According to Rambus, the future is edge lit

Rambus TV LED BLU technology ready for volume production in 2011



Siu Han, Taipei; Willie Teng, DIGITIMES [Friday 5 November 2010]


Technology licensing company Rambus is eyeing the LCD TV backlight unit (BLU) market, with its MicroLens' edge-type single-side (on the bottom) LED backlighting technology ready for volume production in 2011, according to the company. The technology will reduce the use of LEDs for a 40-inch model to 142 units from 240 units currently.


Rambus expects a 20% market penetration of LED-backlit LCD TVs in 2010, and believes it could reach 50%, if prices fall within 10% of CCFL models. The company claims that its MicroLens technology focuses the light distribution of light guide plates to improve edge-type BLU efficiency, resulting in reduced LED usage. In addition, the technology enables slim light guide plates that measure less than 0.3mm to lower material costs, the company said, adding that light guide plate cost in a 46-inch model could fall to US$20, versus US$30 at present.


About half of the LED TV market is comprised of 40-inch or larger products, and dual-side (top and bottom) BLU designs are most common in 2010, Rambus said. In 2011, the marketplace will see more models with left and right BLU designs and single-side technology will be the key to reducing cost, the company added.


Rambus predicts 46-inch LED TVs in 2011 will use 172 LEDs, down from 240 in 2010, and further drop to 142 in 2012 with single-side designs (bottom). The largest LED TV is 55-inch currently and consumers will see single-side edge-type models of this size by mid-2011, the company said.

This seems like a bad trend no matter how you look at it. I can't imagine that edge lighting is ultimately going to be a big winner for uniformity. And the cheaper it gets, the less full array will be used and, by extension, the less common local dimming will be.