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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 10 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Beautiful picture, picks up HD directly from cable w/o box, and width is minimal for TV size"
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.
- 3 replies to this review
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I have the same situation as rdeck. I have a beautiful,and expensive, home theater cabinet with only 46" wide opening. This 50" set will make it by 3/4 of an inch. Only other option is 46" or 47" LCD.
If rdeck sees this comment I would like to know how he likes his set after one month. I am about to purchase this unit but would like some user feedback. I saw this unit at Fry's and it blew me away. I would put it up against any other HDTV including plasmas or LCDs that cost $1000 to $2000 more. I compared this set with the latest Plasmas and LCDs (including Samsung, Sony, Mitsubishi & Sharp)that were playing "I Robot" the movie with Will Smith. The picture on the HLT5087s was great and there was little or no distortion during the chase scenes. This was not so with any of the LCDs. The LCD display could not keep up with the movement and the edges of the objects or bodies had a "sawtooth" look. Very noticeable. Granted this action movie probably ranks in the top 1% for fast movement, but I am wondering how the LCDs look when watching car racing, basketbasll games and other fast paced action. -
How does the SD picture look? The bulk of the cable channels I would watch are still in SD. Also, how do SD DVDs look? Thanks
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Your opinion helps me tremendously and could not have come at a better time. After 4+ years of patience, research..research..research!..and more of such, I've finally come to the decision of selecting Samsungs' LED/DLP/HDTV, as our next family TV. As I've sought knowledge, opinions and advice from others here at Cnet, most have been critical, insulting, condescending..etc..toward my inquiries during my research, that only left me more confused/ignorant, than before submitting question(a)! I trust your advice will be more 'fact', as your opinion seems well informed and easily understood.
My patience will need to stretch just a little longer as the LED Samsung I wish to purchase will not be available in our area until late May, 2007. The, "HL-T89S Series", are the recent entries from Samsung with not only the 10,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio/1080p Resolution/HDMI Inputs features I desire, but, the 3 HDMI Inputs will be in 1.3 Version with CEC. You seem to be well versed in knowledge of these newer products/technology, and was hoping you may advise me as to connectivity to these 1.3 Version HDMI Inputs. I have been told that the Sony PS3 outputs dramatically as it too is equipped with 1.3 Version.
My question is..Will I have to purchase components to interface with the HDMI 1.3 Versions, for full capability? Again..your Opinion was very useful and easily read/understood! Thanks for All!
