Early DVD Player Black Level

[Outland]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

It just struck me that you wrote '20" Panasonic tube TV.'

What evidence do you have that this TV clamps black to the back porch (or at all)? If it's setting levels from sync tips, all bets are off.

How would I know? It's a 1994 stereo Panasonic CT-20S2S. It shares its tube with some higher-end models and is connected to a Panasonic PV-4060 VCR by RF, which is the only input it has. The DVD player is routed through the VCR. Why this VCR isn't affected by Macrovision, I have no idea. However, this phenomenon occurs on high-quality tubes as well with S-video, component etc with this player.

I think you've cracked it old_tv_nut, though. It appears I've calibrated the TV to 0 IRE, which is why the PS2's output looks good to me (which has 0 IRE as black, according to the review I linked). It makes sense that the S7000's 7.5 IRE looks gray.

Coincidentally, the VCR's idle screen happens to arbitrarily be 0 IRE. I don't watch tapes too often, and in fact the blacks are a little gray on tapes, but I attributed this to the inherent limitations of the VHS format.

So the solution would be to have two calibrations for brightness, one for 0 IRE and one for 7.5 IRE.

Thanks all.