Samsung 1080p Owner's Thread --- HLRxxx8W DLP Models - Page 5

Wow. I have been lurking here for several months waiting for the 6168. I had to go samsung since I am able to use the samsung employee discount for one purchase this year. The 6168 posted on their employee website last friday so I went ahead and ordered one. My wife called me at work just a few minutes ago and said they called and are to deliver the tv today! Wow, how is that for a first post? I have not even called time warner yet for a hd feed.

I got my 6168W two days ago. I have been watching mainly SD content (both Satellite and OTA) and some HD. I have watched SD over both the DVI and S-Video interfaces. Over DVI, the SD content is shown either in 16:9 or 4:3 format with black sidebars. With S-video, there are other choices (Panoramic, Zoom1 and Zoom2).

I am not a DVE expert so I need some suggestions on improving the SD PQ over S-Video. Specifically, I am seeing motion artifacts, blurry edges etc when I switch to Zoom1 mode (i.e 16:9 stretched horizontally to fill the screen, crops the image vertically).


V

Congrats on your new TV! Why in the WORLD would you even CONSIDER using the S-video inputs?!

The image is just not going to look good unless you feed that TV a component signal or better.

Complaining about the quality of S-video on a 1080p TV is like complaining about the off road performance of your Corvette. It's simply not designed for that application...

think you being harsh on vilmap as you can see they are not experts and asking for advice.I myself would be hurt by those remarks as i am new to this HD stuff

In HDMI (DVI) mode, your source controls the black bars. In other words, your TV is receiving the full screen, including bars, from your source (eg, cable box or satellite receiver) and does not generate the bars. Check your satellite receiver/cable box for the option to change bar color, or to zoom. Also have the box output 1080i (rather than 720p or 480i/p) to get maximum quality from your new TV.

I'm not sure what device you are using svideo on, but I highly recommend using component on that device, if it supports it (or even better, HDMI/DVI). SVideo will looked markedly bad on the tv compared to higher quality inputs like component/hdmi.

Trying to size your picture Fullscreen on SD 4:3 broadcast, and you'd rather have proportionally correct actors cropped than a tiny bit more resolution?

By Manual: DTV or Component (720p, 1080i) your zooms will be unavailable. The only choice here is 16:9 Vs 4:3.
If you switch to an analog feed; an analog broadcast channel source through your STB's OTA tuner via component cables to display (Vs any of the digital channels) you should be able to use your zooms again. (although I just saw the 61 at Frys running off an OTA last night and your PQ will suffer on an analog local broadcast vs a Digital.)

My question for a owner is if it is possible to select a lower resolution manually when receiving a Digital signal. On my current 16:9 set, if the source is digital 720p and above locks the pic into Full (which will stretch unacceptably if trying to view a non-pillared 4:3 broadcast at 16:9 full) I might drop the resolution back down so that I can size the picture and reduce the stretch. When I'm dealing with a very poor SBP digital feed, very occasionally a lower resolution due to the conversions is a cleaner PQ than a higher resolution applied to that source.

Can any confirm if digital broadcasts on this set can be manually downrezed to allow the user a little broader manipulation when attempting to clean up low quality feeds and/or zoom to enlarge a 4:3 broadcast? OR do the 1080p Samsungs upconvert all Digital sources to its internal upscaled 1080p without the ability to lockin 480p/720p/1080I if desired.

I too am a rookie. What is the difference between component and composite inputs?

I found this site to be helpful titled Poor SD on HDTV
http://www.highdefinitionblog.com/?page_id=5

This site was informative titled Audio & Video Connections Guide
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/...ideocables.php
Gives you the overview all all connections

I know what you mean. My Fry's would serve champagne in a dixie cup. Thanks for the review.

Thanks _Matt__, The article is very informative. In particular, following paragraph applies to my situation:

" Most complaints seem to be that the Dish Network SD picture quality is far worse than Directv. Many people with HD service have threatened to switch back to Directv. The issue seems to be the fault of the 811 receiver. One person was able to get a Dish tech to hook up a 311 receiver that produced as good a picture as the Directv receiver. He was able to talk Dish into letting him keep the 311 in addition to the 811 for a year. This leads to the conclusion that the processor in the 811 may be slower in decompressing the mpeg2 data stream than the 311."

I have Dish 811 and I tried using both DVI and S-Video connections for SD content.
I also have a spare Dish 311 and I will try it out to see if SD looks better.

In general, the OTA SD (which goes through 811) looks a little better than an SD channel on 811.

Only after pouring it the day before serving.

Got my set this afternoon and got it plugged in and connected to the cable box. Could only watch for a minute but, Matchstick Men was playing on HBOHD. There is a scene where the main characters are in a bar talking. One of them has a black shirt on with a black pattern in it. Obviously you could see the pattern in the shirt. Simply amazing!

OK, buddy, we expect to hear a lot more SOON!

I don't see how what I said could be hurtful. I'm just trying to help the guy out. I complemented him and gave him some advice.

I'm also trying to satisfy my curiosity. I am puzzled why someone would spend thousand of dollars to buy one of the best display devices money can buy and then use this device to display one of the worst quality signals money can buy. I am not being sarcastic. I really want to learn what the situation is to increase my knowledge of home theater and maybe help the guy out.

Just got my 5668 from TVA, here is a box shot. My laptop is in frame on AVS, luckily I was able to work at home on it so I could get the TV.

I'll keep you updated as I set up and start testing the TV...

I know everyone is interested in game lag but I can't really test that until I get some help putting the TV on the shelf so I can't test my GC or PS2 yet (no X box sorry)

For testing I just hooked up my Powerbookvia VGA (1920x1080), I don't have a DVI/HDMI cable until my HD950 shows up. So far the TV has passed the A New Hope test and the I Love Lucy test (need to test rainbows so I put in a black and white DVD). No rainbows yet. Screen looks good. I will give more details once I get my normal equipment setup (I am now listening through my powerbook speakers OUCH) and watch a few movies.

Game tests are a priority I got Super Monkey Ball 2, which should test my GC lag good (thats the closest thing to a sports game I got ) and I guess Dance Dance Revolution will be pefect (wife's game not mine ) for testing the PS2 but I don't have a component cable for it yet.

I'll keep you informed

Probably doesn't have a high-def source yet and is trying to maximize the picture quality he's got; most SD satellite/cable boxes max out at an s-video output, and he's probably just trying to make cable or sat more watchable. I've had HD for ~3 years and 90% of what I still watch is stretched SD from my DirecTivo. It's not as if we're overwhelmed with compelling HD content, so you still want to be able to make SD look acceptable.

My 6168 was delivered sometime today. I had been concerned it wasn't going to get to me before I leave for China next week, after I got the call from TVA on Monday, but they said it should definitely make it.

I'm only about 100 miles from sack-o-tomatoes, so it seemed a safe bet.

I did start to get a little worried when I never got any update or call from the freight company (my order status stayed at FedEx waiting for tracking #), but it seems they just attempted delivery--luckily our nanny was there to receive it. Presumably they would have called if no one was home.

I wish I could share some information about the set, but I only had time to unpack it before heading back to work. All I can say is it looks nice, and its _big_.

As soon as I've done any set up on it at all, I'll post my findings on game lag and/or lip sync--I've got a PS2 and a 5.1 sound system. I'm planning on using my receivers component switching for most inputs, maybe only the DVD on HDMI, and possibly the PS2 on another component input if the GAME mode is required. I'm on Comcast regular digital cable for the time being, probably switch to Comcast HD when I get back from my vacation.

-se

Heard on a talk show the other day: People don't eat Velveeta because they are poor; they eat it because they do not know any better.

Ok I pull myself away from the 6168 for a few minutes to give some impressions.

For anyone hopping rainbows were a thing of the past - sorry, under certain conditions they are still there. We watched Ghost Hunting (or some such thing) on SciFi channel standard def. They were in the dark and filming in black and white. I saw some rainbows - not enough to bother me in any significant way but they were there. Have also seen them on a few other occasions - typically high contrast lots of movement. Again nothing that bothers me in any way.

In setting up connections I have the set pulled out from the wall and was watching from ~7 feet. An old cheap (well not so cheap at the time) DVD player connected via component. All I can say is the picture is outstanding! I have made no changes to the settings. Out of the box the settings are set to standard, warm1. Not bad. I have spent a few minutes watching a DVD that someone in another thread put together to show off your home theater. Consists of about 20 clips of different things. Optical from the DVD player to an Onkyo AVR. I have seen absolutely no audio delay in any of the clips.

Standard definition from Moto 6412 STB is certainly acceptable at 9'. Digital better than analog and HI Def everything you could expect. Again optical from the STB to the Onkyo. Have seen no audio delay so far. Baseball on ESPN HD is extremely good.

I'm sure my son will get the HD connection pack for his XBox tomorrow and we can report on how that goes.

Latter - it's back to watching and pushing buttons to see what happens!

Here's a picture of the setup!

Why would anyone think rainbows be cured with this model?

Unless they get rid of the wheel or make it spin at like 30,000 RPM you'll see em.

Very cool! Awesome stand!

And here I thought I was styling with the matching stand :-)

schaffer970,
I received my 6168 yesterday. i am running hdmi from my Denon 3910 DVD to the 6168 and then have an optical digital audio cable from the TV to my receiver. I can't access the the digital output (dolby or pcm) item in the sound control menu. Can you?

Maddogs - how is the PQ from the Denon 3910 to the 6168? Are you using
YCbCr 1080i over HDMI settings?

i am no expert since this is my first hdtv, but my impressions thus far (set up the tv today) are awesome. The standard channels are excellent and the hd channels are absolutely amazing. Even the dvds on a cheap dvd player are excellent. I have not seen any rainbows or anything unusual thus far. Maybe the experts can find fault, but if this is a first hdtv like mine, you will be blown away. I am using tw cable with composite connections.

One more question - please :-)

Do you see any macroblocking from the Denon DVD-3910?

I'm interested in ordering one of these TVs sometime soon. Are there any actual differences between the 5668/5678 models (besides aesthetics). If you compare the brochures, there seems to be only one functional difference between the two, and that is that the 5678 model has "Digital PIP" and "Analog PIP" listed as features, whereas the 5668 only has "PIP". However, the posts at the top of other big Samsung thread indicate that the only differences are aesthetic.

Thanks in advance.

A Quick update...

Got my TV installed, watched an I love Lucy episode and then Dark City with my wife. She saw rainbows during one scene. Didn't know my Dark City wasn't anamorphic . I'll try out my game systems and report back later.