VisionClear TechnologyContrast Screen Coatings |
We all know the frustration of
trying to watch television in daylight when the brilliance of a window
reflection on the picture tube makes it impossible to see a part or all of the
picture. This also happens to a smaller degree when light-coloured furniture or
a lamp is reflected. In general, reflections lower the quality of the picture on
a television screen and reduce the pleasure of watching a TV programme.
The optical process of what happens in such a case is that the contrast of the
picture is effectively reduced. The Bang & Olufsen solution to the problem has
traditionally been to incorporate a contrast screen. Ensuring that ambient light
(which creates the
reflections) travel twice through a light absorbing contrast screen whereas the
picture formed in the picture tube travels only once, the brightness of the
reflection is substantially reduced.
If it were possible, a better solution would be to reduce reflections directly.
One method is to make the surface of the picture tube rough, either by sanding
or etching the front surface of the tube or spraying a matt coating on the
glass. This type of treatment does not actually reduce reflections, but by
making reflections more diffuse, reduces their visibility. However, it also
makes the picture itself fuzzy and less sharp, so that the overall quality is
reduced.
A more attractive method is to use coatings. Coatings for glass surfaces have
been used for a long time and for many purposes. The first use was probably for
camera lenses, where coatings corrected for optical faults in the lens. Later,
coatings were used to reduce reflections and also to correct colour reproduction
when colour films became available, Most people will know of coatings from the
more expensive spectacles, where coated glass is used to reduce reflections.
Anti-reflection coatings can reduce reflections to between 5% and 10% of their
original brightness. They work by what is known as destructive interference and
use the fact that light travels in waves of specific wavelengths. By coating the
picture tube or other glass surfaces with a transparent layer of a thickness of
one quarter of the wavelength of light, the light failing on the surface is
reflected twice - once from the front surface and again from the rear surface of
the coating. The two reflections are now half a wavelength apart and therefore
in opposite phase and thus virtually cancel each other to destroy the
reflection.
Of course, this happens perfectly for just one wavelength of light (or light of
a single colour) and to lesser degrees for the wavelengths close to this. By
adding more than one coating of different thicknesses, a more broadband removal
of reflections can be achieved. Thus, for example, three coatings are used for
the front screen of the BeoSystem AV9000. One of the reasons that antireflection
coatings are not used more often is that currently the manufacturing process is
extremely expensive for large screens, allowing its use only in high-end
television sets. However, as it is considerably less expensive for small
screens, especially where only a single coating is used, it is a reasonably
popular feature for computer monitors.
One of the features of coated
picture tubes is that although reflections are drastically reduced, the
coated glass appears to have a residual colour. This happens because some
light is still reflected from the surface, the colour of which depends on
the number and thickness of the layers. The colours that are not perfectly
removed result in the colouring of the glass. This does not affect the
colours of the picture, which is viewed through the coating and does not
depend upon its thickness.
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Also, the effectiveness of the
anti-reflection coatings falls off at an angle to the screen, as the effective
thickness of the coating changes. Seen from an angle, the colour of the
reflections changes for the same reason.
BeoSystem AV9000 also uses another coating, a thin layer of chrome on the back
of the contrast screen. This is an anti-static layer, which is earthed to
prevent the build-up of static charge, which can give problems with
electrostatic shock. An appealing side effect of the anti-reflection coating of
BeoSystem AV9000 is that when the black curtain behind the contrast screen is
closed, the effect of the coating is apparently considerably reduced, so that
the whole screen surface appears to reflect. As soon as the curtain is removed,
the anti-reflection coating takes full effect, forming a window in which the
brightness of reflected light is reduced.
The
human eye has a limited ability to cope with bright and dark areas at one time.
In fact the eye constantly adjusts to an average ambient light condition, with
the pupil in the eye working as a continuously variable shutter, in a manner
similar to that known in aperture mechanisms of camera lenses.
Absolute light level is therefore not important under normal conditions, but only if the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of the scene, known as contrast, fall within the range of our limited ability to appreciate the differences. Thus in bright sunlight, we are unable to see clearly into a region of deep shadow, not because it is too dark in absolute terms, but because the aperture of our eyes is set for bright light, so that the shadow region is beyond our contrast range. This is a very important phenomenon, but it can be easily misunderstood. Also, a change in the average light level results in a relatively slow adjustment to the new conditions, as our eyes change aperture.
It
is immediately obvious that the ideal lighting for television viewing is when
ambient light has the same average level as the average level of light from the
screen area. This of course includes not just the TV picture, but also any
reflected ambient light from the screen, and reflection of bright objects in the
picture area. An analysis of the combination of these variables, under less than
ideal conditions, becomes very complex, but some general rules are provided in
the report.
Under
normal viewing conditions, when no bright objects are reflected in the screen,
contrast always fails with increasing ambient light. Normal contrast can be
restored by an equal increase in picture brightness, which, for any TV set, is
only possible for moderate increases in ambient light. No picture tube has the
ability to equal the luminance of a brightly lit room, not to mention that the
life of picture tubes decrease sharply with increased brightness settings.
However,
the same picture quality can be approximated by increasing contrast, provided
the increased contrast is within the range allowed by the eye. In this case,
however, although all details in highlights as well as in shadows are visible,
the screen will appear darker. Contrast improvement methods, such as contrast
screens, are therefore most effective in high ambient light. In addition, Bang
& Olufsen sets are among the few that have built‑in automat contrast
correction circuits, specifically to compensate ambient light conditions. As
soon as reflections occur on the screen surface, whether it is the reflection of
ambient light, or a specific bright object, the situation changes. Increasing
picture brightness is no longer able to compensate for the change in the average
light level from the screen, but requires the help of increased contrast. Since
a contrast screen reduces ambient light reflection as well as increasing
contrast, it has a double function.
A TV picture is not continuous, but is switched on and off 50 times per second in the PAL transmission system, and 60 times in NTSC. This results in observable flicker in the picture, and while this is more prominent in PAL than NTSC, it is observable in both. Even when a viewer is not conscious of a flickering picture, it results in eye irritation and after a period, in tiredness. Flicker is most obvious in peripheral vision that is when the TV is seen through the corner of the eye when looking directly beside the picture.
Screen
flicker is not only a factor of the picture repeat frequency, but also of screen
luminance. More accurately, the cause of this effect is the length of the dark
period between pictures, and the size of the aperture of the eye due to the
screen luminance or brightness.
The frequency at which flicker is no longer observable is called the flicker fusion frequency. A study shows that repetition frequencies as low as 45 Hz can be flicker free provided maximum luminance on the screen is kept low. This maximum permissible value of luminance will normally be regarded as a dark picture, and result in less than acceptable contrast on a normal picture tube.
With a contrast screen, an acceptable compromise can be made, so that full observable contrast is available with a sufficiently low maximum luminance to avoid flicker in 50 Hz TV systems.
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