Contrast is one of the most important aspects of picture quality, whether we're talking about a TV, projector, laptop, or even the phone in your pocket. But what is it, and how do we measure it? Simply put, the contrast ratio is the ratio between the luminance of the brightest white and the darkest black a display can produce. In the world of TVs, contrast is king. A higher contrast ratio means that a TV can display deeper blacks and brighter whites simultaneously, so in HDR, bright highlights stand out even in relatively dark scenes.
This test methodology has been updated for our 1.9 test bench and is also valid for 1.10 and 1.11. TVs tested before 1.9 used a modified ANSI checkerboard pattern instead and were measured with the white level set as close to 100 nits as possible. When comparing our latest results with reviews tested with older methodology, the measured contrast is mostly comparable, but the scores aren't. Learn how our test benches and scoring system work.
1.6 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.10 | 1.11 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Native Contrast | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Contrast With Local Dimming | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Getting a TV with a high contrast ratio is mainly noticeable if you're in a dark room. If you're watching a movie at night and there's a dark scene, is the image almost as dark as the rest of the room, or does it look gray? If it looks black, it has a high contrast ratio, but if it looks gray, it means it has a low contrast ratio. However, in bright rooms, the difference in contrast isn't as obvious, as bright lights reflecting off the screen increase the brightness of blacks. The screen's finish and anti-reflective coating have a greater impact on perceived contrast if you're in a bright room.
Although it's one of the most important aspects of picture quality, measuring contrast is one of the easiest tests we perform. We start by putting the TV into its post-calibration settings. Using our custom-designed real-scene test image, we start by adjusting the backlight so that the white area in the center of the cave is as close as possible to 200 cd/m2. This is the white luminance measurement used for our contrast calculation. We chose this value for two reasons. First, it's dim enough that any TV on the market can achieve it, which is important for comparable results. Second, it's representative of a brightness level used in a moderately-lit room.
Next, we take measurements of the light output on the four corners of the scene and one measurement to the right of the cave entrance. We take the average of these five measurements, which gives us the black luminance level for our contrast measurements. Finally, we divide the white luminance by the black luminance to determine the contrast ratio. We run this test twice to measure the native contrast of the panel and the best it can do with local dimming enabled.
The native contrast measures the contrast ratio without any image processing settings enabled, like local dimming. Since it's a ratio, there's no unit for contrast. Instead, the norm is to express the number as 'X:1,' with 'X' being how many times brighter white is than black. For example, a 4000:1 contrast ratio would mean that the television emits white that's four thousand times brighter than its black. The higher the contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks, and the better the picture will look.
We then repeat the same process with local dimming enabled (if the TV has it). Our first step in this case is to determine the best local dimming setting. No local dimming feature is perfect, and in some rare cases, like the LG QNED80 2023, the local dimming feature is so bad that the best setting is to deactivate it completely.
Once we've determined the best local dimming setting, we repeat the same test as above, but this time with local dimming enabled and set to the best setting we previously selected.
The type of panel used in a TV significantly impacts the final contrast measurement. If you plan on mainly watching in a dark room, OLED displays are the best choice, as they deliver the deepest blacks without any blooming around bright highlights. After OLEDs, TVs with VA panels tend to deliver the deepest blacks, and IPS/ADS are the worst performers. However, this isn't as universally true as it used to be a few years ago. With the advent of Mini LED backlights with thousands of dimming zones, IPS and ADS panels are closing that gap, with some TVs like the Samsung QN85A QLED delivering deep blacks similar to VA panels.
A couple of settings that can improve the contrast ratio, with the most important being local dimming. However, changing each of these settings can also affect picture quality, so there's a trade-off between improving the contrast and having the best picture quality available. Also, contrast may vary between units of LED TVs a bit; this means that the unit you buy may have a slightly higher or lower contrast ratio than the one we tested, even if the model is the same.
The contrast ratio of a TV is one of the most important factors in picture quality. The higher the contrast, the better, as it improves picture quality in dark scenes. If your TV has a low contrast ratio, blacks look gray in a dark room, and bright highlights won't stand out well. A high contrast ratio is most noticeable when viewing content in dark rooms, but there's less of a noticeable difference in well-lit rooms.
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I can’t find any specs on your tool to confirm, but your 0.01 nit measurements are most likely below the minimum luminance that your meter can measure, so it’s just outputting 0.01. Try going even higher and see at what point it starts detecting something other than 0.01 for the black levels.
Im planning on getting the display pro i1, im pretty sure spyder X meters are for monitors, I noticed it reads down to 0.00, yet the i1 meter does 0.0000, so it may be its not made for TV calibration and its not reading light down far enough to give the accurate measurement
Ok im not sure what im doing then, i have the spyder X pro meter, i use a black and white checkered pattern from youtube and when i set screen to 100nits and check the black, i get 0.01, 100 divided by 0.01 is 10,000:1 but if i set screen to 200 nits the black squares are atill 0.01, so 200 divided by 0.01 is 20,000:1, isnt that calculating it correctly?
I can’t find any specs on your tool to confirm, but your 0.01 nit measurements are most likely below the minimum luminance that your meter can measure, so it’s just outputting 0.01. Try going even higher and see at what point it starts detecting something other than 0.01 for the black levels.
It should scale roughly linearly, so something is off with your results.
Ok im not sure what im doing then, i have the spyder X pro meter, i use a black and white checkered pattern from youtube and when i set screen to 100nits and check the black, i get 0.01, 100 divided by 0.01 is 10,000:1 but if i set screen to 200 nits the black squares are atill 0.01, so 200 divided by 0.01 is 20,000:1, isnt that calculating it correctly?
With our latest methodology our contrast testing is done at 200 nits. As mentioned in the banner at the top of this article, the page is out of date at the moment, but we plan on updating it soon. Sorry for the confusion!
Ok, does it matter which way its done? I have QN85A 65in, if i do it at 100nits, i get 10,000:1, if i test at 200nits i get 20,000:1, so which one is correct?
How do you guys check the contrast? Im curious because i see numbers all over, like on the QN85A 65in, you guys say in game mode its 20,000:1 native contrast, yet when i check with my spyder X pro i get about 10,000:1, assuming you guys always check with the brightness nits close to 100, i tried 200 and got 20,000:1, which nits are you guys using?
With our latest methodology our contrast testing is done at 200 nits. As mentioned in the banner at the top of this article, the page is out of date at the moment, but we plan on updating it soon. Sorry for the confusion!
How do you guys check the contrast? Im curious because i see numbers all over, like on the QN85A 65in, you guys say in game mode its 20,000:1 native contrast, yet when i check with my spyder X pro i get about 10,000:1, assuming you guys always check with the brightness nits close to 100, i tried 200 and got 20,000:1, which nits are you guys using?