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"Beautiful picture, picks up HD directly from cable w/o box, and width is minimal for TV size" on by rdeck
Pros: LED eliminates bulb, great picture, great form factor
Cons: Sound could be better, though hidden speakers are nice
Summary: I bought from Amazon.com. The free delivery option was faster than advertised. Delivery company unpacks but does not include “setup” which was just fine with me since I prefer to do this myself anyway.
So far I’m very happy with the set. The prior generation of LED DLP (HL-S5679W) was critiqued for color evenness and background blackness issues. To my eye, this set is flawless in HD. The new 10,000:1 contrast ratio may have helped background black and I notice no brightness variance across the screen. (But I’ve not compared them side by side.)
The form factor was a major selling point for me. There seems to be much concern on LCD vs DLP in terms of depth, but width issues are overlooked. For those of us with cabinets built for tube/analog TV’s, depth is not an issue but width is a huge issue. The slim bezel of this TV allowed me to put the 50” in the space, where the Samsung LN-S4696D LCD would have fit maximum 46” screen size, and that’s a slim width LCD. Even for table-top installation, the slim depth profile of only 12.8” would fit most locations fine.
Other nice features: The QAM tuner picked up full 1080 HD and digital channels from my Time Warner basic cable (coax) with no digital or HD box installed. Cable companies won’t advertise this, but if you don’t need the program guide or cable DVR this works just fine and you can just pay your basic cable and get HD digital. Even so, I have FIOS TV on order to get the HD DVR since my Tivo series 2 is really “low def” at best.
The “plug and play” setup is nice. I plugged it in and turned it on. While getting the remote set up, the TV went through a full setup on its own and I really didn’t have to do anything except a channel scan. Oddly the default brightness and color settings are set to enhanced modes. I set them back to “standard” which appeared to be a truer picture and color to me.
Sound is just OK, and lacks ooph in my opinion. For movies, and special events, use the optical audio to an audio system. I was spoiled by my old RCA 36” which had very good built in speakers. One “wish” would be a sub-woofer output directly on the TV so I could hook a sub up to the TV and bypass a home-theater system. A sub woofer with std TV audio would be just fine for most viewing. But I don’t know that any TVs offer this. Aside from no sub woofer out, the connections are many and thorough.
So far, I’m thrilled. The picture is beautiful, it fits where others wouldn’t, and it’s meeting all my needs. -
"The step-up HL-T5089S is simply amazing. It is accurate, quiet, and LED driven." on by hilower
Pros: Color is right-on, the LED system works, it is SLIM, and it's a beauty with a narrow piano black bezel.
Cons: Sound is just OK, but it is as good as other in-set units.
Summary: Well, they did it! To me, the Samsung HL-T5089S DLP LED driven HDTV is the best under $3500 set of any type. First of all, it is a SLIM DLP – under 13” deep, under 62 pounds with a thin piano-black bezel that’s just gorgeous, before you get to the great picture. It has an LED light engine and full 1920 by 1080p resolution. No color wheel, no noise. A projected 20,000 LED life bulb life! They claim a 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and I believe it. There are no screen light reflection problems and it is plenty bright. Some reviews of Samsung’s first outing into LED, the HL-S5687W complained about lack of inky blacks, uneven brightness and slow menu response. That’s all gone. Blacks are beautiful, and I can’t detect any uneven brightness or color gradation. The other complaint was high price. I bought this thru Amazon from Electronic Express and paid $1995 plus delivery of $100 (to my vestibule – not pure white glove service, but at 61 pounds, not a problem). This is the stepped up model. The basic T5087S looks as good, but lacks PIP, Bluetooth (who cares), USB 2.0 (which I might care about in the future) and HDMI 1.3 (which I will care about soon). The HL-T5087S seems to go for about $1900 which is a real bargain. My Dish Network has 32 HD channels + locals! I’m using two HDMI cables from my Satellite receiver and my OPPO upconverting DVD player. I borrowed a Blu-ray for a day, and it was simply fantastic, but I’ll wait for a few months to buy hoping for a winner in that dumb battle. The first on screen cue out of the box is a set up choice of “home or store”. Store is way too much, but home is close to fine. I backed off a bit on brightness, contrast and green, but otherwise all seems very close. The basic settings are Standard, Movie, and Dynamic. I’m sure Movie is close to correct, but when friends come by, put on Dynamic and blow them away! The menus are complete and simple. The setup is completely intuitive. I’ll read the manual one of these days. If there is a negative, it is the sound which is just OK, but no worse than any other in-set unit. But I use my surround system and the results of the complete set-up are staggering. The universal remote is OK with a few lights on critical buttons. I tried the game mode briefly, and there are no delay problems that I can see, and it is 3D HD ready. I haven’t tried the PC input yet. I use very few of the picture enhancements, but I’ll try them should I get bored with a truly fine HD receiver.
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"Great Pic - HORRIBLE NOISES" on by rileyray
Pros: Visuals that are stunning
Cons: Noises that are more than annoying
Summary: The HL-T5087 should be a good tv. It has excellent color, deep blacks and a quick response time. But the devil is in ONE detail that Samsung's customer service has admitted is a KNOWN problem: the noise the LED light engine makes. Now I'm not a stickler for this stuff. I sleep through garbage removal day. I don't notice loud upstairs neighbors. So when I say THIS is an issue, I am not complaining lightly.
When there is a bright scene, there is a high pitched whine that comes from the back of the TV in the Light Engine. When the screen darkens, it goes away or lessens. The result? You'll be watching a movie where someone jumps in and out of a dark scene and hear "whiiiiiine, WHIIIIIIIINE, whiiiine. WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!" If it was constant you could tune it out. If it wasn't there this TV would be five stars. The way it is right now, it's horrible.
I wish I could return it but Buy.com will only let you return this to the manufacturer - Samsung. Their response? "We're working on it." I asked them how long that would take. They said "probably 15 days." I asked if that meant I could refund it AFTER 15 days. They said no. That I had to give them a chance to fix it, no matter how long that might take. And as long as they are "working on it" I would have to "hold onto the TV."
I should also mention that the Samsung authorized repair center that took the TV to confirm it was an issue that Samsung CAN'T fix, told me that they have TEN other Samsung sets with the SAME PROBLEMS.
In short - Samsung made a TV with a KNOWN issue. They will NOT return it because they are WORKING ON IT. But there is no EXACT TIMEFRAME for that work to be done. And until then, if ever, you CAN'T RETURN their DEFECTIVE TV. So don't buy it.
Unless you're deaf. In which case, I give it a strong recommendation. -
"I'm glad I did my research. This set rocks!" on by matthew.holmes
Pros: Bright crisp image out of the box, beautiful glossy piano finish, awesome PS and Xbox play, this thing does not weigh a ton.
Cons: none yet!
Summary: I special ordered through CC. I took over a month to come in. My local CC was not very helpful so I had to use another CC across town.
This set was very easy to set up and lift up to my stand. Its very light, but do a two person lift! Menus are simple and easy to follow. It was so bright, at first, I had to turn the brightness way down but the picture still looks great. This set has a great viewing area. Still looks great even at 45 deg. angle. My Xbox( yes the old one ) looks awsome on this set in game mode. It keeps up fast moving events, no chop or lag of any kind. My PS2 looks great too. Ive heard of 1080p up converters for Xbox and PS2. I don't know how they perform but maybe my next purchase.
Do your research. CC tried to push the 75s or the 76s on me. They are cheaper but are infieror models the the 87s. There is little difference between 87s and the 89s. The 89s has PIP, the 87s does not.
The 75s and the 76s are not LED!!
Overall buy this set!!!! -
"Good Quality, compact size, and good price can be negotiated!" on by tokatoda
Pros: Easy Setup, Inputs/outputs easily accessed on side, vivid clarity, economical LEDs
Cons: Potential for Engine failure (not sure the likelihood of this), not good in high light situations (as with any DLP)
Summary: I've been living in the world of tube televisions until now, but I've be researching and studying what would be the right TV for me.
I like the economic factor of the DLP TV. DLP's arch-enemy is brightly lit rooms, which isn't a problem for me since I bought this set for my finished basement. I also like the LED bulb option. The LED supposedly offers brighter colors (hard to say), while curtailing that pesky issue of replacing the projection bulb every 2 years or so. The LED bulb can be depended on for 50,000-60,000+ hours vs. the variable range of 500-3,000 hours on the standard DLP projection TV bulb. This, instantly made up for the $300 price difference in my mind (not to mention LED bulbs create less heat and are more energy efficient).
I happen to believe the place to buy a TV (if you have one in your area) is HH Gregg because they always negotiate on price. This particular TV was on the floor for $1999ish ($2000+ at other stores), and I walked away paying $1699. I also got a TV stand at $60 off the label price. Not too shabby.
I was surprised when the guy asked me if I wanted to take it home with me or have it delivered. "I can pick it up?!" I said. (mind you, I'm a 5'4" woman). He told me the TV couldn't be much more than 50 pounds, which it turns out to be just shy of 62lbs, but still, he was right, I lifted that TV with NO problem, so I saved myself the delivery fee, too!
Setup was a breeze, and keep in mind, I got home and assembled the TV stand (and you know how those things are), placed the TV on the stand, and properly connected my Satellite DVR Receiver, my Tuner/sound receiver, DVD player, PlayStation 2, XBox 360, and my Nintendo Wii...all within 2 hours of getting the TV in the door. It was so easy with the panel for inputs and outputs all in the same section--also, these are not on the very back of the TV, which I very much appreciate as this makes adding/removing components MUCH more simple since there's no need to wade through wires while squeezing behing my TV set.
As far as the Sound on the set, we got a demo at the store, which seemed better than most TV speaker sound I've heard, but I use a 5.1 surround system, so I don't really use the sound on the TV anyway. I'd recommend a modest surround system if you're getting this TV (mine was $300 at Sams Club--Pioneer brand)...but not because I find fault with the sound system--I just prefer the true surround experience.
Colors look good and vibrant on this TV. The "fadeout" (picture quality diminishing from side views) is pretty standard compared to any DLP I've seen, and it's not much of an issue since I placed the set in the corner of my room. To have gotten the same sized screen in an LCD would have easily cost me $1000 more, so I figured I could live with the minimal fadeout I'd encounter.
Crispness of picture was great. My Boyfriend played Gears of War on his XBox 360 using the game mode, and he was thrilled with the clarity, color, and movement. I'm going to have to put a lock on that xBox if I ever have any hopes of watching my TV again!
I watched Kill Bill Vol. 2 within an hour of hooking up the TV, and the picture was phenomenal. I enjoyed watching movies MUCH more having this nice picture with great color.
I can't brag enough about the options for inputs. It's got plenty, and with all my extras it's hard to find a set that accomodates them all. On top of that, it has inputs for computers and tons more stuff that I've got to figure out (or buy!).
All in all, if you want the big picture without breaking the bank, I'd recommend considering this one. Everyone's needs are different, but this TV was the best fit for my needs.
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