What Is Black Crush on a Display? Understanding the Loss of Shadow Detail
Learn about “black crush,” a common display issue causing loss of shadow detail in dark areas of images. Discover causes, impacts, and how to identify it.
You may have stumbled upon Black crush while shopping for a new TV or monitor and wondered what it meant. Recently, when manufacturers attempt to enhance black reproduction on LED-lit LCD and OLED displays, the phenomenon of black crush has attracted attention. But what is actually “black crush”? In this article, we will discuss more about black crush on a display.
Understanding Black Crush and Shadow Detail
Black crush is a phenomenon that means details are lost, especially in the black regions of an image. When blacks are “crushed,” finer details in shadows cannot be seen, which makes the image look dull and overexaggerated with black color. This is commonly seen in motion pictures, television programs, and video games.
It is not always easy to notice that your display has black crush, and you might only know it when you compare it to a calibrated display. For instance, in a dark scene with bricks hiding in the shadow, bricks will appear a solid black shade on the display with black crush.
It is not always a huge problem, but it can be annoying and somewhat disrupt the flow of the game. When it comes to movies, you might not even notice certain atmospheric elements, and when it comes to games, it can make it harder to see in the dark, especially when you are in a brightly lit room.
What Causes Black Crush?
The display doesn’t solely cause this problem; several factors lead to it.
Poor Source Material
Infrequently, the material being shown does not retain detail in the shadows because it wasn’t recorded well. Some of the crushed blacks can result from a poorly set camera or from the artistic control of the source material. For instance, some directors and photographers apply this effect deliberately to make high-contrast images or negative spaces.
Display Calibration and Settings
Black Crush is directly linked with the display itself. A lot of consumer TVs and monitors are not factory-calibrated, which is why the settings you get right out of the box may not be perfect in terms of color and contrast. Furthermore, this problem is sometimes made worse by the user during setup. For instance, incorrect gamma or brightness settings on a gaming console or a PC can put the blacks to the ground and block out details in the shadows.
Some games also can have HDR (High Dynamic Range) issues, which results in incorrect rendition of the black shades and black crush.
Display Technologies and Black Crush
Different display technologies experience black crushes in unique ways.
OLED Displays
OLED displays work by turning off a particular pixel when it is not needed, and thus, the blacks produced are actual. In contrast, OLED exhibits one of the greatest challenges of moving from pure blacks to very low-intensity shadow gradients. This difficulty can lead to loss of lineage features, especially in dark scenes where details are mainly limited by light intensity.
LED-Lit LCD Displays
Since the great majority of LED-lit LCD TVs with local dimming mechanisms employ dimming algorithms to heighten black levels through the reduction of the screen’s light output in darker zones, they can only output the minimum light to the zones that need it. As is the case with most techniques that improve the contrast, this one does so at the cost of shadow detail, particularly when dealing with screens with fewer zones. Better models with more zones for dimming usually deal with it better, though no model is free from black crush.
How to Check Your Display for Black Crush
If you’re interested in whether your current TV or monitor is guilty of black crush, here’s what you need to do. One good example of this is a starfield test.
Place an image of a starry night on your screen, or you can get a picture from the picture library or download one on a computer. According to the correct settings, all the stars should be visible, including the feeble ones. However, if many stars seem to be absent, you have a phenomenon known as black crush in your display. They invariably outcompete other screens in these tests because they can directly emit light simultaneously from the bright white pixels and the black ones without interference from dimming circuits.
In our opinion, to change your settings, refer to test patterns or calibration tools. Generally, gain, contrast, and gamma adjustments can greatly enhance the shadow area.
Should You Worry About Black Crush?
Essentially, whether black crush is a dealbreaker again depends with the type of use you make for your display. If you’re the typical couch potato who doesn’t really care too much about shadow details but wants deeper blacks then it is not an issue you need to really worry about. But for gamers, photographers and cinema lovers black crush can lower the quality of the experience because important details may be hidden.
If you need a new display, you should look out for two aspects in the comments section: black crush and shadow details. We suggest seeking displays with these calibration possibilities or other professional pre-calibration for the most optimal result.
Making an Informed Choice
Reading this article, you will learn how to distinguish a device that suffers from black crush and make the right choice when purchasing a new TV or monitor. That’s right; it is not only about the density of black—at the same time, it is also about being able to distinguish details of the intermediate shades of the picture’s tonal range when they are very dark.
Therefore, before buying the calibration tools and investing in them, we recommend that you test the displays, which will guarantee that they are working at the optimum of their capabilities. For games and media consumers overall, some degree of optimization will go a long way in improving your overall experience.
Finally, it is up to one to determine if black crush is an issue that they need to go for. You’ll be in a better position to select your show once you know its causes and have even conducted some tests yourself.
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