Re: Sony KDL "S" Series misleading specs

phil-news-nospam@xxxxxxxx wrote:
On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:00:50 -0700 G-squared <stratus46@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

| The main 'contrast' issue is how 'black' are the blacks. A contrast
| number is close to meaningless and if you think about it, silly. The
| video being sent to you is at best 10 bits which defines 1024 distinct
| levels but having worked in commercial TV for 30 years I can tell you
| that only 100 levels are nearly the limit. I used to do monitor and
| telecine calibration for film transfers so I've seen this stuff up
| CLOSE.

"Black is black" was never quite true in analog. And there were more
than 100 levels (for example the black in the color bar test patter was
level 7.5 with a bit of "hyperblack" at 0.0 and some "above black" to
do a test with to adjust the proper black level settings so 7.5 was in
fact visually black.


| Your monitor will do gamma correction in the digital domain so in fact
| to get smooth gray scales, it would be nice to get over 1000:1 but a
| properly set up monitor with 'only' 50:1 can look very good. The 'deep
| black' issue is less critical with simple ambient light in the room -
| as in don't watch in total darkness. 1 60 watt lamp10-15 feet away is
| sufficient at least at my house.

Linearity is certainly a critical factor and isn't told at all by the
contrast ratio. What the contrast ratio can tell you is how black is
the blackest black you can get, relative to the whitest white. It tells
you nothing about what's in between.

Basically you want black to be absolute zero light. With current LCD
technology it never is. But they are getting good at this and it is
getting close, and is now adequate for the job in most displays. If
the rest of the intensity levels are properly adjusted relative to the
video values, it should look like a good picture even if the contrast
ratio is low (e.g. black is very dark gray). If you really want to see
an absolute pitch black room when the scene fades to black, you will
probably have to test each set to consider that way. Some have some
light leakage that isn't exactly "through the pixels", and so contrast
ratio would not even apply. My LCD monitor at work has this issue, but
it doesn't matter for work since the room isn't dark.

The very first TV I spent the time to get well adjusted for the best
picture it could possibly show did in fact give that "power went out"
feeling when the scene cut to black in an unlit room ... except for the
orange glow on the back wall from the tubes inside shining out through
the ventilation slits.


Holy crap. Even black is complicated. So, from what you guys are saying, I shouldn't really be all that concerned about contrast specs, but if possible a 1000:1 will be adequate?
Thanks guys,
Pete
.

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