30inch widescreen lcd tv -£699

Berwhale

TheChillPill wrote:

It is a measurement of the number of different grey colors that can
between display between black and white on a LCD screen. The higher
the ratio, the more grey shades can be displayed and therefore has
more accurate representation of colors.

Sorry, but that's wrong, the contrast ratio represents the difference between the light and dark areas on the screen. The higher the ratio, the blacker the blacks will look on the screen.

TheChillPill wrote:

That makes this one better than the Philips

There is no standard way of measuring the contrast ratio. Each manufacturer uses their own method. Some manufactures make wild claims about the capabilities of their screens which are not reflected in independant tests.

Philips are generally regarded as the best manufacturer of consumer LCD screens. The picture processing electronics in the Philips screen are likely to be vastly superior to the Video7 unit. The only way to really judge is to see them side by side.

TheChillPill

Berwhale wrote:

Sorry, but that's wrong, the contrast ratio represents the difference between the light and dark areas on the screen. The higher the ratio, the blacker the blacks will look on the screen.

While you're not entirely wrong, you're not correct either. My explanation is more accurate of how it is supposed to be described. This is the official explanation;

All LCD screens get their brightness from backlighting behind the actual LCD films. This light has the tendency to wash out the colors and provide a close approximation on most colors. The contrast ratio of a LCD flat panel is the rating of how distinguishable various shades of color are. The higher the contrast ratio of the screen, the better the color representation is by the monitor. When comparing monitors try to find two models of similar size from the same manufacturer with different contrast ratios. The screen with the higher contrast ratio should have better color.

Therefore, it's not about how light or dark they are, but how many levels there are between them.

Berwhale wrote:

There is no standard way of measuring the contrast ratio. Each manufacturer uses their own method. Some manufactures make wild claims about the capabilities of their screens which are not reflected in independant tests.

Yes, I accept this - however in quite a few cases, independent tests have actually shown a higher contrast ratio than the manufacturer stated. Granted, in other cases the opposite has been true.

Berwhale wrote:

Philips are generally regarded as the best manufacturer of consumer LCD screens. The picture processing electronics in the Philips screen are likely to be vastly superior to the Video7 unit. The only way to really judge is to see them side by side.

Correct, Philips are indeed regarded as the best, and I probably shouldn't have made such a sweeping statement in my original post. I agree, seeing them side by side is really the only safe bet.

Berwhale

TheChillPill wrote:

While you're not entirely wrong, you're not correct either. My explanation is more accurate of how it is supposed to be described. This is the official explanation;

All LCD screens get their brightness from backlighting behind the actual LCD films. This light has the tendency to wash out the colors and provide a close approximation on most colors. The contrast ratio of a LCD flat panel is the rating of how distinguishable various shades of color are. The higher the contrast ratio of the screen, the better the color representation is by the monitor. When comparing monitors try to find two models of similar size from the same manufacturer with different contrast ratios. The screen with the higher contrast ratio should have better color.

Therefore, it's not about how light or dark they are, but how many levels there are between them.

No, it's the ratio between the lightest and darkest areas of the screen. but don't take my word for it...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&lr=&oi=defmore&q=define:Contrast+Ratio

TheChillPill

That's effectively what I was saying - what threw me is when you said that the higher the ratio the 'blacker' the blacks will looks, which was what I was saying was wrong.