New LED-backlit LCD displays of Samsung are now available in large premium-model, full-HD TVs at major U.S retailers for the holiday season.

The new panels enable a huge jump in the dynamic contrast ratio from between 5,000:1 and 25,000:1, to 100,000:1 and even 500,000:1, for the clearest images on the market today.

Available in 40-inch, 46-inch, 52-inch and 57-inch diagonal screen sizes, Samsung?s new "local dimming," LED (light-emitting diode) technology provides a brightness level of 450nits, and reduces power consumption by as much as 30 percent.

Depending upon the number of LEDs used in a screen panel design, the dynamic contrast ratio can improve the contrast in colors by as much as a thousand percent over the CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp) LCD TVs typically used today.

Another advantage to Samsung's "local dimming" technology is that the LED scanning process shuts off the diodes in precise sequences, thereby essentially eliminating any remnants of 'image ghosting' that had previously been a drawback in some LCD TVs.

With local-dimming LEDs, hundreds of wafer-thin diodes about the width of the eye's pupil are electronically turned off and on in exacting sequences that respond to movement on the screen areas only a fraction of what was previously possible with the most prevalent form of TV backlighting long, thin fluorescent lamps. In black areas of the picture, the diodes can be completely shut off in order to generate total blackness.

Samsung said that its new extreme-contrast LCD panels is now available in Samsung TVs in the U.S., and also will be featured in HDTV?s produced by other manufacturers.