lcd screen test pattern brands

With LED-backlit LCD TVs, gray uniformity issues are caused by a couple of factors. LCD panels are pretty sensitive to pressure, so extra pressure caused by misalignment of the TV"s components or by mishandling of the panel during manufacturing or shipping could lead to defects appearing. Also, too much pressure can affect the backlight and how much light it diffuses, which causes some areas to be darker. Size may also have an effect because it"s harder to keep a larger screen uniform, but since we only test one size of each TV, we can"t draw any conclusions about this.

LED and OLED TVs use different technologies to display an image. While LED TVs are really LCD TVs backlit by LED backlights, OLEDs don"t have any backlighting and instead turn each pixel on and off. As such, they perform differently when it comes to uniformity. For the most part, OLEDs tend to have better uniformity, and there are rarely any issues. LED TVs can suffer more from uniformity issues, especially if their backlight is edge-lit and not direct LED. However, we can"t confidently say one TV will have better uniformity than another just because of the backlight or panel type.

We test gray uniformity on monitors the same way as on TVs. While you can"t compare the final scores, you can still compare the standard deviations and the pictures. Generally speaking, there isn"t a big difference in the total standard deviation with the 50% gray image on LED-backlit TVs and monitors, as they can each suffer from backlight bleed along the edges. The big difference here between monitors and TVs is the amount of dirty screen effect in the center. Monitors rarely have that issue, and only four monitors have worse DSE than the best TV we"ve tested.

This is expected from monitors because you need to have a uniform screen when browsing the web with large areas of solid colors. Monitors are also smaller, so it"s easier for the backlight to provide a uniform screen.

Although it may seem like gray and black uniformity are the same, they test for different things. The gray uniformity test is meant to see how well the TV displays a single uniform color, but black uniformity is to see if there"s blooming around bright objects. You may see some issues that are the same in both, like vignetting, but the tests aren"t exactly related.

Unfortunately, gray uniformity is entirely down to the panel you get. There isn"t much you can do to improve gray uniformity as it"s down to panel lottery. You can try massaging the screen with a soft cloth to relieve the pressure, but this is a delicate technique, so it may be best to not do it if you"re unsure of yourself.

Gray uniformity refers to how well a TV display a single, solid color across the screen. It matters for content containing a large area of a single color, like with sports, where bad gray uniformity affects the appearance of playing surfaces. For each TV, we take two photos of different shades of gray, calculate the standard deviation of the color values of the pixels, and then calculate the amount of dirty screen effect that"s present in each picture.

Unfortunately, there aren"t many steps that you can take to improve gray uniformity – it’s entirely down to the panel you get. You can try massaging the screen, but that"s hard to do. If you find yourself with uniformity that you can"t live with, you should exchange your TV for a different unit, or even a different model.

Poorly designed backlight. LED-backlit LCD monitors require a backlight to show the image on the screen. The position and quality of these backlight systems have an impact on the uniformity of the screen. Many monitors only have a strip of LEDs at the top or bottom of the screen and use a series of diffusion films behind the LCD panel to create an even backlight. Unfortunately, not all of these designs are made the same, and edge-type backlights will often have a visible backlight that looks like a distracting bright strip on one of the edges of the screen. However, some higher-end monitors have direct LED backlighting with LEDs placed all over the screen, resulting in better uniformity. Learn more about different types of backlights on TVs here.

Lenient manufacturing and uneven frames. LCD screens are made of many layers, and most of these are flexible. When the monitor is being built or transported, some of these layers likely bend. These can cause uneven diffusion of light which leads to clouding and backlight bleed.

Uneven intensity of the lighting. Sometimes, the LEDs themselves have manufacturing issues. This leads to certain areas of the screen having stronger backlight than others which leads to very visible uniformity issues in blacks but also colors and greys.

Monitors use different panel technologies to produce an image. Most monitors use LCD panels, of which there are different types. VA panels are known for their high contrast ratio, so they display deep blacks, but it doesn"t mean they have good black uniformity, as seen with the AOC CQ27G2 in the When It Matters section. The more common IPS panels have a low contrast ratio, which we can see with the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQL1A above. On average, VA and IPS panels have about the same black uniformity, but it depends on the model. There"s also a rare third panel type, the TN panel. It usually has the worse uniformity, as you can see here.

There"s another panel technology that"s different from LED-backlit monitors: OLED. These types of displays don"t have a backlight and use self-emitting pixels to display an image. Because of this, they have perfect black uniformity with no blooming around bright objects as they can turn off individual pixels. These monitors get a perfect score of ten for our black uniformity, but there are only a handful of OLED monitors we"ve tested, as they"re more common with TVs. Below you can see what an OLED looks like compared to an LED monitor.

IPS glow refers to a specific type of uniformity issue that, as the name suggests, is most common with IPS-type LCD monitors. Unlike normal uniformity issues, the cause for IPS glow is mostly the screen"s vertical viewing angle, which is why it often appears at the corners.

In a normal viewing position with your eyes being level with the center of the screen, the corners of your monitor are at a much steeper angle than the central areas. These areas of the screen can start to show the artifacts that appear when using your monitor beyond its viewing angle. Colors and brightness shift, and parts of the screen with very slight backlight bleed appear to worsen.

Unfortunately, you can"t do much to mitigate IPS glow except adjust your viewing position. The way to make sure the IPS glow is caused by the vertical viewing angles and not backlight bleed is by shifting your point of view. As you go up and down the screen, if you notice the edges further away from your eyes start to shift color, then this is the IPS glow.

If you have minor clouding, you can also try a common technique that occasionally helps. With the monitor on and displaying either a black frame or our test pattern, look for the brighter areas of the screen. Using a soft cloth, gently massage the brighter spots. It might take a while, but it can be effective. Make sure to be quite gentle, though, as pressing too hard can damage your monitor.

If you often use your screen in the dark, ambient lighting behind your screen can greatly reduce the visibility of uniformity issues and greatly enhance perceived contrast.

As your monitor heats up and gets used for the first few weeks, it can get better as internal parts settle in properly. Sometimes, just a little time can help parts that were moved in shipping get placed properly. This is also why we display a warm-up video on our monitors before testing them so that the pixels aren"t "cold".

Our black uniformity tests are different from the gray uniformity tests because we see how well the monitor displays a bright object on a dark screen. The gray uniformity tests are for displaying a single color across the screen. You can learn more about them here.

We test for the black uniformity on a monitor to see how well it displays a bright object on a dark screen. This test is important if you tend to use your monitor in a dark environment, especially when viewing content with dark scenes, like video games or movies. A monitor with bad black uniformity can get distracting. We take a photo and measure the standard deviation of the black uniformity, both with the local dimming feature enabled and disabled. A monitor"s panel technology impacts the black uniformity, but it varies between units, so no two monitors are alike.

This selection contains several patterns that enable you to check your monitor’s calibration. The gamma patterns (left and middle) must be viewed on a monitor; they do not work in printed media. Reset pattern restores the default values, H = 0, S = 0, L = 1, and Gamma = 2.2.

This chart enables (shown below) you to set the black level (brightness) and estimate display gamma over a range of 1.2 to 2.8 with accuracy close to ±0.05. The gamma pattern is on the left; the black level pattern is on the right. Before using the chart, CRT monitors should be turned for on for at least 15 minutes. For flat screen (LCD) monitors, Screen resolution should be set to the monitor’s native resolution (right-click on the wallpaper, Properties, Settings).

Gamma is estimated by locating the position where the average luminance across the gamma pattern is constant. The corresponding gamma is shown on the left. You should be far enough from your monitor so the line pattern is not clearly visible. The example below shows what to look for.

Your monitor’s gamma should be set for 2.2 (for Windows systems).Gamma = 2.2 for the Internet-standard sRGB color space and the popular Adobe RGB (1998) color space. 1.8 was the standard for older Macintosh systems and prepress file interchange (Mac users, see Ian Lyons’ Mac Calibration page.). Many laptop LCD screens cannot be accurately calibrated because gamma is extremely sensitive to viewing angle (though my 2018 Asus Zenbook is better than I expected).You can adjust gamma using Quickgamma (a great free program) or a hardware calibrator (details here).

Black level (brightness) Your monitor’s brightness control (which should actually be called black level) can be adjusted using the mostly black pattern on the right side of the chart. This pattern contains two dark gray vertical bars, A and B, which increase in luminance with increasing gamma. (If you can’t see them, your black level is way low.) The left bar (A) should be just above the threshold of visibility opposite your chosen gamma (2.2 or 1.8)– it should be invisible where gamma is lower by about 0.3. The right bar (B) should be distinctly visible: brighter than (A), but still very dark.

The image on the right shows the middle gamma pattern enlarged 4x. The upper part of this image, to the right of Standard, uses the same black-to-white sinusoidal variation as the Gamma and black level chart. The color patterns appear when the Alt pattern colors (T & B) box, located just to the right of the Gamma slider, is checked

When this image is displayed normal size (not enlarged; below) on a good quality monitor, the R-C, G-M, B-Y, and Standard patterns appear nearly identical.

Middle: Gamma pattern. This pattern will look uniform when the gamma slider (just below it) is set to the correct monitor gamma. It is very sensitive: it can measure gamma to better than ±0.05 accuracy: The spatial frequency of vertical bands is set close to the the frequency where the human eye’s Contrast Sensitivity Function is maximum for typical viewing situations.

A checkbox labeled Alt pattern colors (T & B) is located just to the right of the Gamma slider. When this box is checked, three bands (six total) appear near the top and bottom of the gamma pattern. Instead of the standard gamma pattern’s normal black-to-white sinusoidal variation, individual lines vary from Blue-to-Yellow, Green-to-Magenta, and Red-to-Cyan. In a normally functioning monitor these bands appear the same neutral gray as the standard pattern, but they could look strange in a defective or poorly calibrated monitor. Unchecking this box speeds image refresh.

Right: HSL rainbow patterns. These patterns are used for a rough visual estimate of the monitor’s color performance. They should appear well-saturated and have smooth color and tonal gradations (no abrupt changes). Laptops typically look very different from well-calibrated LCD or CRT monitors.

Here we would like to show you a simple method to check LCD display quality. You can get a good idea of whether the basic display quality is good or bad just by looking at how some simple test images are displayed, just like in the introductory quiz. First of all, we would like you to get a sense of how important it is that "image data can be properly displayed" by checking the display of the LCD that you currently use, (that"s right, the one you are using to view this page!).

The test items use colour / monochrome patterned images to check gradation expression, and simple images to check brightness / chromaticity variation. Downloads are available of several test images, such as gradation patterns. We would like you to display the downloaded test images in photo retouching software or a viewer that can reproduce colour accurately. As we mentioned at the start of this article, you have to be careful as in many cases colours cannot be displayed accurately in web browsers. (Currently only a few browsers such as Safari and Firefox 3.x can handle colour management).

Before starting your visual check of the display quality, please return to your LCD"s setting to default, and select Adobe RGB or sRGB as the image quality mode. If these modes are not available it is fine to set the colour temperature to 6500K and gamma to 2.2. If you cannot adjust the colour temperature and gamma, simply adjust the brightness and contrast so that they are easier to discern. Of course, if it"s an LCD environment that has been colour calibrated it"s OK to leave it as it is.

The average LCD takes some time for the monitor to stabilize after it is switched on so, after start up, please wait at least 30 minutes or so before doing the test. (Most EIZO monitors are an exception to this as they are equipped with our proprietary dimming function and the monitor stabilizes in a short time after start up.)

We would also like you to adjust the monitor stand so that things like the room"s lighting are not reflected on the screen. You have to be particularly careful with products that have a glare (glossy) type screen as they are highly reflective. Visual assessment is impeded when ambient light is reflected. It will be much easier to make an assessment if you turn off the room lights at night and exclude as much ambient light as possible. This applies for both glare and non-glare (matte) types.

•What is Our Grade A LCD Monitor:: LCD Monitor is in Good physical and working condition, LCD screen is bright and nice and there is no bruise, blemish or Dead Pixels/Bright Pixels(dead or defective pixels.), since the LCD is used so casing does have minor scratch or scuffs comes from normal use.

•What is Our Grade B LCD Monitor:LCD Monitor has gone through our extensive Test program and is in working condition, but has some issue preventing us from selling them as our normal "Grade A" monitors. LCD Monitor maybe has some bruise, blemish ,Dead Pixels/Bright Pixels(dead or defective pixels.),scratch or scuffs on the screen or case.

MCSE engineer stands behind our products to ensure 100% satisfaction with your purchase.All units are thoroughly tested and must meet stringent quality standards before leaving our warehouse.(Used)

Advocates of the new CLO spec argue that since three-chip projectors and single-chip projectors create white and color values differently, the ANSI lumen spec is not a valid way to compare their brightness. Certainly, if a 3LCD projector and a DLP projector both measure 3000 ANSI lumens (which is a measure of white brightness only), that means they can both project a white test pattern of equal brightness. But, they point out, who watches a white test pattern? Isn"t it more important to know how bright projectors are when displaying full color images? And though the 3LCD and DLP both produce 3000 ANSI lumens of white, the color images on the DLP projector will often be dimmer than they are on the 3LCD. The CLO spec, it is argued, takes color brightness into account and gives buyers more info about the projectors they are evaluating.

"Not so fast, there bub," say those who object to the CLO spec. Though CLO measures color brightness, it does not take into account color accuracy. In order to get the highest ANSI lumen and CLO ratings out of a 3LCD projector, you must run all three chips wide open. And if the UHP lamp behind them has a green bias as they typically do, then the white light on the screen will have a green tint. So you may have a projector rated at 3000 ANSI lumens of white light and 3000 lumens of Color Light Output, but the picture looks bad anyway because the color balance is way off. Since the CLO spec does not address color balance, it gives buyers nothing new or important about the projectors they are evaluating.

Meanwhile, DLP engineers can compensate for green lamp bias with a larger red filter, so the white light from DLP is often a cleaner, more neutral white than you"d normally get from a 3LCD projector with all chips wide open. And if you try to calibrate out the green bias on the 3LCD its lumen output drops, sometimes a lot, and the ANSI lumen and CLO specs may no longer be relevant. So how does the introduction of a new brightness spec that is flawed in the same way the ANSI lumen spec is solve anyone"s problem?

ANSI lumens: The ANSI lumen spec measures the brightest white that the projector can produce. It is measured by taking meter readings on a projected 100% white test pattern. The number you derive from the readings, say 3000 ANSI lumens, is the maximum brightness of white that the projector is capable of.

Color Light Output ("CLO"): The CLO method is similar, but instead of using a 100% white test pattern, one uses red, green and blue test patterns instead. Separate meter readings are taken for red, green, and blue, then added together. This time if we end up with 3000 lumens, that is the maximum brightness of color that the projector is capable of. So it is called color brightness, or color light output.

All three-chip projectors, whether DLP, 3LCD, or LCoS, have three independent color channels for red, green, and blue. In order to produce white, all three color channels are turned fully on. So by definition, maximum color light output and maximum white light output are always the same. If a projector measures 3000 ANSI lumens, it will also produce 3000 lumens of Color Light Output.

The test shoots in this article illustrate that the ANSI lumen spec and the new Color Light Output spec can both be misleading, but for different reasons.

Despite its flaws, the CLO spec does point to a real difference between three-chip projectors vs. single-chip DLP projectors. These two different technologies often do produce pictures that contain quite different amounts of color information. When a 3LCD projector and a DLP projector with a white filter have the same ANSI lumen rating, the DLP may produce noticeably dimmer full color images. To that degree, the "white only" ANSI lumen spec can be viewed as misleading and biased in favor of single-chip DLP projectors. In theory, the CLO spec is intended to remedy this bias.

Those who do not support the CLO spec say that its only real purpose is to point out a particular weakness in DLP technology without drawing attention to related flaws in 3LCD technology--most commonly, the unattractive blue/greenish tint you get when the 3LCD projector is in its brightest operating modes. And from a practical perspective, since most vendors will not publish CLO specs, they cannot be used as points of comparison in the same way that ANSI lumen numbers typically are. So in the end, detractors insist that CLO should be seen for what it is--a marketing tool used by 3LCD promoters rather than an official spec that has been accepted and embraced by the industry.

Nevertheless, though the new CLO spec is indeed a marketing-driven venture by those who promote 3LCD technology, the fundamental point that CLO makes is valid: the traditional ANSI lumen spec utterly fails to provide buyers with an accurate apples-to-apples comparison of how bright projectors really are when they are used to display full color images.

To see how DLP and 3LCD projectors can differ in their display of color, we selected two WXGA projectors (one 3LCD and one DLP) built for larger conference room applications. They had similar ANSI lumen specs above 5000 lumens, and both were rated at 2000:1 contrast. Since the goal of this study is to explore the weaknesses of 3LCD and DLP technologies as they relate to ANSI lumen and CLO specs, by prior agreement with those who supplied us the test units we will not disclose the models used. We are grateful to those who contributed the equipment, and for their willingness to support this study.

To guarantee screen neutrality we used an 11-foot wide Studiotek 100 supplied by Stewart Filmscreen. Our thanks to the folks at Stewart for providing this product. The Studiotek 100 is a perfectly neutral white, 1.0 gain screen, and it is ideal for this type of comparative evaluation. We placed the projectors on racks and projected two 5-foot wide images onto this screen so we could take simultaneous screen shots of both.

SO...given that this is the case, in this 3LCD vs. DLP test we set up the projectors two ways and took side-by-side comparison shots in each:Test # 1. Brightest Mode, No Calibration: In the first series of test shots we put the projectors into their factory defaults for their brightest operating modes. This shows what they do out of the box with no adjustments, just selecting their brightest configurations. Set up this way, we get the maximum lumen output along with some obviously degraded picture quality.

Test # 2. Reduced Brightness, Improved Picture Quality: In the second series of test shots we adjusted color balance and contrast on both projectors to produce the brightest pictures possible consistent with a more neutral color balance and a sufficient rendering of detail in the highlights. The light output was reduced, color quality on both units improved, and the pictures looked much better.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The results of this test are valid only for these two particular models, not all LCD and DLP projectors in general. These two test units show image characteristics that are common in commercial/business projectors but not home theater. Furthermore, business-class DLP projectors can be designed with a variety of color wheel configurations that will produce different results. Typically, home theater DLP and 3LCD projectors are optimized for maximum color quality, not maximum light output, and the results herein do not apply.

These pictures show how these two projectors look in their brightest pre-programmed operating modes, typically called either Dynamic or Presentation on most projectors. Settings are in factory defaults, so this is the way they perform out of the box.

The most obvious difference is that the LCD has a decidedly blue/green cast to the image, whereas the DLP is comparatively neutral. The DLP is actually slightly warmer in color temperature than neutral, but its white is much closer to pure white than we get with the LCD. Its gray values appear gray, without any apparent color tint.

ANSI Lumens: By official ANSI lumen standards the DLP projector is the brighter of the two. Its official rating is 1000 lumens higher than that of the LCD. Our meters indicate that the LCD model is producing 4545 ANSI lumens in this mode, and the DLP is at 5800, or 28% brighter on white measurements.

Color Light Output: As per the previous discussion, the CLO number on an LCD projector will always equal the ANSI lumen value. In this case, the sum total of red, green, and blue luminance values adds up to 100% of white (or what passes for white) on the LCD. On the other hand the CLO number on this DLP projector in this maximum brightness operating mode measures about 1300 lumens of color light output, or just 22% of white.

2. This is a resolution test pattern, but for our purposes here it reveals more about the color bias on the LCD. Notice that it is decidedly blue in the lower to mid-tone values, shifting to cyan as it gets brighter, then to green in the highlights. This chart is supposed to be neutral gray and white, pretty much as it appears on the DLP. What this chart reveals is that any picture being shown on the LCD projector (in this uncalibrated bright mode) will have a cool bias. Mid-tone gray objects will always appear blue. Whites will have a greenish tint. Skies and blue water will appear bluer than they are in the original source, and skin tones will look sickly.

The color bias on the LCD projector can be calibrated out, but the brightness of the picture will be reduced. We will see that in the second set of test shots later in this article.

3. On this standard color bar test pattern, compare how these two projectors are displaying it with the ideal pattern below. Neither projector is displaying it correctly, but the errors are quite different. And of the two, from a color accuracy perspective, the 3LCD is doing a better job than the DLP. Its red bar in particular is much closer to accurate than the DLP"s dim, brownish tone. Cyan is also reasonably accurate on the LCD compared to the teal on the DLP. On the other hand, the LCD suffers from a lack of saturation--none of the colors are as rich and vibrant as they should be. Blue and magenta in particular are downright pastel.

The DLP projector"s interpretation of the color bar pattern is quite poor. Red is brown, magenta is purple, cyan is teal, and with the notable exception of white, they are all dull.

Leaving aside color accuracy for the moment, it is easy to see from the screen shot that the LCD rendering of this pattern is substantially brighter than that of the DLP. This goes directly to the point that advocates of the CLO spec try to make: This DLP projector measures 28% brighter on a white pattern, but the LCD is able to generate substantially brighter color values. So if you intend to project full color subject matter, the ANSI lumen spec is not a valid measure of brightness between LCD and DLP projectors (that is, single-chip DLP projectors with white filters in their color wheels).

4. A couple of wine glasses show how these errors translate into real life. Here, the red color of the wine is obviously more vibrant on the LCD. The dimmer brownish red we saw in the color bars above manifests itself here with a relatively weak rendering of the wine. On the other hand, contrast is much better on the DLP. The wineglass is much better defined against the brighter white background. On the LCD you see the undesirable tonal shift in white, and the glass merges with the background--the highlight detail is missing. This can be fixed on the 3LCD projector by reducing contrast at the expense of overall image brightness.

5. A shot of a city at night reveals the latent advantage in contrast and black level that DLP projectors often have over their LCD counterparts. Though the image is much brighter on the LCD, it is bluish and dull compared to the DLP projector which presents this particular scene much more successfully despite a bias toward green. This can also be fixed with an adjustment on the LCD, but again at the expense of image brightness.

In these tests we tended to notice more digital noise on the 3LCD projector, and it was quite abundant in dark scenes like this one in which it is visible even in the small screen shot.

6. Here is a scene with very little color content. The DLP projector does a much better job with this image than does the LCD. It is more neutral in color and higher in contrast. For any type of subject matter that has little color the DLP (in its brightest dynamic/presentation mode) will have a latent advantage. That includes everything from financial spreadsheets and text documents to black and white photography.

7. This image is a mix of gray and colored elements. The background is actually middle gray, and the DLP projector presents it fairly accurately while the LCD interprets it as blue. The colored pencils are brighter on the LCD and their color tone is closer to accurate, but they lack saturation and are too pastel.

On the DLP projector, while it gets the gray background correct, its color shows greater inaccuracies. The yellow pencil appears as olive green and the orange appears to be a deep, solid brown. But the white highlights on the glass are correct on the DLP while appearing blue-green on the LCD. The LCD picture is brighter, the DLP picture is higher in contrast. Neither image is a faithful reproduction of the source signal.

As an aside, on some of these screen shots you will notice some brightness uniformity issues, and it is most obvious in this image--the LCD is darker on the right, and the DLP is darker on the left. This is due to some vignetting in the wide angle camera lens used to make the screen shot, not to any uniformity problem with the projectors.

8. An example of high color saturation. The flaws we have seen in previous images appear here as well. The LCD colors shift toward undersaturated pastel, the highlights are blown out, and the image has a bluish tint overall. Meanwhile, the DLP colors are much more saturated, but dimmer with significant inaccuracies---yellow appears orange, cyan appears green, and red appears dark plum. The DLP does a much better job holding detail in the highlights, but the picture is relatively dim.

The LCD projector is certainly much brighter, and many might say more successful. With a bit of calibration to reduce the overdriven highlights, the LCD will look a great deal better. Promoters of the CLO spec are correct to point to the inadequacy of the ANSI lumen spec which rates the DLP projector 1000 lumens brighter than this LCD. Clearly with full color images the LCD is able to put a brighter image on the screen, and in many cases it will be the more compelling image.

9. This is a good example of disaster on both projectors. The LCD projector is blowing out highlight detail, and colors are not as saturated as they should be. However, there is no question that the LCD"s picture is much brighter than the DLP. The saturated red areas measure a whopping four times brighter.

This configuration on the DLP projector has the "Brilliant Color" control at its maximum setting, which means it is pumping out as much white light as possible. Bright whites against subdued color create increased contrast. The green stems are slightly darker than ideal, but there is much more balanced detail in them than is apparent on the LCD. The big problem is that the reds really get hammered in this image.

10. In this scene of pastel colors the DLP image appears to be higher in color saturation than the LCD. Most would agree that the DLP"s rendering is the more successful of the two. In this situation the DLP"s subdued color brightness renders the subjects darker, which contributes to the impression of higher saturation and contrast. However, there is significant color shift. The ball of yarn in the middle is supposed to be blue as it is on the LCD, but it is teal. The yellows show an olive green bias as well.

Meanwhile, the overdriven contrast on the LCD reduces saturation, and the blue-green bias interferes with color interpretation. These flaws combine to produce a decidedly poor result. Both of these flaws can be substantially reduced as we will see in Test # 2, but getting rid of the blue-green tint and reducing contrast to bring back highlight detail will reduce the total lumen output of the LCD.

11. The DLP projector has a clearly superior image with this subject. The tonal values in the face appear to be reasonably accurate, whereas the LCD renders the young lady"s face with very little detail and a decidedly green bias. The red tones on the DLP are much darker than they should be, as this is a bright red kimono and bright red lipstick. But the combination of good contrast, neutral gray tones and poor color accuracy combine to create an image that, while not accurate in some respects, is certainly more attractive.

11. I do black and white photography in my spare time--this is my photo of Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley. When it comes to presenting my work on the large screen, the DLP projector has two big advantages. First, the neutral gray scale is vital. The LCD"s blue tint can be largely calibrated out, but once that is done the projector is about 60% of the white brightness of the DLP projector.

Second, this DLP projector has an advantage over the LCD in "ANSI contrast," which is the range between black and white in a given frame. What this translates to is more image detail being retained in both the highlights and the shadows/dark areas. You would not know this from the specs since both of these projectors are rated at 2000:1 Full On/Off Contrast. Unfortunately, few vendors publish ANSI contrast specs. But for reasons of both gray scale neutrality and inherent contrast, the DLP is the better of these two commercial projectors for the display of b/w photography.

12. This image reveals how key weaknesses of both projectors can affect PowerPoint presentations when they are run at maximum lumen output. The LCD"s tinted image reduces contrast and makes it harder to read than it otherwise would be.

However, the DLP projector has a big problem here as well. At first glance the DLP appears to be the more successful of the two images. But if you look closely on the 3LCD image you can see that the bars in the graph have numeric data on them. The LCD"s much brighter bar color makes this data visible, whereas the DLP"s very dark coloring on the bars pretty much eliminates any ability to see and read the data.

If you are preparing a PowerPoint presentation using full color graphics, be aware that the colors you see on your computer screen can be radically reinterpreted when they are displayed on commercial/business class LCD or DLP projectors in their brightest modes. Your presentation should be previewed on the projector itself to make sure you don"t end up with problems like those in this image.

13. In this full color PowerPoint slide the vibrant color on the 3LCD projector makes the overall picture brighter and the text easier to read. Especially in ambient light, the extra color brightness helps. Keep in mind that this DLP projector as it is currently calibrated measures 28% brighter on an ANSI lumen basis. But that is for white only. In this image the LCD"s yellow is 80% brighter than that of the DLP. The only element that is brighter on the DLP"s image is the white text "Usability."

This series of screen shots illustrates the various problems we might encounter when running projectors in their brightest, maximum lumen settings. What happens when we apply some color and contrast adjustments to our projectors while sacrificing some brightness? Let"s go on to Test # 2 and take a look...

IMPORTANT NOTE: The results of this test are valid only for these two particular models, not all LCD and DLP projectors in general. These two test units show image characteristics that are common in commercial/business projectors but not home theater. Furthermore, business-class DLP projectors can be designed with a variety of color wheel configurations that will produce different results. Typically, home theater DLP and 3LCD projectors are optimized for maximum color quality, not maximum light output, and the results herein do not apply.

In this second series of shots we see what happens when we calibrate both projectors for better color balance and contrast, and we set them to an equal ANSI lumen output.Resetting the LCD projector. The calibration adjustments have taken most of the blue-green bias out of the picture. The contrast control was reduced substantially to allow highlight details to display properly. Brightness was reduced to deepen black levels. All of these changes were at the expense of image brightness. After adjustments the ANSI lumen output (white brightness) dropped about 24% from 4545 lumens to 3450 ANSI lumens.

Resetting the DLP projector. In the first test the DLP was putting out 5800 lumens of white light, and the color brightness was 1300 lumens, or about 22% of white. For this test we reduced the white light output to 3500 ANSI lumens to match the LCD, while keeping color values the same. This was done by reducing the "Brilliant Color" control, in this case cutting it in half. The end result was that color light was still measuring 1300 lumens, but it was now 37% of white instead of 22%. Increasing the percentage of color information relative to white improves overall color performance, as you can see in the following test images.

1. After calibration, most of the blue tint that was obvious on the LCD projector in the first test has been eliminated. These are not home theater projectors so a perfectly neutral grayscale is difficult to achieve with the high light output. The objective was to move the LCD as close to a neutral gray scale as possible while still maintaining substantial light output. There is still some subtle blue bias in the mid-tones, but it is not nearly as blue as it was. The green tint in the white is gone. The contrast control was reduced substantially to bring highlight details back into the pictures.

Meanwhile, the DLP projector is now set to an ANSI lumen white output of 3500 lumens to match the 3LCD. The highlights show a slightly warmer than neutral tone, and the lower light levels still contain a bit more green than is ideal. But the two projectors are essentially equal in white light output. Color balance, while not home theater perfect, is well within tolerable limits for commercial applications.

2. With these calibration adjustments, the color bar test patterns look somewhat improved. The LCD projector is slightly more saturated, the DLP is slightly brighter than it was. The most obvious difference between the two projectors is still that the colors on the LCD are brighter across the board. Red in particular remains substantially weaker on the DLP than on the LCD. This weakness in red will show up in a variety of ways in real life images.

3. In this high saturation image the LCD projector displays an obviously brighter picture. However, if one focuses on the white strip, the DLP projector appears to be higher in contrast.

The apparent contrast advantage of the DLP comes from two factors we"ve already seen--the reduced color brightness increases the difference between white highlights and color subject matter, and DLP projectors generally have a greater range of white to black in a given scene than do LCD projectors.

In this scene of pastel colors we see the same trade-off as in the higher saturation scene of colored paper. The LCD projector is once again brighter, and the DLP"s image is not as bright but is higher in contrast and has more apparent color saturation. The LCD"s blue values are double the brightness of the DLP, and its yellows are 50% brighter. But the lower color brightness on the DLP renders the colors darker, so they look higher in saturation and the picture looks higher in contrast. So here the lower color brightness actually ends up producing a more pleasing, if less accurate image.

Since the white component has been reduced substantially on the DLP, color light as a percentage of white has been increased. This improves color accuracy. In this configuration, the blue ball in the center is now blue rather than teal as it was the first time. Yellow is still off a bit, but these errors are not as pronounced as they were in the first test. Reducing the "Brilliant Color" control tends to improve color on many DLP projectors as it does on this one.

5. This is another example of low saturation colors. The LCD projector is rendering the scene with more accurate color and brightness balance. In the actual theater the 3LCD is obviously brighter, though the process of taking a screen shot and reproducing it on a monitor tends to neutralize the apparent difference. But the darkening of the red foliage on the DLP (which is an error) creates higher contrast. Many people might say they prefer the way it is being displayed by the DLP due to the higher contrast.

6. Recall that prior to calibration the LCD projector was interpreting the background of this image as blue. With the color adjustments, it does a much better job seeing the background as gray, though it retains a more subtle bluish tint.

In this image the LCD has an advantage in color brightness and accuracy. According to the spot meter, the yellow pencil is 50% brighter on the LCD than on the DLP, and it is rendering a reasonably satisfactory yellow. The DLP"s yellow has a shift toward olive once again. The orange pencil is double the brightness on the LCD compared to the DLP. Here again the DLP shifts orange toward brown though not as badly as in the first test; in this image the orange pencil still retains an orangish hue, where before it was fully brown.

Also notice in this scene that white values (the bread) are about equal in the two images, whereas the color values are quite different in brightness. The LCD does a better job in this scene of producing a more natural balance of illumination.

8. This image illustrates the subtle effects of a weak red channel. The LCD image in this scene is brighter, but only by about 20% so not enough to make a difference in most situations. The larger problem here is accurate flesh tones. Lighter skin tones require a bit of red to make the skin look naturally warm, or pinkish. The weakness in the red channel on the DLP projector shifts the young woman"s skin tones toward a less attractive gray-green hue.

9. Color is never the only issue in picture quality. Other contributing factors include dynamic range, black levels, digital noise, color uniformity, and image sharpness. DLP projectors can often outperform LCD on some or all of these aspects of image quality. This DLP projector outperforms its LCD counterpart in dark scene detail and black level, which is not unusual.

Now that this LCD projector is calibrated, this scene looks far better than it did in its maximum brightness mode. Its black level rivals the DLP without losing much detail. Brightness can be reduced even further for a deeper black at the expense of shadow detail, if that were desired.

This comparison of two particular DLP and 3LCD projectors shows that the traditional ANSI lumen spec and the new Color Light Output spec can both be highly misleading, but for different reasons.

Despite the flaws it has in common with ANSI lumens, the CLO spec does point to a real difference in how color and white light are created on three-chip projectors vs. single-chip DLP projectors. Practically speaking, the CLO spec is used as a marketing tool to highlight what several 3LCD vendors see as a weakness in the design of single-chip DLP projectors. The DLP vendors counter with the claim that the white filter is no weakness at all, but rather the extra white light increases the brilliance and apparent contrast of the picture and thus should be viewed as a benefit.

Setting aside the marketing rhetoric, this study shows that the color limitations in single-chip DLP projectors can be real. To that degree the proponents of CLO make a valid point. Buyers should be aware that an LCD and a DLP projector with the same ANSI lumen rating may not deliver the same brightness of color images. However, the fact that CLO is not based on any color balanced standard leaves it open to much of the same criticism that ANSI lumens suffers. In this test, our LCD projector lost 24% of its brightness after adjustments to remove the blue/green tint and to regain highlight detail. So if a projector is rated at 4000 Color Light Output lumens, but only produces 3040 lumens once the picture actually looks good, that is something buyers should know as well. But the CLO spec remains silent on this issue.

Definitely some interesting results and comments. Thanks. I"m wondering if for Powerpoints in Test 1 you looked at anything like pie charts or line graphs that use multiple colors. Given the results in the Color Bar Test Pattern it might be interesting to see how Powerpoint presentations that are trying to differentiate information by color would tend to fare on each in a room with lots of room lighting on.

It would be interesting to take this same evaluation and conduct it a year later or with say a 1000 hours on the projectors. Change the lamp and run the same tests again.

I"m guessing you would not get the same results on the LCD projector due to color decay from the organic compound in the LCD panels (chips). You could have a severely yellowish image from color decay and still meet the CLO ANSI lumen specifications.

This is the big advantage in my opinion for DLP projectors over LCD projectors. Same color from one year to the next regardless of how many times the lamp is changed.

Many LCD chips today are inorganic, so I don"t know how relevant that is today, and I would also figure a true head-to-head test would be difficult as there are so many other factors, whether testing with brand new units, or older units with thousands of hours on them. For instance, it"s been my opinion that most entry-level projector that use lesser DLP chips don"t look as good (overall) as their LCD counter parts. Consider the Epson 5030UB and/or 6030UB and the Panasonic PT-AE8000U when compared to anything buy BenQ, Optoma, Vivitek, etc. for the same/ similar money. There are longevity issues, maintenance issues, and other set-up parameters to discuss as well, but in general... simply talking to the light output and it"s perception in the image quality of the projector... I think LCD wins every time over DLP. When you start climbing the food chain a bit and start considering "better" LCOS units and DLP units, this changes some, but the bulk of the projectors purchased for home use are well under $5k and for those buyers it"s hard to surpass the overall image quality of the LCD projectors offered in this pricing category.

Chris, I don"t know where you are getting your information. First - no one knows exactly which LCD models have inorganic LCD chips, and many brands don"t disclose this- so why you would you say that the #1 subject on the Projector Central forum is not relevant to a consumer anymore? Secondly, on what basis are you making the claim that DLP projectors use "lower quality parts"? Based on the Amazon top seller list today, the top four 1080p projectors are DLP, before a LCD projector is ranked. I have a hard time believing that they have "lower quality parts", when there are also sub $1k 1080p LCD projectors as well. I think the article shows that the image quality of a projector is not defined by a single spec, and this is where reviews by both this site and consumers really help consumer"s decision making on a projector - regardless of the technology.

Hey all, I just purchased a 730hd Epson with lCD and this is my first purchase of a projector. I"m wondering if I made a mistake for 2 reasons. First, it"s 720p and does not do 3d. Second, will the LCD remain viable over time and product the best image? I"m considering swapping it out for Optoma DH1011 or a ViewSonic PJD7820HD.

Projection technology has been around for a long time now - both DLP and LCD projected images look great. I feel confident recommending both technologies without hesitation. If a customer is not happy with an image after adjustment, most projector manufacturers will assist customers or swap out the projectors.

The only companies really disputing this fact are the manufacturers of LCD panels and DLP chips. The DLP camp has not run a negative campaign for years, but this year at INFOCOMM, an LCD manufacturer had a side by side demo calling out the benefits of CLO. In the demo, both projectors were displaying images in high bright mode and both images were over-driven, and were not really acceptable, but the DLP image looked worse. When the settings were changed to a more user friendly mode, both projectors looked pretty good.

At INFOCOMM there were several amazing LARGE screen displays that called out the benefits of projectors, including edge blending, LED, laser, interactivity, and digital signage. The industry needs to focus on the big picture and not components.

All the projectors you are considering have their merits. First consider your requirements - how much ambient light is in the room, what type of screen are you using, what size screen and what will you be watching?

It would be excellent to have you guys run through this test again using three of the most popular "cheap" home theater models. The Optoma HD25-LV (or similar) with a 2x, 6 segment (RGBCWG or RGBCYM) color wheel, the BenQ W1070 with the 6x RGB/RGB color wheel, and a Epson 2030 or 3020 model.

While dedicated home theater users may typically not care, for those with family room environments, non-dedicated spaces, or larger screens, the importance of getting post-calibration real world color brightness figures really seems like an important specification that can"t be found anywhere else.

One of the most comprehensive, well explained articles explaining (and showing) the differences in DLP and LCD color and brightness quality. Seeing the images side by side really helps...

Possibly a more difficult test to create but I think it would be very useful for the art, education, business and home cinema buyers to understand which light source works best for their application.

This article was the most informative I"ve read so far. Being not very experienced in projector purchasing, the information given here answered so many questions. Thus helping me to make a very informed projector purchase. The actual visual tests were great. Thank you very much.

I see a lot of pico projectors now saying 1800 lcd lumens. But the manufacturer wrote that this is equivalent to 250 ANSI lumens. Why do they do this? Why not stick to ANSI as a measure of brightness? More importantly is there a conversion chart so I can see roughly what these LCD quoted lumen projectors are in terms of comparison to those that write their lumens in ANSI format. Yes there are other pico projectors that just state lumens in ANSI format only. How can I compare these pico projectors with each other if they are using different units of measurements for their brightness. I understand some pico may be using different technology eg lcd vs a halogen lamp.

I"ve currently an optima pico projector at 100 ANSI lumen. I bought a 3000 LCD lumens pico projector by another manufacturer but how will it roughly compare to the optoma one?

CLO is real. DLP ANSI brightness does not compare to 3LCD ANSI brightness. Comparing the tw now, the DLP is at least half as bright as the LCD even though they both have ANSI rating.

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Advocates of the new CLO spec argue that since three-chip projectors and single-chip projectors create white and color values differently, the ANSI lumen spec is not a valid way to compare their brightness. Certainly, if a 3LCD projector and a DLP projector both measure 3000 ANSI lumens (which is a measure of white brightness only), that means they can both project a white test pattern of equal brightness. But, they point out, who watches a white test pattern? Isn"t it more important to know how bright projectors are when displaying full color images? And though the 3LCD and DLP both produce 3000 ANSI lumens of white, the color images on the DLP projector will often be dimmer than they are on the 3LCD. The CLO spec, it is argued, takes color brightness into account and gives buyers more info about the projectors they are evaluating.

"Not so fast, there bub," say those who object to the CLO spec. Though CLO measures color brightness, it does not take into account color accuracy. In order to get the highest ANSI lumen and CLO ratings out of a 3LCD projector, you must run all three chips wide open. And if the UHP lamp behind them has a green bias as they typically do, then the white light on the screen will have a green tint. So you may have a projector rated at 3000 ANSI lumens of white light and 3000 lumens of Color Light Output, but the picture looks bad anyway because the color balance is way off. Since the CLO spec does not address color balance, it gives buyers nothing new or important about the projectors they are evaluating.

Meanwhile, DLP engineers can compensate for green lamp bias with a larger red filter, so the white light from DLP is often a cleaner, more neutral white than you"d normally get from a 3LCD projector with all chips wide open. And if you try to calibrate out the green bias on the 3LCD its lumen output drops, sometimes a lot, and the ANSI lumen and CLO specs may no longer be relevant. So how does the introduction of a new brightness spec that is flawed in the same way the ANSI lumen spec is solve anyone"s problem?

ANSI lumens: The ANSI lumen spec measures the brightest white that the projector can produce. It is measured by taking meter readings on a projected 100% white test pattern. The number you derive from the readings, say 3000 ANSI lumens, is the maximum brightness of white that the projector is capable of.

Color Light Output ("CLO"): The CLO method is similar, but instead of using a 100% white test pattern, one uses red, green and blue test patterns instead. Separate meter readings are taken for red, green, and blue, then added together. This time if we end up with 3000 lumens, that is the maximum brightness of color that the projector is capable of. So it is called color brightness, or color light output.

All three-chip projectors, whether DLP, 3LCD, or LCoS, have three independent color channels for red, green, and blue. In order to produce white, all three color channels are turned fully on. So by definition, maximum color light output and maximum white light output are always the same. If a projector measures 3000 ANSI lumens, it will also produce 3000 lumens of Color Light Output.

The test shoots in this article illustrate that the ANSI lumen spec and the new Color Light Output spec can both be misleading, but for different reasons.

Despite its flaws, the CLO spec does point to a real difference between three-chip projectors vs. single-chip DLP projectors. These two different technologies often do produce pictures that contain quite different amounts of color information. When a 3LCD projector and a DLP projector with a white filter have the same ANSI lumen rating, the DLP may produce noticeably dimmer full color images. To that degree, the "white only" ANSI lumen spec can be viewed as misleading and biased in favor of single-chip DLP projectors. In theory, the CLO spec is intended to remedy this bias.

Those who do not support the CLO spec say that its only real purpose is to point out a particular weakness in DLP technology without drawing attention to related flaws in 3LCD technology--most commonly, the unattractive blue/greenish tint you get when the 3LCD projector is in its brightest operating modes. And from a practical perspective, since most vendors will not publish CLO specs, they cannot be used as points of comparison in the same way that ANSI lumen numbers typically are. So in the end, detractors insist that CLO should be seen for what it is--a marketing tool used by 3LCD promoters rather than an official spec that has been accepted and embraced by the industry.

Nevertheless, though the new CLO spec is indeed a marketing-driven venture by those who promote 3LCD technology, the fundamental point that CLO makes is valid: the traditional ANSI lumen spec utterly fails to provide buyers with an accurate apples-to-apples comparison of how bright projectors really are when they are used to display full color images.

To see how DLP and 3LCD projectors can differ in their display of color, we selected two WXGA projectors (one 3LCD and one DLP) built for larger conference room applications. They had similar ANSI lumen specs above 5000 lumens, and both were rated at 2000:1 contrast. Since the goal of this study is to explore the weaknesses of 3LCD and DLP technologies as they relate to ANSI lumen and CLO specs, by prior agreement with those who supplied us the test units we will not disclose the models used. We are grateful to those who contributed the equipment, and for their willingness to support this study.

To guarantee screen neutrality we used an 11-foot wide Studiotek 100 supplied by Stewart Filmscreen. Our thanks to the folks at Stewart for providing this product. The Studiotek 100 is a perfectly neutral white, 1.0 gain screen, and it is ideal for this type of comparative evaluation. We placed the projectors on racks and projected two 5-foot wide images onto this screen so we could take simultaneous screen shots of both.

SO...given that this is the case, in this 3LCD vs. DLP test we set up the projectors two ways and took side-by-side comparison shots in each:Test # 1. Brightest Mode, No Calibration: In the first series of test shots we put the projectors into their factory defaults for their brightest operating modes. This shows what they do out of the box with no adjustments, just selecting their brightest configurations. Set up this way, we get the maximum lumen output along with some obviously degraded picture quality.

Test # 2. Reduced Brightness, Improved Picture Quality: In the second series of test shots we adjusted color balance and contrast on both projectors to produce the brightest pictures possible consistent with a more neutral color balance and a sufficient rendering of detail in the highlights. The light output was reduced, color quality on both units improved, and the pictures looked much better.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The results of this test are valid only for these two particular models, not all LCD and DLP projectors in general. These two test units show image characteristics that are common in commercial/business projectors but not home theater. Furthermore, business-class DLP projectors can be designed with a variety of color wheel configurations that will produce different results. Typically, home theater DLP and 3LCD projectors are optimized for maximum color quality, not maximum light output, and the results herein do not apply.

These pictures show how these two projectors look in their brightest pre-programmed operating modes, typically cal