Turn on lights when you are watching TV. Parents warned every time when we turn on the TV in a dark room. Yes! Your parent truly cares about you. Before we go for bias lighting options, it’ll be better to know why we should use them.
Your eyes adjust themselves according to the dark and bright lights. When dark and bright lights come together, it becomes a challenging situation for the eyes. And the eyes try to find a balance between light and darkness.
Bright surface with a dark background has a bad effect on eyes. I can lead to an Ocular migraine, headache, and eye dryness, which are some of the negative impacts. That’s why you should use bias lights behind TV screens.
Are you going to buy some bias lights, this article will help you to choose best options available. I’ll tell you which lights are best option to be used as bias lights.
Short Strip LED Bias Lights
There are many bias lights on the market. LED strips are one of the most commonly used and for good reasons. This is actually a rubber strip on which LEDs are integrated. These are dust prevention and water proof rated.
They usually have long life of about 100,000 hours. Also, these lights have a sticky paper of 3M on the backside. You just need to peel the paper and stick it on any surface.
- Ease of use
These are usually available in different lengths. A strip of length 35” is enough to stick behind an average size television. LEDs are integrated on strip and even if you cut the length short, it still works. So, cut and stick as much as you want to create that fun feel.
Long Strip LED Bias Lights
Another size available is 78” long strip. This length is ideal for the large TV screens. Again, you just need to peel the paper behind that strip and affix it behind the TV screen. This will also improve picture result on screen.
This LED structure usually come in two parts. One is the strip and the other is controller. Controller is attached with strip at one end and with an electricity source on the other.
- Ease of use
It requires 1A power source. So, it can easily be used with ordinary mobile phone chargers.
Usually, the controller has a USB switch to be attached with power supply. And almost all LCDs come with more than one USB port. You can attach LED strip directly to the TV with this USB port.
Luminoodle Bias Lights
Now I have another bias light that must be introduced here. This is luminoodle bias lighting. This name seems a little funny but when you see it, you’ll realize where this name come from. This looks like a big size noodle.
These are large size LED strips with thin USB connector and controller embedded within the strip. They are used to surround all four sides of a 50” TV. Again, adhesive on the backside of strip provides an easy way of installation.
- Ease of use
These are best to use with large screens. Although, some luminoodles have different parts separately but most of them are in shape of a single strip. They are waterproof rated and durable up to 100,000 hours.
Emotionlite Bias Lights
Emotionlite bias lights are just more than fun. These lights are available in different colors and come in four separate strips. These strips are then fixed 52 cm apart on the TV screen. They are also capable of illuminating a large screen.
Like the first models, these ones are also coated with a rubber. They didn’t go through the process of getting an IP rating, but I am confident they’ll hold up to all kinds of dust.
Less Expensive Solutions
If your television set or monitor is separated from the wall by some distance, you can place a regular lamp behind the screen. Grab a metal lamp and a LED bulb.
Place the whole assembly into the free space behind the TV.
A good bulb with 6500K color temperature and a 90+ CRI rating is another option to use as bias — this option is again less expensive and convenient.
Commercial LED Strips
Here is another LED strip option. Use commercial LED strips to illuminate the backside of the TV screen. They are 6500K color temperature and pre-marked where you can cut the strip.
LED strip are most widely used as bias lights due to their durability and ease of use. Best of all, the thin LED strip works just fine even if your TV is mounted directly to the wall, leaving no space for a regular lamp.
Which bias light is best to choose?
If you’re still not sure on the best bias lighting option to choose based on color, First of all, consider your screen size. If your screen size is smaller, then use first models mentioned above. But if you have a large screen you should choose luminoodle or emotionlite lights.
Color temperature and CRI
Alongside, you should keep in mind all other factors such as color temperature and CRI. Smaller size screen are best with cool color bias lights. And warm color bias lights are better with large size screens.
CRI boils down to how accurately a light source reveals the true colors of objects, people, and surroundings, and involves a distinct testing method with comparisons to incandescent light or daylight
However, white bias lights do not intrigue everyone. So, use different color lights.
Several kinds and colors are generally available in markets.
Bias lights are fun
If a light is shining onto your screen, there’s going to be a noticeable difference on how the picture appears. Colors won’t be as vivid, and the screen might be hazy.
Adding light to your screen rather than in front of it will eliminate any color or contrast issues.
Dark scenes or colors will look richer against a white illuminated background. The picture below demonstrates how dark colors are lost against a dark background.
Ultimately, it’s so easy to use bias lighting to banish eye strain, headaches, dry eyes, and other symptoms caused by bright-TV-in-dark-room viewing that it truly makes no sense to do so.
The only thing standing between a comfortable viewing experience with high contrast, crisp colors, and no eyestrain is a light bulb and a little bit of installation work.