Contrast Ratios DLP/LCD/CRT RP units (1 Viewer)

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Here's an interesting find to chew on. I worked on three different technology types on the weekend. A Toshiba CRT rptv, a Samsung 56" DLP RP and a Sony 60" GW LCD RP unit.

Out of curiosity, I decided to determine what the contrast ratio was on these three units following a proper calibration and using the (a) "correct" procedure for doing contrast ratio. (Well kinda anyway)

The results are as follows:

CRT 180:1
DLP 107:1
LCD 80:1

I had been most curious about these numbers because of the new numbers game being played by manufacturers. It used to be horizontal resolution ... now it is contrast ratios.

1000:1 ... 2000:1 ... 3000:1 ...

Regards

 

[Guy Kuo]

Michael, what was your measurement procedure. I'm wondering if you are doing on/off or ANSI style measurements. The results are dramatically different between the techniques and they measure different performance characteristics. Neither are "the correct" one, for neither alone is enough to tell us about black level capability and optical scatter.

 

[Michael TLV]

Thanks Guy,

I was using the checkerbox method.

Regards

 

[JimmyK]

Thanks, Michael.

I was curious about that.

BTW, how did the numbers compare with what you actually saw? Do the numbers actually tell what you can expect to see?

Seeing how the manufacturers don't seem to post "real" numbers, I guess the lesson here is to "try before you buy".

JimmyK

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Visually, you just knew that the LCD GW RP units had worse black levels than the DLPs and the CRT's. It's very obvious especially in a darkened room.

Ditto for the DLP ... but with both ... when there is a lot of ambient light like on a showroom floor, the black level ... actually looks a lot better than it actually is.

The fully calibrated image from the LCD and DLP do not look bad ... very nice actually ... (if you get past the lack of really good blacks. more of an issue when you watch 2.35:1 films than any other time because of the black bars.)

Other things that need to be considered here is that although the CR number from the GW looks the weakest ... its the transition from light to dark appears fairly smooth ... while on the DLP, the closer it got to black the more dithering and other digital oddness started to appear.

Regards