How deep should blacks be?

[lojack1976]

Originally Posted by skatalite

For instance, take any Panasonic or Samsung plasma. They are typically black. Should the blacks on the screen be just as deep, or are they typically lighter and you can tell a difference between the two shades?

Another way of asking is: Are blacks supposed to be so deep that, if you pause on a black screen in a dark room, should you be able to tell the set is on or not?

Well that's what TV makers want to achieve. If you can see it in a dark room then its not truly black. You cannot differentiate the screen from the TV's bezel on my Pioneer set in a dark room when the screen goes black. A space scene for instance is truly remarkable to look at on one of these sets. All you can see are the stars. The actual space field is as black as black can be and it blends right into the shiny black bezel of the set.

Before Pioneer plasmas the only sets that could get you blacks this good were CRT's. Another thing that people forget is that you need true whites also. Some TV's are excellent in this category, but many are not. Samsung had failed to achieve pure whites for some time, and it wasn't until this year that they did so. Their previous gen plasmas were known to have a pinkish tinge in their whites. Panasonic plasmas have extremely good whites as well as Pioneer.