LCD technology is now making great advances toward higher quality black colors that will challenge Plasma's dominance. LCD has always suffered from a basic technological problem. The backlight for the screen inevitably causes a color leakage that dilutes true black colors.

The big advance comes in the form of changing the backlight. Instead of a standard fluorescent bulb in back, the backlight will be provided through hundreds of LED bulbs. These individual bulbs may be dimmed or completely shut off to provide a better contrast.

Sony, Samsung, Sharp, and Philips are all developing their own LED backlight options. Samsung is implementing a second generation of SmartLighting technology, which is already in place on 7, 8, and 9 series LCD models. This offers a contrast ration of 2,000,000:1 by analyzing the signals and adjusting individual LED bulbs to provide a richer color.

Philips is working on a similar setup through their 42PFL9803H model. This will feature 1,152 LED bulbs divided into 128 segments. This will also generate a contrast ration of 2,000,000:1 with the hopes of directly competing with plasma options. They use their LED LUX technology to dim LED bulbs distributed across the LCD.

RGB LED backlighting technology is also seeing new advances to take these steps even further. This technology uses LEDs that are capable of dimming in full color to produce a richer experience than the current LEDs which often just feature dimming in black and white.

Sharp is making full use of RGB LED backlighting in the new X series. These LCD TV's will be available in 52 inch and 65 inch models for worldwide release with the promise that they can beat the black levels of the "Kuro" plasma range.