How a Mirror TV Works
Nowadays TVs can be found in almost every single home you visit. However, despite our love of big-screen TVs, they are often seen as an eyesore from an interior design perspective. It is, for this reason, that mirror TVs are becoming an increasingly popular way to incorporate a television without stealing the entire attention of the room. We spoke to the team over at Overmantels in London about exactly what a TV mirror is and how it works.
A unique semi-transparent mirror is put in use to reflect part of the incident light that then creates a mirror effect each time the screen switches off. When you turn the screen on, the incident light transmits to the hidden screen behind the mirror, which then avails the image on the surface.
Mounting a standard market TV on a frame behind the mirror or a particular style TV can be created specifically for the application. A market television is less costly, has a standard interface and type of remote control. However, it is not built for this kind of configuration, and some issues can occur. For instance, through the semi-transparent mirror, you can see part of the television because it is hard to match the frame and mirrors and still prevent gaps, etc.
Regular TVs have a lower screen brightness more so for the smaller screen sizes like 21 inches or 19 inches. Therefore, it is much easier to make sure it’s a select TV behind the mirror. It has metal heat discharge cases and is screened explicitly onto the mirror. A waterproof rating is standard for this type too. And LED/LCD panels with high visibility are chosen to preserve good image quality even in daylight.
Design Types
Most mirror TV models in the market can facilitate a TV screen size of 15 inches to 55 inches and the majority of big-name TV brands can be used including Samsung, LG, Phillips and Sony. There are two different structure types of Mirror TV:
Custom Design
- These Mirror TV’s are designed on a case-by-case basis to fulfil a customer’s unique interior design needs
- The TV screen size determines the mirror glass customization
Standard Design
- The standard design is for on-the-wall installation and is available in fixed sizes of both mirror and TV screen
- For a standard installation, they come as “all-in-the-box” supply sets
How to Select a Mirror TV
There are two main factors to be considered when choosing a Mirror TV. The reflectance rate (R), the transmission rate (T), and the screen brightness. This means that R = 1 – T.
Transmission and reflection are often a type of equilibrium. This is because the reflectance rate + transmission rate = 1 as the more excellent reflectivity we want to get when the screen is off, the less transmission we get when the TV output is on. The transmission rate (T) usually ranges from 0.3 and 0.7 and is equal to R contrarywise between 0.7 and 0.3.
The luminosity of the screen is the critical parameter of the Mirror TV. Imagine putting a standard PC display monitor with a transmission rate of 0.5 behind a semi-transparent glass. The initial screen brightness is roughly 200 cd/m2, but we have just 50 percent left when it is put behind the mirror: 200 cd/m2 *0.5 = 100 cd/m2. This output is way too low to watch TV in a daytime environment. This is why production houses choose the most vividly lined panels to perform better on a Mirror TV.
Overview
In conclusion, however, we suggest testing actual results directly (or via video review) even though you may know the transmission rate or reflectance rate precisely. Checking the real performance for the Mirror TV output as well as the screen illumination will help you better determine if it would work for you.
There is a possible issue when the transmission rate is high – certain parts of the internal structure will be visible. For instance, the TV’s frame or internal components can be seen when the light is actually off meaning that the mirror won’t look fine. Also, depending on the LCD panel type, there may be colour shift issues, which means that panel parameters must be factory set to perform better.
