topic Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football in Android TV

Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Toastybits — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 19:20:12 GMT

Hello. This is the second post about this tv and so far Im not very impressed. Has anyone else experienced their picture dimming when watching football ? I watched a Euro 2020 game this afternoon and initially the settings were fine up until the game kicked off. Within a few minutes the picture had dimmed so much the match looked as though it was being played during the evening. I found it unacceptable. Can anyone relate to this ? Thanks

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Joe_Dohn — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 14:28:44 GMT

I haven't heard of the dimming being this drastic, though it happens to protect the OLED panel from the static backdrop since otherwise it would cause burn-in.

That said, if it is so drastic, there's a possibility it could be a glitch, so make sure you have the latest software version and try it out in the next kick off.

Hope this helps!

- JD

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

CyberWoogy — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 14:31:04 GMT

@Toastybits This wouldn't happen to be your first OLED would it per chance?

From your description it sounds like the ABL is kicking in, which is perfectly normal, in order to protect the screen.

What preset are you using and do you have the ambient light sensor enabled?

If you use a preset such as standard or vivid, you're very much likely to see the ABL kick in more, especially if you have the brightness set high.

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Toastybits — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 11:15:36 GMT

@CyberWoogyyes it is.I dont have the ambient light sensor enabled but I do have the gamma/peak luminance set to max. Its the standard preset. It looked better yesterday, the darkness issue occured when the stadium was half lit by the sun whilst the other half was in the shade. I think its something I'll have to live with and hope it doesn't happen too often. Darkness seems to be an issue with OLED tv's overall and it beats me why they develop a technology that has a pretty big design flaw. Probably something I'll learn to live with.

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Toastybits — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 11:16:04 GMT

Thanks for the help

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

graham13 — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 19:25:22 GMT

Hi, I posted this last Thursday.

----------------

Hi Guys,

Having a problem with the picture brightness. Switching the TV on to watch a live program such as Euro 2020, This Morning, The One show etc, I am noticing that after a short while the screen goes dim. Flicking to another channel and then returning brightens the picture for a while before it dims again.

I have checked eco, and ambient light settings and they are set to off. I cannot find anything else that could cause this. Have I got a rogue ambient light setting, or is auto brightness control playing tricks?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you

Graham

---------------

It's still doing it and it's now p*ssing me off big time! I understand how the Auto Brightness Limiter works but it's going beyond acceptable.

Toastybits's description of how the football match looked, as if it was being played during the evening, is spot on. As he rightly says, It's unacceptable. It's not just football either, as I mentioned in my post.

I paid £1,600 for my TV and it's performance is not a good as a TV costing half the price. I did complain to Sony about how aggressive the ABL was but they weren't interested. They told me it was normal.

Even though I have had the TV for more than 30 days I'm contacting my retailer again tomorrow to take it further and to request a replacement of some sort.

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

rooobb — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 07:39:21 GMT

@Toastybits ha scritto:

@CyberWoogyyes it is.I dont have the ambient light sensor enabled but I do have the gamma/peak luminance set to max. Its the standard preset. It looked better yesterday, the darkness issue occured when the stadium was half lit by the sun whilst the other half was in the shade. I think its something I'll have to live with and hope it doesn't happen too often. Darkness seems to be an issue with OLED tv's overall and it beats me why they develop a technology that has a pretty big design flaw. Probably something I'll learn to live with.

@Toastybits are we talking about HDR/HLG broadcast if you have peak luminance set to max?

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

graham13 — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:02:25 GMT

Hi Rooobb

My settings are standard with just peak brightness set to high. Ambient light is turned off.

During football, even when the ground is all in shadow, it does the same thing. It does the same on other TV shows. During a chat show the whole program goes dim. Then when I flick to another channel and flick it back it brightens up but then darkens again.

It's the same whether it's through my Virgin V6 box or through the TV itself via the TV ariel and You View.

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Toastybits — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:16:28 GMT

@rooobb No its not the HDR broadcasts, I haven't really engaged with them too much. I have chosen the standard setting (for regular tv), with the gamma and peak luminance set to max, with a 98 contrast setting and black level set at 62. It's been a lot better over the last week, slightly darker but nowhere as bad as the match I mentioned in my earlier post. Its not perfect but its improved.

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Toastybits — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:18:00 GMT

I dont use the ambient light sensor but instead set the brightness to 25/30 when it grows dark

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

rooobb — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:25:44 GMT

Peak brightness set to high is meant for HDR. In SDR should be off, so I think you are pushing way to high the panel and force it to dim. Imho

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Toastybits — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:28:17 GMT

Its too dark though if its not set too high, at least I think so. Do you find it ok ?

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

graham13 — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:48:05 GMT

I agree with Toastybits. On my TV, peak brightness set to medium, which is default, makes the picture too dim. However, the problem is still the same. It makes no difference.

It's either auto dimming, whilst set to off, still functioning or ABL is set too high and is being overly aggressive.

I have been in touch with Richer Sounds and they have advised me to contact customer service. I will keep you updated.

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

rooobb — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:57:41 GMT

@Toastybits ha scritto:

Its too dark though if its not set too high, at least I think so. Do you find it ok ?

SDR (movie and broadcast) are produced to a standard 100/120 nits luminance, that's what is reached by peak luminance to off (see the personal profile for reference). You can adjust the brigthness in daylight. Any other setting if off-reference (while in HDR should be set to high to exploit the maximum highlight, not the entire scene as in SDR).

But you are free to do what you like (even if the electronics may then intervene to prevent OLED consumption)

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Paul-M — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 18:48:26 GMT

Can I ask if you have had the dimming issue resolved? After a lot of research I looked at both the 48a9 and the LG C1 and plumped for the a9 but have been having the same issues with the aggressive abl on football much like you. Really spoiled the tv for me. I’ve tried all sorts of settings but have found on the custom picture setting I need to have peak luminance on high but knocking back the gamma to -1 or -2 and brightness around 20 to minimise the dimming. The seller has been really helpful and I do have the option of exchanging for the LG. However don’t want to ‘jump out of the frying pan into the fire’ and find the LG abl is as bad, or be disappointed with the panel. I can live with the dimming on newsfeeds etc as you’d expect the abl to kick in with static news bars but can’t understand why it’s so bad when watching football. Still persevering as films etc look great. Feedback would be really helpful if you’ve found any info yourself?

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Toastybits — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 12:41:34 GMT

@Paul-M Hi Paul. Its not really been an issue for me as i don't follow football that much. The games i have watched, i.e England are mostly played in the evening when the stadium lighting is on which results in a good picture. I won't be able to judge the extent of the dimming more accuratley until the next world cup when the matches are played throughout the day, (I think). Don't quote me on this but I believe the LG's dimming is not so harsh, (don't know which model), as the tv only dims the static logos on screen without affecting the picture, (you'll have to check it out though) Here are the settings I use, listed below. Aside from this, I can't really help you...sorry.

Picture - Standard

Light sensor - off

Brightness - max

contrast -85

Gamma - max

Black level - 54

Peak Luminence - high

Colour - 42

Colour Temp - Expert 1

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Toastybits — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 12:43:08 GMT

And I tend to dim the brightness to around 35/40 at night with a lamp on in the background.

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Paul-M — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 12:52:38 GMT

Hi @Toastybits . Thanks for your feedback it’s really appreciated. I seem to be going round in circles with Sony. They’ve emailed me and just asked to do a picture test on the help page but that’s next to useless as it’s only showing whether you’ve got a picture or not. The shop phoned Sony technical and they’d never even heard of abl! Very reluctantly I think I’m going to have to exchange the set for an LG C1 48. This is my third Sony tv and it’s the only one I’ve had problems with. Disappointing as you know it’s not a cheap set.

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

rooobb — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 13:14:56 GMT

@Toastybits ha scritto:

@Paul-M Hi Paul. Its not really been an issue for me as i don't follow football that much. The games i have watched, i.e England are mostly played in the evening when the stadium lighting is on which results in a good picture. I won't be able to judge the extent of the dimming more accuratley until the next world cup when the matches are played throughout the day, (I think). Don't quote me on this but I believe the LG's dimming is not so harsh, (don't know which model), as the tv only dims the static logos on screen without affecting the picture, (you'll have to check it out though) Here are the settings I use, listed below. Aside from this, I can't really help you...sorry.

Picture - Standard

Light sensor - off

Brightness - max

contrast -85

Gamma - max

Black level - 54

Peak Luminence - high

Colour - 42

Colour Temp - Expert 1

I think I've told you already, maybe you did the wrong thing buying an OLED. Those setting for SDR are way too wrong. And I don't know how you decided to change them (apart from peak luminance you changed colour black level and gamma setting them off the right value). If you use those setting every day, apart from viewing something completely wrong, you'll destroy the panel. Being it an lg or a Sony or a Panasonic. You may find it better with a high peak brightness LCD TV.

Re: Sony KE48a9 Dimming Issues When Watching Football

Paul-M — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 13:38:55 GMT

Hi @rooobb. I’ve tried various settings and looked at recommended settings from sites like ratings.com and all recommend setting peak luminance to high. Just to set my mind to rest I’ve just reset the custom picture setting and tried this as it stands with luminance on medium. Watching a football match now and within minutes the picture dims. I am aware that you do have to be careful with oleds re image retention and burn but personally I feel that Sony’s abl seems to be particularly aggressive.