Samsung 7 Series Local Dimming Issue

JamieBee

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Hi. I’ve just bought one of these TVs and finding that the screen darkening in dark scenes and then brightening as the scene brightens quite annoying.

I have the TV set to Movie mode and all of the Eco settings are turned off. I upgraded from a 2014 Sony LED which did not have this problem. From what I have read, it is a common issue with all LED TVs so me changing for another brand will not fix it. I have messaged Samsung support on Facebook for some help but not holding out much hope. I have read from various forums that there is a setting in a hidden engineer menu that you can change to stop it from doing this but in doing so, voids the warranty so I’m a bit reluctant to do this.

If someone can help, it would be much appreciated as it seems a very good TV other than this. Thanks
 
The behaviour you're describing is generally known as global dimming or dynamic contrast. Local dimming is something completely different.

It's (intended to be) a feature rather than being a fault. While all manufacturers implement their version of it on at least some of their TVs, most do give you the option to disable it and some, like Sony, generally have it disabled by default.

Samsung unfortunately aren't one of them are often don't provide the ability to disable it easily. Its worth trying other picture modes as you may find PC mode or similar doesn't have it.

Which model do you have exactly? A recently bought '7 series' is presumably a Q7F, Q70R, NU7### or RU7###?
 
Hi. I’ve just bought one of these TVs and finding that the screen darkening in dark scenes and then brightening as the scene brightens quite annoying.

I have the TV set to Movie mode and all of the Eco settings are turned off. I upgraded from a 2014 Sony LED which did not have this problem. From what I have read, it is a common issue with all LED TVs so me changing for another brand will not fix it. I have messaged Samsung support on Facebook for some help but not holding out much hope. I have read from various forums that there is a setting in a hidden engineer menu that you can change to stop it from doing this but in doing so, voids the warranty so I’m a bit reluctant to do this.

If someone can help, it would be much appreciated as it seems a very good TV other than this. Thanks

Read this thread below , it may help - I followed the advice , changed settings in the service menu and it got rid of the super annoying dimming.

My set is a NU7110


 
I also did hours of googling on the issue. It seemed the ONLY way to deal with it was to go into the service menu.
 
I also did hours of googling on the issue. It seemed the ONLY way to deal with it was to go into the service menu.

Thank you. How much of a difference did it make when you did this ? I’m a little nervous about playing around with engineer menus in case I mess something up.

Do all new LEDs do this ? Is it something that we could get used to as it’s supposed to be beneficial having this function ?
 
Do all new LEDs do this ? Is it something that we could get used to as it’s supposed to be beneficial having this function ?

It's been a feature that's been around for years. I'm typing this on a computer monitor from 2008 that has it.

I'd say the fashion for it is probably waning at the moment, but who knows whether it'll come back or not. For SDR anyway. HDR tone mapping is a very similar thing and essential on any TV without the capabilities to display the full brightness range of the content.

In terms of using it for your advantage it's likely designed for a fixed level of room brightness, probably a fairly low one, so you'd be looking at dimming or brightening the room in order to get it to look right.
 
Thank you. How much of a difference did it make when you did this ? I’m a little nervous about playing around with engineer menus in case I mess something up.

Do all new LEDs do this ? Is it something that we could get used to as it’s supposed to be beneficial having this function ?

It made a *massive* difference ...in that it doesn't do it at all now !

I personally was finding it unbelievably annoying - switching between scenes its like someone had their hands on the brightness control. So distracting. It was ruining my watching . I don't see the point of it either - dimming a dark scene so its even dimmer ?? I think there is good reason some makers have it OFF by default.

The engineer menus are fine - you just have to take your time, navigate slowly and carefully, and know what needs changing and don't touch anything else. However without finding a walk through on these forums I would never have had a hope of figuring it all out.

I'm still amazed that glowing reviews of these televisions don't mention this issue.
 
Right, I have successfully followed the steps and set the 3 settings within the engineer menu to 100. There doesn’t seem to be a Save option so I’ve turned the tv off, accessed the menu again and they are all still 100 so it seems to have worked. All of my tv settings have gone back to default e.g. picture mode, brightness, sharpness etc. Is this normal ? I have put it back to Movie mode and my other preferred settings.

I’ll keep an eye on whether it dims anymore but in the meantime, the screen seems overall darker, not as vibrant and a bit washed out. Did anyone else find this ? I’ve got the backlight, contrast and brightness all set reasonably high.
 
Right, I have successfully followed the steps and set the 3 settings within the engineer menu to 100. There doesn’t seem to be a Save option so I’ve turned the tv off, accessed the menu again and they are all still 100 so it seems to have worked. All of my tv settings have gone back to default e.g. picture mode, brightness, sharpness etc. Is this normal ? I have put it back to Movie mode and my other preferred settings.

I’ll keep an eye on whether it dims anymore but in the meantime, the screen seems overall darker, not as vibrant and a bit washed out. Did anyone else find this ? I’ve got the backlight, contrast and brightness all set reasonably high.
Yep - normal for the regular settings to default back to factory.

Also worth mentioning that if the set does an automatic system update - as mine did last week - you may find the settings in the service menu reset.

Regarding screen darker/washed out.... This *may* be due to you changing the 3rd setting mentioned PWM_MIN, to 100.
This I believe effects/corresponds with backlighting - depends on what your backlighting is. The guide in the other thread linked above explains it. I didn't change this one as it is only changed to stop totally black screens dimming, I think more of an issue in gaming.

I changed only PWM_INI_2D and PWM_MOVIE_INI to a value of 100. The dimming issue is gone and the image stil looks just as good.

METHOD USED ON NU7110 - TAKEN FROM THE OTHER THREAD MENTIONED EARLIER

So start by getting to the service menu - using remote ... press Info, Settings, Mute, Power in that order. TV will power on, wait a few seconds and service menu will appear.

Go to SVC -> Other setting -> CAL Data restore.

When you click Cal Data Restore an error message will pop up. Click OK and return back to the first menus.

You will now see the Advanced tab at the bottom. Go ahead and highlight it and press 0000 on remote. A bunch more tabs will appear below.

Go to Picture_2D -> Subsetting and then you have PWM_INI_2D and PWM_MOVIE_INI which can both be changed to 100.

Power Off. Global dimming should now be disabled. When you power back on you will need to reset the usual TV settings to your liking ..picture mode, brightness etc
 
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What should I change the PWM_MIN back to then ?
I *think* it is set at 5 as default - def a very low value EDIT - It is 8

I'm guessing you didn't make a note of it before changing :)

Just try it and see
 
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No I maybe should have but didn’t make a note of the settings. I’ve tried 5 and the screen is still dark and washed out. This is why I was wary of tinkering with hidden menus 🥺
If I restore the TV to factory settings, will it reset everything including the engineer menu changes I’ve done ?
 
No I maybe should have but didn’t make a note of the settings. I’ve tried 5 and the screen is still dark and washed out. This is why I was wary of tinkering with hidden menus 🥺
If I restore the TV to factory settings, will it reset everything including the engineer menu changes I’ve done ?

Maybe this method doesn't work with your TV ?

You only changed 3 settings - so you can change those back.

Factory settings should take it all back I believe.
 
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I’ve changed it to 5 but it still seems dark / washed out. Do you mind telling me what your Picture 2D and general Tv Expert Settings are so I can compare ? Thanks
 
I’ve changed it to 5 but it still seems dark / washed out. Do you mind telling me what your Picture 2D and general Tv Expert Settings are so I can compare ? Thanks

Ok This attached picture was taken from the other thread ( I didnt take this picture) - it shows the default values
 

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Thank you. What Expert Settings are you using on your tv ?
Hello Jamie
Hi. I’ve just bought one of these TVs and finding that the screen darkening in dark scenes and then brightening as the scene brightens quite annoying.

I have the TV set to Movie mode and all of the Eco settings are turned off. I upgraded from a 2014 Sony LED which did not have this problem. From what I have read, it is a common issue with all LED TVs so me changing for another brand will not fix it. I have messaged Samsung support on Facebook for some help but not holding out much hope. I have read from various forums that there is a setting in a hidden engineer menu that you can change to stop it from doing this but in doing so, voids the warranty so I’m a bit reluctant to do this.

If someone can help, it would be much appreciated as it seems a very good TV other than this. Thanks
Hello Jamie, I recently bought this same TV and noticed on every dark scene the brightness will dim and then if the following scene is brighter then the brightness level will adjust to high again. I contacted Samsung on live chat and explained this to someone and they told me that this is not their technology and my tv is faulty, and said they can send a screen repair service to you free of charge. However I refused and told them that I don't think it's a fault, but rather some sort of dimming feature within the actual LED technology itself, to which he replied, again, that this dimming on dark scenes is not normal and my screen needs replacing. Anyway, I don't want to waste time getting repairs/replacements if the same thing will happen again. So, my question to you is was it easy to turn this off in the service menu and do you recommend I do it, because it's driving me ******* crazy watching any show now that I know this feature is there. Thanks
 
Hello Jamie

Hello Jamie, I recently bought this same TV and noticed on every dark scene the brightness will dim and then if the following scene is brighter then the brightness level will adjust to high again. I contacted Samsung on live chat and explained this to someone and they told me that this is not their technology and my tv is faulty, and said they can send a screen repair service to you free of charge. However I refused and told them that I don't think it's a fault, but rather some sort of dimming feature within the actual LED technology itself, to which he replied, again, that this dimming on dark scenes is not normal and my screen needs replacing. Anyway, I don't want to waste time getting repairs/replacements if the same thing will happen again. So, my question to you is was it easy to turn this off in the service menu and do you recommend I do it, because it's driving me ******* crazy watching any show now that I know this feature is there. Thanks

Hi Frank

Did you see my post above for info on accessing the service menu and which settings to change ? I found it straightforward and it fixed the incredibly annoying dimming issue for me. My model is a NU7110 so I can't vouch for it working on other models. However the original thread I found the info on referred to another model - so it def is not model specific. I took the chance as it was ruining my viewing and it worked for me. Good luck.

 
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Hi Frank

Did you see my post above for info on accessing the service menu and which settings to change ? I found it straightforward and it fixed the incredibly annoying dimming issue for me. My model is a NU7110 so I can't vouch for it working on other models. However the original thread I found the info on referred to another model - so it def is not model specific. I took the chance as it was ruining my viewing and it worked for me. Good luck.

Hi thanks for your response. I went through that forum however I'm a bit scared in case I press something I'm not supposed to and completely brick my tv. So i wanted to know from Jamie if the dimming stopped since he has the same model as mine. But since you said it's not model specific I might try it. I just don't understand the point of this technology even existing, never buying LED again
 
Hi thanks for your response. I went through that forum however I'm a bit scared in case I press something I'm not supposed to and completely brick my tv. So i wanted to know from Jamie if the dimming stopped since he has the same model as mine. But since you said it's not model specific I might try it. I just don't understand the point of this technology even existing, never buying LED again

Hi. Like you, I was very nervous about playing with hidden menus. I followed the steps and managed to somehow mess up the way the colours show on the tv. Certain colours were not being displayed correctly and some things had a green tinge to them.

I ended up taking it back to where I bought it, pleaded ignorance and exchanged it for another of the same set. The new tv still does it and I’ve just got used to it now and accepted it. No more hidden menus for me. It sounds like most LED TVs nowadays have a similar facility so that’s why I didn’t bother changing for another brand of tv.
Samsung were useless by the way. They just told me to do a factory reset, I did, it made no difference, so they then told me to take it back to the shop.
 
Hi. Like you, I was very nervous about playing with hidden menus. I followed the steps and managed to somehow mess up the way the colours show on the tv. Certain colours were not being displayed correctly and some things had a green tinge to them.

I ended up taking it back to where I bought it, pleaded ignorance and exchanged it for another of the same set. The new tv still does it and I’ve just got used to it now and accepted it. No more hidden menus for me. It sounds like most LED TVs nowadays have a similar facility so that’s why I didn’t bother changing for another brand of tv.
Samsung were useless by the way. They just told me to do a factory reset, I did, it made no difference, so they then told me to take it back to the shop.
Ah I see, that's unfortunate. I actually went through the hidden menu and managed to turn the dimming off. So far everything seems normal. Are you still interested in turning it off? I found a good YouTube video that explains how to do it it's quite simple.
 
Is it all bearable when setting dimming to low? I am to buy a RU7400 and a little affraid of this issue, because i watch a lot of Netflix with subs
 
Hi. I doubt very much whether I will be playing around with the hidden settings after what happened last time but can you put a link up for the YouTube clip and I will take a look anyway. Thanks
 
Ah I see, that's unfortunate. I actually went through the hidden menu and managed to turn the dimming off. So far everything seems normal. Are you still interested in turning it off? I found a good YouTube video that explains how to do it it's quite simple.

Hi. I doubt very much whether I will be playing around with the hidden settings after what happened last time but can you put a link up for the YouTube clip and I will take a look anyway. Thanks
 

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