Flourescent bias lights (1 Viewer)

[William Moore]

Hello. Does anyone know where I can still purchase a fluorescent bias light? I have been using an 18" bulb (tube) on a shelf behind my plasma TV for many years and I purchased this from Cinemaquest in 2015. They specialized in this type of lighting, but I think they have gone out of business, although their website is still up, but it won't accept any new purchases, saying the site is "under maintenance." This was a specialty bulb and NOT an "off the shelf" variety. Any ideas?

 

[JohnRice]

Maybe the best solution is a high CRI LED light instead. A benefit is they can be dimmable.

 

[William Moore]

Maybe the best solution is a high CRI LED light instead. A benefit is they can be dimmable.

Is that a bulb, tube, or what? Please explain.

 

[JohnRice]

Is that a bulb, tube, or what? Please explain.

An LED is a light emitting diode, which is what the vast majority of lights are these days. They are fundamentally different from fluorescent or filament type lights. CRI means Color Rendering Index and is a measurement if how completely and accurately they emit the visible color spectrum.

You really don't need anything particularly special for a bias light. Just that it had an adjustable glow around the image and has a decent CRI. I actually use a cheap, clear, warm white LED bulb from WalMart in a dimmable fixture.

 

[Doug2000]

Did you search Amazon. I recently purchased some 21" fluorescent bulbs/tubes and just now did a search & found 18 inch. In the search make sure you spell out "18 inch".

 

[William Moore]

OK, but does it matter what the color temperature of the bulb is? And, how many lumens it produces?

 

[DaveF]

Ideally a bias light is 6500K, from what I remember the last time I looked into this, which admittedly was like 2001

 

[JohnRice]

Yeah, I believe 6500K is the textbook color temperature, but I’ve always preferred a lower temperature light.

 

[Mark McSherry]

Bought my Spears and Munsil Ultra HD Benchmark from this site. They are big into bias lighting too, though I'm not.