Samsung H710AE??? 4000MRSP - Page 3

That strikes me as odd. I would assume that they would have made similar optimizations to the 8-seg DC3 model to squeeze the most out of it, as they apparently have with the 5-seg HD2+ model.

I mean, where's the justification for the 3x MAP difference? Is it just because the 800 is the model they demo?

I am not saying that the 710 can't look better, it just seems odd that it should not be at least a *little* bit inferior to the 800 at 1/3 the cost.

i did a search for posts on the earlier impressions of this projector at CEDIAs past and found many people commenting that the 800 looked better than the 700 (i realize the pj under discussion is the 710, but both are HD2+ while the 800 is DC3). Most of the posters back then were attributing the better picture to the DC3 providing better blacks, higher CR, etc.
so then the question i would have is- is the 710 really that much better than the 700, or are we just seeing the ($3500 msrp)pricing coloring peoples impressions of value/performance?

Thanks to all for their contributions to this thread. It's great info for anyone looking to spend $3k-$4k.

What do you have to pay for a 1080p PJ and does anyone care to guess how long until 1080p will be available in the $3k-$4k range?

I'm not an engineer but I think it's a matter of the greater capabilities of the DC3-8segCW requiring further refinements in the software and drive electronics to really achieve the full benefits. I don't see how the performance of the 710 could be improved, it is up against the specs and pushing the envelope hard. The 800 has plenty of room for improvement and my guess is they'll probably be showing that at CEDIA if not before.

Optoma's HD81 will be out later this year, a 1080p dlp, that got great reviews at the CES; there are some long threads totally devoted to it. It's MSRP is $10K, but speculation is that the street price will be down to $7K very soon. So maybe one can get a unit like this for $5K by a year from now.

2 years, the same as it took HD2 to go from $10k to $4k.

Later,
Bill

stef,

Call him here. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=653413

Scott

Pricing has to be gotten from us directly. Otherwise this whole deal will simply be closed. Stef2, I apologize but I did not get any message from you. I have called everyone back. If you want to email me your phone, I will call you tonight.

Note warranty is NOT intact in Canada however. US only.

Regarding the warranty - if it is shipped back to the US, and the warranty claim is initiated from a USA address, the product will be eligible for warranty repairs. I don't know if AVS is equipped to deal with that sort of issue, however.

Kabillyhop - At 110", in total darkness, either screen will work well. I would probably go with the HCCV. At the Electrograph show, Joe Kane was using a Stewart white 1.3 gain screen with a little ambient light invading the tent setup and the whites were still quite bright, maybe a little too much so for my eyes. Definitely a matter of personal taste, though.

I don't post here much, but I must say the Samsung SP-H710AE has really got me very interested. Of all the current projectors I've seen mentioned at the "above and below $3500" areas of this web site, this one has got me the most excited. Samsung often seems to try a bit harder than the competition to gain market acceptance and this projector's build quality and performance seem to be a good example of that. The only concern I have with the projector is with the lack of HDMI and 8-bit (rather than 10-bit) processing. However, I suppose the DVI to HDMI cable route might provide just as stable a solution. Also, the DVI connector on the projector seems more secure IMHO. The 2-year warrantee is also a good thing...

Correct. Though the warranty is not good in a Canada service center, it is not voided just because it goes into Canada. All that would happen is it would get shipped into the US for service (should it be needed), and then for my customers, it would simply come to me from the center, and I would forward it back to you. A bit of a pain on the customers end, but I have done it for years and have no problem doing so for the future.

By the way I have one arriving hopefully today, that I am going to calibrate and take screen shots of this weekend. Stay tuned....

This is an asine question, I know: but any idea when Samsung might have a 1080p unit (with the .95" chip) analogous to the H710AE?

What's most interesting to me about the $4k msrp of the 710 is this: wasn't the msrp of the 700 $10k? That's some progress!!

TM

Samsung has landed! Just got it in. I will be doing my review this weekend.

Stay tuned....

Jason as we spoke about on the phone you know im anxiously awaiting your review on this unit, especially things like brightness, throw distance, I have a 106" screen and if it can fill that size screen from about 11 -13 ' should work along with the lens shift, we are anxiously waiting for you to take delivery of this unit and your report

Can't wait!!

Jason, I'm in the same boat as the others. Anxious to hear your review comments. I need to project from about 15 to 16 feet back.

Man your lucky I dont have that much room wish I did, at 106" im probably right up against zoom, my current projector is at about 14" back but its not nearly as long as the the samsung so the lens has to be further up to accomodate the length of the projector

Jason, when you review this Sammy- would you please contrast the 710 with your thoughts on the Runco CL-420. I ask because these 2 projectors are in the same price "range" and have similar features (grayscale adjustment abilities, color-point adjustment, light output, etc). I've been watching these threads lately with some interest, since I've never seen the Samsung but it's always intrigued me.

Dan

I second this, and also with the BenQ 8720 if possible. TIA!

I third this, but why stop there ? How about adding the Optoma H7x series into the comparison while you are at it please....

Brent

Guys, the reason I was asking him to compare it to the Runco was that he just did the brief "review" of the 420 (sticky at top)- and because the 2 have similar features. Knowing how time-consuming it is to really tweak, and then evaluate 1 projector- he may not be able to give any comparisons...unless the other projectors are right there. And to be honest, the correct way to compare them is to calibrate them both to the same light output on the same screen, then look at the same material for both, etc. That type of stuff usually takes me at least a week when I'm doing my reviews, hopefully Jason will be able to indulge our requests, but if he can't, at least we can understand why.

If I didn't say it before, Jason, thanks for the effort and whatever comparisons you can offer. You're a reall asset to AVS.

Dan

I picked up my new Samsung 710AE from Jason today. Our room is not ready yet, and the screen isn't here yet, but I thought I'd post a couple of first impressions.

First of all, kudos to Jason and the AVS team.. fantastic customer service!!! Jason drove 2 hours to meet me half way, was there on time, and I got the projector just 3 days after ordering it!

Opened the box as soon as I got home and discovered an unexpected bonus from Samsung. I am in Canada and fully expected that warranty would not be valid here, meaning I'd have to return the unit to the US if there was a problem. Turns out not to be the case. There is an insert in the box which contains the following statement: SAMSUNG will additionally provide Warranty repair in the United States on SAMSUNG products purchased in Canada, and in Canada on SAMSUNG products purchased in the United States... Gotta like that!!

I temporarily hooked up the Samsung in the family room using a makeshift component cable from the DVD player and projecting on a brown wall. Didn't touch any settings at all. Wasn't expecting much from this setup, but I must say this picture looks incredible!! This is our first projector, so I haven't learned to be picky yet. What's all this about the blacks not being black enough? They look pretty darn black to me! Picture is way better than our CRT based HD RPTV.
And it can only get better when we move it to our new light controlled room and a proper screen!!

Thanks again to Jason, Alan and the AVS team for helping make this dream come true for us.

The thing is that while I also think the picture is nice for what you paid for it, most of that niceness is in the sharpness, the brightness, detail and generally material that has either a bright picture or very contrasty picture (i.e. black with bright objects).

When it comes down to a scene where all of the scene is very dim you can't help but see that the black borders around your screen is black and the screen is actually grey. Coming from a crt myself I have been able to get my on screen black to look the same level of black as the masking around the screen.

This adds something cool that once you experience it makes it hard to go back to grey. With that said I gave up the black for other things as mentioned above. One day though I will have it ALL at a cost pretty reasonable.

Congrats on your new purchase.

"SAMSUNG will additionally provide Warranty repair in the United States on SAMSUNG products purchased in Canada, and in Canada on SAMSUNG products purchased in the United States..."

That is a direct quote from an insert in the box titled "Samsung Electronics North American Limited Warranty Statement".

What's to confirm? That statement is very clear.

Hey Stef, we don't know how smooth the warranty process might or might not be, or whether a Canadian service center would know what they are doing, especially with a product that is (apparently) not sold in Canada. I agree with you that this knowledge would only come from experience. However, what we now do know is that this projector's warranty is legally valid in Canada and that Samsung has an obligation to fulfill. Collecting on it might be a painful experience, but at least we can collect on it. I bought the projector expecting that it would have to be returned to the US for warranty. I'm happy to know that is not the case.

Cheers