HDTV Forum

It appears that Philips' marketing and engineering departments took a trip to some resort together, got stinking drunk and cooked this mess up:

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/re ... 4tool.html

What a fiasco! For a more detailed explanation of how they have incorporated this otherwise potentially beneficial feature check:

http://www.press.ce.philips.com/upload/ ... ochure.pdf

Their version of backlighting is apparently INTENDED to ruin the picture on their expensive new TVs and/or induce vomiting in the viewer!

Nice idea for parties, I guess. Let's break out the blacklights and incense.

Just when we think we're gaining some ground in educating the manufacturers and consumers about the importance of adhering to sound principles of imaging science, a major manufacturer pulls a stunt like this. The correct implementation of 6500K backlighting can greatly improve display performance and viewing comfort. Philips has provided a classic example of "what it is NOT"!

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown, President
www.cinemaquestinc.com

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"

Might not be a bad idea if you use your plasma to show off artwork photo's (that are setup as a slide show) but I would hate to watch a movie with some of those glowing colors.

The science is right, an ambient light (less than 10% of the peak white output of a display device according to the SMPTE) does reduce iris activity but I think they didn't read the part that said it needed to be a 6500 kelvin white light source.

Tall Paul

Philips does mention having a white option that may or may not be close to D65 and may or may not have a setting at less than 10% of peak white on the display. They emphasize achieving some emotional impact upon the viewer by using the LED "light show" options. Just their ad got an emotional response from me!

I've been told that two Japanese flat panel TV manufacturers also have plans to build LEDs into the backs of their products. It will be interesting to see what develops from all of this. Too bad Philips' initial offering sends such mixed messages.

The concept is so simple to understand. It's refreshing, from one angle, that more attention is being paid to viewing environment conditions for TVs. The benefits of properly implemented backlighting are substantial. Too bad it may be perceived more as a curious toy, rather than a genuine necessity.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.
www.ideal-lume.com

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"

Wait a minute..."Too bad it may be perceived more as a curious toy, rather than a genuine necessity."

It's LCD flat and Plasma television which are being sold because they are sexy and "toy-like". Is adding a light show to the back end of the display that much of a stretch?

I have to think that an ample back-lighting option is better than what the Philips flat-panel customer would have otherwise.

While their marketing is fairly weak to the trained reader they do touch on some stuff that is accurate. That's amazing considering the marketing source. Philips might finally be listening to some of those really smart fellas over in the Netherlands.

Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to criticize before finding the positive in all of this?

Just a thought.

Stevej

I can understand your points. There are many positive aspects in what Philips has done. Controversy draws more attention than agreement, however. The part of their pitch I agree with the most is where they quote my web site verbatim. I should be flattered that it's me their listening to. As a matter of fact, it's positively wonderful that discussion of display viewing environment issues has reached the mainstream now!

That doesn't negate the reality that they're promoting feature options that will corrupt the image, diminish its performance as a television, plus foster misunderstanding and confusion for the consumer. They still never say if there is a D65 setting or that it also is a major part of the SMPTE recommendations. Philips mentions sensors that "continuously adjust the intensity" of the backlight. I suppose that's OK if the viewer is continuously varying the peak white of the display. For the plasma in particular, encouraging this can result in permanent damage. They make a number of statements in their brochure that are complete nonsense, from an imaging science point of view.

The further we get away from the thinking that a TV should serve as the canvas to faithfully display an original artwork upon, the less likely we'll be able to find one that will. My motive here goes way beyond an interest in my own products or services. It irks me to see such a perversion of display standards after so much work has gone into attempting to set the record straight. Leadership can be nice but not when it leads others into a ditch. "Blind leaders of the blind" in this case are industry leaders who probably know better. If they do know better, then that's a whole different problem, isn't it?

I wonder, how many calibrators are called in to work on plasmas that were purchased as a toy vs how many are hired to calibrate plasmas acquired to serve as serious video displays? Is this worthy of a poll? Nah!

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.
www.ideal-lume.com

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"

I agree with Alan here and think that if you take the time to read through the brochure regarding the Pixel Plus 2 features that you'll see that Philips are doing their best to continue to mislead and misinform customers and the media.

To cite just one example from the brochure:

--------------------------
Sharpness & Resolution

The most important features of Pixel Plus 2 are the enhanced sharpness and resolution enhancements. The most sophisticated aspect of this video processing component and the core of the entire video chain is the totally unique sub pixel based Horizontal and Vertical Luminance Transient Improvement. First the incoming signal is scaled to a maximum resolution of 2,560,000 pixels per picture. Then, the value of each individual pixel is altered to better match with the surrounding pixels resulting in a true natural picture. Pre- and after-shoots for luminance are created in an intelligent controlled way by Active Control, resulting in an enormously sharper, crisper picture with more depth impression.
---------------------------

FWIW, my favorite part of this excerpt is "altered to better match with the surrounding pixels resulting in a TRUE NATURAL picture" (emphasis added).

Of course, none of this is new and has been going on for years and years.

What is interesting is that it appears that a majority of consumers when they think about digital displays (plasma, LCD, DLP, LCOS) and digital inputs (DVI), they reach to the errant conclusion that digital is "cleaner" and more faithful to the original source.

For this reason, I suspect that customers generally see even LESS need for calibration than they did with CRT displays.

This issue about digital vs CRT picture integrity was discussed at some length on HDTV Magazine's "HDTV Tips" eMail discussion group in the past week, and even though the members of this group are generally better informed and more aware than the general public, the idea that digital displays would be more faithful certainly seems to be the majority view among that group.

Regards,

Doug

Clearly Resolved Image & Sound
St. Louis Metro Area
www.clearlyresolved.com