Official Samsung UNxxES8000 Owner's Thread - Page 235

This may be a bit off topic, but anyone here able to set up an Activity on the Harmony One remote to go directly to the Netflix app?

The Logitech software setup has a command for Smarthub but it does not work. Pretty sure I have the rest figured out (up arrow, right arrow, select), but I just can not get it to go to Smarthub.


Here is the order showing in the Status / Actions list:

Samsung TV is on

Sony AV receiver is on

Samsung TV is set to "Smarthub"

Sony AV receiver is set to "TV"

HA! "WOW"! Nice one

Which AMP mode do you use? I don't like the soap opera effect but I'm curious because like Nitra, I assume you don't have the stutter problem on anything but Clear.

I don't have a way to go directly to Netflix, but I do have a way to go directly to the SmartHub by Manually setting up a Utility/Generic Activity. I then have it turn on all of my main gear without changing the input. That way, whatever I was watching is guaranteed to stay in the upper left corner. It then selects SmartHub of course. That's probably enough info, but I could be more specific if you need me to be.

One little bug of sorts though is that you have to make sure you exit the SmartHub before going to another Activity or the TV won't change the input.

Does anyone remember where it was that we were talking about our AVRs like 100 pages ago? Can't seem to find it and it's time I upgrade to one with HDMI connections with audio delays and 2 HDMI outs. I'm even trying to find YouTube videos showing which ones have the nicest OSD for volume and such. If you know, thanks. If you don't, I don't blame you - neither do I. I have Jack sitting next to me though, so I have an excuse.

AMP set to Standard

I incorrectly stated in an earlier post a month ago that I was using "Natural" Picture Mode. Turns out it's "Standard." I played with the settings at first but haven't touched them for a few months now. I tried some other people's settings for Movie mode but the results did not work well for me. Standard mode right out of the box were pretty good to begin with.

Seems to be mostly stutter free but the other night it happened a few times. Wondering if that might have been Directv because the screen pixelated (like you get with rain fade) for a second or two shortly afterwards.

After almost 3 months the soap opera effect looks perfectly natural to me, but I understand that it's not for everyone. For me, it's like being on the set in person with the actors, as opposed to watching a recording afterwards (which of course it is). To each his own.

Thanks. Good for you. Some people like it so more power to ya. It's great then that you don't have the frame dropping stutter thing. You'd know it if you did.

My Sony AV has the worst OSD (and all the reviews agree), but it sounds great and the auto calibration works really well. Loaded with lots of features too: every sound field possible plus their own HD sound program, wifi / wired internet for Netflix or whatever, etc.

As you no doubt know, the TV has audio delay but it probably depends on how your system is wired. My Sony has it but the stupid GUI (OSD) blacks out the picture so you have to use trial and error to set it. The GUI is slow to start too. Some owners were complaining that it only works at random, but what is really happening is it takes awhile to load. Think, 'dial-up internet,' lol.

Here's the link. Not exactly high end but works well.
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666468385
Edited by postalguy - 11/28/12 at 5:07pm

Ha thanks. That helps. That's another issue I had with Sony TVs and my Blur-ray for that matter - the interface is terrible. I'm not looking for high end either actually, I would say a list price of no more than $1000, probably spending more like $500 give or take. I had a few Sony AVRs in the past and my latest is an Onkyo. And now I seem to keep going back to the TX-NR616. The 818 does have nice video processing and audio tuning, but not sure I really want it, which is kind of funny considering my job is in the audio field, but it's a joke in my business that we all have crappy systems at home haha. I have 10+ year old satellites that I'll be replacing in 4 or 5 months. Oh the Yamaha RX-V773WA looks nice too.

Hey the new mobile site is very very nice. Wish I had this last week!

problem is that 98% of samsung reps are bad, since they are trained to be bad

plus the plasma dither I saw in the store, especially on the Panny but also onthe Samsung, would drive me crazy, I think. The Panny plasma actually seemed to have worse dither than the Samsung plasma.
Edited by skibum5000 - 11/28/12 at 7:43pm

Dude you have NO clue the crap they put your through. And the illegal BS they pull. Again, they are under probation for illegal practices in many states and have been fined millions for their warranty service practices. One dude they sent to my house lured me into standing 2' from my screen (believe me I do not watch my set from 2' away! he kept saying i don't see the problem show me closer!) and then whipped out his cellphone, took a picture and then claimed that I watch my 50" set from 2' away and that he will post my photo on the internet and make fun of me if I don't be good an quit my warranty claim! And he said he had just transferred the image to his boss as proof of lack of claim and said that they would all laugh. WTH! Oh and he said that Samsung, as well as any video person, recommends that a 52" set be viewed from 25' away and no closer than 18'! WTH! I should have called the police to be honest. Thankfully not all of them are that bad, but samsung has trained way too many reps to be completely shady and to give them all sorts of incentives to try to find ways to find against the customer and return to home base without having done anything.

Funny that after two years I finally got an independent tech sent out after I threatened to report them to the Attorney General and this guy noticed the problem and signed for my replacement within 10 seconds!

It is not just me, look all over the net, Samsung is routinely bashed for having some of the worst customer service of any company in the world.
Look on Amazon, all their TVs have like 3 stars and 50% 1 star votes, not because the TVs are poor, they are very good, arguably the best (when they work), but because of QC issues and much more they get tagged for horrible, dirty warranty practices.

Well, after reading through pretty much all the internet has to offer on this display, I finally pulled the trigger on the 65" tonight. Supposed to be delivered next Thursday.

Fingers crossed that I get a good one!

My Yamaha RX-A800 which is discontinued now is very nice overall, but there's one thing I don't like about it that may or may not be related to Yamaha or this particular model. It takes a moment for the AVR to detect the incoming HDMI and decode the audio, even if it is PCM, so that means that it always, always cuts off the first couple seconds of all audio it receives. Very annoying, especially when it does it with each song I play using my media player which drops the connection briefly between each track, and I even asked about it in the Yamaha thread and called Yamaha (they had no idea and initially told me it was broken and needed service). Turns out after confirming it with another Yamaha tech and the Yamaha thread it is normal for this unit to have a delay since by default it is in "idle" mode and it always has that delay over HDMI. Analog connections don't suffer from this at all but HDMI, optical and coax all have the delay. It may be that other brands are quicker to detect the audio and not be so noticeable, but I don't know.

Otherwise it's a great AVR with very nice sound, and a fantastic on-screen menu. Color icons and fly-out menus, very nicely done. Make sure any AVR you look at supports full 3D passthrough. Another must is making sure the receiver can passtrough the video signal even when off, otherwise if it's late at night and you don't want the receiver on for surround you'll need it on anyways to pass the video through. With my Yamaha when off it's actually a "standby" mode so it passes through video even when not on, and I can even switch HDMI inputs with the remote when it's in standby. Hope this helps a bit.

Yeah the dithering is another issue, and it's even worse in 3D mode. It's really bad in 3D mode.

...GMan, I thought I was enjoying the SOE but maybe not. What exactly is the settings on this that trun on the SOE? I am starting to think that what I said was SOE is not...oh, I forgot...what exactly is "dithering" in terms of plasma? I wanna make sure I(and others) are consistent in understanding and tagging this.

...G, I have to tell ya that after years with 5.1 setups and AVR's I really like the reduced clutter and clean setup of the whole soundbar thing. Never thought I'd say that because ...back in the mid 90's when i got my 1st Dolby pro logic setup...I thought the stars alighned and the seas had parted. My dad and brother saw and heard their first quality hometheater moment at my old crib, Saving Private Ryan on prologic PUMPING from the DishNetwork s-vhs recording!!! HA HA HA w...we thought thatwas as good as it can get....

....DITTO, saw that yesterday while at work...looks good and fast and I really didnt have time to tinker...

....Welcome and enjoy.. Smart purchase....

Garnoch - here are my recommendations. And it also depends on your budget (of course,) setup and how many speakers you have. If you are limited to 5.1 surround speaker set - - you have an array of choices. If you have 7.1 to 9.1 and even 11.1 speakers and up - - then the choices are different. I'll explain.

1. Can't go wrong with Denon or Yamaha. I'm partial to Yamaha because they work so well and they do not over heat. Pioneer also makes good equipment. I'd stay away from Onkyo - - just my personal experience.

2. You'll need 3D pass through. Depending on your price point, you can get video upscaling for around a grand for an AVR. If it isn't important to you then the $400 to $700 range can get you a very nice unit.

3. Future technology - higher end receivers have 4K upscale, but I really do not believe this is necessary. We're a long way from 4K technology.

What I believe can be really important is the sound processing capability - - especially if you have 7.1 and up speakers. DTS NEO & Dolby IIz are very interesting technologies that "upmix" and provide discrete channels for 5.1 and up soundtracks. I currently have a Yamaha RX-A2000 with HQV Vida processing (upsscaling all sources to 1080) with 3D pass through.

My next move will be to get an AVR that is capable of providing 9.1 discrete channels (presence speakers (height) with two rears and the regular configuration). That way, a 5.1 soundtrack will fill my man cave with full 9.1 sound. I know - - it's a personal preference but I think the soundtrack is a big part of enjoying the movie experience. Make sure to have adequate power to your speakers - - 100W per channel, if you can. And run everything through a power conditioner - - I have a Belkin and it was around $110 and well worth it to protect my equipment. Everything - AVR, DirecTv STB, Bluray and Media Player are routed to the power conditioner.

Hope this helps.

Congrats, good luck and welcome!

HA yeah, man, Dolby Pro Logic was mind blowing in the home at the time. In the late 90s I remember getting my fist DVD player too and had to show everyone how clear it looked when you paused. Blew me away. My first surround experience in the theater I think was the 3rd Indiana Jones movie in a THX theater. That blew me away too. As for my setup, I already have all the speakers and really just need more HDMI connections because we just had the new Nintendo delivered. I guess I could go composite for the DirecTV though, but don't want to.

SOE is created with Auto Motion Plus. Off can be too jumpy at times and anything above Clear not only seems to drop frames for some of us but give that SOE - which I don't care for. Clear though works perfectly and smooths everything out just enough - for me.

Thanks guys. Appreciate it.

Someday when the kids are gone, I'll upgrade everything to large speakers and more than 6, but right now I'm stuck at 5.1 and being I mix for TV and not film, that's all I really need at home - for now. I may send some PMs as I get closer to making a decision so I don't clutter up this thread with AVR stuff, but I knew we went through this once before and just can't seem to find it.

Good choice. Enjoy.

For those who are interested:

1. The Plex app is available now in the smart-hub app database:

- Nice interface.

- Automatic search for covers and movie information.

- Option to search for subtitles online.

2. Openelec launched version 3.0 beta 2, frodo based:

http://openelec.tv/component/k2/item/255-openelec-30-beta-2-released

Two good media center solutions ..
Edited by Stefanhvt - 11/29/12 at 8:10am

Hi Garnoch,
I bought my 65@ Samsung smart TV from Future shop along with 4 year warranty and Calibration service booked for January.
after reading this very informative and useful form I realized:
1- I can cancel my Calibration service and follow your (standard setting). will save me lots $$$$, my question when should I apply these settings ( I heard somewhere I should wait for the colors or picture to settle first , have the TV on for a while before making setting changes) .
2- If I could cancel my warranty from Future Shop and Buy the Square trade Warranty from Costco, I save some money there too , but is the service as good ..will they replace the set if lots of issues come up.

Many Thanks

I bought a new Yamaha AVR when I got the TV. I forget what model, but it doesn't upscale video, has one HDMI two way out to TV (3D), and I think 4 HDMI inputs. I like it. As someone mentioned there is indeed a 1-2 second delay when I adjust the volume with the remote while playing a DVD and Apple TV. There isn't a delay with the cable STB (I don't think). It wasn't expensive (I think around $300 maybe less). It has the automatice volume adjustment microphone thing, which I liked. I don't use any optical inputs.I have a rectangular room with the TV set out from one corner and we sit toward the opposite corner about 15 feet away.

Thanks, TBN. I think I'm about to pull the trigger on the Onkyo TX-NR616 because I found a deal to get it refurbished for $299. I'm still looking at a few things though.

Hey, congrats! How do you like the 65" - all looks good with it?

This is just me but.... if you're paying for a calibration, I'd wait to see if you're happy with some other settings first. If you wanted to try the one's I posted, you really don't have to wait. Do it right away. Tweak until your eyes are happy with your specific panel.

You can't beat ST's warranty for the price, especially from Costco's website. Some may be better but cost A LOT more. It's been a while so I don't remember the specifics. Maybe someone else can chime in. If I remember right though, it's actually 4 years. The first year is from the manufacturer and then 3 years from ST. If bought through Costco, they extend Samsung's warranty to 2 year, then with ST's 3 year warranty, it come out to 5. And if i remember, yes, they will replace an entire set, but any work you have done to the set through them, the cost would come off the price for a new set. I think that is the "catch", but it's a minor and understandable catch for the money in my opinion. I'll be corrected if I'm wrong about this.

Good luck and have fun! Keep us updated.

Hi,
I really don't think were that far away from 4K video. My new OPPO BDP-105 has 4K and the new JVC DLA-X75R I have on order scales to 4K. I purchased a Denon 5308 4 years ago and at the time the 9.3 setup seemed crazy but look where things are today. I use the Denon in a 7.2 setup and could add the height speakers but am happy with the sound. No such thing a future proof but if you buy the latest tech today it won't be obsolete as fast.

For those running an Apple TV and an iPhone, Apple released a new version of their Remote app today - and the new iTunes.

The more I deal with Samsung with this service issue the more I'm shocked at how big they've become offering this level of service.

After not receiving any call back from the office of the president (after I left 2 messages yesterday), I decided to call in today again. By chance I got transferred to the same rep at executive consumer relations that I spoke with the first time yesterday - the one that initially connected me to the extra care dept. (office of the president). I told him I didn't receive any callback, and that I'm getting very frustrated with this being put on the back burner after being told that it was being escalated as a high-priority.

After putting me on hold, he came back and told me that I could mail a letter to the office of the president if I wanted to do that. I told him that I would love to at this point, but that really shouldn't be necessary since this has been escalated already and I was already connected to their office yesterday, so why should I have to mail a letter? I told him that between mailing the letter, waiting for them to actually read it, and then respond to me, it could take weeks, and by then the holidays are on top of me. He put me on hold again and came back with a new ticket # and said a manager from the office of the president will get back to me. I asked him when and he said within 1-2 days, maybe sooner (yeah, right). I thanked him and then asked since I was already on the phone, could he connect me to the extra care dept. just in case somebody can take my call now, and he said that he is not able to connect me like that.

Huh? I told him that is how I managed to leave 2 messages with the extra care dept. yesterday - because the first time he himself transferred me! He then put me on hold and then connected me to the extra care dept., where once again nobody answered and I had no choice but to leave a message with my newest ticket #.

Honestly, how do they manage to survive with service like this? The funny thing is when you reach the extra care dept., you hear this:

"You have reached the Office of the President. At Samsung, our goal is to create new service standards that exceed customer expectations."

Hilarious. Empty words. If only any of that was true.