My 9986 (great TV!!) keeps defaulting back to the 'soft' setting, which I don't like, from my 'personal' setting. Usually it happens after it's been on stand-by.

Does anyone know how I can stop this from happening?

Thanks!!!

Car man

[John Pickles]

Does this only happen after you have watched something from an Ext source, such as a Digital Set Top Box, and have you configured the 'source' as 'Digital STB' in the set up screen? For some reason, this forces the set to select the higher contast settings, which it then uses for everything else. Change the source to something other than 'Digital STB' and it should now use your personal settings all the time.

John

PS Much as I love it, mine second set goes back for refund next week, due to contrast hum, uneven backlight and horrible vertical rolling 'bars'. No idea what causes the bars. It's present on all sources. I've disconnected every thing an reconnected one at a time to try and get to the bottom of it, but with no luck. It's visible even when connectec to nothing but the mains. There are no speakers, radiators wireless senders or anything near the set. Admittedly, the second set has not been as bad as the first, but it's still unwatchable in my eyes. I envy those of you who have found a 'good' set. There do seem to be an awful lot of duff sets out there.

thanks John, sorry to hear about your set, I hope you get a good one next time ... it is really a great set. Of course, by the time you get a good one, there may be a better set available for half the price

forgot to mention...I've made the change and am waiting to see if it makes any difference...

[jimsan]

I'd love to know:
a). How many 9986's Philips have sold in the UK.

And,

b). What percentage are returned for various reasons....

Probably not as many as you'd expect, but still too many!

It's a terrible shame that the 9986 is plagued by such quality problems, but to me, John, it is still worth hunting down a good one. I take it you are buying online and you can't go somewhere and try out a prospective new TV before you get it delivered.....just an idea.

Jimmy

[John Pickles]

Hi Jimmy,
No, I actually bought from John Lewis. As you no doubt know, you can see the sets, but not the actual one you'll be getting, as they come from a warehouse. Even if you could, I doubt you would hear the contast hum in a store environment. Having said that, I've no complaints about JL. They agreed straight away to replace my first set, and agreed to replace or refund if the second set was not to my satisfaction. I've gone for the refund (much to my wife's dismay, she loves the set as well) as I'm fed up with the hassle of taking the set down, re-installing the new one. I suppose I'm also worried that JL's patience will run out and I'll be left with a two grand white elephant (I mean, what do they do with these 'rejected' sets, and who foots the bill. JL, or Philips?)
You're probably right about faulty returns, it's probably only a small percentage of those sold. After all, most people who have these sets will not visit the forums to say how wonderful their set is, it's only moaners like me.
Anyway, unless I have a radical rethink this week about the replacement vs refund issue, my 9986 goes back for good next Saturday.

John

PS just a thought, my software version is 2.2. Is that likely to have any bearing on my problems?

[jimsan]

John,

I'm sure somebody else actually got JL to set his prospective TV in their showroom for him. He did check the Contrast noise in the showroom OK and also got to confirm that the set was fully functional too!

Another option is to accept the refund, but, considering you and your good lady both like the look of the TV, wait for the much vaunted PF9380 which will appear later in the summer. This uses the same chassis as the 9986 but with many tech advances - PP2HD, Ambilight2, Scanning Backlight, Clear LCD etc etc.

Philips are using this entirely new kind of backlight technology on the 9380 which, i'm sure, will eliminate the troublesome hum! (Hopefully!)

Prices will start similar to where the 9986 is now and will probably reduce to £1500 - £1600 within a few months.

Jimmy

[John Pickles]

Hi Jimmy,
I think we've sort of hi-jacked this thread but,
Thanks for the advice. I'll be really sorry to see the 9986 go, but I've got to be honest with myself. I know I'll never be happy with it and as I've said before, £2K is a lot to spend on something that ain't right!
I'm interested in what you say about the forthcoming 9380. Where did you get your info? Any links to pics / specs etc?
Thanks for taking the trouble to respond. I have to say, your recommended picture settings posted in other threads really are the mutz nutz. I just wish that my 9986's had been able to do them justice.

Regards,
John.

[Alan D]

Here's a link to a piece about the new Philips 32" model
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-...ws.php?id=7587

[jimsan]

I have mixed emotions about the upcoming 9380!

One one hand it's fantastic that they are pushing on with their LCD development programme and presumably producing TV's with even better performance than the ubiquitous 9986.

On the other, I hope it isn't much better than my 9986 which, up to now, is the best TV in the world! It's hard to imagine it'll be all that much better.

I fully intend keeping my TV for quite a few years, but if Philips really do keep improving things too much I may have to sign off from the Forum and bury my head in the sand for a few years! I may then reappear in 2010 as a Newbie, and start the process all over again.....

Ho Hum.

Jimmy

just to un-hijack this thread the changes you suggest do indeed work, thank you John, although to get the right format I now have to use the 'Sat' label for my set-top box. It's strange that they don't allow you to define the format you want it to start up in, but there you go...

Car man

[John Pickles]

Glad to be of help, Car man.
I'm into my last 48 hrs with my 9986 Goes back on Saturday because of faults as I've described above. I've tried really hard to get used to the 'flicker' and 'hum', and to be honest there have been times when I've forgotten it. But then, there will be a scene, (usually in which the colours are predominantly grey) and there is that damn flicker rolling up the screen.
I'm going to miss it, but I'm going to hope that the forthcoming 9380 which Philips tell me is coming in July will address the quality contol issues that seem to affect a number of 9986's.
Yours is obviously a good one. Enjoy it. I envy you.

Regards
John