I would like to know this too!

 

I saw PC mode pop up once on my F4500-- not sure how I got it to show up though. How do you activate it?

 

PC mode on my f8500 is DRASTICALLY different. the calibration options are super sparse, so unless the tv looks fantastic to you right out of the box, there's no way there won't be a drop in picture quality. FYI, game mode is kind of a halfway point between normal and PC. so if game mode decreases PQ beyond what you want, PC mode will go even further.


I run two hdmi inputs on my f8500, one for games set in 'pc' mode, and the other for all other video. unfortunately, the lag is just way too high for gaming, but I want the best picture quality I can get for anything where lag doesn't matter.


if I had to choose just one, it would be a really tough choice for me.


now, that all being said, the 'PC' mode on the f8500 still looks worlds better than many other TV's. it's not like it totally destroys the picture quality. it's just, why buy a good tv if you don't take advantage of it?


Josh, if you rename the input 'pc' the samsungs will go into pc mode. to deactivate it, name the input ANYTHING other than 'pc'.

 

So is the input lag acceptable when running 'game' mode, or should it really be set to 'pc' mode?

Any idea if Samsung plans on coming out with a new firmware to address this? I get my TV today!

 

Any idea if Samsung plans on coming out with a new firmware to address this? I get my TV today!

What's there to address? The processing that they've disabled is what accounts for the lag reduction. If they re-enabled the various image processing features the lag would be right back up to where they started.

PC mode only works if the signal is RGB.

On the F8500 it has to by 60Hz also. It won't engage if you send the TV 1080p24.

 

PC mode on my PS43F4900, just the 2 point white balance set. PC mode only works if the signal is RGB. Seems to be less ABL, and considering how there is no control over the colour its really accurate for a preset.

The downside is no black optimiser so the black is 0.012 rather than the 0.007cdm^2 I get with auto.

 

PC mode on my PS43F4900, just the 2 point white balance set. PC mode only works if the signal is RGB. Seems to be less ABL, and considering how there is no control over the colour its really accurate for a preset.

The downside is no black optimiser so the black is 0.012 rather than the 0.007cdm^2 I get with auto.

I'm curious about this part in bold, I've never really checked, and in my theater mostly use the HTPC or a game console, but in my room I'm nearly certain naming the input PC has the same affect(it's a Samsung lcd though) and that would be with my cable box that I can only assume is not RGB. that would almost be a nice feature though, as you could label the input PC, and then it would have a different setting for RGB and Ypbcb or whatever the other one is, haha.

 

Universal Remote control ..... Yeah. I think I need one of those! I did not even think of getting one. Is the Harmony Ultimate all the rage?

 

all the harmony remotes work the same. that is they use the same kind of software and behave the same way. the biggest differences between them is the number of devices supported, whether they have RF or not, and the physical design. personally I'm a big fan of the harmony one. I still prefer it over the ultimate. I like that the harmony one handles everything on it's own. I don't need a keyboard, or a smartphone or anything else. BUT, I was recently at my brother's visiting, and he has the ultimate, and it's awesome for him. he has 3 different zones all controlled by the remote, and a keyboard in each room to help. works really well for him, and the harmony one wouldn't handle this well at all since it doesn't have RF support.


if you have a more basic, one room, theater set up, you can get away with a more inexpensive model.

 

OKay this all sounds good. I ordered the ultimate and tonight I will work on setting up my HDMI correctly.

I know I am supposed to rename the second one to 'game' or 'pc.' Is it all caps or lowercase? And which would you suggest for my consoles?

 

OKay this all sounds good. I ordered the ultimate and tonight I will work on setting up my HDMI correctly.

I know I am supposed to rename the second one to 'game' or 'pc.' Is it all caps or lowercase? And which would you suggest for my consoles?

if you want game mode:
go into the menu > system > general > game mode on
*you do not have rename the input to enable game mode, and in fact changing the name to game(or anything other than PC) has no affect whatsoever.


if you want PC mode:
hit source > then up > select Tools > edit name > and then scroll to 'PC' and select it.

 

So for the F8500 using PC mode is best for gaming.

I really cannot see a different between PC mode and Game Mode...Except PC mode looks darker

 

Does it matter if you name it all upper case 'PC' or lowercase 'pc'?

 

Okay, so I am trying to use two HDMI cables. With one, I can have all 4 sources on and flip between them. With two cables, it seems only my cable works, my ps4 sometimes and never my Xboxs. But once I unplug the second HDMI, I see all 4 again.

Any ideas?

Edit: when I change the source on my receiver, the screen from the xbox one will show briefly and then it says no source on the tv.

 

Okay, so I am trying to use two HDMI cables. With one, I can have all 4 sources on and flip between them. With two cables, it seems only my cable works, my ps4 sometimes and never my Xboxs. But once I unplug the second HDMI, I see all 4 again.

Any ideas?

Are you running HDMI from your sources to an AVR and then running two HDMI cables from the AVR to the TV or something else?

1) With your TV, receiver, and all 3 source devices already turned on, try unplugging the second HDMI cable and plugging it back in to see if the signal goes black again for your PS4 and Xbox. It's possible that "hot plugging" it will resolve the issue. I realize that this is not an ideal solution, but it is worth testing as it could confirm the source of the problem.
2) If unplugging and plugging the cable back in does not immediately result in the screen going black again then follow that procedure up by switching the source from the PS4 to Xbox or vice versa, with both cables plugged in. Does it go black again as soon as you switch sources?
3) If unplugging and plugging the cable back in while everything is turned on causes the screen to go black again, try turning everything off, unplugging the first HDMI cable running from the receiver to the TV and then turning everything back on. If it works with one HDMI cable in, regardless of which cable you use or which ports you plug that HDMI cable into then that eliminates both the cord and the specific ports as the problem. This would leave only the dual connection and resulting handshake conflicts as a potential culprit.

 

HDMI is the worst cable ever invented!!!


seriously, there's so much 'handshaking' required, it's a wonder when things actually do work. I've used a couple different power splitters, and one passive splitter, and they ALL have some quirks. I've even had it where for a week, it would work fine as long as only one display was turned on, then the next week, it would only work if they were all turned on(then I could turn the others off as needed once 'connected).


anyway, ranting aside, the way it SHOULD work:


connect all sources to receiver. connect one HDMI out from receiver to HDMI1 on tv. connect the second HDMI out from receiver to HDMI2 on tv. boom! done, simple. obviously hdmi is up to its tricks again, and doesn't want to play nice for some obscure reason...


what I found interesting, is quickly looking through the manual for your receiver, is that it makes no mention of using BOTH HDMI outputs at the same time. it sounds like an either/or situation. you either use the ARC one, or the other. not sure if you can use both. I always just assumed if a receiver had two outputs you could use two outputs, especially when only one of them is being used at a time anyway. but then again, this is HDMI, and HDMI makes friends with nobody...


are you using any kind of ARC or HDMI control? that's really the only thing I can think of. have you tried using the non ARC hdmi out only? maybe the xbox is trying to 'talk' back to the receiver, and it's causing issues because it'll only be able to do that on the ARC output. if there's a way to turn off ARC or HDMI control on the xbox, that may help.

 

I do have it setup that way, and that is a good point. I could try just using the "second" HDMI out and see what happens. I think I always used the first one. I am not sure if there is a way to turn that stuff off with the Xbox. I tried changing the output to pure RGB and stuff.

It is REALLY frustrating. What is interesting is that it works fine with 2 HDMI with just the cable box and PS4.

If I do not get this to work (I am going to keep trying), could I have my Harmony Ultimate change the mode in the activity? It would probably be slow too huh?

 

How could you get PQ loss by disabling video processing?

PC mode should just mean native pixel mapping is used, less possibility for double conversion of the colorspace and also bypass of audio/video decoders and other things which can be handled easily by the computer

 

I'm confused too, PC is pure native picture, now I understand if you calibrate the color space but I didn't. After calibrating black level brightness and contrast it seems I have the same picture as non PC mode. Am I Wrong?


also in my Samsung and Xbox I have it set to TV black level and HDMI Low and it looks the best. HDMI normal makes it looked washed out but low looks better but a little detail loss in shadows. Don't know which is better haha

 

Heres how for Black optimiser works for me...

I had read the other day about someones problem with their D8000 plasma, and they posted some screenshots from Calman 5. It showed that in Calman if you only have 2 point settings use 30% and 80% to set the white balance, and if the TV has 10 point use 30% and 100%, and there was another option 30% and 109%.

I tried the 109% and it didn't work out well. I also tried 100% and at first that didn't work either, and was a lot brighter than I remembered (150cdm^2 when it used to be 120cdm^2). But then I realised that the black optimiser was set to [auto], which had carried over from broadcast tv.

So basically while black optimiser set to [dark room] seemingly does nothing, set to [auto] gives darker blacks and brighter whites.

The black level with black optimiser [off] or [dark room] was 0.009cdm^2 black, ANSI black was 0.015cdm^2, 100% white was 120cdm^2 and ANSI white at 75cdm^2.

With black optimiser set to [auto] black was 0.007cdm^2, ANSI black was 0.014cdm^2, 100% white was 147cdm^2 and ANSI white was 78cdm^2.

So... 120/0.009=13333 75/0.015=5000 black optimiser off/dark room
147/0.007=21000 78/0.014=5570 black optimiser auto

The only difference in greyscale was that 100% white is less accurate with the increased brightness but still

 

Heres how for Black optimiser works for me...

This is news to me. I thought I read elsewhere that auto just uses the ambient light sensor to decide which function to use. Lights on/daytime it would use "bright room", at night or lights off it would use "dark room".