Energy Efficiency
From an energy conservation point-of-view LED televisions win hands down, they top nearly all our energy saving charts in all size categories, followed by LCD TV’s. LED should have a longer life due to the use of LEDs to backlight the screens. LCD TVs use fluorescent tube technologies, which have a shorter lifespan.
Best looking televisions – Tube, LED, LCD or Plasma
Plasmas are the most energy hungry, however their energy consumption does vary depending on what is being displayed (bright images use more energy than dark scenes) unlike LCD and LED TVs, which use a constant flow of power. So if you watch dark films you’ll be using less electricity!
Picture Quality
LCD pictures have improved greatly since they where first introduced. They still suffer from poor contrast ratios, meaning the blacks look grey. LED’s have better blacks at the expense of looking to monotone. Both technologies struggle when displaying images that aren’t their native resolution e.g. standard definition broadcasts on a high definition screen. Unlike a good old tube television, which display the most natural looking images. Plasmas still offer the best looking real life pictures with inevitable power overhead.
Sound
Audio quality is one area that flat screen televisions do disappoint, due to the nature of their design. Space and volume are required to generate good quality bass – which modern screens don’t have!
