SONY KDL32V4000 - Changing colour levels?

[TheDot]

Hey guys, I am a total know-nothing when it comes to AV stuff and finally made the step up to HD before Xmas when I bought my SONY KDL32V4000 from John Lewis.

I have been very pleased with the tv for the price I paid, but one thing is annoying me and that is the changing colour levels, especially in dark movie scenes.

For example, I watch a lot of subtitled foreign films and the clearest change of the black colour level is when say a movie is starting, you have a black screen which looks a nice deep black, and then a subtitle pops up on screen and the once black background turns more greyish.

This is the case in scenes that start off very dark, only for a source of light to enter the scene and the whole colour scheme seems to change. Or for example with subtitles again, the colour of a scene changes when a subtitle pops up.

Its a little annoying as it disturbs my viewing I was just wondering if this is just a common problem with the KDL32V4000? Maybe its just me? Or is there anything I can do about it in the settings?

Thanks a lot

TheDot

 

[schrodingergeek]

Have you got the contrast enhancer (screen settings) turned on? If so, try turning it off.

 

[vialli25]

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but this will have a traditional CCFL backlight meaning to display white text on a black background, it will have to increase the brightness of the backlight to get the whiteness of the text resulting in the once deep blacks to turn a greyish colour. This is because the TV can't increase the backlight for just one particular area of the screen (like the new LED TVs can do). There's not a lot you can do to prevent this happening, it's a limitation of the TV.

 

[TheDot]

Just turned the contrast enchancer off and tried my Godfather blu-ray, and in the transitions between black screen and the studio and title cards it seems a lot smoother.

Tried a DivX file and when the subtitles pop up it still does alter the over colour of the scene. It isnt exactly drastic but is certainly noticeable when watching it a dark room.

Thanks to both of you, at least of The Godfather blu-ray it seemed an improvement without the contrast enchancer, so I will stick with that. As for any others, well thats what I am going to have to live with for buying on my budget

Will most budget LCDs suffer from the same problem?

 

[vialli25]

Any TV with a traditional backlight will suffer this problem to a varying degree. That's why people are excited about LED Backlit Tvs and eventually OLED Tvs.

 

[Nielo TM]

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but this will have a traditional CCFL backlight meaning to display white text on a black background, it will have to increase the brightness of the backlight to get the whiteness of the text resulting in the once deep blacks to turn a greyish colour. This is because the TV can't increase the backlight for just one particular area of the screen (like the new LED TVs can do). There's not a lot you can do to prevent this happening, it's a limitation of the TV.

yes and no

yes, locally dimmable backlight can help produce deep blacks without affecting the surrounding areas (mush). However, mono lit backlight can be fixed so that the output level remain stable.

 

[Nielo TM]

Just turned the contrast enchancer off and tried my Godfather blu-ray, and in the transitions between black screen and the studio and title cards it seems a lot smoother.

Tried a DivX file and when the subtitles pop up it still does alter the over colour of the scene. It isnt exactly drastic but is certainly noticeable when watching it a dark room.

Thanks to both of you, at least of The Godfather blu-ray it seemed an improvement without the contrast enchancer, so I will stick with that. As for any others, well thats what I am going to have to live with for buying on my budget

Will most budget LCDs suffer from the same problem?

Sony sets have advanced contrast enhancer option (aka backlight dimming) and adaptive gamma corrector.

You can disable the contrast enhancer but not the adaptive gamma, which does help to produce better image depth and colors.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-televisions/732697-bravia-tv-need-some-help.html