I've been waiting on the 1080 61". The wife and I got tired of the wait and we knew we wanted a bigger set for the bedroom so with a combination of CC sale, 10% off coupon and a GC, we bought one of the 42" Sammies. It's in the living room now, but will be moved to the bedroom once we do get a 61". It looks great, but we've been using a 27" for the past 5-6 years in our HT! We've had no problems with it so far.
I have the 61' Sammy that I purchased about 18 months ago.
Personally, i love the TV but it is not without its limitations. The greens take a bit of getting used to - they are very bright. Also - and this goes for most digital tv's that I have seen - there are odd quirks with the technology. However, most of the quirks can be mitigated with proper calibration
I would recommend getting a calibration DVD - I use AVIA. I would also recommend getting an upconverting DVD player. I purchased a Toshiba DVD on the weekend and the improvement in picture quality compared to my Panny progressive scan is quite remarkable. The blacks and color definition are much more accurate and deep from the upconverting dvd player. Whether the improvement is because the Toshiba DVD player is a better match for the TV or because of the upconversion, I can't be sure but the change is very welcome!
Oh yeah,m in the 18 months I have owned the TV, I have not had one problem. It has been rock solid.
I've had a 42" about 9 months. The power ballast started making a high pitch whining noise and had to be replaced. Now the picture is getting fuzzy and dark inages on white backgrounds have bright white shadows. Repair guy comming next week.
Sammy makes a great dlp tv. I own a HLr5057 myself and love it.
These sets are awesome when calibrated, Joe Kane designed the CCA menu system, which allows for calibration of gray scale while at the same time, nailing the Green Blue and Red primaries (and also the 2ndary colors of Magenta, cyan, and yellow).
DNIe should be turned off. This will decrease edge enhancement and stop the floating black level problem.
We're thinking about buying one of the new 61" 1080p Samsung DLPs (HL-R6168W), and I had a question. I'm fairly new to high-definition displays, so this may sound silly, but here goes:
Are DLPs susceptible to magnetic field interference from unshielded speakers like normal CRTs are? In other words, if an unshielded speaker is placed near a DLP, will it have an effect?
I'm no television engineer, but I can't imagine why they would be so affected. CRT direct-view television images can be distorted by the magnetic fields generated by the magnets and coils of unshielded speakers because they are created by a beam of electrons being fired against the inside of the tube. This beam can be easily deflected by magnetic fields. Especially in a larger-screem tube set the beam travels a relatively long distance from the back of the tube to the screen, and then back and forth across the width of the screen from top to bottom. That's a lot of opportunity for interference. Most of the beam's path is separated from the outside world only by a bit of glass and the cabinet, which isn't usually very thick.
Anything other than a direct-view CRT (with the possible exception of plasma, which uses electrically charged gases) should be much less affected by unsheilded speakers or not affected at all - even rear projection CRT sets. With a CRT RPTV the actual imaging tubes are short and buried deep within the fairly bulky case. The visible image on the scren is projected optically, not electronically. You'd practically have to stick the speakers inside the case up against the 3 CRT guns to cause a problem.
Say Gregg, I don't follow specific sets that much, but what is this floating black level "problem?" If JK had his hand in the set, it may be intentional, as he designed a moving black level in his JK Samsung FP DLP projector. I'm curious if this is a similar design, or something else entirely?
The FBL is done to crush blacks and thereby make a quick appearance of a more dynamic contrast ratio. As you are aware, crushing blacks is a bad thing. The DNIe also adds edge enhancement. While JK does design / consultation, it is up to Samsung to impliment...and perceived CR vs actual, edge enhancement, and blue gray scales all help in the show room to sell TVs.
ah, I see, then indeed, a bad idea! He did implement a slight floating black level to mimick CRT in his FP dlp, and I was just curious if this was the case here. It is an interested design by JK.
From talking with a JKP employee, I dont think that JK offered the FBL as an alternative to crt. The only choice / alternative I would "think" JK would recommend is that the digital device mimic the crt's gamma curve of 2.2. JK has gone on record as stating the digital devices look better with a slightly higher curve of 2.5 ish.
I'm not sure that's the case. Stacey Spears has the JK dlp FP, and it does alter black level based on APL, from what he's told me several times. I don't know of any other DLPs that do this in the same sense. From what Stacey's said, this was a JK design feature.
I received this email today and will cut and paste the contents.
Gregg,
I took a look at the HTF thread that you asked me to. JKP never designed a "floating" black feature into the projector - Joe would never do that. With that said we do believe the black level will float if the DNIe is turned on, this may be disabled in the user menu of the projector.
The gamma that is used in the projector has a gamma curve of .4 near the bottom and then shifts to approximately 2.6 at the top end. This was done to mimic the gamma of a broadcast quality CRT, specifically the CRTs being used to correct material in production houses. By allowing the projector to have the same gamma as the display devices being used to create the material the image will be truer to what the director ultimately intended.
We do not directly consult on the RPTVs at this time. Joe's efforts were focused on the creation of a DLP front projector, once the executives saw how much better this looked than the RPTV, the RPTV engineers adopted a lot of the technology included the CCA, Color Coordinate Adjustment, software Joe developed in conjunction with Samsung Engineers.
It is our hope that the software glitch that does not allow DNIe to be permanently removed on the 1080p displays will be rectified shortly. Even with the DNIe on the set is still more accurate, after calibration, than the majority of display devices on the market.
I'm very nearly sold on the idea of the new 61" Samsung 1080p. I want to finish the whole major condo rennovation/HT restoration by the holidays, and I think the new TV is going to be the last piece - probably early to mid December (when I'm hoping retailers are really pushing prices to get bodies in the stores and make their numbers for the year.) I'll keep an eye on things and see if Samsung has the DNIe thing resolved by then.
And Gregg, of course I'll want to know when you plan to be in south Florida in 2006.