With LCD, it's really only the appearance of less light (obviously that's simplified, there are ways to make LCD panels emit less light when it's showing black)

With LCD, it's really only the appearance of less light (obviously that's simplified, there are ways to make LCD panels emit less light when it's showing black) Whoa, hold on there. It’s not “the appearance of less light” - it is less light because the backlight is being occluded by the LCD subpixels. The subpixels aren’t perfect at blocking the light, thus the varying grays of LCD blacks versus the pure blacks of OLED, but a black LCD screen is most assuredly emitting (if not producing) less light than a white one.