Can't Figure Out Varying Black Levels In Dim, Dark Scenes.

[o{O}o]

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I have Samsung 50" P9 Plasma and Toshiba HD XE1 hd dvd player connected with HDMI.

Movies, etc are watched in total darkness.

I have been mystified about the dark scenes of movies sometimes not being black enough.

I have been frustrated that no picture settings on the TV or HD DVD player could improve them.

Could it have been a special sequence of starting the equipment up that would cause the dull blacks

or make them perfect ?

With dvd using component I can always improve the blacks easily for every movie, etc.

Have been having a quick test of the sci-fi horror "The Thing" hd dvd movie.

Cannot get the very dark scenes black enough.

example:- a very dim, dark scene in the movie is the start of Chapter 18; Kurt Russell and another actor are talking in the snow-plough at night.

The blacks are not black at all.

Tried everthing possible to make them black but cannot.

I compare with the "2001" hd dvd movie and all the dark scenes - mainly black space scenes with none or not many other objects on screen -

the blacks are very black indeed, perfect.

This prompted me to write that it must be the HD DVD disc transfer / formatting that is the only cause.

And reviews cannot always be true - Highdefdigest.com "The THING" Hd dvd - Review

says the "Blacks are also deep throughout" - viewing and equipment conditions can be different; does he watch in complete darkness, their system is NTSC, etc.

Anyone else been mystified by varying black levels watching HD DVD using HDMI and you can't do anything about it ?

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Edited July 1, 2008 by o{O}o

[50mxe20]

Called crashed blacks.

Yes the XE-1 is notorious for this.

Mine was fixed when I got the plasma calibrated.

One thing you can try is to change the black level setting from 'hi to lo' (or "lo to hi"), I can never remember which it is,

Essentially what this means is instead of the dynamic range being 0-255 its some other interval like 17-238 (again I can't remember the exact settings). The other thing you can do is change the contrast and brightness etc but when I did this I started getting crushed whites.

Actually re-reading what you wrote, maybe you have the opposite problem.

but try the setting changes I've suggested anyway.

You can also load the DVD Essentials SD DVD and try calibrating yourself.

Although it might be better to get the HD version.

[50mxe20]

Three threads about problems with the XE-1.

Maybe you should have just started one thread called "XE-1 Problems".

Anyway, did you sort out the blacks issue mentioned above?

[o{O}o]

Three threads about problems with the XE-1.

Maybe you should have just started one thread called "XE-1 Problems".

Anyway, did you sort out the blacks issue mentioned above?

It is not crushed blacks problem.

It is like a black wall with an old style bulb torch being shone onto it which casts a very feint light tint on the blacks,

instead of being pure black.

The current conclusion is, it is the HD DVD movies' fault - in this case "The Thing".

NO......TV or HD DVD player settings can make the blacks black in the dim dark scenes for this movie.

It is they way it was filmed / authored / transferred to hd dvd disc.

In the last scenes of the movie - when they were planting the explosives in the tunnel at night time,

the dull blacks were really obvious.

[50mxe20]

I hesitated to say it was a display issue.

The test would be to take it to a shop (or a friends) where they have an Pio lx running and see if it is better.

I will get around to watching "The Thing" one of these days.