Official Samsung LN-S4692D Owners Thread

[RobbAVS]

Well I've had this set for about a week now. I didn't expect to do as much research or fiddling as I've ended up doing! Here's what I think I've learned, would appreciate your expert feedback in setting me straight.

BTW, my HD STB is the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD-DVR on Cox Digital in North San Diego. Sometimes it's hard to tell which box (TV vs STB) is responsible for a given issue.

1) No 480i support on HDMI. (I think this is the TV's doing, can anyone confirm?)

2) No CC support on HDMI, from either STB or DVD player. (Is this the TV? Or a general CC-over-HDMI issue?)

3) What's the technical explanation of "Game Mode"? I'm confused why I would want some sort of performance optimization for gaming only, and some kind of sub-optimal peformance for real live HD sports broadcasts?

4) According to this article, the 4692 *failed* the 1080i deinterlace test, implying that it's dropping every other 540 field when in 1080i mode, instead of reconstructing the 1080 image prior to downscaling it to the TV's native 1366x768 resolution. Anyone have any comment on this?

[AVS won't let me include a URL...It's the article entitled "Are You Getting All of the HDTV Resolution You Expected? Round 2" by "Gary Merson, October, 2006" at site hometheatermag]

5) Question: Is the 4692's contrast ratio really any better than the equivalent Sony or Sharp? This was one of the main buying points for me--now after all my research I'm wondering if it's true.

Well, that's enough for now. Thanks in advance for any guidance!

[sepaja]

All, just had my 4692D installed yesterday, with the DIRECTV HD DVR coming in a couple of days. I did not do much technical research, but after reading all the comsumer reviews and consumer reports, it seemed the 4692D was the best deal. I saw the Gary Merson article in which most of the TVs failed his test. I'm not sure what that means except to the naked eye, the picture looked great, which is all that matters to me.

[hdbrew]

Originally Posted by RobbAVS

1) No 480i support on HDMI. (I think this is the TV's doing, can anyone confirm?)

2) No CC support on HDMI, from either STB or DVD player. (Is this the TV? Or a general CC-over-HDMI issue?)

3) What's the technical explanation of "Game Mode"? I'm confused why I would want some sort of performance optimization for gaming only, and some kind of sub-optimal peformance for real live HD sports broadcasts?

4) According to this article, the 4692 *failed* the 1080i deinterlace test, implying that it's dropping every other 540 field when in 1080i mode, instead of reconstructing the 1080 image prior to downscaling it to the TV's native 1366x768 resolution. Anyone have any comment on this?

[AVS won't let me include a URL...It's the article entitled "Are You Getting All of the HDTV Resolution You Expected? Round 2" by "Gary Merson, October, 2006" at site hometheatermag]

5) Question: Is the 4692's contrast ratio really any better than the equivalent Sony or Sharp? This was one of the main buying points for me--now after all my research I'm wondering if it's true.

1) I can get 480i to pass through on my HDMI cable (as far as I know) but that was an issue with my cable box and not the TV. When I set the cable box (Comcast Motorola) on "480i pass through," I could watch SD on my HDMI input. When I set the 480i to "480i" (as opposed to 480p, or stretched), then the signal did not go through, and I have to switch to my other analog input to watch SD.

2) Don't know about CC.

3) Someone at Samsung explained this to me before, but I can't remember why...but I remember knowing that "Game Mode" only helped for video game graphics and would only add unneeded or unreal enhancements to HDTV. I believe HDMI is still your best connection, and I'm not sure you can turn the Game Mode in HDMI...but I could be wrong. If so, then we'll need a better answer. If not, then HDMI is all you need.

4) I've seen the article, and I believe it to be misleading, and putting the conversion of 1080i to 720p in too simple of terms. It does state, there's much more to getting a good picture than this test alone. Still, how the TV deinterlaces is a matter of how it looks and what it really does in a real world test of video, not graphics. Watch a true 1080i signal and press the "Still" button on the TV...how well does it fill in the gaps? If it's a single 540 frame, according to the article, it should look soft...(believe me, it won't). If it's "still" on it's merging of two 540 frames and looks great...then, it's don't the job just fine. The real answer -- what does your cable box or satellite provider give you? All of my HD on Comcast is converted to 720p before it even hits the TV...so, uh, I guess my TV has nothing to worry about... My question is, how well does my cable box convert 1080i to 720p? Apparently very well. Still, OTA, I've seen 1080i and the picture is outstanding...even when switching my cable box to output to only 1080i...at times the pic looks better than when the box is on 720p. However, the final catch...the majority of video is not true 1080i...it's either less based on a ton of other factors, or 720p, or 480p, or 480i. So again, this TV handles the sweet spot (especially for its size) and such a report on 1080i deinterlacing is probably pointless when (probably) almost no sources are true 1080i -- lines are being dropped and compressed left and right before hitting our TVs...

5) I was big on the contrast ratio as well. At this point, I haven't compared this TV to others with higher contrast ratios, except for the 4695, to see if there was that much of a difference. I have seen lower, and they didn't look as appealing...could be true, who knows. I do believe this contrast ratio is as high as it needs to be... However, in the future, what TVs will do with it is another story and could provide a better picture. I think the 4692 is one of the best TVs around today...in a year, who knows...the picture could look slightly better. Worth buying a new TV? Not yet, I'd say.

[hdbrew]

Quick note:

If you want to see this TV perform, here are two great choices: catch the new King Kong movie in HD -- just saw it over the weekend on Cinemax HD -- incredible. I bet on HD DVD it's incredible as well.

Also, on Discovery HD Theater -- the latest Discovery Atlas on Brazil -- it's about an hour and a half, and the colors and clarity are amazing...even my wife couldn't stop saying so!

[ribbonspeakers]

HDBrew & Tower,
Thanks a ton for your replies concerning mechanical noise, or lack of same.

Looking forward to getting a 4692 asap!

Sorry, this has probably been addressed: Are owners generally happy when the 4692 expands 4:3 images? It's surprising how much PQ varies among HDTV's performing this chore. A plasma we tried was unwatchable in this format.

Happy new year all!
Jimbo

[hdbrew]

Originally Posted by ribbonspeakers

Are owners generally happy when the 4692 expands 4:3 images?

Thanks Jimbo for the comments. I do believe the TV does a good job of zooming in on SD to fill the screen, though zooming in is different than stretching. I never watch SD stretched... I leave the black bars whenever they're there, and that's what I love about no burn-in, and my first reason for not even considering a plasma when I was shopping (as I don't even want to have to think about possible burn-in). The TV has a few zoom features, depending on what input you're on. I believe there are at least three in SD = stretch, zoom 1, and zoom 2. For letterbox TV in SD, I usually use zoom 1...it fills the screen almost perfectly -- not the best picture (depends on the source), but totally watchable and sometimes more pleasing than such a small SD picture. As for the stretch mode, I'm sure it does it fine, but again, I just leave it in 4:3 as I don't like stretched images/people. SD is truly not the best on any HDTV, so do not have high expectations for SD. Yes, the settings can help greatly and so can your source, but you'll always know it's SD after watching HD just once!

[hdbrew]

Hi, all. I finally got some pretty good shots of my TV -- these are all while whatching HD:

HBO HD


King Kong on Cinemax HD (excuse the flash/glare on screen from the camera on the right side)


King Kong on Cinemax HD (excuse the flash/glare on screen from the camera on the right side)


Las Vegas on NBC HD (not the best photo, picture is very clear as you might be able to tell from this shot)

[jaxxx123]

hdbrew great pics, could you snap some SD pics also?? thanks

[Meklar]

Hello, Im thinking of returning my sony SXRD for this TV. Only thing im really worried about is there any video lagging or ghosting that anyone can see?

Im the most pickiest person when it comes to that stuff. My main concern is with gaming. Has anyone played a 360 on this TV using the component cables? If you have please let me know how it looked? And also weather you used the gaming mode or not. The specifics im looking for is like how was the refresh rate? Was there any lagging, Jaggies or ghosting? That's my biggest concern about LCD TV's.

[theheidis]

Hi, I'm new...I just got this TV delivered & set up 3 days ago, and everything I do goes wrong. I thought I got a good deal at best buy 1799.99, so I was excited. I have Charter cable, but not HD yet. I have it scheduled to install tomorrow -- however, i'm so frustrated I may just return it instead. I wanted to post here and see if anyone can help me first.

I know this is for HD, but I expected to be able to view SD -- but the picture is terrible, even on digital channels. Only MTV Hits looks good - sometimes. And since TiVo is important to me, and I don't have an HD TiVo yet -- I still wanted a somewhat decent SD picture. Is this not possible? I'm sure I don't have everything set up right. Will Charter HD help a lot??

Moving on to DVD. I bought an RCA upscaling DVD player that came with HDMI cables from walmart. I wanted to see if I could get the TV to look good. Hooked it up - how can you do that wrong? Tried it on all settings 480/720/1080 and they all looked pretty good -- except for, I don't know if you call this ghosting or pixel sticking or what -- but when a dark scene comes on you can still see an outline of the lighter images from the previous scene. It doesn't go away in a few seconds, it will sit there and ruin your dark scene until a light scene comes back on to overwrite the stuck outline of a past scene. This only happens on HDMI, not composite, which is of course lower quality. Is this the TV or the cable or the dvd player? Also, even when the HDMI isn't ghosting on me, and it looks really good -- if you move closer to the TV it still looks really pixelated, is this just how it is, as you're supposed to sit a fair distance away?

Then my PS2 doesn't look right either. I can't use zoom because it cuts off the top and bottom, 16:9 stretches it out, and 4:3 is boring. I was playing karaoke revolution on 16:9, and the words were so blurry I could hardly read them.

Everything I have tried - other than SDTV which is obviously not going to display very well -- has failed me, and I'm really frustrated and at this point planning on returning it very soon. I tried playing with the picture settings, but I really don't know what I'm doing and haven't found anything I really like. There was a commercial that showed an ipod, a very bright picture and all the default picture settings washed it out so bad you couldn't see the scroll wheel, I tried adjusting it as well, but that didn't help either. Also, sometimes people's faces are so dark you can't see them. Contrast/Brightness doesn't seem to make much of a difference as I adjust it. Is this just poor SD? And is this TV really bright compared to CRT -- I feel like my eyes hurt after staring at it for a while. Is this just LCD technology too?

Now for my main question! As of right now I want to return it and just go back to my 32" tube tv. I purchased a new stand for my LCD -- the NT-C1140 (init) which is steel and tempered glass. It's supposed to hold up to 300lbs -- and I was wondering if I can put my 32" tube tv on it? I think it weighs 150-170 lbs...much less than the 300 lb limit. I'm afraid because it's listed for plasma/lcd/microdisplays up to 50" - or 300lb.....but it doesn't say crt/tube. It is 19½" wide, same as an old stand I have, so what would happen if I used it?

Sorry for the long post -- I've spend 3 frustrating days with this TV so any advice is appreciated...I'm a novice here. Thank you!

[tower101]

Originally Posted by theheidis

I know this is for HD, but I expected to be able to view SD -- but the picture is terrible, even on digital channels. Only MTV Hits looks good - sometimes. And since TiVo is important to me, and I don't have an HD TiVo yet -- I still wanted a somewhat decent SD picture. Is this not possible? I'm sure I don't have everything set up right. Will Charter HD help a lot??

How are you hooking it up? When you say it looks terrible what does it look like, it could be a bad signal from the cable co see what happens when charter comes out. I have charter and have no problems.


Moving on to DVD. I bought an RCA upscaling DVD player that came with HDMI cables from walmart. I wanted to see if I could get the TV to look good. Hooked it up - how can you do that wrong? Tried it on all settings 480/720/1080 and they all looked pretty good -- except for, I don't know if you call this ghosting or pixel sticking or what -- but when a dark scene comes on you can still see an outline of the lighter images from the previous scene. It doesn't go away in a few seconds, it will sit there and ruin your dark scene until a light scene comes back on to overwrite the stuck outline of a past scene. This only happens on HDMI, not composite, which is of course lower quality. Is this the TV or the cable or the dvd player?

It's the TV what picture mode are you in? Turn the brightness down. It stops after a month or so

Also, even when the HDMI isn't ghosting on me, and it looks really good -- if you move closer to the TV it still looks really pixelated, is this just how it is, as you're supposed to sit a fair distance away?

An "up-converting DVD" is not HD you might be better off with a normal progressive scan DVD player. How close are you sitting to it? I sit about 7-8ft from it and it looks great if I get 2-3ft away with SD or even some HD yes I can see the pixels ALL HD LCDs and Plasmas TV's do this, CRTs give the best picture but do you know how big and heavy a 46" CRT would be LOL

Then my PS2 doesn't look right either. I can't use zoom because it cuts off the top and bottom, 16:9 stretches it out, and 4:3 is boring. I was playing karaoke revolution on 16:9, and the words were so blurry I could hardly read them.

Did you change the settings on your PS2? Turn it on with no disk go to configure and change the screen size to 16:9.

Everything I have tried - other than SDTV which is obviously not going to display very well -- has failed me, and I'm really frustrated and at this point planning on returning it very soon. I tried playing with the picture settings, but I really don't know what I'm doing and haven't found anything I really like. There was a commercial that showed an ipod, a very bright picture and all the default picture settings washed it out so bad you couldn't see the scroll wheel, I tried adjusting it as well, but that didn't help either. Also, sometimes people's faces are so dark you can't see them. Contrast/Brightness doesn't seem to make much of a difference as I adjust it. Is this just poor SD? And is this TV really bright compared to CRT -- I feel like my eyes hurt after staring at it for a while. Is this just LCD technology too?

Yes, if it is to bright turn down the back light (energy saving) try low or medium.

Now for my main question! As of right now I want to return it and just go back to my 32" tube tv. I purchased a new stand for my LCD -- the NT-C1140 (init) which is steel and tempered glass. It's supposed to hold up to 300lbs -- and I was wondering if I can put my 32" tube tv on it? I think it weighs 150-170 lbs...much less than the 300 lb limit. I'm afraid because it's listed for plasma/lcd/microdisplays up to 50" - or 300lb.....but it doesn't say crt/tube. It is 19½" wide, same as an old stand I have, so what would happen if I used it?

No idea

,,

[hdbrew]

Follow up to theheidis (after tower101):

Yes, check connections first, and try different ones. I think I may still be on RF cable for my SD cable box, but S-Video for Directv SD Tivo. Each can (and probably will) look different.

Next, look at my most recent picture settings for this TV in this thread. Really, the first night I got this TV, I was scared (and I think I paid almost double what you did!)... Today, though, I love it, and couldn't be happier.

It's too bad you didn't see HD first...yes, SD isn't the best and takes some time getting used to... I too had a 32" tube before...and yes, SD looked better, and I thought, I'm switching back. LCD is just a whole new way of watching TV and your eyes do have to adjust. After a while, you won't notice that much of a difference, and after watching HD, you'll start seeing the same SD flaws in your old 32"...

The only ghosting I've ever seen is in the first minute I turn the TV on...sometimes. After that, I never see any. I do make sure I have good connections, and only watch HD and DVD with good HDMI cables.

Tower101 is right on about what happens when you get too close to any TV...it just looks weird...(amazing what our eyes and science do together!)

Don't throw in the towel just yet, you've got some time to return it. Check out HD, you should love it. Adjust the settings as mentioned, and really, just get used to watching an LCD flat panel...it's just different, and yes bright, but again, adjust the settings. I hope to soon have some SD pics up along with more HD pics, plus my optimized SD and DVD picture settings. (Anyone else watching an HD DVD or Blu-Ray on this TV? I'm itching to buy...not sure yet...but HD movies on Cable look just so amazing.)

[theheidis]

Thank you for responding already! (I was planning on setting up the return today!)

hdbrew - you were scared too? Ok -- I will see how HD cable looks. Does anyone have the HD cable box?? If so, does it have a serial port for my tivo or will I have to use ir? And can I hook it up so that I can watch HD live AND have my tivo hooked up, which I know can only record in SD? I can't watch live HD through my tivo, can I?

How do I have it hooked up now? The worst probably -- composite (my cable box doesn't have anything else) and hardwire cable wires....I'm going through a VCR and a TiVo, but I did try connecting direct from the cable box and it didn't make a difference.

Thanks for that energy saver tip. I didn't realize that - it did make it less bright! But hdbrew, your latest best settings say that's off. Does off make the picture better, or is that just your preference?

I sit about 7-8 feet from it. It looks bigger than I expected, and I am also worried I got too big a TV.

I'm giving it 1 more day just so I can see the HD on it.

[Bustrbyte]

I am looking at the Samsung LN-S4692D or the Sony 2010. Any suggestions.

[hdbrew]

theheidis,

Yes, I was scared for a few days till I really figured the settings out. Did you get HD today? How does it look? The new cable box should either have a component out or HDMI out for HD, which your standard TiVo wouldn't have. Make sure you're hooking up your cable box with such connections for HD, or it won't do you any good. Not sure how the standard TiVo box works, but I know it's probably going to have to remain separate from your HD channels/recordings.

Yes, I keep the energy savings off... I do believe the back light needs to be in full swing to get the best picture...still, my setting are adjusted so it's not over-bright.

Eight feet might be a little close (not sure), but you'll soon enjoy that big screen feeling. In a few years, I'm sure I'll upgrade to a 52+...I sit around 10.5 - 12 feet back...no less.

Let us know about your HD if you got it...

[hdbrew]

Here's my latest round of SD Picture Settings for this TV. This NOT what I use for HD...just using this for SD...adjusted the Standard Picture mode:

Contrast: 82
Brightness: 60
Sharpness: 60
Color: 55
"Normal" color filter
Digital NR: On
Energy Savings: Off

My SD quality really needed some boosting in all departments, but I believe this combination helps out the picture quality a lot. Let me know if these work for you. Here are some of the SD screen shots I was able to capture:

E! on Directv SD -- excuse any flash/glare on right side of images, it's not the TV.


Directv SD screen shot


Directv SD -- here you can see some of the softness that some of the SD channels have.


USA Network on Directv SD, the movie "Blow," which looked sort of old to begin with.

[jaxxx123]

not too bad on SD, definitely watchable to me.. Thanks, now I just have to wait till the price drops again on this set

[sony77777]

About to have my s4692 delivered tomorrow and have been reading this thread with some curiosity about what settings I should modify the factory settings and have seen hdbrews most recent numbers which I can't wait to check out.

One questions that remains is in regards to SD, I believe earlier in the thread there were comments to not have the signal upconverted, can someone provide details on how to do that?

Some details.
- I have time warner cable in nyc.
- Have the scientific atlanta 8300hd dvr box
- planning on connecting the 8300hd via hdmi
- planning on connecting xbox 360 via component

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[theheidis]

Charter is coming in the morning.

Clarification -- somebody said my pixel ghosting issue - where the outline of a lighter scene can be clearly seen on a dark image until another light image comes on the screen is normal, and will go away in a month...is that true? It looks as if an image has been burned into the screen until it's wiped away...really scared me.

Thanks for the tip about my PS2...I didn't even know to do that! It helped, but the lyrics still appeared a bit fuzzy. I know PS2 isn't HD - but I'm still a bit disappointed with how it looks.

I got the 46" because I wanted a "big screen" and the 40 and 42 inch TVs looks small next to the 46 and 50....however, because it's LCD I may have to get a smaller one. That may be part of my problem.

Does anyone have Charter DVR + HD? Does their DVR record in HD? Sounds like I won't be able to use my TiVo, because the SD I get right now is unwatchable.

Thanks for all the advice, I will report back tomorrow.

[John_Madison CT]

My LN-S4692D arrives today !! Yippee !!! I already got the Comcast HD box, but for some reason they don't have any with HDMI outputs, only DVI. That really pisses me off. To get a HD box with HDMI I have to get the DVR version, and pay another $10/month.

[hdbrew]

Originally Posted by sony77777

One questions that remains is in regards to SD, I believe earlier in the thread there were comments to not have the signal upconverted, can someone provide details on how to do that?

As for upconverting, it was in regard to standard/regular DVD's... I have an upconverting DVD player with HDMI...but I let the TV upconvert the image via HDMI, and keep the DVD player set on 480p (as opposed to 720p or 1080i). So, I could use component cables, but I like the HDMI best, just don't need the source to be upconverted. For your regular SD Cable, I would just leave the box on 480i for SD and 720p for HD if you have to choose between 720p or 1080i. To me, all this looks the best. I think your other connections look right on.

[hdbrew]

Originally Posted by John_Madison CT

My LN-S4692D arrives today !! Yippee !!! I already got the Comcast HD box, but for some reason they don't have any with HDMI outputs, only DVI. That really pisses me off. To get a HD box with HDMI I have to get the DVR version, and pay another $10/month.

Great to hear! Have fun with the TV and setting it up...know that changing the picture settings is key to being happy. With the regular HD Box (no DVR), I'm guessing you could connect via Component cables, which is just fine...I do believe HDMI is a betting connection for both sound and video, and it's one cable (a/v combined). So, paying the extra $10/month would not be for the HDMI at this point (if the regular box has a Component out) -- it would be worth it for the HD DVR. Not sure if you have a DVR yet, or TiVo, but if not, it will change your life. My wife and I both agree we could never watch TV again without a DVR. I have two in the family room (one for Directv SD, one for Comcast HD) and one in our bedroom for Directv SD. I understand about the money, though, but the DVR is awesome for the extra $10.

[theheidis]

Well, when the cable guys came they told me SD would look the same after hooking up the HD box, and that basically what people do with these is watch only HD channels. So I'd have like 6 channels? That doesn't make sense. This ended up being a huge downgrade rather than the upgrade I had been waiting so long for. It's boxed up and going back. I'm disappointed, because the TV looked beautiful - but without decent picture quality, it really doesn't make sense until everything is broadcast in HD (10+ years?) and even then, older shows/movies won't look good. I just don't understand. I will appreciate my 32" tube TV more than I did before.

Thanks for trying to help me, I really appreciate it.

[sony77777]

Originally Posted by Meklar

Hello, Im thinking of returning my sony SXRD for this TV. Only thing im really worried about is there any video lagging or ghosting that anyone can see?

Im the most pickiest person when it comes to that stuff. My main concern is with gaming. Has anyone played a 360 on this TV using the component cables? If you have please let me know how it looked? And also weather you used the gaming mode or not. The specifics im looking for is like how was the refresh rate? Was there any lagging, Jaggies or ghosting? That's my biggest concern about LCD TV's.

hello,

just got the tv today, so far so good. I have played some tiger woods pga tour 2007 and briefly popped in gears of war. Both looked excellent in my opinion.

I was not using gaming mode for each yet.

[sony77777]

Originally Posted by hdbrew

As for upconverting, it was in regard to standard/regular DVD's... I have an upconverting DVD player with HDMI...but I let the TV upconvert the image via HDMI, and keep the DVD player set on 480p (as opposed to 720p or 1080i). So, I could use component cables, but I like the HDMI best, just don't need the source to be upconverted. For your regular SD Cable, I would just leave the box on 480i for SD and 720p for HD if you have to choose between 720p or 1080i. To me, all this looks the best. I think your other connections look right on.

TV arrived today (at the end of the delivery window of course) set up in a few minutes and so far it has been great. I have not yet tried your settings for hd and sd television.

A quick look at a few sd channels before playing xbox it seems to me that some tweaking could be done, some were worse then others but overall not as bad as I feared.

As far as xbox goes, it looks great. Played mostly tiger woods and just a few minutes of gears. More details to follow later.

[hdbrew]

Originally Posted by sony77777

As far as xbox goes, it looks great.

Hi, great to hear about your new TV! Just to clarify, are you using an XBOX, or an XBOX 360? Sorry, I'm out of the loop on games systems, but now with Blu-Ray and HD DVD, I just assume buy a game system that can be used as a high-definition DVD player as well...more bang for your buck.

So, curious to know more about how the games look on this TV...with an XBOX, PS2, PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii. I know others have posted about the PS3 with this TV...and I'd be curious to know more of people's experiences with these systems and this TV/settings/connections, etc.

(Side note: anyone know if the XBOX 360 HD DVD player has or will have an HDMI output? Anyone know any plans for the future on the XBOX coming with an HD DVD player drive built in?)

[febdragon]

Hi,

Has anyone experienced sammy not responding to your TV remote?
I have had 4692 for 5 months.. worked flawlessly and since tonight, it won't respond to the remote at all!! Changed batteries and same thing. The blue LED doesn't flicker indicating remote commands aren't getting registered by the TV..

Weird... Called Samsung to have a tech take a look.. but thought I would ask if anyone has had similar issues..

thanks

[ext569]

Hello,

I recently got a 4692, my first LCD panel. The set is great. HD and DVD beat the pants off my Toshiba 32" tube, though I am still trying to get use to SD (and the fact that it looked better on the CRT).

My setup includes a Philips DVD player (progressive but non-upconverting) and Comcast DVR with HD package. All via component, thru a Sony receiver.

I did notice that during my first tests via S-Video I could select (viewing DVD or STB) 16:9, Zoom 1, 2 and 4:3. However, now that I am using Component I can only switch between 16:9 and 4:3. Zoom 1 and 2 are grayed out as options. Why is this?

For the sake of comparing the DVI-to-HDMI and component image quality from the Comcast DVR I went back and forth between those two connection types with the same footage and frankly there was not enough image quality difference between them to justify the DVI cable costing $70+ more. The component viewing is prestine, while the DVI simply added a higher level of brightness, overexposing the image in my view.

Another thing I noticed in "Finding Nemo" (remember my 2 yr old!) are halos/auras around the characters during the dark scene in the submarine. I didn't notice this the first time I viewed the movie (S-video connection). I've tried playing with the picture settings, but I can't get rid of it. So far, all other content seems perfect, including other animated features.

Oh, digital pictures from my camera look very good via the side composite jack.

Hope the feedback is useful.

Thanks

[John_Madison CT]

I got my LN-S4692D yesterday afternoon. Here are my impressions:

1. I ordered from Amazon, got the TV in about a week, and was happy with their delivery service, Eagle Transport.

2. I hooked up my Comcast HD cable box, with a DVI to HDMI converter as freaking Comcast doesn't have any regular HD boxes with HDMI outputs. You have to upgrade to a HD DVR box to get that. (I'll probably do that today)

3. The SD channels are grainer than I expected. I probably set my expectations too high, but it was a tad surprising. The HD channels are great, especially when they display across the whole screen. (without the bars on the side)

4. For some reason I cannot get my TV to display in either of the "Zoom" modes. They are there as an option, but cannot be highlighted. Only 16:9 and 4:3 can be picked. Dunno why? Anyone have an idea ?

5. I followed hdbrews recommendations on setting the display settings like Brightness, Color, etc etc... (Thank you hdbrew !)

6. I'm probably going to call Comcast and get them to come out and check my cable lines. Some of them are old and seem to have some "noise". Perhaps this will help the SD images.

7. After a few hours, I was finally able to get my PS3 to display in 1080i. All I can say is WOW ! The games in high-def are amazing. I can't wait to get my first Blu-Ray movie. I think I like my Ps3 more than the kids.


John

[tmtwhite]

Just joining the thread. Got this TV recently as well and very pleased. SD is better than I had expected, but excited to see Direct TV HD which is scheduled to be installed tomorrow (Just in time for the playoff games). XBOX 360 is amazing on it. I am going to try the display settings recommended in this forum tonight.