LG B7V after Samsung Q7F issues

So for the past 3 months I've had 3 separate Samsung Q7Fs. The first suffered with a blue mark at the bottom of the screen and the next two (both v2 screens) had SEVERE shadow problems and Samsung have F***ed me around something chronic with it. As I said already, 3 months.

They are claiming that this is within spec of the TV. Make you're own mind up. from the attached image.

ANYWAY! I finally have them sending an #engineer out to look at the fault, something which literally took them a week to sort out in the first instance, and basically, unless they can offer me something seriously magical (which I doubt), I'm just going to get the code I need and claim a refund from the retailer.

The only comparable screen I can see is the LG B7V. What are peoples opinions?

 

What source is shown in that picture and what quality/resolution? That picture looks like it has a lot of noise and compression.

Looks to me like its the traits of an LCD TV without effective local dimming though which is essentially what the Q7 is.

Obviously an OLED isn't going to be effected by any problems with local dimming but certainly on an edge lit model I think its normal to have bad screen uniformity like this, especially in an era of HDR TVs where they can get a lot brighter than before.

 

Stranger things s2e1 the very opening scene. It's like this on any dark scene.

I agree with the compression, the shadows are getting totally enhanced beyond recognition and loosing all detail.

Just for reference, I've attached an image a friend took of how it should look.

 

Short answer: get the OLED, it will generally be the better TV.

Longer answer: I took a look at that scene and it definitely doesn't look right in your picture. Which version are you streaming? I don't think the Q7F supports Dolby Vision, and it almost looks like the set isn't activating HDR mode (if you are trying to stream in HDR). That posterization in the shadows isn't right at all, assuming you haven't got the brightness or gamma set too high.

 

So you are playing it in UHD and with HDR on via the built in Netflix app? Is HDR mode engaged on the TV?

I think it just must be down to the TVs edge lighting, without any effective local dimming those bright lamps which are obviously mastered to be very bright with HDR seem to be washing out the entire image.

There has to be some way for the TV to make one part of an image bright, whilst also no letting it effect the rest of the image. You might be able to compromise a little by reducing the brightness but I don't think this would look any different to any edge lit LCD.

And what TV does your friend have? Is his picture also taken under the same conditions? HDR10? Dolby Vision? UHD? Built in netflix app?

 

Streaming straight off netflix. It isn't anything hdr related as it happened on all sources. All picture enhancements are off or as far to off as they'll go, backlight is on 7, so definitely not overlit.

It is most definitely not right.

Take a look at a scene a little further along. It is destroying the shadows.

 

Looks broke to me. Could be a myriad of things but I can recreate something similar if I crank the brightness and gamma up really high. Best to let the engineer take a look and see what he says.

 

What I don't get about these images is they all look heavily compressed. Why do they look so compressed? What kind of connection speed is netflix reporting? What resolution is it saying playback is at?

How is it not HDR related when the stranger things on netflix is with HDR?

Have you tried following these settings? Samsung Q7F LED TV Calibration Settings

And making particular note if testing with a series that has HDR meta data:

 

Only1 definitely broke! Samsung claiming that is within the spec of the TV. It's humiliating.

Hi dodge, I'm a proper nerd man so I'm more than knowledgeable about this sort of stuff.
As I'm not a complete douche though, I have set the TV up as requested and it does the same thing, just a lot brighter

My reasoning for stating that it isn't hdr related too us that it happens on all sources, sd, HD, dvd, bluray, uhd, I bet if I got a beta max hooked up it would do it on that too!

The only reason I'm using stranger things as my example as I know it's prevelant as soon as I fire it up, in fact you can even see the problem in the netflix menu!

 

Well it just looks like its the poor back lighting system then. They have been criticised for it before.

In fairness to them, the Q7 is at the end of the day an edge lit TV. I don't think another TV with the same level of local dimming will do any better.

The problem is this is a TV they market to compete with OLEDs when they really shouldn't. Its nothing more than the KS series last year, except being slightly better at displaying saturated colours at different brightness levels.

Go have a look at TV Side-by-Side Comparison Tool vinnie, make a comparison between your Q7F and a TV that doesn't even have any local dimming like the Sony X850E.

You can see when you watch both videos side by side that the Sony actually looks better, has less blooming whilst the white moving object on the Samsung can't help but light up the entire screen.

I think if you would have bought an LCD TV with local dimming that actually works well like last years Samsung KS9500 for example it would be very different. This year options are more scarce, but I do think the Sony XE9005 and XE9305 would have been better for you.

Having said that, neither of those will match an OLED in performance, so if you are able to return the TV and have the money to do so, don't hesitate to go for the LG OLEDs.

 

Cheers dodge, a wealth of information. It is an oled I'm currently looking at. I doubt there is anyway that Samsung can keep my custom after how they've treated me through this.