Comments on: Does anyone actually use dynamic contrast?

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:56:09 +0000

ok here’s the deal, i have a specific tv, an LG 55LK530. not sure if anyone knows anything about this tv, and not much actual information is obtainable on the internet. its a great tv. and i have been looking into calibration options. i have it set the best i possibly can based on all of the reasearch i have done. now the dynamic contrast setting. at first i turned it off and watched it for a while, because i have every other nonsense feature turned off as well. after a while tho i turned it on low setting, the picture popped. not too much in my opinion, but just right. i left it on. trust me i compared picture quality across several different sources to make sure i was not crushing blacks or gaining improper colors, with DCR on then off repeatedly. so i was wondering if anyone had any input on this particular set. also with the regular contrast setting, i have yet to find any reason not to crank it all the way up, as it seems i am not losing any quality or doing any bleeding together. the regular version of this tv is the LG 55LK520, mine is the same tv just the smart version. any input is appreciated.

By: meh

meh — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 01:00:28 +0000

I use DCR while watching movies in complete darkness to have tolerable blacks (S-IPS panel). On any other _work_ it is annoying and useless.

By: Den Pinplug

Den Pinplug — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 22:20:48 +0000

The dynamic contrast should only dimm the backlight to the level of the brightest level in the digital signal over a whole frame, then increase the pixel “gain” level to match that of the original signal. Unfortunately this process requires a high backlight dimming response time and a very stable power supply, also requiring additional hardware to deal with the high ammount of data that needs to be processed! this would have to be delayed a frame to predict the backlamps brightness change! this costs money and more importantly development time. the better monitors only dim the lamps to a maximum of 50% these look better but only double the contrast ratio to something in the region of 1500:1 the native TFT display can only display 65000 (8 bit per colour) RGB “brightness” levels so higher than this contrast ratio is impossible without dynamic dimming! you also have the issue of ambient lighting levels resolve with transmissive displays! one day these features will be here, unfortunately Backlight and display electronics manufacturers are different companies both trying to make their product cheaper!

By: Robin How

Robin How — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:49:05 +0000

What’s needed is ambient light level correction with medium attack but v slow decay characteristics. That way when your lounge is lit by the sun, you can still see the orange faces of the day time TV hosts but in the evening you can enjoy the film within the dynamic range of the set. only the average level will be lower and you won’t get quantum steps in brightness relating to picture content.

By: Steve Cassidy

Steve Cassidy — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:23:03 +0000

Martin, while I didn’t participate in the Labs, I did find a decent price/quality compromise (which means: I probably paid a bit over the odds to get quick delivery!) with an Iiyama Prolite E2607WS; not quite rock bottom, but also not stupid money – and importantly, it doesn’t do what my NEC’s do and keep on throwing up a whingeing pop-up about preferred resolutions!

By: Martin Stacey

Martin Stacey — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:05:49 +0000

Automatically reverting to DCR mode looks like a *severe* usability problem. Like Stephen G @3, I’d regard that as a deal-breaker. You might like to check for this and include warnings in your reviews.

(I’m worried if I need to check this, and how. I’m currently trying to pick an affordable good-for-everything TFT largely on the basis of your reviews. My shortlist is the Samsung T240, BenQ E2200HD, and Edge10 W243h. I *really* want 1200 rows (1440 would be far better) for big documents, but am struggling to justify 100 quid extra for size AND quality.)

By: David Stapes

David Stapes — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:23:51 +0000

Haven’t seen it in action but it sounds dreadful.

By: computers

computers — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:53:46 +0000

Yes!I agree with you…DCR distracts and always it should be switch off…

By: Stuart

Stuart — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:41:16 +0000

DCR is different from both ambilight and OLED. OLED pixels are their own lightsource, like plasma pixels (no single backlight). Ambilight adds to the ambiance of what’s being viewed by filling in some of your peripheral vision with a similar colour to that on-screen.

I have to agree that DCR is distracting and always switch it off.

By: David Bayon

David Bayon — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:23:38 +0000

@Paul G: don’t make the mistake of linking LED and OLED technology together – LED backlighting is barely a step up from CCFL, whereas OLED is on a totally different level of brilliance. It will also cost a fortune for a good while yet. You’re right though, when it arrives properly we can start talking about silly contrast ratios more seriously.