Contrast Ratio

Simply put the Contrast ratio can be considered as the number of layers between white and black of the image on your screen. Essentially the higher contrast on a projector increases the perception of depth in the image, and means subtle colour variations show up more clearly. Hence subtle textures are more visible. It also means that dark scenes can cope with more ambient light in the room.

"So in a nut shell, you want the highest contrast available"

There are two methods used to measure Contrast Ratio:

Full On/Off - the quoted contrast is a measure between an all white image (full on) and an all black (full off) image.

ANSI contrast - is measured with a pattern of 16 alternating black and white rectangles. The average light output from the white rectangles is divided by the average light output of the black rectangles to determine the ANSI contrast ratio.

Full on/off contrast figures are much higher than ANSI contrast measurements. As with LED Lumens being introduced to make LED projectors look brighter, Full On/Off measurements were introduced to make DLP projectors look higher in contrast.

Never compare ANSI with Full on/off figures.

To highlight the problem take a look at these two projectors, the HP SB21 has an ANSI contrast ratio of 450:1 and a Full on/Full off contrast ratio of 1800:1. If you now look at the NEC SX6000 it has an ANSI of 250:1 and a FO/FO of 400:1. So there is no correlation between the two!

Unfortunatly because Full On/Off makes all projectors look like they have advanced, all manufacturers have adopted it.

Visual difference between Contrast Ratios:

 

 

 

 

Daylight View

Daylight View is a Panasonic technology. It is designed to boost the image to compensate for high ambient light. When switched on it seems to work by boosting the image brightness. But adjusting the brightness alone does not have this effect. Under the hood Daylight view is tweeking the gamma, brightness and contrast.

 

Daylight View - Off

Daylight View - On