Why the emphasis on black?

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by saprano

Yea i calibrated my samsung to where the blacks are real black, obviously not plasma black but black enough (with no crush) and it really does make the image pop, POTC2 and many other movies look flawless.

Yes, more important than black levels is the absence of crush and clipping of below black. While achievement of plasma blacks is still impossible even with the best LED backlit LCD's, you can alleviate some of the black level problems with a suitable backlight for your wall (dimly lighting the wall behind your display). I like to have a little ambient light in my room, anyway. If you like to watch movies in a completely dark room, LCD blacks will be more of an issue.