Two years ago, the hottest new feature in LCD HDTV's was 1920 x 1080p resolution, last year it was 120Hz technology to reduce motion tearing and this year its LED backlighting.

Over the course of the last few months several major consumer electronics, including Samsung, Sharp and Sony have introduced LCD flat panel televisions with LED backlighting that Digital Home and other critics believe deliver the best picture to date on an LCD HDTV.


Benefits of LED Backlighting

The primary benefit of using LED illumination for backlighting an LCD panel (and it's a big one) is to improve black levels. When watching High definition video, a television with poor black levels results in a poor quality video image because the colours are washed out, shadow areas look gray, and overall the picture looks flat.

The superior black levels that LED lighting provides give the viewer a sense of greater depth in the video image along with more vibrant colours. Additional benefits from LED backlighting are longer bulb life and much thinner LCD panels. Some new LED driven panels are less than one inch thick!

In 2009, if you are looking for the finest picture quality that LCD HDTV has to offer and are willing to pay the premium that goes along with having the best, then Digital Home Canada suggests readers be sure to check out these new LCD panels with LED backlighting from Samsung, Sony and Sharp.

Samsung 9 Series

The Series 9 LCD HDTV is Samsung's second generation of LED LCD HDTV's.

The 2008 flagship Series 9 features 1080p resolution, LED SmartLighting, Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technologies and Touch of Colour design with a patterned bezel and charcoal grey accent.

The Series 9 LED LCD also features Samsung's InfoLink RSS service, WiseLink Pro and DLNA technology and come equipped with four (1 side, 3 rear) HDMI-CEC inputs to control the latest home theatre products using a single remote.

The Series 9 HDTVsare available now in 46-inch (Samsung LN46A950) and 55-inch (model LN55A950) size for $4,000 and $6,000 respectively.