Samsung TV Owners & Discussion Thread

[ford]

I and I am sure there are others in hindsight,should be very happy about the delays and so called stuff-ups.

In my case because there was a delay in the set arriving,I managed to renegotiate the price.

That was a saving of $500 for a 6 week wait.

Now there are people who because of a delay in free tv's are receiving 32" tv sets.

As for the best4u debacle it leaves a strong message that it is best to purchase from an established outlet,even if the service and price are not the best.

A lot here run down good old harvey but at least its safe.

HDROCKS.

[lioannou]

FYI - the firmware is now available on the website to the public via normal links (i.e. if they didnt read this forum and see the direct link).

To get there they would go to the TV (Consumer -> Television -> LCDTV -> [TVModel])

There is a link to 'download centre' on the right.

Latest firmware is listed there.

[ingxen]

First of all, in the context of my post, laughable means ludicrous.

I agree Samsung has quite a bit to answer for, but the way things developed in here was a bit crazy. The process of complaint wasn't followed properly even though we could all see Samsungs call centre has to be one of the worst ever encountered. You do get what you pay for though, and we got a damn cheap, high quality TV with less than nothing support. Whether Samsung have got the mix right is debatable. There was a serious failure in communication between their technical support (not the telephone operators, they are mostly just kids going to uni who got hired with typing ability as a major criteria) and their customers. It’s obvious that even today there have been no internal updates as to the validity of 1013.

The failure on our part was never getting Samsung to acknowledge the Motion Flow problem in the 1st place. My question at the time, if ANYONE had accepted Samsungs offer of a tech calling out to see it themselves went unanswered. I can already hear the ‘It should have been obvious’ comments, but that is a separate debate and I for one still don’t use the feature.

Regarding the F81’s other faults, firstly, the wave problem was identified by a user on the second day of this thread, Samsung acknowledged the issue as widespread one week later, after another twelve days they advised of a firmware update, and a distribution of that update followed the next week.... zomg, call the cops.

Heat Haze was simply people new to DTV incorrectly attributing digital artefacts to the set.

The lean on the stand? OK, you can both put down your hands.

In the end, aside from their call centre, Samsung also need to review their internal QA process. The TV always had the capacity to perform as advertised, it just shouldn’t have left the factory without scrupulous testing of settings for the NTSC PAL etc variations. They obviously care enough about fixing a problem once its identified, they just need to figure out how to identify them.

I don't think there is any failure on our part BirdieNumNum to get Samsung to acknowledge the Motion Flow problem. A lot of us tried calling Samsung only be told the problem doesn't exist and they have not heard about it before. I think Samsung deserve all the bad publicity they get as they deserve it for how they treat their customers when they call with a problem. Thats why I wrote to cnet and asked them to see what they can do and they spoke to their contacts at samsung and thats why other people wrote to the SMH and lioannou spoke to his contacts in samsung. Its because the response we got from samsung denying the problems and we all though without noise they may not fix it.

The TV is a great set but why the f$%k should I have to waste countless hours on the phone and why should I have to spend hours reading a forum everyday to see if there is a fix for my TV while Samsung on the phone are denying there is a problem when I call them. Why should I have to call out a tech from a company that is not Samsung to waste my time to look at it and say "I don't know I need to find out" or something similar... Mitri called them and got a tech out and i think someone else did as well but they had no idea. Who is going to compensate me for the hours I have wasted after purchasing the set trying to get it working the way it was advertised??? the answer is no one will.

Also some people now are getting a free upgrade to 32" promotional tv, I waited as long as they have and no such deal.. but thats just the way it goes i guess.

Btw I applied 1013 last night but didn't have time to do much testing as I did it quite late.

Edited March 20, 2008 by ingxen

[Guest Gibbo McCool]

Cnet.com have an article on the Samsung F8 ..interesting reading.

http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/lcd/0,239035307,339287355,00.htm

What i don't get is why they think people will want to change the settings on their tv every time to suit the program their watching.

[skouta]

I am very pleased to hear that some people who have waited long periods of time for their free LCD are getting upgraded. I am also very pleased that Samsung have made firmware upgrades available on their website rather than the original need to get a tech out or wait for a USB key.

I think Samsung although definately not perfect, they have listened and responded to the people which can only make them better. Samsung keep improving and I may forget about the past....maybe...possibly...we'll see...

[joelaws]

I agree. Although I have only had the tv 2 weeks, I have been on the phone either to Samsung, or to the retailer, or to the technicians place pretty much everyday. I have had to upgrade the firmware, I am having to take the set back to the retailer tonight where, i can almost guarantee, they won't be able to reproduce the fault, and hence will not provide a replacement, and then I will be stuck in the chain of getting it fixed, which Samsung themselves said might result in the technician taking the tv away for about 2 weeks. Terrific.

Regardless of how "good" these TVs are supposed to be (when they work) I think it has damaged Samsung's reputation. You don't expect to have to go to great lengths just to get a product to do what the manufacturer says it does, when you've paid several thousand dollars for it.

[dap5394]

The Samsung call centre is very large, and obviously the news of 1013 hasnt filtered through to everyone yet.

Rest assured - it is released, hence it's on the website. If they didnt want to release it to the public they wouldnt:

1. Put it on their website

2. Give me the link

FIRMWARE 1013 IS A CON ,TURN IT ON TO MEDIUM,THEN TURN IT OFF AND YOU WILL SEE NO DIFFERENCE TO THE AMOUNT OF JUDDERING ON ANY SOURCE.SAMSUNG DISSERVES ALL THE BAD PUBLICITY THATS COMING THERE WAY IF THEY KEEP RELEASING THIS CRAP ON UNSUSPECTING PEOPLE.At least i could turn motion plus to medium and have no JUDDERING WITH FIRMWARE 1009.TIME TO TALK TO S.M .H. $3000 FOR A TV THAT MAKES ME DIZZY WHEN THE SREEN PANS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT WITH BACKGROUND IMAGES FLICKERING EVERYWHERE IS A JOKE .

[skouta]

Cnet.com have an article on the Samsung F8 ..interesting reading.

http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/lcd/0,239035307,339287355,00.htm

What i don't get is why they think people will want to change the settings on their tv every time to suit the program their watching.

Good pick up Gibbo,

Well it is exactly what people who have upgraded had said, Samsung just lowered the effect of the settings...Interesting. Also interesting to note that the Sony is no better.

On another note what is c-net's concern with applying firmware fixes??? Does this cause other problems or are they just saying consumers don't like doing this.

[lioannou]

FIRMWARE 1013 IS A CON ,TURN IT ON TO MEDIUM,THEN TURN IT OFF AND YOU WILL SEE NO DIFFERENCE TO THE AMOUNT OF JUDDERING ON ANY SOURCE.SAMSUNG DISSERVES ALL THE BAD PUBLICITY THATS COMING THERE WAY IF THEY KEEP RELEASING THIS CRAP ON UNSUSPECTING PEOPLE.At least i could turn motion plus to medium and have no JUDDERING WITH FIRMWARE 1009.TIME TO TALK TO S.M .H. $3000 FOR A TV THAT MAKES ME DIZZY WHEN THE SREEN PANS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT WITH BACKGROUND IMAGES FLICKERING EVERYWHERE IS A JOKE .

Hi dap5394,

Firsly - please dont post in all capitals.

Can you please be a bit more specific on where you still see juddering, and background images 'flickering'? There are other causes of flicker on a digital signal, so I want to make sure we determine the correct cause of yours.

[Guest gsxr600]

best picture settings link please

just got my 46inch f8 after a 2month wait and it looks like crap pic wise

helpp

[Psygnosis]

Hi dap5394,

Firsly - please dont post in all capitals.

Can you please be a bit more specific on where you still see juddering, and background images 'flickering'? There are other causes of flicker on a digital signal, so I want to make sure we determine the correct cause of yours.

I for one have seen juddering with 1013 with BluRay. It happens every so often, though not as bad as 1012.

You see, the problem here lies to the fact into when Motion Plus is visibly working. As i mentioned before, when you turn Motion Plus on, it sometimes is "visibly" working, and other scenes, it seems like it's off. The juddering is the same problem, it sometimes does it.. not all the time. When the juddering does actually occur, it's only for a second, but will return back every 30-40 seconds.

[Rocean]

I for one have seen juddering with 1013 with BluRay. It happens every so often, though not as bad as 1012.

You see, the problem here lies to the fact into when Motion Plus is visibly working. As i mentioned before, when you turn Motion Plus on, it sometimes is "visibly" working, and other scenes, it seems like it's off. The juddering is the same problem, it sometimes does it.. not all the time. When the juddering does actually occur, it's only for a second, but will return back every 30-40 seconds.

when you talk about this judder on blu ray... is that when motion plus is on off? or low/medium?

[Rocean]

Cnet.com have an article on the Samsung F8 ..interesting reading.

http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/lcd/0,239035307,339287355,00.htm

What i don't get is why they think people will want to change the settings on their tv every time to suit the program their watching.

good pull up and nice to see cnet responding to emails sent out to them...

well what can we say now.. 100hz motion plus is a bit dodgy.. but nevertheless.. im impressed by its PQ on regular FTA or dvds and other sources..

[Psygnosis]

when you talk about this judder on blu ray... is that when motion plus is on off? or low/medium?

Doesn't occur on off, but happens on Low & Medium... didn't try High, but i'm suspecting it's like before.

[Guest gsxr600]

how do i check what firmware my f8 has?

tried searching didnt come up with anything

[ford]

Almost all movies are shot as a sequence of 24 frames every second. In Australia, our standard TV systems run at 50 fields per second (each field is half a frame), so the easiest way to present movies on DVD and TV is by running them just a little bit faster, at 25 frames per second. Few people notice this slight speed-up or the shorter running time (by 4%),I actually wonder just how many people can pick the diff.

Its a bit like those monster cables,some maintain that they can see a diff.

Amazing how long we have been running at 25 and its never bothered anyone before.

I KNOW it should work at 24 if advertised as such.

It still astounds me that people who are worried about motion blur etc. still went out and purchased an LCD.

You only have to walk in any electronics retailer to see that LCD's still have a way to go in that respect.

Each to there own on why they got a particular set,but if I was buying a set for mainly TV and Movies it would have been a Plasma.

HDROCKS.

[Sicarius123]

Movies and TV look better on a high quality LCD than stills and computers look on Plasma.

I'm not buying a screen that big to not be able to use it for everything.

I also think the F81 looks better than the majority of Plasma's I've seen, baring the super expensive Pioneers.

Edited March 20, 2008 by Sicarius123

[lan3vo]

Hi Lioannou, did you experience the same issue when using Belkin PureAV?

I have tried the 1.3 cable you suggested and am still having the same issue. I have tried different HDMI ports on my TV and still cant get 1080i.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

[dap5394]

I for one have seen juddering with 1013 with BluRay. It happens every so often, though not as bad as 1012.

You see, the problem here lies to the fact into when Motion Plus is visibly working. As i mentioned before, when you turn Motion Plus on, it sometimes is "visibly" working, and other scenes, it seems like it's off. The juddering is the same problem, it sometimes does it.. not all the time. When the juddering does actually occur, it's only for a second, but will return back every 30-40 seconds.

Hi Psygnosis i have returned to firmware 1009.On blue ray i can leave on medium and can have smooth judder free pictures with little artefacts.1013 doesn't do enough to stop juddering.Cant run blueray at 24p tv starts dropping frames,on both firmwares.Seems tv does not do 24p.Sounds like you are running blue ray at 24p i have seen the same thing ,turned it off no more intermittent juddering.

By for now.

DAP5394

[Psygnosis]

Hi Psygnosis i have returned to firmware 1009.On blue ray i can leave on medium and can have smooth judder free pictures with little artefacts.1013 doesn't do enough to stop juddering.Cant run blueray at 24p tv starts dropping frames,on both firmwares.Seems tv does not do 24p.Sounds like you are running blue ray at 24p i have seen the same thing ,turned it off no more intermittent juddering.

By for now.

DAP5394

Actually, the funny thing is, i had 24Hz off.

You know, i had more problems with 1009 than anything else especially the wave being on that firmware, but seems to have disappeared on 1012 and 1013 *touches wood*. So 1013 is not all that bad.

[dap5394]

Movies and TV look better on a high quality LCD than stills and computers look on Plasma.

I'm not buying a screen that big to not be able to use it for everything.

I also think the F81 looks better than the majority of Plasma's I've seen, baring the super expensive Pioneers.

Hi i dont like plasmas i don't like looking through the screen door effect,i have also seen motion flow problems with them too.

[wallen]

have you tried all of the commands under the TV's device mode? Sometimes there are multiple input commands if you can find a code that sets the tv to component 2, you then adjust the device's input settings tell it which inputs it has and what the discrete code for each is

I programmed ALL the available input options for the TV type to custom keys, and NONE of them would let me select Component 2!

I'm thinking that there is another model type I can use (likely for the American equivalent panel), but I can't figure out which one...

W

[dunk05]

That particular Samsung can definitely handle 24hz/fps, and with the latest update the PS3 can force it. I have the same TV and it was supported out of the box.

It can only be displayed in 24hz when the source supports it though, it's not something you can just flick on. Ie you need to be watching a bluray with the PS3 set to output at 24hz for the TV to be outputting 24hz.

Likewise if you have a HD-DVD player that supports 24hz output, you'd need to enable it on the played, and the TV will display it.

Funnily enough, I also have a query regarding the 24hz capabilities of this TV, but this is probably one for the tech heads. I know that this TV can 'support' 24hz output, but does it actually display at 24hz correctly? Someone has brought it to my attention that it is one of the TVs that supports it, but either converts it into 50 or 60hz by 3:2 or 2:3 pulldown or something like that.

So I sat down and googled for a while (of course the only threads that come up are DTV forum ones lol) but I couldn't find anything to say that the M81 didn't display 24hz correctly, only that different model samsungs, such as the F81 series etc, whilst supporting 24hz, didn't display it correctly.

Apparently the Sony Bravias, and some Pioneer TVs do display 24hz at exactly 24hz, and I was just wondering if it was the case for the Sammy M81?

Did anyone ever confirm if the M8 series do actually display at 24Hz? I get artefacts on mine when I input 24p, a kind of banding sometimes visible in dark scenes,

so if the TV's just converting to 50Hz anyway, then I may as well not have the HD-DVD player output at 24Hz.

Cheers,

Dunk

[BirdieNumNum]

I don't think there is any failure on our part BirdieNumNum to get Samsung to acknowledge the Motion Flow problem. A lot of us tried calling Samsung only be told the problem doesn't exist and they have not heard about it before. I think Samsung deserve all the bad publicity they get as they deserve it for how they treat their customers when they call with a problem. Thats why I wrote to cnet and asked them to see what they can do and they spoke to their contacts at samsung and thats why other people wrote to the SMH and lioannou spoke to his contacts in samsung. Its because the response we got from samsung denying the problems and we all though without noise they may not fix it.

The TV is a great set but why the f$%k should I have to waste countless hours on the phone and why should I have to spend hours reading a forum everyday to see if there is a fix for my TV while Samsung on the phone are denying there is a problem when I call them. Why should I have to call out a tech from a company that is not Samsung to waste my time to look at it and say "I don't know I need to find out" or something similar... Mitri called them and got a tech out and i think someone else did as well but they had no idea. Who is going to compensate me for the hours I have wasted after purchasing the set trying to get it working the way it was advertised??? the answer is no one will.

Also some people now are getting a free upgrade to 32" promotional tv, I waited as long as they have and no such deal.. but thats just the way it goes i guess.

Btw I applied 1013 last night but didn't have time to do much testing as I did it quite late.

Hey ingxen

I agree with 90% of what you just said. I am not a Samsung apologist, I was simply playing devils advocate to highlight my issue with the militancy without reason brigade, and was in noooo way aiming my comments at most ppl here.

So it was pretty obvious that the message wasn't getting thru from Samsungs call centre operators to their tech support. It's just that we did nothing to complete the complaint cycle ie. the tech callout. I know we shouldn't have needed to etc etc and that is where I agree that Samsung deserve what they're getting and more. I don't think they were ignoring us tho, I think it was a difficult issue to identify, and the crap call centre made it doubly so.

I still find it hard to believe that Samsungs designers could look at the finished feature engaged at the higher settings and think they were creating something even vaguely useful.

pst... don't use the feature

[mobbarley]

Hi, just got a 46" F81 delivered yesterday...

Couple of questions if anyone can help:

Foxtel is on Component 1, what is the quickest way to switch from the tv tuner? All I have found so far is: input select, down, enter..

Has anyone worked out if the remotes universal codes will work with the foxtel boxes? Im using foxtel's pace satellite box.

Edited March 21, 2008 by mobbarley