My dilemma: Panasonic ZT vs. Samsung F8500 (3 Viewers)

[stevenHa]

What are the "bugs" you've encountered ?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

* There still is an occasional bug when you turn off CINEMA SMOOTH. It sometime puts MOTION JUTTER CONTROL in smooth, even though it says it is off. So immediately after turning CS off, turn MJC to smooth, and then back to off. Then you can watch all your 24p material without issues. You only need to do this once, unless you turn CS on again. For some weird reason, they have not fixed this bug with MJC.

Also related to this....

* In Blu-ray 24p mode output, the Samsung is dropping frames so that there is occasional picture stutter. Quite a few of us have had to turn off the 1080p @24Hz option.

 

[RickardL]

I am happy I insisted on you trying out the F8500 yourself when you started getting cold feet...

and regarding the two bugs mentioned, your mileage will vary on how much they affect you.
I personally never turn Cinema Smoth off so I am not bothered by having to toggle MJC on(smoth)/off manually.
And I don't seem to experience any stutter with 24fps content from my player,
Not sure why but it might be related to my Oppo BDP-103D and/or the fact that I have an European 64F8500 with another firmware revision.

 

[schan1269]

I could look it up...Did the ZT60 have a 72 or 96 hz mode?My Hitachi pdp have a 48hz mode. Which, of course, is better...but not as nice as 72/96.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Did the ZT60 have a 72 or 96 hz mode?

Schan,

Do not know.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I could look it up...Did the ZT60 have a 72 or 96 hz mode?My Hitachi pdp have a 48hz mode. Which, of course, is better...but not as nice as 72/96.

Feed it a 24hz signal and it can do 96hz, same as the Samsung plasma.

 

[schan1269]

Feed it a 24hz signal and it can do 96hz, same as the Samsung plasma.

Then that makes no sense on why the F8500 works best with the BD player in 60hz...instead of 24.

Unless there is a setting?

Both Hitachi have a service menu hack. When I start a BD, I hit menu twice(2nd time for 5 seconds) and the menu to change native resolution and hz rate comes up(these TV were made before 24fps was "widely available"...and were, essentially, Hitachi business in a consumer chassis. So work environs could specify what resolution/hz rate they wanted).

I programmed the Onkyo remote for this as well.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Then that makes no sense on why the F8500 works best with the BD player in 60hz...instead of 24.

Unless there is a setting?

Both Hitachi have a service menu hack. When I start a BD, I hit menu twice(2nd time for 5 seconds) and the menu to change native resolution and hz rate comes up(these TV were made before 24fps was "widely available"...and were, essentially, Hitachi business in a consumer chassis. So work environs could specify what resolution/hz rate they wanted).

I programmed the Onkyo remote for this as well.

On my Samsung you need to enable Cinema Smooth which turns on the 24hz function for proper output when playing back blu ray films, this then enables the 96hz in the Samsung, if it's switched off you will get 60hz, i'm sure Samsung will bring out a firmware fix for issues that anyone is having, i wonder if those experiencing the issues have the same settings for player and TV.

 

[schan1269]

On my Samsung you need to enable Cinema Smooth which turns on the 24hz function for proper output when playing back blu ray films, this then enables the 96hz in the Samsung, if it's switched off you will get 60hz, i'm sure Samsung will bring out a firmware fix for issues that anyone is having, i wonder if those experiencing the issues have the same settings for player and TV.

Just read a few blurbs...

Apparently the CSP (the "p" being new for this generation) is the "catchall" setting...meant to simplify things.

With that on and the TV senses 24fps it shuts down all processing(or it is supposed to). Feed it a 60hz signal and it applies all the "gee whiz".

Nice. Now is that setting, itself, savable in each picture mode?

IE...cinema you have CSP on for the 96hz.
Custom 1(or user 1???) have it off for 60hz?

(asking cause I have a line on a floor sample with 9hrs a day M-F for the last 11 months for...a good sum less than wholesale. But I have to drive to Des Moines to get it)

 

[FoxyMulder]

Just read a few blurbs...

Apparently the CSP (the "p" being new for this generation) is the "catchall" setting...meant to simplify things.

With that on and the TV senses 24fps it shuts down all processing(or it is supposed to). Feed it a 60hz signal and it applies all the "gee whiz".

Nice. Now is that setting, itself, savable in each picture mode?

IE...cinema you have CSP on for the 96hz.
Custom 1(or user 1???) have it off for 60hz?

(asking cause I have a line on a floor sample with 9hrs a day M-F for the last 11 months for...a good sum less than wholesale. But I have to drive to Des Moines to get it)

Different HDMI inputs can have different settings, you can also save a different setting for 3D using the same HDMI input, on my television i can not have the same HDMI input with two different settings for 2D images, i believe this is the same for the F8500.

On the F8500 the motion judder canceller should be set to off, it's just a smoothing control, not good for filmlike images.

 

[schan1269]

Different HDMI inputs settings doesn't help me. (the 4 main rooms, counting the master bedroom...all have AVR...so the TV sits there "stupid", no matter how smart it is)

I may just go get it anyway. Move my living room Hitachi to my bedroom. Then I'll have a 42" LG or Panny 720P to throw on Craigslist for $300.

(TV shuffling...the bedroom set is a 46" 1080P...that would move to the next closest bedroom....where that TV would find a new home)

 

[FoxyMulder]

Different HDMI inputs settings doesn't help me. (the 4 main rooms, counting the master bedroom...all have AVR...so the TV sits there "stupid", no matter how smart it is)

I may just go get it anyway. Move my living room Hitachi to my bedroom. Then I'll have a 42" LG or Panny 720P to throw on Craigslist for $300.

(TV shuffling...the bedroom set is a 46" 1080P...that would move to the next closest bedroom....where that TV would find a new home)

You might have options for night and day calibration modes, ISF day and night, not sure, we in the UK don't get that option.

 

[AlaskanAVGuy]

Hi everyone i've been away a while since theirs been nothing new to Report but now that has all changed.

A few days ago on a whim I decided to check for a Firmware Update on my F8500 and to my surprise their was a new Version (FW-1200) available for download!

After downloading it I quickly shot over to:
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/PN64F8500AFXZA

Looking for any information on the newest Firmware, but their was none as they still had the old FW-1119.1 Version on their website. So I did a LIVE CHAT and their idiot operators could only tell me what I had already read on their website and they had never even heard of Ver. 1200 even thou it was already being run on my Samsung F8500 currently.

So I come to our community for discussion to see if you have downloaded the Latest FW which was apparently available May 1st 2014 according to rumors of its release date on other website forums. But no one else has tried to solve this issue early on so I thought that we might blaze the trail ahead of the pack.

Can anyone report back that is using the Latest FW to share any changes or improvements that they might have uncovered so far?

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The only thing I can say is that they still have not fixed the Brightness Pops for 3D viewing specifically with the following settings: Cinema Smooth OFF and the MJC set to STANDARD or SMOOTH, before you go off on how it was fixed let me remind you this is with CS OFF and I know it's been addressed with CS ON.

I prefer to use CS OFF/MJC STANDARD for 3D VIDEO PLAYBACK only as it has been reccommended by many of the industry professionals during 3D Playback specifically, however I can't use it because of the ongoing Brightness Pops. So i'm forced to use Cinema Smooth ON for now. Maybe someday they'll get it right with these bugs.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Hey Jeff!

I think I am still using version 1118.

I haven't updated mainly because there's a RUMOR that the update
may affect picture brightness.

I have not followed up on that rumor. Could be totally false.

I am dismayed to learn that brightness props still have not been fixed, though
I have the settings turned off so that is not a problem.

I'll snoop around and see if I can find out anything.

 

[pitchman]

My brand new PN64F8500 showed up today...a full week before the scheduled delivery! I ordered it on Tuesday. I received tracking information yesterday. And, today around noon I got a call from the shipper asking if I could receive it this afternoon. Needless to say, my response was a very affirmative YES!

A special thank you to Ron for his help in "pushing me over the edge" in making my final purchase decision. You are so right, Ron, this TV is really something special! All I can say is WOW!

For the record, the TV has a June 2014 build date, and came with the new version 1200 firmware. Obviously, I have no frame of reference when it comes to earlier firmwares, but the picture looks plenty bright to me...and I'm comparing it to a UN60ES8000 I literally unplugged right before plugging in the 8500! If it's buzzing, I can't hear it, but I am an old fart who spent years listening to loud music. Also, I didn't observe any stuck pixels or DSE to speak of.

So far, I couldn't be happier with this purchase. I've only clocked around three hours on it, but after a quick trip to the WOW disc on my OPPO 103, I made sure to check out some 3D Blu-rays, and even did some PS4 gaming with the Destiny Beta. Like I say, so far so good, and I am really just in awe at how amazing everything looks. One thing I know for sure, I will never get sucked in by the smoke and mirrors of edge-lit LED TV ever again!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Gary,

A huge amount of congrats for your new purchase.

You have the best plasma currently available on the market.

Everyone should own this display.

Keep us updated on your experiences with it.

Happy Viewing!

 

[Sgt Pepper]

Gary,

A huge amount of congrats for your new purchase.

You have the best plasma currently available on the market.

Everyone should own this display.

Keep us updated on your experiences with it.

Happy Viewing!

Only equalled by the Panny's.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

You might have options for night and day calibration modes, ISF day and night, not sure, we in the UK don't get that option.

I think if I remember rightly there is an option in the SM for Day/Night on the UK version.

 

[Panman40]

I do like plasma but I don't miss brightness pops that's for sure!, or the heat it produced.I've gone from LCD to plasma and back again over the last 7 yrs.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Brightness pops settle down when the set ages.

I don't really notice it much anymore, maybe my eyes got used to it or panel aging brings benefits, maybe firmware helped, who knows, it's a pity plasma is no more, it's only real negative was image retention, my set is rare in that it doesn't have that but OLED does have it, indeed any LG OLED owners should be aware that noise reduction is applied by default even when you think you have it switched off, that's very poor on LG's part and mimics some past Samsung blu ray players which do likewise.