Bias lights are like acoustic panels for video.

WHAT BIAS LIGHTING CAN DO FOR YOU

BY RACHEL TINDALL WITH JASON ROSENFELD, SCENIC LABS

Everyone has an opinion about bias lighting. Should the lighting have multiple colors or a static white point? Do other factors in the environment matter? Does bias lighting even work? To answer these questions, I talked to Jason Rosenfeld from Scenic Labs, the developer (and new CEDIA member) of MediaLight Bias Lighting.

With a background in publishing calibration discs like the Spears & Munsil Benchmark and Digital Video Essentials, Rosenfeld became interested in bias lights mostly because customers were asking where they could buy the 6500K lights that were always recommended on the discs. He found that there were quite a few LED strips on the market, most of which rarely matched each other, even if they all claimed to be the same 6500K white. To avoid confusion and maintain the quality of their installations, Scenic Labs certifies everything to ISF standards. ISF, or Imaging Science Foundation, is an internationally recognised system for calibrating TVs and digital displays.

“Even when a light is close to 6500K, the tint of the light is often overlooked. A proper bias light has both the correct color temperature and tint. A 6500K light that has too much magenta will make a TV look green, and vice versa. When you combine tint and color temperature, you get the precise white point, which should match that of the display,” Rosenfeld explains. Relying solely on the color temperature can have undesirable results.

How Does Bias Lighting Work?

Rosenfeld always reminds customers that bias lights work entirely on a viewer. They don’t alter any settings on a display. Many people are surprised that the color of light in a room can impact the accuracy of a calibrated display.

“Bias lights are like acoustic panels for video. They take a good image and make it better by optimizing environmental factors that would otherwise compromise the viewing experience,”

The term “bias lighting” comes from the idea that light biases our pupils. On any given day, “Our pupils changesize thousands of times.” The same is true if you’re sittingin the dark watching a movie. Your eyes have to adapt tothe rapidly changing brightness of the scenes throughoutthe film, which causes eye fatigue.