Samsung 71' 1080P DLP HL-S7178W (owners)

Where did you buy it from?

Fantastic to see this thread started. Here's my initial questions:

1) Does this TV have the piano black finish like the 88 series or the black matte
2) Do you plan on getting this TV calibrated?
3) What stand are you going to use
4) Hopefully you will have you camera ready - let's see some pics!

Mine is scheduled to arrive tomorrow too. I should have some comments tomorrow evening.

It appears to be gloss - a very nice looking TV.

http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/D...7178_final.pdf

I'm trying to decide between this and the Mits 73831 (due in September) myself.

Wow! Congrats, I didn't even realize they made a 71 foot screen!

Seriously, we will be looking forward to your comments.

Are these rear projection 1080p units still using the "wobulated" chips?

What is the MSRP? And when will Costco have these?

I just got the call today from the delivery service scheduling the delivery for friday. A little later then I had hoped but still happy to see it's finally on it's way. Got the TV stand in today though and have to put that together tomorrow.

Any updates?

I was at Magnolia AV today and talked to a salesman for a good while about this one. They have one in the back of the store but only the 56" was hooked up. He ran all of the #'s and he came up with 6,332.11 after tax, warr, stand, and delevery/set up. WOW. He gave me the impression that he had a couple hundred dollars of wiggle room but still that is a bit of scratch. The box is 24 3/4 D from what he says so I just barely have room to get it in I think. If not I am sure that it is a few inches skinnyer out of the box.

At this price I think I will pass. I have a friend who can get stuff wholesale and is checking on whether this is aval or not. He has gotten other Sammy DLP's resently but doesnt know if they have this big boy or not. If they do he says that they are generaly 30% off the retail so in this case 3,500 plus tax and some 3% charge for using my cc. Although if I go this route I wont be able to get a warr I dont think.

So at any rate I am mulling a few things over.......

FWIW, the Mits 73831 still uses the same 3-color wheel light engine design that's being used in their current 73" models. The only difference is a slight cabinet design change vs. the current 73827 and the ability to accept full 1080p60 input.

But anyway, now getting back on track... My 7178W shipped today, I'll post my impressions and whatnot when it gets here. Hopefully in the next few days -- FedEx Freight has it right now. I'm buying this TV sight-unseen, which has me questioning my own sensibility, but I think it will work out OK. Funny thing - I was #1 on TVA's powerbuy list for the 7178, but I changed my order to something else. Too bad, or else I would have already had my 71" of glory. Heh...

cant wait for your review, i saw the 67 today and fell in love with it so i will be going with the 71

The other sets I was concidering was the 6188 and the xrb2's coming out, but I'm getting tired of the wait, also price was a factor. Sony is too darned expensive. But what made up my mind was when I saw the 7178 playing Ultra Violet. It looked great.

FedEx Freight just confirmed my delivery of the 7178W for thursday afternoon.

I'm in the same boat as so of you are. My living room almost requires me to get a set that's at least 70". What I'm wondering is what made you guys choose the Samsung over the other +70" sets? I know the 70" XBR2 is still unknown at this point but what about the other sets from Mits (73927) or the Toshiba (72MX196)?

I know Samsung makes a wonderful DLP but has anyone viewed any material on this set, or even better, done a side-by-side comparison with another brand?

Any experiences anyone else has had will help me make a decision. Also, I'm torn between these models and waiting for the new batch of +70" ers to arrive. Does anyone know when this will be or have any opinions in favor or against waiting?

I am in the same situatuion and looking to buy in the next couple of days or weeks depending upon what is out there, or what is coming in the next 2 or 3 weeks. Lets hear some comparisons out there with the 70 inch sets.

BMELVIN

I believe the only 70" ish set that is currently out in the new ones is the Samsung. Neither the Mitsubishi nor the Sony are out so comparisons aren't possible.

I just got mine today. It replaced my mits 65807 which I loved but needed extra HIDEF inputs to hook up my hd dvd and my direct tv h20. So far Im impressed, I was really scared it wouldnt match up to my mits but so far so good. Only prob im having is my dtv h20 box when hooked up thru hdmi the picture gos in and out. Tried my h20 from my bedroom and the same thing. So I hooked it up with componet and it works fine. The funny thing is I was thinking it would be my hddvd player that would give me probs but it works fine with the latest firmware thru hdmi. So far no rainbows at all.


steve

The 70xbr2 will be here in the fall. With Sony's MSRP being what it is, there is no way I'll pay that amount of money. To me the 7178 is an attractive television and has a beautiful PQ about it. I haven't even seen one calibrated yet, but can only imagine. So far I'm leaning towards the Samsung.

Where did you see the 7178?

ssmoore
How is the SD picture on the new set compare to your Mits 65 inch set?? I have the Pioneer 64 inch CRT Rear projector " HUGE " and it does a great job of conversion for SD picture, but the glare on that set is like a Plasma screen, so I am looking at upgrading and getting a bigger screen also. My wife still watches a lot of SD cable tv {Lifetime, etc ) so the new set has to be just as good for Standard definiton channels as the old TV picture or I am going to hear abou it. Can you comment??

Hello HL-S7178W owners....

I am on the fence between the HL-S7178W and waiting for the 70XBR2.

Please post impressions of your awesome new sets.

Things like:

1) Standard Definition Video quality. (It is understood that HD will be great, but what about SD?)
2) Screen characteristics... How does it perform in bright rooms with a lot of sunlight? Are there any annoying reflections on the screen?
3) Quietness of operation. Any motors or powersupply noise.
4) Quality and speed of user interface menus
5) Speed of channel changing
6) Sound quality, volume, fidelity, soundstage
7) Etc..

Thank you,

Howard Stockdale

After using the set some more I can honestly say the sd pic is a little better than my mits but mind you I dont use stretch I piller box it. The sound is also better than my mits as my wife and I always had a hard time with dialogue. I watched some of 16 blocks and noticed more color in scenes that seemed dull before. With my mits if I turned the color up to look like the sammy flesh seemed to turn red. As far as noise is concerned I havent noticed any noise but I will try to listen to it more closely and report back. I waited a full year for the true 1080p sets to come out. I had my heart set on the new sony 70in but in the end the $7000 retail price even if discounted by as much as $2000 it would have still been more than this sammy. It definetly is a big improvement as far as glare is concerned.

steve

There were two places that have the 7178w here in my area, Best Buy and BrandsMart. The one at BrandsMart looked better with the Blu-Ray, but the feed for SD looked pretty good at BB. They had on Law and Order from TNT.

I seen a nice looking t.v. stand, BDI Deploy Max. Gloss black with silver glass. I found it to be quite a bit over what I want to spend on a stand. Any ideas for a t.v. stand for the 7178, other than the that accompanies it from Samsung?

Any early owners *not* using the accompanying TR71 Stand? I looks like the shelf is too small for my center speaker so I was looking for a different option (hopefully black to match). I found a Sanus stand but the depth is listed at 20" (about 4" overhang out the back). Dumb idea? suggestions (don't want to mount the center)

I don't know what the dimensions are for the BDI, but check it out for yourself. I think it looks great together.

That was weird - same exact post within 1 minute. Thanks for the suggestion. The name of the Sanus was the low boy (sorry forgot the model number)

Would one of the 7178 owners who has either Avia or DVE, put up a convergence pattern (preferably the white lines over black) to check for chromatic abberations (color fringing around white lines) and geometry(streight lines). Be sure to use the pattern for widescreen so you can check the corners of the set.

Its been posted over in the HLS main thread that the 61" models have geometry issues that show up mostly on the 4:3 programs, but it doesn't seem to show up as much on othe size sets in the HLS series, not including the 71".

Thanks in advance.

Would any owners post pix of their setup please. It would be nice to get some ideas. My main concern is replacing my wall unit, which is pretty nice. I may have to go to a carpenter to make me wider bridges to accomodate a 71".