Samsung HLT5676S 56-Inch UltraSlim 1080p DLP HDTV
Samsung HLT5676S 56-Inch UltraSlim 1080p DLP HDTV
 |  List Price: $1,999.99 Sale Price: Too low to display. Availability: unspecified  |
Product Description
Fill your room with the riveting 1080p Full HD resolution and brilliant sound of the Samsung HL-T5676S. Its 0.8-inch-thin piano-black bezel and hidden speaker system let you enjoy more screen and less frame; the slim depth lets the 56-inch DLP(R) HDTV fit where others won't(TM). Enjoy the crisp definition and bright imagery of Samsung's Cinema Smooth(TM) 1080p Light Engine; a phenomenal 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio delivers the full range of vivid colors, bright whites, deep blacks and nuanced tones. SRS TruSurround XT(TM) audio fills the room with clear, robust sound. Fast, 16 micro-second switching speed virtually eliminates motion blur; Game Mode optimizes performance so gamers will marvel at the lifelike action. Full digital connectivity with 3 HDMI ports allows digital connectivity to Cable/Satellite boxes Blu-ray players, AV receivers, and more.
Details
- 56" UltraSlim DLP HDTV
- 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution; 10,000:1 Contrast ratio
- 50.8"(W) x 33.3"(H) x 11.5"(D) 65.3 Lbs.
- Connections: 3 HDMI, 2 S-Video, 2 Composite, 2 Component Video Input, 2 RF input, 1 DVI Audio input, 1 Video Out, 1 USB, 1 PC in (mini jack)
- Two stereo speakers, 10 watts apiece (20 watts total); SRS TruSurround XT virtual surround
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Rating
I have read all the other reviews on here, and I am surprised at how many people have had problems with this TV. I found this TV on amazon, and actually purchased it at my local Best Buy store. They matched the price that amazon had, and I didn’t have to wait for it to be shipped (or take the chance for that) Only problem was that I had to pay for sales tax.
Everything about this TV is perfect to me. I do not have HD service hooked to it, and I only use a 1080 upconvert player for movies. Yeah the quality isn’t as good as this TV will support, but I waiting for a better deal on HD service. In fact, I’ve gotten used to the regular programming. DVD’s look better than regular with just the upconvert.
After having the TV on for about an hour, it does sometimes make a loud noise one time, that sounds like a cracking noise that a house makes when it is settling, but it only does it once in a while and it only happens one time… not sure if it is a problem or not, cause it doesn’t affect the picture or anything.
So, in short, I love this TV, and it is SLIM. People ask me why I don’t have it mounted on the wall, and it is then that I point out that it is actually a rear projection TV. It is amazing! I’d buy another one if I had a reason.
Rating
I can’t say enough great things about this big screen TV buying experience. The TV just arrived yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) which was a much shorter delivery time than the estimate Amazon gave. I ordered the TV last Tuesday. I was so happy when I woke up this morning to see my 27″ TV replaced with a very beautiful new Samsung 56″. The picture looks great and I was very pleased with all of the options that were available to customize the TV settings. I ended up leaving it with the default settings because that seems to look best in my apartment. Thanks Amazon.com and Samsung for a great experience. Hopefully I’ll be a happy customer for many years to come!
Transformers on DVD and HD DVD looks absolutely beautiful on this set, as does 300. Can’t wait to try out some more movies!
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UPDATE: I just read the review that Derek D. Uzzle from Houston, TX USA posted after my review yesterday. I also experienced the same problem as he did with orchestrating putting my home theater system together. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Samsung’s support staff. While I was on the phone with him, it occurred to me how to get around this problem though I still think it’s ludicrous that the digital optical out on the TV won’t output audio from the HDMI inputs.
Here’s what I have:
Samsung 56″ DLP TV
Toshiba HD-A20 1080p HD DVD Player
Samsung HT-TX72 Home Theater System
Dish Network Satellite box
Nintendo Wii
For wires, I have 2 Monster HDMI cables, a Monster Digital Optic wire (Fiber Optic), 2 sets of component cables and some old A/V wires from past equipment. My ultimate desire was to have the TV have audio for all of the components as well as the surround sound system. As much as I love surround sound, sometimes it’s nice to watch TV without having to screw around with a surround sound system. Here’s what I came up with … it’s kind of a pain in the butt to orchestrate with 3 or 4 different controllers, but it works and once I figure out how to get some of the controllers to control other components of this system, life will be all good.
1. HD DVD Player – Since I wanted the HD experience to be perfect for watching movies, I used one of the HDMI cables to connect from the HD DVD player to the TV. I used the Fiber Optic cable to transfer sound from the HD DVD player to the home theater system.
2. I then hooked up the Samsung Home Theater system to the TV using a set of the component cables. I hooked up the audio from the theater system to the TV as well using a pair of red/white audio wires. This enables me to listen to the audio from the 5 disc DVD player without having the surround sound turned on. I decided not to use the HDMI cable on the DVD player since it only outputs up to 1080i but only plays regular DVDs. I could get rid of the component cables as well as the audio wires if I would drop down another $50 – $100 on an HDMI cable. I might just do that to get rid of some wires but we’ll see (1 HDMI cable instead of 5 component/audio cables). For the time being, this will work just fine.
3. Since the home theater system has an HDMI in, I decided to hook the satellite box up to the home theater system using the 2nd HDMI cable. The satellite box’s max output is 1080i so I figured I wouldn’t loose much, if anything at all, by having the Satellite go through the home theater system via the HDMI cable and then from the home theater system to the TV. This allowed for the Satellite to have surround sound and since I had hooked up the theater system to the TV with some red/white audio wires, I was able to listen to the satellite with the TV’s speakers as well.
4. One of the added benefits of this setup that I didn’t realize at first was that the audio from the HD player was going to the surround system as well as the TV because of surround sound system’s audio wires to the TV. I was very happy with that since I hadn’t considered that at first.
5. The only thing that isn’t part of the surround sound system is my Nintento Wii. I’d like to have it be part of the surround sound, but when I’m playing Galaga or classic Mario or Street Fighter or Wii Play, do I really need it to be in surround sound? Since I’m not a big gamer, I’m content with having the audio for the Wii going only through the TV.
It would be really nice if the Samsung TV had an HDMI out. I guess the folks at Samsung really don’t want us to use the TV as a home theater receiver so that we’ll buy more products and more cables to orchestrate our home theater systems. Either way, I’m very happy with how this all turned out in the end.
I hope someone finds this detailed explanation useful to setting up their environment. I watched my copy of HD Transformers last night, figured out a good audio level for the surround sound system and was just blown away by the experience. The colors of the HD video are just perfect … absolutely gorgeous! The audio was not quite as good as those fancy THX sound systems at movie theaters, but it was beyond my expectations for my home.
I hope my neighbors don’t kill me for all of the bass my subwoofer has been putting out the past couple of days since getting my home theater tv and audio system setup this week!
Rating
I also have the HL-T5676S, and have been smiling ever since its purchase. Obviously, to get the most out of the TV, use HDMI connectors and sign up for HD service from your video content prover. I’ve not seen true 1080p yet, since I don’t have blue-ray, but the 1080i and 720p content from the various HD networks look fine.
The difference between HD and non-HD is quite apparent with such a large TV, enough so to render non-HD content practically unwatchable. The television is quite tweakable, but surprisingly, the preset video modes, i.e. Standard, Movie and Dynamic are quite usable for quick, out of the box use.
You will want to spend the time, however, to optimize all the settings to your particular viewing environment.
The TV’s audio is not bad, but you’ll really want to mate a television of this size with a 5.1 or 6.1 Surround sound set to get the full cinematic video and audio experience.
All of the inputs and outputs are to the side, instead of the back, like most TV’s. If you don’t expect this, be forewarned. I didn’t find it to be a problem and in fact, this position is quite convenient. The number of inputs supported is impressive, namely:
3 HDMI, 2 component video, 2 AV, 1 VGA, 1 stereo, 1 DVI, 1 Digital audio, 1 USB
The VGA input was particularly convenient for hooking in my computer.
Last but not least, the television is less than a foot deep. You can’t beat that for a rear projection TV.
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Updated 12/29/08
Two things would have made this TV better:
* A way to disable the side buttons from the remote so my toddlers couldn’t mess with them “child guard, or something similar”. We had to have somebody open up the TV to disable the button contacts.
* Some sort of memory to store settings, so that if the signal suddenly goes black for a half a second, you don’t lose your brightness/contrast, etc. controls. Every time this happens, including during an occasional extra long pause between commercials, my settings are lost.
Rating
TV was shipped via truck. ABF Freight lines, not Fedex or UPS.. Arrived in perfect condition. TV works as advertised. Has a great picture and inputs galore. I have hooked up my Blu Ray player, HTPC and a gaming pc to it and they all work perfectly.
Rating
This tv is the best tv i have seen on 1080p it is is simply amazing …Apocalypto on Blu Rays isSICk
Rating
I purchased this model from Amazon.com several weeks ago after researching other models for a few months. I decided to go with the hl-t5676s, and I know now that I made the right decision. The picture quality is very good, better on stantard tv than I’d expected. I’ve been smiling since I got it, and it’s worth every penny I paid for it. If you want bigger screen dlp, this is the one.
Rating
This Tv is the best… Not only does it have the best picture I have ever seen, but the the features are excellant also.
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This is a great unit, we are very pleased with it. Every expectation you have for a big-ticket TV is met by the Samsung. It also has all of the connectivity flexibility you need. I was concerned after reading somewhere that the line-out audio jacks would not work if you were using HDMI sourcing. That’s no longer true. I run my audio through a Bose LifeStyle system that decodes Dolby digital from the line jacks if the signal is present – works great. The following is my story, why would anyone buy a unit like this online?
The last place I would have looked for a large screen (expensive)TV was online. I just went there to get the reviews, I knew I wanted a DLP system and wanted to see what others had to say. Samsung reviews were about as good as you could get without paying someone to write them.
Of course once having read the reviews I had to get a general idea of pricing. I looked at all of the known big box stores and found them to be within a few dollars (suprise)of each other. I did see an ad for the Samsung for Amazon and since I have been satisfied with small purchases I have made from them over a long period of time I decided to check it out.
WOW! What a pricing difference. So I made a decision to buy from them. The unit shipped when they said it would, the carrier brought it out on the day they said they would and the delivery people brought it inside, unpacked it, made sure it was undamaged, placed it where I wanted it and hauled away all of the packaging. Now this may only have been my experience, but it was a very good experience.
Regards
Tom
Rating
This TV is incredible. The sound from the TV itself is not that great but who cares when you can back this baby up with a great sorround system. The clarity, the colors, everything about this TV is amazing to say the least. For the price you pay at amazon you can’t go wrong with this 56 inches worth of screen. I Highly recommend it over any plasma or LCD HD. This 1080p has everything you need for your audiovisual experience. The delivery of this product exceeded my expectations. It was lightening fast, The delivery company used by Amazon gave me great service. They were very curteous. They brought it to my house, unboxed it, plugged it in and made sure it worked ok and that there was no damage. They even took all the trash out with them. Amazon way to go with this kind of service and prices you’ve got my business. Thank you for such great business ethics and integrity. It was a pleassure doing bussiness with you. I’ll be back!
Rating
I really like this TV. I purchased this TV for my gameroom specifically for the Wii and slumber parties for my kid. It is great because it keeps them far away from me so I can rest in peace.
Rating
Best price for the size and quality of TV. It looks clearer than most LCD TV’s I have seen. The TV was delivered ahead of schedule and looks fantastic. This was my first large purchase from Amazon and it definitly won’t be my last. I was thinking of buying the 61″ but this TV is more than enough. The only problem I have with now is waiting for more channels to be avialiable in HD. Make sure you have a large living room because it is best viewed from 8 feet away and further.
Rating
Amazon provided a great service not only by price, but delievery. The DLP TV so far has been great. Picture quality is great and setup is easy. I have only had this TV a short while (2days), but could not be happier.
Updated 11/18/09
TV is working as good as it did when it was brand new. Excellent picture.
Rating
My wife and I were wary about buying a TV from an online retailer. Boy were we wrong! A perfect TV, unbeatable price, and service that delivered the TV one week ahead of schedule!
Rating
Best HD picture i have seen yet, incredible.Delivered as promised with no catches. Would reccomend this unit and amazon to everybody
Rating
I recently purchased the Samsung hlt5676s from Amazon for a great price.(1649.oo) I see that it has even come down in price.So far am very pleased with with it. I recently hooked up with HD programming and the picture is amazing. I was looking to get a Sony but when I saw the Samsung the picture was a lot sharper. Shipping was fast and free and also no tax. Amazon beat everyones price. Great buy!!
Rating
Bought the hlt5676s instead of the hlt5687s. I heard great things about the LED light in the hlt5687s but when I saw it at the store it did not give me as wide of an angle for viewing as the hlt5676s. The led was sharper in contrast between the shades and blacks in the movies I have watched compared to the hlt5676s. It was very small and not big enough to sway me to by the LED and compromise viewing angle. I got this modle for 1,899.97 at RC Willey on sale. PS VERY THIN.
Rating
I like the TV, but my unit came with blemishes (small dark smudges) on the screen. SAMSUNG does not provide a warranty for international customers who purchase from the USA !!! (I buy in USA & ship to Trinidad)
I am an Amazon Prime customer & if I purchased from Amazon directly there may have been some redress.
I bought this item through Amazon from OneCall due to a better price at the time. So, I have to live with the black spots on my screen…oh well, you live & you learn.
My only other comment is that the audio quality should be better.
Rating
I’ve had this TV for about a month and the picture quality is truly awesome.
Pros:
The screen is uniformly illuminated (no hot-spots like the HL-T6187S) and no rainbows (at least for me). Over-the-air HDTV reception is great. DVD movies look pretty good. I compared the picture to the LED versions of this TV and found the LED ones to have hotspots and uneven screen brightness. Only the Sony SXRD’s come close to the uniformity of screen brightness.
Cons:
Mercury lamp ($200) will require replacement every 2-3 years. Color wheel ($170) may also require replacement after some years. However, this is a proven technology, LED ones are still evolving. Lamp versions are not that much worse economically either as you pay lower price upfront. Make sure you calibrate and reduce brightness/contrast right after first startup to extend lamp life. Increasing the on/off cycle time will also help (I’ve heard minimum on/off periods of 15 min).
Screen blotches: This was a concern. Due to the light reflecting back from inside the screen in a bright room when the TV is off, I saw dark/light bands all around the periphery of the screen. No bands when there is a picture on the screen. All RPTV’s (Samsung, Sony, etc.) have similar bands. I wish Samsung would include this in the manual or tech bulletin.
Shipping & delivery:
Amazon had the best price with free shipping, and excellent customer service. They gave me credit when the TV price dropped in a week after purchasing and were ready to accept a return when I was concerned about the blotches. Delivery took 4 days instead of the stated 9 days. The delivery crew unpacked and placed the TV on the stand. In fact one of the delivery men was so pleased with the TV that he noted the model number to buy one himself.
I would recommend this TV because of its picture quality and sleek design (it is very slim, only 10″ deep). However, check out different TV’s in store before making a decision as image quality is different for everyone. Ask the store displays to turn the picture mode to standard instead of the ultra bright settings to get a feel for normal viewing experience.
Rating
I researched this TV for quite a while before I made the purchase. The set meets all my expectations and I plan on buying the 61″ for my Florida home. I found that Amazon offered the best pices and the delivery was out of this world. They unpacked the set and placed it right on the stand that I had in place for it. Extremely satisfied.
Rating
This is a great TV and you will not find a better price than Amazon. With free shipping and no tax other retailers could not come close. The savings are worth waiting a week for delivery. The picture is awesome. My only complaint is the sound. At very low levels it’s ok for normal TV viewing. At anything above 30 on the volume and the sound starts to distort. Music is very bad. The little 10 watt speakers just can’t handle any base. It’s so bad I had Samsung schedule a repair to replace the speakers. The new speakers are just as bad.
My plan was to use the digital output from the TV to feed into my home theater sound system. Well, come to find out it’s disabled when using HDMI as an input. Makes no sense. Then I find this on Samsung’s support web site:
“The HDMI input on Samsung TVs can not pass digital 5.1 Surround Sound to the Digital Optical output jack. This is not a limitation of the TV (technically, it could be done), but instead a limitation imposed by laws and regulations. The TV can not pass straight digital signal because to do so would violate copyright laws and copy protection regulations.
So, if you want digital video and digital 5.1 sound, you must connect the video output of your source to your TV using DVI or HDMI, and connect the digital audio output from your source directly to the digital audio input of your Home Theater System”
Well so much for running one digital audio cable to my sound system. Since my home theater system only has one digital optical input I have to resort to manually moving the cable back and forth between my HD-DirectTV, DVD and XBox. So in the end the digital optical out on the TV is worthless unless you use the ATSC built in tuner.
So in the end I would recommend the TV but make sure you have a decent sound system to use with it.
Rating
I watch alot of movies and had been using a DLP projector setup in My living room. The size of a DLP projector is hard to beat if setup properly but the downsides are ambiant light, pull down screens or blank walls. I finally decided to ditch the projector to move to a LCD/Plasma. I currently have a Samsung 37″ LCD in my bedroom and love it. Well after pricing 50″+ LCD’s and Plazmas i was in sticker shock. There where several 720p ones for “almost” resonable prices. But since i use it for gameing and computer also i prefered the 1080P (native 1920X1080) which jumped the price quite a bit. I had no interest in rear projection TV’s from my past viewings of them. They still have a few limitations. Viewing angle, to high or to low, or to far to a side will make the picture dark or faded looking. Once placed on a 2 foot tall stand it works perfect for me and I have no problems with viewing angle. I was unsure of the picture quality (once again from my time with older projection sets) but this TV is excellent. I have a PC hooked up and the Picture and text is clear. I was concerned with contrast, but watching dark movies has been great, i see no loss of detail in shadows or dark spots. Game systems look great, no motion blur. Overall I’m 100% satisified with this TV and am glad i got the extra size.
Rating
I have only minor complaints about the Samsung in the week I have had it. One minor issue: letter boxed 4/3 are framed on all four sides and, if you use zoom1 it cuts off some of the bottom lines (half a line of subtitles). Another: the control should have a direct access button to each input instead of a source toggle for programming of AV remotes. But the picture is excellent and the ATSC receiver picks up more channels than any HD receiver I have used before. Amazon’s price is, also excellent. But Eagle USA shipping is another matter:
Eagle USA delivered the Samsung HLT5676S to my residence on Saturday, December 1 at Noon. I had planned to have a TV stand made which, unfortunately, was delayed so I arranged to support the TV with a piece of plywood and 3 substantial pieces of black granite left over from prior construction projects. Though I am nearly 60 I brought the first piece of granite into my house unaided but, seeing the strain involved, my wife helped me carry in the other two pieces from the garage. Since my wife is much smaller than I am I chose to walk backwards up the two steps from my garage to the kitchen of our house. While we were bringing in the last slab of granite Eagle arrived and I tripped backward over the top step & the granite fell on my belly. The delivery employees came to where I was and my wife asked if they could help me. Rather than asking if I was hurt, or even offering to help me up, they simply stared and said that their company’s rules prohibited them from doing this. Is that so? Is Eagle USA so inhumane that it instructs its employees to ignore someone who may be hurt and offer no help to someone who has fallen? I think the fear of liability has created a completely inhumane treatment of customers which I abhor. We are human beings first. If two young men do not have the common decency to go to the aid of a 59 year old man who had fallen on his back with a slab of granite on his stomach what have we come to? Perhaps, if there is liability it should be for inaction. What if I had been seriously hurt and their help would have ameliorated the problem. Might I not have a case against Eagle for reckless disregard of human life? But in the final analysis insurance should not be the determining factor. If they haven’t the common decency to help another human being in trouble and think that’s what their corporation is expects then Amazon should get rid of them.
Rating
This TV is a great value for 56″ of HD. Simple to use and great picture quality. With most Project make sure you evaluate where you will be watching it from in your house because the color and clarity can vary both with distance and angle. I had some smudges on my screen and it had to be replace. Samsung support was very helpful and the technician was very professional and efficient. Apparently it is a problem that could develop. Make sure you check the screen when you receive the TV by watching something with as much of a white background as possible. I know that sounds like a lot but all in all it was pretty minor compared to the awesome value and picture quality.
Rating
I am very satisfied at this time with my purchase. it is definitely what I expected.
Rating
For the money on this rear projection -vs- plasma and lcd, you can not go wrong. Electronics Express (thru Amazon) had the unit here in 2 days and with shipping charges, was still $400 cheaper than retailer. I am very happy with this tv. I have large front windows that allow light to enter room. No problem here. Side view is no problem. I have small child and was afraid of plasma screen. Still fine tuning with it, but if you want a great 56″, this is the one. Football and Nascar are unbeleiveable difference in HD. I truly did not know what I was missing out on!!!
Rating
I ordered this from Amazon and it was actually sold by Vanns. It came by Yellow Freight on time but with only one driver with instructions to leave it at the curb. It only weighed 98 lbs in the crate and 68 out of the crate so I could have handled it myself but I gave the driver $20 to bring it inside and help me take down my old 32″ set that weighed 111 lbs. The set is just as promised with a crisp picture so good that it is hard to tell from the HD channels when I switch. The weather channel is in regular digital as well as in HD on another channel and it is very difficult to see much difference. I have it hooked to a settop box with a HDMI cable only because the set top box provides so much more like HD recording at a touch as well as a tremendous guide. I realize that the lamp may burn out in a year or so but it looks pretty easy to change out for around $200 so did not opt for the extended warranty. I actually bought 56″ set because it fit the opening in the builtin entertainment wall that I had built with the house 20 years ago. I must have imagined even back then that I would need a space this big someday. Can not imagine that Plasma or LCD can be any better then this even tho a lot more money since I paid $1400 delivered to my door. Best Buy had the same set for $1900 plus sales tax and delivery charge.
Rating
I have been strolling through the TV section of Best Buy for 2 or 3 years now checking out the HDTVs. After months of researching, I finally broke down and bought this one. I could not be happier. I was worried that the 56-inches would be too big for my 12×14 room but it’s perfect. When I go to the movies I like to sit as close to the screen as I can without straining my neck. I don’t think I’ll ever have to go to another theatre again. The blacks are dark …the image is crystal clear.
The service left a little to be desired. The people who showed up were great but make sure you have the correct phone # on record with Amazon, I had an old landline # that I got rid of and the delivery company didn’t bother to email me or contact Amazon for the correct #. I guess if I never called them they’d be watching my TV right now. Not exactly white glove treatment. I’d rather it went UPS.
I also wouldn’t recommend my cable companies DVR, I have Tivo on my non-HDTV and the digital cable box/DVR is awful compared to Tivo. Plus, Tivo is cheaper in the long run since it has a built in digital tuner you don’t have to pay Cablevision $8 to rent one.
I love this TV, some have said the sound isn’t all that…it’s the best sounding TV I’ve ever heard, but I did hook it up to my stereo for surround sound. I bought the TV for the picture not the sound. T
The PIP is great, the setup is easy, the picture is amazing! Just buy it already. You know you want to.
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I love this TV! It has made me hate watching other TVs in my house. The picture is great.
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Did a lot of shopping and research before deciding on this TV. I’m sure there are better out there, but for the price this TV has an outstanding picture. Sound could be better, but most people will upgrade to home theater with HDTV so that’s not a problem. 3 HDMI ports so you can hook up everything you want. I’m happy and totally satisfied with this purchase.
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I ordered this tv from Amazon after doing literally months of research. I was really interested in an LCD, then I found that plasma would suit my viewing habits better. My friend bought a 50″ dlp in 720p. I really liked that picture. What sold me on the dlp is the fact that the bulb is replacable. On both the lcd and plasmas once the screen fades, according to everything I read, you’re done. Throw it out and buy a new one. Prices have certainly come down, and I’m sure will decrease further, but I have no desire to fork out this kind of $$ again anytime soon.
I priced a Samsung 50″ dlp in 1080p at all the local stores. Most didn’t even carry it in stock. Circuit City had it (the closest location to me being 50 miles away) for $400 more than Amazon, plus I would have had to pick it up, and I would have paid sales tax. Using Amazon, I got a lower price, no tax, and free shipping. Also, as I was looking at the 50″ I saw this 56″ one. It was only $50 more!! That’s a lot of tv for only $50, so I bought this one. I know from other’s reviews that some people had a problem with the shipping company. I certainly didn’t. The estimated date for delivery was the 11th. The shipping company called me on the 7th, and arranged to deliver on the 9th at 2pm. I pulled in my driveway at 1:50pm, and the truck was waiting. The man brought the tv in, set it on the stand, and cautioned me not to turn it on until it had warmed to room temperature. This bothered me a little bit, but only because I was worried about what I would do if for some reason the set didn’t work.
I waited about 1 1/2 hours, and turned it on. The set up process was pretty basic. For the picture, I like standard mode with the lighting in my livingroom. Movie mode looks good also. Dynamic was ok too, but I prefer standard.
I’ve watched a couple dvds, and some standard cable. So far, so good. I plan on upgrading my cable box to the HD one as soon as I get the time. Even with standard cable, the picture is far superior to my old 25″ zenith. I do have a couple, what I would call blemishes, on the screen. I noticed them right away after I turned it on. They aren’t bad. Certainly not enough for me to go to the trouble of sending it back, but I tend to focus on them. I don’t appear to have the bowing problem that some reviewers have had, nor does it appear to vibrate when I walk around the room.
I would caution people that have smaller rooms, not to buy this size screen. I found right away the picture looks better from 10 feet away and further. Any closer and you get some shading effects. Still, I love this tv.
**UPDATE 1/17/2008**
As I watched the tv more, I found more of the blemishes on the screen. Eight in all. I decided that I wasn’t putting up with that, and contacted Samsung for warranty service. What a nightmare. First, I was on hold for almost 30 minutes. Then I spoke with a woman who asked me for a lot of information, then told me she couldn’t help me and transfered me. I held for another 10 minutes until I got another service person to which I had to repeat all the information I gave to the 1st person. This gentleman was more helpfull, having me describe the problem, then going and talking with technicians and relaying what they were saying back to me. When I told him I got the tv from Amazon, things suddenly changed. All of a sudden the blemishes, which appear to be on the inside layer of the screen, became “cosmetic damage” caused by Amazon, or the shipping company. I’m certainly not an expert in these matters. It could very well be the case, but the impression I got was that they didn’t want to do warranty work. Next, I was outside the 25 mile in home service range of the technicians. I reminded him that the warranty states that any tv over 26″ gets in-home service. He promised that a technician would call to schedule an appointment within 48 hours. They finally called 5 days later. In the meantime I contacted Amazon to see what my options were. I really did not want a refund. One, because I wanted the t.v., and two because I don’t feel that this was Amazon’s, or the shipping company’s, fault. The customer service people I dealt with were excellent. My first email question was responded to in less than 24 hours. I then called their service number to get some additional information. The young lady I spoke with was very helpfull, and explained that if Samsung wouldn’t help me, they would simply ship me a new tv, and pick up the old one at the same time. At this point I was still willing to have samsung try and fix it, so I waited 2 more days. Today I called again, and arranged for Amazon to replace the tv. Again, the customer service person was very helpfull. It took maybe 5 minutes for her to submit my request. Ironically, after I hung up the phone, the samsung technician called. I told them to forget it.
In short, Amazon is great to deal with. I still think the t.v. is an excellent buy, which is why I’m exchanging it instead of getting a refund. Just hope you don’t need warranty work from Samsung.
Rating
Picture quality is limited only by the source (with a couple of minor caveats, see below). With 1080P capability, including the ability to accept a 1080P source, the TV is on the cutting edge, for now at least. Colors are not only bright, but natural looking. Even with regular DVDs, the picture is excellent, and with hi-def DVDs you can experience the ‘looking through a window’ effect (depending on the quality of the transfer of course).
The TV comes initially with the contrast and brightness set way too high, and also showing a lot of edge enhancement, which makes for a very artificial looking picture (this is the result of the TV starting up in the Dynamic picture mode) . Fortunately, there’s a simple cure for this. Just select Movie mode, and you’ll notice a great improvement in picture quality. You can make further adjustments from there. Too me the colors were still slightly oversaturated, and I bumped the color setting down from 45 to 40. Overall, the set is pretty darn impressive even before you start tweaking once you get it into Movie mode.
The base of the TV is about 35 inches wide, and given the light weight, fitting it on one of the many TV stands is no issue. I put it on a 40″ wide stand, but I think it would actually look better on something a little wider. In any case, it’s a very sleek TV that’s not difficult to place in a room.
I’ll mention the two negative issues that I’ve come across, although both are relatively minor.
1) Silk screen effect. In bright scenes, there can be a very slight grainy quality added to the picture due to the way the tv screen is constructed. It’s not noticable on many scenes, but if you’re used to a plasma for example, you may see it. Again, not a dealbreaker by any means, the different technologies and brands all have their own quirks.
2) Minor bowing (curvature of the picture) on one corner of the screen. Visible when viewing certain menu items which have a straight line that goes all the way across the screen. My TV adds a slight dip to the lines at one edge of the set, in the lower corner. It’s not noticable when viewing a regular picture, so nothing to get upset about IMO. My set was ordered 9/21/07, but shows a manufacture date of 4/07. I’ve thought of contacting Samsung to see if they’ll replace the set, since I like the idea of possibly getting a later model, but the picture looks so good otherwise, I don’t know if it’s worth the hassle for a minor issue that’s basically not noticable with regular viewing.
I don’t have any problem recommending this Samsung, it’s a very advanced TV at a very reasonable price. The light weight and slim cabinet make it about the least intrusive rear projection TV you can buy.
Rating
I recieved this product promptly. I am very pleased with the product, I have had it for a month and a half. I have priced this product elsewhere and I can’t believe the savings.
Rating
Being the first time I purchased an item this big/expensive online, I was a little hesitant at first. However, given that this TV was 20 – 30% cheaper online than in the big box stores, I decided to give it a go.
I placed the order online on Sunday, 1/20 and the TV arrived on Thursday, 1/24. Everything was in perfect condition and I had no problems with the tracking, delivery and setup of the TV.
Now, onto the TV itself… I echo some of the same thoughts as previous posters. The sound on this TV is weak. The picture is awesome, I can’t believe how good HD looks (this being my first HDTV). The only complaint I have about the picture is the silk-screen effect (SSE). So far, I am the only one of dozens of people I’ve had over to watch the TV that has been able to notice it. For the first few weeks, I found it somewhat distracting, but I’ve gotten used to it (had the TV for almost 3 months now). I still notice it now, but I find that once I get absorbed into the program I’m watching, that I don’t really notice it.
Overall, this is a good TV at a great price. The only reason I can’t give it 5 stars is because of the somewhat-annoying silk-screen effect.
Rating
The TV is really great. The White Glove delivery is another thing entirely. We live in a rural area. The company that Amazon selected to deliver subcontracted the delivery out to another freight carrier. When the TV was delivered, they only brought it into the family room. They would not uncrate it or take away the packaging as the White Glove says will be done. I tried telling them about the White Glove and they didn’t care, saying they only deliver.
To make matters worse; after they left and we finally got the TV out of the box, we noticed that the box must have been sitting in grease or something on the truck. Under the box was an outline of the box and because we had dragged the box a bit to open it up, were smears of grease.
I have contacted Amazon, and both the original shipper and the subcontracted shipper. The shippers pointed fingers at each other. Amazon said they would contact the shippers who would contact me. After a month, I had to contact Amazon again and tell them no one had contacted me. All I want is to have my carpet cleaned but this is really frustrating.
TV is great; White Glove delivery is ?? I guess if you live in a big city, this might not be a problem.
Rating
This is one terrific televsion. Glad I purchased the DLP as opposed to the LCD and PLasma. Picture quality is outstanding. Amazon is equally terrific. One of my favorite on line shopping stops.