Samsung M86/M87 Discussion / Settings Thread

[Silver Serpent]

Update - 6th February 2008

I've had alot of PM's from people looking for settings for various different types of equipment over RGB Scart, so I'd recommend the guideline values posted below for all equipment over this connection.

For Sky HD/BluRay/HDDVD/HDMI DVD Players over HDMI, I'd recommend the same, but be sure and use Just Scan for HD Content, and 16:9 for SD.

Mode: Movie

Contrast: 75-90

Brightness: 42-50

Sharpness: 0-30

Colour: 40-50

Tint: 50/50

Colour Tone: Warm1/2

Backlight: 1-3 (may need to be higher in some environments)

Size: 16:9

Digital NR: Off

Movie Plus: Off

xvYCC: Off

Detailed Settings

Black Adjust: Off

Dynamic Contrast: Off

Gamma -1/0

Edge Enhancement: Off

Colour Space: Wide

My Colour Control: All 15, except White 15-20

White Balance

It's very difficult to advise settings for this section, but I'm going to attempt it based on my experience so far, so here goes:

R-Offset: 14-17

G-Offset: 10-15

B-Offset: 9-11

R-Gain: 3-7

G-Gain: 10-15

B-Gain: 10-30

Setup

Energy Saving: Off/Low

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These values should get you on the road to acheiving a better picture, but still some way off an accurate one, so your only hope of achieving an accurate Picture would be to go for ISF Calibration.

The White Balance settings are next to impossible to set correctly playing it by eye, but you should be able to get an idea of what looks OK and what looks totally Off by staying within the values provided. However, these value recommendations are based on the experience I've had with my set only. Your results could differ greatly going by these because of ambient lighting and possible variation between units.

Setting the Brightness (Black Level) and Contrast (White Level) somewhere near accurate is also very important. Investing in a calibration DVD such as DVE may be worthwhile in an attempt to fine-tune this area. I believe DVD's which carry the THX Logo also provide certain calibration patterns on their discs, which could aid you in this area, so it may be worth investigating.

Normal Colour Tone is what most people will prefer initially, because they will be used to a cooler temperature (nearer 9300k), however, a more accurate picture (nearer 6500k) will be achieved by using Warm1/2 Colour Tone. Most likely Warm 2, but on the 50" version reviewed by HDTVtest, Warm 1 took them closer to 6500k, so it can vary.

Initially when using Warm1/2 Colour Tone, people say the picture is too yellow /red looking. What I'd recommend is, apply settings using Warm1/2 and stick to them for a week, to give yourself time to adapt to the change, then switch back to Normal Tone and you should realise how artificial the colours look compared to how they were in Warm1/2.

Anyway, I hope this post is of help to people looking for settings advice under these categories, as it will save me alot of time replying to each individual PM.

Please Note: I've removed the original settings I posted in April 2007, as I believe you will achieve a more accurate picture with the ones posted now.


Update - July 22nd 2008

The following settings are for Xbox 360 over Component.

Please Note - You will need to set brightness using a test pattern to suit your own viewing environment. Other slight tweaks may be neccessary due to variations between Sets.

Mode: Movie

Contrast: 80

Brightness: 65 (Daytime) 58 (Night time)

Sharpness: 0

Colour: 53

Tint: 50/50

Colour Tone: Warm 2

Backlight: 1

Size: 16:9 (Just Scan for Sets that allow it to be enabled)

Digital NR: Off

Movie Plus: Off

xvYCC: Off

Detailed Settings

Black Adjust: Off

Dynamic Contrast: Off

Gamma -1

Edge Enhancement: Off

Colour Space: Wide

My Colour Control: All 15

White Balance

R-Offset: 17

G-Offset: 15

B-Offset: 11

R-Gain: 4

G-Gain: 14

B-Gain: 30

Setup

Energy Saving: Low

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[Silver Serpent]

If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve shadow detail, it would be welcomed.

[Silver Serpent]

By the way, I am using an expensive Scart Cable, and it is RGB ONLY (doesn't carry any audio), as I have speakers and an amp.

It's available here:

https://www.hificonfidential.co.uk/detail.asp/sku=AV6

Cracking Scart cable though.

[Yannis]

These settings have been recommended by mightymaccers:

Picture
Movie Mode
Contrast 95
Brightness 44
Sharpness 26
Color 52 (Normal)
Tint G55
Backlight 4
HDMI Black Low

Detailed Settings
Black Correction Low
Color Wide
Gamma 0
Dynamic Contrast Low

White Balance
RO 15
GO 14
BO 13
RG 10
GG 18
BG 12

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showp...postcount=1503

[kparekh2]

Originally Posted by Silver Serpent

Ok people, this will be an all important thread for any new owners of this set, so I am going to start it with the settings I am using for Standard Definition (RGB - SKY)

Picture
Mode: Movie
Contrast: 85
Brightness: 44
Sharpness: 15
Colour: 52
Colour Tone: Normal
Backlight: 4
Size: 16:9
Digital NR: Off
Movie Plus: On

Detailed Settings
Black Adjust: Low
Dynamic Contrast: Low
Gamma: 0
Edge Enhancement: Off
Colour Space: Auto
White Balance:
R-Offset: 15
G-Offset: 14
B-Offset: 13
R-Gain: 10
G-Gain: 18
B-Gain: 12
My Colour Control: All Set to 15

------------------------------

Setup
Energy Saving: Medium

Everything else off in this section

------------------------------

Yeah does look better, my sky is connected via scart, just a bit too much colour but the picture is much better than what I had before. My tv has a crack on the left hand side so this might have damaged something, currys are replacing my tv.
Cheers for that mate.

[Silver Serpent]

Originally Posted by Yannis

These settings have been recommended by mightymaccers:

Picture
Movie Mode
Contrast 95
Brightness 44
Sharpness 26
Color 52 (Normal)
Tint G55
Backlight 4
HDMI Black Low

Detailed Settings
Black Correction Low
Color Wide
Gamma 0
Dynamic Contrast Low

White Balance
RO 15
GO 14
BO 13
RG 10
GG 18
BG 12

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showp...postcount=1503

I think they are HDMI settings aren't they?

[Yannis]

Originally Posted by Silver Serpent

I think they are HDMI settings aren't they?

For PS3 through HDMI.

[Silver Serpent]

Bump

[ur1d1um]

Can anyone with Sky HD confirm the best settings? I'm a bit confused as this will have to deal with HD and SD pictures so I don't really know what to do for the best....

[FATFINGERS73]

These are my PS3 setting via HDMI:

Movie Mode
Contrast 80
Brightness 50
Sharpness 0
Colour 40
Tint 50
Colour Tone Normal
Backlight 2

Cheers,

Rob.

[BMU83]

I propobaly being really stupid (this is my first hd lcd) but can you have seperate settings for diffrent things i.e one setting for my SD Sky box via scart and another setting for my PS3 via HDMI?

[ronniesboot]

Hello everyone and thanks for all the useful info.

I got the 46' M86 last week from beyondtelevision (delivered next morning). This is probably a basic question but is it best to view SD Sky via a Sky HD box through HDMI or Scart? So far I've been blown away with the HD PQ but SD through HDMI looks washed out with quite a lot of noise - much worse than the built in freeview picture (I've applied mightymaccers settings to all sources).

I realise this is more of a set-up issue than settings but I guessed this thread is more about those that have purchased and want to extract the best out of the set...

[ur1d1um]

Originally Posted by BMU83

I propobaly being really stupid (this is my first hd lcd) but can you have seperate settings for diffrent things i.e one setting for my SD Sky box via scart and another setting for my PS3 via HDMI?

Yes you can. Don't worry, it's my first hd telly too and I had to find out the same thing!

[TypeR]

Here is my settings for Sky

mode - standard
contrast - 52
brightness - 52
sharpness 80
colour 39
color tone - cool 1

black adjust - high
dynamic contrast - medium
gamma - 0
white balance - all 15
colour control - all 15
edge enhancement - on
colour space wide

backlight - 6
size - 16x9
digital nr - auto
dnile - on
movie plus - on

this is what i have on now and it looks okay ... still waiting for a professional calibrated setting

what i do is just adjust the contrast and brightness depending on wether its the evening or morning

[Silver Serpent]

Just a quick note to say I have lowered my contrast to 70.

It really is tricky trying to get SD at optimum settings.

The sooner a pro steps in the better.