How important is the Contrast Ratio?

I'm probably gonna buy a cheap plasma, but some are 4000:1, 5000:1 or 10000:1. Is a lower ratio ok? Does it really make a big difference? thanks for help.

These are specifications by each manufacturer. These can be manipulted to there test inviroment. These are just numbers. The best specks mean nothing about how an item will preform in the real world. How does the plasma look to your eyes.

I'm seeing more and more that the specs provided by manufacturers usually don't mean squat. They use different criteria for measuring, so it's hard to compare one maker's numbers to another maker's numbers.

Take response time: some measure grey to grey, some measure black to white, some measure black to black. Sharp currently uses grey to grey, and their new 37s have an RS of 12 ms, down from last year's 16 ms. But grey to grey is the slowest RS time of all, so that 12ms is often actually faster than someone else's 8ms because theat 8ms is black to white.

Same with constrast.

Best bet is to see which PQ you like best, and read user reviews to see what they say when they put a TV thru the paces.......

Today I finished calibrating a new display with a claimed 2000 to one CR. As the display was fresh from the box, I measured the CR with OOB settings and the actual number was 204 to 1.

After correctly setting the B/W levels, the best it could do while maintaining a good gamma curve was 860 to one. (quite respectable in a real world environment).

Specifications quoted by the manufacturers sales teams tend to be what they consider "best situation" demonstrations which usually are "full on/off" with regards to CR's. Far from a real world test.

Good Viewing,

Doug k

well if they don't mean anything, i'll go by how it looks. I will be going to ottawa to buy it. Where are the best places to shop in Canada? thanks alot eh!

well if they don't mean anything, i'll go by how it looks. I will be going to ottawa to buy it. Where are the best places to shop in Canada? thanks alot eh!

If you want a Pioneer product, go to their website: www.pioneerelectronnics.com and buy from one of their online retailers. You'll save money. If you want a Panasonic product, try www.panasonic.com for an authorized list.

well, i bought a samsung 42" from best buy. I had the best sales guy ever. they gave me a 50$ gift card for waiting over an hour to find that something to do with paying for it with the best buy credit card was down. they matched the price from audiotronic and took off 60$ more. Audiotronic has to be the worst place ever for commision salesman i've ever seen or heard of. I had an extremely terrible experience there. anyways, thanks for all the help.

Low contrast means grayish blacks & dull whites... a generally 'washed out' look.

It's an untrustworthy and meaningless statistic, especially since picture quality is determined by a variety of factors. Buying a good brand is better than buying based on any stat.