Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vader2000 
Wow, tons of info Chicolom! Thank you, this is very helpful.
I'll be honest; I've never heard of bias lighting. I just assumed people were installing lights behind their screens for purely aesthetic reasons. But the benefits definitely sound very useful. I'll have to consider it. My only concern would be my setup. I have an entertainment center that I'll be putting the TV in. The opening is 38" wide; the UN40 is 36.5" wide. The entertainment center is deep enough to hold a typical CRT. Behind that is mostly open with the white wall behind; however there's tons of cables hanging in that space from game systems, speaker wires, etc. Would such an enclosed space with a cluttered wall still benefit from the bias lighting? Also, wouldn't using different colors affect the onscreen image? I suppose it could be good if it complemented the image(say blue for nightime stuff or winter scenes), but couldn't it adversely affect the image by creating harsh contrast (red wouldn't fit well with the same winter scene... unless it was a zombie winter scene!).
That's nice that you can tweak the backlight setting without needing to readjust everything else; could be quite a pain otherwise. Thanks for the breakdown of which setting goes best with what application. I like your idea of using the auto-dimming for enhancing quick dark-to-light changes. Does it ever get to the point where the novelty of it wears off and you feel the need to game in Move mode? Or is it subtle enough to not get annoying?
Bias lighting needs to shine light at a wall and have the wall act as a diffuser to spread the light, so it might not work too well in an entertainment center : \
Changing the color of the bias lighting to match the color of the scene can be effective because it makes the image appear like it stretches beyond the borders of the TV frame. Like setting the light color to white or light blue for snow/winter, green for grass/forest, etc.
Ambilight is a term for when the bias light automatically changes colors to match whats on the screen. It's actually a term coined by Phillips, as they use it on some of their TVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HBx9j64KcUg#t=134s
You can make your own DIY ambilight system, but it only works on video run through your PC AFAIK, and it won't help for consoles, BD players, etc.
http://amblone.com/demo
http://www.ambilight4pc.com/
Mine can only do manual colors from a remote, but I might look into a DIY ambilight setup in the future. I would like it to work for consoles though, and I'm not sure if there any way to do that.
I think the auto backlight dimming is subtle enough that you don't notice it too much. It's a little more obvious in movies then in games, since you don't have control over the shots/camera like in games.
You only need to use it in dim lighting at night. Turning it on during the day or brighter lighting is pointless as your eyes can't even see the blacks getting any deeper.
But I pretty much leave it on all the time for games. TV and movies it depends on what I'm watching and when I'm watching it.
Any chance you could peruse my question too? It's just above.
