Samsung LN-Txx69F FAQ

1.1 ... get out of shop mode
1.2 ... add my info to the datasheet
1.3 ... get into the service menu
1.4 ... unbrick my TV
1.5 ... piss off the owners thread

2.1 How to check firmware on my TV
2.2 How to check firmware from the box at the store
2.3 How to update firmware
2.4 What is the latest firmware
2.5 What firmware versions are available for public download
2.6 Is fw20xx better than fw10xx sets
2.7 Why can't I go from fw10xx to fw2004
2.8 Can I downgrade my firmware
2.9 Did Samsung send me the wrong firmware

3.1 Is the set still 120Hz with AMP off
3.2 Do I need 120Hz HDMI cables
3.3 When will my set work properly
3.4 What is the difference between 69/69F/69FX sets
3.5 When I press Info the frequency says so my TV isn't running at 120Hz
3.6 Power consumption
3.7 What is the difference between the 69F vs the 71F models
3.8 Pictures of the innards!

4.1 ... there is a small line on the top (or side) of my screen
4.2 ... some faces are blurring when people move
4.3 ... my settings aren't remember when I power down
4.4 ... my remote only works sometimes

5.1 TBE

5.1.1 What is it
5.1.2 Does my set have it
5.1.3 How to test
5.1.4 Can I fix it
5.1.5 What should I do about it

5.2 Stutter

5.2.1 What is it
5.2.2 Does my set have it
5.2.3 How to test
5.2.4 Can I fix it
5.2.5 What should I do about it

6.1 ...

Shop mode is designed for display models in retail environments. This mode causes the TV to revert back to some predefined calibration setting after a set amount of time. the xx69f defaults to Dynamic mode when in shop.
You can test if you are in shop mode by setting your TV to Movie mode, power off, power on. If you find yourself in Dynamic mode, shop mode is enabled. Follow direction below:

1.Select TV input (one of the antennas)
2.Press the MENU button on your remote
3.select SETUP and press ENTER
4.select PLUG & PLAY and press ENTER
5.select HOME option and press ENTER
6.Exit out after selecting home to prevent from rescanning channels

OR

From the manual:

PM

mute-1-8-2-power

power-mute-1-8-2-power

Its important to know that your TV now thinks it is the PEONYM (not the PEONY) so you have to trick it to look at the peonyM folder instead of the peony folder to try and fix the issue
2) DL the f/w again so you get a clean copy
3) change the name of the PEONYM folder to PEONYMBACKUP (or anything)
4) change the name of the PEONY folder to PEONYM
5) put the thumb drive in the TV.. since you cant see the TV menu follow these instructions
-. Press Menu Button
-. Press "Up" arrow key 2 Times (Move to Set Up)
-. Press "Enter" (Select Set Up Function)
-. Press "Up" arrow key 1 Time (Move to SW Upgrade)
-. Press "Enter" (Select SW Upgrade)
-. Press "Enter" (Select USB)
==> Then automatically search new firmware (Wait around 20 sec while CPU ident FW)
-. Press "Enter" 3~5 Times for confirmation (Select & Upgrade New firmware)
-. Then wait it's upgrading until TV power off/On again automatically.

Ask a question covered in this faq or the first post of the owners thread

Seriously though, if you make an honest effort to find your answer here but don't see it, post away. If it turns out the answer is easily found in here, you better make your peace with God.

1800samsung
options 5, 1, 1
tell level 1 you have a tbe AND stutter issue and want to speak with level 2
tell level 2 you want to speak with level 2 in NJ (soon to be titled level 3 which they are). when you get to level 3, ask to be sure that it is the right people. tell your story and how badly you want a fix.

it's a pain, but this gets you to the people that speak directly with the software programmers.

1. Turn on your TV.
2. Press the MENU button on your remote.
3. Select SETUP, and then press ENTER.
4. Select Function Help, and then press ENTER.
5. Use the Up or Down arrow button on your remote to move down to Function Help to ON,
6. With Function Help ON highlighted (don't actually push ENTER on it), press the INFO button on the remote. Your firmware revision will be listed as two lines of information. The TOP line is your software firmware. The BOTTOM line is the hardware revision number.

Your best bet is to call Samsung directly to get your firmware updates. Samsung does not seem to be handing out firmwares by just asking, you need to properly describe the TBE, probably without saying 'triple ball effect' because of the AVS effect, to get the update. Some key words to use are 'tripling', 'shadows' and be sure to mention turning AMP off fixes the problem.
To get to a CSR that will help you:

1-800-samsung
options 5, 1, 1

Here's Samsung's Instructions on Downloading The Firmware

Connect a blank USB memory drive to your PC.
Click [Download] and then click [save]
In the "Save in" field, select the USB memory drive and click [Save]
Click [Open Folder] and double click the Zip File.
Click [Run] and an extractor window will open.
Click [Browse] to once again select the USB memory drive and then click unzip. You should see a dialogue box indicating that the files have been unzipped successfully. Click [OK] A folder containing the firmware files has been added to your USB memory drive.
Safely disconnect the USB memory drive by right clicking the green check mark on the taskbar and then left click "Safely Remove".
Click F/W Update Guide and carefully read the instructions before proceeding with the firmware update

And here's a link to the firmware updating guide... in case its needed.

There are two:

From Samsung, none. You must contact Samsung and request the firmware. See 2.3.
The only firmware currently available for owners to flash their sets is the 1013/2004 firmware.

It's hard to say from the data collected so far. Both sets exhibit the same problems, TBE and stutter. The fw20xx sets appear to have fewer stutter problems and the fw2004 update appears to have reduced the frequency of TBE.

The update still does not completely address these two issues. Problems still exist with fw2004.

There was a 'manufacturer' change for the FRC board between fw10xx and fw20xx. The new FRC board is not compatible with fw10xx. If you trick your TV into using the wrong firmware it will become inoperable.

petrovy bought a xx71 service manual and found that there is a hardware change on the FRC board between fw10xx and fw20xx sets. See

I have read one instance in the xx69f owners thread of someone going from fw2002 to fw2004 then getting Samsung to downgrade back to fw2002.
The difficulty with downgrading is that there are no releases for older firmwares. In this case where the owner downgraded a tech had to physically swap the board in the set with one that was loaded with fw2002. Samsung has been reluctant to do any board swaps recently and this appears to have been an unusual case.

No.
The firmware file download is named

All signs point to

NO. The TV accepts 1080p60 as a max. It does not accept any 120Hz source EVER. The set interpolates frames to arrive at a 120Hz refresh.

According to one CSR in 2009 when broadcast TV switches to all digital the set will magically work on all sources.

None. They are all the same

It is running 120Hz.
The info button is telling you the details of the source signal. The TV itself does frame interpolation or duplicating to arrive at 120fps.

Note: With game mode on the set may be running at 60Hz.

credit goes to

backlite at 1 (power save has no effect)= 85watts
backlite at 4 power save at low(ok for me)= 120watts
backlite at 5 power save at low =150watts
backlite at 5 power save OFF =190watts
backlite at 10 power save OFF =300watts!

Different specs listed below

• 71F has glossy screen
• 71F = 25000:1 contrast ratio
• 40" 46" and 52" screens available

• 69F has matted screen
• 69F = 20000:1 contrast ratio
• 40" and 46" screens available, no 52"

Volox had a service tech come by his place do to a board swap. He managed to snag a few pics of the inside. There are two posts, one after the other.:

Your set is not defective, this is closed caption data. Set you P.size to 16:9 so you will not see it if it bothers you.
TVs usually overscan (read: zoom) the frame which cuts out these lines. Setting your TV to 'Just Scan' displays everything in the signal, including closed caption data.

This may be due to the Digital Noise Reduction setting. Try setting DNR to off. Also, try enabling AMP-low if previously off.

You are in shop mode. See 1.1 to get out of shop mode.

The sensor on the TV is located on the lower right of the set. Try aiming your remote at the lower right of the TV

There are two major issues and both are tied to Auto Motion Plus.

• Samsung is aware of the stutter issue
• stutter will be fixed
• Samsung is having some success with a software patch but still working on it
• If a SW patch wont work, they'll fix it through HW
• Samsung is 100% behind fixing stutter
• Fix has been pushed back to "hopefully sometime in January"

This is a motion artifact caused by Auto Motion Plus. When a camera pans to track a fast moving object the smoothing algorithm sometimes gets confused when the object passes certain objects in the foreground or background. When this happens the object momentarily breaks into three parts; the main object and a shadow infront and behind of the main object.
This artifact was first observed in football games. When the QB throws a long bomb, the camera tracks the football. When the football passes a yard line it would sometimes break into three objects and hence was coined the triple ball effect, or TBE

An example of TBE (thanks to cmf for the video [

To date, owners have reported TBE on all firmware versions. Sets loaded with newer firmware versions disable AMP when set to off. When AMP is off TBE will not occur. Older firmware versions do not completely disable AMP when off and show TBE when set to off.
firmware that disables AMP in off: 1013, 2002, 2004

No. It's just called TBE but it is not limited to balls. TBE artifacts have been observed in video games, broadcast TV and movies.

Download the Ninja Gaiden demo. Once the game starts just kill off the two ninjas that try to off you then when you have no more pesky enemies to bother you, spin your ninja in a circle and pay attention to the sword on his back as it turns into three swords as you spin. The swords have a varying degree of how noticeable they are according to what is in the back round behind the swords and how far off the background image is. Try it, it is fun and an easy way to determine if your set has the TBE (sharpjunkies description)

Episode 1. The impala chase scene exhibits TBE artifacts
Episode 2. The golden eagle crane chase scene exhibits TBE artifacts

Chapter 12, The Greatness of Rome: There is a scene with Commodus in a chariot. The top of the chariot drivers helmet experiences TBE. When the driver passes behind a flag pole just before the scene change his head triples.

There are two methods to eliminate TBE .

1.Turn on Game mode
2.If you have firmware 1013, 2002 or 2004, set AMP to OFF

TBE has been reported with fw2004 AMP-off but only in extreme cases.
reports from fw2004 owners indicate that TBE is improved at AMP-low and AMP-med settings but still present at AMP-high.
Communications with Samsung CSR indicate that firmware patches are not targetting AMP-high TBE fixes.

Call Samsung and tell them your problem. This is the only way they will know about it and fix it. If you update your firmware and still have the problem, call back and let them know!

This appears to be an apparent drop in frame rate. It has been described as the video becoming choppy, as if you're playing a video game that suddenly slows in frame rate. The frame rate appears to slow down, then jump ahead to catch up. This effect is random. The same scene replayed may or may not experience stutter.

Stutter also appears to be heavily source dependent. The same channel can have some shows with heavy stutter and still have others with none.

Nearly all fw10xx owners have reported stutter of some sort. Few fw20xx owners report stutter.

According to the datasheet, fw1003 has no reported stutter. In terms of stutter, things seem to be better for the earlier firmware and 20xx variety but still present

Get a 1080p/24 device (like a Blu-ray player or HD DVD player), set it to output at 1080p/24, hook it to the TV using HDMI, and then put in a movie and turn it on. If there is stutter you'll either see frames dropping or the movie wil have spots where it looks like it moving in slow motion. It's somewhat random and you might need to watch for a bit or skip chapters. On some TVS it's REALLY bad while on others you might just see a jerk every once in a while as a frame or two drops. If it passed this test, then set the player to 1080p/60. If it passes both tests you are very lucky.
(copied from youknowryan's post)

Toggling AMP off/on clears up stutter for some.
Setting AMP off prevents stutter for some.

There is no known permanent solution to date.

There is a fix in the works expected in January

Call Samsung and tell them your problem. This is the only way they will know about it and fix it. If you update your firmware and still have the problem, call back and let them know!

69F Calibration Thread:

• AMP - Auto Motion Plus
• bricked set/TV - A TV that becomes inoperable. It is as functional as a brick
• FRC board - Frame Rate Conversion board. This is the mystery 3rd printed circuit board which features either a Samsung IC or Micronas IC for doing interpolation and such.
• stutter - in terms of the xx69 series, this is a side effect of AMP and not related to judder
• TBE - Triple ball effect
• TSE - Triple sword effect (same as TBE)
• TXE - Triple X effect, generic term for TBE
• VP - Video processor

Please read the articles linked below and decide for yourself.

credit goes to ggtronic for collecting this data:
If I understand correctly, data collected from a UPS data info page to display power usage with different backlite level
power cumsumption-5271: (more power also generate more heat in the enclosure... )


backlite at 1 (power save has no effect)= 85watts
backlite at 4 power save at low(ok for me)= 120watts
backlite at 5 power save at low =150watts
backlite at 5 power save OFF =190watts
backlite at 10 power save OFF =300watts!

Different specs listed below

• 71F has glossy screen
• 71F = 25000:1 contrast ratio
• 40", 46" and 52" screens available

• 69F has matted screen
• 69F= 20000:1 contrast ratio
• 40" and 46" screens available, no 52"
• 69F is not as wide as the 71F

• 69F and 71F "may" share the same Firmware.
  
  
  Quote:

  Originally Posted by Ohuigin
  
  Ok. So I unzipped the file that's been circulating around most of the posts (T-Peony_LNT@@71FX(ver 1013).exe). Here's what I found...
  
  7 items are unzipped into 2 folders (peony & peonym).
  
  Peony folder contents:
  -us folder:
  --us folder contents:
  ---appl.rom (file size: 20.3 mb. DATE MODIFIED: 10/31/2007 @ 4:11pm)
  ---checkversion.exe
  ---appl.rom.chk
  ---info.txt <--"T-PEONAUSC- 1013
  PROJECTNAME APP_VERSION
  DTV_MODEL_NAME CN_VERSION"
  
  Peonym folder contents:
  -us folder:
  --us folder contents:
  ---appl.rom (File size: 20.4 mb. DATE MODIFIED: 11/14/07 @ 10:43am)
  ---appl.rom.chk
  ---info.txt <--"T-PEONAUSC- 2004
  PROJECTNAME APP_VERSION
  DTV_MODEL_NAME CN_VERSION"
  
  So there it is. It seems that the file T-Peony_LNT@@71FX(ver 1013).exe does contain both firmware updates (1013 & 2004). Further evidence lies in the info.txt files from both folders (peony & peonym), as well as the dates that the two appl.rom files were created (modified). HOWEVER!!! To my knowledge it is still unknown that the xx71s and xx69s OFFICIALLY use the same firmware, although as of now most signs are pointing to yes.
  
  Hope this helps,
  
  -B
  
  EDIT The following is a link to the firmware updates (graciously provided by Savior1974) http://www.mediafire.com/?cn0xv1rgmnp AGAIN, to my knowledge I do not know if xx69 and xx71 use the same FW!!!
  
  

Quote:

Originally Posted by needlesbox

ok, just got off the phone with Joe who is a Tier 2 technician.

He said that there will absolutely be a fix for the problems.

He recapped the situation of what the current latest firmware fixes.

NO TBE with AMP on low.
Mild TBE with AMP on Med.
SAME TBE with AMP on High.
There is not fix for studder at the moment.

He said there will be a fix for all of that but he doesn't know when. He also said the problem may need to be fixed by a. firmware, b. a new board, or c. a new TV.

So there you go, if you have this model with problems, they are at least saying that you will be taken care of.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Savior1974

Ok thanks.

Also, what I decided to do was to host the 1013/2004 Firmware update file on my file hosting site so we can always have it for download instead of having to get a link from Samsung. so heres that link.

1013/2004 Firmware Update file link
http://www.mediafire.com/?cn0xv1rgmnp

Renamed Firmware (1013 is now 1013.1) to not confuse people:
http://www.mediafire.com/?c5dz1ucebzg

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenEarDrum

I read the XBR4/5 thread too from time to time and I can tell you that the Sony's have some problems of their own.

Bottom line is with either set, you can't lose so you have to weigh out what appeals to you the most and make your own decision.

Just for everyone's information, this is what I have gathered from reading that thread and with personal observation when I was comparing:

* The XBR4/5 also has a trailing problems which is similar to (if not exactly like) TBE.
* They have Motion Enhancer (our AMP) problem that they call "artifacting" wich is similar to stuttering.
* The 71f has one more level of AMP setting (high). This makes this effect more so on the 71f.
* Sony just issued a firmware upgrade also, of which people are reporting problems just like us.
* There are more reports of Mura (clouding) and flashlights with the XBR4/5 than with the 71/69f.
* The 52" XBR4/5 does not have a fan while the other two do.
* XBR4/5 have much better PIP function than 71f.

There are a couple more that I would like to add but I can't think of them right now.

Just a note to add: So even with the XBR4/5 having the UX chip (as has been speculated), it still shows the same similar problem. I'm thinking more that the problem may not be due to this chip at all.

...

The TV ONLY supports a limited types of resolution.
When you get this message, then the current resolution on your computer is NOT supported by the TV.
Try a different resolution.

You may also have to update your GPU Driver.

"HDMI Black Level Low (will be grayed out if your HDMI video source is putting out a YCbCr signal instead of RGB - this is OK but RGB may be better as noted above)."

The film mode selections are only available when you feed the TV an interlaced signal. This is explained in the manual.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OreoJoe

I removed from two LCD screens, streak marks caused by rubbing with a paper towel. Used a small microfiber cloth from an auto parts store and Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Professional #10 Clear Plastic Polish.
Restores Optic Clarity To:
Boat Windows, Convertible Windows, Helmet Visors
Aircraft Windshields, Eyeglasses, Instrument Panels, Computer Screens
Then I used a clean microfiber cloth with some 5% white vinegar (ascetic acid).

The screens are restored to new condition.

You may have to first use Meguiar's Plastic Cleaner #17 if the scratches are deeper. Read the directions on the package.

• 69F and 71F Shares the same Firmware.

Quote:

Originally Posted by needlesbox

ok, just got off the phone with Joe who is a Tier 2 technician.

He said that there will absolutely be a fix for the problems.

He recapped the situation of what the current latest firmware fixes.

NO TBE with AMP on low.
Mild TBE with AMP on Med.
SAME TBE with AMP on High.
There is not fix for studder at the moment.

He said there will be a fix for all of that but he doesn't know when. He also said the problem may need to be fixed by a. firmware, b. a new board, or c. a new TV.

So there you go, if you have this model with problems, they are at least saying that you will be taken care of.....