"Motion
We’ve previously praised Samsung’s improved backlight scanning/ black frame insertion (BFI) algorithm for 2014 in our review of the UE55HU8500 and UE55H8000 step-up models, declaring that it produced some of the sharpest motion clarity we’ve seen from LED LCDs without sacrificing luminance or incurring too much flicker. On the UE40H6400, we could still hit 120 cd/m2 with BFI enabled (by engaging [LED Clear Motion] in the [Motion Plus] “Custom” submenu), but had to crank [Backlight] and [Contrast] to near maximum to do so, indicating that the underlying LCD panel isn’t equipped with as much overhead reserve as the HU8500 and H8000, and therefore needed to be driven harder.
We could still live with [LED Clear Motion] on the H6400, but for a quirk on our sample, whereby [Motion Plus] “Custom” would randomly (and stealthily) switch to what appeared to be the “Smooth” setting even though it’s still labelled as “Custom“. We picked up this issue when several 24fps adverts aired after the Champions League football on ITV HD suddenly exhibited the dreaded “soap opera effect” and interpolation artefacts with [Motion Plus] set to “Custom” and [LED Clear Motion] switched on. We managed to reproduce the issue with our own motion interpolation detection test pattern too, but there was no way for us to determine if it was specific to our review unit, or down to the firmware (ours was version 1106, the latest at time of publication).
The aberration seemed to be limited to [Motion Plus] “Custom” – we tried various permutations, including setting [Blur Reduction] to “8” and [Judder Reduction] to “0“, and still the issue would surface from time to time. It really is a shame, because we think very highly of Samsung’s [LED Clear Motion] this year, and with this covert introduction of frame interpolation marring its benefits, it feels like an opportunity missed.
Samsung does provide three other interpolation modes, namely [Motion Plus] “Clear“, “Standard” and “Smooth“. All three settings doubled motion resolution (as judged via the horizontally scrolling lines pattern in Chapter 31 of the FPD Benchmark Software test disc) from the baseline LCD level of 300 to 600, so we recommend sticking with “Clear” for general use since it introduced the least interpolation artefacts and soap opera effect (there’s still some though – we’d turn it off for movies and 24p dramas).
Snooker
Motion hiccups following a change of pace with scene cuts were by and large absent on the UE-40H6400 compared with other Samsung TVs on which we’ve noted this problem. Again, we’re not sure if it’s the TV hardware or firmware 1106 that did the job, but we sat through a number of snooker frames and full-length live football broadcasts without witnessing any stutter or tearing/ combing."
The tv seems to handle motion well. Not amazingly but well enough. I doubt he would be using the custom mode anyway since he's asking for settings so he should be on standard or he should switch to clear recommended above.
It only happens with his media files. So I'm thinking it's the media player or media that is the issue rather than the tv no amount of messing about with settings is going to stop judder from his player/media.
He's asking for a calibrator recommendation. So I recommended he sort his media chain out first. The judder I'm pretty confident will be from his setup rather than the tv.
The tv isn't perfect though for motion which you wouldn't really expect from a 6 series samsung but it is reviewed highly for what it is.
