Dynamic, Standard or Cinema? (1 Viewer)

[DavidPla]

I am very, VERY new to all of this and I'm sure this question might have been answered a hundred time before. I have just bought a 50" Widescreen DLP TV and when viewing movies, I have the choice of Dynamic, Standard or Cinema. I have already noticed that Dynamic and Standard are brighter than Cinema but Cinema seems much clearer. This might just be a preference matter, but I'm assuming Cinema would be the way the film looked in theaters so would that be the case for correctly watching films on this TV? Thanks in advance.

 

[Brad E]

The standard or natural may be close, but you won't know for sure until you calibrate your set.

I'd suggest picking up a calibration disk like DVE.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

There is a standard (not to be confused with the 'standard' setting on your TV) and it is achieved through calibration. It is not the brightest or the most vivid, but it is accurate and allows you to see the most detail in the picture. See the link to the HTF Primer below:

Primer - Calibration

Note, you will most likely feel the calibration looks dull and dim at first. This is because you are used to looking at "torch mode", which is used to set your TV apart from others in the showroom. This is not the way to watch critically, for it washes out details and tends to make blacks into grey. Give calibration a little time and you will see things you didn't see before.

 

[DavidPla]

Thanks for the suggestions. I picked up a copy of DVE and calibrated it tonight.



I definitely DO notice that everything does appear to be darker after going through the instructions? That is definitely normal then? My brightness is set at "47".

 

[Ron WH]

Hi,

I'm new too so I will give you info on what I've learn over the last few weeks.

It's pretty much a standard that Dynamic shouldn't ever be used as it sets brightness/contrast too high.

Under 50% seems to generally best setting for both contrasts and brightness for most, although it will be a personal matter. Avia and DVE both had my settings at about 32 on brightness and 70-80 contrast. I pushed my contrast down to about 58, and my brightness to 47 to ease the supposed strain on my tv.

I have a CRT Direct view though.

I had to learn the whites don't have to be very bright and because black is great on CRTs, I had to raise my brightness a bit higher than what Avia and DVE suggests. This is also due to the fact that I'm making a pseudo-HT in my living room that I can not really make dark (at all) during the day.

The dullness/darkness are all affected by ambient light in your room. The brighter your room the higher the brightness/contrast needs to be, but no where near the level of showrooms. This is a HT after all.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Ron, remember that you have a CRT, and the original poster has a DLP. Choosing proper black and white level points for these displays is very different. You are correct when referencing a CRT, but when dealing with a fixed on/off CR capability in a digital device like a DLP, the method is quite different.

With a DLP your goal is to maximize both black and white as much as possible until just before the point of clipping colorshifting(for white). Note how this is different from CRT, where you do NOT want to maximize white point, as there is no fixed range and display life and image quality will diminish as you push white level too high. This is not the case for DLP, as long as you keep it below the clip/colorshift point. You want white as bright as possible to just within this range.

If the display is too bright once you've maximized the available on/off CR range, consider using an ND filter to lower the lumen output to an acceptable level.