LG shows off G Platform plasmas with 30000:1 contrast ratio

by Darren Murph posted Oct 24th 2007 at 2:00PM

If a 20.8-inch QXGA LCD was just enough to get your HD juices a-flowin', LG's latest bunch should really get you wound up. On display at FPD International 2007 in Japan, these "G Platform" plasmas claim to trump any other PDPs in the contrast department, as every one of them features a 30,000:1 ratio. Additionally, the company noted that color reproduction has been improved by "optimizing the panels' color phosphors and utilizing dielectrics," and there's also the 100Hz refresh rate to eliminate blur / flicker. Reportedly, the displays will be available in Q4 of this year in 32-, 42-, 50- (HD) and 50- / 60-inch (Full HD) models, but your guess is as good as ours when it comes to pricing.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

Filed under: Displays, LG, Plasma

Tags: contrast, contrast ratio, ContrastRatio, g platform, GPlatform, lg, pdp, plasma

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Highly Ranked

TrentD @ Oct 24th 2007 2:52PM

We're going to have to start inventing new numbers if the CE industry doesn't slow down their ridiculous and misleading contrast ratio claims!

At this rate we'll be to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000:1 Contrast Ratios by 2009!

Neutral

Corrado @ Oct 24th 2007 4:49PM

Agreed Trent, contrast is one of my annoyances in current and last gen flat panels, its even more annoying due to the fact you don't know what figure to believe, they all test according to different standards and maybe even in different conditions.

Saying all that, I honestly don't believe the public even understands the contrast ratio problem, one of the benefits of OLED we are led to believe is its contrast ratio, but in my opinion you will have two same size sets in a retail store, one LCD and one OLED and the customer wont be able to see the contrast difference, so they will end up buying the less expensive LCD.

Neutral

zoltek @ Oct 24th 2007 4:54PM

agreed

"untrained" eyes cant tell the difference in contrast ratio, and even if they did its hard to tell in a department store all they show are bright colorful scenes not dark dim scenes

Neutral

h4ldol @ Oct 24th 2007 6:01PM

Finally, a plasma that can do justice to the PS3 and Blu-ray. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Highly Ranked

HDguru @ Oct 24th 2007 7:58PM

h4ldol, what are you talking about? Current Pioneer Kuro plasmas are the single best flat panels available. More than does an outstanding job for any HD source.

Highly Ranked

TrentD @ Oct 24th 2007 10:26PM

Ignore H4ldol - check his posting history. He exists on Engadget exclusively to promote the Blu-ray format and degrade HD DVD.

Highly Ranked

DoctorX! @ Oct 25th 2007 1:04AM

Man, I just read all of h4ldol's comments. He is one serious trolling BluRay fanboy. I hope HD "DUD" wins just to spite him and his ilk. There is nothing superior about BR!!

Neutral

GhostDoggy @ Oct 25th 2007 3:20AM

Contrast ratio is nothing more than the difference between measured brightest non-blooming white peak and dimmest non-crushing black. I have never anyone using a flat-panel display in a light-controlled environment and expect critical viewing at low light levels (e.g. to see shadow detail).

Of course, you could have a rather high-measuring black level and a ridiculously high white peak value and get a large ratio as well. Flat-panels, like rear-project televisions and direct-view (boob-tube) televisions were designed for ambient lighting and not critical viewing of shadow-detail.

In either event, who owns equipment that can actually measure the lowest insinuated light level to prove or disprove marketing claims by the manufacturers? I'm betting that 99.99% of the shoppers don't have it, let alone understand contrast ratios.

Then again, maybe some of you are not looking for the shadow detail because the viewing environment already sets the 'black level'. Then we need to start talking perceived blacks and not real blacks.

Neutral

JeffDM @ Oct 25th 2007 7:54PM

Ideally, how you describe it is the way it should be measured. I really don't trust manufacturer specs because most marketing departments are at least somewhat weasel-ish. They want the biggest number they think they can get away with and I wouldn't put it past them to ask that the testing methodology be adjusted to get the numbers they want. You'd know they are being at least somewhat serious if they give out a spec for the ANSI contrast ratio test, because that's a figure that generally reflects what you'll likely get in actual practice.

The sites and magazine reviews that do measure it often report lower CR figures. Lumen figures with projectors are usually off as well. The same kind of shenanigans go on when makers report response times, different makers using the same panels in the same mode often show different response times, it's just based on how they chose to measure it.

The same goes for watts on amplifiers, they might measure one channel at a time maxed out to get the watt rating and multiply that by the channels, "500W", when the system might puke at 120W output to the speakers when used in multi-channel mode. Not that that really matters that much, I measured my use and found that typical power needed was less than 1 watt per channel.

Getting back to contrast ratio, for most people, I think anything beyond 1k:1 in real contrast ratio is fine.

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