Samsung forum: 850 series - IR interference with cable boxes

I havne't heard of this yet.

Where did you hear about this?

--HDTech

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For the most part, from what I've been able to dig up, those problems are rare and isolated. Most people use IR remote controls without any issues at all.

--HDTech

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Very well. I will include this information in a report and send it up. If it's affecting someone here, I can most certainly address it.

I hope you understand that my intention was not to downplay an issue that is "out on the internet", but instead to point out that several forum members who own an LNxxA850 have not noted that they have experienced problems at all on this forum until now.

This is the spirit of the forum. It gives us direct feedback and a chance to address such issues. Which I will happily look into.

What "noise" is affecting the cable box, and which remote is causing it when used? Often times, cable boxes come with (or one is available with) a remote IR that you can place apart from the cable box. How does that affect the use of the television?

--HDTech

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I prefer length and as much information as possible. Thank YOU for taking the time to supply the information.

I do need to clarify a few things, if I may.

1. What model of Scientific Atlanta cable box do you have? Explorer 8100? 8300?
2. Is there any model numbers on the remote itself that would help us distinguish it? (There may be some under the batteries)
3. When you noted: "The big break through came when the cable and remote would work on my old sony tube TV. I then happened to turn on the Samsung and the remote stopped working. Turning off the Samsung, the cable box worked." ... did you mean you turned on the Samsung television while the Sony television was hooked up to the box, and THEN the remote became inactive?

I appreciate you giving your feedback, even after returning the unit. I do hope that any information you're willing to provide can point us in the right direction of finding a fix.

Thanks for giving us an opportunity to serve you, and I hope you consider Samsung for future purchases.

--HDTech

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I also suffer from the same IR interference issue on my new LN46A850 (less than 1 week old). The remote control to my Time Warner HD DVR set-top box (Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD, with its UR5-8400 remote) will not work for several minutes after powering up the LN46A850. In my case, I had replaced an old Samsung plasma monitor, where everything was working fine. Once I installed the LN46A850 the cable remote stopped working, so I know that it was because of the new TV and not due to other factors.

Despite moving the cable box around, for several minutes after turning on the TV the cable box is totally unresponsive. I'm running firmware version 1002 and thought to upgrade to 1004, but refrained after reading that it had no effect on this problem, and in fact may reduce picture quality.

From other forums I've read (avsforum is a good example), I understand that there are many cases of this problem, although the SA 8300 is one of a number of remotes that the LN46A850 (as well as LN52A850) has affected.

I joined this forum to appeal to Samsung_HD_Tech that this is not an isolated problem of a few but rather pretty widespread and needs to be addressed by Samsung, as this is not acceptable performance for a high end product. Also, the 8300HD is a widely used box amongst the major cable service providers (Time Warner (my provider), Cox, etc.), so I believe it would be in Samsung's best interest to address a problem that affects such a large market segment.

Thanks.

Thanks. Getting this issue to the engineers is the best that I could hope for. I just hope that they will treat this issue with high priority, since such a highly regarded product with such a critical flaw is bound to affect sales. People like myself who sought the best quality but not able to afford the LED backlit models are likely to choose an alternate product, and that would be a shame.

I noticed that my wait time to using the remote is not limited to my SA 8300. I just tried using my Sony AVD-K600P DVD/VCR combo player (with a RM-U600 remote), and I had to wait until the machine "warmed up". Again, I was able to have it working after several minutes. Can it be that remotes of various frequencies can be affected by this issue? Can you please add the Sony information to the trouble ticket?

On a separate note (although I don't wnat to stray from the topic of this thread) I noticed that Samsung does not provide any detail about firmware releases on its website. In the case of the LN46A850, the latest version is 1004. How do we find out what this version addresses, and how it differs from previous ones? Is there a README somewhere? I wasn't able to find it in the firmware archive file. I ask this because there are rumors about upgrading to address this issue, but those who have didn't like the results (degraded picture quality, didn't address interference issue).

Thanks again.

This thread that I started has provided me with enough information to make me avoid purchasing the 850 series.

I'm not going to spend 2K only to have my TV peripherals POSSIBLY NOT function correctly.

It's quite a shame as the picture quality and feature set are excellent, but a TV without a cable box or DVR is just a blank LCD.

It's a shame, isn't it?

And I think that minimizing this problem does the forum and user a disservice. Just my opinion.

Thanks.

DO NOT BUY THIS TV. i recently dished out the $2K for a 46" samsung 850. picture quality was amazing. i was absolutely stunned by how good the picture was, and on an lcd! however, like most people with this tv, my cable remote wouldn't work once the tv was on. i read the forums and stayed away from the firmware update (read that it degraded the picture). i called samsung and they said the firmware was the only update. about 2 weeks ago i got a call back from samsung saying not to do the firmware update and instead they would have a tech come out to replace the board. after waiting 2 weeks for the board to come in, the tech finally arrived to install the board. the cable box and remote now work perfectly again. yay. the picture quality on the tv took a massive dump. it still looks ok, but it's no longer as crisp and detailed as it once was. even hd shows have a type of grainy look. it looks similar to what i see on a lot of lower end hdtv's. you know, the 46"-47" ones you find on sale for like $900 (no joke, quality took a nose dive). blacks aren't even a solid black anymore, has grayish tones. whatever modifications samsung engineered to reduce the ir interference also reduced the picture quality. this is highly disappointing especially since i was guaranteed by samsung that the fix had zero adverse effects on quality. guess i should've known better than to trust a company that just had a spike in product returns. save yourself time, money, and sanity by steering clear away from this tv. samsung failed to do their homework, as did i. don't make the same mistake!

Gary,

I can't really speak to Panasonic's lineup.

For the Samsung units, the inverter was causing the issue, and Samsung is supplying their affected customers with new inverter boards and installing them free of charge.

--HDTech

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This sounds like a radio frequency (RF)interference problem that should have been caught during product testing and certification while the product was being developed. Maybe it was, but deemed a low risk concern by the bean counters and Samsung management.

Sometimes RF interference issues can be corrected with firmware updates, which was apparently attempted with the 1004 firmware release. While firmware updates are fairly easy and less costly, sometimes a fix requires engineering changes to the electronic circuit board or chassis mechanical design which is difficult and costly to do on units already shipped and in use by customers without doing a recall.

Unfortunately, again due to cost, recalls are normally only issued for product safety related concerns and not quality related issues unless Samsung is forced to correct the problem by a government agency if the product is found to be in non-compliance with legal RF emissions standards that all electronic equipment manufacturers must comply with in order to sell an electronic product or device.

Very unfortunate situation for current product owners and Samsung on what appears to be a well done product design otherwise.

Wow this is Very interesting~~~~

My wife and I are very pleased with our LN52A860 that we purchased jsut before Christmas, but we have had several strange things happen with our remote controls sine we bought the TV.

We have the following remote control components stacked to to bottom (with one inch spacers for air flow) in the Oak entertainment unit under the TV
- Time Warner Scientific America 8300 DVC
- Samsung BD-P1500 Blue Ray DVD play (for a few days we had a Samsung DVD-1800P8 HD DVD-1080P8 DVD played in the postiion with same symptoms on the A860 TV)
- Harman/Kardon AVR 147 Audio/Video Reciever

All of this worked quite well when we had our Samsung 40" LN-T4069F in the same place as the new A860.

When we received the A860 we moved the 40" upstairs, and placed the new 52" in it's place.

Now and then strange radom things would happen from the various componet remotes:
- When watching DVD, sound would not work
- On the H/K AVR could not switch between inputs using remote
- AVR would go silent
- Time Warner Cable box would not power up/ down.

When the things happened, of course there was a frontal attack using the four remote controls. We would finally power things down, curse a bit, or just go walk the dog for a bit to cool down. Sometimes power down of every thing worked, sometimes it fixed itself.

Since this was Christmas time, and Amazon had a killer deal on the new Logitech Homony One Unified Remote control, I bought the wife one(actually bought to save my sanity from her complaining about having to use four remote controls and getting confused.

(If you have not looked at the Hormaony, you should!!!)

Anyway back to the story....
The magic of the new remote control is that with one button (or screen activity bar on the remote) the tv powers up, the video compontent (cable box or DVD player) powers up, the right input (HDMI-1, HDMI-2, etc.) is selected, and the audio/Visual (Amp/reciever) correct input is all automagiclly selected.

The two biggest issues with the Hormony One now is the power up and power down sequence now and then does not work correctly, and the TV input now and then does not change correctly. I twice connected the Hormony One to the net and re-downloaded the remote codes as directed.

I am so happy I saw this flow, I have been going nuts trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. And of course the symptoms being sort of random as to when they occur did not help.

I had become quite a Samsung fan, and do hope we can get this resolved.

Thanks for being our advocate.

Ken Stevens
Round Rock, TX

Did you call service to create a service ticket?

--HDTech

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Don't walk..but RUN to wherever yu purchased this sink. See if they will take it back!
My issues went to Samsung right after purchase. I actually had faith in them with my $3K 52" Sammy. My bad... now almost 7 months later they finally acknowledge the defect but can't fix it.
They just don't know how.
And my sink sits on my L. Room floor, off the wall mount, til they decide how to replace or upgrade me. No return calls from either Samsung Service or (800)Samsung. Last I heard they said to "please leave the set off the wall mount for the meantime.
A Field Engineer will not so much as touch the TV while it is wall mounted. They won't even help yu lift it off its mount. Liability reasons.

This problem is now well established and well known. Yet, when I go to the Samsung website there is no mention of the issue.

One would think that there would be some indication that there is a serious technical issue and that Samsung is diligently working to correct the problem.

One would think that under 'News and Alerts' there would be some mention that some users have experienced compatibility issues.

One would think that Samsung would be interested in looking out for their consumer's well being and would want to ensure they don't sell more defective TV's to unsuspecting consumers. Especially considering the current economy and the significant cost involved with this particular product.

A friend of mine warned me not to buy Samsung. He told me they don't care about their consumers and that their electronics are manufactured with substandard workmanship and substandard parts. He suggested I buy a Pioneer TV. I didn't listen to him and I now regret that decision. I assure you I will not make the mistake of buying Samsung again. This experience has been all the evidence that he was right and that I am now stuck with a defective, high $$$ TV.

If Samsung corrects this issue I will be the first person to sing their praises and will retract my statements. However I don't hold out much hope for that and I full expect for them to just move on and screw all the suckers they could convince to buy this defective product.

Out of all of the LNxxa850 and LNxx950's sold it would be helpful to know how many of these sets encountered the IR Interferrnce issue.

Also, as others have said, it would be great if Samsung would post the known compatibility issue and their progress on a solution.

John