Question about a 50" Samsung HDTV, need to stop games from auto-dimming

[the_randomizer]

So, something about a 50" TV we have has been pissing me off, like, it's hard to explain but in games where there's a dark dungeon, the TV itself will lower the brightness, and will brighten up every time a text box pops up, then back to the weird lowered brightness. Same happens in battles or menus or the like, it will be dark in some menus, but not in others. It will darken in the game seemingly in dark places and brighten up when text boxes appear, this happens for every game I play on the TV, not random. Does this make sense? All Eco features on this Samsung TV are disabled, I've tried adjusting HDMI Black Levels, Dynamic Contrast, enabling/disabling Game Mode, changing pic mode to Dynamic. No dice, I can't seem to find any way to disable this seemingly automatic brightening/dimming when I go to from room to room, encounter battles, text boxes.

The specific model of TV is a Samsung UN50H6203AF or the UN50H6203 if that helps, not sure if there's a way to use a new firmware update to enable the feature to stop this automatic adjustment of brightness depending on if I'm a dark room in the game/TV show, etc. Just to be clear, it's not the feature that adjusts brightness depending on how much ambient light there is in the living room, but in the game or how dark a game is. I hope this makes sense, and it's annoying and I can't find anything to prevent this from happening, no matter what games I play. Again, all Eco features are disabled, game mode is on, nothing I do prevents the TV from dimming the game I play depending on where I am in the game. It's really really annoying.

If this is in the wrong topic, I apologize, there's no dedicated section for TVs.

 

[Deleted User]

I don't know why auto-dimming is such an important feature on most TVs nowadays, but it really pisses me off when I'm playing games

 

[the_randomizer]

I don't know why auto-dimming is such an important feature on most TVs nowadays, but it really pisses me off when I'm playing games

Like again, the Eco features are off, but when I play games, it auto dims the games in dark places, brightens up when text box (like FF7, inside a dark shop, when a text box opens, it brightens up), then once gone it goes back. Supposedly people have solved this on a Samsung H6203. It's pissing me off. Some say to rename the HDMI input to PC or using Movie Mode? I'm so baffled by this, my PC monitor sure doesn't have this issue, but every TV I've used has.

 

[Armadillo]

Renaming the hdmi to pc (used to only work with hdmi 1 , might work with them all on later tvs) pretty much disables all processing, so gets rid of nonsense like that, that's why people suggest it. Movie mode apparently lacks the auto dim as well.

Other than that, it's service menu to disable it.

If you have the option, then it's ce dimming to get rid.

https://old.reddit.com/r/techsuppor...ung_un55j6200_tv_has_automaticdimming_anyone/

Others, more messing around, https://www.avforums.com/threads/samsung-global-dimming-game-mode-fix.2170862/, exactly what hides in the service menu seems to depend on exact model.

 

[the_randomizer]

Renaming the hdmi to pc (used to only work with hdmi 1 , might work with them all on later tvs) pretty much disables all processing, so gets rid of nonsense like that, that's why people suggest it. Movie mode apparently lacks the auto dim as well.

Other than that, it's service menu to disable it.

If you have the option, then it's ce dimming to get rid.

https://old.reddit.com/r/techsuppor...ung_un55j6200_tv_has_automaticdimming_anyone/

Others, more messing around, https://www.avforums.com/threads/samsung-global-dimming-game-mode-fix.2170862/, exactly what hides in the service menu seems to depend on exact model.

The model is a Samsung H6203, it seems there's a firmware update for H5xx to H6xx models on their site from 2018, so maybe I can try that as well? I'm not sure if my TV can let me rename the input to PC, and Movie mode I'd imagine would introduce significant input lag I'd think. I feel a bit wary going into the service menu, first I'll try renaming the input I use for Switch to PC, then update the firmware and see what I can do. Service menu would be a last resort, but if it's clear and easy to get to, I'll do that.

Wouldn't disabling the post-processing be a bad thing or affect its lifespan?

 

[Armadillo]

Shouldn't cause any issues, you are just turning off all/most of the processing the tv does to the picture before displaying it. Can't even adjust the brightness/contrast in pc mode (at least on older samsung tvs, dunno about newer ones, as you are suppose to do it pc side). Can at least just use it to test if it sorts the brightness issue, even if you don't want to run like that permanently.

 

[the_randomizer]

Shouldn't cause any issues, you are just turning off all/most of the processing the tv does to the picture before displaying it. Can't even adjust the brightness/contrast in pc mode (at least on older samsung tvs, dunno about newer ones, as you are suppose to do it pc side). Can at least just use it to test if it sorts the brightness issue, even if you don't want to run like that permanently.

I think it was a very stupid thing to include the auto/local dimming into their TVs. I mean I guess it works in some cases, but for gaming, it kinda, well...makes it feel weird. I hope I can at least adjust the brightness and backlight so I don't wear the thing out faster.

 

[SG854]

The model is a Samsung H6203, it seems there's a firmware update for H5xx to H6xx models on their site from 2018, so maybe I can try that as well? I'm not sure if my TV can let me rename the input to PC, and Movie mode I'd imagine would introduce significant input lag I'd think. I feel a bit wary going into the service menu, first I'll try renaming the input I use for Switch to PC, then update the firmware and see what I can do. Service menu would be a last resort, but if it's clear and easy to get to, I'll do that.

Wouldn't disabling the post-processing be a bad thing or affect its lifespan?

Your probably in standard picture mode. Go to advance settings and turn off motion lighting to stop the brightness problem.

For color accuracy movie mode is best and it turns off most post processing. You would need to turn off extra post processing in picture options like auto motion plus to get 60fps without artificial frames. And remember to set picture size to screen fit, not 16:9, to get 1:1 picture ratio.

To rename to PC press source on the remote then hold down the select button. It should turn off a lot of processing and reduce input lag. This mode is preferable for games.

Any of the modes besides game mode and pc mode has input lag. I don’t like game mode on this tv because it has the brightness problem your talking about.

Picture options
HDMI black level

Low = limited range
Normal= full range

So match your switch rgb range with tv’s rgb range to avoid black crush and washing out of image.

Switch limited range + Samsung low

Switch full range + Samsung normal

 

[FAST6191]

If the above does not work there are things that will stick some kind of signal on top of the HDMI signal (clocks, RSS feeds, logos, something more fancy...) and should not add much to the latency. You might then be able to stick some kind of white pixel or something in the corner and have it hopefully dodge the auto dim.

I don't have a link to or name for any that are popular right now but know there are such things out there. Logo stuff should be available for the video editing set, the rest will probably start with something like https://www.adafruit.com/product/609 (NeTV, there is a second model that had a successful crowdfunding thing done but is not out yet) but there might be cheaper stuff out there.

 

[BORTZ]

One of my friends had an issue like this. See if your TV has a "retail" mode or something along those lines. That should keep the picture at a static brightness.

 

[linuxares]

Double check so you don't have "eco mode" active. Also make sure it doesn't have a "light sensor" on. My Philips had those options and it dimmed down so much, it just got annoying to use.

 

[SG854]

I wouldn’t recommend you to go into service menu because if you accidentally switch a bad option you can screw up your tv and won’t be able to fix it.


PC settings
https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/samsung/h6203/settings

 

[KiiWii]

I wouldn’t recommend you to go into service menu because if you accidentally switch a bad option you can screw up your tv and won’t be able to fix it.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/samsung/h6203/settings

Irony ¯\_(ツ)_/¯... anyway..

I’m following this thread as my LG 4K 60” does something similar.

 

[SG854]

Irony ¯\_(ツ)_/¯... anyway..

I’m following this thread as my LG 4K 60” does something similar.

Service Menu and User Accessible Settings are 2 different things. You need to input a secret code to access service menu.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

To access the service menu while the tv is off you need to input

mute+1+8+2+power

But there is usually a common calibration option people accidentally select which screws up their picture. Which to fix you need display checkerboard test pattern and run the calibration to fix it.

There was someone recomending to go into service menu but by advice is not to, especially if you don’t know what your doing.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

So, something about a 50" TV we have has been pissing me off, like, it's hard to explain but in games where there's a dark dungeon, the TV itself will lower the brightness, and will brighten up every time a text box pops up, then back to the weird lowered brightness. Same happens in battles or menus or the like, it will be dark in some menus, but not in others. It will darken in the game seemingly in dark places and brighten up when text boxes appear, this happens for every game I play on the TV, not random. Does this make sense? All Eco features on this Samsung TV are disabled, I've tried adjusting HDMI Black Levels, Dynamic Contrast, enabling/disabling Game Mode, changing pic mode to Dynamic. No dice, I can't seem to find any way to disable this seemingly automatic brightening/dimming when I go to from room to room, encounter battles, text boxes.

The specific model of TV is a Samsung UN50H6203AF or the UN50H6203 if that helps, not sure if there's a way to use a new firmware update to enable the feature to stop this automatic adjustment of brightness depending on if I'm a dark room in the game/TV show, etc. Just to be clear, it's not the feature that adjusts brightness depending on how much ambient light there is in the living room, but in the game or how dark a game is. I hope this makes sense, and it's annoying and I can't find anything to prevent this from happening, no matter what games I play. Again, all Eco features are disabled, game mode is on, nothing I do prevents the TV from dimming the game I play depending on where I am in the game. It's really really annoying.

If this is in the wrong topic, I apologize, there's no dedicated section for TVs.

If there's a PC mode try toggling that. Having it enabled on my previous TV caused some weird behavior, but the reason I had it enabled was that it seemed to be the only way to disable overscan, it could solve some issues for you.
Maybe the thread belongs here? https://gbatemp.net/forums/books-music-tv-movies.191/

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

If there's a PC mode try toggling that. Having it enabled on my previous TV caused some weird behavior.
Maybe the thread belongs here? https://gbatemp.net/forums/books-music-tv-movies.191/

That section is for media only, not tech issues.

Regarding the problem, as mentioned a few times PC mode usually fixes something like this since there's no extra processing usually associated with it. Otherwise, it's likely you'll need to go into service mode to fix it if the options in the normal user settings don't seem to work/aren't available (though usually they are, but I've seen a lot of TVs with user settings that just don't work for whatever reason).

 

[The Real Jdbye]

That section is for media only, not tech issues.

Regarding the problem, as mentioned a few times PC mode usually fixes something like this since there's no extra processing usually associated with it. Otherwise, it's likely you'll need to go into service mode to fix it if the options in the normal user settings don't seem to work/aren't available (though usually they are, but I've seen a lot of TVs with user settings that just don't work for whatever reason).

Maybe there should be a section for general tech discussion that doesn't fit in the other categories. Raspberry Pi, Arduino etc. discussions could also go there, or even much broader stuff like cars, advances in technology, whatever Elon Musk is up to and so on. A section for science could be good too. Maybe a 2-in-1 as "Science & Technology"? I'm sure there's enough content to warrant them having their own sections, or at the very least a 2-in-1.

 

[ryguy2010]

Try putting that source into game mode. It should turn off the auto dim.

 

[SG854]

That section is for media only, not tech issues.

Regarding the problem, as mentioned a few times PC mode usually fixes something like this since there's no extra processing usually associated with it. Otherwise, it's likely you'll need to go into service mode to fix it if the options in the normal user settings don't seem to work/aren't available (though usually they are, but I've seen a lot of TVs with user settings that just don't work for whatever reason).

Newer TVs give enough options to users to adjust, especially this specific model he’s talking about. And the options on this tv works as intended.

For older TVs the only way to access settings like white balance adjustment only service menu had them, but this is not an issue with newer TVs, so it’s best to avoid service menu.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Newer TVs give enough options to users to adjust, especially this specific model he’s talking about.

For older TVs the only way to access like white balance adjustment only service menu had them, but this is not an issue with newer TVs, so it’s best to avoid service menu.

Not necessarily true. I've used a few smart TVs that have no options to adjust certain features without going into a service mode, and that have options in user mode that just don't function at all. My parents have a JVC "smart" TV from 2016 that lists settings for the user to adjust, but don't actually do anything. Eco mode is one of these, they can turn it off/on but it doesn't have any noticeable difference on picture quality like it's supposed to and would always look dim. Going into service mode and adjusting some settings there fixed it.

Obviously this TV doesn't appear to have those options, in which case service mode is the best bet (unless, as noted, setting it to PC does nothing).