Samsung PN59D6900 light level changes

Originally Posted by oldways

Two weeks ago, I got a very nice PN59D6900 from Future Shop (included 2 pair 3D glasses, 4 Shrek 3D movies and Samsung 3D BD-D5500 Blu-Ray player). I was happy with the deal and the plasma display is amazing (this was an upgrade from a 10-year old 50" Panasonic 720p commercial plasma with no TV tuner).

But there's a problem.... Periodically, while watching, I will notice the light level goes up and/or down at random times. It's as if the voltage went up/down and a light bulb dims. Sometimes it might go down and come back up in a few seconds or a few minutes later.

Note that I am not using any TV/Internet/wi-fi connections/sources. I am ONLY watching discs - some DVD and some Blu-Ray. I haven't even had a chance to try 3D yet. Immediately after I plugged in the TV, I did connect it to my router and updated the firmware. I haven't updated the Blu-Ray player yet.

When this occurs, I back up the player and re-play the scene and I never see the same change in level. It has also happened on several discs. So it's not the disc. I doubt that it's the player (hooked up with HDMI to RX and then HDMI to plasma). The RX isn't very good (Sony STR-DG720), so a new RX will be the next thing to buy.

Tonight I was watching a Blu-Ray disc and the brightness changed up/down over a period of 2-3 seconds, which is something I haven't seen before (usually it just goes up and then down again a few minutes later).

I have never encountered this in the past 10 years (same building) of watching the 720p plasma, but then again, it was a commercial display panel (no TV tuner), so it might be significantly more robust.

The set is only about 2 weeks old. I haven't changed any settings yet or done a burn-in prior to calibration. Is this light level change a known problem? I haven't talked to the Samsung or Future Shop guys yet.

The settings appear to be factory defaults:

picture mode: standard
cell light: 10
contrast: 95
brightness: 45
sharpness: 50
color: 50
tint: G50, R50
auto adjustment (disabled, can't select)

Advanced
black tone: off
dynamic contrast: high
gamma: 0
expert pattern: off
RGB only mode: off
color space: native
white balance: all RGB gain/offset are set at 25
10p white balance: off (disabled, can't select)
flesh tone: 0
edge enhancement: on
motion lighting: on
xvYCC: off

System/eco solution
energy saving: off
eco sensor: on

software: 001009 (updated on first day of ownership)

Originally Posted by oldways

As soon as I switched it to Movie mode, dynamic contrast, edge enhancement and motion lighting all went off. Then I turned off eco sensor. I will watch another disc tomorrow to see what that does.



Jay, you recommend a board replacement, which is fine, but you also seem to be saying that won't fix it and the problem will always be there. Can you clarify please?

Originally Posted by oldways

Jay - ok, understood.

I just called 1-800-SAMSUNG and spoke to a guy. He told me to go to the picture diagnostic and tell me if the problem is there. Well, that diagnostic shows a picture of people at the beach. After 30 s, the picture and menu disappears. I told him there was no problem in the 30 s that I watched it and he says the TV is probably ok then. I told him I would have to watch it for an hour to be sure about it but the picture and menu disappears after 30 s. That was lost on him. I told him not to write down "test ok".

I told him I was using the Samsung BD-D5500 Blu-Ray player connected via HDMI and he didn't seem to care. He said that's only one source - you have to try other sources. Well, I don't have cable, satellite or even an antenna. I have been watching only DVDs (Blu-Ray). This problem shows up on every DVD I have watched. He told me go out and buy an antenna and try it. He said he can NOT go any further until he eliminates the source as a possible problem. So instead of watching a stable, high-quality source, he wants me to hook up an antenna and watch a lesser quality OTA signal.

I don't know how some of you guys can cut through the boilerplate and end up talking to engineers or otherwise good guys on this. I told him that there were numerous reports on AVSForum about this problem and he said he didn't know anything about that.

Frustrated. I really don't want to spend the next month going back & forth about this. Perhaps the only solution is to walk away and return the whole package.

Originally Posted by oldways

Jay - ok, understood.

I just called 1-800-SAMSUNG and spoke to a guy. He told me to go to the picture diagnostic and tell me if the problem is there. Well, that diagnostic shows a picture of people at the beach. After 30 s, the picture and menu disappears. I told him there was no problem in the 30 s that I watched it and he says the TV is probably ok then. I told him I would have to watch it for an hour to be sure about it but the picture and menu disappears after 30 s. That was lost on him. I told him not to write down "test ok".

I told him I was using the Samsung BD-D5500 Blu-Ray player connected via HDMI and he didn't seem to care. He said that's only one source - you have to try other sources. Well, I don't have cable, satellite or even an antenna. I have been watching only DVDs (Blu-Ray). This problem shows up on every DVD I have watched. He told me go out and buy an antenna and try it. He said he can NOT go any further until he eliminates the source as a possible problem. So instead of watching a stable, high-quality source, he wants me to hook up an antenna and watch a lesser quality OTA signal.

I don't know how some of you guys can cut through the boilerplate and end up talking to engineers or otherwise good guys on this. I told him that there were numerous reports on AVSForum about this problem and he said he didn't know anything about that.

Frustrated. I really don't want to spend the next month going back & forth about this. Perhaps the only solution is to walk away and return the whole package.

Originally Posted by oldways

It seems to be better with lots of things turned off, but perhaps I'm not noticing it as much as I did on the first disc I tried (Quo Vadis Blu-Ray). On that sword-and-sandals 1951 movie, there is relatively little movement or change in lighting. Each scene stays pretty much in the same place. So it was pretty easy to see the entire screen go dim or bright. Action movies are so fast and flashy, it's not as easy to see. I will continue to watch to see if I can see it again. Perhaps I'll have to watch Quo Vadis again (it's a verrrrrrrrry sloooooow movie, so it will be a challenge).

Originally Posted by Sean202

Turn off dynamic contrast. That seems to be the problem.

Originally Posted by oldways

I will check Pan's Labyrinth. I only have DVD version though, not BD.

After reviewing a lot of the settings that might be related to this, I can find only 3 that might be the culprit.

(a) Eco Sensor
It says it adjusts the screen brightness relative to the room brightness. I guess the Eco Sensor shouldn't have an effect if the room brightness remains the same throughout the program. Otherwise, it will adapt to changing room brightness, if people are coming and going and turning lights on/off. I watch TV in a black room, but I turned it off anyway.

(b) Motion Lighting
This one seems like it would be a real problem! It says it "reduces power consumption by reducing screen brightness when the picture on the screen is in motion". DUH! Why would you want to do that!?!?! Needless to say, this one is OFF.

(c) Dynamic Contrast
The e-manual doesn't really say what this does other than "adjust contrast". I assume that it dynamically changes the contrast to avoid torching the screen. For example, if it encounters a picture with a white building against a dark background, it would lower the contrast. Why, because a high contrast image like that would be harmful to the TV? Even if so, surely it would be ok for a few seconds. I can understand why it would change the contrast if you were watching a game on TV and a high-contrast scoreboard along the edge showed up and persisted through a 2 hour game. But there shouldn't be any problem while watching a movie or TV show.

Jay, do you have all 3 of these things turned off and you still notice it?

My Future Shop sales guy said he had read on CNET about a possible firmware fix for this. I know there has been some discussion about a coming fix for the same problem on Panasonic, so I asked him to verify whether he read this for Panasonic or for Samsung. I asked him for a URL to the discussion. He hasn't responded yet.

Originally Posted by KimchiHo

So, is this FBr something that exists on all PN59D6500 TVs? I just ordered one as it only seemed to be a problem for a small % of owners -- many owners do not seem to complain about it. Is it that those owners aren't as perceptive or is it that only some of the sets have this issue?

If it is an issue that plagues all PN59D6500's, I might want to cancel my order. Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by supra92

There's something to be said for those extra 4", though. Not that BestBuy is the best place to view things from a critical eye perspective, but they happened to have the 59" directly below a 55"... and the increase in size is pretty stunning. Which makes sense, since the bigger the TV, the more actual pixels are involved in a 4" increase.