Samsung HLS-5679W LED DLP Owners Thread (*NO PRICE TALK) - Page 36

Hi everyone. Soon-to-be 5679 owner here. First off, thanks everyone for the great tech info (especially you cal guys).

I'm upgrading from a Sony 27" WEGA CRT.
I did my research (a fair amount on this site), and bought a Samsung HL-S5087W from CC.
It was an acid trip (I see rainbows).
After some more (frantic) research, I learned about the promise of the 5679.
I returned the 5087 and began waiting for the reviews and/or price drop to get the 5679.

So while I'm twiddling my thumbs, waiting for a local retailer to get one of these so I can spend a romantic afternoon with it: how is the light distribution?

I've read through this and other threads, and appreciate all the info, but the evidence tends to be anecdotal. I would think there would be some quantifiable measurements that could be made. Does anyone have the marketing info for the screens that Samsung procures (assuming they don't fab their own)? I would think that there would be some beamwidth info there. What about the cal guys? I bet you instrument jockeys (compliment, not denigration) can come up with some standardized test that sheds some light (whee) on this.

Thanks in advance, and keep up the good work.

Additionally, if there's anyone in the Boston metro area that has had a 5679 calibrated, I'd be glad to stop by and offer my critique. My rates are reasonable. How does me bringing over a case of beer (or box of wine if you're really classy) sound?

uwaeve

The reported HL-S5679 calibrations are in the list that is linked at the bottom of my post.

Eliab and David Abrams both own HL-S5679 sets and in the past Eliab has offered visiting time for his HL-Sxx88 set. I expect that he would do the same for the LED set, but I expect that you would have to provide your own transportation and lodging.

I did the exact calibrations recommended. I also tried changing all aspect ratios for each setting and changing them from 480i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p.

All changes have the same results: Ghosting of all text and the picture on widescreen can be seen under the black bars.

estwd and the brick

I'm not a professional, but it seems like something's off I'd make the store swap it out for a new one. If you scroll up in the thread a couple pages, you'll read some opinions on handling of the units at,before, and in transit to the stores, a % of defective units isnt really something new.

Oh, I really want to buy this set, but the height specs are 37.9 inches, which is going to get me into some trouble with the wife.

Would anyone mind measuring and making sure that's really the height? I wouldn't question it, but the other 56" DLP units from Samsung are like 34", and I can't see where another three or four inches comes from. The speakers in the store didn't look that large.

Anyhow, thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Marc

P.S. Oh, and if you're going to measure the height, please go ahead and confirm the other sizes as well.

52.25 x 37.75 Samsung states 52.4"(W) x 37.9"(H) x 15.3"(D). I dont have a precision tape measure though These cabinets arnt the same as the rest of the hls line, so the 3 inches might just be style.

Most of the difference comes from the bezel which is wider on the HL-S5679 than it is on the "87" or "88" 56" HLS sets.

You may have been seeing edge enhancement that was in the source.

Thanks. I couldn't stand it. I bought one and will be picking it up on Wednesday. Now it has to survive the "You did what?" conversation tonight. Being it's a slightly new technology, I coughed up for the extended warrantee at Magnolia. It's probably a waste. Any thoughts? Should I drop it and get a different one?

Marc

Are you asking us if you should get a diff model, or a diff warranty? Considering the amount of investment in this tv, a warranty which is reasonably priced is probably a good thing. Just don't forget to get it calibrated, makes a huge difference.

Different warranty, natch.

'Reasonably Priced' is the key, and this one really isn't, but it's a local store and I have a place to complain to. And, if I'm lucky, price matching in the next two months will drop the price of the TV enough to let me argue for a lower cost warranty.

Marc

I just had my set calibrated by Eliab Alvarez de la Campa @ Avical Video System Specialists(avical_com) a little over a week ago when he was on his Midwest Calibration Tour. I also had a Sammy HL-P5685W & a Sharp LC-46D62U calibrated as long as he was in town.

He did an excellent job on all the televisions but when he finished the 5679, the resulting picture was breathtaking. Post-calibration by Eliab, the 5679 picture is hands-down the best RPTV I have ever seen. He even considerably brightened the picture.

Eliab was very professional and patient with all my questions. Seeing him work with Sammys from completely different generations, it became apparent that he REALLY knows his Samsungs. He basically has the service menus memorized and could probably teach Samsung a thing or two about their displays if they cared to entertain it.

I would highly recommend that anyone with a 5679 give Eliab a call. It makes a vast improvement on these displays.

Thanks for your calibration report and welcome to posting at AVS. Proceed with caution to avoid over doing it.

I've added you report to the calibration list that is linked at the bottom of my post. Enjoy.

I noticed that you are adjusting movie mode. If I used these settings in the CUSTOM mode would the picture be identical? Do the mode selections change more that those items that I can adjust?

I think that movie mode is the only one which disables DNIe and also reduces/eliminates color banding, which is why it is used. You can do the same thing in the service menu, if you have the experience of a calibrator.

FWIW, I still insist on Normal for my TV, not Warm2 which makes it too red. Either Cool1 or Normal seem appropriate to me. If you try Eliab's settings and think it looks too red or dark and muddy (as it may as soon as you switch to Movie mode), then make sure to play with the color tone--on my set it made all the difference.

All that said, out of curiosity more than concern I may have to get my set calibrated at some point.

Ok, thanks.

I'll bet calibrations last a whole lot longer on these LED based sets than they do on bulb based ones.

Arghhhh!

BAM BAM BAM! (My head against the wall)

I called Magnolia this morning to find out what time today my unit would be ready to be picked up, and the truck driver coming from Baltimore had an accident! Another two-day wait.

Marc

Makes sense to me, (but I'm not an engineer.)

Please PM me with contact info on Eliab (assuming he works on SXRD also).
Thanks

Or, just click on the calibration link at the bottom of my post to find out how to get in touch with any professional calibrator at AVS.

First let me start by apologizing if this isn't the correct place to post these questions but I am very interested in the HLS5679W but I need some questions answered. Also if any of these questions are repeats, I'm sorry. I tried to find the answers in previous posts but didn't see anything specific enough.

I currently own a Sammy HLN437W and use it as my main TV in the house but it's most important funtion is that it is my computer monitor (via DVI connection). I spend a lot hours gaming on it as well as playing my DVD's via the PC and also browsing the web (reading alot of text). This TV has been awsome for all of those functions (other than just a tiny bit of overscan which has never really proven to be an issue) but I really want to move up to 1920x1080 resolution and to 56" from 43". 1280x720 is a pretty low resolution these days for gaming.

A few months back I bought a HLR5687W (I think, It's been a while). The first thing I realized was that the HDMI connections didn't take a 1080P signal... DOH!! That really sucked but the PC imput took 1080P so I used that. Regardless of all that though, the biggest problem with running a PC on this set was that TI chip that was in this TV only had 960x1080 mirrors on it and had to use wobulation (one mirror producing two horizontal pixels) to creat the 1080P picture. The pixels were also diamond shaped to help with the look of the wobulated picture. That all fine for HDTV but it really made my computer basically unsusable whether I was using 1080p resulotion (PC Imput) or 720p resolution (HDMI or PC Imputs). The picture was just too blurry for reading text. Doing so for more than a couple minutes resulted in severe eye strain which was never an issue with my HLN437W non wob. Unfortunately I bought the TV online from a place that would not allow a return. However I was able to sell the TV to a friend who doesn't use a PC on his TV and only lost about $100 on the deal so no biggy.

I have been waiting to see what the future held in store for DLP and was very excited to here about the HLS5679W with the LED engine but I guess I am still unclear about the TI DLP chip it uses. Yes I am actually going to ask some question now..... Thanks for hanging in there through my rant ;-).

1. Does the DLP chip in this set actually have 1920x1080 mirrors? I saw posts regarding wobulation on these sets but that it could be turned on and off at will. I'm guessing that it does have the 1920x1080 mirrors on the chip but can disable half of them and start wobulating in order to creat the smooth picture effect. Is that correct?????

2. Are the pixels on this set still diamond shaped or are they the standard square shaped pixels? Square pixels are much better for text.

3. Is overscan adjustable on the HDMI imputs? I know that it is for the PC imput but picture quality for a PC is flat out better via the HDMI imput. If not this part isn't really that big of a deal. I get by just fine with the little bit of overscan I have on my current set.

4. If the TI DLP chip in this set does infact have the 1920x1080 mirrors, does anyone know if any of Samsungs standard bulb/color wheel sets also use this chip or is it only available on the LED set. I would most likely still go with the LED set but I was just curious. The only real advantage I have been able to decifer so far for the standard bulb engines is the contrast ratio.

Anyways thanks in advance to anyone that can shed some light on these questions.

There are NO RPTV sets on the market that do not use the wobulated 1080p chip. I think your problem with the HLR set was the fact that it didn't allow you to use 1:1 pixel mapping. Your HLN and my wobulated HLP set allow 1:1 pixel mapping which is very important for computer users.

The HL-Sxx88, HL-S5679, and the HL-S7178 sets allow you to turn electronic "overscan" OFF in the service menu. The result of doing that is 1:1 pixel mapping and a physical "overscan" of up to 2%.


It's possible on our HLP but it's not intended for viewing. Not a useful idea.


Nope. A 1080p DMD chip has 960x1080 mirrors.


Wobulated = diamond shaped pixels.


Overscan is not adjustable, but as I stated above, if you have the right HL-S models, you can reduce "overscan" from about 5% to about 2%. You can then use computer software and/or graphics card drivers to make the image fit your screen exactly.


Maybe something like that will be announced at CES in January.

My wobulated 720p HLP set does a fine job as a computer monitor as long as I have if configured to do 1:1 pixel mapping. If you buy a 1080p set that allows 1:1 pixel mapping you should be alright. At 1080p and 56" the shape of the pixel isn't going to be important.

If possible I would buy from a dealer that allows a no cost to you return period. I've read that Vanns (Internet) allows fifteen days. A local higher end store that carries the HL-S5679 or next year's LED model would probably allow you a thirty day return.

MUUC

P.S. You can contact members who have had their HL-Sxx88, HL-S5679 and HL-S7178 sets calibrated and ask them what they think of 1:1 pixel mapping on these wobulated sets. Check the calibration link at the bottom of my post.

Anyone know how to properly set the apecture closed and lower overall light output?

Step by step instructions would be nice unless they are a "trade secret" of course.

I can't speak for the 5679, as I have yet to get mine, but I did own last years Samsung 56" 1080p offering for 3 weeks (before the rainbows forced me to return it). I'm not sure what caused you to have such poor PQ through the PC input, but I can assure you diamond shaped pixels and wobulation had nothing to do with it. I had my PC connected VGA->VGA, and after adjusting P.Size to fit the screen perfectly, I had no problem reading 8 pt text on a 1920x1080 desktop from 10 ft away.

I'll always fondly remember how great Half Life 2 looked for those 3 short weeks, rainbows, and all.



I have a completely unrelated question for those in the know... How does the 5679 save system settings (mainly concerned about SM settings)? Basically, I'd like to know how long I could leave the set unplugged before starting to worry about losing my SM settings and having wasted any money I had spent to get it professionally calibrated.

In four years there has been one report of SM settings changing (other than "overscan" on some models) that I know about. Your shouldn't have a problem.

Still, when I had our HLP professionally calibrated, I made a copy of all SM settings before the calibration. Then I recorded all the changes after calibration.

thanks, htwaits!

I'm planning on buying this set once the salesman that sold me my first DLP is on duty. I'm going to pay the asking price, and then try to finagle a professional calibration as part of the package. However, I'm not holding out much hope for that, since the asking price is already 1K under MSRP. If I decide movie mode isn't good enough, and splurge for a calibration, I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures of settings just in case =) I'd love to test or report back on things non-owners reading this forum would like to see, but I have a feeling that it's all been covered by now...

Oh well, at least I know I'll enjoy my TV =)

You're welcome, and you have a PM.

Again, thanks htwaits...

My 5679 is scheduled to arrive on Monday, and I can't wait! =)