What Are People In Bright Rooms Supposed To Do?

[FirstReflection]

Hey all.

Just a bit of a rant/open topic for discussion here.

Did I miss something, or are there ZERO matte screen displays anymore?

For the person with a pitch black room, life is easy! You can get a front projection setup, you can use a plasma or, if you don't care about image quality, you can get an LCD (LED backlit or otherwise).

For the person in a dimly lit room (ie. just barely enough light to read by - no more), plasma is your singular best choice.

But what about anything above dim lighting? What about just normal room lighting or (gasp) sunlight?

In the past, I'd recommend that people get a matte-screened LCD. Preferably a full-array, local-dimming LED backlit, matte-screen LCD.

A year ago, there were two good choices: The LG LH90 series and the Vizio XVT3 series.

Now sure, the largest screen size was 55". Sure, the off-angle viewing was still really bad. Sure, there was "blooming". But compared to the washed-out look and grey blacks of plasma or the complete unwatchability of front projection, a full-array, local-dimming LED backlit, matte-screen LCD was the best option!

Today though, there are ZERO good choices for any room that has anything more than dim lighting. Vizio has gone to glossy screens. LG has gone to glossy screens. Sony has nothing but glossy screens. Samsung is all glossy.

So what are people supposed to do?

What are we supposed to recommend?

Are we really supposed to tell everyone that their ONLY option if they want to watch TV is to make sure that they never watch in anything above dim lighting?

I mean, hey, dim or pitch black lighting has always been the ideal option. But c'mon! Let's be realistic!

I just don't know what to do at this point in time. If people have dim or darker rooms, it's easy - get a Panasonic plasma. But for every other situation, there's just NOTHING that I can honestly recommend! Try to find an LH90 or XVT3? That's really the only thing I can say.

Sucks to be a "normal" TV watcher these days

 

[psbfan9]

Same problem here

I also have a bright room. I just bought a LG 47ld650. 47 inch matte screen. So far, so good. The reviews are great on this model. I got mine locally from Sights & Sounds in Northern Indiana.

 

[AVRat]

Get their fat arse up off the couch and go for a walk and enjoy the day!

 

[highfigh]

Hey all.

Just a bit of a rant/open topic for discussion here.

Did I miss something, or are there ZERO matte screen displays anymore?

For the person with a pitch black room, life is easy! You can get a front projection setup, you can use a plasma or, if you don't care about image quality, you can get an LCD (LED backlit or otherwise).

For the person in a dimly lit room (ie. just barely enough light to read by - no more), plasma is your singular best choice.

But what about anything above dim lighting? What about just normal room lighting or (gasp) sunlight?

In the past, I'd recommend that people get a matte-screened LCD. Preferably a full-array, local-dimming LED backlit, matte-screen LCD.

A year ago, there were two good choices: The LG LH90 series and the Vizio XVT3 series.

Now sure, the largest screen size was 55". Sure, the off-angle viewing was still really bad. Sure, there was "blooming". But compared to the washed-out look and grey blacks of plasma or the complete unwatchability of front projection, a full-array, local-dimming LED backlit, matte-screen LCD was the best option!

Today though, there are ZERO good choices for any room that has anything more than dim lighting. Vizio has gone to glossy screens. LG has gone to glossy screens. Sony has nothing but glossy screens. Samsung is all glossy.

So what are people supposed to do?

What are we supposed to recommend?

Are we really supposed to tell everyone that their ONLY option if they want to watch TV is to make sure that they never watch in anything above dim lighting?

I mean, hey, dim or pitch black lighting has always been the ideal option. But c'mon! Let's be realistic!

I just don't know what to do at this point in time. If people have dim or darker rooms, it's easy - get a Panasonic plasma. But for every other situation, there's just NOTHING that I can honestly recommend! Try to find an LH90 or XVT3? That's really the only thing I can say.

Sucks to be a "normal" TV watcher these days

Panasonic has several low-glare screens. Look at them.

 

[FirstReflection]

^^^Glare isn't the issue. Nor are reflections. The problem with plasmas in normal or brighter lighting is that the native "black" of the screen rises to a dull grey. The resulting image appears washed out and the blacks look grey. Under dim or darker lighting, Panny plasmas can't be beat! But with anything more than JUST enough light to read by, that grey, washed out loom starts to show up.

Hope that image shows up. If it does, that's a Pioneer KRP plasma next to an LG LH90 local-dimming LED LCD. The shades are drawn. It's not bright. Just average room lighting. And you can see how grey the plasma looks compared to the LH90! The Pioneer plasmas do a better job of retaining their black levels than the Panasonics! So that's what I'm talking about. Not glare.

 

[clouso]

The best option for bright rooms are still DLP'S....theire screens are very anti reflective and efficient in bright rooms.

 

[fightinkraut]

Although not a full array backlit LED screen, Samsung makes some killer CCFL backlit LCD's still, including the C600 series. I bought a C650 with the glossy screen, but the C630 has a matte screen and looks remarkable excellent when calibrated (set one up at a friend's house just a few weeks ago). It's my current top recommendation for a matte screen LCD.

 

[cschang]

The Vizio 55" XVT3 is still available...they just get picked up quickly. My Parents just got one this past weekend from Costco.

I have owned one for about 4 months and I'm very happy.

 

[j_garcia]

Watch movies at night?

There's a new invention called curtains.

 

[ChunkyDark]

Black out curtains!
Seriously, not trying to be a smart *** here, they can make a huge difference. Plus they also block more road noise and help with heating/cooling bills.
When I was shopping found they were going to be almost 500$ for my ginormous windows So I'm just going to get some of the blackout material and stitch it on myself and save 450 lol.

 

[j_garcia]

Black out curtains!
Seriously, not trying to be a smart *** here, they can make a huge difference. Plus they also block more road noise and help with heating/cooling bills.
When I was shopping found they were going to be almost 500$ for my ginormous windows So I'm just going to get some of the blackout material and stitch it on myself and save 450 lol.

I actually have this problem too, since 2/3 of one of my walls are windows. You can get Eclipse heat/sound panels at most stores including Lowes and Home Depot, Target, Walmart etc... but you will still have to fit them up on yours somehow. I have heavy curtains over sheers, so I am going to put them behind the primary curtains between them and the sheers. The thermal liners that you can attach to typical curtains still cost a fair amount.

In my current place the front of the house faces west and still has LARGE single pane windows. For this room I had to do thermal liners AND curtains to keep the light and heat out in the summer, and it doesn't even get that hot here. Yes, it makes a pretty big difference in temps in winter and summer.

 

[FirstReflection]

I'm in total agreement that getting people to control the lighting in their rooms - whether that's by restricting the time of day or using shades or curtains or even just rearranging the room - is the best option. Like I've said, if people can get their ambient lighting down to dim or less, then plasma steps in as the obvious choice.

But I - and I'm sure, pretty much everyone here - know all too well how difficult it can be to get "normal" people to put ANY extra care into the setup of their displays or audio gear. Most people just want to buy a TV, plunk it down in the most obvious spot and watch right away!

Over the years, I've simply given up on trying to "educate" people whose eyes just glaze over the instant I reply, "that depends" when they ask what TV is "the best". Don't get me wrong, a small minority of people actually want a real answer. But most just want to hear "Samsung!" or "Sony!" because that's about as far as their A/V knowledge goes!

So last year, I was in heaven. People would ask me, "what TV is the best one to get?"

I'd reply, "is your room dim or bright?"

Most people would say, "I don't know...normal...I guess?"

So I'd say, "OK...get a Vizio XVT. Make sure the model says XVT, ok?"

On the off chance that they'd respond, "my room's pretty dark", I'd say, "excellent! Get a Panasonic plasma."

It was so easy - for them and for me

I'm still giving that reply, but now I have to warn them away from the XVT3D Vizio since that thing is a mirror more than a TV - just like all the LG models.

As for the CCFL backlit LCDs - I'm sorry, but I just can't recommend those in good conscience. Every single one I've tested has hideously uneven backlighting and truly terrible off-angle performance. Granted, if you're only watching in a bright room and NEVER watch at night, then that uneven backlighting with the bright corners and cloudy splotches all over the place don't really show up. But in those instances when the room IS dim or dark and you're watching a movie, I just can't recommend to people that they spend their hard earned money on something that performs so poorly. Honestly, not all CCFL LCDs used to be that bad. They're worse now than in the past because every manufacturer is trying to make their TVs anorexic

http://yfrog.com/hsgxyxj

There's a link to the photo I was trying to insert earlier. Never seems to work when I make inserted images on my iPhone

 

[fightinkraut]

As for the CCFL backlit LCDs - I'm sorry, but I just can't recommend those in good conscience. Every single one I've tested has hideously uneven backlighting and truly terrible off-angle performance. Granted, if you're only watching in a bright room and NEVER watch at night, then that uneven backlighting with the bright corners and cloudy splotches all over the place don't really show up. But in those instances when the room IS dim or dark and you're watching a movie, I just can't recommend to people that they spend their hard earned money on something that performs so poorly. Honestly, not all CCFL LCDs used to be that bad. They're worse now than in the past because every manufacturer is trying to make their TVs anorexic (

I used to recommend Panny plasma's as truly excellent, but I have not been impressed by last years line up, the S, G series performed remarkably poorly with SD content, and then there's the whole issue of rising black levels, overall they just seemed like a step down overall. I still recommend them, but with reservations. The XVT series was fantastic for the price, but I'm telling you...get a Samsung C650 calibrated and you'll be mighty impressed. Yes there's minor banding but it's got a killer backlight, and according to some online measurements the black levels are on par with the panny plasma's. Not a Samsung fanboy, but in this case they've earned due respect. If you're ever in upstate SC come on over and check it out.