Do LED TVs have a viewing angle disadvantage?

For several years I have had a 32-inch LCD TV without any problems. For Christmas my daughter bought me a 32-inch LED type TV. The picture seems to be darker than the LCD type and when viewed from an angle the picture quality deteriorates to a marked degree. Do LED TV’s have an inherent disadvantage when viewed at an angle?
Graham Colman, Brixham, Devon

Most so-called LED displays are, in fact, LCD screens with LED backlights instead of less efficient and shorter-lived Cold Cathode Fluorescent (CCFL) tubes. The only true LED screens are relatively new Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays, made up of millions of individual LEDs. These can be made incredibly thin, have a similar viewing angles to CRTs and plasma screens and consume less power but at the moment they are significantly more expensive to manufacture.

In theory using LEDs instead of CCFLs to backlight an LCD panel shouldn’t adversely affect the viewing angle. Manufacturers are now using a variety of clever techniques to reduce the thickness of their displays and improve colour accuracy, contrast and uniformity of illumination by manipulating the brightness of the individual LEDs. It’s possible that this is what makes the viewing angle appear narrower on some screens. All LCDs are at their best when viewed head-on, but compared with CCFL-lit screens the so-called sweet spot can be smaller and from further away the reduction in picture quality becomes more apparent.