Need a specific TV any suggestions

[chef333]

Hello,

My name is Jason and I do forensics for a living in the States.  One thing we are asked to do sometimes is videotape a certain condition from a particular persons view, often it will be a driver or a pedestrian.  In these situation lighting is always an issue, was it possible for the driver to see the pedestrian or was it too dark.  Commonly what we do is go out to the scene and recreate the conditions (time of day, moon, street lights,etc) and see for ourselves.  We will then record our findings with professional level camera (Red Cam) and take many many light readings. 

Here is our challenge ...  If I show that video on 100 different tv's their will be 100 different images of that video, and none of them might be right.  So the next step is to measure the light readings coming off the monitor until they match the measured readings out at the scene.  As you can imagine the better the TV the easier the final step can be.  So looking for:

1) TV that is the most uniform across the screen (no hot spots)

2) has linear luminance values across the screen.  For example 128 gray has 50% luminance values as 255 white.

3) Cost less than 4k

Any idea guys?

[tele1962]

Hello,

My name is Jason and I do forensics for a living in the States.  One thing we are asked to do sometimes is videotape a certain condition from a particular persons view, often it will be a driver or a pedestrian.  In these situation lighting is always an issue, was it possible for the driver to see the pedestrian or was it too dark.  Commonly what we do is go out to the scene and recreate the conditions (time of day, moon, street lights,etc) and see for ourselves.  We will then record our findings with professional level camera (Red Cam) and take many many light readings. 

Here is our challenge ...  If I show that video on 100 different tv's their will be 100 different images of that video, and none of them might be right.  So the next step is to measure the light readings coming off the monitor until they match the measured readings out at the scene.  As you can imagine the better the TV the easier the final step can be.  So looking for:

1) TV that is the most uniform across the screen (no hot spots)

2) has linear luminance values across the screen.  For example 128 gray has 50% luminance values as 255 white.

3) Cost less than 4k

Any idea guys?

Wow mate good question but i am thinking the Panasonic VT30 range.

[David Mackenzie]

Hi Chef333,

As you've discovered, your job absolutely necessitates having whatever display you use accurately calibrated. As you've seen, you'll see 100 different abstractions of what you've shot if you leave it up to the TV manufacturers.

You need Plasma display technology for the most uniform image. I don't think there is any consumer TV that has entirely consistent luminance across the screen, but the Plasmas  don't have visible issues here.

You may be better looking at Professional models (Panasonic do a professional Plasma range and you can probably speak to someone at Panasonic USA who would be able to see to your exact needs).

If you do go consumer, Panasonic TX-P50VT30 or Samsung PS51D8000 would be good choices. Just remember to have them calibrated (search www.imaging-science.com for a calibrator near you) because they will be wacky out of the box.

[chef333]

Hi Chef333,

As you've discovered, your job absolutely necessitates having whatever display you use accurately calibrated. As you've seen, you'll see 100 different abstractions of what you've shot if you leave it up to the TV manufacturers.

You need Plasma display technology for the most uniform image. I don't think there is any consumer TV that has entirely consistent luminance across the screen, but the Plasmas  don't have visible issues here.

You may be better looking at Professional models (Panasonic do a professional Plasma range and you can probably speak to someone at Panasonic USA who would be able to see to your exact needs).

If you do go consumer, Panasonic TX-P50VT30 or Samsung PS51D8000 would be good choices. Just remember to have them calibrated (search www.imaging-science.com for a calibrator near you) because they will be wacky out of the box.

Thanks for the input guys.  The challenge with Plasma is that they are extremely sensitive to movement, and what ever we get would have to be moved from lab to courtroom.  do you feel LED can do a good job?

[David Mackenzie]

What do you mean when you say "sensitive to movement"?

LED LCDs can make decent pictures, but never without at least one flaw, from our experiences. For example, the panels that have good black levels tend to have bad uniformity, the IPS panels which have good uniformity have weak black levels...

And none of them produce good picture quality off-angle - only Plasma (and CRT) do that.

[tele1962]

If you talk to these guys maybe they can help:

http://www.valueelectronics.com/