​They don’t have a blacklight layer integrated, so they do need a background light to reflect colours, but this means the display itself features a unique thinness, which allows the screen to be transparent. But, this also means they need to have a backlight installed behind, which does not allow the transparent LCD to be fixed on a window, the system works as a box, and that is usually how we use them.

Any LCD panel is by nature “see through,” though conventional LCDs have relatively low transmission efficiency so that they tend to appear somewhat dark against natural light. Unlike LED see-through displays, LCD see-throughs do not produce their own light but only modulate ambient light. LCDs intended specifically for see-through displays are usually designed to have improved transmission efficiency. Small scale see-through LCDs have been commercially available for some time, but only recently have vendors begun to offer units with sizes comparable to LCD televisions and displays. Samsung released a specifically see-through designed 22-inch panel in 2011. As of 2016, they were being produced by Samsung, LG, and MMT, with a number of vendors offering products based on OEM systems from these manufacturers, such as us, here at Street Co’. An alternative approach to commercializing this technology is to offer conventional back-lit display systems without the back light system. LCD displays often also require removing a diffuser layer to adapt them for use as transparent displays.