Sony KL-W9000 - Black Levels (1 Viewer)

[Allan Jayne]

Keep in mind that if you add another tinted layer to the screen, your whites will turn gray. But how white is white depends on your opinion, or on a light meter which almost nobody carries around these days. If there is enough range on the contrast control to get the whites back up to where you want (increasing the dynamic range or difference between black and white) then your experiment will succeed.
The way it works is the tinted film or panel you are adding cuts the light coming through by so many percent.
On this set, there is no problem with blooming or burn-in so you can keep the contrast all the way up if you want and the picture highlights are not washed out. Use the AVIA gray scale step test patterns. However you should play the set in full (16:9) mode at least occasionally to keep the LCD pixels at the screen sides exercised.
You may find that the not so black blacks are not as annoying when the room is not darkened too much.
Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm
I have one of these sets too.

 

[Allan Jayne]

Here is something to try.

Get some small, even two inches in diameter will do, gray tinted glass with known amount of tint. For example camera stores have "neutral density" gray filters rated in f-stops where one f-stop equals a 50% light absorption. Look through one or more of them when watching TV to see what amount of darkening seems to be appropriate. At your usual viewing distance, hold the filter so just the TV screen is seen through it, not covering your entire field of vision. Adjust the brightness and contrast controls while doing this.

This way you can figure out what percentage light absorption you will need to get the most pleasing picture given the ambient light level in the room you want.