LCD displays require a backlight as liquid crystals filter light not emit it. LCD displays are generally lit by a CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) which is similar to very thin domestic fluorescent bulb however, it does not emit heat.

WCG-CCFL ((Wide Color Gamut – CCFL) backlight provide a wider color gamut resulting in on-screen images with more natural or “life-like” colors. As can been seen from the expansion of the normal CCFL coverage above, WCG-CCFL backlights such as from Samsung above achieve up to 97% of the NTSC video signal color gamut compared to a typical 75% of NTSC. The new generation luminescent materials in WCG-CCFL backlights produce deeper, more accurate reds and greens.

Genoa Color Technologies have announced a CCFL backlight capable of achieving an even greater 110% NTSC. Possibly this innovation incorporated into LCD displays soon for even more realistic color images.

NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) is the technical standard for display products in the United States.

Examples of wide color gamut displays arriving on the market are xvYCC color standard enabled HDTVs by Sony and Toshiba. It’s important to remember however, that you will not benefit from the wider color gamut possible from a WCG-CCF unless the video source has not been encoded in enough bit depth to reproduce the colors available. The term Deep Color is generally used to designate HDTVs, RPTVs and projectors capable of reproducing a wider color gamut such as the xvYCC color standard.