Watching TV in the dark without any light can cause strain to your eyes. It results in fatigue and loss of depth. There are various DIY ways to accomplish a backlit solution that can resolve this. Most of these involve learning how to cut your own LED tape to size, factor in a controller and however you plan on converting it for power (ie, wall power, USB, etc). One easier solution involved a fluorescent tube bulb and fixture fitted with tinfoil to control light coverage/direction with. This can look a little sloppy when you see it sitting in the back of the screen, but for DIY-fers, it usually works just fine.
There are also some ready-to-go products as well though, some more expensive than others. There is one though we came across that hits the bullseye for both easy and affordable. In fact, for the price of just about any DIY project, your done. Antec makes a 51-inch LED strip (Antec Bias Lighting for HDTVs) that is USB powered that you plug right into one of your TV’s USB ports. Since it makes use of the TV’s ports, it powers on and off with the TV. No extra steps for you, its easy as easy can be to install and is cheap to buy.
At the moment of this article, it is running about $23. Not a bad price at all. It is recommended that you use it on a 55″-60″ screen. Any smaller and the LED strip may be too long, any larger and it may not be enough light for what you want. Perfect for the 55-60 range though. They also have smaller ones for PC monitors that you could probably use on smaller screens if you wanted to.
