Ok guys, this been going on with multiple 65HM167 I have. It is starting to get on my nerve and I wish I've done something about it earlier when I had the 30 days return window. The beautiful picture just took me in.

It seems the TV randomly changes brightness/contrast depending on the show/scene is being shown on the screen. Like for instance, if it's a dark room, some guy in a white tee shirt enter the scene, the whole dark room has gotten "lighter". I can see it in big step like (as Ron Jones put it) switching between low power and high power lamp mode.

If I have closed captioning on, it would do it too. And sometime during the start of the show (like House MD), you'll see credits of actors/director showing up on the screen with white letterings. Sometime I could see the brightness change as the white letterings appear - and if both white credit letterings and closed caption appear at the same time I could see it clearly. Also if white credit lettering appear on the screen, I could see the fonts of the closed captioning changes tint in darker/lighter of whites. If a scene change from dark area (indoors) to bright areas (like outdoors) WHILE the same closed caption is still showing on the screen - I could see the fonts changes from dark to bright white or vice versa. If a scene was panning from dark to light areas, I could see the white font changes to lighter gradually or vice versa.

It is quite annoying and distracting. That sometimes some show, I'll want to turn the TV off.

I would think it has to do with the Auto Iris built in the Light Engine (replaced once due to that problem but still does it.)

I have turned off Dynamic Contrast to no avail. There's no setting for any auto iris crap.

I have bugged Toshiba CSR about this and all they said is let the tech guys take my TV into shop (which is an hour away) which i flat out refused because THE OTHER TOSHIBA TVS ARE HAVING THE SAME THING and I see a post about it on a thread here too. Why can't THEY look at THEIR OWN TV THEY MADE. I'm sure they got one laying around they could look at. Frustrating. Problem is no one care/notice about it. Hearing impaired people like me can see it clear as a bell. I am believing 90% it's the design issue with the TV. I have not seen it on Mitsubishi TV but then it didn't have the auto iris. I would like to turn off the Auto Iris or change the range from low/high mode. Toshiba CSR are clueless about it when I am talking about Auto Iris and I asked to speak to someone who does, and I get turned away. I cannot get anywhere with the crappy Toshiba support.

BestBuy tech has replaced my Light Engine and PC Board Assembly, nothing fixed it. (Was before I started to learn all Toshiba TV does this) I thought it (PC Board Assembly replacement) did at first until 2 weeks later I started noticing it again.

Toshiba has been and will be off my to buy list forever.

Never say never. Eventually you will have no brand to purchase.

The Iris operation sounds like it's within spec. Aside from the harsh changes in overall brightness it shoudl be giving you soem extra performance.


Sounds like you don't like displays where the iris operation is not totally seemless. This has bugged others as well for sure, and it's not just on Tosh displays either.

I suggest making sure on your next display that reviewers state the iris operation is totally seemless.

Never say never. Eventually you will have no brand to purchase.

The Iris operation sounds like it's within spec. Aside from the harsh changes in overall brightness it shoudl be giving you soem extra performance.


Sounds like you don't like displays where the iris operation is not totally seemless. This has bugged others as well for sure, and it's not just on Tosh displays either.

I suggest making sure on your next display that reviewers state the iris operation is totally seemless.

Thank you for the response.

Well I did have run into daily annoyance so far with Toshiba. First is my old DVD player would sometime stop displaying Closed Captioning and I have to "rewind" back a second or two to get the Closed Captioning back - this is on any of the TVs. Second - I bought two brand new Toshiba laptop five months ago. My girlfriend got one and her screen looks perfect with no discoloration and both of the buttons on touchpad evens up perfectly - mine had darker discoloration on bottom corners - noticable but not really when you're looking at the corners of the screen as well two of my buttons were uneven. Swapped with a brand new one, guess what? Same thing. Now with this TV, this brightness non-adjustable auto iris crap. So yes, I would not buy Toshiba ever again even if there's no other brand. I had enough as I have to deal with all those problems daily.

I just want to be able to adjust the auto iris like the other brands could in either service or user menu. Toshiba doesn't have this.

Beware, not every brand and model within different brands allows you to turn off the auto iris.

On front projectors, many people have had success simply lube'n up the iris actuator assembly.

Beware, not every brand and model within different brands allows you to turn off the auto iris.

On front projectors, many people have had success simply lube'n up the iris actuator assembly.

To stop the clicking noise? I'm not having that problem.

No.. to help with the issue your having.

The issue you having is because the iris is not fast enough because it is possibly getting stuck a little. I believe Lithium grease is the current suggested lube.

No.. to help with the issue your having.

The issue you having is because the iris is not fast enough because it is possibly getting stuck a little. I believe Lithium grease is the current suggested lube.

I'm not sure if I am following you. The brightness change is very quick. I don't understand what a grease would do. I can detect a slow and fast change easily. I just want to make the auto iris to STAY at one place. I don't care about deep black anymore.

AKA "dynamic contrast" I can nearly guarantee you can turn the feature off. read your manual.

AKA "dynamic contrast" I can nearly guarantee you can turn the feature off. read your manual.

As I stated in my OP.

"I have turned off Dynamic Contrast to no avail. There's no setting for any auto iris crap."

DC just make my colors more vibrant with darker blacks. Hell I cannot even detect it in action - I only can see more vibrant picture when it's on. The other "brightness" change still exist when I turn the Dynamic Contrast off. Is it XtremeBLACK or something like that couldn't be adjust?

The real issue here is we can't tell if your Iris is malfunctioning, or if it's just a characteristic of this display. If the Iris is malfunctioning lube'n it up is most likely exactly what the repair tech is going to do.


On displays without an iris, when this sort of thing crops up it's almost always the power supply section of the display.

In front projection this is often caused by a lamp instability issue that is a normal part of some lamps life cycle and it usually goes away with additional use.


If you understood more about how the Iris works, you would understand while lube'n it up could help with this issue if the Iris is truly malfunctioning.

The real issue here is we can't tell if your Iris is malfunctioning, or if it's just a characteristic of this display. If the Iris is malfunctioning lube'n it up is most likely exactly what the repair tech is going to do.


On displays without an iris, when this sort of thing crops up it's almost always the power supply section of the display.

In front projection this is often caused by a lamp instability issue that is a normal part of some lamps life cycle and it usually goes away with additional use.


If you understood more about how the Iris works, you would understand while lube'n it up could help with this issue if the Iris is truly malfunctioning.

Well I've seen five other same 65HM167 TV doing the same exact thing. So it's nothing "defective" other than a design issue which I believe it is. I don't see the same thing on other different brand DLP.

Betcha normal hearing people would not notice this brightness problem until someone turns on subtitles.

You have much to test when deciding on a new display.
Best of luck with it....


Your probably right on the closed captions, I can see that throwing off a given iris system.

Usually when there is a dynamic contrast off setting there is another setting that allows a manual adjustment of the Iris. Like -5 to +5 or some souch or another.

You have much to test when deciding on a new display.
Best of luck with it....

I agree. Next time. I've learned alot.

Well, my 11 month old 65HM167 has been doing the same thing with relatively abrupt step changes in brightness with only small changes in video content. This abrupt change in brightness is about equivalent to switching between low and high power lamp mode. It turned out in my unit setting the Dynamic Contrast to a setting of Off or Low virtually eliminated the problem. A Medium or High setting for Dynamic Contrast causes very frequent changes in the brightness. Perhaps there are some combinations of the various settings (i.e., Dynamic Contrast, brightness, contrast and static gamma) that impact when this undesirable behavior of the dynamic iris occurs.

I'm currently using the following settings (not based on formal calibration). Try these settings and see if you still have the problem.

Contrast = 70
Brightness = 50
Color = 50
Tint = 0
Sharpness = 40
Dynamic Contrast = Low
Static Gamma = +3
Color Temperature = Warm
Lamp Mode = Low Power

Well, my 11 month old 65HM167 has been doing the same thing with relatively abrupt step changes in brightness with only small changes in video content. This abrupt change in brightness is about equivalent to switching between low and high power lamp mode. It turned out in my unit setting the Dynamic Contrast to a setting of Off or Low virtually eliminated the problem. A Medium or High setting for Dynamic Contrast causes very frequent changes in the brightness. Perhaps there are some combinations of the various settings (i.e., Dynamic Contrast, brightness, contrast and static gamma) that impact when this undesirable behavior of the dynamic iris occurs.

I'm currently using the following settings (not based on formal calibration). Try these settings and see if you still have the problem.

Contrast = 70
Brightness = 50
Color = 50
Tint = 0
Sharpness = 40
Dynamic Contrast = Low
Static Gamma = +3
Color Temperature = Warm
Lamp Mode = Low Power

I have tried all kinds of settings but I will try the ones you listed.

One question for you techs, if I have replaced the LE and PC assembly board, what is left on the TV? (electronic wise)

speakers... :)

there are several boards in your TV, power supply, analog PCB, Digital PCB, they may ro may not be squeezed onto one board. Some sets split the audio section from the other boards.... can't say for sure unless i saw a photo of the inside of your TV.

It is possible that your "iris" or whatever they call it in your model, dynamic contrast is stuck in the on position even if reading off, or low. You could reset all the user settings to default and see if that helps, then go through and tweak. also try unplugging it for a day if all else fails, Ok not a day, ten minutes would do fine.