Do you use a bias light?

[kristoffer]

Recently I have been thinking about getting a bias light for my 55" OLED. Do any of you use it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teR7y2uDMH0&list=PL9owsJFszblfMPlu__V9T2tD8oAeSF9Gb

[Warm Gun]

No. Tried it with my last TV. Wasn't into it. Black behind the TV is better, especially with OLED.

[nick4Knight]

Agree. The bias light thing I thought was always for FALD LCD to become more OLED appearing in terms of black bars.

I wish I had matte grey walls behind the TV, much less more to see back there (light vs white walls in darkness). I will have charcoal acoustic foam surrounding the TVs profile in time.

[Diesel]

I’ve tried it on my 85” MiniLED and thought it was “cool” for like 5 minutes each time I attempted to use them but always ended up finding it distracting after that. Now I only turn it on when some of the family kids are over and want to see “the fun lights”.

[DavePS3]

Try amber light - not eye bleaching brightness but even Widescreen review back in the day reported that yellow or amber makes the colors on your display pop quite a bit.

[Leviticus]

I have a MediaLight on about 13 clicks with a 55" LZ1500 OLED.

[Jay H.]

Yes - on both of my TVs. The lights have brightness settings and several different colors (if you aren't into neutral). My wife and I love them.

[kristoffer]

I would only use it with D65 white.

[smithb]

Originally Posted by kristoffer

Recently I have been thinking about getting a bias light for my 55" OLED. Do any of you use it?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teR7...9T2tD8oAeSF9Gb

Absolutely, I've used it with my projection system for the last 18 years. The benefit is reduced eye strain between dark and light scenes

[mkozlows]

I've got one (the Medialight that the video references), and recommend it.

I think some of the comments here are misinformed. It's not just for LED TVs, nor should it be amber (or multicolored in that Ambilight gimmick way).

Bias lighting is actually part of SMPTE standards (SMPTE 2080-3, "Reference Viewing Environment for Evaluation of HDTV Images") for how content is to be monitored for grading for home display. If you're a person who wants to see the image as it's meant to be seen, and as the person who did the grading saw it, you'll also want to have bias lighting.

But also of course, you should have standards-compliant bias lighting. That Medialight stuff is 6500K 98 CRI and ISF-certified, so an easy choice. Once you have it, you'll want to set it to 5 nits of brightness (they used to recommend 10% peak brightness in the SDR days -- which would be 10 nits for a standards-compliant 100 nit display -- but realized that this was suboptimal with modern displays, so revised the recommendation downward in 2017). The Spears and Munsil disc has a pattern if you want to try to just visually match the brightness to 5 nits (obviously requires having your TV properly configured first), or there are probably Youtube videos that can give you a 5 nit full field display.

I get the appeal of "just let the TV fade into the blackground," but in addition to being the standard-reocmmended thing, the bias lighting really does help with eyestrain and makes dark-to-bright cuts less jarring.

[figrin_dan]

I have some IKEA LEDs stuck to the back of my plasma, it really helps with the blacks.

[CtrlCtrlFast]

bias lighting for tvs, is legit, in my opinion. for years, i rocked a legit 6500k cfl bulb, mounted off my tv stand, pointed at the wall, easily helps with eye strain and fatigue.

[StingingVelvet]

Absolutely, but you need a D65 light so it's not distracting or detrimental. It made my old KS8000 with 20 zones or whatever look inky black 90% of the time, but now it's not needed with my new set.

However I still like it because: A) it reduces eye strain, B) it reduces how much other small lights and such in the room distract me, and C) in very low light scenes with raised black levels that don't "shut off" it can still improve contrast even on a good set.

[jason.e.f.monk]

I use three Hue Play bars and find TV without the bias lights annoying now! The bouncing light gives you enough visibility for interactions with snacks and the people around you haha. It helps ease the eyes when switching between light and dark scenes, allowing you to see more clearly.

I don’t like the ‘sync’ setup I find it detracts from colours, I just use a clear white light.

[CtrlCtrlFast]

Originally Posted by jason.e.f.monk

I use three Hue Play bars and find TV without the bias lights annoying now!

my wife and i feel the same, everytime we watch tv at somebody else's house. it seems so regular to us now, that not having it is a distraction!

[Tech-UK]

I've been using bias lighting for sometime now, and as already pointed out by the other posters in this thread, it is certainly worth it.

If you want to geek out on the subject, check out the CinemaQuest website here: https://www.cinemaquestinc.com/index.htm

They have a great section that explains bias lighting and how it is beneficial, even to the point of choosing the recommended wall colour.

[Darthvong]

I have the medialight mk2 on all 3 of my tvs. They work great!

[lgans316]

Not a fan of bias lighting as to me it is a red herring.

[Lozin]

I just started using it this past winter when I did my big install and since 3 TVs were getting installed and mounted I figured it's now or never. I only used Bias lighting on the two main TVs and so far I like it.

[RFK]

No. I'm using a projector in a totally blackened room.