Does your 2011 Samsung "D" plasma have brightness pops? - Page 70

Or those that returned the TV and got a different brand because of them. it was down to the wire for me i can tell you that. very glad it got fixed. the Panny ST30 is a great set, but im glad i can now keep the D7000.

Congrats to you and everyone who's got this problem fixed. Had my doubts, but it does look like Samsung has come through like a Champion... Errr, maybe not quite "like a Champion," what with all those clueless Tech support people who couldn't figure out the correct Usb "joy" sticks to send, or those who are still not even aware that a problem of brightness pops exists...

It makes me wonder about the number of Samsung 2011 plasma owners who are currently being bombarded with the pops without being aware that there is even something wrong with their displays... I wonder whether those who have visited this forum and been provided with the usb sticks of joy amount to even 1 % of Samsung display owners who are currently experiencing this problem, with or without knowing it...

Lastly, I personally think that Zoyd should receive a fat check from Samsung for having figured out the thingamabob with the Magic board (yes "magic board" sounds more fun than "logic board", but I digress), without which the "fixes" wouldn't have worked for many on here, not to mention sounding more knowledgeable about these fixes than most of the Samsung reps on the chat transcripts we have read in this forum ! (Unless he is an undercover Samsung operative, which will not surprise me, given all the cloak and dagger shenanigans we have witnessed with the delivery of these sticks, but I sincerely doubt it )

So Congrats again to all, and 3 hoorays for the fix.

Now let's hope that E7000s and E8000s will give even more kick-ass pqs

How come both Panasonic and Samsung have this "Fluctuating Brightness Pop" issue in 2011 models?

Does Samsung and Panasonic work together or did one of them steal "industrial" design secrets from the other?

I don't know, but I wondered the same thing.

Zoyd,

Are there any settings that could be different now? Gamma maybe? I don't know what it is but the picture is different somehow.

Not from the update, going into the service menu resets all your settings though.

Hmm. Well all my settings were the stock Movie mode settings. I lowered brightness a little and that helps. Could maybe the stock settings be a little off or changed?

Probably not. Here is a method for setting brightness without a test disk - find some black letter box bars and in a dark room turn up brightness until you see dithering in the bars. Then turn down the brightness 2 clicks. Other recommend settings can be found in the settings thread but in general:

Contrast: 90
Cell: 15-20
Movie mode, warm 2
gamma -1
all enhancements off

I'll get out the WOW disc after the wife goes to bed. I'm confident it's a setting issue since lowering the brightness makes a huge difference. Strange though because i never changed any of the stock settings before the update anyway.

Zoyd thanks for the fix man!!! Greetings from Perú i will post my tv in the other thread but once again THANKS!!!

super!

lol! For once, all is quiet on the "Brightness Pops" Front. Not a single thing to complain about... You can hear a pin drop!

No news = Good News!

Lol... I'm happy about these results, but now that it is all over, I almost miss some of the drama of the struggle over the pops! Weird Huh!

Yeah, I know... I need to get a life. lol

This is odd. I turned BD Wise off and my settings went to Standard. When I changed back to Movie i swear everything looked the way it did before the update.

It sounds to me like your TV needs a proper calibration. The stock settings look horrible...not sure why you'd want to leave it like that.

I plan on it. Till then I actually like the stock settings. They are about spot on using a WOW calibration disc actually so I just leave them. As soon as I move my stuff to the basement I'll be making an appointment to have it professionally done.

With my 64D8000 calibrated, the image looks very similar to the "relax" setting, but the blues are more vibrant in "relax" mode (shhh... I prefer "relax" over my calibrated settings).

I like the relax setting too

I am going to mess around with the settings now that the pops are fixed

I picked up a WOW disk a couple weeks ago from Fry's

Holy shitballs! I am FINALLY pop free on my 59D6500! I hardly ever took the time to appreciate how great the image is on this set because I was constantly distracted. The firmware for the 7000 worked great! Now it is time to update my 51"

Zoyd - thanks for the patch on this Pop issue. Pops seem fixed and all is good. Now to play around with settings that optimize this Tv a bit further.

Finally these sets are as great as they have been reviewed. Fantastic.

I am upgrading firmware soon!! will post back

I prefer the Relax setting too!! I have tried to tweak the Movie mode settings, but I can't seem to get it to where I prefer it over Relax. What is the DEAL?

LOL same here. I use Relax for anything on TV, and different settings for watching Blu-rays, then different settings in Game Mode for playing games. I tweaked some things in Relax mode, but the colors sure look better than anything else I can do with Movie mode, or so it seems.

Here is my complete conversation I had over the Samsung chat service today about my brightness popping issue .......

Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Patty'. There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.

Your Issue ID for this chat is **************

Patty: Hi, thanks for reaching out to Samsung tech support. How can I help you today?
Alan : I am having "brightness pops" issues. I understand that there is a fix for this. How can I get the update?
Alan : I have a PN64D8000
Patty: I understand that there is "brightness popping issue" on your TV. Right?
Alan : yes
Patty: Thanks for confirming.
Patty: Let me see how I can help you in this regard.
Patty: May I know the firmware installed on your TV?
Alan : 1024.3
Patty: Thank you for the information.
Patty: Would you mind holding a few minutes while I gather the required information for your request?
Alan : sure
Patty: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.
Patty: Thank you.
Patty: Please hold on for a few more minutes, I am still working on the issue.
Patty: Thanks for holding.
Patty: Please try connecting different devices like a blu ray player or cable box and check if the issue persists on all the devices or a particular device.
Alan : the issues happens when watching a blu-ray / DVD, Cable and or streaming content like VUDU.
Patty: Thanks for confirming.
Patty: Please try resetting the TV and check if the issue persists.
Alan : I did that last week with my setting and the issue still is happening.
Patty: Thanks for confirming.
Patty: As the issue persists even after performing all the troubleshooting steps, I understand that the firmware on your TV is not supported. We will send you an updated firmware. Please provide me with the following details.
Patty: 1) Full name.
Patty: 2) Mailing address.
Patty: 3) Contact number.
Patty: 4) Email Id.
Patty: 5) Model code.
Patty: 6) Serial number.
Patty: 7) Date of purchase.
Alan : **** ******, **** **** **** ** ****** ** *****, ***-***-****, ****@******.com, PN64D8000, Purchased back on March 2011 from Best Buy ... I am getting the S# now
Patty: Thank you for all the information.
Patty: Sure, please go ahead.
Alan : S# is Z33************
Patty: Thank you for the serial number.
Patty: Please allow me few minutes while I process the request to send you the updated firmware:
Alan : ok
Patty: Thank you.
Patty: Please hold on for a few more minutes, I am still working on the issue.
Alan : ok
Patty: I apologize for the delay; it is taking me some time to process the request. Please be on hold while I process the request.
Alan : ok
Patty: Thank you.
Patty: Thank you so much for being on hold.
Patty: I have processed the request to send the USB with the updated firmware to fix the issue. Here is the service order number:**********. You will receive the No Charge part within 7-15 business days.
Alan : Thank you very much
Patty: You're welcome. Is there anything else I can assist you with?
Alan : nope thats it ... thank you
Patty: Thank you for chatting with us. If you have a minute, please click on the blue “X close” button to receive a transcript of your chat and fill out a brief survey to help us serve you better. Have a wonderful day!
Follow Samsung Service on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Chat session has been terminated by the Samsung Agent.


So will see after I get the USB stick if this works.

I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I just can't believe it.

The pops are gone. The pops are gone!

I have some of the most sensitive, nit picky eyes known to man, and these pops have plagued me since day one. I was so utterly skeptical that this USB fix would get rid of the issue. But it has. It has!!

It feels weird thinking about life forward from this point, lol, wondering what a pop-free future is going to be like

+1

I'll be happy when Samsung sends me the 2 USB sticks. Right now I think they are losing points with me...
Been about 2 weeks already.
I would hate to have to get on chat again.

Don't worry. Something else will come along.

Just updated my 59d550 to 1019.5 and the optimization ran. Will post back results after a couple movies tonight.

Initial impression are black levels are the same and picture quality slightly improved.

So I received my USB today because I had severe brightness pops. I haven't read the last few pages of this thread, but I know about the "optimization" pop-up.. Well I never got that with my USB, however, I have not had one pop since the update. Also, my blacks seem to have improved.

Software version: T-GAP8AKUC-1024.8, BT-Q/G