My Unofficial Guide to Samsung HLN Series DLP Sets - Page 11

Thanks for the reply Jeff, and good luck. Hopefully you'll see significant improvements in PQ, looking forward reading your impressions!

-Greg

LOL!

Will do, Les. On top of playing around with this tv, I've been dealing with the fact that my RCA BLEW UP 2-3 weeks ago. So the Sammy had been getting the lion's share of the viewing. I finally called Samsung to request a service call when I finished watching "Die Another Day" with my parents and family. The clay faces were so bad on that that I thought I would puke.

BTW, my Mom could not see rainbows... but my Dad could. He cursed me for a week and a half for pointing out to him what they were. The most often heard quote all week was, "Dammit, Jeff. Now I see those things all the time! Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?!?!?"

Gab atcha later,
Jeff

This is why, Jeff, I refuse to read any threads on spotting rainbows. I figure if I see them eventually on my own, fine, but I am certainly not going to invite dissatisfaction with a TV that is otherwise 110% of what I expected...

Cheers,
RDaneel

No prob. The one thing I wish I had to truly make a difference would be a DVI DVD player. Unfortunately, I just can't see purchasing the Bravo or Sammy units right now since they don't truly meet my criteria for "one player that does ALL". I'd rather wait a little longer and see what the "big boys" come out with in terms of "universal" players. I want SACD and DVD-A playback on a DVI equipped player. I want it WITHOUT the chroma bug and without any other PQ or AQ issues. Might be a pipe dream, but it seems like it should be any day now that the market gets hit with lots of new DVI players that meet my criteria.

Like I said... give me some time to monkey around and give the new guts a test spin and then I'll be happy to spew some more of my stream of consciousness antics onto the forum.

See ya,
Jeff

Jeff softly hums the Queensryche song "Spreading the Disease" to himself while quickly moving his eyes back and forth across his computer monitor to see if a CRT has "rainbows".

Thanks, Arun.

"Spreading the disease, everybody needs, but no one wants to seeeeeee."

Later,
Jeff

Jeff, just noticed you've got the new baby, and now your old baby is getting upgraded. Congrats on all babies, old and new!

heheh.. thanks, Doug. We got to watch a couple flicks on "Devyn's TV" as I lovingly refer to it. I convinced Wendy to let me buy the tv by saying "it's for the baby". Wendy now says, "Yeah, the tv that you'll never let the baby actually see is 'The Baby's TV". Yeah, right".

Regs,
Jeff

I too am leaning toward getting the 617. How can I make sure before completing the purchase that the actual one I buy has the upgrades? Or is it safe to assume that all the old sets have been sold? I'll end up buying from CC, Sound Advice or TV Authority.

First I 'd like to thank you, arungupta, for a excellent guide to Samsung's DLP lineup. It gave just about all of the essential information that I was looking for!

There is one question I have though, was the price of $2500 at PC Richards an advertised one or was did it require bargaining with the sales rep/manager? I find it really hard to believe that price (I live in NYC and the local BestBuy has it for $3200 without haggling). Were there any "conditions"? Thanks again!

I have had a 617 on order for a month now. The distributor received 10 617s from Samsung in July and I am now #7 in line for the August shipment. I have convinced myself that when I receive it, it will contain the latest upgrades. It would be hard to believe that there are any old sets still around with the high demand for these units. The local CC told me today that they have no units in their warehouse and the local BB gave me the same story. My new TV stand looks very lonely sitting in my basement. Anticipation ............

If the HLN617W has the latest firmware loaded, will the specifications be the same as the HLN567W, or will the 567 still have something which is a "technical edge" over the 617??

What is the technical edge?

So far I haven't read of any difference but size and case if HLN sets have the same firmware version. If anyone has information that is different it hasn't made it to the forum.

My 437W was delivered this morning from CC and it is version T-B3K5001-214 (Jun 11, 2003). I was able to get into the SM with the Mute-1-8-2-Power sequence, despite some reports of people not being able to do so with recent sets. I haven't tried the discrete codes yet, but I will be trying them out soon. I hope the info is right about the codes being in 214 .

-Max

Aw, man...I'm so jealous. I am coming up on the 30-day return deadline for CC to take my set back and am considering doing so and then re-ordering to try and get one with 214 in it (mine has 209). I doubt I will, as it's a lot of hassle for just discrete codes (hell, the time involved is prolly worth $200 at least ). Well, congrats, Max...enjoy the set (we're loving ours!).
- Craig

I am enjoying my HLN4365W but I am in the middle of fooling around with the various ways to connect it to my DrectTivo and Yamaha A/V receiver.
1> How do you hook up component video from the DTV to the Sammy? I have component cables for video and RCA cables for sound yet I can't get any sound. If I turn on the A/V receiver I can get sound through the HT system but I sometimes I just want the basic sound from the TV.
2>Is there any reason to run the Video through the A/V receiver? Why not just run the sound through the receiver and the video directly from the source (DVD or DTV) into the DLP set?

Congrats on the set. How long ago did you put in your order with CC? I've got an order in for one of the 437s myself. Just wondering what I'm looking at for time. Thanks.

Great work on your new guide version, Arun!

A couple of small items: The new Sammy brochure now lists model numbers for the 467 and 567 stands. They are TR46L5S and TR56L5S respectively. (Para 5. The Stand and Height)

Also, some of the review links are broken. (Para 2. Some Reviews)

Thanks for talking all the time to put together the guide !

Perhaps a small correction on the Firmware table, unless there is a new HLN 407 model...

I just looked at my receipt, and it says 7/10 -- so a little over two weeks to deliver. They warned that it might be a month when I bought it, and I didn't have my stand ready until Wednesday anyway, so it worked out perfectly for me.

-Max

Just reporting back: The discrete input codes work on my new set.

-Max

Question for arun,

So far on every Sammy DLP I've seen on display (CC, BB and 2 locations of SA), they have not been input through their DVI connection, and except for the BB, all of them looked fantastic playing either HD net or an instore loop.

Just curious, could you guess quantitatively how much better they'd look had they been input through DVI - 20% better? 50% better?

Possible firmware/cosmetics revisions to the Guide, based upon my HLN507W (manufactured in April, 2003):

Firmware: T-B3K5001-209 (April 22, 2003).
Cosmetics: Gray cabinet and 1.5" gray bezel.