How Room Decor Can Corrupt Or Enhance A Perfect Display Calibration (1 Viewer)

[GeorgeAB]

Here's another reference for calibrators and hobbyists interested in professional documentation of international standards for display viewing environment theory and practice.

ITU-R BT.710-4 "Subjective Assessment Methods For Image Quality In High-Definition Television,"

To order via Word document or PDF download: http://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-BT.710-4-199811-I/en

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"

 

[GeorgeAB]

Here's a recent article that looks at the effects of ambient lighting upon color perception and contrast in flat panel TV environments: 'Illumination and Displays: Color Appearance of a Display Changes Under Various Illumination Conditions'

http://spie.org/x13920.xml?highlight=x2408

The article is from SPIE: an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light (formerly: The International Society for Optical Engineering). There are plenty of interesting links on their web site for more data on electronic display viewing environments and human visual perception.

 

[GeorgeAB]

Let's get back to reality in this thread. Viewing environment conditions are absolutely critical to getting a reference picture from a TV. The best time to determine how to design the room is before it's built. This is not always possible. What is possible is to apply imaging science principles when the room is set up for optimum viewing.

When designing and/or installing a home theater, refrain from using what you have seen in magazines or other installations as your primary guide. The best systems are designed according to imaging and acoustic science principles. Interior decorators almost never understand these principles. Unfortunately, too few system designers or installers do either.

Be clear from the start what your priorities are. If you want a home theater that primarily looks good with the lights on, actual system performance can be compromised. If your primary goal is for the system to perform correctly, compromises to decorator preferences may be necessary. Magazines give awards to home theaters that look good in pictures, not because the system makes good looking pictures in the theater.

Impressive interior design and image fidelity are both worthy goals. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. Understanding human perceptual factors, and display industry standards and practices, is the key to achieving both objectives.

 

[John Morton]

Excellent thread George. I couldn't agree more. Thank you!

 

[GeorgeAB]

See next post.

 

[GeorgeAB]

Here's a link to a new ISF-affiliated site for imaging industry information and calibration FAQs. The site is not fully built yet but offers some excellent consumer level information about display behavior and related issues. This specific link is to a more comprehensive explanation of viewing environment principles. Enjoy. http://www.isfforum.com/component/op...,16/Itemid,48/

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"

 

[GeorgeAB]

Here's another link to additional viewing environment discussion at the new public ISF information site: http://www.isfforum.com/FAQs/view/IS...ortant/33.html

 

[GeorgeAB]

The link in post #26 above is temporarily unavailable due to some editing work by the site admin. I'll report back in this thread when it's back in working order. Here's a link to a white paper that discusses the same basic material: http://cinemaquestinc.com/ive.htm . It's a bit more technical in nature and not quite as easy to follow, but can substitue for now.

By the way, the new ISF-affiliated consumer site [ www.isfforum.com ] is officially open to the public. Although its name could be misunderstood, it's not actually a typical discussion forum like this one. It offers a wealth of technical and industry information, as well as a directory of the ISF grads who are actually committed display calibrators.

 

[GeorgeAB]

The link in post 26 is working again.

 

[Fredo the Sparky]

well, I don't have a home theater area. I am just converting a 12x22 room into a family room type area. It will be were the guys hang out while the women are in the other room type of thing. I was considering a metallic silver wall for the television backdrop, and a faux tin ceiling, but i was wondering if this would dramatically affect my LCD?

for a simple multi-purpose room, would this be a big mistake?

 

[GeorgeAB]

Having a silver/reflective wall behind the LCD panel won't affect the image on the screen, but any movement in the room will serve as a distraction from what's being watched on the TV. Movement will be visible around the TV because it'll be reflected by the wall.

The ceiling could be a problem, depending on your seating location, how high the TV is, where lighting is located, etc. You will want to guard against screen reflections from any likely seat in the room. LCDs are better at diffusing reflections but don't eliminate the problem entirely. Instead of sharply defined reflected images on the screen, you end up with larger, amorphous blobs of haze, that still interfere with the picture.

 

[Fredo the Sparky]

Thank you George! I figured the ceiling would be more of an issue. After doing some investigating, I was leaning towards a flat color. Cost and acoustic reasons were my primary reasoning for this (the faux tin panels had no backing, while the flat color ones I found did!)

Again, thank you. . . it is much appreciated!

 

[GeorgeAB]

I have been studying a book recently that was recommended to me by one of the Ph.D.s from THX, Ltd., when I was consulting at Skywalker Ranch in December. The title of this imaging science industry reference is, 'Color Appearance Models,' by Mark D. Fairchild, Ph.D., of the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science: Munsell Color Science Laboratory. Yesterday, I came across a section describing the perceptual phenomenon users of bias lighting experience that produces perceived improvement of contrast on their monitor screen.

"Their experimental results, obtained through matching and scaling experiments, showed that the perceived contrast of images increased when the image surround was changed from dark to dim to light. This effect occurs because the dark surround of an image causes dark areas to appear lighter while having little effect on light areas (white areas still appear white despite changes in surround). Thus since there is more of a perceived change in the dark areas of an image than in the light areas, there is a resultant change in perceived contrast.....Often, when working at a computer workstation, users turn off the room lights in order to make the CRT display appear of higher contrast. This produces a darker surround that should perceptually lower the contrast of the display. The predictions of Bartleson and Breneman are counter to everyday experience in this situation. The reason for this is that the room lights are usually introducing a significant amount of reflection off the face of the monitor and thus reducing the physical contrast of the displayed images. If the surround of the display can be illuminated without introducing reflection off the face of the display (e.g., by placing a light source behind the monitor that illuminates the surrounding area), the perceived contrast of the display will actually be higher than when it is viewed in a completely darkened room."

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
G. Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"

 

[Adam_R]

This thread is exactly why I am not a videophile.

 

[GeorgeAB]

You are in the majority of video consumers. Anyone who has studied the home entertainment market understands that most folks care less about correct pictures than cost and convenience. It's been widely and repeatedly suggested that most TV owners never read the owner's manual. "Close enough" is fine for the masses, always has been, always will be. Everyone is entitled to their own set of priorities and preferences. Passion for excellence is a rare commodity and usually focused on differing pursuits from one individual person to another.