27-06-2018 08:05 PM - last edited 27-06-2018 08:07 PM
Hi,
I've just switched from a 49 MU7000 to a 55 Q9FN and was giddy with excitement about finally owning a top end TV.
Unfortunately, I've either received a dud or there's an inherent problem with the tech; for HDR (and even SDR content), the screen goes /incredibly/ dark during dark scenes. We aren't talking perfect QLED blacks here; all detail is lost, UNLESS I leave a white menu screen up.
As you can see from the photos. Annoyingly, I'm also using an S9 to take the photos so it does a better job of amplifying the incoming light, but believe me when I say it's even worse than the TV is showing. I would estimate that the unlit picture is displaying at <10 nits.
I ascribed this to either a problem with local dimming or eco mode, but modifying both of those settings made no difference. It's making using the tv for anything other than bright content unusable, and I didn't honestly expect a £3000 TV to be notably worse than a £700 TV.
Please advise.
P.S: Why have Samsung removed the ability to change audio languages when playing from a USB source? All of my movies are playing in Italian or Portuguese with no way to change it.
21-12-2018 10:27 AM
21-12-2018 07:45 PM
There are videos on youtube how to enter the service menu. You need a universal remote and press a key combination.
Anyway, I'm surprised the subtitle issue is so big for some of you guys, I wonder if it has to do with your settings? I watch a lot of content with subtitles on Netflix and i only notice the issue in very dark scenes and even there it is not too serious.
21-12-2018 10:07 PM
There's no amount of pumping that is tolerable.
I want my movies on my TV like they are at the movies on a big screen. Except smaller.
21-12-2018 10:41 PM
I can hardly see this issue anymore to be honest. Only in very dark scenes when i get about a meter close to the tv i can notice it slightly (i have the 55" version). Do you have an example of a Netflix show (with timestamp, episode) where it is easily noticeable from about 2-3m from the TV?
21-12-2018 10:45 PM
You can go watch : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bTKo9fM9dg
It's a Netflix show named Atypical S01E8 (12m36s)
22-12-2018 08:41 AM
Thx, will check that.
22-12-2018 04:08 PM
As an update to this I returned the TV and got the Sony XF90. When dropping £3k on a TV you expect to be blown away and I just wasn't. Even though the XF90 is by no means a cheap TV I am so much happier with it than I was the Q9FN.
Samsung customer service was great though and they took it back no questions asked.
22-12-2018 04:11 PM
Did you buy it from Samsung directly? My reseller won't take it back...
23-12-2018 03:01 AM
ncri, it’s not any setting causing the backlight fluctuation. I’m sure most people don’t care even if they realize the issue. I too was happy with the TV for a while, as I mostly played video games and didn’t watch many dark movies with subtitles. But I’m a graphic designer so I’ve learned to be very sensitive to any kind of faults on the picture quality.
Harry_P is right, I can’t recommend accessing the service menu. It’s dangerous. Then again, if I brick the TV I would have a good excuse to change it and I like living on the edge. But the thing is, after a lot of testing I’m not convinced anymore that disabling the local dimming is a good idea. Dark scenes look better that way, but brighter scenes loose way too much contrast. You could probably get a TV with so dim picture for a lot cheaper. So I reverted the settings and now I’m back to square one…
If you’re adventurous and want to try yourself, here’s how I did it. Note that even entering the service menu resets your picture settings!
You don’t need a service remote, but the One remote that comes with QLED TVs isn’t sufficient. I bought a cheap Samsung remote with all the buttons and managed to enter the forbidden service menu with it, but only after countless tries. Then I remembered my old Samsung S4 Mini has an IR blaster. I installed a free remote control app called “TV (Samsung) Remote Control”. And voilà, it works every time!
Turn off the TV so it enter standby mode and press the following key combination; INFO, MENU, MUTE and POWER.
TV should turn on and the service menu appears a moment later. You can select items with the directional control buttons and enter menus and settings with the button in the center of them.
!!! Do NOT enter the ADC/WB menu! That’s the place you go if you want to screw up the TV! Do not even take a peek! If you already did, return by pressing the RETURN button. Pressing left of right is dangerous! There are lots of people online crying how they messed the calibration by doing so. !!!
What you should do next is to choose the first menu item “Option”. Then “MRT option”. There you can find “Local Dimming” which should currently be set to 1. Select it and press left to change it to 0. It’s possible to select 2 as the value and it seems to disable it too, but I have no idea what difference it has to 0.
That’s all to it. Just turn the TV off, wait a moment and then back on. Note that the baclight setting does nothing now. I thought I’d get used to the darker picture, but I didn’t. You can rise the white balance level to try to compensate the dim backlight. Great scene to test is Stranger Things season 2 episode 7 at 3:30 - 3:55 on Netflix. It looks horrible with the local dimming on. That's the scene I'm going to test first now on, as I’m afraid I have to start saving for an OLED now and stop playing video games with static HUDs for hours on end.
28-12-2018 10:17 AM
@Doggie wrote:I’m afraid I have to start saving for an OLED now and stop playing video games with static HUDs for hours on end.
The LG OLED isn't perfect either; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjObx--Oq8g
It'll be interesting to see if LG handle this issue better than Samsung are with the lack of ownership/acknowledgement of the brightness fluctuations with the Contrast Enhancement option (in regard to subtitles, etc).