Contrast

Contrast – kind of like a weird name for a TV setting. Contrast, according to an online dictionary tool, is defined as the difference or strong dissimilarity of two things. In imaging, however, contrast refers to the level of light intensity, otherwise called, luminance. Whether it’s for a digital camera, camcorder, TV, LCD monitor, or even a cell phone display, contrast is an important imaging setting that must not be left out.

Another important adjustment for TV, brightness is said to be the partner of contrast. Although very unique in function, more often than not, brightness and contrast are perceived as the same. Brightness, to put, is the property of an image that contains details of its black level.

To better explain the difference between the two. Brightness, also called Black Level in other TV brands like Sony and Panasonic, controls the bias or offset into blue, green and red signals. Home theater calibrators, whether professional or enthusiast, adjust this setting, in order for the black levels of the picture to appear naturally black on the TV screen. See, that’s the problem of video imaging, it can’t perfectly reproduce the quality of an image from its real life source. The brightness of a picture however depends on the ambient source light of an image. For example, if you want to make a scene in a movie, that is shot in a poorly-lit basement setting, look brighter you’d end up making all the black spots in that scene grayish rather than bright. Since brightness will only pick up the light source and decrease the black levels accordingly.

Contrast, or called Picture in other TV makers, is used to adjust the luminosity of the picture which is proportional to the intensity level. There has been a strong campaign in the AV world about the use of Picture and Black level, as opposed to Contrast and Brightness, to make a more make-sense meaning of these two important imaging settings. However, more people were accustomed to the names so more TV makers are using the old name settings. Again, Panasonic and Sharp are the ones using the terms Picture for Contrast and Black Level for Brightness.

When contrast and brightness are set to a level that is comfortable to human eye viewing, an imaging achievement called TV contrast ratio is obtained. Television Contrast Ratio refers to the ratio or relation of picture luminance between the darkest black and the brightest white. You may have already heard the term LCD TV contrast ratio when you bought that flat TV of yours from the TV shop. Although kind of off the hook when you try to listen to the term, but when you look at it closely, there is nothing really special about it.

In fact, according to AV experts, TV contrast ratios are only numbers that TV manufacturers use to create a competitive advantage over their competitors. You probably have heard figures like 800:1 and there is even a 1500:1, which AV experts say is impossible.

Here is how TV contrast ratio works. In technical definition, contrast ratio of a TV determines the perception of picture quality. For instance, the higher the ratio of a TV product, the sharper a picture will appear on the screen. This means that if you have a contrast ratio of 800:1, the brightness level is 800 intense on every single black level.

The safest and the friendliest contrast setting for a TV is said to be 50%. Now if your TV hasn’t been calibrated or tuned up yet, chances are its setting could be way too high and unfit for home viewing. Ask the expertise of home theater calibrators for you to optimize the image output of your TV. Remember that setting the contrast and brightness setting of your TV appropriately will not only produce better picture but will also lengthen the life span of your flat panels.