MediaLight Unveils the Ultimate Mk2 v2 Bias Light: New Features and First Impressions

(October 7, 2024) Ambient lighting can make or break your viewing experience, and if you're not already using bias lighting behind your TV, you're missing out. Not only does it reduce eye strain during those marathon binge-watching sessions, but it also enhances perceived contrast and color accuracy on your screen.

But not all bias lights are created equal, and that's where MediaLight steps into the spotlight. Known for delivering top-tier, color-accurate bias lighting, MediaLight has just upped the ante by releasing their new Mk2 v2 light kit. Let's dive into why this is a game-changer for both home theater enthusiasts and professionals alike.

Why You Need a Bias Light
First off, let's talk about chromatic adaptation—a fancy term for how our eyes adjust to different light sources to maintain consistent color perception. In simpler terms, the ambient light in your room can affect how you perceive the colors on your screen. If your room lighting is off, your TV's colors can look unnatural, making that blockbuster movie less immersive and your favorite show's characters look odd.

Bias lighting solves this problem by providing a soft, uniform light behind your display. This not only reduces eye strain but also minimizes the effects of chromatic adaptation, ensuring you see colors as they were intended. The key is using a bias light with the right color temperature—6500K (D65), to be exact—which is the industry standard.

Choose Your Bias Light Wisely
Now, not all bias lights hit that 6500K mark accurately. Cheap LED strips found on eBay and Amazon might claim to be 6500K but fall woefully short, often casting a blue or magenta tint that throws off your display's color balance. A quality brand like MediaLight, on the other hand, uses custom ColorGrade SMD chips that are meticulously tested to ensure true 6500K color temperature and a high Color Rendering Index (CRI) of ≥ 98 Ra. That's professional-grade accuracy right there.

Moreover, MediaLight bias lights are built to last. With features like a black PCB strip that doesn't yellow and ultimately interfere with color temperature as it ages and an included dimmer for optimal brightness control, they're designed for both performance and longevity. It's no wonder professionals who color-grade the videos we watch choose MediaLight products for use with monitors in their studios.

Building on Its reputation for excellence, MediaLight recently unveiled the Mk2 v2, and they've pulled out all the stops to make this the best bias lighting solution yet. From a performance perspective, color temperature variance has been tightened from +/-100K to +/-50K. This means even greater consistency across the entire strip, ensuring your bias lighting is as accurate as possible. But, the company has injected the Mk2 with much more than that.

One of the more significant upgrades is the switch from Very High Bond (VHB) adhesive to Ultra High Bond acrylic adhesive. This clear adhesive provides a spectrally-neutral backing, eliminating any unwanted color tinting that can occur with lesser adhesives. Plus, they've added a starter tab to make installation a breeze—no more struggling to peel off the backing. For owners worried about leaving residue on an expensive display, MediaLight includes a roll of residue-free nano tape with all 2-7 meter units (and pre-cut strips for the 1-meter version). This tape offers a strong bond but removes cleanly, giving you peace of mind during installation.

MediaLight also redesigned the remote control, giving it a sleek makeover. But the real magic is under the hood, where brightness controls now feature 150 stops, up from the previous 50, allowing for incredibly precise adjustments—especially crucial in the 0-20% brightness range that professionals often want to tweak. The new remote also operates at 25 KHz, making it the company's first remote-controlled flicker-free dimmer. While not everyone is sensitive to PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) dimming, eliminating flicker enhances comfort for all users. The slow-fade on/off feature also smoothes out any flashing artifacts that occurred with some TVs, like certain Sony Bravia models.

To accommodate longer strips and additional dimmers, MediaLight has thickened the copper wiring for the USB switch. This reduces resistance and ensures consistent performance, maximizing the available current for your setup. Installation has also been made easier with versatile flat "PCB strip" clips and included Velcro tabs. These are perfect for attaching the strips over removable panels or keeping your remote within easy reach. For international customers, the packaging now includes measurements in both imperial and metric units, along with compliance insignia for CE, RoHS, and disposal requirements.

Our Take
Three years ago, I reviewed MediaLight's LX1 Bias Lighting Kit, and the results were eye-opening. I used that review kit until recently when a new TV was purchased. MediaLight was kind enough to ship an Mk2 v2 kit for the new television, and many of the new features listed above were readily apparent. The entire kit, from packaging to installation instructions and, of course, post-installation performance, is exactly what you'd expect. I'll drop some images of the kit and its unboxing in the comments section below.

Pricing and Availability
The MediaLight Mk2 v2 is available now, ranging from $57.95 for the 1-meter strip to $137.95 for the 7-meter version (accessories might bump those prices up a tiny amount). If you'd like to learn more about the Mk2 v2 or make a purchase, click here.


Related Reading:

• The Best Bang-For-Your-Buck TV Enhancement? Scenic Labs LX1 Bias Lighting Kit, a Full Review
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• Stacey Spears & Don Munsil Join AV NIRVANA Live (May 16, 7pm)... Watch to Win an Awesome Giveaway!!
• The Best Bang-For-Your-Buck TV Enhancement? Scenic Labs LX1 Bias Lighting Kit, a Full Review

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[Todd Anderson]

 

[Mike Schramm]

If I remember correctly, you’re supposed to have a neutral colored wall behind the TV or the bias lighting won’t be accurate. Am I right on this?

 

[Todd Anderson]

Ideally, yes. But most people don’t live in ideals. According to Jason at MediaLight, the color of paint actually has less impact on the color of light than vice versa.

What color do you have behind your OLED?

The impact of a proper bias light is worth the effort… and you might think it needs to be super bright. But, far from it, it’s best when it’s toned down.

 

[Asere]

I have the previous MK2 (three sides) and love it. I use it al the time for sports and some movies. If the movie has dark scenes I tend to not have it on as it makes the blacks brighter despite the low media light settings around 60%.
They do make great products and not to mention their customer service is top notch and that is always a plus. Jason Rosenfeld is a great guy.

 

[Mike Schramm]

Ideally, yes. But most people don’t live in ideals. According to Jason at MediaLight, the color of paint actually has less impact on the color of light than vice versa.

What color do you have behind your OLED?

The impact of a proper bias light is worth the effort… and you might think it needs to be super bright. But, far from it, it’s best when it’s toned down.

I've got the LX1 back there right now. I haven't used it in forever because my walls are Sherwin Williams Bracing Blue (SW 6242). I read, I think here, that the blue walls will give my brain a "blue shift" to the colors on my screen.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I have it, but no longer use it because my remote won't trigger it, and I can't learn it. If Sony would only use power on and off with their USB ports, I could use it. Maybe at some point AVA will figure out a way to make it work. OR... maybe once I get my Home Assistant up and running, there might be a way to make it work with it.

 

[Asere]

The one in my bedroom with the Samsung tv works with the on/off with the tv remote but not with my Sony in the family room. For that one I have to ask Alexa or Google to turn it on/off. This is a Sony issue I was told.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I could get a USB power adaptor, plug the MediaLight into it, and then plug that into a Lutron wall dimmer plug. Then, I could control it with the Lutron app, which is compatible with HA.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I have it, but no longer use it because my remote won't trigger it, and I can't learn it. If Sony would only use power on and off with their USB ports, I could use it. Maybe at some point AVA will figure out a way to make it work. OR... maybe once I get my Home Assistant up and running, there might be a way to make it work with it.

MediaLight has a Sony solution coming out… let me see if I can get some details

 

[Asere]

Jason told me not to use USB extension cords because of voltage drops. That is why I decided to just use voice command for on/off.

 

[Asere]

MediaLight has a Sony solution coming out… let me see if I can get some details

Back in 2022, Jason mentioned a prototype but it got suspended because of insufficient interest and a higher cost base. Maybe there is interest now or perhaps they have something much better now/soon.

 

[Jason Rosenfeld]

In an ideal world, you'd paint your entire house Munsell N5 gray.

Of course, that's rarely practical (although it does look cool in a home theater). During the pandemic, many video production professionals set up workstations at home, and we began receiving questions about the impact of colored walls on the viewing environment. Out of curiosity, I measured the ambient light in rooms with various wall colors, expecting significant shifts in color temperature. Surprisingly, the effect was less dramatic than I anticipated.

For example, I expected a blue room to skew heavily cool or a beige room to appear notably warm, but the shifts were subtle—certainly not as severe as one might imagine.

In my early days of developing bias lights, I spent a lot of time and resources trying to counteract the influence of wall colors by using opposing colors of light. While the idea was tempting, it proved fundamentally flawed. Take red paint, for example: it won't reflect blue light—it simply absorbs it. Any attempt to correct the color cast by using narrow-band RGB lighting results in metameric distortions, creating more problems than it solves.

Ultimately, the key is understanding that trying to counteract a wall's color with light is a path fraught with unintended consequences.

In short, two concepts come into play here: opponent color theory and chromatic adaptation. When we eat spaghetti with tomato sauce on blue plates in a room painted blue, it doesn't make the food look blue (although some studies suggest that blue plates can make food look less appetizing). However, if we eat under blue lighting, everything appears distorted.

Therefore, while it's a good idea to choose a wall color and sheen (ideally, matte) that suit your viewing environment, removing all other light in the room except for the light behind the display is no less accurate—and certainly more ideal—than watching with 3000K-4000K incandescent lights reflecting off the screen.

Every time bias lights come up on Reddit, someone inevitably says, “OLEDs don’t need bias lights because of their perfect blacks.” lol. Bias lighting isn’t about the screen’s black levels; it’s about how we perceive contrast and reduce eye strain. Our eyes can't even see as dark as the OLED's black levels—we perceive something called “brain gray,” or eigengrau, and ambient light, especially a dim surround, improves our perception of black levels.

Edited to remove two links to info about eigengrau and a blog post about colored walls that apparently are now considered spam. LOL.

 

[Jason Rosenfeld]

I have it, but no longer use it because my remote won't trigger it, and I can't learn it. If Sony would only use power on and off with their USB ports, I could use it. Maybe at some point AVA will figure out a way to make it work. OR... maybe once I get my Home Assistant up and running, there might be a way to make it work with it.

The one in my bedroom with the Samsung tv works with the on/off with the tv remote but not with my Sony in the family room. For that one I have to ask Alexa or Google to turn it on/off. This is a Sony issue I was told.

Back in 2022, Jason mentioned a prototype but it got suspended because of insufficient interest and a higher cost base. Maybe there is interest now or perhaps they have something much better now/soon.

This is what we call a first world problem. "I don't feel like using the remote to turn the lights on." I get it. I feel the same way. That's what original motivated me to create a device to solve the problem. It's also what led me to suspend the project a few times. I just felt like there were bigger problems to solve, and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out ways to do it, from a switch that learned your IR remote's power command to timers that delayed the lights turning off for as long as the typical Bravia USB standby power cycle lasted. (adjustable up to about 45 seconds), vibration and human presence detectors, and I started (but didn't get very far) looking into CEC control.

As for the 2022 project you mentioned, you're spot on. I did develop a prototype solution, originally dubbed LightsOut for Sony Bravia, which we’ve now renamed LightsOut USB to avoid getting sued. The project addresses a very specific issue— a "super-niche" problem. It primarily affects Sony Bravia owners, and while that may sound narrow, it's a very significant percentage of our user base. The tricky part was figuring out if enough people were bothered by having to manually turn their lights on and off to justify the development costs. It sounds like Sonnie might be a potential customer!

Initially, I aimed to produce an inexpensive $5-10 device that we could just include with our lighting products. But after multiple rounds of development, it became clear that the cost would land closer to and SRP of $40 (in addition to production and shipping cost, we typically warranty our products for 5 years). That said, we’re planning to offer a significant discount for existing MediaLight customers, so it won't cost as much for those who already own our products.

The reason I paused the project back then was more aesthetic than functional. The device works well, but it looks like a tangled mess of wires (though it’s hidden behind the TV). Some might ask, “Why not just use a master control power strip?” And it's a great question! The issue with those is they’re designed to detect larger power shifts—like with AVRs—so they struggle to distinguish between a Bravia in standby with a dark screen versus when it's fully on. This is where our solution comes into play—fine-tuned specifically for those subtle differences in power usage. There's a small screw knob built into the USB dongle. In most cases, it will work out of the package, but some may need to turn the tiny knob to set it.

That said, I’m happy to report that LightsOut will be shipping in a few weeks. I’m not a big fan of Kickstarter-style pre-orders (or those faux Kickstarter pre-orders where we all pretend the project won’t happen unless there’s interest—it’s happening either way, folks). So, like with everything else we make, we’ll start selling it once it's actually on the shelf.

As for why I brought this project back from the dead, I just have a feeling that the Bravia bug is here to stay. If Sony ever fixes it, awesome! But in the meantime, we’ve already spent the money on a solution, so might as well use it. Plus, it works with monitors that go dark when not in use, so there's some added versatility. And let's be honest—most home theater problems are definitely first world problems. So, why not solve one of them?

 

[Jason Rosenfeld]

Jason told me not to use USB extension cords because of voltage drops. That is why I decided to just use voice command for on/off.

It a matter of degree. We do include a short (half-meter) extension cord with all of our Mk2 units, but voltage drop becomes visible at longer lengths, particularly for longer strips. You don't have this problem if you run a 50 ft 110v extension cord to the USB plug. It only happens over a 5v DC cable.

The issue arises at very low brightness levels, like those recommended by SMPTE. Even a small 5% voltage drop can become visible at those levels. However, at higher brightness settings, like 20% or 40%, it’s much harder to detect a 5% difference, and at the upper end of the range, you practically can’t see it at all.

This is also why we get some support emails when people think the +/- fine-tune buttons on the remote don’t work—when you're starting at 100% brightness and adjusting down in 2% increments (and especially 0.67% increments with the new dimmers), the changes are so subtle that they're invisible without a meter.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

As for the 2022 project you mentioned, you're spot on. I did develop a prototype solution, originally dubbed LightsOut for Sony Bravia, which we’ve now renamed LightsOut USB to avoid getting sued. The project addresses a very specific issue— a "super-niche" problem. It primarily affects Sony Bravia owners, and while that may sound narrow, it's a very significant percentage of our user base. The tricky part was figuring out if enough people were bothered by having to manually turn their lights on and off to justify the development costs. It sounds like Sonnie might be a potential customer!

That said, I’m happy to report that LightsOut will be shipping in a few weeks. I’m not a big fan of Kickstarter-style pre-orders (or those faux Kickstarter pre-orders where we all pretend the project won’t happen unless there’s interest—it’s happening either way, folks). So, like with everything else we make, we’ll start selling it once it's actually on the shelf.

As for why I brought this project back from the dead, I just have a feeling that the Bravia bug is here to stay. If Sony ever fixes it, awesome! But in the meantime, we’ve already spent the money on a solution, so might as well use it. Plus, it works with monitors that go dark when not in use, so there's some added versatility. And let's be honest—most home theater problems are definitely first world problems. So, why not solve one of them?

Keep us posted. I'm in. I'm going to grab the upgraded kit too.

 

[Mike Schramm]

Thanks Jason! Man, we kept you busy didn't we?

 

[Jason Rosenfeld]

Thanks Jason! Man, we kept you busy didn't we?

I tried to post even more but the forum software thought I was spamming.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I tried to post even more but the forum software thought I was spamming.

Go here an post a few times to get to 10 posts, then within an hour (system update hourly), you should be fine. It's a spam prevention measure. If we don't have it, we get spammers posting links galore. Most "good quality" forums will have the same.