Friends who make display products know that when the screen lights up, what does the customer look at first? Not a parameter,It's about perception.

The experience of uneven brightness, dark corners at the edges, and pure or impure black field that can be felt at a glance does not fundamentally depend on the LCD panel, but onBacklight module.

The liquid crystal itself does not emit light,The light source must be provided by the backlight module.The backlight module is one of the core components with a high cost proportion in LCD modules, which directly determines the display quality and cost composition of the screen.

In other words, if the backlight scheme is chosen correctly, the product is half as successful; Choosing the wrong one, even the best panel is useless.

Today we will talk about two mainstream backlight solutions:What is the difference between ELED and DLED, and how should terminal manufacturers choose.

1、 Side entry design and lightweight design are its main strengths

Side in backlight, as the name suggests, the LED beads are not located directly below the screen, but are hidden within the frame of the screen.

Light enters from the side and is guided to the entire screen surface by a light guide plate.The light guide plate is covered with dense dots.

The network points near the lamp are sparse and small, while those far away from the lamp are dense and large. Through this dense and uniform design, the entire surface is uniformly illuminated.

The advantage of the side entry design is in two words: lightweight.

The LED beads are placed on the frame, and there is no need to leave a mixed light distance behind the screen,The overall thickness of the machine can reach several millimeters.Laptops, tablets, ultra-thin displays,If you have thickness requirements, the side in type is generally preferred.

In addition, the use of side entry LED chips is relatively small, and when achieving the same brightness level, the overall power consumption of the machine is usually more advantageous, making it easier to meet energy efficiency standards. For product lines that focus on cost-effectiveness and volume, there are advantages in cost control.

But there are also shortcomings that cannot be bypassed in the side entry type.

One challenge is uniformity.Light enters from the side and becomes brighter as it gets closer to the light source, while it tends to become darker at the far end. Large screens are particularly noticeable, and dark corners are prone to appear at the four corners.

Secondly, it is difficult to achieve zoning control of lighting.The light source is on the side, and in order to accurately control the brightness of a certain local area of the screen, it is physically limited. Do you want to achieve precise HDR effects? Side entry style with intention but weakness.

The third is reliability risk.One LED on the light bar is broken, and a dark band may appear directly on the screen.

2、 Direct type, image quality is its fundamental principle

Direct TypeThe idea is completely different, with LED light beads directly laid under the screen, arranged one by one, and the light shining vertically upwards.

The light emitted by LED chips is bright in the center and dark around. If used directly, bright spots will appear on the screen.So the direct approach requires adding a secondary optical lens to each LED to disperse and spread the light, allowing adjacent light spots to overlap and ultimately form a uniform surface light source.

The advantages of direct type are flexible light control and high image quality.

The lamp beads cover the entire back panel, making it naturally suitable for zoning and light control.The areas that need to be bright are bright, and the areas that need to be dark are dark, and the contrast immediately increases. The HDR effect, dark field details, and brightness uniformity of the direct type are significantly better than those of the side in type.

But the cost is also very direct: thick.

The mixed light distance of the lamp bead lens takes up space. Want to make ultra-thin? The traditional direct approach is more limited. In addition, the quantity of lamp beads is large, and the material and driving costs are also higher.

What about Mini LED?

Mini LED is essentially an evolved version of the direct type.Inserting thousands of miniature LEDs into the same size can achieve hundreds or even thousands of partitions.More precise light control, higher brightness, and stronger contrast.

But its underlying logic is still straight down, with light beads covering the back panel.Compared to traditional direct type, Mini LED can achieve more precise light control at a smaller mixing distance, which provides thinner design space for the product. Of course, precise light control also means higher costs and more complex thermal management.

3、 How should terminal manufacturers choose?

There is no absolute goodness or badness, only suitability. By selecting based on product positioning, it becomes clear:

Volume based products (office monitors, affordable laptops) → Side entry

Controlling costs, making thin bodies, and meeting daily needs, side entry is sufficient. Most users are not sensitive to subtle differences in uniformity.

Mid to high end products (e-sports screens, design laptops) → Direct type

Users have requirements for image quality and are willing to pay for a better experience. The uniformity and light control ability of the direct type can significantly widen the visual gap of the product.

Flagship product (high-end 4K monitor, professional creative notebook) → Mini LED

Pursuing ultimate picture quality and premium space, Mini LED is currently the ceiling in the LCD field.

The backlight module is the invisible hero of LCD displays.Every frame of the screen that users see and every texture they feel is silently supported by backlighting.

Choose the side entry type, what you sell to customers is lightweight and cost-effective; Choose the direct type, what you sell to customers is picture quality and experience.

There is no superiority or inferiority between the two, only a choice. Think clearly about what your screen wants users to remember.

Next time when defining a product, why not ask yourself a question:What does this screen want users to remember?

The answer is clear, so the backlight scheme is naturally determined.

#Backlight module # Side entry # Direct type # Mini LED # Partition control # Display # HDR # LCD # Display panel # LCD screen