Bias Lighting - Anyone else using it?

[fahrenheit]

Man caves are notorious dens of complete darkness, filled only by the illumination from TVs or monitors.
On the other hand, living rooms (family rooms/lounges) are often populated by WAGs who demand they have enough lights on to apply nail polish as they watch Coro....

If either situation applies to you, well, you're doing it wrong!

I'll let these guys explain it -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLoZZD1FBaI

My new Panasonic 50" plasma has a design flaw which sees the beautiful out-of-the-box black levels become lighter over time. I've already experienced one of several shifts in under 160 hours of use.

Bias lighting is a good way to increase the perception of contrast and get some ambient light into the room that doesn't shine directly on the screen.

This is mine -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo2ctVhW17A

Neither photos or videos do it justice. Most modern flatscreens when viewed in a dark room look give the appearance of washed-out blacks. It doesn't help that the bezels are generally jet black too.

I'm loving it for both the ambience it produces (WAG friendly) and the soothing effect it has (especially good for gaming) on my eyeballs.

I went through some pretty ridiculous hunting and testing to settle on the particular tube I'm using, but I assume most people aren't going to be as hung-up on colour rendering as I am.

More people should use it in the home. After all, professionals use bias lighting to create the content we all watch.

[charlesr]

I have wall lights behind the TV which helps.

I also have a gunmetal grey bezel. \o/

[smouty]

I have built some RGB backlighters for my room so the colour is variable.
I used a controller like THIS and built my own light modules
I saw a Philips Ambilight demo a few years back as was impressed.

[Spatial]

I have some lighting behind mine. I don't tend to use it though because for some reason it makes me feel more tired than sitting there in the dark. Figure that one out

[fahrenheit]

I have some lighting behind mine. I don't tend to use it though because for some reason it makes me feel more tired than sitting there in the dark. Figure that one out

Its not a lava lamp is it?

Funny you say that though, the tube I'm using is 6500K and imitates midday on a clear blue day. I've been told that it can actually mess with your body-clock, so if I discover I'm having more sleepless nights, I'll have to minimize its use.

I tried number of tubes and the one I settled on was dramatically better than all the rest, especially when it came to skin tones.
Its for fish tanks but ticks all the boxes for colour temperature and rendering for video back lighting.