I went over to my friends house today and saw him watching his new HDTV in pitch black to get the "best picture". 15 minutes later we were at home depot, spend about 17 dollars and he is now completely blown away by his picture quality changes.
Bias Lighting.
If you don't know what it is, continue reading. It is the best 20 dollars you can spend and the improvement to your picture (and your eyes) will be huge.
Why you should do it:
1) Eye Strain. Watching TV in the dark will give your eyes a workout. Every time you get a change from bright to dark scene your iris has to expand and contract. Do this for 2 hours and your eye will start twitching. Especially if you have a bright TV (LCD, newer plasmas). The "bias light" works to give your eyes a basically level amount of light coming to them. This way your eyes don't have to adjust constantly to changes in light.
2) Black level. The light behind the TV is going to make black look blacker off your TV and will actually reduce black crush by helping your eyes resolve detail in shadows faster. Think of it like walking out of a dark room into the sun or visa versa. Your eyes don't adjust to changes in light immediately, they take time. So while your eyes are adjusting to the new dark scene you are losing detail in the shadows.
3) Color reproduction. When you calibrate a TV (either professionally or yourself) the idea is to get the color to 6500K. This is the standard that directors, cinematographers and a growing number of video game developers use when they create a game. If you want to see what they made you need to get your TV as close to 6500k as possible. If you turn on a light that is not 6500K (say a florescent bulb or a "soft white" bulb) you are destroying all the hard work that went into adjusting the TV properly, because you just screwed up your eyes ability to see the proper color. Luckily for us, most "daylight" bulbs are 6500K (or very close).
How to do it
I was going to write a long thing out, but I found this youtube video that shows you exactly the best way to do it. Make sure you buy a 6500k light bulb Check the packaging, most "daylight" bulbs are near 6500K but you should double check. I personally use one of those cheap under cabinet kitchen lights for mine, but the principle in this video is the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gP4a-U-FCk
If your receiver doesn't have a power switch built into it then you can plug it in the wall and turn the light on manually. Obviously it's a hell of a lot easier if it just turns itself on.
Bias Lighting.
If you don't know what it is, continue reading. It is the best 20 dollars you can spend and the improvement to your picture (and your eyes) will be huge.
Why you should do it:
1) Eye Strain. Watching TV in the dark will give your eyes a workout. Every time you get a change from bright to dark scene your iris has to expand and contract. Do this for 2 hours and your eye will start twitching. Especially if you have a bright TV (LCD, newer plasmas). The "bias light" works to give your eyes a basically level amount of light coming to them. This way your eyes don't have to adjust constantly to changes in light.
2) Black level. The light behind the TV is going to make black look blacker off your TV and will actually reduce black crush by helping your eyes resolve detail in shadows faster. Think of it like walking out of a dark room into the sun or visa versa. Your eyes don't adjust to changes in light immediately, they take time. So while your eyes are adjusting to the new dark scene you are losing detail in the shadows.
3) Color reproduction. When you calibrate a TV (either professionally or yourself) the idea is to get the color to 6500K. This is the standard that directors, cinematographers and a growing number of video game developers use when they create a game. If you want to see what they made you need to get your TV as close to 6500k as possible. If you turn on a light that is not 6500K (say a florescent bulb or a "soft white" bulb) you are destroying all the hard work that went into adjusting the TV properly, because you just screwed up your eyes ability to see the proper color. Luckily for us, most "daylight" bulbs are 6500K (or very close).
How to do it
I was going to write a long thing out, but I found this youtube video that shows you exactly the best way to do it. Make sure you buy a 6500k light bulb Check the packaging, most "daylight" bulbs are near 6500K but you should double check. I personally use one of those cheap under cabinet kitchen lights for mine, but the principle in this video is the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gP4a-U-FCk
If your receiver doesn't have a power switch built into it then you can plug it in the wall and turn the light on manually. Obviously it's a hell of a lot easier if it just turns itself on.
