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

I got a similar reply on my ticket I have opened with Philips, that it will be solved in the next FW release.
Let's hope it will not take long to release it.
 
Someone on another thread linked to a site with downgrade firmware, looks like an easy job:


post #12

Waiting for your move Philips. If nothing changes back, who knows, maybe one should try to downgrade?

For now I turned off autoupdate, who knows what else will get "improved"
 
Someone on another thread linked to a site with downgrade firmware, looks like an easy job:


post #12

Waiting for your move Philips. If nothing changes back, who knows, maybe one should try to downgrade?

For now I turned off autoupdate, who knows what else will get "improved"
I tried to perform the downgrade, but wasn’t able to. maybe if someone succeeds, can share the technique.
 
@Philips TV PQ, I first noticed this behaviour on my 65OLED935/12 when they updated the FW to TPM191E_R.101.002.098.000 around August/September last year. I logged a ticket with Philips, who said this was "by design". *&^%ing &%$£ design IMHO.

I love Philips and their TV's, but fundamentally changing the behaviour of a product, especially a premium flagship product, after purchase is extremely frustrating, to say the least. Especially when that change affects the reason you purchased the TV in the first place!

The 935 TPM191E_R.101.002.098.000 FW update also broke the sound when the TV was connected to my Xbox, so Philips kindly replaced the 935 with a 936, after I escalated the issue with Richer Sounds, who I made the initial purchase through and have extended warranty with.

The factory firmware for the 936 was: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.012, which behaved similarly to the 935 with FW: TPM191E_R.101.002.098.000. Amiblight was always on, but dim, except Game mode, where it was off for dark scenes and worked like all the modes did when I first purchased the 935. It wasn't great, but it was liveable.

FW update TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.026 on the 936 has now made Amibilight pretty much unusable, unless your watching bright sports that look good in Vivid picture mode. In a blacked out room, try watching the first 5 minutes of S6:E5 of The Expanse in 4K HDR using ANY picture mode with ANY Ambilight configuration post FW: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.026. You can hardly make out the on screen image, as the Ambilight is sooo ridiculously overpowering, even when set to Brightness = 0!!!

Someone should give these TV's to the developers, so they can actually test these "improvements" in the real world, before they inflict them on paying customers. If you want Ambilight on ALL THE TIME, use Lounge Light and leave Follow Video to do what the name suggests it should do.

In general, I am starting to get fed up with Philips, each time they "improve" something, something else breaks and every time I log a support ticket, I have to factory reset the TV. I've logged multiple support tickets since my initial 935 purchase in October 2020 and have reinstalled the TV's more times that I care to remember. I live in hope that the next FW update will fix one of the issues I have previously logged, but it usually results in something else breaking, and I just have to log yet another support ticket...

PS: I have upvoted: https://tv-sound-monitors.philips.c...123322-the-behaviour-of-the-ambilight-changed
 
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Hi All,
FYI: TPM211EA_R.001.002.092.000 has resolved the issue with Ambilight on 65" OLED936!
(No more permanent (and annoying) white light in "Natural" setting!)
 
Nice! Is the new firmware already released?
Its not yet released for Internet upgrade/deployed to the servers (the file was sent by Philips to one of forum members and he kindly shared it having had installed and checked it on his TV set). But it looks stable (enjoying it for several hours already).
 
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Its not yet released for Internet upgrade/deployed to the servers (the file was sent to one this forum members and he kindly shared it having had installed and checked it on his TV set). But it looks stable (enjoying it for several hours already).
Ok looks good. Do you have a download link?
 
This issue also affects the OLED806, brand new with latest firmware - I don't think anyone mentioned that so far. I have logged a case with Philips. It also extends to any other Hue products used in conjunction with the TV. Let's see what happens...

On my 65PUS8602, from which I just upgraded, Natural, Sport, and Game styles all had varying levels of minimum brightness. Natural was almost completely switched off in dark scenes, although not completely.
 
Hi all; WARNING Long read ahead (short story, the link with the update provided by AlexanderVS and ojee99 is working, updated the TV with it and Ambilight is back to normal again and also the sound from the eArc is also working normally) so a BIG thank you to you guys and all who brought this problem up to Philips tech team! Don't wait for the OTA update, this update from the link will work and not brake your TV!

So I was was going nuts and almost return the TV because I have the same issue on my recently bought 936 Oled; before the update FW: TPM211EA_R.001.001.233.026 everything was just great, the ambilght would dim on black screen or darker scenes as it should, but after the update I noticed that something was wrong and on dark scenes the ambilight was annoyingly high in white intensity. At first I was thinking it's all in my head and it was the same before but no, I've checked on my other older ambilight TVs and they didn't had this issue.

And I'm so glad that I found this thread and that I wasn't the only one because the link with the ZIP FW that AlexanderVS provided is working and after the update the Ambilight is now as it should, on dark or darker scenes the ambilight is dim and working flawlessly. Also the sound bar (I have a Philips with dolby atmos and bluetooth subwoofer) was not working properly, it wasn't connecting when I opened the TV, there was a delay in the sound or jitter sound but this custom update fix all those problems.

Just go to the link (even if it's writen in Nederland) just hit the link, download the zip file, extract the file from the ZIP file, put it on an empty FAT32 USB stick (no other folders, only the exe file), plug it in your TV before you turn the TV on, turn on the TV and after a few seconds it should automatically enter in the download from USB screen. After a few minutes of download it will start to update the FW. It will take some time so don't get scared that it's stuck or whatver, mine took around half an hour to finish the update.

I will post some photos with the Ambilight from the "bad" FW update and some photos from the custom update. In the first pic you can see how bad the Ambilight was on dark picture before the customer update, the rest are after the custom update.

Cheers and take care all!!
 

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So @Philips TV PQ, we're back to the factory fit FW state on the 65OLED936/12 or the post update state from FW TPM191E_R.101.002.098.000 on the 65OLED935/12. Better, I guess, but still not great IMHO. The original behaviour on the 65OLED935/12 was ALL Ambilight Follow Video modes turned completely off when the panel was blank/black/dark, which gave you a great sense of immersion when watching content in the dark.

Surely the point of Ambilight Lounge Light mode is so you can have Ambilight ON ALL THE TIME if that is your preference...

Is anyone else interested in pursuing Philips to implement a menu option to have Ambilight ON persistently or OFF during blank/black/dark screen moments for Follow Video mode? I am.
 
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Is anyone else interested in pursuing Philips to implement a menu option to have Ambilight ON persistently or OFF during blank/black/dark screen moments for Follow Video mode? I am.
I would support that too, and alternatively I would propose to Philips just to add "custom mode" to the existing set of modes ("standard", "natural", "vivid", etc.) with the following settings:
  • intensity of permanent white light (and ideally - possibility to select cool, neutral or warm);
  • intensity (brightness) of dynamic light;
  • color saturation of dynamic light;
  • quickness of Ambilight response.
 
So we're back to the factory fit FW state on the 65OLED936/12 or the post update state from FW TPM191E_R.101.002.098.000 on the 65OLED935/12. Better, I guess, but still not great IMHO. The original behaviour on the 65OLED935/12 was ALL Ambilight Follow Video modes turned completely off when the panel was blank/black/dark, which gave you a great sense of immersion when watching content in the dark.

Surely the point of Ambilight Lounge Light mode is so you can have Ambilight ON ALL THE TIME if that is your preference...

Is anyone else interested in pursuing Philips to implement a menu option to have Ambilight ON persistently or OFF during blank/black/dark screen moments for Follow Video mode? I am.
Agree with that but I think they gonna say; you can choose option "game". But that mode responds too fast in my opinion.

I can edit my old Thread on the Philips forum. But maybe it is better to create a new one?
 
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Agree with that but I think they gonna say; you can choose option "game". But that mode responds too fast in my opinion.

I can edit my old Thread on the Philips forum. But maybe it is better to create a new one?
FYI: two my posts (sent 13 and 7 days ago) on the Philips forum thread which you had started, still have status "Pending review"...
 
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.

It can't hurt if we all start posting and cross referencing each other. Maybe at some point Philips will actually get the message...

What I am deeply concerned about @Philips TV PQ is that Philips fundamentally changed the behaviour of the 65OLED935/12 Ambilight system 11 months after I originally purchased the TV. Whilst my 10+ year old Sony still works EXACTLY as it did the day I purchased it, which is PERFECTLY. This ability to constantly apply "feature enhancements" whilst fundamentally changing the product from its default factory settings concerns me deeply.
After having 3 different Philips TVs in recent years, I feel like Philips TVs are shipped to customers before they are fully functional, so you can expect to spend AT LEAST 6 months waiting for bug fixes, which means you do not get the full value of your purchase for that entire time, then they may break something else, by which time their NEW model is already in the pipeline...
I'm surprised TRADING STANDARDS are not involved in this... this time last year a Philips FW update broke Philips Ambilight+HUE on my 65OLED935/12 for about 3 months until it was fixed in a subsequent FW update. (a quick scan of a previous forum and here you go, I was not alone with the Philips Ambilight+HUE issue: PUS9005 Ambilight+Hue issues after update)

Philips, I love your tech, but you really need to sort out your absolutely APPAULING quality assurance IMHO.
 
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I just received the follow response from Philips Technical Support regarding the issue raised within this very forum thread about TPM211EA_001.001.233.022... they appear to be stating that there is NO issue with FW: TPM211EA_001.001.233.022 or TPM211EA_001.001.233.026.

Thank you for contacting Philips.

Having investigated your case and done the appropriate research, we would like to inform you that the changes you are experiencing on your Ambilight features are intentional

Due to the high demand of requests and complains about the Ambilight staying Off during dark/black scenes these changes have been applied to the Ambilight Features

This is normal behavior on your Tv and it is not considered an issue but an improvement

We can not confirm, deny or provide the TPM211EA_R.001.002.092.000 Software as we do not have any further information about it and it is not yet confirmed if it will be released or when if it will

You should be able to set your Tv to game mode to experience the functionality you are looking for on your Ambilight Tv

We are going to proceed to close your case as no further assistance can be provided

Thank you


I replied, stating that there is a fault with FW: TPM211EA_001.001.233.026, this is not the "intended" behaviour and to reopen the case.

Jeez, @Philips TV PQ, your Technical Support Department are hard work...
 
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Just to echo the above - I had almost exactly the same response from Philips to @Daniel Ewen . I've followed up with Philips about the specific firmware version as it's pretty clear it exists; but no reply as yet.
 
Just had same reply as Daniel Ewan from Philips help for 77OLED806/12 but with

"We can not confirm, deny or provide the TPM211EA_R.001.002.092.000 Software as we do not have any further information about it and it is not yet confirmed if it will be released or when if it will.
We do not recommend installing that Software from avforum.com as it is not an official Software release provided from us and can not guarantee the functionality or that it will not damage your Tv"

White light stays on in game mode for me so I have asked them to reopen the helpdesk incident and reply ASAP.
 
Just had same reply as Daniel Ewan from Philips help for 77OLED806/12 but with

"We can not confirm, deny or provide the TPM211EA_R.001.002.092.000 Software as we do not have any further information about it and it is not yet confirmed if it will be released or when if it will.
We do not recommend installing that Software from avforum.com as it is not an official Software release provided from us and can not guarantee the functionality or that it will not damage your Tv"

White light stays on in game mode for me so I have asked them to reopen the helpdesk incident and reply ASAP.

At least they're consistent :D From their previous reply to me:

"We can confirm that the latest update did make changes to the Ambilight setting and the from your description is performing as designed, we advised to change the AL setting to the Preset 'Game'."

Totally agreed that game mode under .26 does not work the way they say it does! Not only does the white light stay on, but there's a very heavy white bias to any colour output by ambilight in non-dark scenes
 
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:
Thank you very much for addressing Ambilight issue to Philips once again. I was going to upvote your post but the tread on Philips forum is not accessible (yet?).

we would like to inform you that the changes you are experiencing on your Ambilight features are intentional

Due to the high demand of requests and complains about the Ambilight staying Off during dark/black scenes these changes have been applied to the Ambilight Features

This is normal behavior on your Tv and it is not considered an issue but an improvement
WHAT??? Intentional?? Are they at Philips wacky??? :mad:

Permanent white light just makes Ambilight unusable, particularly with OLED TVs with deep black!!
 
They have reopened my incident

Thank you for your response, your case is currently under investigation. Once we have an update regarding this, we will endeavour to be in contact with you as soon as possible.

I tried watching a youtube clip from Star Trek 4 and had to turn off Ambilight as white glow around screen made space shots almost unwatchable.
 
I can edit my old Thread on the Philips forum. But maybe it is better to create a new one?

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".

They have reopened my incident
Guys, thanks once again for addressing Ambilight issue to Philips.

I think we can't leave it as it is presented by very confusing statement of Philips Support that permanent white light is "intentional behavior" (which actually makes Ambilight practically unusable for me).

I also opened a case by "sending e-mail" to Philips support from the site.

I was also going to start a new forum topic on Philips AV Form about this issue but did not manage to find any button or menu option for that... How did you do this?
 
Guys, thanks once again for addressing Ambilight issue to Philips.

I think we can't leave it as it is presented by very confusing statement of Philips Support that permanent white light is "intentional behavior" (which actually makes Ambilight practically unusable for me).

I also opened a case by "sending e-mail" to Philips support from the site.

I was also going to start a new forum topic on Philips AV Form about this issue but did not manage to find any button or menu option for that... How did you do this?
Hey, yeah that confused me for ages too. The way I found to do this is to visit an existing post, scroll to the bottom of the page and the left blue button should say, "Ask the forum", click that and you can create your own new post. You can use @maik096's original to create your own: https://tv-sound-monitors.philips.c...123322-the-behaviour-of-the-ambilight-changed and also upvote any relevant existing posts on the Philips Forum..

Someone else has also created this: https://tv-sound-monitors.philips.c...es-on-77oled806-unusable-in-its-current-state. Once your post is approved, put the link in this AVF thread, so we can upvote yours too.

Mine is STILL "pending review": https://tv-sound-monitors.philips.c...reen-moments-for-ambilight-follow-video-modes
 

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