Samsung LED Problem

[kingwr]

I had this strange problem crop up last night for the first time. During scenes with fast motion, my Samsung UN55C8000 shows a rectangular box in the center of the screen. The box is roughly the same aspect ratio of the TV but occupies about 60% of the screen. The picture in the box appears different than the picture outside the box -- both pictures are OK, there is no excessive tearing or blocking, they are just different. It's as if the picture inside the box is being processed differently than outside the box. I looked into a demo mode but it was turned off. I tried resetting my picture settings to factory defaults. This is happening no matter what the video source (AppleTV, UVerse DVR, Blu-ray player). All the sources run through a Pioneer AVR and then over a 40' HDMI cable to the TV. The AVR is HDMI passthrough -- no overlay or video processing. I have had this setup for years (except the UVerse DVR is a week and a half old) and I have never seen this issue. Can't find the symptoms on the web anywhere. Any ideas?

[tzr916]

40' HDMI cable?!?! thats where I would start. Take any component up to the Tv and connect it directly to the Tv with a 6ft cable and test.....

Bypass the AVR - with your 40' cable connect any component directly (without going through the AVR) and test...

Next do a full factory reset on the Tv - hold the exit button on the remote for about 10 sec until a pop up, and select OK. test....

Next check/do a firmware update on the Tv (v1035 is most recent)- http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owner ... C8000XFXZA

Next update the Firmware in the Pioneer- http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/ ... /Downloads

[adam1991]

let's see, "this never happened before I got and started using the UVerse thingy a week and a half ago".

You can waste your time tearing into the TV, but guess what.

[tzr916]

How does adding a DVR affect the other sources?

"This is happening no matter what the video source (AppleTV, UVerse DVR, Blu-ray player)"

It's something common, which is either the 40' cable, the AVR, or the Tv.

[kingwr]

I will probably have to try all of those things. Thanks for the suggestion. I am hoping that someone has seen this specific symptom before and can point to the culprit before I "tear into" the TV and AVR.

I am hoping it is the cable -- all the moving around of components to incorporate the UVerse DVR and remove the DirecTV DVR (which was done over the weekend) may have weakened the cable connector on the cable or on the back of the AVR. However, my fear is that it is a precursor to the TV failing. The TV is just over 3 years old.

[STC]

I'd quickly bypass the AVR to test too.
Even though it's passthrough it may be introducing some weird artifacts.

[foxwood]

Take a photo of any recognizable symptoms and post it. Peoples descriptions of visual issues are often very misleading, and the old saying of a picture is worth a thousand words definitely comes in to play when dealing with weird display issues.

If the screen is only 3 years old, it probably has a USB port, and can play photos or videos from the USB. I'd suggest taking 2 minutes to check that out, which should tell you very quickly if it's a problem with the screen, or a possible issue with the source. Then bypass the AVR, as it's one of two components that are common, and it's probably reasonably convenient to connect the 40' HDMI cable directly to one of the 3 video sources. If you still see the problem when you're not using the AVR, then bring one of the video sources, (probably the AppleTV or the BluRay player) closer to the TV and use a shorter HDMI cable (I'm assuming that you actuallu need the 40' HDMI, and that it's not all coiled up, and your screen is actually only 3 feet from the AVR?)

[kingwr]

Well the TV didn't act up last night, from either AppleTV or UVerse -- so I don't know what that means. Perhaps a thermal issue? Anyway, if it ain't broke...