Is there anyway I can test how black my TV can get?

I have got a Panasonic PZ800U and I do not feel the TV is getting as black as it should (based on what people on the forum are saying) The picture does not come close to the colour of the trim, despite what everyone else is saying about their TV's)

Is there anyway I can test it? Besides just with my eye? Never had an HDTV before so I do not have any comparisons.

Thanks for your help!

Greetings

Get a test disc and use the pluge patterns to set the black level correctly. Easy enough and can be done within a minute.

That's it ... that's all there is to it. :)


Regards

So any problem I see in black level can be attributed to poor calibration? What if my TV is just malfunctioning?

My biggest concern was that the way people (who had not calibrated) described their Black levels seemed to be better them mine, which lead me to believe I had a problem.

What test disk should I get, and where can I get/download them?

Thanks!

What DVD player are you using?

So any problem I see in black level can be attributed to poor calibration? What if my TV is just malfunctioning?

My biggest concern was that the way people (who had not calibrated) described their Black levels seemed to be better them mine, which lead me to believe I had a problem.

What test disk should I get, and where can I get/download them?

Thanks!

I've never met a Panasonic(CRT or flat) where I didn't have some kind of problem setting the black level. In most cases I've had to set the brightness almost 4/5ths of the way up to see the pattern properly! And that's in a pitch dark room. :eek:

Greetings

Enthusiasts that don't bother to calibrate can seeming get better blacks by crushing detail setting the black level well below where it should be. Sacrifice the bottom 5% of the detail ... sacrifice the bottom 10% ... those blacks get better ... why not go for the gusto and sacrifice all of the detail in pursuit of better blacks.

This is called turning the TV off ... wonderful black levels ... sit back and marvel at them ... impress friends ... best blacks in the industry. 100% of the detail sacrificed to get there ... but man look at those black levels. :D

Regards

Ouch!

Is there anyway I can test how black my TV can get?

I have got a Panasonic PZ800U and I do not feel the TV is getting as black as it should (based on what people on the forum are saying) The picture does not come close to the colour of the trim, despite what everyone else is saying about their TV's)

Is there anyway I can test it? Besides just with my eye? Never had an HDTV before so I do not have any comparisons.

Thanks for your help!

Everybody knows you can't believe much of what you read online. I have had people SWEAR to their dying breath in an online forum that their (non-Pioneer Kuro) plasma display absolutely positively did not have any image retention of any kind. You get a calibrator or some nearby forum member who knows what image retention looks like and within 30 seconds they show the person who absolutely positively did not have image retention that they have image retention.

There are no plasma displays on the market currently, at any price, that have blacks a black as the bezel. Period. Anybody who says theirs is that black cannot be trusted to make observations that are worth anything. I'm sitting here with 1 light on in the room and the screen is ligher than the black bezel and the PDP is turned off.

The "blackness" pecking order goes like this... Black bezel --- noticeable but small gap to very dark 2008-2009 Pioneer Kuro displays --- another noticeable but smapp gap to 2007-2008 Pioneer Kuro displays --- quite noticeable gap to obviously deep gray (not black) on every other 2007-2009 plasma display.

My guess is that your panel is operating just fine. As mentioned by others, just use a PLUGE pattern on a test/setup disc to set the black level correctly. Your PDP will never get darker than that.

So any problem I see in black level can be attributed to poor calibration? What if my TV is just malfunctioning?

My biggest concern was that the way people (who had not calibrated) described their Black levels seemed to be better them mine, which lead me to believe I had a problem.

What test disk should I get, and where can I get/download them?

Thanks!

I bet they put up lovely pictures that show the black bars being just as black as the bezel too?! Funny, I posted some pics of my A550, and a few of them look like they are as black as the bezel too. Not in real life though.

Went to see a Kuro Elite (8G) the other day. Yes, the black levels were impressive (the set was amazing actually), but as Doug mentions above, they still weren't as black as the bezel. Blacker than my Samsung A550, definitely, but not super black. Having owned the Panny 85U, what your seeing is probably a properly adjusted black level for the set. A nice, very very dark shade of grey.