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The only other answer I got from Samsung was that I needed to take it to a service center; this is after I told them that a television repair person had looked at it. Samsung was also not helpful.
Two weeks ago the picture became all distorted. Since my television warranty was through Circuit City I had no choice but to call a television repair person out to look at it.
I purchased a Samsung television about eighteen months ago. After doing some research I discovered that there were quite a few Samsung televisions that were going out and that the parts were on backorder for about a month.
As soon as he walked in the door he knew what the issue was. He told me that the part would cost almost as much as the television and that his recommendation was to throw away the television and purchase another one.
I trying to discuss this with SamsungTweets on Twitter, but he blocked me when I asked why nobody called me like he said they would. From what I can tell from looking on television repair forums, Samsung televisions look to be pretty flakey.
There's no contest, and it's a crying shame that these sets are a fast dying breed. Watching college football on ESPN or CBS will make you cry and almost forget about buying season tickets. 1080p, 120hz, HDMI 1.3 support, and an inherently faster refresh rate than ANY LCD panel produced and you've got by far and beyond the absolute best HDTV to reproduce any blu-ray that exists.Having seen blu-ray on 120hz LCDs, I quickly developed a distaste for the image which due to the problems inherent in digital displays, the look and feel of film had completely disappeared. Pirates of The Carribean: At World's End, looked like it was shot with a nice HD Camera and forgot to undergo the post production processing that makes it film.However, when it comes to watching HD Video (like HD off-air broadcasts or HD Satellite TV) this set is no slouch. The color palette is incredible and the blacks are BLACK, not dark gray or charcoal.For reference sake, I'm using a Dishnetwork ViP 211 HD Satellite receiver, a Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-Ray player (best you can by for under $1000, I promise you) and both are jacked in with Accell Ultra Pro AV 2m HDMI 1.3 cables, capable of slinging 10.2 Gbits per second, just like the Monster Cable 1000 HDMI cables for 3 times the price.I have no regrets. You can take your LCDs and shove 'em.
Outdoor documentaries in HD are matchless. I bought this TV several months back from Vann's for $1200 including (no)tax and delivery. However dark scenes sometimes appear too dark. Price was good, delivery was prompt and the TV has been free of defects. The picture is fantastic when the scene is bright. Though last night I watched The Departed with the TV set on Dynamic and the picture was quite outstanding throughout. I wish I could give it 4 stars instead of 3, but I can't seem to make that editorial change.
There is a very narrow range of view angles for optimal quality - directly in front of the screen and near eye-level. This happened within an hour of getting it off the truck, but then didn't happen again for maybe a month. When the tv was working, I generally liked it purely because of its size and price. I haven't had any other DLPs to compare this to.I can't comment on HD. So for now, its only use is as a big expensive digital photo viewer. Otherwise, the picture is dim. Sports can be frustrating to watch at this size in SD, though.The #1 problem with mine is that the volume spontaneously goes all the way up to 100, and unplugging the set for several minutes is the only solution.
After 2.5 weeks in the shop, it just came back today - worse than before. Getting a good brightness and color setting for the screen is challenging. After it had happened a few times, I called Samsung for repairs. It's frustrating to see such a big difference just from standing versus sitting in the same spot. SD is acceptable for normal programming, although I'm sure HD would look snazzy. I had it on for ~15 minutes at a time, then the volume cranked up and it had to be unplugged for several minutes. It's probably a bad sign that while this tv was in the shop for two and a half weeks, I really didn't miss it.
After nearly 5 months of ownership, I have yet to find a flaw. The picture is far brighter than most DLP's I've viewed and will rival LCDs and plasmas, minus the high power consumption and the heat generated by these flat screens. If you take the time to fiddle with the audio controls and customize it, the built-in speakers can also provide good sound (although if you had a tv this good, you'd really want to pair it with at least a 5.1 surround system). I hope Samsung continues to evolve the DLP LED series because from what I've seen, this is a truly worthwhile technology.
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