Samsung PNXXB850 & PNXXB860 Owner's Discussion Thread - Page 107

Use Rock Band for your lag test its easier. My friend brought over his Rock Band Game and that is an accurate source for input lag test. I tested my B860 and my other sets, and my B860 was at 38ms. Another thing your can do is go into the service menu that is why I say have it professionally calibrated the right way. Because I spent so much on my set I also purchased the Service remote. This way if I have problems that can be solved by a touch of the remote I don't have to pay a service person to fix something I could. The service remote cost me $40. You also need the service remote to do a proper calibration, without it your calibration could be off. I used the service remote and a calman setup. Your burn-in and setup must not of been done properly. On plasma tv's your screen protect and pixel shift should be on and pixel shift should be adjusted. I let an image on my screen for over 5 hours. The image burned into my screen, but it was gone after an hour of normal use. You can setup the pixel shift on the tv and the power/ screen saver on your gaming system or cable box. Try to run your scrolling for 8-15 hours and see if the burn-in goes away.

PS. With the service remote you can give any setting the same features as the movie setting. You can also have a day and night mode. You could Intensify the brightness and you can properly adjust your colors. You can even do bypasses of any features of the set and much more.

Same here. Nice chatting with you. Hope your burn-in goes away. If you want input on any tv feel free to message me.

What are "Ultra" high speed cables? I thought the HDMI only had standard and high speed? ALso, I am not sure cables would have much to do with "lag". More likely it is the HDMI processing in the TV. Any Category 2 certified HDMI cable should perform the same.

sorry if that is nitpicky!

Ultra high speed cables have a higher data transfer rate, which is more bandwidth and faster data transfer speed. I have a few different types of HDMI cables. The M2000 are Ultimate speed cables which is better than Ultra but in most tv cases they are not needed. Out of the 6 cables I've tried, these cables lowered my lag and gave me a better overall picture and sound. Monster cables are the best and you do get what you pay for. If you pay top dollar for a high end tv, why not do the same for the cables. You are right the HDMI Technology is what contributes to your input lag, but cables also contribute to this equation also. When you read these reviews that Monster cables are over price, that is true. When you read that High end Monster cable will not give you a better picture than a $20 cable that is false. Try it for yourself. Check the store return policy so if the results are not to your liking then return the cable.

I am going to have to totally disagree with you here. I really do not want to sound like a condescending guy on a forum , but I would suggest researching a bit more about HDMI and cabling, in general. If a cable is certified as "Category 2" by the HDMI org, then it will handle anything thrown at it today. The only real issue with cables comes down to long distance runs (over 50ft) and these are rare in home user installations.

There are a ton of great independent research options on this very site. Here is an official statement from HDMI (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=794088).

Monster has a history for overcharging based on misinformation and marketing fluff, what we call "snake oil." They could make better arguments when analog cables were the norm, but with digital connectivity, it is much harder to make an argument. You are better off going to a reputable cable manufacturer and saving your money to put towards a better TV! As for them being the "best", I guess some believe that, and that's fine but it is subjective. My dad will never buy anything other than a Toyota as he thinks they make the "best" cars.

You can get perfectly fine cabling for less than 10% of what Monster charges for their cables. I have my entire home theater run with Category 2 HDMI cables from Monoprice. I pay an average of $5 for a 3 meter cable. It handles everything perfectly fine. There is zero visual difference in picture quality. I get every set I own ISF calibrated and am a visual purist, so if I could tell a difference, I would change!!

*EDIT*
Just another thread relating to misconceptions around cables causing problems with the TV PQ...food for thought. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1277206

And, notice that Monster doesn't even follow the HDMI marketing guidlines by insinuating that there is such a thing as "Ultra" High Speed! http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1325710

I have MediaBridge, Monster (M2000 and M1000 ultimate), Sony, Audioquest, Dynex and belkin hdmi cables. I've tested all these cables and the Monster M1000 and M2000 perform the same on the B860. Monster cable uses better material and it has a way higher bandwidth capability. Out of all these cables Monster gave better performance. Performance to cost is not there, but as always you get what you pay for. Because you never tried a high end Monster cable you don't know what you are missing. For example If a format requires 12MB of bandwidth its best to have 14MB for a cleaner and smoother transfer. By the way I am an Engineer.. The reviewers that you are going off of also stated that HDMI 1.4 was needed for 3D. The ps3 and XBOX 360 has a HDMI 1.3 port and 3D is still passing through. I buy cables and test them myself with my oscilloscope. The Monster cable does give you more than you need. The other cables did not give enough in one area or another. I like to do my own test's. I use reviewers as a reference and nothing else. Most of these reviewers get paid to lie about a product and mislead the customer. You are right about distance. I'm going to use your car statement. If you had the money would you buy a Ford Tarus or a Toyota Camery. The Camery cost's more but as the reviewers say they both are 5 seater cars with V6 engines and you can buy the Tarus and put the money you save towards a better wardrobe. I would say the Monster cables are over priced, but I can get an employee discount on the cables and save about 70%. After my savings the difference is well worth the money.

You're assuming I never tried them? Interesting as I never claimed as much. IN fact, I have tried many different brands over the years. What I am saying is if your cable runs are under 25 feet, you aren't seeing a difference between Category 2 (High Speed) cables. What you ARE probably seeing is in your mind as you are equating all the marketing jargon and price you paid for them and letting that influence your assessment. Current Blu Ray medium goes no where near the ceiling of bandwidth spec'ed out in Category 2 HDMI.

I didn't post any reviews discussing 3D (any Cat 2 rated HDMI cable can handle that). I suggest avoiding the "reviews," in your case, and sticking with the actual HDMI Organization website and the rep. that I quoted above for clarification.


Well, with that comparison today, I take the Tarus, for sure. The speed limit is the same on the roads for both vehicles!! And they can both travel at the same speed and get from point A to point B just fine.

If you get employee discounts (like Best Buy employees who get 5% over cost) then getting those cables may make the price point better. But, if you tell me you spent $120 on a 6' HDMI cable, I would tell you that it better plug itself in and go invisible for that price! The picture it is sending is no different than my $6 cable from MonoPrice. Hell, you can buy a few games or Blu Rays plus the cable for that price!


I guess, at the end of the day, if you are happy with the money you spent, that's fine. What I would caution other readers here is to do your research in the cabling sub forum on this site and online and judge for yourself. Most ISF certified technicians will tell you the difference is in the circuitry of the set and the player...not the cables.

Oh, for the record, here are the only approved "speed" labels HDMI supports:
http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/hdm...ght_cable.aspx

And, if you are feeling real saucy, CNET (which is a fantastic HT and A/V review site) has a great article on HDMI cables and the myths out there: http://reviews.cnet.com/2719-11276_7...?tag=page;page

It is all about educating yourself before you part with your hard earned cash!

I am not going to get into a debate. You never owned a legit high end Monster HDMI cable. If you did you would not had made the statement you just did. Seeing is believing. You also forgot that I put all my hdmi cables through an oscilloscope to test them.

The Tarus example lets me know that you know nothing of automobiles or technology. My example showed a few pointless things that the vehicles had in common. What was not posted is the Camery gives you way better gas mileage, has way less recalls, has a smoother ride, has a way better power train warranty, and better and higher grade parts are used on the Camery,etc.... The Tarus on average will die a lot sooner than the Camery.

When you buy cables learn how to test your own HDMI cables and also test the HDMI port on your tv. Whatever the max the tv can handle go one or two steps above the max to ensure max quality.

I got 70% off the listed price of the Monster cable. I also worked for Best Buy in the past as a Manager and that 5% above cost is a lie. Don't believe ask a Manager to show you the store cost of a movie and then look at the employee discount. That will show you its not 5% but what the company dictates. This is another thing that you use here say and did not see with your own eyes. Here say is misleading.

By the way I used more than my eyes to verify better picture, my Calman also showed better picture results.

My lesson is over. Be naive all you want. I don't go off of hearsay I like to see for myself.

Too late, you are in the middle of a debate! And, why do you keep saying that I never tested Monster HDMI cables? How would you know? The fact that you are making assumptions about what I have or haven't done, when you obviously don't know, is rather telling.

Also, you telling me you "ran them through an oscilloscope" means absolutely nothing without further details. You are blatantly ignoring the real information I have presented which is a sign of someone who doesn't know what they are talking about or drank Monster's marketing Kool-aid.

Hmmm...there you go again with your silly assumptions!! As a matter of fact, I live in Michigan and worked at Ford for a number of years (in IT). So, guess what. WRONG assumption. I won't bother commenting more on what amounts to your subjective (but misguided) opinion, other than to point you to the recent JD Powers report for midsized vehicles. It tracks reliability and defect ratings and is highly used in the automotive industry (at Ford, we looked at it as our report card). By the way...the Fusion replaced the Tauras until last year.: http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings...y/midsize-car/

Ok..here is where you showed your hand. I WORKED at Best Buy on weekends in 1999 as a Techie (Black shirts before there was a "Geek Squad"). My friend, you are either being blatantly dishonest or they changed the policy by mid 2000's. I got 5% over cost of anything in the store. Poor assumptions have gotten you this far...let's try not to be dishonest, as well. I would be willing to guess you enjoyed the "clap and cheer" morning pep rallies and pushed Netflix and extended warranties down everyone's throat, too??

Why are you avoiding my points and the actual HDMI Organization specs? You realize that current 1080p specs, even "Deep Color" bit rates are a fraction of the bandwidth that any Category 2 HDMI cable can handle.

I guess, in this case, naivety is in the eye of the beholder as we will have to agree to disagree. For anyone else who cares or is still confused, still read around before wasting money and don't let anyone tell you you need to spend hundreds of dollars on cabling.

-

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articl...ou-pay-for.htm

@Rob67

Best Buy what you called black shirts in 1999 was actually called the IN Store Techs. Get your facts straight. For you not to know about the 5% also shows how you know nothing. Look at the example I used pertaining to the movies. When a DVD came out it was $13.99 and some CD's were $9.99. a week later the did went up to $19.99-29.99 and your discount on the $19.99 dvd was $2.20 off which brought it to almost four dollars above the release day price. The store cost on the movies were around 7-11 dollars depending on the studio. Do the research than do the math. Also around 1999 to 2000 they former the Digital Imaging and Wireless departments. Those departments were on then they thought it was a better idea to separate them. Once again if you worked there you were oblivious to the truth and you should have done your research.

You should have paid attention to what I said about Monster cables. They are more than you need, but the other cables either hit the mark or like most of them was lacking in one category or another (EX. bandwidth or speed). With a cable or Satellite broadcast then Media bridge cables which are $10 cables would be more than enough. When you are playing a PS3 or a high end blu-ray player then those Cat 2 cables will not give you the best results. Its always good to have more speed and bandwidth than just enough due to you can have signal loss or the frequency could cross. Because you stated that you work for the I.T. Department at ford and I also have a degree in Computer Science and I am certified in Computer Networking I'll put it in technical terms for a first year I.T. student. Think of the cable like bandwidth. For example, every computer in the plant needs 10MB of bandwidth each. If you setup the network so 10MB is the upload and download max of the Network you will get loss and even if you factor distance every Computer still would not get 10MB due to other factors. Also working a network at its max will start damaging the hardware so the speed will constantly drop a little day by day. The solution will be to build a network that could send 12-15MB of bandwidth to each PC so signal loss and speed loss will less likely occur. Also don't forget signal and power fluctuates so having a cable that is not over the specs would mean that you will every now and then you would have have signal loss or degradation.

As I said before, do your own research. For all you know you could be going off of one of my spec sheets and using my work as a reference.

This post is hilarious. I just saved it for some CCNA coworkers. Thanks!

Oh, by the way, the paragraph about your Best Buy experience has some grammar issues that make it hard to follow. You may want to edit it.

Let's digress and allow this thread to go back on topic.

Peace!

Wow. Great interchange going on here, guys. This continues to be a topic of debate, no matter what the critics say. I must say, however, that it is always entertaining to read a passionate debate from both camps in the same place.

I do suggest that you leave the car analogies out of your examples. Some of us readers have other hobbies and professions other than A / V (I know, crazy, huh?) and actually know more about the automotive industry, becoming turned off from hearing Toyota marketing professed. I'm not saying the Ford Taurus is or isn't a better car than the Toyota Camry, but the Camry definitely isn't the end all, be all of cars. Not to mention, the Taurus and Camry technically aren't even the same class of cars anymore and wouldn't be an exact apples to apples comparison like they were in the late 80s-early 90s.

Bottom line, stick to what you really know....or at least believe you know and we'll continue reading.

The thing is, it isn't really much of a debate. Cables (and other accessories) have long been the profit margin kings of IT and home theater. Monster has mastered marketing and pushes their products to retailers. Companies like Best Buy (I know...I used to work there and they wanted us to push them) push these on people buying computers and TVs as they make 100's of % points in profit.

Take USB cables, for example. Like HDMI, they pass a digital signal. Do you ever wonder why they don't normally sell the cables with printers? Because they can upsell them to you seperately. A standard USB cable costs them a couple bucks but they can sell it to you fro $20 - $40 at the store. And, that cable does EXACTLY the same thing as the cheapy cables you get from online retailers (or even free with other gear).

I think the gentleman, above, is ignoring facts with his argument. IF you look at specs, it isn't hard to grasp the concept. There are just some people that feel the need to spend that much on cables, believing the marketing. Hey, if Monster's marketing machine didn't work, they would be out of business! Someone has to be buying into it. It's like the guy who spends $500 on speaker wire from Monster. There are audiophile sound tests that compared their cables to cheap lamp cord copper and the pro audio people were unable to tell the difference.

Category 2 certified HDMI cables are rated and tested to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps). The highest bandwidth used for Blu Ray and HDTV resolutions today is under 1/3 of that limit. That means, any Category 2 certified HDMI cable is going to pass a digital signal exactly the same as another. If you have a defective cable or hit the distance limits (HDMI Org certifies up to 25 feet, but I have seen runs of over 75 feet), you will know quickly as the picture will fail spectacularly (i.e. cutting in and out, sparklies, etc.). The picture quality doesn't "degrade" as this guy suggests, or look different from cable to cable. That is just technically impossible.

This isn't me speaking, either, check the HDMI org website. Even they say at distances under 10', even Category 1 cables will suffice for any medium available today. This stuff is easy to find. I don't know why some people refuse to acknowledge it.

Well thought i would give a quick update. The menu starting coming on and off again. This will be the third motherboard for this set. Along with the menu it displayed a dialogue box this time around.

Tech did come out to verify the set being possessed; they are scheduled to come out and replace the motherboard along with some other circuit board this Saturday.

Hopefully this will be the last time. I really like the set; but if it happens again I'm going with a Panny.

To access Samsung service menu. Turn the tv off. Press Menu,1,8,2, power on. Select Expert, turn Cal day and night on. Then below for inputs select All.

Geek Squad came out Saturday, May 7th and replaced the mother board to TV and they also replaced the menu board. So far so good. However will need to have it calibrated again.

....for most HDTV setups, there is absolutely no effective difference between a no-name $3 HDMI cable you can order from Amazon.com and a $120 Monster cable you buy at a brick-and-mortar electronics store. Read it here:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385272,00.asp

Does anyone know what happened to firmware ver.1018 , because only ver.1013 is currently available on website http://www.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/PN58B860Y2F

You can't get 1018 from their stinking web site (why, I don't know but they are terribly bad about this). As far as I know, you must hook your TV up to the internet and allow it to download the latest version.

Just found a crack in my screen. It was blamed on my 2 yr. Old. Any ideas on a do it yourself repair?

Any idea what internally could be killing power supplies on a friend's 860?

i have the PN50B850Y1F

I thought I read somewhere on these forums a long time ago you can change something in the service menu to increase refresh rate or something.

I can't remember what its called, so its hard to search for.

It has some kind of blurring effect to it during fast scenes.

Hello All,
Has anyone else had the menu pop up on the screen uninvited, What have you found to fix this ghost issue? Is the ghost in the Infrared Circuit board?

As luck would have it, mine has acted up a few times over a couple of months and I didn't think much of it. Once out of 2 year warranty it now happens too often.
I unplug it for a couple of seconds and it's good for a day or two.

Any input would be much appreciated, part numbers maybe? I can change a board out as I really think it worth saving.

Thanks in advance for any help and to all the great insite and interesting perspective from all contributors at this site.............

12/10/11 UPDATE; Just got off of the phone with SAM and was told to hold the EXIT button down for 30 seconds to reset to defaults with the set turned on. Shortly after this the MENU popped up so this didn't fix it.

Rob

Having the same issue...any luck with a fix?

Infrared receiver board fixed it. Works as new now.

Thanks, I'm trying to track down that part. If anyone knows a good place to find them, let me know. The parts places I have been able to google have not listed this part.

I'd like to find an exploded diagram of the set with part numbers but that's been elusive as well.

I tried to find this information also and couldn't either. I was told the bezel(Plastic) had to be removed and it would be wise to let them do it. I dropped it off at the local shop and picked up the 64D8000 from Fry's to replace it. Extended Warranty on the 64 at Costco and saved enough to pay for the 58's repair bill.

I've since mounted it(58) in the bedroom. Best 250.00 I'll spend all year.
Wished I could help more.

Rob

Much appreciated, Rob.

I may just go ahead and replace it with an LG 55LW5600 LCD and eventually fix this guy to replace the 42" Sammy LCD 720i in my bedroom

Hey guys, I bought this TV a couple years ago. My son last summmer cracked the screen with a rock (long story I don't want to get into). Anyway, I've since replaced it and was wondering if there is anything I can get out of this TV. It's just a 70lb paperweight at the moment. Seems like a waste to take it to the dump. The screen is shot. It gets no picture at all when turned on. Is there anything redeemable in this TV or not? Thanks for the help.

Hey T, I feel your pain, 5 children and 6 grandchildren of my own. NEW RULE; No loaded slingshots in the house. Junk the unit as your gut feeling is correct, odds on repairs are far reaching, too costly.

M, I hope you bought the LG, I saw one playing 3D the other day and the PQ looked very good.


Best of Luck to you both.............

Rob

My (then) 3 year old son took a dull knife to my TV and scratched his name on it..

I've been bearing with it for the last few months as I'm on the last repair of the Futureshop lemon policy (been fixed 3 times so far).

Hoping something goes wrong with it in the near future