I'm getting a HD TV and I was wondering if there's much difference with one with 1200:1 or 1000:1 contrast.

Answer 1

Previous responder wasn't accurate with their analogy. The "contrast ratio" is the ratio of the brightest white to the blackest black that a display is capable of displaying. CRT's and Plasmas, where the pixels light up individually, achieve the best contrast ratios, while projection TV's and LCD's, which rely on a separate source of light reflecting and/or passing through whatever technology creates the image, generally have poorer contrast ratios.

Poor contrast ratios manifest themselves as blacks that aren't dark enough (i.e., no "true black"), and colors that lose their vividness the darker they are.

So with a printer analogy, it's not "how many dots per square inch," but how dark the black inch is and how much gradation and variation there is between white and black.

As for whether there's much difference between 1200:1 and 1000:1...well, probably not particularly perceptible, considering that an excellent contrast ratio is 10,000:1.

Answer 2

yes its 20% better the higher the contrast the better the picture will be ---- think of it as dots per sq inch on a printer and youll soon see the difference.