How important is contrast ratio

T

tel0004

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
499
I have a monitor right now (dell SP2208WFP) with a contrast ratio of 2000:1. I want to get a second monitor, but due to limited deskspace I want to get a 15" 4x3 monitor. It seems like most of these have lower contrast ratios (around 500:1). Will the monitor look like total crap next to my other monitor if the contrast ratio is so low.

I want to use the second one for AIM, Itunes, and random stuff like that, so I won't be playing games or watching movies on it or anything like that. I just don't want it to look out of place or anything like that.
 
Very,

contrast ratio is the difference in light intensity between the brightest white and the darkest black that a display device can produce. A high contrast ratio is better than a lower ratio. you will see a very big difference between the 2 displays.
 
it used to be very good. but that is all different now with these 1000:1 + displays
 
tel0004, to get an idea how much it'll bother you, turn down the contrast ratio on your current screen to 25% of it's current value (eg from 100 to 25 or 80 to 20%).
 
tel0004 said:
I have a monitor right now (dell SP2208WFP) with a contrast ratio of 2000:1. I want to get a second monitor, but due to limited deskspace I want to get a 15" 4x3 monitor. It seems like most of these have lower contrast ratios (around 500:1). Will the monitor look like total crap next to my other monitor if the contrast ratio is so low.

I want to use the second one for AIM, Itunes, and random stuff like that, so I won't be playing games or watching movies on it or anything like that. I just don't want it to look out of place or anything like that.
Click to expand...

I have a monitor right now (dell SP2208WFP) with a contrast ratio of 2000:1.
Click to expand...
No. This is so-called "dynamic contrast ratio" - a marketing trick. It has nothing in common with real contrast ratio. Disregard this figure.
Real contrast ratio of your monitor may be somewhat between 800:1 and 1000:1 You can measure it yourself if you have equipment or find it in technical reviews.

Will the monitor look like total crap
Click to expand...
It cannot look like anything other than what you have said.

Contrast ratio of a monitor may be stable or may vary depending on the level of brightness set on the monitor. In this case we can talk about max and min contrast ratio.
As a general rule, "published" contrast ratio corresponds to factory (default) settings.
The problem is that "published" contrast ratio may differ from the real one, sometimes significantly.

What is contrast ratio - see the next post.
 
Zardoz said:
contrast ratio is the difference in light intensity between the brightest white and the darkest black that a display device can produce.
Click to expand...

Absolutely wrong.
Contrast ratio is a ratio of brightness of white to brightness of black measured for a particular level of brightness.
 
albovin said:
Absolutely wrong.
Contrast ratio is a ratio of brightness of white to brightness of black measured for a particular level of brightness.
Click to expand...

huh thats the same thing, just told different.
 
There are no regulations on the marketing for contrast ratios, so unless the contrast ratios listed on all products are given using the same precise standard, the measurement for comparison is meaningless and shouldn't be trusted. What matters most is the type of panel they used, and most don't even tell you on the box.
 
Well, the original question was how important is the contrast ratio, and the answer to that is not very important at all. The contrast ratio tells you nothing about how good a monitor looks.

The contrast ratio is supposed to be the ratio of the brightness of white to the brightness of black at a particular level of brightness, but many manufacturers are fudging the numbers to mean the ratio of the brightest white to the darkest black a display can produce, which tells you nothing. Anything over 1000:1 is a lie for TN and IPS panels, and anything over 1500:1 is a lie for VA panels, and that's being generous. Many TN and IPS panels can barely reach 700:1. The contrast ratio doesn't even take viewing angles into account, so two displays with the same contrast ratio can appear to have different levels of contrast.

Even if the numbers were true, the contrast only affects how good black looks in relation to white. It has very little effect on how good colors look. What many people think is contrast is not contrast at all. I could set up two identical displays, one calibrated to a gamma of 1.8, and another calibrated to a gamma of 2.2, and many people will think the display calibrated to 2.2 has better contrast when they're really the same.
 
Contrast ratios are over-rated. Toasty is on the mark, as always. Single figure of merit measurements hide more than they tell.
 
As the others have already stated, the contrast ratio is very much overrated. ToastyX mentioned that it tells you about the brightness of white and the brightness of black. Brightness white / brightness black = contrast ratio. Nothing more. It does not describe the color of black and white. On an LCD, the color of white and black are determined by the gamma curve/tonal response curve. You can change how white looks by using the color temperature slides on most screens (6500K being the most popular target). On some screens like the NEC 2690/2490 you can also change how black looks. With a color calibrator, you can change the color of black and white via the lookup table of your GFX card on all screens. On some screens you can calibrate the lookup table of the screen itself.

To obtain the highest optical/visual contrast without color calibrator, you need to control the light in your room. Experiment with the different lightsources and directions and see which settings that gives the best result for you visually. An excelent screen can look shitty if the light source in your room washes it out. If one of the screens doesn't match the others, you should calibrate it. But you can also compensate by altering the light around the screen as well for better result.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top