Experience thread - FW v000.173.053.000 (173.53) - for 8xx8 Series - 2013

[Philips - Ina]

Hi,


The new FW will be live soon. For technical feedback (pos. and neg. points) please post here:
http://philips.to/1rSDk4H


This thread is more for details and discussions.
This FW is applicable to EU models only.


IMPORTANT: After upgrading your TV, it is necessary to perform a "cold start". This means that, after the TV is running again (after the update), shut down the TV, wait 1 minute (till all components are shut down), and unplug the TV from the mains (pull power cord) for 2 minutes before starting again.




Changelog:


QF2EU-0.173.53.0 (Date published: 2014-07-30)

• Improvement channel sorting cable Germany.
• Channel logo database update.
• Improvement on keyboard location in Smart TV.
• Improvements on streaming video services Northern Europe.

QF2EU-0.173.52.0 (Date published: 2014-05-20)

• Solution for Ambilight wall color setting not saved across sources.
• Solution to avoid blurry/unsharp picture during fast movements.

QF2EU-0.173.51.0 (Date published: 2014-04-28)

• Solution navigation HBBTV on ORF HD channels.
• Improvement start up behavior 9708-sets.
• Solution for BBC iPlayer.
• Improvement audio dropout optical out.
• Improvement for future internet upgrade.

QF2EU-0.173.49.0 (Date published: 2014-04-03)

• Improvement for video playback in ORF HBB TV.
• Improvement for OSD progress bar Bulgaria.
• Fixes for security issues.

QF2EU-0.173.48.0 (Date published: 2014-04-01)

• Improvements for reboots.

QF2EU-0.173.46.0 (Date published: 2014-02-10)

• Solution for picture moves 5 pixel right when in PC/ Game mode.
• Solution on the level of the infobar on Bulgarian cable. (Blizoo operator).
• Solution about HBBTV (through the red button) that gives a black screen instead of video content provided by the broadcast.
• Improvements for Smart TV.
• Improvements in Russia text database.
• Improvements in audio/video sync in digital broadcast.
• Improvements in Video on demand applications (Ukraine and Slovenia).

The full changelog history can also be found on our support website: www.philips.com/support

[antti-la]

I was worried when I saw that the version number got a "000.000.001" increment after all this time. Still had my hopes up that the most disturbing errors would have been fixed. Then the change-log was posted and those hopes went down the drain, once again. Still can't watch bluray movies with working lipsync with my over 2000€ TV. How cool is that? 8))))

Have waited for this issue to get fixed since February. Ten's of people have reported the same issue in very detail. Yet Philips just keeps being quiet about it. Makes me very worried.

Back to the wait-for-a-new-firmware game we go. Damn. ->

[fgrenier]

I was worried when I saw that the version number got a "000.000.001" increment after all this time. Still had my hopes up that the most disturbing errors would have been fixed. Then the change-log was posted and those hopes went down the drain, once again. Still can't watch bluray movies with working lipsync with my over 2000€ TV. How cool is that? 8))))

Have waited for this issue to get fixed since February. Ten's of people have reported the same issue in very detail. Yet Philips just keeps being quiet about it. Makes me very worried.

Back to the wait-for-a-new-firmware game we go. Damn. ->

hey but the logos of the channels (for the 2-3 guys who don't use a cable/fiber/DSL set-top-box) will be right this time

[jonstatt]

Well in the UK there is no IP-EPG so we depend on Philips updating the logos. The trouble is, I can't see that any of them are updated leaving many channels still with no logos, including rather amusingly BBC 1 ! (BBC 1 is now labelled BBC 1 Lon for London or BBC 1 SE for South-East which is preventing the TV displaying a logo)

[antti-la]

Umm.. Is anyone else having problem connecting to the Internet with the TV after installing the update?

I'm connected via RJ45-cable, did a full re-install on my TV after installing the fw-update. (and yes, I unplugged the TV from the wall for couple of minutes after the update). Now it gets stuck to "connecting" screen, when I select connect to the internet "wired".

edit. Solution found: Unplugged TV from the socket once more for couple of minutes. After that it picked up my RJ45 cable.

Also everything else seems to be the same. So yes, HDMI - audio lag etc. bugs are still present.

[dspijkers]

Thanks (again) for nothing Philips!!

[Elricm]

This firmware does not fix the audio problem via HDMI. Please fix the problem of LIP SYNC!!!

It is a very serious problem and it took many months with this. Do some joint complaint to Philips?

[gelo29]

I am seriously thinking about joining class action against Philips.
There are many customers in Poland who want to do this.

[B|G1]

Thanks for continuing updating.... but you should focus in the lip sync problem

[jonstatt]

Has anyone evaluated PNM since the update? I have now gone two evenings with it set to medium with no micro-stutter or judder at all. It may just be coincidence in the material I am watching, but I have never gone that long without noticing the stutter. There are still some issues with certain scenes where it makes a wrong interpolation....but the framerate/motion has been the smoothest of the latest firmware releases I have seen. Either that or my brain is now doing a great job of filtering it out.

[gamelover]

Hi Jonstatt, maybe you should copy your brainfilter, request patent for it and sell it to Philips.
I did not update FW yet, see no point doing it if there is no improvement for PNM or agressive backlight.
What I did notice with 173.052 that my source for Humax digital receiver should not be powered up before I select source on tv. If the receiver is on, and select HDMI source afterwards on tv there is no signal. I am not sure if this is a Humax 5050C problem (also FW updated lately) or TV FW related.

Has anyone evaluated PNM since the update? I have now gone two evenings with it set to medium with no micro-stutter or judder at all. It may just be coincidence in the material I am watching, but I have never gone that long without noticing the stutter. There are still some issues with certain scenes where it makes a wrong interpolation....but the framerate/motion has been the smoothest of the latest firmware releases I have seen. Either that or my brain is now doing a great job of filtering it out.

[gelo29]

jonstatt,
nothing is solved in PMR question, still the same.
There are stutters and skippings from time to time.
On medium setting it is just less visible, but try it on high and You will see...
PMR still doesn't work correctly.

[jonstatt]

jonstatt,
nothing is solved in PMR question, still the same.
There are stutters and skippings from time to time.
On medium setting it is just less visible, but try it on high and You will see...
PMR still doesn't work correctly.

I have never used PNM on maximum. But last night I tried it on minimum and still see an improvement in either the TV or my brain filter. The only thing I am noticing is the poor interpolation from time to time (seen as halos or odd pixels on fast moving objects)....but the discontinuity in frame-rate has not showed itself using built-in tuner or HDMI. There is still a framerate issue on things like Netflix which judder sometimes but that's nothing to do with PNM.

If it really is my brain filtering it, I have managed to replicate it to my wife as she complained originally too, but hasn't since I sneaked PNM back on the last few evenings!

[FredFBe]

About the PNM artifacts, have you tried to turn off Clear LCD ?

Other options have also an impact on it = where Philips TV sets are hard to properly set-up.

Personally I barely see any issues with PNM with my current configuration:
- Sharpness: 3 (or 4 for blu-ray)
- Noise reduction: off
- MPEG reduction: med (or min for blu-ray)
- PNM: max (or min for blu-ray)
- Clear LCD: off
- Advanced sharpness: off
- Perfect Contrast: off
- Dynamic backlight: best picture
- Custom color temp (125,87,72,0,0,0)
- Video constrast: 90
- Brightness: 50

If I do turn on Clear LCD, then artifacts become immediately visible without, from my personal point of view, adding any extra smooth or details to the picture.

Kind regards

[antti-la]

This TV is killing me. Not really firmware related but I'll still share this with you guys.

Not far ago I contacted Finnish Philips support cause of problems I've described here. They said that the behavior is definitely not normal and that a technician would have to fix my set. I kinda tried to say, that it really doesn't seem like a hardware problem but a software one, and provided them some info from this forum - as many users are facing the same issues. They insisted that I most likely have a faulty motherboard that needs to be changed. Well, I thought that maybe they actually are right.. At least it shouldn't get worse by exchanging it. Little did I know.

Last Thursday a technician came and swapped the motherboard. Everything seemed to be the same for a little while... until my TV crashed like 8 times in these first couple of nights.

Just now I was about to go and play some Playstation after a hard weeks work. Right away I noticed that the red standby notification led wasn't on on the TV. It blinked when I tried to start it with a remote, but the TV wouldn't turn on. Extremely frustrated at this point. So once again, I unplugged the TV from the socket for a while. Plugged it back after a while. But nothing. My TV is completely dead. No notification light. Not responding the remote or the back panel buttons. Tried to remove every device connected to the TV. Nothing. I'm so done with this.