DV5000t Light Leakage

When I first got this a couple of weeks ago it seemed fine but as time goes on the leakage at the bottom of the screen seems to be getting worse. Here is a current picture. How is HP at sending them something and sending it back? Will this keep getting worse? What would you guys do?

 

Doesn't look too bad to me. I wouldn't worry about it unless it really bothers you.

 

What you are seeing is not "light leakage", but rather is an effect caused by the limited viewing angles of the LCD panel used in the laptop.

The lightness of the bottom of screen depends on your viewing angle:

Gradually pull the top of screen towards you as if you were going to close the lid, and you'll notice that the lightness begins to blanket the entire screen. Now, gradually push the top of the screen away from you, and you'll notice that the lightness starts to recede to the bottom of the screen, keep pushing the screen back further and you'll see that the lightness at bottom of the screen has disappeared, however the top/middle of the screen is not as black as the bottom of the screen...

Your dv5000t like 90% of current, past (and future) laptops implement outdated TN LCD panels that have very limited viewing angles (at best 90 degrees H/V per pixel) resulting in:

- The bottom of the screen being lighter than the top of the screen at typical viewing angles.

- The inability to display solid colours vertically across the screen without appearing to be in gradient form.

- Screen inversion at extreme viewing angles (per pixel basis).


What should not be considered as "light leakage":



What partial "screen inversion" looks like:



What entire (near entire) "screen inversion" looks like:



The above examples are from NBR user Mandrake's T60p vs Dell Latitude D610 post. The screen in the left portion of the photos consists of a TN LCD panel.

In my humble opinion someone at NBR should write a mini-article about this subject, as it would seem that many people on NBR and elsewhere need clarification on what the infamous "light leakage" phenomena is, and what it is not.

 

This is certainly not a light leakage. If you look at the laptop from above the brightness of the lower portion of the screen will only increase because this is where the light comes from and you are looking directly at it. However, if you see irregularities and "uneven-ness" in the way the screen is lighted, this would be a light leakage.
If you push the screen a few degrees backwards you'll see that this will disappear and the screen will look even.

 

vassil_98 the lightness and the apparent increase in brightness of the lower portion of the screen is not related to the backlight location (unless it is leaking through), but is an inherent side effect of using a TN LCD panel. HP's "Ultra Brightview" screens have an extra backlight at the top of the panel, but they also exhibit these side effects.

When you start to approach the limits of a panels supposed "useable" positive vertical viewing angle, the contrast ratio drops to a very low 10:1 (the whitest white is only 10 times brighter than the darkest black); black starts to look gray, and vibrant colours look washed out and invert. Once you are outside of the "useable" viewing angles the contrast ratio is even worse. That is the cause of the lightness at the bottom of the screen at a typical viewing angle, and the gradually increasing lightness of the entire screen when you begin to tilt it towards you or look from above. In certain lighting conditions pushing the screen back may give the appearance of an even looking black screen, however pixels in the middle to top portion of the screen would display inverted colours.

 

Ok, I agree; I thought that the increased brightness in the lower portion of the screen (when viewed directly from above) is a result of the lamp location.

Yet, do you mean that if one is able to see bright light from that position (directly above the screen, looking at the bottom where the lamp should be), then this means light leakage?

 

Thank you for your replies. It helps to know that there are people like you that can give good advice to someone new to notebooks.

 

I would definetly pay for some service to improve this...

 

Dear W.I.C,

I got to tell you that your review is really amazing. Do you think you'd like to write this inversion issue as a complete article for the notebookreview? all of us newbies would be grateful =)

tx again,
monkeysings