# What is this called, why does it happen, and how do I get rid of it?



## AtomicAgeZombie (May 2, 2012)

It's the rings around the light. Shouldn't there be a smoother transition from light to dark? The screenshot is from Insidious Chapter 2.


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## michael tlv (Jun 23, 2009)

Greetings

Called lack of bit depth. Not enough steps to transition from light to dark. Sets that do 10 bit or 12 bit video processing may show this better.

regards


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## AtomicAgeZombie (May 2, 2012)

Michael,

Are there any settings that can improve this, or is it all hardware based?


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## michael tlv (Jun 23, 2009)

Greetings

Sometimes a better BD player my do a better job. But the TV has to be up to the task too.

REgards


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## flamingeye (Apr 2, 2008)

I notated stuff like that on my Westinghouse LED TV my Panasonic plasma TV does a better job with stuff like that I'm not sure if all LED TVs do this but mine sure does , but then again I have a cheap Blu-ray player on the LED TV


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## AtomicAgeZombie (May 2, 2012)

Is there a way to check the bit depth of the TV?


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## michael tlv (Jun 23, 2009)

Greetings

Not surprising on a cheap TV. Samsung was already touting 1 billion shades 4 or 5 years back at CES.

regards


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## michael tlv (Jun 23, 2009)

Greetings

Usually throw up a ramp grayscale pattern. Black to white ... not in steps of 5% ... but a smooth transition. But then nothing you can do about it either.

regards


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## AtomicAgeZombie (May 2, 2012)

I wanted to use the smooth scale to see what it would look like. I saved the test from here onto a USB, and put it directly into the TV.

I took a quick shot with my phone, so forgive the quality, but if you can zoom in on the pic, you will see vertical gray lines in the whitest parts.


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## tbaudoin (Mar 19, 2012)

michael tlv said:


> Greetings
> 
> Usually throw up a ramp grayscale pattern. Black to white ... not in steps of 5% ... but a smooth transition. But then nothing you can do about it either.
> 
> regards


Just a general question: looking at bit depth changes. Here's a thing I haven't tried yet.

-Put up a smooth ramp
-verify 8bit output from signal generator, observe ramp
-change to 12-bit (or whatever might be supported in system), observe ramp. 

What might one suspect if there were something amiss? I'm thinking of a Sony that has SBM. It hypothetically, I suppose can process 12-bits. I'm trying to figure out a way to test it without making it into a science project. BTW, the picture looks great as it is. It's really more about other displays I may encounter and how to tell if the system can be set-up better. I basically looking for a method that helps figure out the bit-depth both supported and verified as better or worse.

Thanks...


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