Samsung 720p Owner's Thread --- HLSxx66W/HLSxx86W DLP Models - Page 41

JC, Where do you live? I'm in the Chicago area and Samsung has been giving me a story about DLP's getting shut down by an errant signal that WFLD has been sending out. They changed out the powerboard on mine once already for that reason, but it recently started shutting itself down again. As far as expecting another bulb somehow from them... you might be more able to get blood out of a rock.

I have a question about gamma. What is a good gamma setting? I have toyed around with it from 0-7. I just want it so that I can see details in the shadows. Can anyone share any ideas?

Surely you jest, Morph. If jest you don't, please familiarize yourself with the concept of 16:9 vs. 4:3 and think about it a bit... there's a glossary here for just such considerations.
Jeff

The factory default setting for gamma on my set was 4. The only other usable gamma setting was 0. All others washed out the picture. After a trial period I found that it made the picture too dark, especially during daytime viewing, so I switched it back to 4.

Supposedly the Cinema picture mode has its own seperate gamma value. I would make all my adjustments in that mode. Keep DNIe turned off. This is most important; it WILL crush your blacks. I have found that using the HDMI inputs instead of component slightly decreased the amount of noise in the picture during dark scenes. In any case the use of test patterns, especially a PLUGE pattern, would be valuable for the adjustments you are trying to make.

Why don't you point me in the right direction since I'm obviously a complete moron.

Thanks to those that gave me the recommendations on the picture settings. Crank looked fanatastic on the new TV last night. Those settings definitely helped.

No problem enjoy!

Local Samsung tech came out yesterday with two big boxes and replaced the guts of my DLP. Both the power supply and inputs box as well as the entire light engine. They were in and out in 30 minutes and my DLP is like new. No more turning off issues, so far, and no more flashlight effect. A+++ to Samsung for backing up their product and making things right. If your having trouble with your DLP in Seattle area these, guys were from Fairwood TV (Renton) and I would reccomend them highly.

I had to laugh out loud when I read that. If I can be a poster boy for your parents on what NOT to do with their new TV, then I feel better

I bought the Monster product, but I haven't gotten around to using it yet. For the past couple of weeks, I've just lived with my new scuff mark and it doesn't bother me that bad. If this stuff fails me, then I will call Samsung and let you guys know what they tell me so we can all be informed.

.:Christian:.

I certainly appreciate you taking it that way, Christian, and I still really feel for ya (you really CAN'T beat those little Logitech speaker combos, can ya? I found the 530 computer combo {5 powered satellites plus a powered subwoofer} on closeout at Sam's club for $35 around Christmas -- usually $59 there and THAT's a $10-$20 better deal than anywhere else, and I got the last set they had -- had already given my dad one set at full price to use with his bedroom stereo setup and he was ecstatic with them... Now that's my computer speaker setup )

I still really hope you get your situation worked out, too!

Good luck and Happy New Year!
Jeff

Ok, I have read and read about black grass, back to mid summer when I was buying my HL-S5086W and was in this thread researching the 50".

I am about to purchase a TV for the bedroom, and I have two choices. I can go with a 37" LCD (probably Vizio because of price point) or the HL-S4266W. The reason I am limited to those TV's is because of space. My current CRT based TV (and it's replacement) is housed inside of an armoir in my bedroom. The inside is 40" wide, and I can accomodate something as tall as 35" or so by lowering a shelf. There is already a whole in the back of the armoir, so I don't think ventilation on the Samsung will be a problem.

Back to grass. In the above quote, the poster said the black grass is most noticeable on a "no signal detected" screen. My question is how noticeable is it when watching normal TV/DVDs, and should I sacrifice 5" of diagnal viewing size to avoid it?

I don't care about whether or not the black grass being there is wrong and Samsung should fix it, I am only concerned about whether it will drive us crazy when we are watching TV and make us regret buying the TV.

Thanks

Sorry for the late reply Jeff, been away for a while. Anyhow I got it on Black Friday stood in line (#2 in line) from 7p till 5am...yeah it was tough, but it was all worth it!!! Later man...

this set produces one of the best PQ when playing xbox360 especially Gears of Wars!

Anyone else have a problem, or heard of, the HL-S4266W reverting it's picture settings back to factory default? I've searched this, and other, forums, but haven't found reference to this problem.

I have it calibrated OK using Avia, but after a watching TV for a while, it switches to Dynamic and "Torch" settings on it's own. Even if I set it back to Movie, I have to re-do all the adjustments. Also, it's always factory default when powering on. It won't save my settings.

Any advice would rock the house, but I'm anticipating a service call.

Thanks in advance,

Scott

Having read through the thread some more, I find that I have only three choices for my bedroom as the armoir is 40" wide (inside dimension) and I can accomodate anything up to 35" or so tall:

1. Leave my 27" TV in my armoir and deal with the tiny letterbox picture when watching TV shows on DVD.
2. Buy a HL-S4266W and likely have some degree of black grass, which might or might not drive me crazy.
3. Buy a 37"-40" LCD and have it burn in the 4:3 sidebars, as most of what we watch in the bedroom is SD TV (with some TV shows on DVD, which is why I want the wide screen) and then be driven crazy by the dark ghosting of the 4:3 'burned/retained' sidebars.

Not good choices.

As someone who owns the HL-S4266W, I highly reccomend it. This is coming from someone who has the "black grass" problem pretty badly(I've got it on the top and bottom). Like others have said, it's really only noticable on a no-signal screen. It is noticable during some dark scenes, but only when we're talking nearly total black(like a night sky or something). Other than this flaw, the HL-S4266W gives a great picture, and after having this TV for about 3 weeks, I've gotten used to the "black grass".

P.S.: I was in the same boat as you, didn't have room for the HL-S4666W, which doesn't have the "black grass" problem.

Another happy HL-S4266 owner. Had mine since July 06 and have been very happy with it. The set had a very small amount of black grass at the bottom that has gradually faded away almost completely. Its not caused by the electronics, its an optical artifact caused by how the outer and inner screens interface. Great set though. SD and 720p look best on the smaller screens like the 4266.

I was reading this thread starting from the beginning but after 3-4 pages I skipped to the end. It seems that the 42in black grass is still a problem, but earlier I saw some one mention that if you maybe got a build after a certain date it might not be there? Can anyone confirm this or fill me in on the black grass controversy. I think I am going to go buy this TV tonight... I'm guessing that I'll return it by friday based on my recent luck with new TVs. I just hope I get one that is less noticeable.

thanks for any help anyone can give
d

After the person that posted that he had received an August '06 build with no Black Grass, there was another post from someone who said he had an Oct. or Nov. build that did have black grass. I have seen nothing that indicates it has been corrected.

...and it hasn't. Because it is an optical artifact from how the outer and inner screens interface, the set can have no black grass out of the box, then be lifted incorrectly, and then have the black grass. It happened to HoustonPerson who posts here.

I have been reading a majority of these posts. I owned a HL-S4666W, since August of 06. I noticed a few posts where people say that it is very bright and in a brightly lit room they can see everything fine. I guess I just have been noticing this in the past month, but during the day, I can barely see anything on the TV. The shades are down but the room is still moderately bright. Even putting it on dynamic mode with the contrast to 100 (just for testing, I never watch it like that), it is still hard to see any picture. Now at night with no lights it is much better but to me it doesn't seem as bright as it should be. I assume that the bulb has just gone dimmer? Is it a normal occurence for bulbs to eventually go dim? I have read they usually stay the same until they just die one day.

I've had my HL-S4266 since July of 06 and I can't say that I've noticed any change in screen brightness. I never use Dynamic mode and even on bright sunny days Movie mode is fine. I do occasionally use the Standard mode on very bright days once in awhile. In all modes I use all the factory default settings (Reset).

I recently bought a Samsung HL-S5086W. I have read this whole tread and I tried all the clues on how to solve my issue - video lags audio on both HD and SD. I have set my Charter Scientic Atlantica HD DVR to output in 720p, the native resolution of the set, but the lag is pretty substantial. I am using a Onkyo 602 receiver with it's audio being fed directly from the STB.

I have tried both HDMI and component. And I have tried passing the digital audio through the TV. I have also turned off DNIe.

This does not seem live a very common issue. Would I have any better results with a different STB? Or would a newer receiver with HDMI switching help at all? I know there are also receievers that have a audio delay function. I don't like the idea of spending a lot of money to solve this. Any other ideas?

LCD will not burn in, As you mentioned before I'd consider the Vizio for a bedroom TV I have the HL-S5086 as my main TV and a VX32L from Vizio as my Bar tv. I have both connected to the same feed and for the price the Vizio is very close to the Samsung. in PQ

I know many people say that LCD's won't burn, but my experience is different, I have had both an 20" HP LCD monitor burn/retain an image and a Panasonic AE900U projector retain a 4:3 sidebar image in only two days of watching SD TV.

Here is an excert from the Samsung user manual on an LCD I was looking at:


http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/co...7/EN/5_sub.htm

....

Quite a bit, unfortunately. Somtimes it seems like I am watching a badly dubbed foreign film. Even when I use the TV's internal speakers there is a big lag. While that seems to point to the STB, it seems strange that I didn't have this problem with my last TV.

I guess I need to return the TV or look at a receiver with a delay feature.

I did a search and came up with nothing, but is there an option in the SM about closing the iris on the HLS-4266? Thanks in advance.

Ref: HL-S5086W

Settings (DVD calibrated by DVE):

DVD (Denon DVD-2910/component out/progressive scan):
"Movie"
Contrast: 38
Brightness: 40
Sharpness: 25
Color: 28
Tint: 50/50
Mode: Normal
DNR: Off
DNiE: Off

SD digital cable TV (connected from STB via S-Video cable/no HD in my area yet):
"Standard"
Contrast: 30
Brightness: 58
Sharpness: 25
Color: 14
Tint: 50/50
Mode: Normal
DNR: On
DNiE: Off

Audio is handled by my 2-channel rig:

- Musical Fidelity A3CR preamp
- Parasound HCA-1500A amplifier
- C.E.C. CD-3300 CD transport
- Benchmark DAC1 DAC
- Denon DVD 2910
- Energy Connoisseur C-9 speakers
- Kimber Hero/8TC cables

Notes: I found that "Warm 1" was just too red/orange on a number of movies, so I went back to "Normal." Color started off at 40, and because color can't be set on a DLP with DVE, I adjusted for natural skin/sky/grass tones. At 40, grass was too neon looking, and faces looked unnaturally colored. Dances with Wolves is an excellent movie to fine adjust color.

My standard defintion tv channels now look beautiful, better than my 36" Panasonic CRT, and far better than what I had initially. Dropping contrast down, along with color, snapped the picture in perfectly.

I love this TV. Can't wait to see some high definition content on it.

I've had my HL-S4266W since the black friday sale at CC.
I LOVE IT!

Judging from the descriptions on here, I have one with a prettys severe case of black grasss, but I've only ever been able to see it when the room is pretty dark, and the cable box or xbox360 is turned off. (ie no signal present)
I have never seen it while watching a DVD/TV or while gaming.

So to me, even though it is certainly there, its a non issue.