With Halo3 and NBA2k8 on the horizon, an HDTV is gonna be as essential as water and oxygen. After looking at a few, I noticed some, especially the Samsungs, have a substantially higher contrast ratio(up to 8000:1) compared to a Vizio(1200:1). I wanna know how important(if at all) is contrast ratio to an HDTV and if such a high ratio is better or not!?
yeah a higher contrast ratio the better. some of the samsung dlp led tvs have like a ridiculous 500,000:1 ratio
If I am not mistaken, Dr. of Dunk is probably knows more....but Ithink the higher the contrast ratio means you are closer to true black. And it will look a lot better. DD
I got a samsung HDTV with super High ratios.. It's pretty good for games, the problem with having such a great tv though is you'll notice a lot of Jaggies in the graphics, your tv is so clear you see the graphical mistakes of course games like Metal Gear / Gears of War wont have them NBA 2K7 ruled last year jaggies or not
WAIT WAIT WAIT... there's 2 types of contrast ratios! dynamic vs. static. don't compare static to dynamic..ur being fooled. samsung uses dynamic contrast ratios so of course it's going to be really high like 8000 and 10,000. for example my sony 40" lcd lists the contrast as 8000 dynamic and 1600 static. big diff right? ---- In common speech "Contrast ratio" sounds like it refers to the difference between the blackest black and the whitest whites. This may be true in some cases but you really don't know what is being measured. When you add an additional term like dynamic, or static I think you'll find this is even more vague and unreliable as a comparator. ---- go to the store..look at tvs and see what u like. plasmas have higher contrast meaning they can produce very deep blacks, so lcd makes created this number game to attract consumers. here's 3 tvs in action..u will notice what i mean by deep blacks.
Since gaming is its primary purpose, a deep black would be preferred, but not too deep. I do need an appropriate field of vision. I guess I'll go with what my wallet can handle as long as it isn't a piece of crap. Vizio I could handle the price. If I go for a Samsung its coming off eBay.
The best way to view specs is by viewing and modifying the picture at the store. The contrast ratio is one of the most overrated stats on an HDTV because many manufacturers tend to "fudge" the numbers to suit their needs. ndnguy85 is pretty much right and his example pic shows the differences in black level/contrast - it's one of the reasons I loved plasma when I bought the plasma. LCD's have caught up quite a bit, though, in the past 2-3 years. Contrast ratio is also a good indicator of how bright whites can get. Think of it this way, too : How bright can I make a big white dot in the middle of the screen while keeping the rest of the screen perfectly black? If I can make the dot really bright and keep the surrounding area really dark, I have very good contrast. Contrast ratio also makes colors "pop" and stand out. Go look at tv's and don't go by specs alone. Think about it - it's something you'll be staring at for years, so why not go stare at it for a few minutes to see if it's what you want to stare at for years?
contrast is about the bright white level actually. what you should care about is speed of the TV. you want something under 8MS for gaming.
