It is said that energy-saving flat-panel television sets are about to become common in shops, spawning a whole new range of technical words to understand in Berlin.
Most manufacturers believe the best way to reduce TV power consumption is to change the type of lamp at the back of the flat panel, as well as to devise clever ways to reduce wasted light output.
The newest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) television sets are to feature LED backlights instead of the cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) which have done the job in the past. LED stands for light- emitting diode.
That is where the confusion starts, because at the same time, the electronics industry has been trying, without much success, to develop TV-sized displays where the image itself is formed by a matrix of LEDs.
LED backlighting has got nothing to do with that technology: all it changes is the light source that shines through the LCD screen.
Word has been spreading for a decade that LED light bulbs are more efficient than fluorescent lamps, so it is no surprise that TV manufacturers are also turning to this new light source.
Philips, for example, claims an energy saving of 40 per cent on its televisions.
The different ways of configuring this new type of backlight are sure to set off more confusion.
The simplest way to deploy the LEDs is around the four edges of the screen and let the light diffuse across the back of the screen. This is cheaper, and salespeople will make a point of explaining that these 'edge-lit' displays are even thinner than their predecessors.
'For the bigger screens, this requires about 500 LEDs,' explains Peter Koch of LG Germany.
More expensive are the so-called direct LED backlights. Instead of being placed around the edges, these LED lamps are arrayed right across the back of the screen. Direct-LED backlighting is a smart idea because the intensity of the light can be dimmed behind dark parts of the image. This 'local dimming' creates deeper, more natural blacks.
'If the image is of people under a night sky,' all the LEDs behind the sky will be turned off so that it really seems dark,' explains Sascha Lange of Toshiba Germany.
This matters, because LCD televisions are often thought to be a degree inferior when compared to plasma flat-panel televisions. The black on existing LCD screens is generally a dark grey, and colours generally seem washed out when viewed off-centre.
Over time, local dimming also helps to save electricity and keep the TV set cooler.
The new backlights generally use LEDs that give off white light, but there is a third variant, the so-called RGB backlight system, which uses a mixture of red green and blue LEDs.
This will only be offered in the most expensive sets, aimed at buyers who want the very best. In fact, television broadcasts do not demand such a subtle graduation of colours, but the difference will be visible while watching the highest-quality high-definition films from Blu-ray discs.