Video Bias Lighting (SMPTE Recommended Practice- CIE D65/6500K White Light Only) - Page 3  

Ugh........... just wasted $15 buck on this horrible 'yellow' backlight rope. Couldn't stand the yellow cast.

IMHO, the 7UY looks FANTASTIC without any backlight. I may try a 'hot' full spectrum backlight.

YMMV

JohnG

shouldn't be wasted. If you got it from Home Depot, just return it. No question asked.

I think the color of the wall paint affect how it look as well. It looks great on mine. Of course, like you said, YMMV.

I'll post some pics later.

I bit the bullet and paid the $55 to cinemaquest and got the full spectrum flourescent bulb and filters. It looks great and I dont have to worry about whether I have any intensity spikes with certain colors. It surrounds my plasma with a soft white-ish glow.

I power it off of my AVR's switched AC output so it turns on and off with the AVR. I used a simple velcro strip to attach it to the back of my Panny 42" 6UY plasma. Took me about 3 minutes to connect it all up. The hardest part was pulling out my AVR and plugging the AC cord into the back.

GREAT add on to my HT.

Bilt,

Do you have a link for the CinemaQuest? Also where exactly did you place it? Does the light go out the top, sides, and bottom?

I was going to buy a rope light, but think that I may prefer the full spectrum light.

Aaron

Try

cinemaquestinc

Dave

Here you go. I got the basic kit in about 5 working days, UPS ground.

www dot cinemaquestinc dot com/ideal_lume.htm

No Direct Linking To Internet Pricing...Please

My HT setup with the ambient room lights on. You can see the glow of the bias lighting faintly on the back wall.

My HT setup with the ambient room lights dimmed somewhat. The white-ish bias lighting is much more visible. It has the lighter of the two CinemaQuest filters on the flourescent tube.

The back of my Panny 42" 6UY monitor with the bias light on. It is stuck in place with a pair of 3" velcro strips at each end of the light fixture.

The back of my Panny plasma with the bias light fixture off.

Thanks for all the pics. Very helpful.

much better, perhaps i'll try that this december. the only thing that concerns me is the heat issue, but as i've heard from ppl that these lights dont really get that hot... ?

I just installed my brand new 42PWD7UY and immediately added the rope light. Light went in without a hitch (unlike the wall mount where I stripped a lag screw), as someone suggested earlier I plugged it into a switched outlet on my receiver so it turns on when the receiver turns on. This will work for now, but I'm not quite sure what I'll do when I route an electrical outlet behind the plasma to avoid having hanging cords. Perhaps I'll need to install a switch of some kind inline.

Anyway, used the Avia disk to fine tune my receiver settings and tune up my Panny and things are looking great. Thanks again for the inexpensive suggestion. I'm not sure any upgrade I've ever done, or will ever do will cost as little.

Grom

came across this thread and immediately decided i was heading to home depot at lunch time.

picked up a 6footer, some black cable ties, some black self adhesvie cable tie mounts and an extension cord... gonna be my afternoon project when i get home today!

thanks for the idea rich, i was on the edge about whether or not to go lume or not, and, for a total of $15.83, i'm sure this will hold me over. i didn't go with a dimmer since i have my wall painted black, figged this will shed enough light to produce a nice effect.

hope to take some snaps when done... hope i have a switch outlet not in use...



thanks guys!!

regular Lume or Lume pro for plasmas? the latter is $99.

Can you build your own with fluorescent fixture and appropriate bulb at home depot? If so, anyone know how much or what pieces?

LOL... juice wrote back to me, i asked him if he had gone thru with this project yet and he said he hadn't had time.

he said, this weekend!!

juice...... get on it!!

so rich, you don't find the 'yellowish' glow distracting over the glow of the tv's picture??

to me, it seems like a warm glow if anything.

The rope light is rated at 36 watts. Check out my photos to see the "warm yellow glow" that surrounds the back of the plasma. Very easy on the eyes and the blacks look better.

I bought this from Home Depot(find it in the outdoor lighting/security area): "Wireless Command" by Zenith/Desa--indoor plug-in lamp control with RF remote which can be used with TWO lamp control plugs or other Wireless Command accessories. The remote has an A and B side to control two accessories. Easy to set the codes with DIP switches. The remote has an on and off button and a dimmer button. Perfect solution. It costs more than the rope light combo! $27.00.

Their site:

http://www.desatech.com/heath/remotehome.html

I finally went out today and purchased the rope light and installed it.

The wall behind our unit is white (painted brick ), so the rope light creates a soft, yellowish glow that surrounds the sides and top of the unit. The difference is immediate, but it took some getting used to for me.

Halfway through the movie my wife and I were watching, I turned the lights off. The difference was pretty stunning. With the ropelight on, our unit seems to have more pop and depth to the image, I'm assuming due to it "reinforcing" the blacks. The only issue I had was it seemed (and my wife didn't have this issue) to make some parts of the movie seem...off. For example, if there was a bright scene with something dark in the center, the dark center area seemed washed out. Again, my wife didn't notice this, but it happened a few times and I couldn't seem to ignore it.

The ropelight is here to stay though, the effect is nice, and it's a great way to have some soft diffused light in the room. It also gives the plasma a weird "floating in space" look, because the light creates depth behind the unit.

One question, I noticed that the ropelight was pretty warm when I turned the tv off. Part of it, due to it being rolled in the package, is resting against the vented area in the back of the plasma. I noticed this after about 2 hours of straight tv watching. Is this ok, or something I should be wary about?

-JR

The "home made duped on ebay" stand is okay. I cant really screw around with the PDP till around Christmas break. Some of us here dont have jobs and are obligated to continue their book learnin'

It's funny as we get back to subjects that were hashed a few years ago...

I remember seeing the first instance of backlighting for plasmas on this forum about 3 years ago. I installed my first light rope then.

Since then, I've replaced my plasma twice and my rope light once...

I'm using a dimmer version now, mostly because of heat issues. The plasma and rope light interact and this concerns me regarding the lifespan of the plasma.

I hooked the light rope so that it is powered by the receiver, so when the system shuts off, the rope light is turned off too.

The non-65K nature of the rope light is only now starting to concern me and the picture above using a small fluorescent might cause me to switch...

How do they interact and why would it be a lifespan issue?

Again, the total watt output is only 36 watts. If you look at some of my pictures, you can see that there are hundreds(thousands?) of vent holes. Just don't put a cable tie near the two fans. Also, use a remote, as stated above, so that the rope light on/off is controlled by you only for nightime(dark room) viewing. I've seen no "interaction" between the rope light and the plasma, except for a more pleasing picture and less eye strain. I only use it at night and only if I don't have a regular lamp on(to read by).

My plasma gets delivered today. I'm going to head over to home depot to see if they sell a 6500K fluorescent bulb and housing. If not, I'm trying the rope lighting. My only concern is which would look better as my wall is dark brown velvet curtains, and the plasma is hanging on dark brown furniture.

What do you think? The 6500K light or the rope ligth?

I think adding a rope light (or any bias light) to the plasma would require us to recalibrate our units. I'm talking of course about AVIA or DVE, etc.

Remember, one of the tips on calibrating is having your eyes get used to the room lighting before calibrating. Well, we obviously calibrated our plasma's before and adding the bias light would affect how colors are being shown on the display.

Am I correct in assuming this?