Viewing Environment: Example 1

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Jason,

Mustard yellow...not my personal favorite. Seriously though, the SMPTE
recommendation for professional monitor environments is light gray to white.
They use the Munsell Color Order System as their reference. You can find this
reference solution on our web site. The Kodak 18% gray card is also frequently
suggested since it is usually found in camera shops. It is a fairly dark shade
of gray but truly neutral. A mixture of shades of neutral in a pattern,
varying textures or wall hangings, drapes, vertical blinds with a room color on
one side/gray on the other, etc., make for more interesting design applications
than a solid color.

Those who have taken the trouble to provide a neutral backdrop are impressed
with how much richer and natural their color TV appears, day or night. The
performance of a video display cannot be divorced from the viewing environment
in which it resides. These topics address the human perceptual component in a
display system. When the viewer is included in the system design equation,
humans always benefit. Viewing environment principles are not "snake oil" as
some have asserted, and not even optional, if imaging science has anything to
do with achieving optimum image quality.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown

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> Mustard yellow...not my personal favorite.

Agreed but boy the designers like it... My wife being one and that is
exactly what is behind the TV in the family room.

Richard F. Fisher

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My color isn't exactly 'mustard' but has some tan in it that makes a
good match with my furniture and a painting that I got in New Zealand
last year.

This is my living room


Do you think having this color behind my tv is altering my perception of
the colors on the TV, even considering I watch 90% with the lights very
low or off?

Incidentally, here is the painting.


Jason Burroughs

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Family rooms are typically subject to conflicting priorities and uses. We're
all faced with limitations or obstacles in life that require working around
them. If it's the only location for critical TV viewing in the house, neutral
drapes or some other convertible backdrop can fill the bill. I have a business
associate who decorated his entire main floor in dominant neutral grays with
occasional accent colors and stainless steel. It's very modern, elegant and
distinctive. A little immagination can work wonders.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown

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Jason,

With your lights up, I'd call your viewing environment nearly a worse-case scenario. If the lights are low in the room it will
help. Total darkness will induce eye strain. Many people who habitually watch TV in a totally dark room don't realize how much eye
strain they are experiencing because we carbon-based life forms tend to be so adaptable. The comments I've heard from non-technical
new users of bias lighting usually make reference to a greater sense of relaxation.

Our eye/brain interface perceives degrees of color shift much more readily than a shift in brightness. When the surrounding
surfaces near an image are colored, the psycho/optical response is subtractive in color space. In other words, using the CIE
chromaticity diagram [ http://home.wanadoo.nl/paulschils/10.02.htm ] , a yellow surround would subtract yellow from the TV's image and shift our perception towards blue. There would be a subtle blue emphasis in the image. One consequence of this action would cause flesh tones to turn slightly blue. This occurs in the brain.

There is another problem that occurs as well. In a dimly lit or dark room, a bright scene on the TV would tend to illuminate the
opposite wall. In your case, yellowish illumination would then be reflected off of the TV screen. SMPTE recommends that the
surfaces in a viewing environment that are not within the viewer's field of vision with the monitor screen be "nearly-neutral." The
Munsell Nearly-Neutrals are pastels that vary in "value" or from dark to light. Dominant use of vivid colors is to be avoided where
critical viewing is to take place.

Most TV owners in the universe could care less. Casual "watching" of TV hardly justifies all these special measures. I don't
consider my fellow HDTV Mag Tips List-ers as casual viewers. Most avid HDTV aficionados would object to someone placing a pale
yellow filter over the front of their mega-buck investment. I don't ever recall noticing anyone in the movie theaters I've attended
wearing colored lenses. It's doubtful visitors to The Louvre would want to wear tinted glasses. These analogies are very close to
what is occurring in video viewing environments today. Such conditions can be tolerated and understood in multi-purpose living
areas but not in dedicated home theaters or where optimum viewing conditions are desired.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown, President

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Alan, you make some good points and I want to ask a couple more
questions...

1. the wall behind my couch is mostly a big window with white/offwhite
curtains and shade. How much difference does that make in how 'off' I am
seeing the color on my tv?

2. what would you propose to correct my situation with the least
intrusion? I just had my house remodeled and the vaulted ceiling put in.
I'm not keen on repainting at this time, but could put up a painting or
something on the wall behind the tv to cover that portion of it, if
possible.

I will take a picture tonight of what the place looks like in my usual
lighting. Since I got some new track lighting to highlight the painting,
and have a fairly dim light in the opposite corner, I tend to have those
two lights on when watching movies. I'm wondering if you'd suggest I
turn out all lights and include the bias light for the optimal lighting
scenario.

Jason Burroughs

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Jason,

#1. That backdrop would be classified as nearly-neutral. It appears from the linked image that your RPTV has no shiny screen
protector. That helps a lot by cutting down on the reflections. Too bad the stone on the left isn't behind your TV.

#2. The backlighting would be an improvement over the other illumination, but only if it would shine on a neutral surface. A large
art work would help, if hung above the TV. Something woven, like a tapestry or native rug, with neutral colored fibers, might fit
in with your design scape. Anything that is acoustically absorbent would also help your center channel speaker's performance.
Dialog would be much better focused and defined.

You already have what appears to be a primarily neutral element in your room. The stone on the left is what I'm referring to. I'm
no interior designer, but pleated drapes that match what's on the windows (or using the neutrals in the stone) hung behind your TV
with 2 inch fiberglass acoustic absorber panels on the wall (but hidden by the drapes) wouldn't look that bad. The acoustic panels
can simply be 2' x 4' raw duct board from an HVAC supplier. You would be impressed with the improvement in speech intelligibility.

Your sound will improve a lot if you also make the drapes behind your couch as heavy as possible.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown