Your experiences with FW v0.14.99.0 for 8000, 9000 and 21:9 series (2011 models)

[zlatko]

After 14.99 I feel performance of backlight dimming is more subtle. Previously when you have larger darker areas with numerous small bright elements spread on it, the whole dark zone looked inhomogenous, with varying shades of the background. Now such zone are more evenly colored. I think that is better.
Below are my 52PFL9606 settings, unchanged from first setting up the TV:
Backlight contrast: 70
Brightness: 54
Color: 56
Sharpness: 4
Noise red.: Off
Tint: Normal
PNM: Medium
Clear LCD: On
Super res.: On
Perfect contrast: Medium
Dynamic backlight: Standard
MPEG art. red.: Minimum
Colour enhancement: Medium
Gamma: 1
Video contrast: 77
Light sensor: On

This settings are OK for my eyes, I watch 90% HD, and don't care about SD performance. Hence sharpness is way UP.

[Bert]

Great firmware update, good job Philips !
Backlight dimming better + PNM bug fixed

My settings for my 46PFL8606:
ISF DAY adjustment:
Backlight contrast: 60
Brightness: 49
Color: 51
Sharpness: 2
Noise red.: Off
Tint: Personal : 126/96/64/0/-1/-1
PNM: Off
Clear LCD: On
Super res.: On
Perfect contrast: Minimum
Dynamic backlight: Best picture
MPEG art. red.: Off
Colour enhancement: Minimum
Gamma: 0
Video contrast: 84
ISF menu: 2nd in the list => HDMI-PC level brightness: Off (=standard selected in ISF settings)
Light sensor: Off

[CrisRoda]

Afert this update and seen some definitions, the result are these.
Like zlatko said is dificult too have good settings for SD and HD at the same time, and it also depends on the source, tv or bluray,Ps3, mediacenter, etc...maybe in the future Philips takes this in consideration, thanks Philips for the good job, but you can do better, i know it.
Below are my 40PFL8606 settings TV:
Smart Picture: Personal
Backlight contrast: 56
Brightness: 51
Color: 34
Sharpness: 6
Noise red.: medium
Tint: Personal
R Gain 126
G Gain 96
B Gain 88
PNM: Max
Clear LCD: On
Super res.: On
Perfect contrast: Medium
Dynamic backlight: Best Picture
MPEG art. red.: Medium
Colour enhancement: off
Gamma: 0
Video contrast: 95
Light sensor: On
Picture format: widescreen
edges : 4

[zlatko]

It is still early to generalize, but I see some very similar settings for 8&9-series TV sets from different owners. At least for the major parameters:

1. Direct LED(9 series)
Contrast: ~ 70
Brightness: ~50
Color: ~50
Video contrast: ~ 80
Dynamic backlight: Standard

2. Edge LED(8 series)
Contrast: ~ 60
Brightness: ~50
Color: ~40
Video contrast: ~ 85
Dynamic backlight: Best picture

These might be a good starting point for everyone. Other parameters like PNM, Sharpness are up to everybody's taste.
Of course we have to gather more user data.

[CrisRoda]

I have tested the settings from Bert, and made some changes, and i liked, but like everyone are saying the PNM bug solve, but what they Philips solve is the option off, and that is what is supose to do, but i used it on, for SD channels it improved a lot the image quality its like it convert to HD, but it still not good, PHILIPS please could you improve this feature, is still creating interference wiht subtitles, logos, everything that is in a different layer, and on fast scenes is worst and dark too, it create shadows around objects and drag them too. Thanks and continum the good work.

[buyukbang]

A professionally calibrated settings for 58PFL9956 on the latest firmware!
This is what I'm looking for my 52PFL9606 I'm not sure same settings will fit to my TV, anyone having any idea or have same professioanlly calibrated/measured settings for 52PFL9606?

BTW, I have a VU+ digital satellite receiver and Mac Mini so watch MKV/Bluray ISO . My experience shows that TV and bluray content needs different settings. I like vivid colors with very high contrast while watching TV (football matches, live, shows, etc) but this settings make blurays awful. Instead I like more balanced settings like in Cinema Mod. However I still not fully satisfied with the default cinema mod setting, this is why I'm asking desperately a professionally calibrated setting.

Hi nnay07

Calibration settings for Cinema 21:9 Platinum 58PFL9956 (german)

ISF Day @274cd/m² @D65 Gamma @2.0
Kontr. der Hintergrundbel.: 74
Helligkeit: 50
Farbe: 50
Schärfe: 1
Rauschunterdr.: Aus
Farbton personalisiert Rot: 111, Grün: 97, Blau: 75, R-BL: 3, G-BL: 0, B-BL: -6
Nat. Motion: aus
Clear LCD: ein
Super Resolution: ein
perf. Kontr.: aus
Dyn. Hintergr.Bel: Standard
MPEG Art.Unterdr: aus
Farboptimierung.: aus
Gamma: -2
Videokontrast: 90
Lichtsensor: aus
Bildschirmänder: 0



ISF Night @130cd/m² @D65 / Gamma @2.2
Kontr. der Hintergrundbel.: 40
Helligkeit: 50
Farbe: 50
Schärfe: 1
Rauschunterdr.: Aus
Farbton personalisiert Rot: 110, Grün: 97, Blau: 79, R-BL: 2, G-BL: 0, B-BL: -6
Nat. Motion: aus
Clear LCD: ein
Super Resolution: ein
perf. Kontr.: aus
Dyn. Hintergr.Bel: Standard
MPEG Art.Unterdr: aus
Farboptimierung.: aus
Gamma: 1
Videokontrast: 80
Lichtsensor: aus
Bildschirmänder: 0

[zlatko]

Hi,

I have the experience that I don't get black when it should be there.

Example:
16:9 content on 21:9 TV: black bars on the left/right are not black - they are grey. I can "see" that in this area the "backlight" is on. It also does not matter which setting of dynamic backlight is chosen.

Can somebody confirm?

Toengel@Alex

At first I replied to you that I do not notice such behavior, but after spending some more time with TV I think sometimes I notice backlight being ON under black bars. It seems not always, but I don't remember ever feeling black bars are not completely black before 14.99.
It will be good anyone of the mods give us some more details on new picture optimisations in 14.99.

[Toengel]

Hi,

if you have a 16:9 TV, I suggest to test a 4:3 broadcast... I have the STRONG feeling, that I don't have local dimming anymore on my 21:9 - for me, it's more a global dimming now: if the broadcast picture becomes dark, the black borders (on the left/right) become black. If then the broadcast picture become coloured again, one can see, that the backlight behind the black bars is switched on. To investigate: just go 0.5 meter in front of your TV and try to watch from the side at the black borders...

Can you somehow confirm?

PS: try to test in a dark room

Toengel@Alex

Update:

I did take some photos. I always made one capture of the broadcast (where one can see the "grey" bars at the left/right) and shortly afterwards I opened the home menu and the bars become black (means that in this case the backlight is really off).

First capture

First capture + Home Menu

Second capture

Second capture + Home Menu

Third capture

Third capture + Home Menu

[zlatko]

@Toengel
I did some testing myself, although I was not able to play extensively with the TV(52PFL9606).
My observations:
1. Black bars have backlight turned ON under them. Definitely. I think it was NOT like this in 14.98.
2. I clearly see local dimming working. Tested with moving white dot on black background.
3. I noticed when looking at 4:3 content with black bars, that when subtitles are shown the whole horizontal lower band of the screen becomes lighter, even the parts of this "band" that are not picture, but black bars. Which is WRONG for a local dimming TV. If it is solid black, then be it. Turn OFF LEDs under the black bars!
So Philips engineers implemented some different algorythm for local dimming, making it a combination of local + global + bigger zones. With it you seem to NOT get the usual true blacks from previous versions.
I will continue to monitor 14.99, but I am really thinking about downgrading. I don't like the greys that the TV now produces instead of BLACKs!
Please everybody - do some observation and share here.

[kookaburra]

Hi,

if you have a 16:9 TV, I suggest to test a 4:3 broadcast... I have the STRONG feeling, that I don't have local dimming anymore on my 21:9 - for me, it's more a global dimming now: if the broadcast picture becomes dark, the black borders (on the left/right) become black. If then the broadcast picture become coloured again, one can see, that the backlight behind the black bars is switched on. To investigate: just go 0.5 meter in front of your TV and try to watch from the side at the black borders...

Can you somehow confirm?

PS: try to test in a dark room

Toengel@Alex

Update:

I did take some photos. I always made one capture of the broadcast (where one can see the "grey" bars at the left/right) and shortly afterwards I opened the home menu and the bars become black (means that in this case the backlight is really off).

First capture

First capture + Home Menu

Second capture

Second capture + Home Menu

Third capture

Third capture + Home Menu

It is true that in certain circumstances, black is not deep, but in general has improved a lot. Prior to me there was never black and I had to disable local dimming. As you will see most people are very happy with this update as far as local dimming is concerned, since before it was impossible to watch TV with this feature enabled. What surprises me is that I have not seen any comments on this TV yours (9956) prior to this update. I believe that with previous versions will work well the local dimmin, the only serious in this forum. If you really did not have this problem before it is clear that our TV has a hardware problem and not software.

Moving on, in addition to this specific problem with blacks, I observed the flases still appear from time to time, and the wallpaper pattern is still there. They should also address the issue of image brightness, is now very high, even adjusting the GAMMA to -4, this could be one of the reasons why blacks are more gray than black (at times).

Google Translator

[Toengel]

Hi,

well - I had a 9955 before. And there it was definitely black on that 9955 and the backlight was off in the black-bar-area! I got the 9956 with FW 14.99 (or I got the 9956 and updated immediately the 14.99). It's now a step backward regarding the local dimming / black level... that's really sad.

Toengel@Alex

[kookaburra]

I've had previously 9955. I have always said on this forum that the 9955 model looks much better than 9956. I am complaining about the problems with this tv from day one, (local dimming, background pattern, centerline clearer ...) You see what I say seeing comments and complaints that I have this forum since September 2011 . Philips has never been clear, nor has recognized these problems. I hope now that you have this TV, you can check these and other faults, and I have the hope that Philips will make you more attention than the rest of Forero, as I say removing the extra features and 3d, the 2010 model is much better. I hope that Philips read your comments and finish solve those problems.

Google Translator

[limpitakis]

Hi,

well - I had a 9955 before. And there it was definitely black on that 9955 and the backlight was off in the black-bar-area! I got the 9956 with FW 14.99 (or I got the 9956 and updated immediately the 14.99). It's now a step backward regarding the local dimming / black level... that's really sad.

Toengel@Alex

58PFL9956H
I can confirm that .099 firmware does not give me the blacks that I was used to at any earlier version.
I would like to go back to .098.
Could you please let me know if 0.98 is still somehow uploaded?
Thank you
Nick

[zlatko]

@kookaburra
I am not questioning many users here are happy with 14.99 and the changes in local dimming it introduced.
I have never had issues with local dimming, it was working very well for my taste, producing spectacular blacks. Now I see greys, instead of blacks and that is not something I like. I actually see improvement only when I put info bar with EPG data from my sat. receiver on screen. As it is black letters over light grey, with some transparency background, previously local dimming was kicking in, trying to lower light behind black letters and lines, thus making the entire grey background look uneven, with darker patches. Now it is smooth.
Overall 14.99 brought regression in PQ for my taste.

@limpitakis
I have both 14.97 and 14.98 back home. Will upload them to dropbox and post a link for everybody willing to downgrade.

[kookaburra]

58PFL9956H
I can confirm that .099 firmware does not give me the blacks that I was used to at any earlier version.
I would like to go back to .098.
Could you please let me know if 0.98 is still somehow uploaded?
Thank you
Nick

limpitakis, Toengel: None of you have had problems with local dimming. Please see the videos I've posted this problem I have since September 2011 and that most of your fellow members also have confirmed that they had.
Google translator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9vkZIhpS8E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM6I9pMwNVY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRHeh9vkIU