LED backlighting in color screens comes in two flavors: white LED backlights and RGB LED backlights[1]. White LEDs are used most often in notebooks and desktop screens, and in virtually all mobile LCD screens. A white LED is actually a blue LED with yellow phosphor to give the impression of white light. The spectral curve has big gaps in the green and red parts. RGB LEDs consist of a red, a blue, and a green LED and can be controlled to produce different temperatures of white. RGB LEDs for backlighting are found in high end color proofing displays such as HP DreamColor LP2480zx monitor or selected HP 8730w notebooks, as well as newer consumer grade displays such as Dell's Studio series laptops which have an optional RGB LED display.
RGB LEDs can deliver an enormous color gamut to screens. When using three separate LEDs (additive color) the backlight can produce a color spectrum that closely matches the color filters in the LCD pixels themselves. In this way, the filter passband can be narrowed so that each color component lets only a very narrow band of spectrum through the LCD. This improves the efficiency of the display since little light is blocked when white is displayed. Also, the actual red, green, and blue points can be moved farther out so that the display is capable of reproducing more vivid colors. CCFL backlighting has also improved in this respect. Many current LCD models, from cheap TN-displays to color proofing S-IPS or S-PVA panels, have wide gamut CCFLs representing more than 95% of the NTSC color specification.
After reading reviews covering low color gamut in new TN panels, I was torn about how you had to choose between accurate color representation or fast response rate and 120hz. Then I stumbled onto this little blurb on Wikipedia about RGB LEDs. A quick search revealed on LaCie LCDs ranging from 1400$ for a 20' to 3200$ for a 30" (S-PVA 125% NTSC gamut).
My simple questions are:
1. Can this backlight be used to improve gamut for 24" 120hz TNs?
2. Can it be done for less than 1000$ for a 24"?
3. Will anyone (Asus, LG, etc) bother making it?
http://h20331.www2.hp.com/hpsub/cache/596803-0-0-225-121.html
LG 24" IPS RGB LED backlight professional 1800$