2 OT Questions For Kindreds...

[Rob Lewis]

This is all true; however the eye-brain system is remarkably  
forgiving and able to "imagine" black when appropriate. Recall that  
even on the CRTs we all grew up with, "black" is only the muddy green  
of the screen when the set is off.

On Dec 5, 2005, at 7:23 AM, Jeffrey Lomicka wrote:

> There's a certain sociological aspect to this.  Myself, I prefer  
> front projection, but it isn't for just anyone.
>
> Consider this:  What color is a projection screen?  White, right?
>
> A projector that is projecting "black" is like being off, and when  
> the projector is off, the screen is white, so the darkest black you  
> can ever get out of a front projection technology is actually  
> white, the white of the screen.  Or, more accurately, the white of  
> the screen given the ambient light in the room.
>
> Because of this inherent limitation, front projection is only good  
> when you blacken the room, and the blacker the better.  Not just  
> dim, but black.  This makes the room useless for carrying out any  
> other activities when the display is on.  This goes so far as to  
> want dark walls and ceiling so that light from the screen doesn't  
> reflect back and raise the darkness level of the dark areas of the  
> screen.
>
> Because of this, projection is best for watching when you intend to  
> devote your full attention to the show, and nothing but the show.  
> However, it makes for a great show.  My projection system is a  
> peripheral-vision filling eight foot by six foot screen, with the  
> couch only ten feet away.  This isn't television, it is theater.
>
> So, I will not even consider projection for the family room.  The  
> theater is in the basement, and is reserved for those times when we  
> want to watch with full attention.  For more casual viewing, with  
> the lights on, you need to have something that is black when it's  
> off, not white.  Right now I'd choose LCD - but I'm waiting for  
> prices to come down and for the final fallout from the reallocation  
> of the VHF TV frequencies to pan out.  I don't want to have to  
> worry about the care and feeding issues with Plasma displays.
>
> Rear projection is slightly better than front projection at  
> tolerating ambient light, but still can't produce the daytime  
> contrast ratio of LCD.
>
> None can match the 120" diagonal of front projection tho.