What is Contrast Ratio?
The contrast ratio is a measure of a display system, defined as
the ratio of the luminance of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest
color (black) that the system is capable of producing. A high contrast ratio is
a desired aspect of any display, although there is no industry standard for measurement
of contrast ratio, so comparing the contrast ratio of one brand with another may
not yield valid results. Contrast ratio does not measure color range or color accuracy.
Contrast ratio is basically a technical term for how realistic the colors and brightness
is, pretty much determining how realistic in general the picture is. Some manufacturers
of projectors or TVs will use a combination of these two tests in different phases
of testing to inflate their contrast ratio. Contrast Ratio is generally defined
as the ratio of the contrast measurement between the brightest color (white) and
the darkest color (black) in a scene. Contrast ratio is basically a technical term
for how realistic the colors and brightness is, pretty much determining how realistic
in general the picture is.
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How important is Contrast Ratio
Contrast ratios have improved, but the gains have been modest. Manufacturers have,
however, made great strides in the tricks they employ to arrive at ever more astronomical
contrast ratios. TV contrast ratio is possibly the biggest misleading feature that
you can use when comparing HDTV’s because even though a contrast ratio might be
reported as identical between models, the actual contrast might be different. Dynamic
contrast ratios are often quoted with new televisions. There have been a number
of breakthroughs recently with contrast ratio, and who knows how long this will
last, but recently there have been OLED (Organic LED) televisions manufactured by
Sony and Samsung that claims to reach 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. Even more to the
point, a high contrast ratio really only matters when there is significant dark
picture content, like you see in some movies. A more-representative method is the
ANSI contrast ratio measurement, which uses a checkerboard of eight white and eight
black squares; the average luminance of the white and black squares determines the
contrast ratio. Since higher contrast ratios are associated with better picture
quality, many consumers have learned to look for the display with the highest possible
contrast ratio. Dynamic contrast ratio uses a technique that is found frequently
in LCD TV’s. Do not make HDTV contrast ratio an essential purchasing factor. HDTV
contrast ratio is a property of a display system, defined as the ratio of the luminance
of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest color (black) that the system
is capable of producing. The rationale is based on a) adoption of the 3:1 contrast
ratio for minimum acceptable contrast for normal observers, in the ANSI standard,
and b) the empirical finding that in the population, visual acuity of 20/40 is associated
with a contrast sensitivity loss of roughly 1%.
When you purchase a Home Theater System or any type of LED LCD Plasma DLP HDTV from
MODIA we are here to help ensure that you have the proper Contrast Ratio settings
for all your Home Theater Systems. You can Call, E-mail, or Chat and one of our
Home Theater Experts and they will gladly assist you.
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