Samsung "Movie Plus" causing artifacts

StNick · 06-12-2007, 7:36 AM

I know this has been covered in a number of other topics relating to the Samsung series of LCD televisions, but I was hoping we could get a topic started that might help get to the bottom of why this is happening.

I have a Samsung R8 series LCD TV. Until recently, I have loved the "effect" that Movie Plus has had on my DVDs through a standard DVD player. I've always thought that my movies looked as though they were running at twice the framerate, creating far smoother motion on-screen.

It is my understanding that this is what Movie Plus does; it interpolates extra frames to reduce the judder effect in movies. And although I've read that other people hate it, I've always found the effect to be desirable.

However, I recently bought a Playstation 3. Enter Upscaled DVDs. For the LIFE of me, I could not figure out why I was seeing blocky artifacts during scenes that involved lots of motion on-screen. I was on the verge of returning my PS3 when I decided to try fiddle with my TV's settings. I switched off Movie Plus, and voila! Problem solved.

I don't know if I should be sad or relieved. Is my TV faulty? It sounds like this is a known issue, but why does it happen? My guess is that the onboard processor inside the TV cannot cope with the additional bandwidth of HD material. Does that sound plausible?

Any comments/info would be greatly appreciated.

Barzo · 06-12-2007, 9:02 AM

My personal opinion is that the processing in the TV is just not up to it. Movieplus feels very much like a 'bolt on' - I'm not convinced by it at all, and have it switched off for all sources. The Samsung suite of software, including DNie and Movieplus, is certainly not the best processing out there, nor, I'm sure, is it the worst. The HDTV reviews website gives a good overview of the different processing engines in different sets: http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/

So, returning to point, I doubt Movieplus's problem will ever be classified as a fault that needs fixing, but the engine might get better in later iterations with more powerful processing and more effective algorithms.

Harry_Salsamix · 06-12-2007, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StNick

I know this has been covered in a number of other topics relating to the Samsung series of LCD televisions, but I was hoping we could get a topic started that might help get to the bottom of why this is happening.

I have a Samsung R8 series LCD TV. Until recently, I have loved the "effect" that Movie Plus has had on my DVDs through a standard DVD player. I've always thought that my movies looked as though they were running at twice the framerate, creating far smoother motion on-screen.

It is my understanding that this is what Movie Plus does; it interpolates extra frames to reduce the judder effect in movies. And although I've read that other people hate it, I've always found the effect to be desirable.

However, I recently bought a Playstation 3. Enter Upscaled DVDs. For the LIFE of me, I could not figure out why I was seeing blocky artifacts during scenes that involved lots of motion on-screen. I was on the verge of returning my PS3 when I decided to try fiddle with my TV's settings. I switched off Movie Plus, and voila! Problem solved.

I don't know if I should be sad or relieved. Is my TV faulty? It sounds like this is a known issue, but why does it happen? My guess is that the onboard processor inside the TV cannot cope with the additional bandwidth of HD material. Does that sound plausible?

Any comments/info would be greatly appreciated.

But why don't you put your Samsung on GAME MODE while playing videogames?

I think that solves all the entire problems in games.

StNick · 06-12-2007, 11:41 AM

Well, for one, I don't HAVE any problems with the games... In fact, they look superb. The artifacts are only present with HD video material...

On the whole, I am 100% satisfied with the Samsung R8 series. Visitors are always commenting on how good the picture is. I guess that's why I'm particularly disappointed to find out that it can't cope with the HD stuff with Movie Plus enabled.

Harry_Salsamix · 06-12-2007, 5:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StNick

Well, for one, I don't HAVE any problems with the games... In fact, they look superb. The artifacts are only present with HD video material...

On the whole, I am 100% satisfied with the Samsung R8 series. Visitors are always commenting on how good the picture is. I guess that's why I'm particularly disappointed to find out that it can't cope with the HD stuff with Movie Plus enabled.

Ok, but which games are you talking about?

If you are talking about PS3 and XBOX360 games then that's also "HD material".

You said you had problems while playing PS3 games, you said you turned off the "Movie Plus" feature, and I'm asking why you don't use the GAME MODE feature.

bailey87 · 06-12-2007, 5:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry_Salsamix

Ok, but which games are you talking about?

If you are talking about PS3 and XBOX360 games then that's also "HD material".

You said you had problems while playing PS3 games, you said you turned off the "Movie Plus" feature, and I'm asking why you don't use the GAME MODE feature.

er, he didnt cite any problems with games

he cited problems when using his PS3 to play movies

Harry_Salsamix · 06-12-2007, 5:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bailey87

er, he didnt cite any problems with games

he cited problems when using his PS3 to play movies

Er... yes I just noticed that now.

LOL!

tomiK · 06-12-2007, 7:07 PM

it happens. I did the same thing in a nother thread the other week

soke · 08-01-2008, 12:19 AM

I just got a Samsung LE37M87BDX/XEU i have noticed the same thing m8, playing DVD on my Ps3 and xbox 360 HDMI and Component, turned Movie plus off and it was gone, a example is say a car drove past fast on a light background it would apear to have a blocky surrond, now i dont know if this problem exits while running a HDDVD or blu-ray dvd. maybe its just the old dvd img being played though HD player/leads/TV then the tv trys to do stuff to it also.

For me i allways put game mode on i love that setting for all modes its ment to inc response time, so why not have that on films also :-p

**Curly99** · 08-01-2008, 8:57 AM

This has been discussed in many of the Samsung threads and the consensus of opinion is that it is better to have "Movie Plus" off on all inputs, one of the reason for turning it off on all inputs was the fact that there was a bug that meant if you had it turned on, on the one input it would turn it's self on for the other inputs regardless of the fact it was off.... I'm sure this was fixed via one of the firmware revisions.

Curly

Ajn · 19-02-2008, 8:52 AM

I have a Samsung LE40M86. I have read a lot about the problem with judder, which I also experience on my TV. The movie plus reduces judder, and does a great job. When applied, artifacts do appear. I did an interesting discovery recently. Playing a 1080p (blue ray) (The Departed) on my PS3, with 1080p enabled on the PS3, the movie plus option was diasabled and the film juddered. Also tried the 1080p 24hz, but still a lot of judder (I have got the impression that some people like this judder because it gives them a "movie-feeling", but I hate it). Luckily I tried to "reduce" output from my PS3 to 1080i, which enables the movie plus function on my M86. I activated movie plus and was VERY HAPPY. NO JUDDER AND NO ARTIFACTS. GREAT. Probably artifacts are no problem when you have a 1080-source, i.e playing a blue-ray film and not only upscaling a "normal" dvd to 1080. I have movie plus always activated since it gives a much more "relaxing" picture.