Bias lighting with curtains behind?

[gingerninja72]

Hi folks, don't know why I didn't think of this before for my Sony XG9005 but am considering some USB powered bias lighting (the popular Luminoodle on amazon). My question is around effectiveness. My TV is about 3 feet back from a bay window with curtains behind (see pics, taken in the morning). Will the bias work OK with these curtains as opposed to a blank neutral wall? I know there's only one way to find out I guess, but any advice welcome!

 

[mikej]

This is probably just a case of managing expectations - your curtains are brightly coloured, patterned and curved around the bay window at a fair distance from the TV which is pretty far from the flat, fairly close, neutral-coloured wall that is ideal for bias lighting.

You will get some effect in the darker evenings but only if the strip is really bright, I suspect. Placing a lamp with a cool white LED bulb behind the TV might give you an idea of what to expect, if you have one ? The advantage of an LED strip fixed to the back of the TV over a lamp is that it'll be neater though and come on and off with the TV (provided your USB sockets are up to the job).

I would stick to white and wouldn't bother with a coloured strip, as I think colours will be 'lost'.

 

[mjbtin]

The main reason for bias lighting is to reduce tiredness eye fatigue as compared to viewing in a dark room,by back lighting the tv there is no need to have other room lights on causing reflections on the screen reducing pq.
This what I am using to good affect cool white dimmable led.

5V USB 0.5M-5M LED Strip Lights TV Backlight Dimmable Warm White Touch Control | eBay

LED Curtain String Fairy Lights 3x3M 3X6M Hanging Wall Bedroom Party Wedding Dec. 10M 100 LED Halloween Witch Hat Hanging Lights Battery Garden Tree Party Decor. Driven by any devices with output 5V USB port, Such as Computer, Desktop, laptop, Tablet, Tab, Car Cigar lighter.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[gingerninja72]

Cheers. Yes am going to steer clear of any coloured strips. But any kind of lighting will help am thinking. My preferred viewing is the afternoon on an overcast day, it makes the blacks black and the picture looks fantastic on this TV. A dark room...not so much.

 

[Jason Rosenfeld]

Just saw your post on the thread inviting me here

If you watch TV on an overcast late afternoon, use a translucent gray curtain and you'll be using the actual D65 sunlight as a bias light. Can't beat that! Just always watch in the late afternoon! As it stands, there's probably much more light than you'd want behind the TV.

Gray light blocker curtains would be great for viewing (with a bias light) but might be too much of a compromise (might make the room too dark and require a lot of fussing to open and close all the time).

You have enough space behind the TV that one of the 220v Mk2 bulbs would probably work great (in a dimmable lamp). I say this because if you like the overcast sun that's what the diffused bulb is going to look like. It's cheaper than any of the bias lights but far brighter at max brightness. The downside it it needs mains power. Seems like a lot of people prefer to power the lights from USB in situations where the TV's USB turns off with the TV. But NOT in situations where they own a Sony TV, I should mention.

If you are using a Lumadoodle (no comment) I'd invest in the remote control and also get an adapter.

Powering bias lights from a Sony android TV isn't for the fainthearted. We have a whole page about it on our website, but I want this post to survive the mods so I'm not sharing it.

To sum it up, there's a Sony Bravia standby bug that impacts pretty much all of their android TVs. Any bias lights (or disc drives) connected via USB will turn of and off approximately every 10 seconds when the TV is off.