Philips Ambilight TV, any way to make the Ambilight lights go off on black screen during scenes?

[iMohMoh36]

Hi all,

I have a 65OLED706 and I am having a similar issue though not the same. I'm using some Hue Play bars and the bars are suffering from the stupid dim white light. Philips technical support are useless and advising that there is no issue.

"Thank you for contacting Philips.
From our end we can not assist you further with your case, we would consider this to be within specifications
The TV is communicating the same color information to the Hue lamps that it's internally using to feed the AL driver, how the Hue lamps will respond to these values is entirely up to the Hue implementation.



Technically, the TV is not sending an "off" command to the Hue lamps, but an RGB value of 0x00 (zero on all channels), if this corresponds to "off" or "vague white with low duty cycle" is up to the Hue implementation"

There's definitely an issue with the TV. I've connected the bars up on the Hue sync windows app and works flawlessly.

Why are Philips so useless and burying their head acting like there is no issue. I feel like the technical team don't even have the TV or have used it with an Oled to even know how much of an eyesore this is.

Pic attached.

I see some people mentioned an update that may fix this, which is contrary to what Philips told me and now won't open any further tickets for me on the issue.

Useless.

 

[Spadess]

Well Philips, enough is enough. I’m returning my tv unless the Ambilight is restored to its former glory. Here is a video of the brightness control doing next to nothing, proving that this is a major problem that needs to be addressed and apologised for ASAP.

Ambilight on Philips 936 broken.

 

[Daniel Ewen]

Hi all,

I have a 65OLED706 and I am having a similar issue though not the same. I'm using some Hue Play bars and the bars are suffering from the stupid dim white light. Philips technical support are useless and advising that there is no issue.

"Thank you for contacting Philips.
From our end we can not assist you further with your case, we would consider this to be within specifications
The TV is communicating the same color information to the Hue lamps that it's internally using to feed the AL driver, how the Hue lamps will respond to these values is entirely up to the Hue implementation.



Technically, the TV is not sending an "off" command to the Hue lamps, but an RGB value of 0x00 (zero on all channels), if this corresponds to "off" or "vague white with low duty cycle" is up to the Hue implementation"

There's definitely an issue with the TV. I've connected the bars up on the Hue sync windows app and works flawlessly.

Why are Philips so useless and burying their head acting like there is no issue. I feel like the technical team don't even have the TV or have used it with an Oled to even know how much of an eyesore this is.

Pic attached.

I see some people mentioned an update that may fix this, which is contrary to what Philips told me and now won't open any further tickets for me on the issue.

Useless.

I can confirm I have the same issue.

I don't ever recall a time where my Hue bulbs/lamps went completely off when paired with Ambilight+hue. I've always assumed that this was the intended, albeit rather contradictory behaviour, even when Ambilight went completely off with ALL Follow Video modes on my out-of-the-box 65OLED935/12, or Game mode on the 65OLED936/12 with FW: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.012. For this reason I only typically use Ambilight+hue when watching bright sports content.

IMHO having a persistent light source, be that just Ambilight or Ambilight+hue, defeats the purpose of watching content on an OLED panel with infinite contrast. It somewhat spoils the immersive and cinematic experience.

That said, I have just set a black background on my PC and tested the same feature on the Philips Hue sync Windows app and BINGO! the Hue lights all turn off to replicate the on screen contrast level of the PC (LCD) monitor.

 

[Daniel Ewen]

Well Philips, enough is enough. I’m returning my tv unless the Ambilight is restored to its former glory. Here is a video of the brightness control doing next to nothing, proving that this is a major problem that needs to be addressed and apologised for ASAP.

Ambilight on Philips 936 broken.

Philips technical support repeatedly deny that this is an issue, even after I have sent them examples of FW: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.012 behaviour and FW: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.026 behaviour.

On Friday I decided to put the attached image together for them, so they can clearly see the difference. The FW: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.026 examples on the right are all using [Ambilight > Advanced > Brightness = 0].

IMHO normal TV content is currently unwatchable with ANY of the Ambilight > Follow Video modes on.

 

[Spadess]

I can confirm I have the same issue.

I don't ever recall a time where my Hue bulbs/lamps went completely off when paired with Ambilight+hue. I've always assumed that this was the intended, albeit rather contradictory behaviour, even when Ambilight went completely off with ALL Follow Video modes on my out-of-the-box 65OLED935/12, or Game mode on the 65OLED936/12 with FW: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.012. For this reason I only typically use Ambilight+hue when watching bright sports content.

IMHO having a persistent light source, be that just Ambilight or Ambilight+hue, defeats the purpose of watching content on an OLED panel with infinite contrast. It somewhat spoils the immersive and cinematic experience.

That said, I have just set a black background on my PC and tested the same feature on the Philips Hue sync Windows app and BINGO! the Hue lights all turn off to replicate the on screen contrast level of the PC (LCD) monitor.

I have the same function with the pc synced to the hue lights and they are completely off when the screen shows no detail or black scenes.

What an embarrassment for Philips, they need to sort this out as I’m sure we are only the first savvy people to start complaining using forums.

 

[sleepy3yes]

Adding my two cents, I have the same ambilight issue on my 986, downgrading to 0.12 didn't help as it kept the ambilight behavior of 0.26.

I also tried the newest firmware that was sent via official Philips support and it does not make the situation any better, yes in game mode it feels the light is a bit dimmer during black scenes but its still on, far from what we would want to see.

This is unacceptable by any terms and it surprises me how Philips is denying the facts.

 

[sleepy3yes]

Well Philips, enough is enough. I’m returning my tv unless the Ambilight is restored to its former glory. Here is a video of the brightness control doing next to nothing, proving that this is a major problem that needs to be addressed and apologised for ASAP.

Ambilight on Philips 936 broken.

My brightness setting does the same, it has not effect EXCEPT on the saturation of the colors, which led me to believe that the ambilight settings are inherently wrong, meaning there are two sets of inputs being sent at the same time, one which should turn off when brightness says 0 and one that inexplicably always sends a white hue info no matter your config

 

[iMohMoh36]

All philips need to do is allow you to turn off the background light like they do and this will fix the issue. I can only hope and pray that they pull their fingers out of their bums and actually do something instead of just burying their head and claiming it's intended.

I kept saying that if it's working within spec then it should be the same no matter where it's used on. But having it work like normal on the Hue Sync Windows app but then not on the TV just goes to show.

I really really hope that after enough complaints they do something about it!

I wonder if the earlier software works fine, tempted to look into downgrading if it does.

 

[davejones2]

Just doing a bit of research on the latest Philips OLED for a friend interested in buying one specifically for ambilight.

Safe to say I will not be recommending one - now or in the future - reading through this thread.

Amazes me that Philips will go to all the effort of trying to generate positive publicity for their TVs through a TV shootout on an enthusiast website, but are simultaneously quite unprepared to implement a simple bit of code to allow people who have actually bought their TVs to use them as they did at the time of purchasing. Disgraceful.

 

[Gaslight]

I almost pulled the plug on a 936 to replace my LG E7 ( I want an all in one tyoe affair with soundbar, which it dosent look like LG will be doing again)...thank god I read these threads first.

Well, it just saved me a couple of grand, I will be keeping my E7 till it dies!

 

[iMohMoh36]

They just need to be proactive really. Based on this thread alone, enough people have reported the issue. In my job, if we get even 3 reports of the same issue, it's raised right away as a trend and looked into for a fix, either now or in the future.

 

[Spadess]

They just need to be proactive really. Based on this thread alone, enough people have reported the issue. In my job, if we get even 3 reports of the same issue, it's raised right away as a trend and looked into for a fix, either now or in the future.

If they don’t nip this in the bud, their flagship consumer product could really come back to slap them silly with ignoring consumer concerns and deliberately ignoring or changing the behaviour of the tv from sale.

 

[Daniel Ewen]

I have reported another Ambilight "bug" to Philips, whereby the TV screen comes on and displays random static content when in Standby mode, with [Ambilight > Lounge Light] on.
You can see what I mean here: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AnvofSpuMzVns-4lOVKDjYataiSkOA?e=ZaOKmY

This has happened 4 times now since upgrading to FW: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.026.

Yet my 10+ year old 40inch Sony KDL-40Z4500 has never been updated, never crashed, never needed a reboot, still looks as good today as when it was unboxed, has stunning picture quality with deeps blacks and just works.

 

[Bassguy101]

They just need to be proactive really. Based on this thread alone, enough people have reported the issue. In my job, if we get even 3 reports of the same issue, it's raised right away as a trend and looked into for a fix, either now or in the future.

Has anyone with the issue tried contacting any of the influencers/reviewers? E.g. this very platform, HDTV test etc to see if they are aware. Philips seemed involved with both going by recent videos?

 

[Daniel Ewen]

Has anyone with the issue tried contacting any of the influencers/reviewers? E.g. this very platform, HDTV test etc to see if they are aware. Philips seemed involved with both going by recent videos?

I've emailed HDTVTest but, as yet, I haven't heard anything back. I've also seen a comment from @Spadess on this HDTVTest 936 YouTube review: .

My YouTube comment has been auto deleted, presumably because I put a link to this forum in it. I have also engaged with my retailer, who I hope have some influence with Philips. My previous 935 was replaced for free, by Philips, with the 936 because of ongoing issues.

 

[AlexanderVS]

I have reported another Ambilight "bug" to Philips, whereby the TV screen comes on and displays random static content when in Standby mode, with [Ambilight > Lounge Light] on.
You can see what I mean here: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AnvofSpuMzVns-4lOVKDjYataiSkOA?e=ZaOKmY

This has happened 4 times now since upgrading to FW: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.026.

Oh, I've observed it several times too!

This bug was present in .012 too, not only in .026.

 

[Alinutz]

Oh, I've observed it several times too!

This bug was present in .012 too, not only in .026.

Never seen it in so far, and I'm running .012 for 2 months.
Maybe it's something related to picture clean (anti burn-in feature) ?

 

[AlexanderVS]

Never seen it in so far, and I'm running .012 for 2 months.

I think there are different "sets" of bugs even inside same model but with different screen size (e.g. in 806 with diagonals less than 77" (to my knowledge) Ambilight in game mode in .022 and .026 is dark, but in 77" - it is bright on dark scenes). So, probably 55" 936 does not have this issue.

Never seen it in so far, and I'm running .012 for 2 months.
Maybe it's something related to picture clean (anti burn-in feature) ?

I also thought it was pixel clean when saw it first time , but it became obvious that it is not the case (as pixel clean is performed with screen off).

 

[Daniel Ewen]

I also created a post on the Philips forum here: https://tv-sound-monitors.philips.c...reen-moments-for-ambilight-follow-video-modes on Sunday which still says "Pending Review".

If Philips won't approve it, here it is. Its content reads as follows:

Can you please implement an Ambilight menu option to have Ambilight ON persistently or OFF during blank/black/dark screen moments for [Ambilight > Follow Video] modes?

Apparently Philips decided that [Ambilight > Follow Video] should be "Always ON" for all modes (Standard, Natural, Sport, Vivid) except Game, even when the TV OLED panel is completely blank/black/dark, thus depreciating the immersive experience of having an OLED panel with Ambilight.

This is a feature change from the original factory FW behaviour of the 65OLED935/12, whereby ALL [Ambilight > Follow Video] modes would go absolutely dark (OFF) when the TV screen was completely blank/black/dark.

This "design change / improvement" was implemented with FW: TPM191E_R.101.002.098.000 around August/September 2021 on the 65OLED935/12 and is the default Factory FW behaviour of the 65OLED936/12.

Can Philips please implement a menu option to allow advanced users to turn OFF this new "Always ON" behaviour, and restore the fully immersive OLED / Ambilight experience.

Better still, could you add a [Ambilight > Follow Video > Custom] mode to the existing set of modes (Standard, Natural, Sport, Vivid, Game) with the following settings:

• Intensity of permanent white light (and ideally - possibility to select cool, neutral or warm)
• Intensity (brightness) of dynamic light
• Colour saturation of dynamic light
• Quickness of Ambilight response

Some Philips customers on the following forum would very much appreciate it: Philips Ambilight TV, any way to make the Ambilight lights go off on black screen during scenes? Many thanks.

As Philips have yet to get around to approving my original Philips forum post, I have created another one which is now live.

If you would also like Philips to implement an ON/OFF and/or CUSTOM option for persistent bias light during Ambilight > Follow Video modes, please upvote this post here: https://tv-sound-monitors.philips.c...reen-moments-for-ambilight-follow-video-modes

 

[AlexanderVS]

As Philips have yet to get around to approving my original Philips forum post, I have created another one which is now live.

If you would also like Philips to implement an ON/OFF and/or CUSTOM option for persistent bias light during Ambilight > Follow Video modes, please upvote this post here: https://tv-sound-monitors.philips.c...reen-moments-for-ambilight-follow-video-modes

Thanks a lot!

As mentioned in parallel thread I upvoted it. (Guys, feel free to upvote, the post is already visible on Philips forum - unlike in many cases it takes them a while to approve).

 

[Daniel Ewen]

Thanks a lot!

As mentioned in parallel thread I upvoted it. (Guys, feel free to upvote, the post is already visible on Philips forum - unlike in many cases it takes them a while to approve).

NP. I've also posted something similar in the main @Philips TV PQ - "Promoted Philips OLED+936 and OLED+986 – continuous improvements bring a new reference performance" thread, here: Promoted - Philips OLED+936 and OLED+986 – continuous improvements bring a new reference performance.

 

[Daniel Ewen]

@Philips TV PQ have just responded with the following:

"I have checked with the development team. The Ambilight system not dimming sufficiently during black scenes is a recognised issue and we are planning to release a fix as part of a larger firmware update due in mid-Feb." Here: Promoted - Philips OLED+936 and OLED+986 – continuous improvements bring a new reference performance.

I hope they will be kind enough to consider the following customer requested improvement also: https://tv-sound-monitors.philips.c...reen-moments-for-ambilight-follow-video-modes

 

[Dinalt]

I upvoted the post on the Phillips Forum too - intersting that almost immidiately they’ve now admittted it’s a problem. Good call on making the post etc.

 

[AlexanderVS]

There are already 20 upvotes!

Seems like things are starting to move ))

 

[Claudio67]

22 just now