>>> Kevin, I thought the same thing when I bought my 4266. We traded it up to the 4666 and wow are we glad. The picture is much better, the blacks are blacker, no black grass at all and the increase in size was welcomed. We bought the 4666 from BB. They have many of them in the wherehouse. I think the 4666 may be the best of all the Samsung DLP's.

This was just what I wanted to hear. I think that my 4266 has a good picture, but I had heard several people say that the 4666 has much better contrast. If I can save a couple of C'notes and get a slightly larger picture and better contrast to boot, I think I will have to do the trade.

Now, how to convince my wife?

Kevin

I have discovered one very annoying fact about my HL-S... no "auto wide" mode. This means that I frequently have to reach for the remote and push the aspect ratio button. It usually manifests itself when switching from a 4:3 DVD to a 16:9 DVD, but even worse, sometimes a single DVD has content in both modes! Sigh.

Every widescreen set that I have experienced in the past just automagically detected the source size and set the aspect ratio accordingly.

Please tell me that I am missing something and that these Samsung sets do have this feature. I am starting to regret not sticking with Sony.

This was just what I wanted to hear. I think that my 4266 has a good picture, but I had heard several people say that the 4666 has much better contrast. If I can save a couple of C'notes and get a slightly larger picture and better contrast to boot, I think I will have to do the trade.

Now, how to convince my wife?

Kevin

Better go look before you buy. I checked out two 4666s over the weekend and they were no different than my 4266. Their blacks/black detail were essentially the same as the 4266. Black grass aside, I think some people that are not happy with their 4266 have defective sets and don't know it. HoustonPerson is one who *did* have a defective 4266 and didn't know it (for awhile). He got a replacement 4266 that he also says produces essentially the same picture as a 4666.

I just got my HL-S5086W yesterday. It replaced my old 1080i CRT projection by Panasonic. I have to say I'm very happy with PQ especially on Xbox 360. It's much better than my old TV. For some reasone I couldn't get my HD cable box to work after changing everything so had to use an old SD cable box. I'll try to look at it again today but if I can't get it to work I have to wait til next Wed for a technician.

One thing I noticed though, watching a DVD, is that it seems the geometry is a bit off. The black bar on the top of the screen is wider than the one on the bottom. Not by much by I can notice. Is there an option anywhere to adjust that that I can't find or we're talking technician and service menu here?

To me, the current 4266 I have has the same PQ as the 4666. I do love the picture, very good black detail on this one, that combined with a lot better color calibration makes this set a real pleasure to watch.

The tech is supposed to finally come out today see if any thing can be done for the high pitch whine sound it makes. I think it is the fan? It does not begin to make the noise until it has been on for about a hour, and then gets gradually louder. It will keep making the sound for about 3 minutes after you turn it off. You can hear it easily with the volume set on "15" standing 20 feet away. The first set was silent.

Basically, I think they are just coming out to listen to it, since they tell me there is a shortage of parts - I guess all are scheduled for production?

I picked up the 50 inch model and I couldn't be more happy... basically using out of the box settings (except for changing from Dynamic to Standard, man Dynamic was bright). I have a couple of quick questions:

1) Someone else mentioned this earlier in the thread, but I am having the problem with the TV not letting me turn it on occasionally because it thinks the lamp cover isn't closed. A couple of the lights on the front panel flash, and looking in the manual reveals that's the problem. With this being a new set, of course I have never messed with it. When I go behind the TV and press on the cover, the lights stop flashing and everything is fine. I was wondering if anyone else has had the same problem.

2) The Samsung stand. I've seen a few people comment about it but I was wondering what the general feeling on it was. Maybe I'm cheap but the asking price seems to be a bit much for such a limited-use item. I do like the look but would settle for a not as nice look for considerably cheaper. I guess I was just wondering if people feel the stand is a good value or not. My current "ghetto fabulous" setup is *not* acceptable (basically sitting on a stand made for a smaller SDTV, complete with side overhang) so I am going to do something soon. Thanks to all.

I picked up the 50 inch model and I couldn't be more happy... basically using out of the box settings (except for changing from Dynamic to Standard, man Dynamic was bright). I have a couple of quick questions:

1) Someone else mentioned this earlier in the thread, but I am having the problem with the TV not letting me turn it on occasionally because it thinks the lamp cover isn't closed. A couple of the lights on the front panel flash, and looking in the manual reveals that's the problem. With this being a new set, of course I have never messed with it. When I go behind the TV and press on the cover, the lights stop flashing and everything is fine. I was wondering if anyone else has had the same problem.

I read somewhere here of someone else having the same problem. They removed the back panel and found a lip on the panel that actuates the *panel closed* switch wasn't seated properly. All they did was reattach the panel correctly and all was well.

I have discovered one very annoying fact about my HL-S... no "auto wide" mode. This means that I frequently have to reach for the remote and push the aspect ratio button. It usually manifests itself when switching from a 4:3 DVD to a 16:9 DVD, but even worse, sometimes a single DVD has content in both modes! Sigh.

Every widescreen set that I have experienced in the past just automagically detected the source size and set the aspect ratio accordingly.

Please tell me that I am missing something and that these Samsung sets do have this feature. I am starting to regret not sticking with Sony.
Shouldn't your DVD player adjust? Plus if its 4:3 why stretch. No wide people and no burn worries.

Anyone have recomended settings for the 5086w?

also, I still have yet to see anything appear in 720p, it seems everything is 1080i, is this normal?

Shouldn't your DVD player adjust? Plus if its 4:3 why stretch. No wide people and no burn worries.

I have tested this TV with two different DVD players. One is a Samsung up-converter (via HDMI) and the other is an old Sony (via component) that doesn't even have progressive output. They are both set to 16:9 mode. As far as I can tell (based on my connecting them to a different CRT TV), they are outputting the correct format, i.e. 4:3 ratio on 4:3 material and 16:9 with 16:9 material.

The Samsung HL-S series only has two options for the HDMI input: 4:3 or 16:9. You have to pick one or the other... manually. If I am watching a DVD that is 16:9 then switch to a DVD that is 4:3, I have to reach for the remote and manually change the TV aspect ratio. It is even more annoying with DVDs that have both aspect ratios on the same disc (for example, "extras" are frequently 4:3). It makes me feel like I am in medieval times and wonder why a $1500 piece of equipment doesn't have a basic feature that has been on widescreen TVs for years. Why doesn't the TV detect the inputted aspect ratio and automatically set itself correctly? The damn aspect ratio button is the only thing preventing me from permanently retiring the TV's remote control.

I have dug through the manual, menu settings, and google with no success. :( I was hoping someone knew of a hidden setting or something I had overlooked.

I was having the same problem for a while but with a full HD setup on the tv I am def sticking with the 5086. I have the TV set up so that it's in the corner of the room. The couch facing it makes it so one person is about 6.5 feet while the other person on the end is about 8 feet. I also have a futon which is about 9 feet away. Ok, enough about the spacing setup. What do you have hooked up to the TV, because whatever signal you are displaying is going to make a HUGE difference. I have the Comcast DVR box with the HD hookup and about 40 HD channels. NOTE: (for those of you with Comcast HD boxes, you can change the video settings by pressing the menu button while the box is off. You will then be able to change how the SD channels are viewed either by normal, 4:3, or stretch. You will also be able to change what def the cable comes in at, either 420p, 720p, or 1080i which is what I have it set as since most of the HD channels are broadcasted in 1080i.) I have the tv connected via HDMI,(note: component works just as well for anyone who isn't a veteran videophile), to the cable box. From that close, Standard definition channels look like crap... However, the 40 or so HD channels look amazing from all three distances I have set up. Keep in mind even some of the HD channels will have some significant differences in quality. For instance the Discovery HD channel has hands down the best HD signal broadcasting on TV. When you watch one of the shows on the Discovery Channel in HD on that 50inch screen... well you just know you've made the right decision. So, yes, there is a trade off, from that close Standard Definition tv doesn't look that great, but any HD programming looks amazing and its worth it. It also depends on how long you plan on keeping the tv. If it's a long term investment, keep in mind that more HD channels will be coming and the HD signal will get better. Also you may move or change your room around and it's always better to have a bigger tv than a smaller one for a problem. But all in all, I would rather have the 50 inch from any of those distances for HD football games on Sundays when I have people over and put up with the mediocre SD channels when I watch the daily show or something not on network HD, HBO HD, ESPN HD, and Discovery HD which covers most of what I watch.

As far as my dvd experience on this tv is concerned, I have the Sony DVP-NS75H DVD Single Disc Player with the HDMI. I only paid 100 bucks for it, thinking that the HDMI and progressive scan would make the dvd's come out in high def and look great. But the reality is, my crouching tiger hidden dragon from 8 years ago, before HD, won't come in HD even with the setup. You will need to invest in a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player with Blu-Ray or HD-DVDs for it to look like what you bought your tv to do. Although, I will admit newer movies like Star Wars Revenge of the Sith look great. Not quite Discovery HD quality, but much better than my older dvd's like Crouching Tiger or Braveheart.

I hope this gave you some insight to the 5086 and my experiences with it thus far. I also saved about 800 bucks and bought this tv refurbished. I was a little scared to do so, but it worked great with no problems, and with the money I saved bought a 5 year extended warranty, and full surround sound system.

And finally, for those who complained about the Movie mode being too dark. I couldn't agree more. I tried Eliab's settings and it was just too dark. These are what I use now:

Mode : Standard
Digital NR: On
Dnie: On
Contrast: 62
Brightness: 50
Sharpness: 0 (note: I have heard as is on my tv, that changing this has no effect and it's permanently set to a factory default)
Color: 50
Tint: 50
Color Tone: Normal

(note: settings will def be different for every model and for every person for sure)
Sorry for the long post guys. I hope this was insightful.

I have recently purchased a 5086 and would like to share my experience here.

I purchased my TV from CC online for the same price as the bookseller. I have free shipping but have to pay tax. However, with the $100 gift card rebate from CC it was about even. I bought it from CC because I like the option of returning it if I do not like it.

The TV looks good out of the box. I have Comcast DVR and use HDMI between the TV and the DVR. I have Panasonic progressive DVD/VCR combo and use component for the DVD and regular cable for the VCR. I have a A/V amplifier and use optical connection between the tv and the amplifier. I do not have any problem with the regular programming and do not think they look bad. DVD with component is definitely better than regular cable and the pictures look good despite not being in HD. I believe HDMI help improve the picture a little more than component but the different is very small. I did have the green shade at one time but have since had it corrected by checking and making sure everything are connected properly. I have the DVR set for 1080I and that have improve the picture quite a bit from 720p.

One important thing I found out was that it is very important to have your cable signal working properly. I only have regular cable before and everyting was working fine until I upgraded to HDTV. I found that with HDTV my signal was not strong enough for the new digital and HD channels. I have since had Comcast upgraded my cables both inside and outside the house all the way to the pole and now I have the strongest signal possible and the pictures are just wonderful. I would recommend having your signal check at the box by a Comcast technician if you are having problem with your pictures.

Overall, we are very happy with the tv and have no intend to return it.

... the entire picture is off center both verticaly and horizontaly. I thought I made this adjustment on my 4663 thru the service menu, but I can not remember where I found the info on doing this. Has anyone done this yet on these HL-Sxx86 sets?
Pjredd,
I am having the same problem, my picture is way off horizontally (chopping off a lot of image on the left-hand side). Have you had any luck with adjusting this in the service menu?

I have looked up and down this thread for an answer and I see Rufusrex, Dzikson, Blkwidow02 and others asking about getting into the service menu, but I can’t find the answer anywhere (though I have no doubt that someone will point it out to me making me look very foolish – but hey, that what these forums are for ;))

The Good News: Other than the picture being off center, I am thrilled with this set.
I have had my 5086 for a couple of days now, and absolutely love it. It replaces my dead 47” Sammy widescreen crt rear projection set. At first I was quite embittered to have to replace a set that was not even yet 5 years old (especially after paying for ISF calibration), but after seeing the out-of-the-box (movie mode) picture on this set – I couldn’t be happier. Except… ;)

PS
Pjredd, Surdev – I will check into creating a HLS 5086/Jeep Owners thread. :)

I have tested this TV with two different DVD players. One is a Samsung up-converter (via HDMI) and the other is an old Sony (via component) that doesn't even have progressive output. They are both set to 16:9 mode. As far as I can tell (based on my connecting them to a different CRT TV), they are outputting the correct format, i.e. 4:3 ratio on 4:3 material and 16:9 with 16:9 material.

The Samsung HL-S series only has two options for the HDMI input: 4:3 or 16:9. You have to pick one or the other... manually. If I am watching a DVD that is 16:9 then switch to a DVD that is 4:3, I have to reach for the remote and manually change the TV aspect ratio. It is even more annoying with DVDs that have both aspect ratios on the same disc (for example, "extras" are frequently 4:3). It makes me feel like I am in medieval times and wonder why a $1500 piece of equipment doesn't have a basic feature that has been on widescreen TVs for years. Why doesn't the TV detect the inputted aspect ratio and automatically set itself correctly? The damn aspect ratio button is the only thing preventing me from permanently retiring the TV's remote control.

I have dug through the manual, menu settings, and google with no success. :( I was hoping someone knew of a hidden setting or something I had overlooked.

You consider it "medieval" that you occassionally need to push a button on a remote control because your TV doesn't automatically stretch - and distort - a picture that wasn't intended to be stretched in the first place?

I guess we have different definitions of medievel...

So, has anyone figured out if it is possible to adjust/turn off overscan on the HLs5086W? Mine has some pretty serious overscan, that cuts the bottom off on some HD shows.

Well I am stuck. My HD channels and DVDs on my Sony look awesome, but the SD channels are simply unwatchable. Very noisy and grainy. I have Time Warner cable, and I had a tech come to my house for 4 hours yesterday. He tested the signal and said it was very low, so he replaced a couple connections and added a booster. I think all it really did was boost the noise, the picture is still horrible. The tech says it is now a strong signal, yet the picture looks just as bad. If I can't figure this out the darn thing is going back, I can't take the fuzz!

Hi,

Ok, my DISH HD was hooked up on Wednesday so now I'm very happy with the PQ on the 5086. The SD channels seem improved also.

Now my big issue is with lip synch. I did a search thru this thread and it seems many people experienced this with home theater systems.

I am not using an HTS, but the lip synch is very prominent. Last night was awful across all channels that I tested. Basically, the delay was such that you could see a person say "no" before the audio said "no". I've never had any sound delay problems on my other CRT TVs hooked up to Dish Network.

I just rec'd this tv last Saturday, so it's less than a week old. Sat-Wed was thru Dish Network regular STB, Wed-current is with the new HD STB.

With the old STB lip synch occurred thru both RF input and I went out to get S-Video cables and it still happened.

With the new HD STB it's connected thru HDMI.

Any suggestions?

I just bought my Samsung HL-S5086 two months ago, and I'm very new to the HD world. When I first got my Comcast digital cable, I was using component with with my STB. The PQ looked very good for the HD channels. Then I bought a DVI/HDMI cable and started using it in hopes I get a just as good, if not better, PQ. Well, I get worse PQ with my HDMI, and for what reasons, I'm not sure. I get very "grainy" noise in unfocused backgrounds and darks. I've read a couple of threads and some stated this to be a interface (handshake?) issue between my STB and my Samsung I tried adjusting my settings to make a the picture a little darker, it somewhat helped, but I can still see it. Any ideas or has anyone else come across this problem?

PS. This occurs on both 720p and 1080i settings on my STB. I'm using the Motorolla STB provided by Comcast.

Hi again,

I'm going to also post that I'm experiencing cut-off picture on my HLS-5086W.

It was very noticable prior to my HD Dish Network STB when I was watching a show in 4:3 that showed a person's name on the screen. The right or left side was cut off...don't remember which.

Now with the HD STB, the program guide feature is only showing about top 1/2 of whatever channel is being listed at the bottom of the screen. This was in 16:9 mode.

All suggestions & input are welcome....

Hi! I am new to the forum and contemplating my first foray into the world of HDTV. I have a limited budget and have been considering purchasing a Samsung DLP. I was recently looking at them over at the local Best Buy (interested in 42" or 46") and they currently have the HLS4266W on clearance for $999. The picture looked great, but I am a little concerned about a phenomena I have read about called "black grass" which is supposedly a common problem with the 4266. If any of you can enlighten me on whether you have heard of anyone having this problem or have experienced it yourself, I would like to hear about it before I commit to purchasing it. Should I be concerned that I will have this problem if I buy that model? Supposedly, the HLS4666 does not have the same problem. Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

I just bought my Samsung HL-S5086 two months ago, and I'm very new to the HD world. When I first got my Comcast digital cable, I was using component with with my STB. The PQ looked very good for the HD channels. Then I bought a DVI/HDMI cable and started using it in hopes I get a just as good, if not better, PQ. Well, I get worse PQ with my HDMI, and for what reasons, I'm not sure. I get very "grainy" noise in unfocused backgrounds and darks. I've read a couple of threads and some stated this to be a interface (handshake?) issue between my STB and my Samsung I tried adjusting my settings to make a the picture a little darker, it somewhat helped, but I can still see it. Any ideas or has anyone else come across this problem?

PS. This occurs on both 720p and 1080i settings on my STB. I'm using the Motorolla STB provided by Comcast.

You describe exactly what I get on my Toshiba set and it has nothing to do with handshake. Seems like the HDMI interface exposes more noise from the crappy tuner in the Moto STB. For this reason I stuck with component from the STB to my set. It masks the issue to an extent.

You describe exactly what I get on my Toshiba set and it has nothing to do with handshake. Seems like the HDMI interface exposes more noise from the crappy tuner in the Moto STB. For this reason I stuck with component from the STB to my set. It masks the issue to an extent.



Toenail,

Thanks for the reply. Have you tried differenct source (i.e. HD-DVD player) to see if this noise occurs? How did you come to the conclusion it was the crappy Moto STB?

Hi! I am new to the forum and contemplating my first foray into the world of HDTV. I have a limited budget and have been considering purchasing a Samsung DLP. I was recently looking at them over at the local Best Buy (interested in 42" or 46") and they currently have the HLS4266W on clearance for $999. The picture looked great, but I am a little concerned about a phenomena I have read about called "black grass" which is supposedly a common problem with the 4266. If any of you can enlighten me on whether you have heard of anyone having this problem or have experienced it yourself, I would like to hear about it before I commit to purchasing it. Should I be concerned that I will have this problem if I buy that model? Supposedly, the HLS4666 does not have the same problem. Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Max,

I'd stay away from the HLS4266w. It's practically a lemon. Go with the 4666w or another model. I was once a 42' owner. The black grass was horrible, and ruined my nighttime viewing experience. Samsung couldn't fix the black grass problem. They ended up swapping my 42' for a 46' unit at no additional cost. Overall, I am happy with the way Samsung took ownership for their defective television and made right. I am very happy with the 46'.

I say stay away from the 42'. It's just not a good television. That's why CC, BB, and others are advertising significant discounts - they're having trouble moving the product and are hoping dramatic price reductions will sell units. Don't be swindled into buying a poor TV!

Peter,

Thanks for the recommendation. I sorta figured that when I saw how low the price was. I will probably go with the 46" then. I like the picture quality of the Samsung and Best Buy is selling it for $1423. For the extra $400, it is worth it to me, plus I get another 4". Like I say, my budget is small so if I am going to spend the money...I better get something I will be happy with. Thanks for the quick reply.

I'm looking at picking up the 46" for my parents. I'm not really into HD and have a few questions about this set -

1. Are the viewing angles bad? A lot of RP's I see (BB, Tweeters, etc.) have horrible viewing angles and go dark unless you're sitting right at eye level.

2. I've seen and setup plasmas and other HD sets as HTPCs, which could be used as a computer for surfing the net and so on from the couch. Is the text quality on this unit good enough to do that?

3. Are video games safe to use on this? We we have family gathers we like to fire up the Playstation or Xbox or whatever we have available at the time.

Thanks!

I would like to hear comments from members that have used Monster Powerbar in their setup. Are there noticeable improvement in the picture? Do you feel the powerbar is worth it given the price? Thank you.

1. Are the viewing angles bad? A lot of RP's I see (BB, Tweeters, etc.) have horrible viewing angles and go dark unless you're sitting right at eye level.

2. I've seen and setup plasmas and other HD sets as HTPCs, which could be used as a computer for surfing the net and so on from the couch. Is the text quality on this unit good enough to do that?

3. Are video games safe to use on this? We we have family gathers we like to fire up the Playstation or Xbox or whatever we have available at the time.


I have the 50", but I think your questions apply to the whole '66 series.

1. I have my set relatively high up. I estimate eye level to be 4-6" below center and I sit 8' away. I don't even see darkening near the top of the screen.

2. I am running a PC at 1280x720 via the VGA port. Text is perfectly readable from my couch. I run in the "wide PC" mode, which shrinks the screen to 92% and the text is still perfectly clear. This is one of the features of this set which I am most impressed with.

3. DLPs are not vulnerable to burn-in or any other issues with static images. Feel free to play all night long. Just be warned that there is significant video lag (with the PS2 at least) if you do not use game mode. With game mode, I cannot perceive any lag at all, but since all the fancy processing is disabled in this mode, it looks pretty raw.

I have the 50", but I think your questions apply to the whole '66 series.

1. I have my set relatively high up. I estimate eye level to be 4-6" below center and I sit 8' away. I don't even see darkening near the top of the screen.

2. I am running a PC at 1280x720 via the VGA port. Text is perfectly readable from my couch. I run in the "wide PC" mode, which shrinks the screen to 92% and the text is still perfectly clear. This is one of the features of this set which I am most impressed with.

3. DLPs are not vulnerable to burn-in or any other issues with static images. Feel free to play all night long. Just be warned that there is significant video lag (with the PS2 at least) if you do not use game mode. With game mode, I cannot perceive any lag at all, but since all the fancy processing is disabled in this mode, it looks pretty raw.

Thanks for the quick answers! And what exactly is "game mode" ?

It appears that de-interlacing video takes a lot of processing time. For video game systems that output interlaced video (PlayStation 2 and older), this is very bad, since it makes your controller actions delayed by anywhere up to half a second. Newer Sony and Samsung TVs (maybe others, I haven't checked) have a "game mode". The primary function of game mode seems to be to use a much lower quality and faster method of de-interlacing. This causes the image to not look as pretty, but virtually eliminates the lag. Tests show that with game mode on, lag is reduced to ~50ms, which equals about a frame or two of video.

If you are using an Xbox or Xbox 360, you can simply enable progressive output to acheive the same result.

So, anyway... I had my HL-S5066W exchanged due to what appeared to be very minor damage to the inner screen. There was a 1/4 inch dark spot near the bottom. It wasn't actually part of the image, since close inspection revealed it to be in-between the image and the outer screen. It would probably have been trivial to fix, but it is a helluva lot easier just to have Best Buy send the delivery guys out and swap it for free.

After running the TV for a couple days, I went through Avia on it and found almost identical results to the original set. One thing I am very happy about is the overscan. The original set had uneven overscan. This set is almost perfectly centered with 2% or so all the way around. The only complaint I have is that the image is a little more trapezoidal than the original. I wonder if this is something Samsung is willing to fix?

I am also noticing the fan/wheel noise a little more, but it could just be my imagination.

Forgive the spam, but I am discovering more about this TV as time goes on.

It appears that the TV is introducing audio lag, probably intentionally. While this is a good thing when viewing normal content due to the image processing lag, in game mode, it makes the audio slightly out of sync with the video. When playing Guitar Hero, strumming to the music instead of the notes on the screen causes missed notes since the audio is delayed. If I connect my PS2 directly to the receiver, the audio and video are in sync and the game plays great.

Anyone know of a way to disable this product design disaster?

Sigh. I am now looking very hard at the Sony A2000 or A10.

just bought a HLS5686W 720p and I am still testing the heck out of it. I am very happy with the dvd picture I really cant complain about the HD channels I get from comast. The standard channels I will say don't impress me but how can I really complain they are just standard video. I have a HDMI cable on my DVD going to my TV and it is amazing. I just watched X MEN 3 and this picture looks so crisp and clean . I also purchased a DENON DHT-487 DV and the sound is amazing I don't think I will be leaving my home much this winter. If anyone has any info on these TV please post it I would like to know of any flaws.

How do regular SD cable broadcasts look? We get a ton of channels in SD here, but only like 8 HD.

just bought a HLS5686W 720p and I am still testing the heck out of it. I am very happy with the dvd picture I really cant complain about the HD channels I get from comast. The standard channels I will say don't impress me but how can I really complain they are just standard video. I have a HDMI cable on my DVD going to my TV and it is amazing. I just watched X MEN 3 and this picture looks so crisp and clean . I also purchased a DENON DHT-487 DV and the sound is amazing I don't think I will be leaving my home much this winter. If anyone has any info on these TV please post it I would like to know of any flaws.

I've had my HL-S5686W for a week now and I am very satisfied with it now, not so out of the box. When I first fired it up the PQ was not good, grainy on all inputs, HD was too bright and had jagged edges. I almost made a call to swap it but decided to give it a day or two.

I played with the menus for a couple of hours and got a watchable HD picture and then went to bed.

The next day the PQ seemed appreciably better so I played with the settings to the best PQ and left them alone for a few days and the PQ improved each day with no tweaking. PQ seemed to peak after five days so I spent some time tweaking and setteled on two sets of values.

For daytime/bright light viewing I set Standard mode to:
Contrast - 75
Brightness - 45
Sharpness - 0 (makes no decernable difference in PQ)
Color - 45
Tint - 50/50
Color Tone - Warm 1

For nightime/dim light viewing I set Custom mode to:
Contrast - 55
Brightness - 40
Sharpness - 0 (makes no decernable difference in PQ)
Color - 50
Tint - 50/50
Color Tone - Normal

I have DNR abd DNIe on. I've only watchd a couple of DVDs and my Custom settings work fine. I tried Movie mode but the picture seemed too soft. The was a slight green push that was correctable moving the green Color Weakness slider two clicks.

I have the cable box's HDMI and component outputs both connected and the HDMI output seems a little better but it's hard to see any difference.

I have a USB device with a QAM tuner connected to the other HDMI input via my 'puter's video card and this is really where the tv shines for me. The tuner can capture and save unencrypted digital and analog signals via cable or OTA to your hard drive. You can find info on the tuner I have HERE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=695589&page=1&pp=30).

I have Comcast and the local channels are in the clear, I just split the feed before the box. The recorded playback's PQ is better than the live feed from the cable box and 5.1 sound via SPDIF is fantastic.

Is it normal that my HL-S5086W takes a while to warm up. I'm not talking the usually black screen type. For probably 30 secs or so after the picture appears it really dark and with every second starts to brighten up until it's finally "normal". I've only had the TV for a week and have to say that I only noticed that yesterday. Is that normal or not? Didn't have that on my old CRT RPTV. The moment the picture appeared it was normal brightness.

Is it normal that my HL-S5086W takes a while to warm up. I'm not talking the usually black screen type. For probably 30 secs or so after the picture appears it really dark and with every second starts to brighten up until it's finally "normal". I've only had the TV for a week and have to say that I only noticed that yesterday. Is that normal or not? Didn't have that on my old CRT RPTV. The moment the picture appeared it was normal brightness.

Its normal. The balast control electronics soft-starts the drive to the bulb. It actually takes about 2 or 3 mins for the picture to reach ~normal brightness. A calibrator wont't touch it till its been ON for 45 mins.

thanks

Dcorban,

Which TV model do you have?

I'm experiencing prominent audio lag in my 5086W that is happening no matter what input type I use (HDMI, Component, SVideo, etc).

This is happening to me in regular TV mode, with no HTS. I do not use gaming. You can see my posts above.

My TV is only 9-days old, and I will probably decide by the end of the week if I will keep it or not. Other than the audio lag, I'm very happy with the TV. But, unfortunately this bug is very annoying.

I'm trying to decide if I should try the 46" or just go with a different brand all together.

For daytime/bright light viewing I set Standard mode to:
Contrast - 75
Brightness - 45
Sharpness - 0 (makes no discernible difference in PQ)
Color - 45
Tint - 50/50
Color Tone - Warm 1

For nighttime/dim light viewing I set Custom mode to:
Contrast - 55
Brightness - 40
Sharpness - 0 (makes no discernible difference in PQ)
Color - 50
Tint - 50/50
Color Tone - Normal

I have DNR and DNIe on. I've only watched a couple of DVDs and my Custom settings work fine. I tried Movie mode but the picture seemed too soft. The was a slight green push that was correctable moving the green Color Weakness slider two clicks.

.
Contrast seem really high. are you in a very bright room?
My settings are as follows;
contrast 31
Brightness 56
Sharpness 39
color 52
tint 49/51
Tone normal

I to have weakened the green 2 click as well as have Pink set at 42, Green 49 and Blue 50. DNIe and DNR are also on.

Anyone have a link to the eliab settings?

Anyone have a link to the eliab settings?

Digital NR - Off
DNIe - Off
Mode - Movie
Contrast - 40
Brightness - 45
Sharpness - 0
Color - 45
Tint - G50/R50
Color Tone - Warm2

Digital NR - Off
DNIe - Off
Mode - Movie
Contrast - 40
Brightness - 45
Sharpness - 0
Color - 45
Tint - G50/R50
Color Tone - Warm2
Thanks Steve,
Warm 2 makes a lot of things pink. I wonder if that is to compenaste for the oversaturated green? The reason many have weakened the green

I tried the Eliab Settings. They were not that far off from factory movie. for me the picture seemed washed out and poor contrast among darker areas. The picture was to soft also.

I've been leaving my 5686 on factory default Movie mode for most things. I used the THX Optimizer to get a ballpark calibration, and it was very close to the default. I've tried Eliab's settings as well, but find that I lose a lot of detail in the blacks - it's a bit too dark for my room. I still need to buy/rent a better calibration disc, but the Movie setting looks very nice as is.

Also, as others have stated, I can't see any difference in adjusting the sharpness setting. Is this disengaged for certain modes or inputs?

Thanks Steve,
Warm 2 makes a lot of things pink. I wonder if that is to compenaste for the oversaturated green? The reason many have weakened the green

It looks redder because you're used to a too cool picture. Warm 2 is measurably closer to D6500. If you get used to the warm 2 picture, you'll notice the other settings look far too blue.

It looks redder because you're used to a too cool picture. Warm 2 is measurably closer to D6500. If you get used to the warm 2 picture, you'll notice the other settings look far too blue.
That's a suprise, to my eye 65k is not that warm. . Did you actully measure yourself or do you have a link to a calibration breakdown. I would have thought that standard is closest to 65k. I'd love to find som specs if you have them handy.

Also with sharpness, I look at the edge of an object and bring the sharpness to the point where I do not see any enhanced edged or slight bluish shadow/halo in my case.

Kevinw, on cnet, they say in the newer Sammie DLP reviews that Movie mode is actually very close to 65k before calibration.

Anyone comments on regular cable TV quality? (on the 46" model)

Also, as others have stated, I can't see any difference in adjusting the sharpness setting. Is this disengaged for certain modes or inputs?

I noticed that my upscaling DVD player changes the way my Avia sharpness test behaves. It makes any change to the sharpness setting very subtle. I set the player to 480p and that made the sharpness changes more obvious.

That said, the sharpness setting on this Samsung line does appear to work. It just isn't as dramatic as on a CRT (maybe just non-DLP). Sharpness at max produces halos and sharpness at min makes the image soft. My sharpness eliminates halos around a setting of 30.

That's a suprise, to my eye 65k is not that warm. . Did you actully measure yourself or do you have a link to a calibration breakdown. I would have thought that standard is closest to 65k. I'd love to find som specs if you have them handy.

Also with sharpness, I look at the edge of an object and bring the sharpness to the point where I do not see any enhanced edged or slight bluish shadow/halo in my case.

I'm going of the measurements done for calibration by Eliab and UMR, two calibrators that post on these forums. Both have said that Warm 2 is the closest to D6500.

Dcorban,

Which TV model do you have?

I'm experiencing prominent audio lag in my 5086W that is happening no matter what input type I use (HDMI, Component, SVideo, etc).

This is happening to me in regular TV mode, with no HTS. I do not use gaming. You can see my posts above.

My TV is only 9-days old, and I will probably decide by the end of the week if I will keep it or not. Other than the audio lag, I'm very happy with the TV. But, unfortunately this bug is very annoying.

I'm trying to decide if I should try the 46" or just go with a different brand all together.

I have the HL-S5066W.

I just spent a stupid amount of time performing various tests with Guitar Hero.

1) PS2 directly connected to receiver via optical
2) PS2 to TV via analog, then TV to receiver via optical
3) PS2 to TV via analog, then TV to receiver via analog
4) PS2 to TV via analog, using TV speakers

I couldn't replicate the distinct audio lag that I noticed the other night. It was there, I swear. ;) I tested and retested using various songs. I could almost notice a difference, but I think it was in my mind. It was definitely not as clear cut as the first night I noticed it.

If your lag is that big that you notice it on normal sources such as TV and movies, then it is probably your receiver. If you aren't using a receiver and the audio is lagged from the TV speakers, then something is seriously wrong. :confused:

Also, as others have stated, I can't see any difference in adjusting the sharpness setting. Is this disengaged for certain modes or inputs?

HLS Sharpness setting... (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=722985)

I'm going of the measurements done for calibration by Eliab and UMR, two calibrators that post on these forums. Both have said that Warm 2 is the closest to D6500.
Thanks,
Amazingly. I am "warming" up to the Eliab settings. I watched a DVD, football and news. For Hd Tv, the picture grew on me fast. I am still a bit reserved about the DVD PQ. Not enough seperation between black in dark scenes. Of course that could have been filmmaker intended also. I am going to watch a few more DVD's for comparison.
Thanks for the tips guys.

Thanks,
Amazingly. I am "warming" up to the Eliab settings. I watched a DVD, football and news. For Hd Tv, the picture grew on me fast. I am still a bit reserved about the DVD PQ. Not enough seperation between black in dark scenes. Of course that could have been filmmaker intended also. I am going to watch a few more DVD's for comparison.
Thanks for the tips guys.
It is very possible that the Warm2 color tone on your display is actually closer to 6000k as is often the case. Not only that, but it can be slightly green heavy as well. On the other hand, the other color tone presets will bring you north of 8000k so even if the Warm2 were too warm - it may be the lesser of two evils. A calibration would correct this.

Eliab

It is very possible that the Warm2 color tone on your display is actually closer to 6000k as is often the case. Not only that, but it can be slightly green heavy as well. On the other hand, the other color tone presets will bring you north of 8000k so even if the Warm2 were too warm - it may be the lesser of two evils. A calibration would correct this.

Eliab
I used color weakness for the green tint. 2 clicks cleared it up.
Thanks for the tips on setting up this model. I am going to reevaluate some TVs I have set up for friends using DVE and Avia
As i watch the set now I am actually starting to like it now. I had been missing many subtle shades of beige that washed out by enhancing for a bluer white. I had to change my mindset after 5 years with my old Toshiba 50H81. It had a tendency to be on the reddish side. :)

man - i'm so glad i found this board, and this thread.
Those eliab settings work great. I moved a few settings up a couple of clicks, and everything seems great.. except the ocassional green skin tone
Now I find out about "color weakness".. gotta try that when i get home.

It's a great TV, but how does Samsung expect non-geeks to figure all this stuff out?? :)

If your lag is that big that you notice it on normal sources such as TV and movies, then it is probably your receiver. If you aren't using a receiver and the audio is lagged from the TV speakers, then something is seriously wrong. :confused:



Hi,

I found this link about audio lag on another AVS Forum group:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6374073.html?title=Article&spacedesc=news

This would make some sense because it seems more prominent some times than others.

But...this was happening both before and after I upgraded from my standard Dish receiver to my HD Dish receiver last Wednesday.

Weird....

I am getting ready to purchase this set...as soon as I get my BB credit card. I would like to hear some comments from those who own this model or know of those who do. So far what I have heard is positive (unlike the 42")...I like the PQ I have observed at my local BB. I just want to convince myself I am making the right move. I have a limited budget and the price on the HLS4666W is reasonable for me. I don't want to regret my decision after the fact. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Max

Max-
I've owned mine now for about 2 weeks - I have no regrets. (the 50" model, HLS5086W)
I challenge you to find a better TV in the price range.
DLP is a great technology, too. I feel, for all round usage - movies, tv, gaming - it's the best technology. That, of course, is my personal opinion - I'm sure people can debate on that.

The *only* issue I have with the Samsung, is what many others have said. It requires alot of tweaking to get the picture right. The out of the box picture settings are crap - plain and simple.

As mentioned above, use the following settings as a starting point:
Digital NR - Off
DNIe - Off
Mode - Movie
Contrast - 40
Brightness - 45
Sharpness - 0
Color - 45
Tint - G50/R50
Color Tone - Warm2

I found that i needed to bump up the contrast, brightness, color, and tint up about 5 points, and the sharpness up to 30.

Also - find "Color weakness" in the setup menu, and bump up the green to 2 - this gets rid of greenish skin tones.

Use the THX Optimizer on your Star Wars DVDs (i'm *sure* you have those, right :D ) as a reference, not the law. You're brightness should be about right, as should your color and sharpness, but that contrast screen will seem to never change. Don't overcompensate for that screen - I wouldn't go past 50 on the contrast. Let the movies you watch be your guide for that setting.

Allow your TV about 10 minutes to warm up before making any tweaks.

Dont try too hard the first week - that lamp needs to "break in", so to speak. At week 2, after a few movies, you should be right on.

After that - you'll have a perfect TV that people will think you spent a fortune on :)

Guys I have a question.

On the same day I got my HL-S5086W my HD satellite box went out and I had to use SD one. I connected it via regular analog cables to AV1 IN and I had to switch to "TV" source/input to be able to watch it same wayas I have to switch to "COMPONENT1" to watch DVD's.

From what I understand as long as there's no signal comming in through a certain input, let's say HDMI, I can't really switch to it, at least with the remote. Is there any way I can disable "TV" as a source right now since I got my HD satellite box working so I don't have to cycle through it when switching between other inputs???

From what I understand as long as there's no signal comming in through a certain input, let's say HDMI, I can't really switch to it, at least with the remote. Is there any way I can disable "TV" as a source right now since I got my HD satellite box working so I don't have to cycle through it when switching between other inputs???

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Samsung has a source "skip" feature. This is made worse by the fact that Samsung also doesn't have discrete functions to go directly to a specific input. :(

Hey - new guy here. Just ordered my 4666! can't wait to get it. I've been wondering about the optical digital out. From what it sounds like it will put out an optical digital signal (5.1 even?) from the OTA coax into a home theatre receiver from the digital optical out. But I'm guessing it cant put out 5.1 if you're running just regular AV cables from the components to the TV. I was thinking i could run everything into the TV then only have one output from the TV into my receiver. But it doesn't look like i would get dolby digital unless it was direct optical from the component into the HT receiver.

Also is there a good place for cheap but good rabbit ears to use? Any recommendations

And does anybody know of a thread or site where possible future comcast additions to their HD lineup are discussed.

Word.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Samsung has a source "skip" feature. This is made worse by the fact that Samsung also doesn't have discrete functions to go directly to a specific input. :(

Yeah it seems that way. After thinking about it for a while I think that AV1 (where my SD staellite box was connected to) is being skipped right now as there's nothing hooked up to AV1 now. What's not being skipped is regular OTA antenna which I also had connected for a while but not anymore. Is it possible to block/skip it through service menu maybe?

So the "black Grass" on my HL-S4266W has finally driven me to the edge of my limits. I thought I could deal with it till I was watching a deep sea exploration video with my girlfriend. In the total blackness of the ocean depths the stupid black grass was unbearable. It also was the first time she really noticed it which made it worse. I called Samsung and I have a service tech coming to look at it. I pray that they eventually swap it with a 46" version.

I really thought I could just overlook the problem because otherwise the tv is great but I just can't take it anymore.

What are the chances Samsung either is able to fix it (based on everything I have read here fixing it is not probable) or help me get the 46" version. I wouldn't even mind paying them a couple hundred bucks for the upgrade.

Not sure what the point of my post is other than to just vent really. Thanks for reading haha.

Pete

What are the chances Samsung either is able to fix it (based on everything I have read here fixing it is not probable) or help me get the 46" version. I wouldn't even mind paying them a couple hundred bucks for the upgrade.

Pete

From everything I've read here it is not repairable and even the newest 4266s have it to a somewhat lesser extent than the early sets. How long have you had your set? Keep us posted on the outcome as-well.

i have had it for a little over a month. I am so mad I didn't research here before I bought it, could have save myself the head ache. Seriously like the day after I threw out the box and packing material is when i discovered the problem thus destroying the chance of returning it to crutchfield. I really thought I could deal with it since how often are you watching something that demonstrates the problem. The answer apparently is alot! I really hope Samsung helps me out here. And I will def keep me posted.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Samsung has a source "skip" feature. This is made worse by the fact that Samsung also doesn't have discrete functions to go directly to a specific input. :(

There are discrete codes, they're just not on the included remote. The 1080p thread has hex codes if you have a way to program your remote with such. Harmony has the codes in their database for their remotes. Not the greatest, but at least it's possible.

i have had it for a little over a month. I am so mad I didn't research here before I bought it, could have save myself the head ache. Seriously like the day after I threw out the box and packing material is when i discovered the problem thus destroying the chance of returning it to crutchfield. I really thought I could deal with it since how often are you watching something that demonstrates the problem. The answer apparently is alot! I really hope Samsung helps me out here. And I will def keep me posted.

Sorry to hear your negative experience. My 3.5 month old HL-S4266 has a very small amount of black grass that is basically not visible unless I crouch down on the floor with a no signal screen. Its an area above the power button that can be covered up with my hand. I still have not seen any on the upper portion of the screen but maybe if I got up on a step ladder I'd see some. ;) Anyway, on my set it doesn't bother me. My wife seems to think its shrinking. Weather it is or not, time will tell.

On the plus side my picture is so great that I wouldn't want to risk compromising the picture quality I have now on the picture quality of an exchange set. I've also come to realize there are no perfect sets out there no matter what the brand or model is. When you get a new HD set, regardless of the technology, there always seems to be a *fly in the ointment* so-to-speak. There's the black grass, screen smudges, green blobs, color banding, poor geometry and the list goes on. In other words, there's always a compromise with something that is not perefect on these sets and I wish you luck with your attemept to exchange yours.

So the "black Grass" on my HL-S4266W has finally driven me to the edge of my limits. I thought I could deal with it till I was watching a deep sea exploration video with my girlfriend. In the total blackness of the ocean depths the stupid black grass was unbearable. It also was the first time she really noticed it which made it worse. I called Samsung and I have a service tech coming to look at it. I pray that they eventually swap it with a 46" version.

I really thought I could just overlook the problem because otherwise the tv is great but I just can't take it anymore.

What are the chances Samsung either is able to fix it (based on everything I have read here fixing it is not probable) or help me get the 46" version. I wouldn't even mind paying them a couple hundred bucks for the upgrade.

Not sure what the point of my post is other than to just vent really. Thanks for reading haha.

Pete

So far for me Samsung does a great job of standing behind their products. When you call them and/or do follow ups they seem to know what they are doing.

Generally, IMHO the black grass on the 42" model appears to be a design flaw. It seems the majority of the 42" set have the problem. If I were to guess about 80% of them. The problem seems to be some sort of tension on the frame around the screen. Just shipping the set across the county can put pressure on the cabinet, and then you have black grass. This may be why Samsung has such a problem in identifying the problem. I would guess on about 30-40% of the sets currently made the black grass is not a problem; 20% do not have the problem, and maybe 20% (like mine) its not bad enough to bother you.

Samsung will either keep sending you a "new" 42" or if that does not work they will provide an upgrade to the 46" at very little cost (if any?).

In field service by Samsung Tech. Well the one I had, I am sure is related to the "gorilla" that did the Samsonite commercials. He might could change a light bulb but even that is really beyond the scope of his ability. I will give a post on that later, if I am able to finally get the fan noise resolved?

I have had "4" new 42" here at the house:

Set 1 I had the longest, several months - bad black grass and no black detail at all.

Set 2 only here for 5 minutes, much worse than the first set.

Set 3 was DOA

Set 4 the one I have now, this one is excellent, with minimal black grass - it actually has a little more black grass now then it did originally, because of the "gorilla" tech - he had absolutely no idea how to pick up and move a TV.......thus putting new pressures on the frame.

IMHO, if it works out for you then go to the 46" set. I do not believe it has the same problematic issues the 42" does, at least I have never seen them in the dozen or so sets I have seen.

I do not believe Samsung will fully resolve the black grass issue in the HL-S4266; maybe next years model will not have the problem?

Side Note: This tech was so funny (extremely dumb), he had never seen OTA HD before. He thought my Sony DHG-HDD500 was a Satellite box. He said there was no way I was getting the quality picture I was with an antenna in the attic 40 miles from the station; he knew "much better than that" I gave up trying to explain. I was more interested in trying to prevent him from damaging the set.

Hi all,
Question. I have an inexpensive dvd player (LG) with upconversion and progressive scan hooked up to a samsung 5086 directly with component cables and optical from the dvd player to my receiver. By hitting the "resolution" button on the dvd remote it cycles through each resolution level so I set the dvd player res to 720p or 1080i (I've tried both) but when I hit "play" it flashes 480i for a second and begins to play, as if it's resetting itself to 480i. Plus the screen flickers for a second as it does when I cycle through the dvd resolutions, making me think it is resetting to 480i. I think the tv automatically upconverts to 720p but I'm not sure. If it does, why bother with an upconverting dvd player, and if not, why does my dvd player apparently reset itself back to dvd resolution? My goal is to get the best possible resolution out of my system so any advice is much appreciated. As always, apologies if my question is overly simple, but I'm learning as I go.

Thanks in advance.

So the "black Grass" on my HL-S4266W has finally driven me to the edge of my limits. I thought I could deal with it till I was watching a deep sea exploration video with my girlfriend. In the total blackness of the ocean depths the stupid black grass was unbearable. It also was the first time she really noticed it which made it worse. I called Samsung and I have a service tech coming to look at it. I pray that they eventually swap it with a 46" version.

I really thought I could just overlook the problem because otherwise the tv is great but I just can't take it anymore.

What are the chances Samsung either is able to fix it (based on everything I have read here fixing it is not probable) or help me get the 46" version. I wouldn't even mind paying them a couple hundred bucks for the upgrade.

Not sure what the point of my post is other than to just vent really. Thanks for reading haha.

Pete



I had the same problem Pete. Happy to say that Samsung replaced my 42 with a 46 at no charge after being unable to fix the black grass on my 42. A Samsung service tech came to the house, checked out the 42, tried to fix it, couldn't, and deemed it unrepairable. I was then given a number to call Samsung national HQ. I spoke with someone there who agreed to let me upgrade to the 46 at no additional cost. About two weeks later Samsung movers picked up my 42 and dropped off a brand new 46. The 46 has been great so far. No black grass. No problems. Great picture quality. I'm very happy with Samsung's service. Let us know what happens with your situation. Good luck!

Is there any way to reset the SM to factory defaults? If not does anybody have a list of all the factory defaults?

Is there any way to reset the SM to factory defaults? If not does anybody have a list of all the factory defaults?

...for what model?¿?

Sorry for the hlr4667... i posted this question in the wrong forum. But if you happen to know i'd be extremely grateful!

Well I am glad to read that overscanning isn't only a problem that I seem to have. I don't have an Avia disk but it looks like there is some overscanning on my HLS46666W. The geometry is almost perfect but seems that a bit at the bottom of the screen is getting cut off. I notice this when playing Xbox 360 games at 720p.

I will try to compare my picture to my friend's flat panel LCD to get a better idea of how much and which sides are being cut. As I said, it seems to be a bit at the bottom but it very well could be all the sides if the picture is indeed centered.

I wish there was a solution to fix overscanning on DLPs but a search of this thread turned up nothing so I guess there is none.

I had the same problem Pete. Happy to say that Samsung replaced my 42 with a 46 at no charge after being unable to fix the black grass on my 42. A Samsung service tech came to the house, checked out the 42, tried to fix it, couldn't, and deemed it unrepairable. I was then given a number to call Samsung national HQ. I spoke with someone there who agreed to let me upgrade to the 46 at no additional cost. About two weeks later Samsung movers picked up my 42 and dropped off a brand new 46. The 46 has been great so far. No black grass. No problems. Great picture quality. I'm very happy with Samsung's service. Let us know what happens with your situation. Good luck!


Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what am I looking for with "black grass"? I have tried looking at the screen of my 4266 during dark sequences, the only problem I ever see on my set is the "halo" effect , which I suppose I can live with.

Also, are there any instructions around here for reducing the overscan a little? I seem to be missing more of the picture than recommended on the test pattern I recorded (think it was on HDNET or INHD)

Thanks

Nick

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what am I looking for with "black grass"?

Here's a picture of an extreme case of black grass.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=61771

Thanks, I've checked and don't see anything like that at all, I must have got lucky :)

Here's a picture of an extreme case of black grass.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=61771

Yeah. I posted that pic from my old 42!

New member, first post. I ordered the Samsung HL-S4666W 46" DLP the other day. Should be here this week. It is replacing my old 47" Pan. rear projection. I can't wait to fire it up!

Set up one of these for my father in his den last week. Very Good PQ, NO black grass, handles Digital SD and HD signals fine. He couldn't be happier. Using DVI/HDMI cable from Monoprice for the video feed from a DCT 6200 Charter Box.

I posted this on the Sony thread as well, but figured i would get different response over hear to be balanced.

Here is my dilemma... I have been debating between the Sony KDF46e2000 and the Samsung HLS4666w. I finally had made my decision after several visits to area CC and BB's... The choice was the SONY KDF46E2000!!! I felt all warm and fuzzy having finally come to my conclusion, until Today... :(

I made a visit to a local dealer and on sale they had both of them for significantly less than MSRP---, but the Samsung was $200 bucks less than the Sony, which is alot to me, and now my head is spinning again... Advice? What would yall do?

I have a HL-S4666W I have had it for a month now and there is a problem with green tint, I have read so much about this problem here and have tried all kinds of settings, I have minimized the green tint but its still there. I was reading in the Samsung HLN forum about the service menu and fixes you could do there. Is the service Menu for the HLN and HLS the same and would changes that work on the HLN (In the service menu ) work on the HLS. THis is my last hope :(

THanks

I am an owner of an HLS4666W.

Today I found myself into the service menu. Tons of color adustments and other stuff dealing with the bulb that I would not touch. I was looking to fix the overscanning I have. The only options for fixing the projection was H position and V position. I did what I could to center it with these however I was sad not to find any scaling options.

Did I just not see them or will I never be able to fix the overscanning? The picture does look better now that I have centered it however I'd like to get rid of the overscan if possible.

I've had my Samsung 6186W for about 4 months now. I haven't had one complaint until recently. Sometimes, whenever I'm watching TV or playing games for about 3 hours (more or less), the TV will just turn off by itself. I thought that maybe I left it on for too long, so I let it rest for about 15 minutes and turn it back on. Several minutes later, it shuts off again. It seems to do this every so often and now it's starting to bother me. I called Samsung and they ran me through the whole reset procedure, which didn't work. I called again and they said they'll contact me again within 24-72 hours to set up a time when a technician can come in and resolve this.

Anyways, has anyone here had similar issues? If so, what happened?

I just bought the samsung 4266 and while I love the set and got a steel on it, it appears really fuzzy on DVD's. Regular TV i am not that concerned about because I don't have a cable box yet, but my DVD's aren't what i expected.

I upgraded from s-video to component, I even got the nice monster cables thx gold plated. The main problem i have is on concrete walls in picture, or on really dark pictures there is all sorts of distortion/halo. Also most pictures just look fuzzy, even dimming at times.

I am not sure if this is "black grass" or not, does anyone else have this problem, if so please advise.

Tim

I just bought the samsung 4266 and while I love the set and got a steel on it, it appears really fuzzy on DVD's. Regular TV i am not that concerned about because I don't have a cable box yet, but my DVD's aren't what i expected.

I upgraded from s-video to component, I even got the nice monster cables thx gold plated. The main problem i have is on concrete walls in picture, or on really dark pictures there is all sorts of distortion/halo. Also most pictures just look fuzzy, even dimming at times.

I am not sure if this is "black grass" or not, does anyone else have this problem, if so please advise.

Tim

IMHO try this:

1. Make sure your DVD player is set to a 16:9 output (most models made over the last 4 years will allow you to make that change in "set-up")
2. Set the DVD player output to 480i (yes many will disagree with this); but out of basic simple testing (with calibration disc - and samples of repetitive movies) - these newer TV's often do much better scaling and converting to their native resolution then the DVD players can. The Samsung will take that 480i (the DVD players natural output) and take it to 720p. If you set the DVD player to 480p you are adding one unnecessary conversion process.
3. In the Samsung set up section turn the "film mode" "on" (better processing on the 480i and only available with the 480i input)
4. On a couple of occasions I have found the super high priced cables can actually cause problems. I have seen that problem on more than once. You can buy a truck load of high quality cables from monoprice (see ad at top of page) for what is paid for those "high ticket" cables, and I have found they always work perfect and do not cause problems.
5. Set the Samsung to "Movie" mode and correct "format" for that specific DVD (often 4:3 or 16:9 or zoom "1" this will depend on the DVD; but your DVD machine is still set to 16:9)

With those basic settings I have found playing DVD's near HD quality, very film like and smooth with excellent colors.

Good Luck

2. Set the DVD player output to 480i (yes many will disagree with this); but out of basic simple testing (with calibration disc - and samples of repetitive movies) - these newer TV's often do much better scaling and converting to their native resolution then the DVD players can. The Samsung will take that 480i (the DVD players natural output) and take it to 720p. If you set the DVD player to 480p you are adding one unnecessary conversion process.

If you're watching movies, you're not adding a conversion. You're letting the player do 3:2 pulldown instead of the TV. The Faroudja processor in the Samsung TV is pretty good at this, but there are better out there, so it's dependent on which DVD player you have. If you're watching video based material, then the Samsung processor is likely better at deinterlacing, but again, there are better processors out there depending on what DVD player you have. The scaling will still be done by the TV, unless you also let an external scaler (or upconverting DVD player) do the scaling. Just like the deinterlacer and film detection algorithms, there are better scalers on the market, although you're unlikely to find one in the 2-300 dollar upconverting players out there.

3. In the Samsung set up section turn the "film mode" "on" (better processing on the 480i and only available with the 480i input)

Film mode enables 3:2 pulldown. Definitely turn it on. To my knowledge it doesn't do any other processing.

I also notice a sharp deline in burned dvd's, is this consistant with others experiances?

Got an HL-S4266W on the way. Gave up on the Westinghouse LCDs after trying out 3 of them, all had multiple dead pixels. That's what sucks most about LCDs, quality control still isn't perfect.

So what's the most recent build date, August 2006? Hopefully the one I got coming is at least newer than that, maybe avoid this black grass fiasco.

I just recently purchased an HL-S5686W and have had it about a week. I have just moved so i currently do not have cable hooked up yet (only an antenna). The problem i started having is that when i turn the tv on, no audio is produced. It is almost as if the mute was on, but it isnt. I also notice that when this happens, the initial samsung tone does not play when the tv is on. This has happened about 3 times and i do not know how to fix it other than keep turning the tv off and eventually (after a few hours) it seems to work again. This occurs on all inputs (i hooked a playstation up to different inputs and got no audio). Is anyone else having this problem or know what the cause could be

is there any way to find out the build date on a paticular set?

is there any way to find out the build date on a paticular set?


Look on the sticker on the back of the unit. August 2006 has been the most recent mentioned in this thread so far.

is there any way to find out the build date on a paticular set?

On HLS sets, the build date is on a small sticker which is located in the approximate center of the back of the set.

what are the main differences, if any between the hls4266w models and the hlr4266w models?

what are the main differences, if any between the hls4266w models and the hlr4266w models?

IMO on the HLS4266
HLS is much brighter, more brilliant colors, much much improved software and controls for both Picture and Sound, more imputs and better handling of those inputs (flexiblity)
HLR can do better on the blackest of blacks in a completely dark room; if you have room lights on (even small ones) you will not see that difference over the HLS

I would lean towards the HLS. The current buying price of the HLS is now very close to $1,000 and a new HLR (if you can still find them) would be close to $550.

They are great TV's for the price.

If you're watching movies, you're not adding a conversion. You're letting the player do 3:2 pulldown instead of the TV. The Faroudja processor in the Samsung TV is pretty good at this, but there are better out there, so it's dependent on which DVD player you have. If you're watching video based material, then the Samsung processor is likely better at deinterlacing, but again, there are better processors out there depending on what DVD player you have. The scaling will still be done by the TV, unless you also let an external scaler (or upconverting DVD player) do the scaling. Just like the deinterlacer and film detection algorithms, there are better scalers on the market, although you're unlikely to find one in the 2-300 dollar upconverting players out there.



Film mode enables 3:2 pulldown. Definitely turn it on. To my knowledge it doesn't do any other processing.

I think you are saying everything I said - but to be specific everything thrown at the Samsung ends up being 720p whether it is converted before it gets there or not. Only expensive DVD players may (and that is a big question) do slighter better at that then what the Samsung can do internally.

My point being, both the Samsung and the DVD player have to be set correctly to achieve that goal.

It's really sort of funny, I am in a big skiing club and about twice a month we get together to watch games and then wakeboard videos. In every situation the TV's and the DVD players are set up incorrectly. It is always the things listed in the post I made above. So far whether it has been a $70 or a $400 dollar player (and the TV a newer Samsung, Sony, or Mit's) the results have been the same. The WOW factor sets in - and they always say "the DVD's look like HD" and that is both the low quality home made movies or store bought DVD's.

Making a few simple adjustments can make a big improvement in PQ for DVD's.

So, IMO, set the DVD player to 480i and let the Samsung do all the work (unless that player is really expensive, it might do better?)

IMO on the HLS4266
I would lean towards the HLS. The current buying price of the HLS is now very close to $1,000 and a new HLR (if you can still find them) would be close to $550.

They are great TV's for the price.


Where are you finding these prices?

just got my hls5086w on wednesday. Dish is coming out this afternoon. so i've been in SD the past two days. it's actually not that bad. i was expecting SD (digital cable) to be crap, but it was very bearable watching NBA on ESPN/TNT the last two days. but...i'm pretty excited about seeing what HD looks like. i'm just on here to find a starting point for tv settings.

looks like i should be starting around:
contract 45
color 45
brightness 45
sharpness 0


out of the box, the contract was something like 95 and the brightness was 50. it was burning my eyes!

anyways, so far 2 days and i have no complaints. the wife has an issue with power up time and the initial dim picture. of course she's the type that at 7:59, she rushes over to watch an 8:00 show. so that's just something she'll have to get used to.

only bad news is i just realized my dvd player doesn't have HDMI out. only s-video and component. i have an s-video cable that came with my video card, so it'll have to be that for now.

i doubt the wife will give me the green light on a new dvd player right after i just dropped some $$ on the tv.

Where are you finding these prices?

i'd guess pricegrabber

Since yall were discussing pricing, I was just at a Fry's grand-opening in alpharetta, GA, and they have the HLS-4266w for $614.... I just about bought one at that price, but im the market for a 50, and couldnt settle for the smaller screen....

That is by far the cheapest i have seen it anywhere... lowest elsewhere was $999. The floor model did show the notorious "black grass".

Occasionally I have seen Fry's do some crazy stuff on pricing; particularly on "off" days - not high traffic weekends. Sometimes they will even be as much as 33% off just introduced products, before the mfg has the official release date for the product. Within just 1 to 3 days, their price will go up matching everyone else. It is not uncommon to see the 1080p Mits, Sony, and Samsung change by as much as $1,000 from a Thursday to a Friday (that is go "up" in price). I have see them do that at least once every six months. Conversely they have a ton of 1-2 year old outdated products they will not discount from full list. When Tweeter was selling out the Sony DHG-HDD500 at $250; Frys stayed at full retail of $999, and still is to this day; a product that has not been made for over a year.

ok here is my delime, I purchased a 42" dlp from cc for a killer deal thinking it was the hls model, well I get it home to find out I pulled an idiot move and it is a hlr model. even for the earlier model, i got a steal on the tv (it was open box) even for being an hlr. CC has the hls models for quite a bit more than other websites but i want to take advantage of the no interest at cc.

my question is, is there that much of a difference between the hls and the hlr models to spend the extra two to three hundred bucks?

ok here is my delime, I purchased a 42" dlp from cc for a killer deal thinking it was the hls model, well I get it home to find out I pulled an idiot move and it is a hlr model. even for the earlier model, i got a steal on the tv (it was open box) even for being an hlr. CC has the hls models for quite a bit more than other websites but i want to take advantage of the no interest at cc.

my question is, is there that much of a difference between the hls and the hlr models to spend the extra two to three hundred bucks?

Well because of the "major" items I listed above for the HLS vs HLR; then if this set is your "main" TV set; then IMHO it is worth about $300 more for the HLS.

On the other hand if this is a secondary set (like a bedroom for night time viewing), then I would go for the lower priced HLR.

Basically, you have to decide if the newer improved model is worth the extra $300

on my brother's samsung dlp he has a location on the top of the tv for a center speaker. i have the hl-s5086w and ther is no where to put the center speaker. does anyone know why? is there an adapter?

So, IMO, set the DVD player to 480i and let the Samsung do all the work (unless that player is really expensive, it might do better?)

It won't really matter whether you set the player to 480i or 480p, unless you have a junk player. Go find the Secrets of Home Theater review for your player and find out how good the film detection algorithms are. If they all pass, just let your player do the reverse pulldown, since you have a guarantee on what it can do. I don't know of any extensive tests of the TV's capabilities, other than the 1080i deinterlacing testing done recently.

As for the scaling, it would only really matter if you have a very expensive standalone scaler, or a very fast computer and the time to test lots of filtering combinations in ffdshow/avisynth. In those cases, you could do quite a bit better than the TV does for scaling, but that would only matter for SD and SD DVDs. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray add another can of worms, but there you'd most definitely want to let the player convert to 720p. These sets can't accept 1080p (maybe they can over HDMI, I haven't tested that), and they royally mangle 1080i->720p conversion, going the 1080i->540p->720p route.

These sets can't accept 1080p (maybe they can over HDMI, I haven't tested that), and they royally mangle 1080i->720p conversion, going the 1080i->540p->720p route.

Where did you learn of this info? If the HL-S actually drops it to 540p first, then it would be better to set the outputs of my cable box and dvd player to send 720p straight out. So better not to include 1080i in the output list?

Where did you learn of this info? If the HL-S actually drops it to 540p first, then it would be better to set the outputs of my cable box and dvd player to send 720p straight out. So better not to include 1080i in the output list?

The Gary Merson testing (http://www.hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/1106hook/) from Home Theater Mag.

Has anyone using a comcast box found a working code to make HL-S5086W's remote work with the motorola box? I tried the one it says in the manual but I can't seem to get any of them to work :(

It won't really matter whether you set the player to 480i or 480p, unless you have a junk player.............

Except that most of the sets (Samsung, Sony, Mit's) will prevent you from setting the "film mode" to "on" unless it is receiving a 480i signal. Or the circuits are made to only provide film mode "if" it is actually receiving a 480i.

Generally to get the best PQ with a DVD player, it has been my experience with the newest TV sets (made in the last 18 months), to let the TV do all the work with any player around $400 or less. ( I should qualify that a little; it's the three brands above that I have experience with)


I am by no means an expert; but I suppose I have seen maybe only about 40 systems set up (different DVD players and newer TV sets). I am very hard pressed to see any improvement with very expensive DVD players (not referring to blu-ray and HD) over a mid line player or cheap player letting the TV do all the work. In fact, there has always been a significant improvement in PQ using the set up method I described and hence the "wow" factor with my friends.

I guess my point being is: Seems 99% of the time, most will say to set the DVD player to its highest capability (resolution up converting, scaling, processing, etc.) On the newest TV's I have just found the TV does a lot better with the PQ processing, and just set the DVD to only 480i. This is definitely not true with TV's two years and older; at least in my experience.

Needless to say everyone's mileage will vary.

Houston, since you have an August 2006 build date, what's the "version" number you have listed on that small sticker on the right side of the unit?

I just received my 4266W today, with a July 2006 date and version PB01. Black grass is present, with more at the top than bottom. The control buttons on the side are black. I think I remember them being silver on an older build date at Best Buy.

In all honesty, this subtle black grass effect doesn't even bother me. I only see it when I come up really close to the screen. I dunno, maybe it's becuase i've seen and put up with a LOT WORSE things in older TV's in the past.

Hi guys, I picked up my HLS4266 in Aug and just today I wanted to see what was in the service menu and noticed my bulb says 399 hours....Is that what I have left on it if so that seems kinda low for how long I've owned it.

Hi guys, I picked up my HLS4266 in Aug and just today I wanted to see what was in the service menu and noticed my bulb says 399 hours....Is that what I have left on it if so that seems kinda low for how long I've owned it.

I'm pretty sure it means how many hours it's been used so far. Can't exactly predict how many hours are left until something electrical dies, especially bulbs.

How do you get into the service menu??

I'm pretty sure it means how many hours it's been used so far. Can't exactly predict how many hours are left until something electrical dies, especially bulbs.

How do you get into the service menu??

I dont know if I'm allowed to post how to get in it I had to search for it at other sites. If you do find it though remember to write everything down if you change anything so you can change it back.

rimshaker, Mine is also PB01

Anyone know were the Overscan option is in the Service Menu....I was able to move the screen around but not shrink it down.

I'm also looking for good video settings for XBOX 360 games.

Except that most of the sets (Samsung, Sony, Mit's) will prevent you from setting the "film mode" to "on" unless it is receiving a 480i signal. Or the circuits are made to only provide film mode "if" it is actually receiving a 480i.

Film mode on the TV and setting the DVD player to progressive scan do the exact same thing. They apply reverse 3:2 pulldown. In other words, it is appropriate that the TV only runs film mode on 480i (or 1080i) content. The problems you may encounter with this are if the material is badly flagged, or it switches between film and video content. Then you must rely on the film detection and deinterlacing algorithms of the player or TV. Some fairly cheap DVD players excel at both of these, which is why I said it would be prudent to check the Secrets testing of whichever DVD player you happen to own to find out. If they say it's good, it's very likely better than the TV at doing this, and you should probably let your DVD player handle this.

Generally to get the best PQ with a DVD player, it has been my experience with the newest TV sets (made in the last 18 months), to let the TV do all the work with any player around $400 or less. ( I should qualify that a little; it's the three brands above that I have experience with)

Scaling is a different animal, since good scaling requires quite a bit of processing power. I agree that there aren't really any DVD players out there that will provide better scaling than the TV. There are some fairly expensive scalers that will do this job much better, and if you've got the patience and a powerful PC, there are free utilities that will allow you to do a much better job of this as well.

I am by no means an expert; but I suppose I have seen maybe only about 40 systems set up (different DVD players and newer TV sets). I am very hard pressed to see any improvement with very expensive DVD players (not referring to blu-ray and HD) over a mid line player or cheap player letting the TV do all the work. In fact, there has always been a significant improvement in PQ using the set up method I described and hence the "wow" factor with my friends.

Very expensive DVD players often don't provide noticeable better PQ. Often it's the feature set they provide or the brand name that leads to the cost. I agree with your general sentiment about this.

Anyone know were the Overscan option is in the Service Menu....I was able to move the screen around but not shrink it down.
I have not found on on the HLS4666w. I don't think there is one. The best I was able to do was center the image.

After reading around a bit, I've focused on buying this set (HLS4666W). Question though, is this about to be replaced with an new model? Reason I ask is that in looking around for pricing and whatnot, I find that Best Buy doesn't even list the item, nor does Circuit City. Crutchfield has it, but is out of stock. Amazon has it for $1199, and some others do at $1499. Was wondering if I'm looking at model that's about to be discontinued?

After reading around a bit, I've focused on buying this set (HLS4666W). Question though, is this about to be replaced with an new model? Reason I ask is that in looking around for pricing and whatnot, I find that Best Buy doesn't even list the item, nor does Circuit City. Crutchfield has it, but is out of stock. Amazon has it for $1199, and some others do at $1499. Was wondering if I'm looking at model that's about to be discontinued?

I believe the 'current" model is the HLS-4676W

I believe the 'current" model is the HLS-4676W

Hmm.. From what I can gather, the HLS-4666W was just released in what, May of 2006? Discontinued/replaced already in less than a year with the HL-S4676S? That was quick. :)

Amazon.com has 'em priced about $100 difference. WIll need to see what the differences are other than just "newer model".

I believe the 'current" model is the HLS-4676W

There is no HLS-4676W. There is a HLS-4676S, which is the new shallow case version of the 4666w.

There is no HLS-4676W. There is a HLS-4676S, which is the new shallow case version of the 4666w.

So basically the only difference is the physical size of the unit? The "guts" are the same?

Opened up my 4266W (round side covers) to wipe a few smudges on the inside screen. There's nothing in there except the light source at the bottom and a huge mirror at the top that reflects outward to the screen.

Which leads me to believe that the black grass effect doesn't result from the screen bezels being too tight or any other tension problems in the cabinet itself. Like I said, all that's inside is the big reflective mirror. Meaning the black grass is actually coming from the light generation process somewhere.

Is this line of reasoning correct? If this is the case, I would classify black grass as an actual bonefide DEFECT, and have samsung correct it. BUT, since we all know it appears on all 42" models, I would think samsung can only correct it by replacing mine with the 4666W model. I know some people have been lucky at that.

Which leads me to believe that the black grass effect doesn't result from the screen bezels being too tight or any other tension problems in the cabinet itself. Like I said, all that's inside is the big reflective mirror. Meaning the black grass is actually coming from the light generation process somewhere.

Is this line of reasoning correct?...

[...the black grass study continues ;) ]

I don't know the cause but I've had my HL-S4266 since July 1st this year and the black grass has not-only shrunk but it's contrast is fading to a very soft gray. With no-signal, we now have to look really hard and only at a specific angle to see it. It's definitely going away over time. The thing is, the picture quality on my set is so good, I won't risk returning it for another set.

[...the black grass study continues ;) ]

I don't know the cause but I've had my HL-S4266 since July 1st this year and the black grass has not-only shrunk but it's contrast is fading to a very soft gray. With no-signal, we now have to look really hard and only at a specific angle to see it. It's definitely going away over time. The thing is, the picture quality on my set is so good, I won't risk returning it for another set.

steve, open up one of the side covers and you'll see what I'm talking about. Just dont touch anything inside with your fingers. Structurally, you can see that there's no way black grass can appear due to cabinet/screen tension.

I might even hypothesize that, in your case, the black grass seems to be shrinking due to a sort of "breaking in" of any number of electrical components somehow. Consider yourself fortunate then.

steve, open up one of the side covers and you'll see what I'm talking about. Just dont touch anything inside with your fingers. Structurally, you can see that there's no way black grass can appear due to cabinet/screen tension.

Not sure how you made this determination, but to me it's pretty easy to see how screen tension could be the cause for this after looking inside my cabinet. This is in addition this artifact looking much like one would expect when tension is applied to a projection screen.

I might even hypothesize that, in your case, the black grass seems to be shrinking due to a sort of "breaking in" of any number of electrical components somehow. Consider yourself fortunate then.

Not sure what could cause the lessening of this artifact (other than the user adjusting to it). Perhaps heat is causing the cabinet to expand a bit, reducing tension, but then you should see the effect come as go as you watch it. Electronic components don't break in any meaningful way. Electrical engineering would be an even more pain of a profession if the component properties changed all the time.

Something as simple as incorrect tightening of the cabinet/screen is not likely the problem for black grass. Otherwise, somebody would've found a way to fix it by now. Or Samsung would've already made that little tweak in the manufacturing processes. I already tried adjusting the top panel screws, no help.

Remember this unit is all about REFLECTIVE technology. The problem is either at the front end (light source) or the back end (screen panel itself). All that's in between is a large mirror. Maybe the 42" screen panels are slightly warped??

Ok, I have had 3 working HL-S4266 in my house. All three have had black grass.

Virtually, all I have seen in the stores have it (except two different ones at Best Buy a few months ago did not.) The worst I had seen was at Fry's; about 80% of the screen was covered in black grass and could even been seen in bright room light (with dark scenes).

Black Grass is a manufacturing and most definitely a design defect. Sliding your thumb around the black plastic frame will immediately have a visible change in black grass and every set I have seen.

Tension, pressure, temperature, and humidity will affect the black grass, as will moving the TV - I know that from when Samsonite Gorilla Man from Samsung service was here, and he picked the TV up sideways and basically, through it on the ground - instant black grass. It is a sad note that delivery people and service tech do not know all HLS models have handles on the back to pick them up - gorilla tactics are not required.

IMO, Samsung can have the HLS4266 perfectly adjusted at the factory; but by the time it goes through shipping, you now have "Black Grass" - This is because the tolerances are not correct in the design/manufacture of the set, so the smallest amount of pressure on that screen causes black grass. For what ever reason that problem does not affect the HL-S4666; most likely because there is more "space" for the screen material to move around in the frame - thus it is never under pressure.

Hi all,
New to the forum. I've been looking at the HLS-4266W versus the Sony 42" 3LCD model. I took my wife and kids with me yesterday, and she did not like the picture on the Sony (went to 3 different stores and compared different sources). She described something similar to SDE on the 3LCD models that she could not see on the DLP's. She really liked the Samsung DLP's, and after making the salesman at CC move the HLS-4266W all around so we could watch some DVD scenes, we decided we really liked it.

After reading about the black grass on the 42 model, I am reconsidering getting the HLS-4676S. I re-measured my entertainment ctr base, and it is 40". The width on the 4676S is 41.3". It appears in pictures that the base is actually slightly less wide than the screen itself. Can anyone confirm this for me? What is the base width as opposed to the top of the screen width?

Thanks for your help.

Hello All!

FYI - I had sat the fence for well over a year and finally purchased the above. Set arrived last week.

Picture in HD is gorgeous but a few issues however,

#1 Set seems to have the smudge issue. There are 2 noticeable areas just below the top of the set in the center. Can definitely see them on lighter backgrounds (1 is about 1x2", other is about 2x3"). Something is definitely amiss. While watching football yesterday, one of the networks has the horizontal line across the opt of the screen. When the line hits the 1st area, it distorts into a small curve and then goes back into a straight line at the 2nd area.

#2 Pincushioning seems really bad SD (I'll get out my ruler to measure...)

Build date is October '06.

I already placed the service call so now the fun begins...

Hello All!

FYI - I had sat the fence for well over a year and finally purchased the above. Set arrived last week.

Picture in HD is gorgeous but a few issues however,

#1 Set seems to have the smudge issue. There are 2 noticeable areas just below the top of the set in the center. Can definitely see them on lighter backgrounds (1 is about 1x2", other is about 2x3"). Something is definitely amiss. While watching football yesterday, one of the networks has the horizontal line across the opt of the screen. When the line hits the 1st area, it distorts into a small curve and then goes back into a straight line at the 2nd area.

#2 Pincushioning seems really bad SD (I'll get out my ruler to measure...)

Build date is October '06.

I already placed the service call so now the fun begins...


This is the HL-S4266W right? Do you see the infamous black grass effect when the TV is on but w/o any sources?

Smudge inside the screen is an easy fix. Just remove one of the round side covers and wipe the smudge off, but be sure to use lint-free wipes or something. And don't touch anything with your naturally oily fingers.

Pincushioning is normal in projection TVs to a certain degree. It will never be perfect, not even on the high-end 61" and 72" DLP units i've seen in stores.

Its an HLS-5686..

Hey guys I own a hl-s5086w I bought the set about 2 months ago I been pretty happy with it but now i feel like i should've gotten something else. How much of a improvement would i see if I get it professionally calibrated.I live in the New York City and found some highly rated calibrators now i just want to know if dropping $450 would make a major improvement.

The "smudging" on the 1080p sets are actually scratches between the two screens. I would recommend not trying to wipe it off, as Eliab posted that he scratched a screen using a micro-fiber cloth trying to do this. Call Samsung and get the screen stack replaced.

Hey guys - I have had my hl-s5686w for a few months now. All has been well, except I notice quite a bit of condensation behind my screen. The condensation is in the lower left area. Has anyone else had thuis problem? Could it be related to the TV being next to a gas fireplace?

Justin

I'm new to this forum, so I don't know if this issue has been addressed or not. I just got the Samsung HLS4266W. I love the picture, but I am having a lip synch problem with the audio going thru my home theater system. Has anyone had this problem and found a solution?

I'm new to this forum, so I don't know if this issue has been addressed or not. I just got the Samsung HLS4266W. I love the picture, but I am having a lip synch problem with the audio going thru my home theater system. Has anyone had this problem and found a solution?

If you are talking about the time delay difference between the TV speakers and your stereo speakers, you have to Mute the TV speakers in the user menu.

Actually, I'm only using the external speakers. The audio is out of sync with what peolpe are saying on the screen. Like a poor dubbing job.

Dougnjan,
Which sources are you using when you notice the audio lag (DVD, Cable)? Also, what inputs are you using into your receiver (RCA Right/Left, digital coax or optical)?

I cannot see in the manual anything about adjusting or synchronizing the a/v, however, I can adjust the a/v sync on my Sony DVPN75H upconverting DVD player when playing DVD's.

I am using component video input to the tv from a Panasonic DVD/HDD recorder. I am using Rca from the HDD/DVD to the home theater receiver for audio.

So the audio lag is only when playing DVD's from your Panasonic DVD recorder? Have you tried using a digital coax or optical cable instead of the rca right/left cables?

Hello All!

FYI - I had sat the fence for well over a year and finally purchased the above. Set arrived last week.

Picture in HD is gorgeous but a few issues however,

#1 Set seems to have the smudge issue. There are 2 noticeable areas just below the top of the set in the center. Can definitely see them on lighter backgrounds (1 is about 1x2", other is about 2x3"). Something is definitely amiss. While watching football yesterday, one of the networks has the horizontal line across the opt of the screen. When the line hits the 1st area, it distorts into a small curve and then goes back into a straight line at the 2nd area.

#2 Pincushioning seems really bad SD (I'll get out my ruler to measure...)

Build date is October '06.

I already placed the service call so now the fun begins...

I have a HLS5686 with a Sept. build date. I have had it up and running for about a month. I have not noticed any smudging. As far as bad SD viewing. Well, thats a gimme. I wish the cable and satellite companies would get off their arse and give us some more HD content.
Let us know how the service call works out.

Dan

I'm new to this forum, so I don't know if this issue has been addressed or not. I just got the Samsung HLS4266W. I love the picture, but I am having a lip synch problem with the audio going thru my home theater system. Has anyone had this problem and found a solution?

I noticed a similar problem yesterday with my HLS6187W. I have it hooked up to a
SA8300HD DVR box via HDMI and no external speakers. It was like I was watching a bad dubbed Japanese movie. I re-booted my DVR box and it seems to be fine now.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have also experienced the lag when watching tv ( not a tape) through my vcr. Regular coax out of the vcr into the tv. Again, rca audio out of the vcr into home theater receiver. I never had a problem with this same setup with my old Samsung crt tv.

Another question that may have already been addressed. What is the lifespan of the projector bulb?

Another question that may have already been addressed. What is the lifespan of the projector bulb?

I would surmise to say that projector bulbs run on *hours* used . Example might be: 1500 hours per bulb. This is NOT to say that this particular bulb is set to extinquish at that hour. Its just an example of how bulbs are ranged verses the term *lifespan*. According to a reliable source most bulbs for dlp range from 3000 to 5000 hours life expectancy. Using certain settings can help prolong its span time as well.

Hello All!

FYI - I had sat the fence for well over a year and finally purchased the above. Set arrived last week.

Picture in HD is gorgeous but a few issues however,

#1 Set seems to have the smudge issue. There are 2 noticeable areas just below the top of the set in the center. Can definitely see them on lighter backgrounds (1 is about 1x2", other is about 2x3"). Something is definitely amiss. While watching football yesterday, one of the networks has the horizontal line across the opt of the screen. When the line hits the 1st area, it distorts into a small curve and then goes back into a straight line at the 2nd area.

#2 Pincushioning seems really bad SD (I'll get out my ruler to measure...)

Build date is October '06.

I already placed the service call so now the fun begins...

Update: Local repair shop took the set on Wed. Got a call from them yesterday and they said the inside of the set was bowed and the screen was affected. They are calling Samsung on Monday. Should I push Samsung for a completely new set at this point? The service guys are guessing somehow the set was subjected to some sort of external heat source.

The thing that really sucks is I had planned on staying home the day after Thanksgiving and enjoying the set! I waited/researched/etc for well over a yr before taking the plunge. I origianally recevied the set last Friday and here it is a week later and now suffering major HDTV withdrawl.

I'm hanging in but its going to be murder this upcoming week with all the ads for HDTV constantly reminding me of the situation I'm in...

<sigh>

Update: Local repair shop took the set on Wed. Got a call from them yesterday and they said the inside of the set was bowed and the screen was affected. They are calling Samsung on Monday. Should I push Samsung for a completely new set at this point? The service guys are guessing somehow the set was subjected to some sort of external heat source.

The thing that really sucks is I had planned on staying home the day after Thanksgiving and enjoying the set! I waited/researched/etc for well over a yr before taking the plunge. I origianally recevied the set last Friday and here it is a week later and now suffering major HDTV withdrawl.

I'm hanging in but its going to be murder this upcoming week with all the ads for HDTV constantly reminding me of the situation I'm in...

<sigh>

I feel your pain. I started another thread about my issue. Long story short Got my set the 7th I believe and already a failure.
Set just stopped working after switching input , it did seem a little dimmer than the day before , then the whole thing froze when I turned it off then back on no response. Did all the resets and only sign was the lamp led blinking. Called samsung they said a repairman would call within 1-3 B.Days. Guy on the phone said it definately sounded like the Bulb. I just dont know if the bulb is the ailment or the symptom.

So Just like you i wanted to vegetate and watch tv all thanksgiving weekend but oh well.

Same model 5686. What troubles me is the reason I purchased it was becuase it seemed to be the most reliable....all the other sets out there must come with TNT in side.

Hey everyone, I have a new problem with my HL-S4266W. I've been having a lot of trouble with Comcast getting me a clear picture in my living room (the SDTV in the bedroom looks fine). After several trips out they claim that I should have enough signal to power several tv's, yet my HLS looks really REALLY bad. I've had it hooked up to a standard cable signal before and it looked great, just as good as my old 32" CRT, but now at my new apartment it's basically unwatchable.

The cable guy even hooked up another small CRT and it came in clear too. Although, my xbox, dvd, etc... all look great on the HLS, it's just the cable.

So, my actual question is..."Is there something wrong with my set, or is Comcast just screwing with me?"

So, my actual question is..."Is there something wrong with my set, or is Comcast just screwing with me?"

Go to Radio Shack and purchase a Cable TV Amplfier.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103093&cp=&origkw=cable+amplifiers&kw=cable+amplifiers&parentPage=search

HL-S6186W vs HL-S6187W?
I am abut to buy a 61" Sammy. My seating is 18 feet from the set and I do not have a HD Dish. My local cannels are mostly HD. From reading the AVS forums it appears to me that I would be better off buying the HL-S6186W and save $400. Any thoughts?
I would also like to have the reccomended settings for the HL-S6186W . Thanks for any help you can give to a newbie.

Customer review from the CC website:


Got this set home and put it through its paces. Found that component input (R-G-B) input (supposedly highest quality analog in), has serious design issue causing misalignment of the three colors. Problem not evident with lower quality inputs (AV1/AV2/S-Video). Reproduced problem in sets at dealer as well. A test pattern input from component in, will make this issue obvious on vertical borders between red and green bars. Can also be seen by looking at the lettering on the far right of the default opening screen of 'Nemo' DVD, among others. It shows up as a green shadow of the letters to the left of where the letters should be. A very competant tech from Samsung confirmed this design flaw and said he will feed the info back to the factory.


Is this really a confirmed problem? Anyone else noticed it?

(I'm referring to the HL-S5086W BTW)

Well ... CC finally has a good deal on the HLS5086W so I'm going to get it over Sony's E2000's. I'm not buying POS monster cables. Anyone have any recommendations (feel free to send via PM)? I need one HDMI going from comcast STB->HDMI and one that goes from DVI->HDMI (25'+). Thanks for any help!

-E

www.monoprice.com best place for cables

Hey everyone...i just spent 3 days with my brand new sammy and i've been reading posts on here like crazy, first time actually posting. ANYway, i love the new set, but, like im finding most of you, i'm going insane trying to get it PERFECT.

Aside from that, anyone else feel like the screen itself has a weird kind of sheen to it? I think it might be whats referred to as silk screen effect. for whatever reason, its driving me nuts. No one else that watches the tv can see it and they all think im nuts, but i feel like theres a graininess to it that is a part of the actual screen. Am i taking crazy pills? Defective set? help.

Best Buy and Circuit City have the HL-S4266W on sale for $999 this week. That's a pretty good deal from my research. I just got a price adjustment on mine and I'm even happier now. Wish I had a place for another one!

Richie

www.monoprice.com best place for cables

Wow, great prices! I'm going to return the POS I got from CC today.

Curious, what is recommended for AWG? Obviously, lower the gauge the (supposedly) better the quality/transmission. I just bought two 24AWG cables ... one HDMI->HDMI and one DVI->HDMI. Is there any significant gain by purchasing 22AWG cables?

Is there any significant gain by purchasing 22AWG cables?

No, not for relatively short runs (<15 feet). The heavier AWG cables are also less pliable.

This is my first post. I have been reading these forums for months now, gathering info. I just bought an HL-S4676S and my wife and I absolutely love it. I have my cable box, upconverting dvd player, and my 360 all working wonderfully.

I was lucky to have the E2000 and this TV side by side in Best Buy. I really could not tell a difference in picture quaity between the 2 so the glossy piano black finish and the fact that it is only 10.5 inches deep won me over. Having both a 12% off and 36 month no interest coupon in hand really helped LOL

The only slight "issue" I have is that the optical out from the TV will not play full 5.1. If I route either the DVD player or the cable box direct to the receiver they work great but using the optical out on the TV downgrades the signal to normal Dolby Pro Logic. Anyone have any advice on this ?

No, not for relatively short runs (<15 feet). The heavier AWG cables are also less pliable.

Thanks! I think I'll be going with 24AWG all around. One 4' and one 25'

Hey everyone...i just spent 3 days with my brand new sammy and i've been reading posts on here like crazy, first time actually posting. ANYway, i love the new set, but, like im finding most of you, i'm going insane trying to get it PERFECT.

Aside from that, anyone else feel like the screen itself has a weird kind of sheen to it? I think it might be whats referred to as silk screen effect. for whatever reason, its driving me nuts. No one else that watches the tv can see it and they all think im nuts, but i feel like theres a graininess to it that is a part of the actual screen. Am i taking crazy pills? Defective set? help.
I like to think of the screen as having a "matte" finish as opposed to the "glossy" finish of plasma (to use photo terms). I think this is what some call SSE, but others claim that SSE is some sort of "sparkly" thing that I have yet to see. I actually prefer the matte look myself as it seems more film-like to me. Besides, compared to the glass of a plasma it really reduces room reflections (which were a big problem for me). I think it's a property of the fresnel (?) lens of the DLP and it's one of the tradeoffs for allowing a wider angle-of-view and reducing light reflections.

anyone know where i can find it? I did the usual searches and no go. Thanks.

The only slight "issue" I have is that the optical out from the TV will not play full 5.1. If I route either the DVD player or the cable box direct to the receiver they work great but using the optical out on the TV downgrades the signal to normal Dolby Pro Logic. Anyone have any advice on this ?

No sure if I understand.Do you mean the audio goes from the dvd player to your tv...then you plug the TVs optical into the AV receiver ?

If so than the dolby digital isnt getting passed becuase the dvd doesnt have a digital connection to the TV to begin with.
Have you tried OTA HD reception ? Ive watched 2 shows that my receiver deteced dolby digital tracks on with the optical out on. So unless im mistaken Im fairly sure the TV outputs a digital signal..

JCA __
As far as the screen..well wow I couldnt even do a search on it becuase I didnt quite know the phrasing others would use. To me it looks like my pda does when i put a screen protector on it. Ive only really noticed it in white scenes..ill really notice it in the new old navy commercials. It just seems like the screen isnt crytal crystal clear it seems slightly colorful.


But to my knowledge its not SDE or SSE. I think Ive seen just what those are playing old 480i xbox games. The thing youre describing which I think Im seeing too is just how the screen is made.


So if your nuts im nuts. :confused:

No sure if I understand.Do you mean the audio goes from the dvd player to your tv...then you plug the TVs optical into the AV receiver ?

If so than the dolby digital isnt getting passed becuase the dvd doesnt have a digital connection to the TV to begin with.
Have you tried OTA HD reception ? Ive watched 2 shows that my receiver deteced dolby digital tracks on with the optical out on. So unless im mistaken Im fairly sure the TV outputs a digital signal..


My DVD player and cable box both connect to the TV via HDMI. It was my understanding that HDMI passed both video AND digital audio to the TV and then the optical output on the TV should be able to pass the digital audio signal to the optical input on my receiver.

Am I just misinformed ?

It's not a big deal because I have worked around it by making direct connection from the DVD and STB to my receiver, but it would have been nice to not need the extra cables.

I just purchaseda HL-S6188W from Crutchfield, and wanted to go into the service menu to turn off overscan. Once in, overscan selection was set to "on", and blacked out, not allowing me to turn it off. Am I missing something? Thanks!

Best Buy and Circuit City have the HL-S4266W on sale for $999 this week. That's a pretty good deal from my research. I just got a price adjustment on mine and I'm even happier now. Wish I had a place for another one!

Richie
Well, you might want to go back again for price adjustment. CC has them on an "unadvertised friday sale" for $799


http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/genericContent.do?oid=142624&c=1&cm_re=main%20marquee-_-Unadvertised%20Black%20Friday%20specials-_-See%20the%20deals

For the same $ of $1000.00. Which would be a better all around set used for gaming, DVD and HD TV viewing. The HLS4266W, or the new LCD Vizio VX 37??/ Just wondering.

My DVD player and cable box both connect to the TV via HDMI. It was my understanding that HDMI passed both video AND digital audio to the TV and then the optical output on the TV should be able to pass the digital audio signal to the optical input on my receiver.

Am I just misinformed ?

It's not a big deal because I have worked around it by making direct connection from the DVD and STB to my receiver, but it would have been nice to not need the extra cables.

No that setup seems to be appropriate. :confused:
Less cables is always better , I dont think itd be a bad idea to make a quick call to samsung and ask. Maybe it sends DD signal from the tuner but doesnt allow for a pass through from other inputs ?

Well, you might want to go back again for price adjustment. CC has them on an "unadvertised friday sale" for $799


http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/genericContent.do?oid=142624&c=1&cm_re=main%20marquee-_-Unadvertised%20Black%20Friday%20specials-_-See%20the%20deals
Sorry, I don't think price guarantee applies to this 6 hour unadvertised sale. Quoted from Circuit City webpage:

Limited quantities are available • No rainchecks will be issued • Price guarantee does not apply to 6-hour specials

Circuit City Link (http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/genericContent.do?oid=142624&sourceid=qIrKRWS5HpJlAmLcZn4m&affiliateid=40033382&carriage=befree&c=1&cm_re=main%20marquee-_-Unadvertised%20Black%20Friday%20specials-_-See%20the%20deals)

-Mark

Can anyone help me with my new HLS4676 color settings? I just got this and I have HD hooked up. What % should I have all the picture settings at?

I too am eyeing the HL-S4266W, I was just wondering, when using the Game mode is there still bad audio lag or is it less than noticeable? I play alot of games so this is definitely a deciding factor for me, and any feedback is appreciated!

Ok, I read about 5 pages in this thread, but I really don't want to spend hours reading the whole thing. I'm not really all that informed when it comes to AV equipment, so I could use some help with a question I had.

I've been considering either going with the HLS4266W or a LCD screen, and I need one crucial piece of information in order to make the decision. I was wondering which type of TV will last longer and which one will cost less in maintenance over the years. I really like the quality of the DLP, but if I'm going to have to replace the bulb in it every couple years then I might decide to just go with a LCD screen (assuming that those don't need to have maintenance on them). So please, if someone could answer this for me quickly, I'd really like to catch the CC sale if I decide to go with the DLP.

Edit: I'm either going to go with the Samsung HL-S4266W or the Syntax Olevia 542i LCD. I was wondering if anyone could give me any opinions on which is the overall better TV and which would be better if I'd really rather stay away from replacing lamps but absolutely want a pretty good picture quality. Also, just out of curiosity, are Syntax Olevia's good TV's?

Like the last two posters I'm looking at picking this set up friday at CC. I was considering the 42inch westy but it's 200$ more and I like the fact Samsung is a major brand and it seems to have some customer service behind it. However I was wondering what does bulb replacements run for the 42 inch model?? It would be nice that in 2 years or so we could replace our bulb for 100$. Is there any type of indication that bulb replacements might be in that price range in a couple years? Now from the pages I've read it seems audio lag isn't really an issue but I'll ask like the previous poster did for some feedback on that issue.I plan on feeding my sound system directly with optical cables and the tv with 720p only, except with 480p DVDs. I'm also interested in how well it handles PC use via vga. I'll do some searching in the thread for answers, but any help would be great.

Again I apologize for repeating questions that I'm sure have been addressed many times before in this thread. I know it's annoying, but please be patient with all us possible new owners.

I am leaning towards the HL-S4266W too. I figure you can't go wrong at that price. This will be my first HDTV purchase and was wondering how the regular programs look on the set? The ones I saw at the stores had a washed out look, is that how I can expect it to look when I set it up at home?

I am leaning towards the HL-S4266W too. I figure you can't go wrong at that price. This will be my first HDTV purchase and was wondering how the regular programs look on the set? The ones I saw at the stores had a washed out look, is that how I can expect it to look when I set it up at home?


Almost everybody will tell you SD on a HDTV usually doesn't look very good compared to it being on a decent SD tube set. Trust me though once you go HD you will start bitching about how cable channels need to go hd :) . However DVDs usually look great on a HD set. This will be my third set and I'm looking forward to stepping up to a 42inch size instead of my 32inch sets.

I was thinking the same thing as all of you about the HL-S4266W. But check out the "black grass" problem in the RPTV forums here. I can't post a link to it because this is my first post. Seems like all the 4266 Samsungs have this problem, from what I'm reading here. And Samsung doesn't have a fix for it. Probably why they're on sale. :confused:

I was thinking the same thing as all of you about the HL-S4266W. But check out the "black grass" problem in the RPTV forums here. I can't post a link to it because this is my first post. Seems like all the 4266 Samsungs have this problem, from what I'm reading here. And Samsung doesn't have a fix for it. Probably why they're on sale. :confused:

Ya I saw many posts about it, but it doesn't look to major and who knows if it is bad free upgrade maybe????? LOL. Now time to go to CC!!

Hey guys i own a hls5086w and recently bought a xbox 360 just wondering what would be optimal settings.

and pulled the trigger on the HL-S4266W for $799. after doing some research (should have done it before lol) I found out about the black grass defect. do you guys think it's still worth the $799? i haven't taken it out of the box yet, but it'd be hard for me to return it after such a great price.

looking for opinons. thanks.

yeah i just bought the s4266w for 799 also. can't beat it for that price so i'm happy with my purchase so far considering i have it deliver to me on monday. any tips what i should do? so far i'm going to hook up my 360 using their composite cable that came with the premium and i got a digital cable box which i'm hooking it thru the old fashion way. when do i really need to get hdmi? is that only when i get a dvd player and connect one hdmi to the back of the dvd player then another end to the back of the tv?

count me in as another that pulled the trigger on the 4266w. I ordered online last night at the 999 price for instore pick up today...saw the special, and they adjusted at customer service when I picked it up. I'm still tweaking settings but I think I've found some pretty good ones. Picture is very nice. I'll probably pick up the microsoft vga cable so I can upscale dvds on my 360. As far as the infamous black grass, if i understand what it is correctly, I think I did notice it once..when I was at an angle just after I had turned the set off. at my normal viewing angle, I haven't seen any problems. Coming from my 26" sammy widescreen crt, it's a very nice improvement. Not quite as sharp as the crt of course, but a really nice picture inmo. I couldn't be happier for the price..799 is a steal for this set if you ask me.

I got the 4666 at BrandsMart this afternoon. Ad price was $998, rang up at $948.

Just picked up my hls4266 from Best Buy. Has black grass problem, but it isn't that noticable. Looks good with my Dish 625 pvr on 4:3 mode, but the OTA local channels in Tampa are unbelievable! Just watched Leno, it was awesome. Put Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in my dvd player(hooked up composite, don't have good cables yet) looked awesome. Just my 2 cents. Also, I have to say the info on this forum is the best I found doing research before I bought this tv. Thanks to everyone for posting their opinions, facts and info.

Anyone know if the HLS-4676W has the overscan issue that was present on previous models.

Like a few other people, I purchased the 4266W at circuit city on Friday. This is my first HDTV (upgrading from a 27" standard). I just upgraded my Cablevision cable box to a HD one. The cable box is asking me which resolution I would like to use as my standard. I currently have 1080i picked, however, I can choose 720, etc. I was watching some of the HD channels today and I noticed that some of them looked awesome (NBC and ESPN football games), but other channels (ABC golf, TNT movie) didn't look as good as expected and they weren't widescreen like the football games (maybe they weren't HD shows?). So, should I change my resolution to 720 since it is the native one for the TV or is the 1080i fine?

Also, I have a very cheap ($30 at Sears about 2 years ago) progressive scan DVD player. Should I set the output to 480i or 480p? Thanks in advance for your help.

i for one this is my first HDTV purchase and i'm already going all out. well got a technician to drop by this weds to hook up my hd reciever digital cable and give them back their regular reciever. hopefully i won't get the grass effect which i don't know what that is. hahahaha

HL-S4266W bought yesterday @ circuit city. was 1399$ online thursday, friday (took the laptop and camped out @ CC) web said it was 999$ and it i was out the door @ 6am for 799$ for the tv, 324$ for the protection plan and 40$ for a UPS/SP.

was 799$ good for this tv??

anyway, im seeing the "black grass" whatever it is??? i can only see it when the screen is totally black. i dont have HD yet, im building a house and i wont close till feb. i was watching "march of the penguins" tonite and saw some funky things.

the grass thing...
some of the clouds looked a little pixelated (or whatever the appropriate term is)
the blacks look a little grey

other than that it seems to be a good set. im new to this stuff and was told its 720p and that is good. im not sure why that is good. the guy at CC said hd starts at 720p and goes to 1080. he said i should have very little to zero issues with the bulb and projector. said he hears more complaints about expensive lcd's than the dlps.

he said that the protection plan covers one bulb but if i buy my own bulb for down the road that the plan covers the tech coming out (which is covered by the plan) and will install my bulb for free. he also said the plan is renewable right before the four years are up. he said that he has heard of one problem with the projector unit and a couple of issues with the screen which were all covered by the protection plan.

anyone confirm or deny this stuff? he said that if i dont want the plan to come back in the next four days and get my $$ back. i found a site that says the bulb is 210$. is the plan worth it?

also what about this "set up" i should do to it? getting the colors right? i have no clue what this stuff is and if i do it wrong the book says i could trash the tv. true/false?

thanks for the help. hope i got a good deal on this and it last me a good long time

jp

well great, guess i should have done more reading before buying the "black grass" special.

so houston and dsl... i checked my tv, november 06 build and oh yeah grass top and bottom. im reading about the 46" size, lack of issues, etc. they didnt have that on the floor on friday morning when i got the 42". also the house im building has a tv niche that is only 43/44" wide so i didnt want to be scratching the tv up...

so sam is telling you this is being corrected? uh..... im gonna play the bullsh^t card on that. a guy i talked to at the local tweeter said they haven't carried the 42" sammy for months due to all the problems. he also said the regional rep told them that the problem was and i quote "non repairable" and the store shipped all the 42"s back for store credit and only carry the 46"+ now. he told me there was "multiple issues that lead to the black grass" he said the store mgr and he (34 years in HT) switched two different bulbs and light assemblies in and it made no difference. he called one of the runs the car audio dept @ tweet, he used to work at CC and said they were trying to "blow out" that model because all the problems....

dunno... the tv was 799$ and the plan was 324$ and tax so im already in 1180$. the 46" @ CC is 1329$, plan is 399$ tax is 100$ish so im looking quiet a large difference to swap. if i call sammy will they work that out or am i screwed by buying at CC??

any opinions from people that have delt with CC or sam on this.

thx

also houston you have a pm

i picked one up for $799 also. i set it up and see no problems with black glass. maybe i'm not looking as hard for it. the only problem i have is that the picture from my cable box looks greenish. dvd and sat it looks fine. i went into the serve\ice mode and i need to find a list of what all the settings adjust. I think the service plane was priced too high. the only thing it will need in 3 years is a bulb. i can buy one now for around $150. in 3 years the price may drop as more sets get sold. if anyone has any links for service info please give the links. after i get 100 hrs on this thing i will check WB and set it all up again. i do miss my toshiba tw40h81. the hyper board went in it and i didn't want to spend $200 to fix a 5 year old tv. PS i spent two hours on line to get this tv and found it on there web site for the same price when i got home.

Like a few other people, I purchased the 4266W at circuit city on Friday. This is my first HDTV (upgrading from a 27" standard). I just upgraded my Cablevision cable box to a HD one. The cable box is asking me which resolution I would like to use as my standard. I currently have 1080i picked, however, I can choose 720, etc. I was watching some of the HD channels today and I noticed that some of them looked awesome (NBC and ESPN football games), but other channels (ABC golf, TNT movie) didn't look as good as expected and they weren't widescreen like the football games (maybe they weren't HD shows?). So, should I change my resolution to 720 since it is the native one for the TV or is the 1080i fine?

Also, I have a very cheap ($30 at Sears about 2 years ago) progressive scan DVD player. Should I set the output to 480i or 480p? Thanks in advance for your help.

IMHO if your cable box will not do an automatic native mode (like a Sony DHG-HDD500 that switches automatically), then set it to 1080i that should produce the best results even on a 720p set.

I have received a couple of PM's for a little more discussion on Black Grass. I really do not think much more can be said; but maybe summarized a little?

IMHO

1. I feel it is a design flaw.
2. Seems about 95% of the the 42" model have it, none of the other HLS series have it.
3. Each person will have to decide whether they can live with it or not.....seems some sets are so bad they may not be watchable, and some may be "ok"
4. I do not think Samsung has a fix for it, and I do not think they ever will, but they do want to make you happy and so does your dealer. Almost all have 30 day return policies.


So the solutions are:
Live with it
Get a refund
Let Samsung do a exchange for 42" or 46"


And please remember life does go on - this is not a big deal.

Generally, since their introduction all the HLS line has dropped about 40% in price, and will continue to (a lot) over the next 6 months - perhaps another 40% drop!

I got my HL-S4266 on the black friday sale, couldn't be happier. what an improvement over my 27". The only thing I can't figure out is when I use it as my pc monitor the desktop and windows are larger than my screen, I just see the top of my taskbar and when I am viewing web pages at max my scrollbar and buttons to close the window are for the most part off the screen. Any ideas on how I can adjust this?

4266w question:

I just hooked up my xbox 360 via the vga cables, and I'm noticing that there is a slight shift to the left compared to component. The image stops about 1/8" from the right side. I checked the service mode but didn't see any way to adjust this. any ideas?

edit: never mind, found the pc settings in the regular menu. doh.

I got my HL-S4266 on the black friday sale, couldn't be happier. what an improvement over my 27". The only thing I can't figure out is when I use it as my pc monitor the desktop and windows are larger than my screen, I just see the top of my taskbar and when I am viewing web pages at max my scrollbar and buttons to close the window are for the most part off the screen. Any ideas on how I can adjust this?

If your video card has a keystone option activate it and adjust the picture size. It takes a little time and a steady hand on the mouse but it works.

My nVidia 7800 saves the keystone setting so I activate it when using the tv and turn it off when using the monitor.

/Grey

Hey all, I just recently purchased the HLS4266 at the Best Buy black friday sale. It is being delivered December 6. I plan to start with the Eliab settings that have been mentioned earlier in this thread, and perhaps tweak them a bit from there to account for personal preferences. I just have a few brief questions regarding the set:

1) I am, of course, wary of the "black grass" effect. I was not aware of this effect at the time I purchased the TV, but I'm hopeful that the effect will be nonexistent or minimal in my set. That said I am curious what I should do to "find" the black grass effect, so I can figure out its extent and whether or not it is livable.

2) Does the PC Input on this set automatically correct for overscan, or is that something I'll need to deal with through my video drivers?

3) I am wondering what route I should go in terms of DVD players. I currently have a approximately 3 year old Panasonic DVD player. It does progressive scan, but was only $99.00 when I bought it. Its just your basic run of the mill pscan model as far as I can tell. It connects via component, and does not upconvert. I am considering purchasing (or asking for for Christmas) the much lauded Oppo upconverting DVD player. Has anyone used this DVD player with this TV? Is it worth the price, or is the upconversion done by the TV good enough that my old pscan dvd player is plenty good?

Any thoughts on the above would be much appreciated.

These picture settings are not available for me to choose. They are grayed out. Can anyone tell me why? A friend of mine has the same TV, and wide fit, zoom1, and zoom2 are available for him Thanks in advance for your response.

Picked up an HLS4266W over the weekend and I'm having a bit of an issue with regard to the picture.

I'm using an SA 8300HD (time warner NYC) and for whatever reason, it looks terrible. SD chans, HD chans, everything. Very heavy artifacting and block pixels everywhere. I tried component and HDMI with similar results (and yes, the box has the appropriate resolutions checked off on it)

I would be satisified blaming the TV if it was not for my xbox 360, which looks utterly amazing.

Any Suggestions?

what's an eliab setting? i'm getting my tv in about 1-2 hrs from now. yay the wait is over.

well watched "narnia" on my 42, was just about unbearable. every dark scene it was like some type of fiber optic fountain springing up from the sammy logo. a lot of dark scenes in that movie so it was borderline painful.

called sam today and im supposed to call and set up an appt. waiting from a call from the mgr at CC, if he/she is cool im just going to take it back and see what i can do. the guy that runs the tv dept at CC said he never tells people to buy the 42". he said that the door buster 799$ deal was nation wide but he did steer five or six away.

dunno, nemo looked nice and watched a couple of live DMB dvds and you could see carter sweat. and and the rep i talked to, actually two of them from NJ told me that tvs after aug 06 didnt have the issue. i then gave him my s/n and build date and he didnt have much to say after that, lol. stay clear, get a 46"

jp

got the tv today. its amazing when i hook up the 360 through component. i mean wow dvd look awesome when i played cars. tried GOW with 1080i setting and there were no lag what so ever. only problem with componet is that you see like a wave like going up the screen. anyway to get rid of this? regular digi cable, (dont have the hd reciever from them yet), look blocky righ t now. ch. 7 HD look blocky. i'm assuming its the reciever i have. overall best money spent for this tv. oh i left the game mode off too if that helps

how do i get rid of the wave like that goes up the screen from bottom to up? it move a lil slow but you will notice it on a whole black screen? (is this the black grass effect?) its wierd because when i hook up my digital cable reciever thru R/F i don't get that wave like. thats the only complaint, oh SD look ****** too hahaha.... can't wait for HD reciever coming in on weds.

1) I am, of course, wary of the "black grass" effect. I was not aware of this effect at the time I purchased the TV, but I'm hopeful that the effect will be nonexistent or minimal in my set. That said I am curious what I should do to "find" the black grass effect, so I can figure out its extent and whether or not it is livable.

About 5-6 weeks ago I posted that I had an HLS4266w without "black grass." I have to confess that I later discovered that mine does indeed have this "feature," but I had to look long and hard to see it. If you want to see what "black grass" looks like I can make this suggestion: Pause a DVD at a totally black transition between scenes and look at the bottom center of the screen, right above the Samsung name. A dark room helps here. If you cannot see it then crouch down to the floor and look up at the bottom of the screen from a shallow angle. If the black transition in a DVD does not work then turn the TV off while you are looking up from below the TV as I just described. There are a few seconds while the bilb/lamp is still lit but the screen is dark. If there is any "Black grass" you will most likely see it in one or both of these situations. You can try the same thing with the top of the screen. Once you see the effect you will be able to judge whether it is visible in various viewing situations.

On my set, the "black grass" is COMPLETELY un-noticable at normal viewing angles. Even on the darkest scenes, in a dark room, sitting close to the screen, I cannot see the effect. Only if I view the set at a very unnatural viewing angle do I see it, and then, I have it only on the bottom and none at the top.. So, on my set, it is "practically" invisible.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

Looking at CC's return policy, it appears the TV can be returned within 30 days for any reason. So, my thought is to pick up the TV and, if I have a problem with black grass, just return it within that timeframe.

So, the question is - has anyone had the black grass develop later in the life of the TV? Or, will I really know within 30 days if I'm going to have the issue?

Thanks,
Jeff

Picked up an HLS4266W over the weekend and I'm having a bit of an issue with regard to the picture.

I'm using an SA 8300HD (time warner NYC) and for whatever reason, it looks terrible. SD chans, HD chans, everything. Very heavy artifacting and block pixels everywhere. I tried component and HDMI with similar results (and yes, the box has the appropriate resolutions checked off on it)

I would be satisified blaming the TV if it was not for my xbox 360, which looks utterly amazing.

Any Suggestions?

what kind of settings do you have? The default settings will make the picture look like ass. First, make sure DNIe is off. This "feature" is awful for PQ I think. Digital NR I've gone back and forth with, but I have it on at the moment. Contrast I have at 64, brightness 55, sharpness 0 (high number here will really degrade the pic). Give those a try and tweak to your liking, but it should help.

what you are seeing sounds like what I saw when I unpacked my set this weekend and it was at the defaults with DNIe on and sharpness jacked to like 90 or something. I'm very pleased with how mine looks now. SD still has some artifacting but you'll have this...HD looks phenomenal, crystal clear.

Looking at CC's return policy, it appears the TV can be returned within 30 days for any reason. So, my thought is to pick up the TV and, if I have a problem with black grass, just return it within that timeframe.

So, the question is - has anyone had the black grass develop later in the life of the TV? Or, will I really know within 30 days if I'm going to have the issue?

Thanks,
Jeff

If your set has black grass, you should see it in the first few days, you watch it in a dark or black room, with dark or black sceens.

Prof - i heard the same from a couple of sites, that you had to stare at the screen down by the sam logo. i wish that was the case with this. you have to stare to see the top but the bottom, uhhgg. its fugly.

yes, i called CC and they said bring it back, no worries. the $$ difference to the 46" is quiet a bit by the time tax on a pricier tv and the protection plan... with the house im building, the tv niche is only 42" wide and there are few that can go up there and id really like to keep my dlp with the amount of movies i watch.

hope the outcome is good.

jp

Kevin,

Thanks a bunch for the info. I'll look for it when the TV gets here. If it is like you describe on mine, I'll definitely be keeping it. I am hopeful it will be minimal, as I hear the later produced sets have less problem with it, but I'll find out soon enough. I'm not interested in a 46" - I don't have the extra money, and it is frankly a bit large for my room - I'm only in a little 2br apartment. Other than this effect mentioned here, most reviews of this TV are very positive (good performance for the price), so I'm hopeful I'll get a "cherry" and not a "lemon."

About 5-6 weeks ago I posted that I had an HLS4266w without "black grass." I have to confess that I later discovered that mine does indeed have this "feature," but I had to look long and hard to see it. If you want to see what "black grass" looks like I can make this suggestion: Pause a DVD at a totally black transition between scenes and look at the bottom center of the screen, right above the Samsung name. A dark room helps here. If you cannot see it then crouch down to the floor and look up at the bottom of the screen from a shallow angle. If the black transition in a DVD does not work then turn the TV off while you are looking up from below the TV as I just described. There are a few seconds while the bilb/lamp is still lit but the screen is dark. If there is any "Black grass" you will most likely see it in one or both of these situations. You can try the same thing with the top of the screen. Once you see the effect you will be able to judge whether it is visible in various viewing situations.

On my set, the "black grass" is COMPLETELY un-noticable at normal viewing angles. Even on the darkest scenes, in a dark room, sitting close to the screen, I cannot see the effect. Only if I view the set at a very unnatural viewing angle do I see it, and then, I have it only on the bottom and none at the top.. So, on my set, it is "practically" invisible.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

what kind of settings do you have? The default settings will make the picture look like ass. First, make sure DNIe is off. This "feature" is awful for PQ I think. Digital NR I've gone back and forth with, but I have it on at the moment. Contrast I have at 64, brightness 55, sharpness 0 (high number here will really degrade the pic). Give those a try and tweak to your liking, but it should help.

what you are seeing sounds like what I saw when I unpacked my set this weekend and it was at the defaults with DNIe on and sharpness jacked to like 90 or something. I'm very pleased with how mine looks now. SD still has some artifacting but you'll have this...HD looks phenomenal, crystal clear.

I gave those settings a try and they did help some (though it looks a bit washed out now), but it looks like I'm trying to hide the problem rather then fixing it, if i look closely, there's still a whole lot of compression artifacting going on, it's just harder to see now.

what kind of settings do you have? The default settings will make the picture look like ass. First, make sure DNIe is off. This "feature" is awful for PQ I think. Digital NR I've gone back and forth with, but I have it on at the moment. Contrast I have at 64, brightness 55, sharpness 0 (high number here will really degrade the pic). Give those a try and tweak to your liking, but it should help.

what you are seeing sounds like what I saw when I unpacked my set this weekend and it was at the defaults with DNIe on and sharpness jacked to like 90 or something. I'm very pleased with how mine looks now. SD still has some artifacting but you'll have this...HD looks phenomenal, crystal clear.

I gave those settings a try and they did help some (though it looks a bit washed out now), but it looks like I'm trying to hide the problem rather then fixing it, if i look closely, there's still a whole lot of compression artifacting going on, it's just harder to see now.

2) Does the PC Input on this set automatically correct for overscan, or is that something I'll need to deal with through my video drivers?


I'm new to the whole HD thing and this is my very first HD set and to be quite honest I'm pretty pleased with it. And I went from a 27" tube, so it was a nice and rewarding change for me. In regards to your question about the pc input, I really don't know if it corrects the overscan or not, but I do know you may have to download updated drivers if available for your video card.

The only reason I say this is because I have a ATI Radeon X300 card (nothin expensive) and when I connected the VGA to the HL-S4266W for some strange reason it was only allowing me to show it at 800 x 600 resolution. I emailed ATI about and they told me to the download the latest Catalyst Bundle for my video card and now I can display it up to 1280 x 720. Didn't answer your question, just thought I'd share my experience if you need help on this issue.

Can anyone comment on how the HL-R4266W looks with SD satalite TV?

I looked at this again at CC last night - HD picture looks good to me, and I don't see black grass. Of course, they didn't have these set up to display SD. I monkeyed with it and was able to tune in a single SD cable channel. No idea if the feed was any good, but I can tell you the picture looked like utter crap. I hope this is not indicitive of how a normal SD signal looks on this TV, because I plan to watch a fair amount of SD DiretTV on it.

The rest of the time I'll be watching OTA HD, using the TV's ATSC tuner. Any known issues with it?


I also noticed it only had one USER preset on it. Can you also modify any of the other factory presets (such as movie?)

Thanks,
Jeff

well to me the SD on my HL-S4266w doesn't look that bad, some channels I do see more grain, but most of these are channels I don't even watch, but ESPN and many others are watchable. Of course SD looks slightly better on my 27" tube, but I'm quite pleased with the SD quality so far on my HD set. In the near future I do plan on upgrading to an HD receiver etc...

I do watch OTA HD channels with my old chrome rabbit ears antenna attached to back and those channels looks very nice! And to answer your question yes you can change the presets on the tv. I was actually messing around with the Movie preset. Hope that answers some of your questions.

I have a 4666. Today I picked up the Comcast HD/DVR box and will hook it up later and have Comcast turn on the HD signal. I have what is probably an old question - Should I get an HDMI cable or just use the cables that came with the DVR?

holimont I believe for the best quality you may want to go HDMI.

i have a hls6186*didnt get a 1080p model, because i plan on getting one until it was for sure 1080p :rolleyes:*...

the background:
when i first got the tv, i tried to turn it on, and i got the bad lamp code, called samsung and they sent someone out, replaced the lamp and the tv worked, but i didnt watched it for a few more days because i didnt have the tv stand. tried after a few days and got the bad lamp code AGAIN, once again called samsung had someone sent out, replaced lamp, tv worked started right up...since that day i had been watching it for a few hours every night, and it starts right up everytime, until tonight...

the question
me and my wife went to the hospital at around 11:30pm on the 25th, we came home today*27th*, i went to turn it on at around 7:15pm, and it didnt come on then it retried two more times as usual, and then all three lights started blinking(bad lamp indication)--today i figured i would try something new, so i turned it off and turned it back on to try and get the lamp to turn on, the same process repeated about 5 times...FINALLY it came on, is this normal, does anyone else have this problem, or should i take it one step further and request a new tv, through samsung warranty:confused:

get a tech to come out, you have warranty and let them decide but get it documented. if this becomes an issue in a year you will have a record of problems.

i supposedly have a tech coming to fix my grass, lol. talked to a guy that knows a guy that is related to a guy. he told me in order to fix the grass they have to replace some type of circuit panel and the light engine. the next person i talked to said they have to replace the whole screen, i asked and they said the board should be fine but they will replace the engine too. im supposed to call some place in raleigh, nc tomorrow and get this all set up...
depending on what they need to (was told they might need to take the tv for a week) im thinking of just returning it to CC and going some other way.

jp

I have a 4666. Today I picked up the Comcast HD/DVR box and will hook it up later and have Comcast turn on the HD signal. I have what is probably an old question - Should I get an HDMI cable or just use the cables that came with the DVR?

I have the Comcast HD/DVR as well, I guess now TWC, and have it connected via HDMI and the picture on the HD channels looks great. Enjoy the view :)

Well I'm very happy with my set I got on BF (sammy 42). At first I must say I was not happy at all and considered a return. However after adjusting the settings and giving it some break in time the set improved drastically. I was previously using a 32 inch LCD that also had a great picture. The new set does SD ALLOT better then the 32inch set. I also re-did my set up in my room to bring the set lower to eye level. I'm basically the guy in the manual sitting in front of the set. I'm currently using a HR-250 (D* HD Tivo) via HDMI with great results! MNF was amazing in the snow a couple of nights ago. However does anybody know if this set can take a DD5.1 via hdmi? When I go to a channel with DD5.1 the TV doesn't output sound. It's very possible the tivo isn't passing the DD signal via HDMI. I have optical set up to my surround sound system so it doesn't really matter, but I would like to pin point the issue. I also have my xbox 360 connected via component and it also look like the $#!+. I'm using the vga for my PC and it works well but it doesn't look nearly as good as my 32LCD did with one to one mapping.

So what can I say so far so good. Does anybody know if the overscan can be adjusted? I've seen several people ask in this thread but nobody has had a answer.

However does anybody know if this set can take a DD5.1 via hdmi? When I go to a channel with DD5.1 the TV doesn't output sound. It's very possible the tivo isn't passing the DD signal via HDMI. I have optical set up to my surround sound system so it doesn't really matter, but I would like to pin point the issue.

The HL-S DLP sets don't pass DD5.1 from HDMI to the set's optical out. The audio appears to get decoded inside the set and sent to the optical out as PCM. The only time you will get DD5.1 out of the TV's optical out port is when you are watching OTA HD (ATSC) and the broadcast has DD5.1 audio. Otherwise, you need to connect the audio directly from the source to your HT receiver in order to get DD5.1. Yes, it's annoying and it means that you can't use the TV as an A/V switch. so you either need a receiver that can switch HDMI/component, or you need to switch both the TV & your receiver when you change sources.

i just got my HL-S4266W and it came with hardcore black grass. It's really noticeable. Not really sure what to do because it bothers me but at the same time I got the TV for $799 and there aren't any decent exchanges/upgrades I can do for little moroe $$.

Is it worth calling up Samsung customer service even if they can't fix it?

Please forgive me if this has already been asked, but can someone please give me a good example of what "black grass" looks like? I just bought the 4266 for $799 with the 4 YR extended warranty from BB (they matched CC) so I feel I got a great deal, but the picture in HD look good, however it's a bit "grainy" and a bit "pixely" especially during darker scenes such as most of those in Da Vinci Code. I have a Hitachi 57" TWX20B that has been ISF calibrated and a Westing house 32 LCD that I replaced with this 42" Samsung. The LCD looked way better IMO than this 42". I've tweaked it just a bit, but I don't have but maybe, and this is a big maybe 20 or 30 hours on this set. I'm simply curious what this "black grass" is all about, is this grainyness or pixelly looking stuff black grass or is it worse than that? I watched a DVD of CAR and Incredibles with my kids and it was AWESOME...but HD via Charter is someonewhat disappointing, but not bad. Also when watching ESPN Sunday night football (Indy game), the grass and the whole picture wasn't as impressive as I had hoped. I had to put the picture mode on Movie to really get the picture looking right.

I have my my contrast down below 50, brightness down as well...basically my custom setup is very close to the movie setup with everything just a bit lower.

Anyhow, I need a black grass definition and how to find it becuase right now I'm just not that impressed with this Sammy HLS4266 at all. Should I be expecting razor sharp pictures with no imperfections? My Hitachi RPTV eats this things lunch... Thanks everyone in advance for whatever help you can provide. A picture of this black grass would be awesome.

The HL-S DLP sets don't pass DD5.1 from HDMI to the set's optical out. The audio appears to get decoded inside the set and sent to the optical out as PCM. The only time you will get DD5.1 out of the TV's optical out port is when you are watching OTA HD (ATSC) and the broadcast has DD5.1 audio. Otherwise, you need to connect the audio directly from the source to your HT receiver in order to get DD5.1. Yes, it's annoying and it means that you can't use the TV as an A/V switch. so you either need a receiver that can switch HDMI/component, or you need to switch both the TV & your receiver when you change sources.

Well I have optical already being fed to my rec from my hd tivo and my 360. I was just testing out the speakers on the tv when I noticed I wasn't getting any sound from the tv speakers when DD5.1 programming was on. I didn't know if my hd tivo just wasn't passing the sound via hdmi when I was on a DD channel or if my tv just couldn't handle the DD.

Please forgive me if this has already been asked, but can someone please give me a good example of what "black grass" looks like? I just bought the 4266 for $799 with the 4 YR extended warranty from BB (they matched CC) so I feel I got a great deal, but the picture in HD look good, however it's a bit "grainy" and a bit "pixely" especially during darker scenes such as most of those in Da Vinci Code. I have a Hitachi 57" TWX20B that has been ISF calibrated and a Westing house 32 LCD that I replaced with this 42" Samsung. The LCD looked way better IMO than this 42". I've tweaked it just a bit, but I don't have but maybe, and this is a big maybe 20 or 30 hours on this set. I'm simply curious what this "black grass" is all about, is this grainyness or pixelly looking stuff black grass or is it worse than that? I watched a DVD of CAR and Incredibles with my kids and it was AWESOME...but HD via Charter is someonewhat disappointing, but not bad. Also when watching ESPN Sunday night football (Indy game), the grass and the whole picture wasn't as impressive as I had hoped. I had to put the picture mode on Movie to really get the picture looking right.

I have my my contrast down below 50, brightness down as well...basically my custom setup is very close to the movie setup with everything just a bit lower.

Anyhow, I need a black grass definition and how to find it becuase right now I'm just not that impressed with this Sammy HLS4266 at all. Should I be expecting razor sharp pictures with no imperfections? My Hitachi RPTV eats this things lunch... Thanks everyone in advance for whatever help you can provide. A picture of this black grass would be awesome.

Here are my settings after using what was suggested here and with the THX from Star Wars.

HDMI-
Contrast-65
Brightness 53
Sharpness 30
Color Tone- Warm 2
Digital NR-off
DNIe-off

I adjust the contrast and brightness some depending on lighting.

Please forgive me if this has already been asked, but can someone please give me a good example of what "black grass" looks like?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7865652&&#post7865652

There is a lot of discussion about 'black grass' earlier in this thread. From the pictures, it looks more like 'white grass on a black background'.

thanks for the setting. i use this setting toward my component cable. i was only off by like 2 number on each category. thanks for the setting.

wells after talks with a sam repair tech from the midwest with nothing to gain by lying to me (25 years exp) an engineer from new jersey (10 yrs exp) a customer service rep (5 years exp) and two more repair reps from south carolina (30 years combined exp) they are split on causes.

the midwest guy says he fixed a 42" yesterday with "bad" grass with just the board swap.

the two techs from SC are split, one says cabinet color other says light engine.

the CR rep from sammy that had two 42"', one her's and one her father's, said they couldn't ever get them fixed and went with 46".

and the engineer says there is no such thing, im a tard that has the contrast set too far off and im causing the problem. he said to call him personally when the repair person adjusts my contrast and let him know. lol, guy was a dick and its sh^t like that, that will cause people to take the thing back and buy any other brand than samsung.

i feel im giving the people more than the benefit of the doubt, ive joked around with them all and told them its not like there is a hole in the middle of the freakin tv or ive been screaming about getting it fixed. if i wanted a fast resolution id just take it back to CC and get instant gratification with my money in hand or new tv.

dunno, but i hope to have more info this week if the tech can get me scheduled. by the way, for those that need to call samsung - EVERY PERSON i have gotten on the phone has been extremely polite and very helpful. they have all followed thru on what they say they would do and given me great CR.

jp

i'm watching my 42" in hd and i haven't notice anything. practically i don't know what is the black grass effect so since i don't know i'm really happy with my purchase. haven't seen anything unusual yet.

thanks for the update!! let us know how it goes. i'd love to find out if there is a legit fix because I definitely don't want to return it and i don't have room for 46"

wells after talks with a sam repair tech from the midwest with nothing to gain by lying to me (25 years exp) an engineer from new jersey (10 yrs exp) a customer service rep (5 years exp) and two more repair reps from south carolina (30 years combined exp) they are split on causes.

the midwest guy says he fixed a 42" yesterday with "bad" grass with just the board swap.

the two techs from SC are split, one says cabinet color other says light engine.

the CR rep from sammy that had two 42"', one her's and one her father's, said they couldn't ever get them fixed and went with 46".

and the engineer says there is no such thing, im a tard that has the contrast set too far off and im causing the problem. he said to call him personally when the repair person adjusts my contrast and let him know. lol, guy was a dick and its sh^t like that, that will cause people to take the thing back and buy any other brand than samsung.

i feel im giving the people more than the benefit of the doubt, ive joked around with them all and told them its not like there is a hole in the middle of the freakin tv or ive been screaming about getting it fixed. if i wanted a fast resolution id just take it back to CC and get instant gratification with my money in hand or new tv.

dunno, but i hope to have more info this week if the tech can get me scheduled. by the way, for those that need to call samsung - EVERY PERSON i have gotten on the phone has been extremely polite and very helpful. they have all followed thru on what they say they would do and given me great CR.

jp

There is a lot of discussion about 'black grass' earlier in this thread. From the pictures, it looks more like 'white grass on a black background'.


Thanks you for pointing that out...for the record, my 4266 doesn't have any.... I'm happy...Now I just need to get the black artificating down to a minimum. I have an upscaling Panny and the picture when displaying dark scenes is just horrific. I connected the components and 480i and let the Sammy do the scaling and it looked way way better.

I'm going to buy this tv.I live in Italy and our model is named sp56k3.
What about the fan noise of the HLS5686W ?is it very loud, normal, or you cant even notice it ?thanks

Here are my settings after using what was suggested here and with the THX from Star Wars.

HDMI-
Contrast-65
Brightness 53
Sharpness 30
Color Tone- Warm 2
Digital NR-off
DNIe-off

I adjust the contrast and brightness some depending on lighting.

Is your DVD an upscaler? What resolution is your HDMI connection set to? 480p, 720p? When I connect my Panny via HDMI the minimum I can set it is 480p.

Hey generalpatton78,

I was wondering if you had tried watching TV with the Game Mode setting on over component cables. I had heard some bad things about it somewhere on this forum but I turned it on on my 4266 and everything looks great. The colors are just so much more vibrant and overall picture is better (especially in HD). I think I am going to keep this setting for awhile unless someone else can give me a better setting to use. Anyone have their own experience to share?

i did a setting also for movies which is kinda darker. in my opinion i think this is better but you can be the judge of that. let me know if its a good configuration or not.
component
movie mode
contrast 36
brightness 60
sharpness 25
color 45
color tone warm 2
digital nr - off
dnie off
my color control ---->easy color - blue

i believe that the setting you posted seam so bright to me.

Alright, my turn to introduce myself.... (and ask a buncha questions)

Just had my 5686 delivered yesterday.. ordered for a great price from an 'online book seller place' ;)

Current setup - DirectTV HR250 HD DVR box, Samsung upconverting DVD player (eh, I wanted to use one less remote, it probably wasn't a required purchase) Both are hooked to the HDMI imputs on the TV..

Now before I say anything I have no problems and I don't want to go scouring my screen for invisible weird effects. I'm sure I'll find problems later if I want to ;)


Just a couple questions on setup..
1st, color. Holy bright batman! I took some suggestions from earlier in the thread on settings, but without reading 30 some pages, what's worked best for you guys? Not a very bright room overall. When should I be using movie, or dynamic or whatever the heck all the options are.. Or should I just set the 'custom' how I want it and run with it.

What's a good place to pick up a 'calibration' DVD to guide me thru... I don't want to pay $400 for a professinal setup yet, but I'll spend some to do some tweakin'.

2nd - res... I can set both the DVD and the Sat Box for a range of resulutions. 480 i/p 720p / 1080i... What's best for what? I see suggestions for DVDs to stay with 480i and let the TV handle it.. What about the latest level up upconverting DVD players (Farujida DCDi or whatever it's called, Sammy DVD960) What about a Sat box?


Thanks in advance.. This forum is a great resource, but I get buried quickly in the tech details!

First post of another 4266 owner from the CC BF sale. I'd spent lots of time researching and reading the trials and tribulations of black grass. Given the return options, etc. I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, it looks like I have a bad case of black grass. Using an old dvd player (using, ack, s-video at the moment) and playing the First Harry Potter movie I can see black grass from the bottom to the top in some of the dark opening scenes.

Has anyone see whether black grass is better with higher quality signal? I'm looking at the Oppo 970, if that matters.

I'm eagerly awaiting to hear if anyone gets this resolved. I did notice that the book seller has the HS-S4666W on sale for 1079.99 - tempting. I wonder if CC would match that.


Great forums, lots of useful info!

Kevin

Greetings all,

I just setup my new Sammy HLS4266w and am really loving it. While my new toy does have the lovely black grass that everyone’s talking about I have another picture quality issue that I would love some input on. Basically, the HD picture that I am getting from the set is great with the exception of a foggy look to the image. It’s like trying to watch TV with a light mist between you and the screen. Right now I’m not using a power conditioner for the TV and the sales person at BB said that buying one would solve the issue. But, before I spend another fist full of cash I thought I’d see what all of you had to say:)

Thanks,

Josh~

P.S. I’m also getting wavy lines when two large blocks of color meet. For example when a block of red meets a block of yellow or blue I’ll have image ripples following the line of the color intersection.Could this be related to my to my screen fog issue??

First post of another 4266 owner from the CC BF sale. I'd spent lots of time researching and reading the trials and tribulations of black grass. Given the return options, etc. I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, it looks like I have a bad case of black grass. Using an old dvd player (using, ack, s-video at the moment) and playing the First Harry Potter movie I can see black grass from the bottom to the top in some of the dark opening scenes.

Has anyone see whether black grass is better with higher quality signal? I'm looking at the Oppo 970, if that matters.

I'm eagerly awaiting to hear if anyone gets this resolved. I did notice that the book seller has the HS-S4666W on sale for 1079.99 - tempting. I wonder if CC would match that.


Great forums, lots of useful info!

Kevin

Hehe, I took advantage of that CC BF sale too. I honestly don't have any complaints worth mentioning so far and I haven't seen any 'black grass' effect. Note that I am coming from a 27" tube tv so it's possible my eye is untrained to that sort of thing. I've actually tried hard to look for it the past few days and I can't see anything. So even my set does have that problem (which i doubt) is it really worth all the fuss? Maybe I am just one of the fortunate ones who got a good set....who knows?

Greetings all,

I just setup my new Sammy HLS4266w and am really loving it. While my new toy does have the lovely black grass that everyone’s talking about I have another picture quality issue that I would love some input on. Basically, the HD picture that I am getting from the set is great with the exception of a foggy look to the image. It’s like trying to watch TV with a light mist between you and the screen. Right now I’m not using a power conditioner for the TV and the sales person at BB said that buying one would solve the issue. But, before I spend another fist full of cash I thought I’d see what all of you had to say:)

Thanks,

Josh~

P.S. I’m also getting wavy lines when two large blocks of color meet. For example when a block of red meets a block of yellow or blue I’ll have image ripples following the line of the color intersection.Could this be related to my to my screen fog issue??

Hiya,

I'm not sure if this will help your problem but I experienced sort of the same thing before I played with the settings a bit. If you are using component then I'd try turning on the Game Mode setting because it made a world of difference to me when trying to get the 'light mist' to go away. Hope that helps, sorry if it doesn't...

Alright, my turn to introduce myself.... (and ask a buncha questions)

Just had my 5686 delivered yesterday.. ordered for a great price from an 'online book seller place' ;)

Current setup - DirectTV HR250 HD DVR box, Samsung upconverting DVD player (eh, I wanted to use one less remote, it probably wasn't a required purchase) Both are hooked to the HDMI imputs on the TV..

Now before I say anything I have no problems and I don't want to go scouring my screen for invisible weird effects. I'm sure I'll find problems later if I want to ;)


Just a couple questions on setup..
1st, color. Holy bright batman! I took some suggestions from earlier in the thread on settings, but without reading 30 some pages, what's worked best for you guys? Not a very bright room overall. When should I be using movie, or dynamic or whatever the heck all the options are.. Or should I just set the 'custom' how I want it and run with it.

What's a good place to pick up a 'calibration' DVD to guide me thru... I don't want to pay $400 for a professinal setup yet, but I'll spend some to do some tweakin'.

2nd - res... I can set both the DVD and the Sat Box for a range of resulutions. 480 i/p 720p / 1080i... What's best for what? I see suggestions for DVDs to stay with 480i and let the TV handle it.. What about the latest level up upconverting DVD players (Farujida DCDi or whatever it's called, Sammy DVD960) What about a Sat box?


Thanks in advance.. This forum is a great resource, but I get buried quickly in the tech details!

What's up man, I'm still a novice too but I do know a few things. Basically the movie setting is optimal for dark rooms, especially if you have the lights out. Otherwise, I'd just stick to standard mode or dynamic is okay too if you like those bold colors jumping out at ya. Personally, I use the Game Mode which I think some ppl here are not a fan of. It is a very vibrant and vivid theme and gives your entire picture just a totally different feel (almost like a video game) but it doesn't look cheesy at all. I can't really comment on the dvd settings because, believe it or not, I still use a PS2 to play my movies, lol. I never had the need to get a decent dvd player as I used an old tube tv all these years. As far as cable box goes, I have it set on 1080i and it looks incredible to me. HD content looks just out of this world! I am happy with my purchase so far.

Alright, my turn to introduce myself.... (and ask a buncha questions)

Just had my 5686 delivered yesterday.. ordered for a great price from an 'online book seller place' ;)

Current setup - DirectTV HR250 HD DVR box, Samsung upconverting DVD player (eh, I wanted to use one less remote, it probably wasn't a required purchase) Both are hooked to the HDMI imputs on the TV..

Now before I say anything I have no problems and I don't want to go scouring my screen for invisible weird effects. I'm sure I'll find problems later if I want to ;)


Just a couple questions on setup..
1st, color. Holy bright batman! I took some suggestions from earlier in the thread on settings, but without reading 30 some pages, what's worked best for you guys? Not a very bright room overall. When should I be using movie, or dynamic or whatever the heck all the options are.. Or should I just set the 'custom' how I want it and run with it.

What's a good place to pick up a 'calibration' DVD to guide me thru... I don't want to pay $400 for a professinal setup yet, but I'll spend some to do some tweakin'.

2nd - res... I can set both the DVD and the Sat Box for a range of resulutions. 480 i/p 720p / 1080i... What's best for what? I see suggestions for DVDs to stay with 480i and let the TV handle it.. What about the latest level up upconverting DVD players (Farujida DCDi or whatever it's called, Sammy DVD960) What about a Sat box?


Thanks in advance.. This forum is a great resource, but I get buried quickly in the tech details!
Congrats on your purchase! I bought the same set from the same place about two months ago and love it. Re: calibration settings, my tweaked settings are very close to the set's default Movie mode. I use that all the time for HD sources unless I'm watching in bright daylight (which is rare) and then i might put it in Standard mode. I'll often use Standard, too, for non-HD viewing since it punches things up a bit. Never use Vivid setting (or whatever its called) - it'll burn out your eyeballs. :cool:

As for DVD, i let the TV upconvert from 480i, but honestly I didn't notice much difference either way.

Samsung tech came to look at my HL-S4266W and confirmed the "black grass" was a defect in the actual screen. Apparently on the 42" models, and ONLY the 42", the type of material used for the screen is causing the slight warping near the middle causing these black grass effects. 46" and bigger models have screens that used different material. He seemed pretty knowledgeable and even admitted to seeing this many times already. Originally he came to replace the entire light engine (whoa!) until i pointed out the black grass.

He was gonna put an order for a new screen, but I just said f#^% it. I'm still within my 30-day return period (barely) so I'm just sendingn it back. Gonna get a 50" 1080p DLP Sammy instead seeing how I got a PS3 recently too. Can't wait to watch blu-ray stuff. So I guess this is so long for this particular thread. Hope I finally addressed the nagging black grass problem.

Just purchased a 4266 as well, and aside from the black grass which is plaguing everyone (heres hoping for an eventual solution from samsung), I have one other problem on my set and was wondering if anyone knows whether its something a tech (or myself if the cause is just dust) can easily fix under warranty or if I should just return it to bb before 30 days. Basically in the top left corner of my screen there are two distinct circles, about 1" in diameter, that overlap each other and are slightly brighter than the rest of the screen when the screen is black. I can't see them once a picture is filling the screen, but anytime the screens black in that area they stand out to me. Anyone had this problem before? I'm guessing it could be a light engine problem, or possibly specks of dust though I'm not really sure. Any input greatly appreciated

One more new HLS4266W owner here. I traded in the Olevia 232V that i got over BF, in for a returned unit they had on display. Mind you, i had no previous knowledge about the specific TV, only the general "consumer" knowledge.

Thankfully, after reading about the issues here, i can say i am pretty much without problem (so far, i haven't had a chance to test every input, but so far HD OTA and Component works well). I do don't have any detectable black grass, which makes me really happy. So yeah, so far, so good.

Samsung tech came to look at my HL-S4266W and confirmed the "black grass" was a defect in the actual screen. Apparently on the 42" models, and ONLY the 42", the type of material used for the screen is causing the slight warping near the middle causing these black grass effects. 46" and bigger models have screens that used different material. He seemed pretty knowledgeable and even admitted to seeing this many times already. Originally he came to replace the entire light engine (whoa!) until i pointed out the black grass.

Hope I finally addressed the nagging black grass problem.

Excellent information! Thanks! Sounds like those of us with annoying enough black grass will have to get Samsung to replace the screen. I'm assuming/guessing that will mean two service calls? One to verify the issue, one to replace the screen?

Here's hoping the replacement screens don't have the issue :rolleyes:

Thanks again,

Kevin

I'm going to buy this tv.I live in Italy and our model is named sp56k3.
What about the fan noise of the HLS5686W ?is it very loud, normal, or you cant even notice it ?thanks


No one can help me ?This tv is very new in Italy , no one got it yet.We are some years behind the usa marker in rearpjTV...just 1 fullHD one, so this samsung that's "only" hd will be great for me.My only doubt is the noise of the fan. I've heard a sony 3lcd kef50a11 and i found it very loud.
Please tell me something about the samsung fan.Thanks a lot....greetings form Italy.

No one can help me ?This tv is very new in Italy , no one got it yet.We are some years behind the usa marker in rearpjTV...just 1 fullHD one, so this samsung that's "only" hd will be great for me.My only doubt is the noise of the fan. I've heard a sony 3lcd kef50a11 and i found it very loud.
Please tell me something about the samsung fan.Thanks a lot....greetings form Italy.


I can't speak for sure to that Samsung model, but the 42" fan is very very quiet.
I can only hear it if I stick my head down behind the TV.
(If only my Xbox360 was that quiet....)

I can't speak for sure to that Samsung model, but the 42" fan is very very quiet.
I can only hear it if I stick my head down behind the TV.
(If only my Xbox360 was that quiet....)
I too have the 42" (HLS4266W), and i can't hear the fan at alll, unless i walk behind the tv and sit near the bulb...

OK I'm at work right now and I can't spend all day searching the thread. So can someone help me out I am looking for settings such as brightness etc.

Thanks

thanks for the infos. Anyone knows something about the HLS5686W fan noise ?thanks guys.