HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

[RockyTop1]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

alright ODogg, let's hear those impressions.....

[ODogg]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

alright ODogg, let's hear those impressions.....

3pm to 5pm is the "window" today so I should be able to post a "it works!" or "i had to send it back" type thing around then, then scurry back to work, finish my day, head back and post impressions later tonight, don't worry, i haven't forgotten my OS brothers!

[RockyTop1]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

3pm to 5pm is the "window" today so I should be able to post a "it works!" or "i had to send it back" type thing around then

more like #*!*#% i had to send it back

[ODogg]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

more like #*!*#% i had to send it back

yeah man, that's so true. after busting my hump this weekend getting a stand at last minute in the ungodly humid VA weather, getting help to get the tv up my stairs and doing all the rewiring of all my behind my current tv crap, i've put my dues in so i'm ready for it to pay off!!!!!!!

[ODogg]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

Hey guys, I got the television today about 3pm just as expected, the guy who offloaded it helped me carry it 2 flights up to my condo even though it was curbside service. After unpacking it and marvelling at how light it was comparative to it's size, we set it up. Since my friend from work was helping me I was trying to hurry. First up the cable box connection via HDMI and then turn it on.

As you guys have said, it was like turning on the sun, it was in that Dynamic really bright mode, so I immediately changed it to Standard and Movie mode trying to decide what I liked best. I didn't get to fiddle for too long before I popped in Oblivion on the 360 to show my friend who is a PC World of Warcrafter. It looked very impressive, my friend was amazed as well (so amazed he's now talking about getting a 360 and the same TV I have). No lag, unbelievable picture, just simply freakin' killer.

Anyways, I had to go back to work for awhile. So about 6pm I got home and really started setting everything up including the PS2 and fiddling with all the settings. The instruction manual for this thing is about as thick as a bible no joke, so it took some reading. Anyways, fired up the PS2, pretty scared because of how much jaggies there are in NCAA 06. Well it didn't look near as good as the 360 of course but it also didn't look near as bad as I feared it would because even on a 30" the jaggies are pretty darned apparent. I think the DNIE smoothing may help or something because in fact the jaggies didn't even seem as bad as on my 30" so I was pretty happy with that.

I fired up OSU/Michigan and it was better than I thought it'd look, after awhile I didn't notice the jaggies as much and I was having fun enjoying the game. So about a quarter or so later I figured i'd try out that "game mode". Even though so far I noticed ZERO lag at all I just figured I'd try it anyways. Well it didn't look near as good with game mode on, everything was very blurred and dulled out so I turned off game mode. I also messed around with DNIE and some other functions but bottom line, it looked best to begin with when I was just using the default settings (although of course I changed to standard so I wouldn't go blind from the dynamic mode).

Anyways, everythings kick@ss and now i'm ready for 360. I'm also tired as heck after the last few days of all this furniture moving around and carrying things around (most exercise I've gotten in a while lifting stuff, that's for sure). The only thing negative at all I noticed was my Simpletech USB 4 gig portable drive won't recognize on the WiseLink USB input (the Xbox 360 recognizes it just fine). Well it does recognize it but can't find the nekked women that's on the drive, who knows, maybe it's a very religious USB port, LOL. No big deal to me though because I didn't really count on this working, to be honest I wasn't even aware the tv had it. I do hope however it works with my Sony digital camera I plan to buy later this fall.

Oh and also, standard TV looks adequate as well...not blindingly bad, of course it's chopped liver compared to HD but boy that DNIE function does a good job of cleaning up the picture. So in closing, i'd highly recommend www.vanns.com and this set, the Samsung HLS-5088. It's funny because the truck driver who delivered the tv to my house had several of the same sets on his truck. He asked me "what's up with this company and this tv, i've had a huge chunk of my deliveries today of these Samsung 50" TV's from Vanns. I just said, they got a good deal on them and he said "well they sure must!"

So bottom line, no lag at all, not even on PS2 and 360 looks freakin' unreal. I feel it was $2699 well spent!!!! And I haven't even hooked up the free Sony DVD upconverter machine as of yet, gotta get me some HDMI cables this weekend.

[RockyTop1]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

sweet man, glad it worked out well for ya

[ODogg]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

sweet man, glad it worked out well for ya

thanks, i was kinda holding my breath there since this company is not a company i'd dealt with before but i guess my research paid off as they had some great reviews on the various sites. i guess i can see why.

i just got done firing up the atari 2600 flashback on the 50" and playing centipede and ms. pacman. talk about a convergence of technology, LOL!

[ODogg]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

my next purchase is def. going to have to be a good universal remote that will do it all because with this new TV and new DVD player I have 7 remotes now and it's getting pretty crowded on this end table here.

[DW Rutledge]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

yeah that tv is the balls i've had my 56" for 2 weeks now.

does anyone in here use an indoor antenna to get local hd channels?

i was thinking about getting this one-

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/produ...cfkmdffhdfgo.0

but getting the amplified version from radio shack for $50.

i can't get local hd channels from direct tv where i live.

[huffphil]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

ODogg,

Thanks for the impressions so far. Couple of questions - what do you have the TV sitting on stand wise? Did the box come with anything from Samsung about purchasing a warranty? Are you planning on doing that? I would like to go with one of these online retailers to save some money, but only if I have the piece of mind of a good warranty as well.

I highly recommend the Harmony 880 remote. Expensive, but one of the best purchases I have made for just getting rid of 3 remotes (didn't even get to 7). It is also a wife-approved device if you know what I mean.

[ODogg]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

ODogg,

Thanks for the impressions so far. Couple of questions - what do you have the TV sitting on stand wise? Did the box come with anything from Samsung about purchasing a warranty? Are you planning on doing that? I would like to go with one of these online retailers to save some money, but only if I have the piece of mind of a good warranty as well.

I highly recommend the Harmony 880 remote. Expensive, but one of the best purchases I have made for just getting rid of 3 remotes (didn't even get to 7). It is also a wife-approved device if you know what I mean.

I got a used stand from Craigslist for $125, it's a black tv stand made for large tvs, it's about 25" tall, 50" wide and 23" deep, since it's all black with shelves and such it works out really well to coordinate with the samsung all black TV. I was looking at best buy and circuit city but the cheapest stands they had was about $200+tax, which I could have tolerated but then there was an extra charge and hassle to get them to put it together and i'm awful at doing that kind of stuff...so i just found this one and it is a good deal I think, it's less than a year old and in excellent shape. plus i didn't have to spend hours frustrated trying to get the damned thing together!!!!

As for the warranty, i'm going to check that out tomorrow and i'll post. I'm about ready to hit the hay tonight here soon and i'm mentally drained after reading all that manual and going through my menu settings like 5800 times, LOL.

If the warranty is reasonable then i'm going to purchase it I think. I'll check out that remote man, i appreicate the headsup. I've heard good things about most Logitechs, although i've read they can take a good long time to program if you're a tech-head to get everything the way you like it. but that's fine because i love doing stuff like that.

[mjb2124]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

my next purchase is def. going to have to be a good universal remote that will do it all because with this new TV and new DVD player I have 7 remotes now and it's getting pretty crowded on this end table here.

That's a must for a home entertainment center!

Personally I got a Home Theater Master MX-500. Love it. It takes a little bit to get all the macros setup (ie: press one button to turn on the TV and reciever or press one button to switch the TV and reciever to the input that the 360 is plugged into), but it's a very powerful remote. Does everything I've been able to throw at it.

I know they have a new version of this remote now. It's here:

http://www.universalremote.com/urc/

Scroll down to the URC-300 Customizer.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

Just throwing in my 2 cents on the universal remote converation. I agree that the Harmony remotes are the top of the line, but you'll also be paying a pretty penny for it.

I'd like to suggest the Radio Shack 8 in 1 Kameleon. It is easy to program and works great from a long distance. I have had absolutely no problems with mine and best of all it costs 1/2 the price of a higher end Harmony.

No matter what remote you decide on, get it off ebay...it'll save you a ton of money. My Kameleon retails for $60-65 and I got if for $25 (including shipping).

[ODogg]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

Just throwing in my 2 cents on the universal remote converation. I agree that the Harmony remotes are the top of the line, but you'll also be paying a pretty penny for it.

I'd like to suggest the Radio Shack 8 in 1 Kameleon. It is easy to program and works great from a long distance. I have had absolutely no problems with mine and best of all it costs 1/2 the price of a higher end Harmony.

No matter what remote you decide on, get it off ebay...it'll save you a ton of money. My Kameleon retails for $60-65 and I got if for $25 (including shipping).

Thanks Gamecock2002, i'll check the radio shack remote out.

Also, for those of you who were inquiring if Samsung offered an extended warranty, from reading the documentation they do not. However I will say that one nice thing is if you fill out your warranty card and send it in then the warranty goes an extra 3 months so instead of one year it's 15 months.

[RockyTop1]

Re: HDTV Questions and Answers Thread

Thanks Gamecock2002, i'll check the radio shack remote out.

Also, for those of you who were inquiring if Samsung offered an extended warranty, from reading the documentation they do not. However I will say that one nice thing is if you fill out your warranty card and send it in then the warranty goes an extra 3 months so instead of one year it's 15 months.

well that kinda sucks about the warranty, but I guess if your TV is still working flawlessly after 15 months, I'd say you are pretty well set.