LCD Backlight setting?

[Stormyhog]

I recently purchased a LG LCD 32 inch HDTV and would like some thoughts on what the best setting is for the backlight. Out of the box it was set a 100 which is max but I read that it would lower the life of the tv so I want to lower it and want to know what the ideal setting would be. Thanks

[halon]

i have a toshiba and mine is in the 60's. if you ask me just play around with until you see something you like. not everthing is ment to viewed at the highest setting.

[aygie]

Originally Posted by den4blu

i have a toshiba and mine is in the 60's. if you ask me just play around with until you see something you like. not everthing is ment to viewed at the highest setting.

t..o..s..h..i..b..a.. damn you to hell!!!!

(Just kidding, i have a toshiba DVD player )

[Dace]

I set it to 0

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by Stormyhog

I recently purchased a LG LCD 32 inch HDTV and would like some thoughts on what the best setting is for the backlight. Out of the box it was set a 100 which is max but I read that it would lower the life of the tv so I want to lower it and want to know what the ideal setting would be. Thanks

Set the backlight to whatever level feels right to you and don't be concerned too much about it lowering the life of your tv if it's set on maximum. Theoretically, the backlight is supposed to function up to 60000 hours without any issues, even on the highest setting.

[takezo]

It's a trade off. the less your back light is the longer your TV's back light will last, but it also affects Picture Quality. Also it's dependant on the amount of ambient light in the room. Say if your in a room that gets a lot of sunlight, you would need the brightness at a high level if not max, to have the best PQ.

I have mine set to 90. I had it set to 80 before, but 90 makes for crisper contrast, and vibrant colors. Note my room has a lot of sunlight, but it does seem better even at nite too. Even at 100 my TV's backlight is rated to last 20 years. That's a very long time, expecially when you would buy a new TV far before that.

while your in that menu you might want to fiddle around with the brightness, contrast and sharpness settings. Configuring those can make even a cheap LCD TV' PQ rival that of an Elite TV.

[Stormyhog]

Originally Posted by takezo

It's a trade off. the less your back light is the longer your TV's back light will last, but it also affects Picture Quality. Also it's dependant on the amount of ambient light in the room. Say if your in a room that gets a lot of sunlight, you would need the brightness at a high level if not max, to have the best PQ.

I have mine set to 90. I had it set to 80 before, but 90 makes for crisper contrast, and vibrant colors. Note my room has a lot of sunlight, but it does seem better even at nite too. Even at 100 my TV's backlight is rated to last 20 years. That's a very long time, expecially when you would buy a new TV far before that.

while your in that menu you might want to fiddle around with the brightness, contrast and sharpness settings. Configuring those can make even a cheap LCD TV' PQ rival that of an Elite TV.

Thanks you guys for the help and I have been fiddling with the contrast, brightness and sharpness and I feel I have achieved a very good picture but I am always concerned if something is set too high it may do more harm than good. As I go along I usually do tweaks here and there if I feel something is off. On my tv as well when playing the PS3 I noticed when playing Warhawk and Resistance that the targeting reticule was leaving a slight motion blur when turning so I turned off the auto contrast, auto color and noise reduction and then the problem was gone so you really are best to look into things if their are problems. I also found this site which gives tips on LCD calibration. http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdt...libration.html

[Stormyhog]

When calibrating an LCD tv should the contrast be lowered as out of the box it usually is maxed. Mine was set at a 100 so should it be lowered alot and is it harmful to have it set too high. Also what would be considered normal for the backlight out of 100 as that was maxed as well? Thanks any tips would be appreciated and what is the best calibration dvd if i were to get one?

[WickyWoo]

Digital Video Essentials is shipping its blu-ray version soon

For now use the THX optimode on a DVD for a base calibration

[MouseRider]

You can also get your display professionally calibrated which will often do much more that you can achieve yourself unless you know how to access the maintenance menus and have measurement devices.

This site will tell you more about services as well as calibration discs for DIY.

http://www.imagingscience.com/

[Deciazulado]

Setting it too high to be harmful is mostly a CRT thing.. On a LCD when you set the white at it's maximum brightness, what you're doing is aligning the polarization in the angle that lets the maximum light from the backlight pass. So if you have a 1000:1 contrast LCD and "dim" the maximum white output to half, what you get is an LCD with 500:1 contrast ratio. What I do is try to set the Video white near or at the setting where the LCD image doesn't get any brighter (Don't have to be setting "100" necessarily). That maximizes the white to black ratio of the display. If it's too bright then, maybe you can dim the backlight (or if you're adventurous and don't have backlight control, you could get a giant ND filter gel sheet and put it on front of the TV)

[Stormyhog]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Setting it too high to be harmful is mostly a CRT thing.. On a LCD when you set the white at it's maximum brightness, what you're doing is aligning the polarization in the angle that lets the maximum light from the backlight pass. So if you have a 1000:1 contrast LCD and "dim" the maximum white output to half, what you get is an LCD with 500:1 contrast ratio. What I do is try to set the Video white near or at the setting where the LCD image doesn't get any brighter (Don't have to be setting "100" necessarily). That maximizes the white to black ratio of the display. If it's too bright then, maybe you can dim the backlight (or if you're adventurous and don't have backlight control, you could get a giant ND filter gel sheet and put it on front of the TV)

Thanks and what should I adjust to get darker blacks as it seems a bit cloudy, does adjusting the backlight and contrast help achieve better blacks or do other settings address that.

[Deciazulado]

If you have a Sony BD (press 7669 enter while on the main menu) or the T2 BD (THX Optimizer) there's patterns there to set white and black etc.

You set the white "block" or squares to be as bright or near bright as can be on the LCD (if you have a light meter watch the needle as it goes up and stops), and then adjust the blacks with the THX's or color bars pluge to get the deepest blacks. In case one affects the other check back and forth.

Maximizing the contrast "improves" the blacks because when reaching it's full contrast, the LCDs black is as far away from the white as the panel achieves. If the panels contrast is not great, and/or if the backlight is too bright, in a dim room blacks might look cloudy (actually very dark grey). If you can't dim the backlight then you can increase the "room" lighting till the very dark grey "black" of the LCD looks black to the eye, but then if the room lights (or their reflection from the walls in front of the display) fall on the display, blacks are reduced again (and contrast shrunk). So the usual recomendation is to put D65 bias lights behind the display pointing at the wall behind the display to get maximum contrast.

Now if after all that when watching good regular movie transfers you find them a little too dark or too light for your viewing conditions, you could adjust the gamma (if it has it) or the black level control up or down slightly for personal preference/particular vewing conditions.

[Footloose301]

Perhaps I should try this. Mine already looks amazing and from the factory each setting is at 60 or below, and it goes to 100. The backlight is only at 47 from factory and its bright as heck.

[Stormyhog]

Does lowering the backlight help make the blacks appear more black because they have a bit of a whitish look to them usually in the upper and lower corners of my tv, what should I do to balance this out? Thanks.

[Footloose301]

Originally Posted by Stormyhog

Does lowering the backlight help make the blacks appear more black because they have a bit of a whitish look to them usually in the upper and lower corners of my tv, what should I do to balance this out? Thanks.

It does help, but also darkens that entire picture...

[cawgijoe]

I followed Cnet's advice on my Vizio 32" and set mine to "0". Looks and works great in any kind of light. They mentioned reducing the backlight as the room gets darker.