Official Samsung 2011 PNxxD550 Thread - Page 16

Update on my quest to rid my set of the brightness pops:

I embraced "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." I enabled eco mode then set the cell light minimum to the maximum- 20. It seems to have helped a great deal.

Odd as mine acts differently. I have comcast hooked up hdmi and xbox 360 connected hdmi and both have Dolby as well as greyed out dts(neither of those sources do dts). Using media connect dts is not greyed out and can be selected if the file has a dts track.

Wonder if it has anything to do with activating the divx hd which I did on my tv?

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What is your main Cell Light value?

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I just quickly set up my D550 and did some tests (a quick look at some test charts, random movie scenes, some minutes of playing BFBC2) but it is very promising.
It has it's "flaws" but I think it could be better after a proper calibration and I will eventually say that I would keep it.

In my current opinion, it's better than the Panasonic G20 (except the black level but there is no perfect display on the market, or "almost perfect" for any reasonable price, and it was relatively cheep, so...)

The Samsung D550 is a good plasma but I ended up with the D6500 because of the deep black levels on that set.

I saw a d550 59". Blacklevel looked quite gray. I really hope it was because of the light reflected in the panel and lack of any frontfilter. Apart from that it looked nice :-)

I am going to have to figure this one out.

Did you do anything else to the TV? Like mess with the service menu?

I would like to have at least Dolby out from HDMI thru the optical so I can just set my audio receiver to one input and leave it there.

What happens when a show or channel doesn't have Dolby?

-mk

My normal Cell Light value is 20. That's the point, since I suspect that the Eco Sensor is on even when you tell it to stay off, I just set the minimum value to what I'm normally viewing content at, the maximum- 20.

It's funny, I can see it trying to shift the brightness....so it's still there, but not nearly as pronounced. More like a very brief flicker with no real change in the brightness.

Yes, I understood that part (how it minimizes the change if the limit is close to the default value) but I asked because I don't know what the correct Cell light value is..

Well, the correct Cell Light value will be whatever works when you calibrate your set. I amped mine up to the max and then worked with the brightness and contrast settings to get the "right" picture.

Is it true turning the cell light up to the higher settings will burn out your panel faster?

It allows higher average picture luminance, so theoretically yes, it may ages the panel faster with average content.
But I think it won't be the panel which makes a big paperweight from the whole TV (but some other electronic part) after the warranty period. (So, don't punish yourself with limited settings for a "lifetime" [of the TV] if you like the picture better with higher Cell Light settings...)

Sorry, I'm blind..didn't see the official thread on this line of tv's so I will re-post what I asked in the general Samsung 2011 thread:

I am getting a new TV at Future Shop soon as LG has authorized a return for my 50PK550 that has really bad horizontal line bleeding. I am looking at upgrading to the PN51D550 and paying the $300 difference (I paid $899 for my 50PK550 back in November). Does the PN51D550 have any line bleeding or major issues I should consider? For the record I LOVE the PK550, the line-bleed is the only problem, other than that it's a great TV. I am thinking I should make the jump to 3D. FS has the PN51D550 on for $1199 (no sale) with the Shrek 3d kid (which includes a pair of glasses). Thanks!

i have 2 new d550's i first bought the 59D.. then i got a 51D.. well the 3D works great on my 59.. so today i went to my room to check out the 51.. the glasses well not turn on.. you can tell the tv is putting out 3D.. and i switched it just like my other one..antoneknow why the glasses will not turn on ? i can go to the other tv and they turn right on.. it is like the sensor is not telling the glasses there is a signal.. i do have a differant HDMI cable then the other tv.. the one that works i have a 1.4 HDMI.. the other ones is just a cheaper cable.. but the picture seems to be in 3D.. hummm.....

I don't know if this will help in your case but,I had the same problem and i took the battery out to reset the glasses then they worked.

i tryed that.. didn't work.. so i called samsung.. once you sync the glasses with one tv, you have to un-synce them to get them to work on another tv.. to un sync them you hold down the botton on the glasses while you open the door for the battery.. then hold the button down and close the door on the battery, then when you let up on the buttton the green light flashes like 3 times then the red light flashes like 3 times ( on the glasses ), or maybe red first and then the green... then they worked with my other tv

can you comment on whether the black levels are deeper on the 59 inch compared to the 51 inch please.

If there is not 5.1 then I either get dolby prologic or just plain stereo. My pioneer HTS it has a display that shows which speakers are in play, so you can really tell what is going on from that picture. One of three symbols is displayed as well. Dolby pro-logic, Dolby digital, or DTS or none, which just means stereo.

by just looking i can not tell the differance.. but they are in differant veiwing environments.. the 51 i am alot closer to it then the 59.. you would need a meter to tell.. sometimes i think the 51 looks better..

My TV doesn't pass 5.1 from HDMI thru optical. I enabled Divx (that was a pain) and still no change. I see PCM as the only option. Dolby is grayed out and DTS isn't there at all.

Is there anything else you can think of? Did you mess with the service menu?

-mk

Yes on mine it is a flicker/tick but I have ECO off. Cell light is 15. So I turned ECO on and then set the minimum to 15 and there's a message that says they "can't be the same". So I set minimum to 14. No change. Still see the occasional "tick" of brightness change on some dark scenes.

It may be that this is "just how a plasma works". But, with ECO off you would think it would not do this at all. So something else is kicking in (ABL?) that I wish I could shut off.

This is on my PN64D550. Otherwise am very happy with this set.

Does the PN51D550 have any line bleeding or major issues I should consider? I am aware of the glare (could it be WORSE than an LG Plasma?), and the apparent loss of black level when doing 24p, who knows If I will notice? The PK550 has a contrast ratio of 3M-1 and this Samsung has a dynamic ratio of 10M-1. I don't like dynamic contrast so I'm assuming the Samsung won't have better black levels, I have no quams about black levels on my LG...just LINE BLEED. Thanks.

Never been in the service menu on this TV. Nothing unusual that I can think of. Works great, better than I would have ever imagined.

Strange, I could set the same values (20 for both).
Did you update your firmware?
I would be very painful if I have to keep the first firmware version forever (or always watch the forums to learn what is the deal with the actual update).

This is getting weird. Mine will allow me to set Eco to same value as cell also.

I have the same dilemma.

I really couldn't care less about the extra "Samsung Apps" or the extra depth. My primary (and only) concern is the PQ difference and maybe the overall styling.

My TV watching habits are in the late hours, so glare isn't a major factor (so Black Filter probably won't provide much benefit).

So, for the $500+ extra (based on the discounted prices, not MSRP), the only benefit I get is the nicer bezel trim. Obviously, there are other differences (that I already explained I don't care for).

Am I missing anything? Which model are you leaning toward at the moment and why?

Thanks in advance.

It's not true. Real Black filter is the one that gives deep black to panel. Only C7000\\C8000.

i thought the real black filter only affected how the panel handles reflections, and doesn't really play any part in the actual black level of the set?

It depends on what we mean by black level. The color of panel with RBF differ from others without it.

I just updated my firmware and I am still able to set both cell light and it's ECO limit to 20.
(I didn't really noticed any improvements.)

I labeled my HDMI input as "PC" and it is acceptable. The RGB processing mode only activates when the TV receives 60Hz but returns to the usual YCC processing with 23.976 and 50Hz signals (and my player software can change the refresh rate automatically). So, I have low input lag with games but also CinemaSmooth for movies.
(But it is not possible to use CinemaSmooth with RGB processing mode. Not a big problem but should be possible.)