Information regarding Samsung TS-160 issues.  

Moderators Note:
I have modified the topic title regarding the 160. The rest of this post and topic is unaltered. It will remain at the top until further notice.



This afternoon I spoke with the Senior Manager for all Directv standard and high definition products for Samsung.

I provided him a list of 6 items which I felt needed immediate attention concerning the TS-160.

Namely they were:

1) Whenever you switch from DSS to OTA to a "no signal" channel the box will, from that point on not output any video or audio. Switching to any other channel (either DSS or OTA) makes no difference. It takes turning off the 160 and toggling the power to the unit before gaining access again. (I need to pull the power plug). I also shared from other folks here that the same situation occurs just channel surfing OTA.

2) Chroma (color) level is abnormally high on the component output.

3) Many have noticed (via the avsform), as well as I, that we have gotten a message that says "insert valid access card". I took the card out and re-inserted it and the problem went away. So far this problem (for me) has only occurred once. Obviously, unless this is a repeatable problem, this is the least of my concerns. But I wanted him to know about it.

4) TIVO users can not control the TS-160 because TIVO can't get the Infra-red (IR) codes to operate the TS-160.

5) Caller ID does not include name information even though I pay for that to be sent to all my phones. It only shows the number.

6) The guide gets unrequested add in channels. You set yourself up for the channels you want listed and the next day more get added that you did not specify.

I was told in no uncertain terms that ALL of these issues would be corrected in a timely manner.

When talking to him it because obvious to me that this guy understands totally the impact these issues would have on this product. He WILL have this corrected. Because of the nature about the receiver not outputting video or audio when changing channels OTA he suggested for the time being the receiver should be used primarily as a Directv receiver. But if you need to switch to OTA then be careful not to tune in a OTA channel which may not have enough signal to lock the digital channel properly. You have total control over this. For example, one station in Milwaukee only operates part time. The thing to do then is dont select that station when it is off the air. The same goes for stations far away or running low power which might not lock the signal in properly. Just avoid those stations for now.

What has been described as a "Red Push" problem is merely (in technical terms) a high chroma level problem. This will be resolved.

Caller ID with "NAME" will be added.

Access card messages, until researched, may be Directv related. It will be researched fully to avoid those messages in the future.

Channel add-ins may also be a combination of TS-160/Directv software. That will be researched and fixed as well.

Infrared codes will be shared with TIVO to allow all TIVO systems to control the TS-160.

So, now anyone reading this needs to do their part. Which is to recognize why you purchased this box in the first place and be patient to get these resolutions to you. For me, I told them I will wait til I get the fixes. That answer convinced this director of engineering to go forward with this and do so quickly. But you need to be reasonable with your time frame expectations. We are not only dealing with Samsung but Directv, TIVO, companys involved with guide info etc and phone company issues with caller id. But, for me I will stick by Samsung. The feature set is too good to ignore nor give up.

In summary, I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to talk directly with the guy who is in charge of the engineering which created the TS-160. He was attentive, concerned and responsive. I think with people like that on our side, we need to give him support by not coming up with rash decisions on our part and to stick with the reason why you got this product in the first place. It WILL be a win-win scenario.

Oh, I expect people to react to this post in a professional manner. I realize there may be some who would want to pan this product just to validate their switch to another one. Keep it positive gang.

Regards

I forgot to add that I will do my best to keep everyone posted on any feedback I get as well. A good dialog is always the start to first defining the problem as well as repairing it.

Oh yes, if anyone has discovered any other repeatable problems concerning the TS-160 not defined above, please share them here. I was told that I can contact them at any time to add more feedback to them. He provided me not only his work number but his cell number. Now that is what I call commitment!

:) Regards :)

In a word, yes. Updates can be provided uniformly either one receiver at a time or uniformly across an entire base of receivers while receiving the Directv digital stream.

Hi Steve:

Thank you for your comments. I will ask him. However because Samsung considers Monday a holiday I doubt I will talk with him prior to Tuesday. He appears to me a special guy. Very low key but genuine. I don't know if he would agree but I will ask him. Thanks for asking.

Take care

Hey Folks:

I just got an idea. Tuesday, when people come back to work at Samsung, I will give another call to the Sr Mgr and suggest to him that if he wants to take the total lead in the high def STB market that he seriously consider that he provide improved "stretch" modes. Also, to be able to control modes while in HD.

Put yourself in the thick of the development process. You would have no idea what the competition (Sony) would come out with and with the feature set Samsung came up with they most likely said to themselves we have a winner here.

Now Sony comes along as the Samsung is released and provides some pretty nice format options. People now have a decision to make. Go with the format improvements or go with SD and HD output at the same time. To me I had to have SD and HD at same time. BUT....I must admit that improvements in the stretch modes on the Samsung would be wonderful too. So, I said to myself......Self! Why didn't you suggest that when you had the opportunity?

Well, Tuesday I am going to do exactly that. Nothing ventured nothing gained. I have learned long ago that the worst somebody can say is no but often if there is demand for something the answer can easily be yes. Hence my decision to talk to them again about this idea.

My guess would be this might take longer but who knows maybe this whole process could be implemented in stages. But whatever the process is I think I made the right decision to buy the Samsung.

Good feature set + Good people who listen = Better box.

We all then would winners. Samsung and the consumer.

The ball then would go into Sony's court and the competition continues. We would then win again by forcing even better boxes. And so forth and forth.

To those nay sayers I say "keep the faith". Also, I am not saying that the Sony is a bad box. I hope everyone understands that. It's just not the box for me. If the Sony is a good match for you then I bow to you. If you look at my home theater you would see almost everything here already had the label "Sony" on it. Heck, I am even typing this on a Sony Vaio. (grin)

Let the force be with us all.

Regards,

paul_j_ghosh:

I was told that the codes would be officially released to TIVO. Remember, the TIVO only requires channel changing capability. Hence I doubt that TIVO would require power on and off codes. Just an educated guess on that though.

If you require power on/off codes why not purchase a learning remote? Maybe I don't understand your particular application which requires your stated need.

paul_j_ghosh:

Your request, while valid, is still off topic for what we are trying to accomplish on this topic. I hope you understand that if I agreed to take your personal request then others would then hit me with theirs. My suggestion would be to contact Samsung directly at the same number I did. It is 800-522-2946. I still want to keep the discussion with Samsung that which will benefit all TS-160 users.

On another issue:

I would like to get more verification about the "not getting sound out of all of my a/v speakers even if I'm on a channel that is Dolby Digital" issue." as chrisexv6 mentioned two posts above. Anyone else having this problem?

Davenlr:

Just so you know the movie industry is holding Directv hostage. By contract, Directv will not approve firewire outputs from a Directv receiver simply because Directv must rely on the movie industry to provide Directv their movie content. And because the movie industry is so fearful of losing content the movie industry has made it a condition of movie availability that Directv will never allow firewire to be used.

Yes it does. I will try it here too.

Please try this one too:

Place 160 in OTA mode. Select channel 367 by typing it in from the keyboard. See if it locks up for you.