Plasma displays and gamma

[Malackii]

Hey all,

I recently replayed the original Thief in preparation for T : DS and something that really struck me was how hard it was to see in some areas. At times, I'd have to turn gamma right up there and of course that has the effect of making textures etc. look terrible. One thing I have noticed is that the edges of the display seem better than the center.

I don't remember having problems like that when I first played the series, but I'm not on the same system either. I'm currently running a 2.4 Ghz, ATI 9800 Pro, Win XP machine with a plasma display whereas I had previously played on a 550 Mhz GF3 Win 98 standard monitor.

So my question is this: anyone else having gamma / shadow trouble in dark games when using a plasma display? I'm trying to figure out if it's the nature of the monitor, or if perhaps the cause was the fact that the original game is behind technologically (with regards to DX, for instance) and was not refreshing properly.

I've played both Splinter Cells without this kind of problem, but "shadows" don't exist much in Splinter Cell - when it's dark, it's dark... you dun see nut'n without the goggles.

Thanks,
Mal.

[Paajtor]

I think it's because the black-level of a plasma is darker - ie, "more black" - than a CRT.
Try to change this level by using your OnScreenDisplay.

Here is a nice read, btw.

[Malackii]

Thanks Paajtor, was afraid of that but I'm not surprised. I'll have to play with the level of darkness and see what happens, although according to that article I'll prolly not get the best picture regardless :/

[Tergiver]

Seems to me flat panels are horrible for games. The colors are just not right (brown is especially bad). If you compare side by side with a CRT you can really notice how bad it is.

[Volume 3 Xanos]

You should also check out DLP as an alternative to plasma. It's not actually used in monitors, but some of the DLP televisions allow you to hook up your computer to them.

http://www.dtvcity.com/dlp/tvresources.html