The difference between good and poor picture quality can be seen by anybody. However, it is not very easy to understand the technical issues that make a picture look good. One very important element of picture quality is contrast ratio. Other aspects are the color saturation and color accuracy, and resolution is also very important.
The ratio between the darkest and brightest color your HDTV can produce is called contrast ratio. Your HDTV has high performance if the contrast ratio is high. Low color ratio means a dull experience: pictures will be washed out and details can be lost. However, it is unlikely you will buy an HDTV with poor contrast ratio. In recent years technology has improved greatly, which means even cheaper systems have fairly decent contrast ratios. Obviously best contrast ratios are expensive, but this is also getting cheaper.
Black levels are also very important: it can be very annoying to see grayish blacks when the user expects absolute black image. Poor black levels are especially visible in dim light conditions: this is when your eyes are very sensitive to dark images. To achieve absolute black, a lot of people set black levels too low: this is a mistake, because this way black shadow detail will be lost.
High white levels are good because they help images become vivid and lively. White levels also make daytime viewing more pleasant. Again, it is not a good idea to set white levels too high, because bright highlights and details can be lost.
Important characteristics of the images on your display are color temperature, saturation and accuracy. 6500K, corresponding to daytime illumination, is the standard for color temperature. This is the natural light temperature. Everything above this is bluish, and everything below is yellow or reddish. If the color temperature is not set properly, every color will be bluish or reddish.
The color saturation of your HDTV can be adjusted by using the color patterns that come with calibrations discs or TV channels. Color accuracy is a function of how your system decodes image data. Color accuracy is a wide topic: if you don't want to be a pro, it is enough for you to know that the color reproduction is accurate when the color encoding used in film production match the decoders of your HDTV.
Color reproduction is also affected by factors like greyscale and the display characteristic (gamma) of your TV. But this is beyond the beginner-level image calibration. If you find this is an important issue, you will have learn about image calibration, or you will have to pay a specialist to do this.
There are 5 times more pixels in the latest HD resolution than in the Standard Definition. The difference is astonishing: with HD, you can notice details you never knew that existed. Today, 1080 capable HDTVs represent the best money can buy.
Another notion related to resolution is percieved sharpness. This is very similar to the concept of edge contrast used in photography, and it basically means that users have the choice to make the image borders crispier. This gives the sensation of better image quality with the same resolution. - 32388
The ratio between the darkest and brightest color your HDTV can produce is called contrast ratio. Your HDTV has high performance if the contrast ratio is high. Low color ratio means a dull experience: pictures will be washed out and details can be lost. However, it is unlikely you will buy an HDTV with poor contrast ratio. In recent years technology has improved greatly, which means even cheaper systems have fairly decent contrast ratios. Obviously best contrast ratios are expensive, but this is also getting cheaper.
Black levels are also very important: it can be very annoying to see grayish blacks when the user expects absolute black image. Poor black levels are especially visible in dim light conditions: this is when your eyes are very sensitive to dark images. To achieve absolute black, a lot of people set black levels too low: this is a mistake, because this way black shadow detail will be lost.
High white levels are good because they help images become vivid and lively. White levels also make daytime viewing more pleasant. Again, it is not a good idea to set white levels too high, because bright highlights and details can be lost.
Important characteristics of the images on your display are color temperature, saturation and accuracy. 6500K, corresponding to daytime illumination, is the standard for color temperature. This is the natural light temperature. Everything above this is bluish, and everything below is yellow or reddish. If the color temperature is not set properly, every color will be bluish or reddish.
The color saturation of your HDTV can be adjusted by using the color patterns that come with calibrations discs or TV channels. Color accuracy is a function of how your system decodes image data. Color accuracy is a wide topic: if you don't want to be a pro, it is enough for you to know that the color reproduction is accurate when the color encoding used in film production match the decoders of your HDTV.
Color reproduction is also affected by factors like greyscale and the display characteristic (gamma) of your TV. But this is beyond the beginner-level image calibration. If you find this is an important issue, you will have learn about image calibration, or you will have to pay a specialist to do this.
There are 5 times more pixels in the latest HD resolution than in the Standard Definition. The difference is astonishing: with HD, you can notice details you never knew that existed. Today, 1080 capable HDTVs represent the best money can buy.
Another notion related to resolution is percieved sharpness. This is very similar to the concept of edge contrast used in photography, and it basically means that users have the choice to make the image borders crispier. This gives the sensation of better image quality with the same resolution. - 32388
About the Author:
Edward is an electronics expert who writes plasma tv reviews. To read more sony hdtv reviews, visit HDTVReviewLab.com
