Hi im looking at a sharp 1080p 42" hdtv. Its a good price and i like the design. Only thing that bothers me is Image Contrast Ratio: 1200:1..... Is this poor of ok? Ive seen some tvs at 6000:1. Am i fussing??? cheers PS here it is http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sharp-LC42X.../B000IZK0PW/ref=de_a_smtd/026-4818887-3718018
from what i understand, you want to make sure that your contrast ratio is above 1000:1. Most LCD TVs will range from 1000 - 4000:1. However, since there is no inter-company standardization you have to take this ratio with a grain of salt. i think that it's helpful when comparing TVs all from one company, but it may be misleading to compare other companies' TVs (like the ones that advertise LCDs with 10,000:1 contrast ratios). Bottom line, 1000:1 is usually considered average, with supposedly most people noting a difference as you trend below this number. at least with samsung TVs you can improve the darkness of your black coloration by maximizing the energy-saving feature; i don't know if this works with other tvs. good luck.
I have a Samsung 32" LCD which has a contrast ratio of 5000:1 but their latest goes up to 10000:1 The best thing to do is test drive them in a dept store that offer 4 or 5 brands and compare them yourself. I wanted a SONY but the samsung picture side by side was simply better so I went with that. With the contrast ratio what you looking for is how black the screen can go. With an LCD the tv is basically a bulb and as the LCD pixels change (and block the bulb) they produce a picture. Obviously the bulb produces pure white light and the contrast measurement is it's opposite i.e. Black. With low contrast ratios what's supposed to be black is more of a shiney grey. The best way to check the quality is to play a DVD that's in 'letterbox format', and the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen should give a good indication of the contrast that particular tv is capable of. Hope this helps.
Good suggestion about watching a DVD in letterbox format. That's also a great way to adjust your contrast, brightness, or picture settings.
Thanks Dabig25. If you want to calibrate your TV properly (sort of) at zero expense I found the below link quite useful. http://help.cnet.com/Calibration/96...sageID=2505045&tag=tip-2505045&kw=Calibration
Yeah I've seen that Brian Cooley video before. He used to come on the radio here, in the bay area & talk about new things coming out. Also would answer peoples questions about electronics & PC's. Here's what I used, after I got my TV set home , out of the box & turned it on. I used David Katzmaier preferences for picture setttings, for my Sony KDS 55A2000............ Made a big difference, from the factory settings. http://help.cnet.com/sony/9602-12576_39-0.html?messageID=2506536&tag=tip-2506536&kw=sony+
went to get it but they didnt have a delivery!! arrghhh!! But 1 thing i noticed on the TV it had 2 contrast ratings. One said 6000:1 and the other was 1200:1 i cant remember what they were each called now anyone know what the difference may be??
Looks good dabig25, not my tv but I can figure it out. It's great to have customizable modes for different lighting conditions. Sanecrazy, the 6000:1 is the contrast ratio. Not sure what the other refers to. I'm going to assume it was a spec drawn up by the store and not part of the official documentation. The only thing I can think of is my set has 12.8 billion colors (1200:1). If it was printed/written by the store it's just someone with a serious problem with decimals.
had anouther look at the TV and didnt like it!! I asked the store guy to put on a dvd for me and the picture quality wasnt good at all i dont understand why. It had the appearance of like a rear projection TV. The faces on the tv had a fuzzy blurry afect around them and the colurs wernt vivid at all. Im gutted i gotta start all over again looking now. Do you think 1080p is completly necercery or would 720p do?
I'm going to buy a Sharp AQUOS LC-32D40U 32" LCD soon (I think) and the contrast ratio is 1200:1. I was wondering if I'm playing 360 or PS3 on it; will the color be vivid enough to really enjoy my games, or will it be too bleak? I am buying this TV solely for gaming so I want it to look good, lol.
