plasma or lcd

[nwg]

My projector requires all the lights off and my windows blacked out to get a decent picture. I do it anyway to create a better film atmosphere. Thew brightness is 700 Lumens and contrast ratio is 500:1. It throws a lot of light out of the back

The latest PJ's have brightness high enough that some lighting can be left on. The new Panasonic AX100 is 2000 Lumens and 6000:1 Contrast. The Panasonic AE1000 projector coming soon will have 11000:1 contrast.

Up to not long ago, Projectors were just too expenisve and the worry about a lamp blowing isn't much fun when they costs £250. My AE100 was £400 second hand and only had 1000 hours on the lamp. It should do up to 5000 so, I should be able to make it last until I can replace it with a HD one.

I had to calibrate my Brothers LCDTV when he got it. Both Contrast and Brightness was at maximum and it is a very bright TV. Even with the Brightness at 50% it still lights up most of the room in the dark.

[RFBurns]

Viewing distance from the set or projected image on a wall/screen is somewhat of a experiment until you find the right spot and right angle. Room ambient light also has an effect.

Watching tv in a dark room is not always a good thing to do. A little bit of light helps the eye adjust to the varying brightness of the video being watched. It gives the eye reference so that the retina does not re-adjust itself to the extreme. This is commonly refered to as "tired eye", and often is followed by either a slight headache or the eyes feel "stressed". The tiny muscles that expand and contract the eye retina, which performs two functions, focusing by increasing the eye lens thickness, and also acts like a iris, limiting the amount of light passing through to the rear of the eye, can become fatiqued by constantly adjusting to its extremes due to sudden changes in light intensity from a single source, such as a tv in a dark room.

In movie theatres, they do not turn off the lights completely. They do turn some of them off but leave a few on dimly lit, so that during bright scenes and dark scenes, the eyes have a reference, making the eyes adjust more smoothly and not to the extremes.

Thats part of the reasons why some of the flat pannel units have the backlight that shines behind the unit. Not only does it look neat, it also serves a valuable purpose.

Try experimenting with this by placing a small lamp or small nite lite near the tv or near the screen/wall for the projected images. Run a movie that has alot of light changes.

[nwg]

Philips LCD's have a backlight that light up the edges of the TV.

I watch TV series DVD's in the dark on the TV before I go to bed each night but, then most are dark anyway (X Files is the best example). I wouldn't want to watch something with a lot of white in the dark as it is too bright. If anyone gets headhaches in the dark perhaps they have the brightness up to high.

I have to watch a DVD on my projector in as much dark as possible as the lumens isn't high enough. I black out the window during the day. I also want to recreate a cinema experience as much as possible. Any light sources makes the picture look crap.

My local cinema has no lights on at all during the film.