2015 Samsung 4k TV as a Monitor Set Up Guide

Motzinator said:
This is cool, I got the 7100. I couldn't use it on the computer desk, its on the side wall at a right angle to my main desktop spot. I needed a 25ft hdmi, I got a Mediabridge 18gbps for $13 on amazon, praying I can do 4k@60hz 4:4:4. If anyone got theres to work UHD color on a 25" hdmi 18gbps let me. I'll get the cable routed tonight or tomorrow and report my results.
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On my JU7100 on my 18gbps 25' cable it had problems. I set UHD color on but after TV restart I got a of static with my desktop image and bad crackling noise. So 4:4:4 isnt happening dammit, but I tried.
 
xp3nd4bl3 said:
Is there a 10ft cable known to reliably work?
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I was waiting for someone else to respond to this question, as I haven't tested (I use a MediaBridge 6' cable) but I believe the 10' version of this cable does work. Hopefully someone else can confirm.
 
imyourzero said:
After reading through it 2-3 times, I have a few minor suggestions (don't take them as criticisms, only suggestions from the viewpoint of someone who has had several different models before settling on the JS9000):

- JS8500 is listed twice under the Assumptions/Disclaimers section ;) Minor typo.
- I realize that this guide was made using the JS9000 but I would mention that that the JU6500/6700 do not come with the One Connect box; all inputs are on the back of the TV (so that people aren't expecting otherwise or think they're missing something). Also, the JU7100/7500 come with the smaller One Connect Mini while the JS8500/9000 come with the full size One Connect box (not sure about the JS7000 as it's kind of the oddball of the entire lineup)
- You did a good job explaining the difference between PC mode and Game mode. It might be beneficial to newcomers to include the two popular 4:4:4 test images so that people can verify 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 as they're following your guide, and tell them what to expect the images to look like when they are and aren't in full 4:4:4 mode.
- AMP was briefly mentioned in a later post; maybe add it into the main guide as it's commonly used as a third "mode" (PC, Game, AMP) by some of us when we want maximum fluidity and smoothness at the expense of input lag. Some might not see your other post and assume that it's not beneficial (or can't be used) when gaming.
- Include Cyph's window resize fix, as several of us have been affected by the window resizing/repositioning issue.

Again, nice job!
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Added most of these recommendations (all except the AMP mode I think) to the guide.

I haven't had a chance to play with AMP mode yet. If you have any specific suggestions regarding AMP mode, I can see what I can do to squeeze it in.
 
xp3nd4bl3 said:
Is there a 10ft cable known to reliably work?
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I think mediabridge 18gbps will work, @25 I still got a picture, just pinkish snow and alarming crackling. Most have said 10ft especially if its 18gbps rated will work ....I head monoprice redmere dont do 444 even @10ft
 
I cant seem to get TV to work as a stand alone as 4k with two smaller 2 monitors, I cloned Together my 24" asus with TV but TV goes to 1920x1200, it worked decent but want 4k. When first enabled TV I got 4 equal sized desktops.
 
Well this an interesting development, I ordered a different 25ft 18gbps cable from ebay then cancelled, as the mediabridge was half price with free 2day shipping(got this instead). Well they(ebay seller) credited my paypal after my cancel request , then accidentally ship cable anyway. So I have basically a free cable to see if it works 444 with that 25', lol.
 
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Awesome guide! Just picked a 65" JS8500 and will be following these steps to get it properly configured. My HTPC is still sitting on a GTX 680 unfortunately so no 4K just yet unless I get an Nvidia Shield TV I guess.
 
What am I doing wrong here? I have a 48" 6500 and it ALWAYS looks washed out in any configuration I try unless I crush the hell out of the blacks one way or another, turning down brightness below 30 or setting the GPU to 0-255 and the display to 16-235. I have to choose between washed out or crushed blacks.
 
xp3nd4bl3 said:
What am I doing wrong here? I have a 48" 6500 and it ALWAYS looks washed out in any configuration I try unless I crush the hell out of the blacks one way or another, turning down brightness below 30 or setting the GPU to 0-255 and the display to 16-235. I have to choose between washed out or crushed blacks.
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I have heard the 6xxx has less saturated colors than the other models, but the differences should be minor. I found my JS9000 to be very over saturated, until I got used to it, so something is definitely wrong here.

Have you looked at the chroma test image to verify that you are in 444?
 
Zarathustra[H];1041769686 said:
I have heard the 6xxx has less saturated colors than the other models, but the differences should be minor. I found my JS9000 to be very over saturated, until I got used to it, so something is definitely wrong here.

Have you looked at the chroma test image to verify that you are in 444?
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Yep, the test image looks great, no artifacts and I can clearly read the red/blue texts. It's really strange that I have to darken the display to extreme black clipping otherwise the whole colorspace looks washed out.
 
Okay so here's an interesting update:

Turns out setting my GPU to FULL and my display to LOW is in fact not clipping due to a mismatched range setting. It only seems that way because brightness at 50 is too low. With FULL-LOW I can turn the brightness up to around 60 and see the 1-15 black levels and NOT have a washed out image.

Either the calibration guide is wrong, and FULL-NORMAL settings are in fact not correctly matched, or there's something wonky with my setup. All I know is that with FULL-LOW and the brightness at 60 I lose the washed-out appearance and still keep all my black levels.
 
xp3nd4bl3 said:
Okay so here's an interesting update:

Turns out setting my GPU to FULL and my display to LOW is in fact not clipping due to a mismatched range setting. It only seems that way because brightness at 50 is too low. With FULL-LOW I can turn the brightness up to around 60 and see the 1-15 black levels and NOT have a washed out image.

Either the calibration guide is wrong, and FULL-NORMAL settings are in fact not correctly matched, or there's something wonky with my setup. All I know is that with FULL-LOW and the brightness at 60 I lose the washed-out appearance and still keep all my black levels.
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Hmm, now my model is different (JS9000) and I haven't calibrated it, but Full-Normal looks great, and I left the picture settings in PC Mode at default, as they looked perfect.

19302295434_c54f9a677a_o.jpg


I get brilliant colors, and no black compression.

I found messing with the Brightness setting to be a bad idea. Changing it from 45 really messed with the color and black levels for me.

In Game mode - however - things look awful, unless I turn down Sharpness to 0.

Did you make sure to update your firmware to the very latest version? I do recall reading that in some older versions of the firmware there were problems with RGB modes, which is why the first version of this guide recommended YCbCr444 mode in the Nvidia control panel instead.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041770263 said:
Hmm, now my model is different (JS9000) and I haven't calibrated it, but Full-Normal looks great, and I left the picture settings in PC Mode at default, as they looked perfect.

19302295434_c54f9a677a_o.jpg


I get brilliant colors, and no black compression.

I found messing with the Brightness setting to be a bad idea. Changing it from 45 really messed with the color and black levels for me.

In Game mode - however - things look awful, unless I turn down Sharpness to 0.

Did you make sure to update your firmware to the very latest version? I do recall reading that in some older versions of the firmware there were problems with RGB modes, which is why the first version of this guide recommended YCbCr444 mode in the Nvidia control panel instead.
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Yeah, I updated firmware from 1204 to 1221, can't really see a difference. Can you try this for me?

Set your GPU output range to FULL and your display to black level LOW. This should be a mis-matched configuration and your blacks should be clipped. Now crank up your brightness. Regardless of how bright and washed out your display gets you should not be able to differentiate boxes 1-15 from the background of 0 even at 100%. They should be clipped due to the GPU outputting 0-255 and the display showing 16-235.

Or another way to check, on the Lagom black test, when you switch the HDMI Black Level on the display from LOW to NORMAL, does the true black (0) background get less black in NORMAL? It should not change. The black background should be the same black in LOW or NORMAL. If it's not the same then FULL/NORMAL is not 0-255/0-255 and they are not therefore a correct config match.

Right?

On my display with FULL/Normal I cannot output a true black.
 
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xp3nd4bl3 said:
Yeah, I updated firmware from 1204 to 1221, can't really see a difference. Can you try this for me?

Set your GPU output range to FULL and your display to black level LOW. This should be a mis-matched configuration and your blacks should be clipped. Now crank up your brightness. Regardless of how bright and washed out your display gets you should not be able to differentiate boxes 1-15 from the background of 0 even at 100%. They should be clipped.

Or another way to check, on the Lagom black test, when you switch from LOW to NORMAL black levels on the display, does the black (0) background get less black in NORMAL? It should not change. The black background should be the same black in LOW or NORMAL. If it's not the same then FULL/NORMAL is not 0-255/0-255 and they are not therefore a correct config match.

Right?
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In the midst of a Windows 10 reinstall. Will take a look a little later.
 
Hi Z-Great article and write up. thanks. Just to clarify-for game mode, I would assume that you want to set the HDMi Black level to normal as you mention to in PC mode? Game mode has HDMI black at auto via Samsung's default setting. Just wanted to clarify. Thanks!
 
Island said:
Hi Z-Great article and write up. thanks. Just to clarify-for game mode, I would assume that you want to set the HDMi Black level to normal as you mention to in PC mode? Game mode has HDMI black at auto via Samsung's default setting. Just wanted to clarify. Thanks!
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Hmm I don't remember setting mine separately, I could have sworn that was one of those features that it remembered across profiles, but I could be wrong. Either way, yes, you want it set to match your computer output (preferably full) in any mode you use.

If you use an input other than your computer set to full mode, this may need to switch though.
 
Pulled the trigger on the 40 inch, everything looks great so thanks for this.

Might be the wrong thread, but, after upgrading to windows 10 everything was perfectly fine. Restarted comp and the driver for my GCard (980 ti) disappeared. Have been trying to fix it all day, even did a complete clean reinstall of windows 10. My Nvidia driver installs, but Nvidia Control panel says my screen is hooked up with a dvi, and only offers 1024 resolution.

This is obviously a Windows 10 driver problem, correct? Anyone else experience that with this screen/GCard combo?
 
I have it working just fine in Windows 10. Worked both after doing upgrade from 8.1 (but did need to install new drivers) and after wiping the upgraded partition and doing clean install.

I have had an issue in Windows 10 where it detected the native resolution of the monitor wrong, and tried to scale everything up to 4096x2160, making it look like ass.

The window shifting fix in the guide might help fix this, but for now I just disabled acaling. And set the resolution natively to 3840x2160.
 
I will go back and look through the troubleshooting, thanks for the help.

Actually, new development. If I plug the HDMI into any of the other ports .. it goes immediately to 4k native resolution, but if I switch back to HDMI 1/DVI port on the TV, it locks the screen into 1024 again, and it is unchangeable.

Further more, on the other inputs even though the resolution is correct.. I notice flickering when I open the Nvidia control panel. Is it possible that I need to just reseat this card that I put in?
 
I also see some inconsistent results on my JS9000 in win7 with GTX780's.

Some hdmi ports with different mode settings result in the TV being detected differently by windows and nvidia. Something seems a bit goofy as it always overscales even at 3840x2160, and I believe it's causing some issues with games at 60hz. Like it's trying to push too many pixels at that res and can't. Things stutter like crazy (only when SLI is enabled). It must be driver issues. Would be great for nvidia to get ahead of it and start supporting 4k better :)
 
Andrew_K said:
I also see some inconsistent results on my JS9000 in win7 with GTX780's.

Some hdmi ports with different mode settings result in the TV being detected differently by windows and nvidia. Something seems a bit goofy as it always overscales even at 3840x2160, and I believe it's causing some issues with games at 60hz. Like it's trying to push too many pixels at that res and can't. Things stutter like crazy (only when SLI is enabled). It must be driver issues. Would be great for nvidia to get ahead of it and start supporting 4k better :)
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I had this problem once. It was working fine, then when I enabled SLI, all of a sudden it overscaled.

I think Windows 7 has a difficult time detecting the native resolution of these panels. There is probably a better way to do it, but my workaround was to disable GPU scaling in the nvidia drivers, and manually setting the resolution to 3840x2160.

You might also try Cyphs fix for Window resizing when swityching inputs mentioned in the writeup. The symptoms are different, but the root cause appears to be the same, that Windows 7 can't tell what the natural resolution is, or does so with some difficulty.

His fix edits the registry to manually tell windows what the natural resolution of the panel is.

Also, some of your problems might be due to using a 780. The 780 does not have HDMI 2.0 (Only 900 series do, and possibly some Intel Skylake IGP's). Without HDMI 2.0, the results will be unpredictable. You might be able to get it to work reasonably, or you might have odd problems, but you will never get 60hz at 4:4:4 chroma. You will have to choose between either lowered chroma, or running at 30hz instead of 60.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041782860 said:
Also, some of your problems might be due to using a 780. The 780 does not have HDMI 2.0 (Only 900 series do, and possibly some Intel Skylake IGP's). Without HDMI 2.0, the results will be unpredictable. You might be able to get it to work reasonably, or you might have odd problems, but you will never get 60hz at 4:4:4 chroma. You will have to choose between either lowered chroma, or running at 30hz instead of 60.
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Which is frustrating considering the DP 1.2 standard supports 4:4:4 @ 60hz..
 
Andrew_K said:
Which is frustrating considering the DP 1.2 standard supports 4:4:4 @ 60hz..
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Yeah, I know it is too bad, but these TV's don't have DP ports, and passive adapters don't work. You'd need an active adapter, and that would introduce more input lag.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a TV with a DP input :p
 
Zarathustra[H];1041783329 said:
Yeah, I know it is too bad, but these TV's don't have DP ports, and passive adapters don't work. You'd need an active adapter, and that would introduce more input lag.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a TV with a DP input :p
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2013 Panasonics did.
 
I'm reading all the time about Amp mode. But I can't find that option in settings. How do I activate it? Is there a guide as how to set it up properly on games? Like if I should use vsync or not.
I play a lot of mmo and rpg games, higher input doesn't affect me as much but I'd like things to be smoother.

EDIT:
Ok I found out that AMP actually means Auto Motion Plus and that it was automatically set to Normal on Game Mode. Turning it to smooth or off made no difference whatsoever to my eyes. I didn't feel it being smoother when set to Smooth or laggier when set to Off.
Since I never bothered about that option and it was always on even in game mode, it seems that I never experienced 20ms in game mode ;)
 
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So I have updated to the latest 1219 firmware. Since then, after the display is on for several minutes, it turns off and turns back on by itself. It is not fully powering down and rebooting, picture goes black, sound goes off, for only a few seconds, then back on.

Is anyone else seeing this and is there a fix?
 
Mine hasn't exhibited that behavior. Honestly sounds like a cable problem (I know, didn't do it before but the symptoms make it sound like it's losing the HDMI connection for a short period).
 
Cyph said:
Do you happen to overclock your video card? I know I had that happened when my 980TI's were unstable due to overclock. As the card heat up, voltage leak occurred and my HDMI signal went away and sometimes it totally reboot the TV on signal loss. Since settling on a mild OC (1450) at stock voltage, I've not seen that happen since.
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Interesting.

Actually, now that you mention it, the issue went away at about the same time I swapped out my secondary GPU, which was pretty low ASIC quality (62%). I may have been pushing it too hard.

Strangely enough though, none of my screens were connected to it (they were connected to GPU1)
 
Just food for thought, I got a replacement monitor and am trying to check for bad pixels and a good screen.

Maybe link some test images so people can test if there monitor is 100% perfect?
 
dpoverlord said:
Just food for thought, I got a replacement monitor and am trying to check for bad pixels and a good screen.

Maybe link some test images so people can test if there monitor is 100% perfect?
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I didn't want to open that can of worms in this thread.

Truth is, I went through three monitor exchanges with Crutchfield, until I just decided to put up with a single stuck on dark blue pixel.

With 4k resolution there are so many pixels that there is no expectation of getting a perfect panel.

Most manufacturers these days specify their panels as Class II panels, so per ISO 13406-2 as many as 2 hot pixels, 2 dead pixels and 5 stuck pixels are acceptable per million pixels.

There are ~8.3 million pixels in a 4k panel. As such an "acceptable" panel can have as many as 16 hot pixels, 16 dead pixels AND 41 stuck pixels.

This obviously wouldn't be acceptable to any of us, but the manufacturers will rarely take a panel back if it doesn't violate the ISO standard. You might find that some retailers will in order to keep their customers happy, but your experience will differ here. Some do, some don't, some did, but no longer do due to getting burned by many returns.

Based on this, I am OK with one dark stuck pixel. I don't even notice it unless I am looking for it, and the screen is black. I can't see it even if I am looking straight at it in game or with an image on screen.

If you really want to do a stuck pixel test, google will find many appropriate links in the top 10.
 
I too have been having difficulty getting settings where the image doesn't look washed out on my JU7500... but doesn't have significant black crush. When I initially set my HDMI black level to low, I think it looks quite great, but I also realize there's a lot of black crush. When I use the settings most seem to recommend, i feel that the overall image seems more washed out. I'm trying out using the picture mode "Entertain", while keeping my HDMI black level at normal, and backlight around 6 or 7. So far, it seems like it may suit my needs the most, but we'll see.
 
I have spent quite some time adjusting my 65" 7005. In the end, I got a screen, that without calibration was fairly good. The adjustments made by Spyder5 Elite, was mild.

When I state below that something is off or wrong, I mean that looking at the correction applied to obtain my target, were simply too strong.

Settings to achieve 2.2 gamma, 6500K and 120cd/m2:

Picture mode: standard. (could not get the other one to work at all. Results were of target)

Backlight: 11 (12 could also work. If I went higher, It bacame hard to get the screen below 120cd/m2. The backlight also defines your deepest black.)

Contrast: 74 (Again, turning this higher, left me with too britht a screen. I would have to dial the brightness way too low. With high contrast, the result is shadow clipping, as it does with default. You will loose details in your shadows.)

Brightness: 43 (When the backlight and contrast was lowered enough, increasing the brightness, lead to correct gamma, not needing much correction. Setting the brightness too low, lead to shadow clipping, and thus incorrect gamma.)

Sharpness: 50 (Image never gets tack sharp, but readability appears to be optimum at 50)

3D: Off

White balance: Default, that is 0 for everything. (Tried using gain to correct color shift, and to obtain 6500k, but it did not work any great.)

Gamma: 0 (result in about 2.2 gamma, which is industry standard. I also tried to correct the clipping that occurs at higher contrast and backlight, but this setting did not correct it sufficiently.)

Color tone: Warm2 (6500k, the industry standard. By using this setting, and correct backlight, contrast, and brightness, the screen is suprisingly close to 6500k/2.2)

HDMI Black Level: Normal

HDMI UHD color: On

Smart LED: Off (Works for regions of your screen, and you have no way of controlling or predicting it. Useless for if accuracy is your target)

Energy saving: off (you do not want brightness adjustments to save power, you would want full control of brightness)

Eco sensor: off

BD Wise: off

Anynet: off

Sports mode: off

Input mode: PC

Settings will probably wary from TV to TV, and model to model.

Please note that these results were obtained using hardware calibration tools, and that the target is the industry standard of 6500k, 2.2 gamma, and the ordinary 120cd/m2. They are not my preferences: They are the industry standard.

In some Asian countries, a cooler white point is sometimes used.

Brightness will wary slightly, depending on the use case and surroundings.

If you look closely, you will find that I disable every image enhanchement feature I possibly can. None of these work in a calibration scenario. And "UHD colors" are nothing more than lossless 24bit colors. Like we have enjoyed on the PC for at least 20 years now.

Also, uniformity is an issue with my TV, and appearantly, I am not the only one. My TV is affected some during the day time, or in a well lit room. In dim light, this is very pronounced. It cannot be corrected.

I posted some resulting charts in the main thread. Calibration result in accurate colors and gamma. 100% sRGB coverage, and 79% AdobeRGB coverage. Results indicate 8bit or more real color resolution and panel.
 
Using the 65JS8500 here, and loving it to death so far. Running 3x 980ti's and the color is amazing. I calibrated it using my Spyder4Elite ( just for an ICC profile ) and it really made things pop ( about a 10% noticeable diff )

So far all games I run are flawless, and I don't notice any input lag or diff compared to my X-Star's(QnixII's) though they're not OC'd either.

Was going back and forth on returning it for the Crossover 434/494k given the specs and all, but after a month, I'm thinking there can't be much to be missing out on, these things area amazing.

I still ordered one to test side by side, however I keep it at about 4 feet from my on my desk ( might be 3 )
I mostly play MMO's, tested GTAV, and a few other games and can't get over the quality. 27" was just getting to small for me. Thank you so much for the guide btw, It really helped me get a quick overview of my system.

I run in PC mode vs game since I don't see / notice a diff. I haven't tested BF4 yet, but I haven't noticed any changes from my monitors on GTAV/TR/FFXIV etc.
 
I love your setup, i wish i could afford such thing :D but seriously, is it healthy for your eyes to stay that close to this monster?
 
backu said:
I love your setup, i wish i could afford such thing :D but seriously, is it healthy for your eyes to stay that close to this monster?
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It's the same distance I would sit from a normal monitor, and the DPI at this size is pretty similar to what you'd get on a standard 1080p 24" monitor, so I don't see where there would be a significant difference in eye strain.

Only real difference is that it fills more of your field of view...
 
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