"Motion lighting is not a setting that only activates during compliance testing," said Samsung in a blog post. "On the contrary, it is a default setting which works both in the lab and at home; delivering energy savings and helping us to reduce our environmental impact." However, the company acknowledges that not everyone will watch TV with "motion lighting" engaged. "If the customer chooses to alter their display settings or switch to a different mode then the feature switches off, which gives our customers a simple choice of whether they choose to prioritize power efficiency or performance in their TV." The project manager of ComplianTV's product lab told The Guardian: "Samsung is meeting the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law."

The research group's paper is currently unpublished, making it difficult to judge the fairness of their tests. However, reports suggest that this sort of cheating is not uncommon for TV manufacturers. A letter from the Swedish Energy Agency to the European Commission excerpted by The Guardian states that the country's compliance testers have encountered TVs that recognized the test films and adjusted the power output accordingly. "These displays immediately lower their energy use by adjusting the brightness of the display when the standard film is being run," said the letter. "This is a way of avoiding the market surveillance authorities and should be addressed by the Commission." The Commission has said that it is investigating these claims.