Official Samsung UNXXD8000 Owners' Thread - Page 107

I've never had any of my TVs pro calibrated, I did work selling TVs, car stereos and do in home delivery and setup of TVs n such. This was ten years ago so I'm out of touch with calibration even tho I was trained a bit on it. I do have a question you said the tech could lock settings, but what happens when you install firmware and it resets everything, do you lose calibrated settings then?

I am thinking about buying this LED. But after reading this


"The UND8000 series is extremely expensive and exhibits poor screen uniformity with excessive brightness variation and banding. Details in shadows were obscured somewhat, and the glossy screen reflects a lot of ambient light."

Has this been address or fixed. Any suggestion would be great.

Thank you

I don't want to try to sell you on the d8000. My d8000 has the banding uniformity issue, but you only see it under a solid grey background. For normal viewing of anything you never see it and the picture looks great. It also has great black levels and the screen is not as glossy and reflective as other sets. But it comes down to price, yes it is an expensive TV and some have uniformity issues others have reported not having any. I can't guarantee you won't get a flawed TV or if anything has improved manufacturing wise. I can tell you I'm happy with the overall PQ of my TV even tho it has the banding "but I never see it on normal content." If I had known about the issues I may have gotten a different TV or waited a bit to get mine. I would say wait and shop around if you have concerns on the d8000.

That's a good question, I can't remember If I have updated firmware since mine was calibrated but I would be absolutely shocked if it did reset the calibration settings. They definitely didn't tell me not to update firmware after they were done, but I'm getting another tv calibrated in a week and a half. I will ask the tech then

I suggest you go plasma, all LED sets have issues although CNET blew this one way out proportion, it is an issue. On the plus side this set has the best blacks, motion processing and 3D of any set. I am very picky and am living with and enjoying my D8000.

This is an issue which is not fully understood yet: Other technical reviews do not mention uniformity as a problem at all. Example is Flatpanels review where the reviewer details minute problems with color gradation and blacks crushing but says nohting on nonuniformity. One thinks that this would be mentioned if showing up in major way.

Please note how close these settings are to my settings that so many blasted. Uniformity is not an issue when setup like this, black crushing is, but is not that big of a deal. The Pros out way the cons on this set, CNET's rating of a 4 out of 5 says something about the many great things this set does do. CNET had the HDMI level at normal and the brightness at 50, these settings cause uniformity issues to be a visible problem. I have the brightness a 40 and the HDMI at low and have no uniformity issues but do suffer minor black crushing.

Geez. It's no mystery. It's not limited to one set over the other. It's not a matter of settings.

There are three pronounced vertical bars and two lesser vertical bars that constitute banding that can be seen under some rare conditions. Dark grey will always reveal them. They are not as problematic in normal viewing but certain panning scenes of particular colors and shades reveal them. Underwater scenes, grey skies, panning over a dark field, etc. This is not a defect it is a byproduct of the tech in the tv.

Also, there is a threshold at which the LEDs on the edge dim to deepen black level and increase contrast. Some scenes cause the lights to go bright when they should be dark. Perhaps it is situations where bright lit center and dark edges appear and the LEDs have no choice but to go bright to light the center of the screen. Under such condition the edges of the set will be much brighter and washed out compared to the center. Contrast on the edges is reduced considerably under this condition. Palladia shows this all the time on night concerts where the stage is center but the rest of the screen is dark.

The only variance with the two above anomalies on this set are whether or not you notice them, and whether or not the content you are watching reveals them. I'll agree some early sets had other issues (in my case) such as lines in the diffuser panel and even more pronounced banding than what is common but every set shows these anomalies. Those of us who see the anomalies will also see them on sets that some of you claim are problem free.

Also, the two above issues are much more visible in dark environments. Nobody is debating that these sets show moments of absolute image bliss. Just that once second all is well and a scene comes on which is a mess under the same settings.

Reviewers catching the issues are just thorough. Those that miss the issues aren't looking deep anough. Yes, a reviewer should look as deep as possible to uncover these issues because they are deal breakers for some, and may become deal breakers for others down the road once they notice them.

That said, we all agree that a certain price/quality threshold exists in this market that would make these issues much less annoying. +/- $3000 isn't it.

While settings do not cause it, the settings can expose it or reduce it. If the backlight, brightness or contrast is to high you will see the unevenness of the side backlighting and the edges will be visibly brighter.

you mentioned that if you had know about the issues you would have gotten a different TV. What would you have gotten? Are they any other LED as good as this one?

I'm not sure how you can say they blew it out of proportion. The D6400 which is a lesser set does not have the same level of unifomrity issue as the top of the line model. That's not a good thing to have with your best product.

You are not kidding - I actually accidentally hit demo on accident in one of the color? settings. OH MY GOD was it terrible - but it did look bright as the sun. I had just changed a bunch of the settings too and couldn't figure out how to go back - I thought I had to reset everything - but it had changed some setting to dynamic - once I switched that back, all was good.

I don't buy that at all. The D6400 does not look better than the D8000 in any way.

I would have gotten a sony hx929. I wanted a big 60''+ tv but got impatient and pulled the trigger on a 55d8000. I still want a bigger tv, I guess I have an excuse to buy a bigger tv next year. I actually like my d8000 but I understand why others my be hesitant after reading this thread a bit, there is a lot of unwarranted bashing ''in my opinion'' because the uniformity is there but minor and a bit blown out of proportion. Giving a blind test to random group of people, I think everyone would love the design, feature set and PQ of the d8000.

I think these look pretty good taken from phone. You can see some bleed on the left but I won't return for this

Also. Again I'm no videophile, but I was able to take cmp, cnet and another setting that was posted here to 1) get the best pic for me but more importantly, actually understand what a lot of the settings even do. That why I love these forums. There is a wealth of knowledge with this particular set. There is no other site that has this many enthusiasts talking about the same set.

Is the sony hx929 have a better picture? The price is a lot higher than D8000.

I'll just link you to the sony thread, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1318875 If its a better tv, I really don't know as I haven't seen any reviews or any experience with it. Its more expensive because its a full array led tv as appose to the d8000 edge led. Its also sonys flagship tv as the d8000 is samsungs flagship tv.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is meant by 'crushing blacks'? I get the sense it is something negative. Is this mean too much black? If so why do so many reviewers look for deep blacks in a tv set as something to aim for?

crushing blacks is basically having blacks so black you lose detail.
Look on the left for ex of crushing blacks, there is alot more detail in the pic to the right.

Depends on the video processing/settings that darkens the black areas of the picture. You can have good black performance, but it wouldn't be 'great' if the detail contained within the dark content is lost, which is known as shadow detail. If it's crushed blacks, all you'll see is black rather than fine shadow detail.

Also, it is possible to have have both great shadow detail and black levels. Better blacks contribute to higher contrast.

If I had only visited this thread and not seen the set in person, I would never have purchased it based on posts in this thread. I'm glad I saw it in person and purchased it later on Amazon. But, I'm no stickler for EXACT color science; I just know it looks SO much better than my previous Sony LCD projection set. The small bezel and excellent 3D add to it's value and WAF (wife acceptance factor). Every 'average joe' person that's seen the set is in awe of the picture.

Maybe the more expensive Sony is slightly better, but I can't believe the 3D is any better and certainly the bezel is meh.

I've played some solid grey to solid white videos for adjusting the set, and yes the darker grey may be SLIGHTLY uneven (darker) in the middle 1/3rd of the set, but in practical use, it's not an issue. Lighter shades of grey have no issues whatsoever. All sets have issues. I love this thing!

If you're a videophile and ~$3000 is a lot to you, yeah, you might want to keep looking or wait for prices to come down. But if you are, why'd you leave the CRT world? However, if you just want a great looking set with web apps and 3D and ~$3000 seems reasonable to you, this is your set.

Oh, and my set came with, or coupons for, 4 pair of glasses and 5 3d Movies, which makes the price look even better than the Sony when you factor that in. It's kind of like an Apple/MS thing. Samsung has the design and a good set, Sony may have a slightly better picture, you decide.

-cp

^ Agreed. To the average joe the bezel on the Sony HX929 is pretty ugly after having the D8000 in your home. People are amazed at how the D8000 looks in person. The average joe would also not be able to notice a picture difference (not to say the Sony even has a better picture...it's still too early to know). I know I preferred the Samsung's picture over Sony's in 2010. It's crazy to think that just a year ago the Sony's monolithic design was considered to be the best looking.

That being said, even though average people won't notice these defects, they still shouldn't differ from set to set.

Yes, because we should continue to cater to the average Joe on high end sets. You know that same average Joe that probably doesn't know who the current president is and thinks the Toyota Prius is the pinnacle of automobiles. The one that probably thinks the 50" Sanyo Plasma at Walmart for $500 looks good too.

I don't think the current round of sets is 'catering' to anyone. I just think that if you want a 1" thick set, this is where the technology currently sits. My 50" 720P 11" projector set was $2400. Granted, technology has advanced and prices have come down; not enough for some I'm sure. I don't have the knowledge or $$$ to produce better, so I'm settling for what's fair to me today.

Wait a year, I'm sure prices will come down and sets will get better.

-cp

How can a nearly non-existent bezel appear ugly?

I'm missing something.

Jim

He's referring to the Sony's 1" (or so) bezel. Yes, compared to the Samsung's bezel, 1" is UGLY! Makes the Sony look like a picture vs the Samsung looking like a window. Really!

And I LOVE Sony stuff. I have other Sony TV's, camcorders, you name it. But this round I'm trying the Samsung. Hopefully it'll be as reliable as my Sony equipment has been.

-cp

Your presumption of "ugly" is very vague.
In fact, there is nothing so "ugly" about both sets.
One solid plate of glass looks amazing and especially much easier to clean.

But of course, many people love to fantasize about the thinness of everything and automatically making it the "beauty" standard of all else.

+1.... got a crutchfiled catalog the other day and they have the d7000 listed with 60" option but no 65". Also starting to see a couple more websites with pre-order options for un60d8000 (no time table). Contacted samsung support chat asking about a approx time frame and they were absolutely useless. They had no clue what i was talking about. Here's an idea...educate your support team so they have the answers the customers want even if its a bad one. Don't come out at CES and state later this year for the 60 and 65" and then have your chat support come up with an answers that make them sound foolish. At least give your big dealers some kind of a time frame on a release or ship date so people can make definite decisions WTF.....

I found there are two changes in the Samsung electronics website for Korean.

1. There's new model name that I'm not familiar with called 46D8000YG. The existing model name is D8000YF. No information available yet but something slightly changed?

2. There's new firmware 1012 in Korean site. info.txt inside the zip file, it's described as T-GAP8AKUC 1012.1. Its date was 20. April. No information what are changed yet