Why Contrast Ratio matters
So the other day I was discussing how important contrast ratio is.
Today, I found this article over at HomeTheaterhifi that goes deep into contrast ratio and has everything you never need to know about it.
Note: This article is very long (6 parts) and technical. You may just want to skim over it. The article has many good examples of how to tell if your system is well calibrated and how better contrast can help in dark scenes.
Two quick quotes:
2000:1 On/Off CR is generally considered enough in our home theaters
In real life, the ratio of luminance between white paper in sunlight and white paper in moonlight is approximately 1,000,000:1
So since my projector is rated at 2500:1 I guess I never need to upgrade. I’ll have to think about this one a little more.
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June 15th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
“2000:1 On/Off CR is generally considered enough in our home theaters”
You are selectively quoting that and altering the meaning as it was intended. The full quote is:
To match film that most of us see in typical movie theaters, 2000:1 On/Off CR is generally considered enough in our home theaters. However, that is a limitation of the mechanism for playback, and I am more interested in what it takes to match what we can perceive in real life. Also, the specifications like BT.1361 call for video black to be at “no light” and not at the raised black level we generally get in commercial theaters.
That is very different than implying that 2000:1 on/off is enough.
Regards,
chris