contrast and brightness advice

[cerwinmad]

I have a 32" samsung widescreen 100Hz CRT, its fed component input into the HDTV inputs with the DVD set to progressive scan. iam havin trouble with dark scenes, i have contrast on 100 (full) and brightness on 60, and lose detail on dark areas. if i turn up brightness more it gets to bright for well lit and outdoor scenes. any ideas or is this normal.

[MDS]

Brightness (black level) and Contrast (white level) work together and a change in one affects the other. The best you can do is find the happy medium that works for you across a wide variety of content.

After most people calibrate to standard levels they often remark that it is now too dark but that is because it is different than what they are used to. There is no right or wrong answer, only what you like.

On a technical basis there is a 'right' answer but if you don't like it...so be it. Calibrate to your liking and don't worry about what is technically correct.

[zhimbo]

I have a 32" samsung widescreen 100Hz CRT, its fed component input into the HDTV inputs with the DVD set to progressive scan. iam havin trouble with dark scenes, i have contrast on 100 (full) and brightness on 60, and lose detail on dark areas. if i turn up brightness more it gets to bright for well lit and outdoor scenes. any ideas or is this normal.

Reduce contrast, for a start. Contrast is the difference between the brightest and the darkest areas - high contrast makes brights brighter, and darks darker. At 100% contrast, the dark areas are probably "bottoming out".

[cerwinmad]

Yes you were right, id always set contrast to full and brightness to half. i turned contrast to half and was able to brighten picture. thanks!!

[gedalneil]

Yes you were right, id always set contrast to full and brightness to half. i turned contrast to half and was able to brighten picture. thanks!!

Hope it helps. You should check out tweaktv.com. It has some settings for a lot of TV's . It worked well for me.

[Pyrrho]

You might want to consider purchasing one of the test/setup DVDs that are available. They can help you properly set the controls on your TV for the best possible picture (that is, the best with your set without paying a pro to come and adjust it for you, going into the service menu). Given that you have had your contrast all the way up, it is evident that you would greatly benefit from using such a disc. A decent one that is cheap is the one from Sound & Vision, but there are others available, though I have not done any research on any of the recent releases of test/setup discs, so I could not tell you which one would be "the best".