED screen will display how I was hoping.

Very unhappy about this monitor, my old year 2000 massive Iiyama CRT had a far far better picture!

Any thoughts/opinions? And can anybody please recommend a good cheap LED full HD 22" monitor?

Thanks :)

Posted 05 Jan 2017, 17:54 #1 

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Duncan
I thought that was the basis of all 'LED screens'. The CFL backlighting is replaced by LED so it can be turned up and down to help with contrast / blacks. But that's only what I understood, not statement of fact.

I think what you are thinking is that it will be a panel made with individual LEDs. I think this is only available with a technology called OLED, where the picture is much better but more expensive.
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Posted 05 Jan 2017, 18:00 #2 

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Devilish
Duncan put it in a nutshell. A LCD tv and a LED tv will have the same LCD screen, basically two polarized glass panels. LCD is backlit by fluorescent lighting, and LED by LED's. No matter what LED monitor you buy it will have a LCD screen. OLED screens, each pixel produces it's own light and uses a emissive organic layer. Although OLED screens used for a PC is in it's infancy, they should be avoided because of emissive layer burning of static images. OLED cannot be beaten in dark rooms, but in light rooms and during daylight, direct LED and LCD Honeycomb tech is on par.

I would say mostly all LED monitors have the LED's around the edges 1,2,3, or all 4. The wishy washy you refer too is common with entry level monitors, the light at the bottom is cheap backlighting showing through. So you are right, you have a cheap LED monitor, or a duff decent one. that may or may not have been cheap to buy.

Entry level monitors tend to have TN panels, MVA AMVA or IPS panels are superior to TN, but you are talking more groats. As you said £70 is entry level,

Read user reviews on sites like Amazon, don't just go by star rating, you get reviews like 1* because it is "too small" and 5*reviewers admitting it was given them to review. Reckon you need to start at £200+ for what you want.
If at first you don't succeed, hide the evidence.
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Posted 05 Jan 2017, 22:38 #3 


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