Difference between ambilight modes?

clarenceCarter

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Hi all,

Does anyone know what the differences between the ambilight modes are (e.g. 'standard' 'relax' etc.)? The very brief instructions in the manual are next to useless, so I was wondering if anyone has ever looked into this in a meaningful way. Do the modes just change change the reaction/transition time, or do they influence the saturation, or something else?

Thanks in advance...
 
Changes how bright they are and how fast they react to what's on screen, some settings just give you a solid colour and you can also choose to project a flag of your choice on to the wall, not very well though.
 
. Do the modes just change change the reaction/transition time, or do they influence the saturation, or something else?

Thanks in advance...
Basically this, yes.

I use 'Relax' mode. It's a smooth glow that gradually matches the colour on the screen, but fades gently. Vivid more closely matches the colour, but also the changes are more instant, and is more distracting.
 
I didn't realise the speed of change was impacted by the setting. Will have to have more of a play.
 
I found overall Natural to be the best balance in terms of giving impact but not distracting. Brightness 7 and saturation 0. But of course ymmv.
 
Worth pointing out that if you are showing guests what it is all about, then the 'Game' setting and running an Ambilight demo off YouTube is good, though this setting is too erratic full time for me.
 
I had a play and think I can discern some differences between some modes.

- Standard - Follows the screen faithfully EXCEPT FOR: when the screen is dark/black, the ambilight still shines with a noticeable brightness (i.e. if the screen was black, the ambilight would still be shining)

-Natural - Follows the screen faithfully, but when the screen edges are dark/black the ambilight does not shine. This means that if only one corner of the screen is light, the ambilight will only shine in one corner also. I think this looks the best/most cinematic, but obviously has less of a 'bias light' effect and will not help mask any backlight issues etc.

-Comfort - Seems to have weaker saturation than the other modes?

-Relax - may adjust more slowly(?) but the saturation seemed unnaturally high to me

All just my opinion of course, but natural is my preferred mode.
 
I think your comments on Natural and the ambilight not shining when dark, is why I like it so much. Especially when I'm gaming in an open world environment that transitions from night to day. Immersive.
 
Interesting about 'Natural' not lighting up areas that are black, I may give that a try out later.
 
Natural all the way. And I also try to get the saturation to beat match the colours on screen. Get something colourful paused on screen and tinker till they match. To me that way you get the best immersion and feeling of the screen extending our into the room
 
I have been testing game mode too. It reacts really quick, watched something that has flashing police car lights and it reacts so quick it actually recreates the flashing in red and blue. Also another program had white text message bubbles which went off the top of the screen and you get a flash of white like the bubble goes off the screen and out the top of the TV onto the wall. Thought it would be too distracting for general TV but it seems fine so far.
 
Natural for me covers both gaming and movies. However game mode just for gaming is great. But it wont work well with some tv/movies as it changes so fast that you may find it very distracting. For example an interview when a camera constantly flicks between two perspectives.
 
Thanks I will give natural and game a try and look what suits me. Are the any changes in how fast the ambilight adapts to whats on screen, I want it to be instant
 
I've tried Natural but went back to Standard as I like the brighter glow on darker scenes as it helps the blacks. If I had an OLED I'd probably use Natural.
 
I tried yesterday with PES and Fallen Order in Game Picture mode. I found Natural and Game to be the best. But in Game its almost too dark, which is great in dark scences but overall I found natural more appealing.
 
Used Natural for the last couple of days, and it's now my preferred mode on my OLED.
 
If you just want to use the ambilight for bias lighting what would be the best settings? Warm white or cool white and at what brightness/saturation level?
 
I have two TV setups:
1. LG OLED with Philips Hue Play bars and light strip stuck on the back which I sometimes use with Hue Sync
2. Philips 8204 TV with ambilight

For me one of the best things about 1 was that when the screen was black, all the lights went off! I was quite disappointed that 2 didn't do this until I realised that Game mode was switched on (hadn't realised natural mode did this too until I read the posts above!). Definitely recommend one of those so you get complete darkness when the scene is pitch black. It's a nice effect!
 
I have an ambilight TV and recently added hue play bars underneath to get the full 4 sided effect. Quite dissapointed if I'm honest, as you can see from the picture the colours on the play bars never match with ambilight.
 

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I found they tracked colours ok or at least better than your photos. Unfortunately I did find them problematic in another way though, with them sometimes slow to react.

If you have a harmony remote though, you can have the hue lights change based on the activity you're using. For example auto dim and change to an isf hue for a movie, different for web browsing etc. Just an idea for an alternative use of the play bars. I have lots of hue but always configure them as a separate entity to ambilight...
 
The funny things about adding more lights with the Ambilight and Hue mode is, that you can use 3rd party lighting, while if you set up an Entertainment area within HUE only Philips bulbs will work.
 
Hey, I agree with you guys when it comes to the description of the Ambilight settings and different modes. I strongly prefer "natural" for TV and most movies (mostly "darker" stuff), but I switch to "game" sometimes, for a more fast paced feel or if it fits the mood and style of the film.
However I have a big problem with the fact that my TV (50pus7303) does NOT turn the LEDs COMPLETELY OFF when black or dark content is displayed (in any mode, specifically not in "natural" or "game"). There is always a white hue or halo remaining, which is not only distracting but also wastes a lot of the true dynamic potential of the Ambilight.
Any odd diy Ambilight kit can do that and many guys here in this thread report that their Ambilight does exactly that: turn off completely or partially in areas of the screen that are black with no white hue remaining at all (like in "follow audio" mode.)
Maybe someone here can help me out with this issue. Thanks in advance and greetings from Germany.
 
Hey, I agree with you guys when it comes to the description of the Ambilight settings and different modes. I strongly prefer "natural" for TV and most movies (mostly "darker" stuff), but I switch to "game" sometimes, for a more fast paced feel or if it fits the mood and style of the film.
However I have a big problem with the fact that my TV (50pus7303) does NOT turn the LEDs COMPLETELY OFF when black or dark content is displayed (in any mode, specifically not in "natural" or "game"). There is always a white hue or halo remaining, which is not only distracting but also wastes a lot of the true dynamic potential of the Ambilight.
Any odd diy Ambilight kit can do that and many guys here in this thread report that their Ambilight does exactly that: turn off completely or partially in areas of the screen that are black with no white hue remaining at all (like in "follow audio" mode.)
Maybe someone here can help me out with this issue. Thanks in advance and greetings from Germany.
Just checking your TV is running the latest software update.
 

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