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It seems that the auto dimming can be turned off via the service menu, at least you can on the U.S. models. I cant help thinking that this would give a much more stable calibration. Is there any way you can check this out and update your review with your findings?
All the best.
We switched off the option in the service menu, as described in the review, but when we went back to the regulate test pattern (as seen in the video) it still introduced auto dimming. We concluded this was part of the design and engineering so the set can achieve its back levels and cannot be fully switched off. Hope that helps.
Realistically, for everyday Joe Bloggs like me, am I likely to see the auto-dimming affects when watching normal TV (SD) or a DVD movie...in an average mood-lit room.
I guess, if the answer to that is yes, then this TV is a no for the image conscience viewer..but if the answer is no - then it's a serious contender.
For me its either this TV or the new Sony 40W5500.
Best advice is to find a dealer who stocks this model, take some material you are used to watching on a regular basis and make sure you can change the TV modes to see what you think. Only you can decide which set is right for you, we test them thoughly so you are armed with the best knowledge of what to look for.
I went to review this TV in JL and Currys on the wkend.
Have to admit, SD was rubbish. Colours aweful (probably needs calibration) - but overall, my heart sank, as I really want to like this TV - but its pic doesn't justify the purchase.
on the other hand...sony 40W5500 was very good. Phil..what do you think about this one?
We switched off the option in the service menu, as described in the review, but when we went back to the regulate test pattern (as seen in the video) it still introduced auto dimming. We concluded this was part of the design and engineering so the set can achieve its back levels and cannot be fully switched off. Hope that helps.
That doesn't seem correct: I am reading several reports from owners of the Samsung LED tv's that have turned off the auto dimming using the service menu option. So either you didn't follow the correct steps or the UK sets differ at this point.
That doesn't seem correct: I am reading several reports from owners of the Samsung LED tv's that have turned off the auto dimming using the service menu option. So either you didn't follow the correct steps or the UK sets differ at this point.
Can't comment on owners claims. I can assure you that we tested the service menu fully and the evidence is in the video. We also use a calibrated generator for the regulate pattern used. We have no bias in these matters, we don't own one of these TVs or have any interest in publishing misleading information or a need to justify a purchase etc. We are independant in what we do and our goal is to find displays that meet our high standards of testing and objective data.
Last edited by Phil Hinton; 02-06-2009 at 12:26 AM.
Hi Phil,
Your the man in the know... I'm a lay person when it comes to TV jargon etc but I did purchase the above LED TV over the weekend and I must say I suitably impressed! Where can I get a list of Calibrated settings rather than just of out of the box?
Hi Phil,
Your the man in the know... I'm a lay person when it comes to TV jargon etc but I did purchase the above LED TV over the weekend and I must say I suitably impressed! Where can I get a list of Calibrated settings rather than just of out of the box?
Cheers
Andy
No, I don't publish settings for very good and well documented reasons. I'm sure some of the other sites out there or the owners threads will have such settings, but they are a complete waste of time for your tv. You could look at the tutorial videos and see how to set it up yourself.
Can't comment on owners claims. I can assure you that we tested the service menu fully and the evidence is in the video. We also use a calibrated generator for the regulate pattern used. We have no bias in these matters, we don't own one of these TVs or have any interest in publishing misleading information or a need to justify a purchase etc. We are independant in what we do and our goal is to find displays that meet our high standards of testing and objective data.
Phil, my Samsung 7020 has been calibrated today by one of the most well respected ISF certifid calibrators in my country and on my request he has turned off the auto dimming in the service menu. And this has actually worked, my TV does now not exhibit any autodimming anymore, except when you have a 100% black image with nothing on screen at all: in that case the screen is completely turned off. But that was also already the case before auto dimming was turned off.
So either the 6000 models behave differently here (which I highly doubt) or you still must have made a mistake when you tried to turn it off in the service menu.
For the people wondering how the screen looks with auto dimming turned off: I still have to do some more viewing to make a final verdict, but overall the detail in dark scenes is now much better than before and the brightness for subtitles and station logos is now 100% stable. There is a tradeoff however and that is that the absolute blacklevel on dark scenes is worse now, which is to be expected because that is why the autodimming feature has been invented in the first place: to 'fake' a bigger contrast than the panel actually has. However the improvements on the other aspects do seem to justify this tradeoff. But as I said: I will have to do some more viewing for a final verdict.
I saw one of these set-up as a demo model in PC World over the weekend... and it was showing Cars on Blu-ray. While that's not going to give you any idea of how well it handles SD, I have to say that the picture on Cars (which is obviously demo material and not going to highlight display flaws) was absolutely fantastic.
This is coming from someone that normally despises the picture on LCD screens, and especially when they're shown in the big bright customer shops like Currys/PC World/Comet etc.
Hopefully they can refine the technology in future generations, and it looks like a winner. It really was a very impressive picture.
I have an XBox 360 connected to it with the high def component leads, and I have the video output set to 1080p @ 60Hz.
I don't know whether it's because I'm sitting too close to the television or whether I have the wrong settings selected, but the picture quality doesn't look as good as I thought it would.
There seem to be jagged edges everywhere I look on the screen which are noticeable when moving around.
Does anyone else use an XBox 360 with this television?
Image settings are wrong. Change to the MOVIE mode and see if that gets rid of the problem. That will probably add input lag, though, so you'll have to turn on the Game Mode option (it's in one of the other menus) and adjust controls like Sharpness and Colour to try and get rid of the "in your face" look.
Reading the first review this TV is not recommended. If that is the case, which tv in the £1500 bracket is recommened instead ? Its all very well to say something isn't as good but you need to make suggestions as to what is better for the same price.
Reading the first review this TV is not recommended. If that is the case, which tv in the £1500 bracket is recommened instead ? Its all very well to say something isn't as good but you need to make suggestions as to what is better for the same price.
I'm also looking at buying one of these TV's and was wondering which other TV would be better than this for the same price?
Hello ppl.
First congrats for your site. Has great reviews and info!
I just ordered my Samsung UE40B6000VW.
I already have a 5.1 sound system (creative) and I want to ask what I need to connect the TV with that system.
My 5.1 has an Auxiliary Line In and another 5 colored jack holes (probably one for each channel).
What cable i need to connect? If i use a jack to jack cable from TV Headphones to Line In of the sound system the 5.1 will work? Or I'll get sound only from the front speakers?
Tnx for advanced and sorry if I am posting on a wrong section.
Also sorry cause I dont have no idea with cables/sound/ connectors etc!
Hi, i purchased the above TV yesterday and am surprised to be having trouble finding digital channels. I am obviously missing something quite obvious. Everything is connected, analogue channels have been found but no luck with digital. Can you help at all?
I bought a UE40B6000VW one week ago and am pretty satisfied with it.
Can we confirm that the Auto Dimming referred to is Dynamic Contrast in the picture options? If so, I have found that Low is my preferred setting. Certainly, Medium (the default) tends to give excessive brightness.
This is a TV with a few too many settings. Trying to find a balance to suit every picture is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Watching in SD, you can calibrate the image to whatever you're watching and achieve excellent results. Then, you'll switch channel and want to do it all over again. What works for a period drama, doesn't work for live TV from a brightly-coloured studio. Where I am getting to is trying to find a compromise that suits everything, but in each case the fact that I could get a better result is bugging me. It makes me long for my old CRT with just Brightness, Colour and Contrast.
Sound is not brilliant, but then the speakers are about 20mm thick so it's hardly a disappointment - indeed given this limitation it's quite acceptable.
HD performance is truly stunning on this TV, however, and I believe that's where it comes into its own.
I didn't read a great number of reviews before buying this; I made my own decision by comparing pictures side-by-side in several stores. I guess one drawback of this is the fact that the environments there are pretty bright and not like my living room.
I do think this TV has a lot of potential and some of its 'bleeding edge' factor will be mitigated by firmware updates via USB. Incidentally, I upgraded to v002008 firmware today (update dated 30/10) but cannot find any release notes or details of what is included in the upgrade. Anyone have this info?
There is something I should add, although perhaps should raise in the Blu-Ray Player forum.
I purchased this alongside a Samsung BDP1650 Blu Ray player. I took both home and connected them via a single HDMI cable.
After just a few minutes of watching HD and upscaled DVD I noticed a consistent lip-sync problem. This was present across all the discs I tried. The video was AHEAD of the sound by quite some degree, I'd estimate as much as 300ms. After a very short time this became extremely irritating - I showed it to other people who noticed it immediately without my needing to draw their attention to it.
For several hours resolved to try every single setting on the Blu Ray player and the TV, to attempt to solve this... even those related to Picture. Often lip sync issues can be solved by changing on or off 24fps, but the issue reamined with both settings. There was NO setting on the BR Player to adjust Audio Delay (although this wouldn't have helped anyway, as the sound was BEHIND the audio already - usually the problem is the other way around).
As a test I plugged speakers into the back of the Blu Ray Player and, interestingly, the sound coming through them was synched perfectly with the image. With the TV speakers turned up, this caused an echo.
I did consider updating the firmware on the BDP1650 Blu Ray player to see if this fixed the issue, but I didn't see any notes about audio delay in the firmware update. By this time I had decided that it was unacceptable and I had already wasted enough time, and returned the Blu Ray player to Comet for a full refund. It's not right that you should buy (same manufacturer) BR-Player and TV in a bundle from the same store, take them home and set up in the simplest way possible, and experience this problem.
I am raising this in here because I am not sure I can 100% blame the BR player for it. Certainly, there is an incompatibility of this TV with this particular Blu Ray player and I would be very interested to hear whether others have experienced the same issue.
Obviously if you're playing sound through an amp, and watching with the TV speaker muted, you'll never notice this, and this (I suspect) is the reason I didn't see a mob with burning torches in the Comet car park.
Again, I don't mean to go off topic; this thread is about the Samsung UE40B6000VW and not the player but, right now, I own an HDTV without a Blu Ray player.
I would therefore really like to hear from anyone who is running this TV with a Blu Ray player via simple HDMI connection, and using only the basic internal speakers of the TV - and whether you're experiencing lip sync issues. I repeat, the issue was very noticeable and the audio was approx 300ms behind the image.
If you're having issues, using the same BR player, it's worth people heeding the warning and avoiding this combination.
If you're having the same issues but with a different player, then this is a very serious problem as it's very likely a problem with the Samsung UE40B6000VW itself.
If you're having no issues, please let me know what Blu Ray player you are using, so I can go and buy the same one.
I am looking to buy a led tv 32" UE32B6000 or UE32B7000 do prefer samsung but in view of the review of the 40" am not sure now.Will the 32" tv be the same as the 40" or could it be better/worse.
40inch SERIES 6 LED TV
E. & O.E.