New Technology TV

If you've ever been watching TV in a dark room and been struck by the contrast of what you were seeing on the screen and the darkness all around the screen, you're not alone. With the insight that people take in more than just what's on the screen while watching television, and often find the darkness around the screen disconcerting or a strain on their eyes, engineers at Philips electronics recently introduced "Ambilight" technology.
Generally speaking, "Ambilight" is technology that's integrated into many new flat screen TV sets made by Philips that illuminates the area around the screen. This is intended to provide a better quality television picture, relief from eye strain, and an all around more enjoyable television experience.

While the engineers who came up with the idea found it promising, the people that they tried out the prototypes on were less than enthusiastic. Some were afraid that distracting "light shows" or "disco lights" would become the norm for watching TV. The actual results were much better than the test subjects had expected.

Now, with plenty of "Ambilight" screens in people's homes, the reception to this new technology has been generally warm. According to Philips' consumer surveys, most (as in eighty eight percent) "Ambilight" TV set owners rate them as being "very good" or "excellent."

To enhance the "Ambilight" experience even more Philips' engineers built in features that let the owners of "Ambilight" TV sets control their viewing experiences. "Ambilight" TV set owners can choose among six colors that are preset on the systems along with white tones, and the ability to customize settings to their exact preference.

Depending on exactly how the "Ambilight" TV sets are set up, they're adjust the ambient light that they project around their screens to compliment the colors on the screen. With the way the sets come preset from the factory, "Ambilight" technology will only compliment the picture on the screen, even though conceivably somebody could readjust their own TV set to provide a jarring contrast between what's on the screen and what's around the screen.

The idea of "Ambilight" screens basically takes advantage of the fact that we, as humans, see in the periphery of our vision in addition to the center of our fields of vision. Because of this "Ambilight" technology should essentially add to the overall television experience without the viewers really being aware of it. In general, once the novelty of having a hallo of colors around the TV screen, viewers of "Ambilight" television screens will be more aware of the lack of eye strain or the disconcerting blackness around the television than they'll be aware of the actual colors around the television screen. This subconscious enjoyment is probably worth it in the long run when it comes to a decrease in eye strain and similar maladies.

"Ambilight" technology is available on both LCD and Plasma TV screens and is completely compatible with the high definition television capability of the sets that it comes on. All of these features combine to make Philips' "Ambilight" technology a great new development in television technology that's likely to be imitated by other manufacturers.