A question on dynamic contrast ratio

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spfite

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How much of a difference does dynamic contrast ratio have on gaming? Will a 4000:1 DCR monitor with a 1000:1 contrast ratio display images much better than a monitor that doesn't have DCR with 1000:1 contrast ratio? I've seen the images on the BenQ and ViewSonic sites and they make the images look much better. Is this a best case to worst case scenario?
example: http://ap.viewsonic.com/me/dcr/
levels_before.jpg

levels_after.jpg

leak1.jpg

leak2.jpg
 
I think DCR is mostly a marketing tool used to make consumer monitors look better. I believe most professional monitors even don't have it.
 
DCR is crap pretty much. Basically as your screen gets more white displayed on it, it auto turns up the backlight. As it gets more black, it turns it down. Now, that has the effect of increasing the measured contrast ratio. However it really is quite annoying as the brightness noticeable fluctuates as you use the screen. In fact, some pro monitors have the OPPOSITE. For example the 2690 has a mode where the brightness is turned down as the amount of white goes up. Keeps things more uniform on your eyes, though it lowers the contrast ratio.

DCR is just marketing crap. Thus far I haven't met anyone who actually likes using it in day to day operation. They just do it because consumers have decided that contrast ratio is one of the "goodness" numbers to use when evaluating a display.

As a practical matter, so long as your display can handle over 500:1 in actual use, and most can these days, you'll probably find it ok. 500:1 is about what film in a theatre has, which is why it is a fairly good reference point. Not saying it isn't nice to have more, just saying it isn't worth worrying about, especially over other features. Better to get a display with the features you like with a bit less contrast ratio than one you don't with a bit more.
 
Sycraft said:
As a practical matter, so long as your display can handle over 500:1 in actual use, and most can these days, you'll probably find it ok. 500:1 is about what film in a theatre has, which is why it is a fairly good reference point. Not saying it isn't nice to have more, just saying it isn't worth worrying about, especially over other features. Better to get a display with the features you like with a bit less contrast ratio than one you don't with a bit more.
Click to expand...

For work in a dark enviroment lower contract can be even better.
And it is true that DCR is pretty much annoying...
 
thanks for the replies guys, i ended up ordering the v2400w based upon the review, hopefully i'll be as happy as everyone else.
 
Does increasing the brightness really increased the percieved contrast ratio?

Logic tells me that increasing the brightness of a display has no effect on the contrast ratio. A certain percentage of light photons get past the black pixels regardless of how bright light is.

If you turn up the brightness, the % difference between white and black will still be the same... except that white is now brighter by X % and black is now brighter by X %
 
I think DCR just "pumps" the brightness of already bright areas while leaves the black level.
 
PKF, it doesn't increase the contrast on screen, just the overall contrast where contrast is defined as the ratio of the darkest to the lightest.

As I said, it isn't useful, mostly just marketing crap.
 
It depends on the monitor.

Some will suffer more or less from black level changing in relation to brightness than others.

If the brightness of blacks changes (let's say) from 0.15 to 0.20 cdm/2 when the white point changes from 100 cdm/2 to 150 cdm/2 the contrast ratio goes from 667:1 to 750:1

This is not something that can really be predicted without proper measurements.

What dynamic contrast measures is simply the lowest black level at 0 brightness, vs the highest cdm/2 measured white. This is why you will see 1000:1 native and 3000:1 dynamic in some cases.

A lot of it depends on how well the panel blocks light when the pixel is turned to black.

Regards,

10e

PKFGimpy said:
Does increasing the brightness really increased the percieved contrast ratio?

Logic tells me that increasing the brightness of a display has no effect on the contrast ratio. A certain percentage of light photons get past the black pixels regardless of how bright light is.

If you turn up the brightness, the % difference between white and black will still be the same... except that white is now brighter by X % and black is now brighter by X %
Click to expand...
 
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