2007 Samsung LED Owner's Thread (HLT XX87/89S) - Page 433

Me too ..... I've got my fingers crossed that my set lasts me at least a couple of more years. I'm strapped for cash after building a house and with my set being in use for 16 months and getting close to 4000 hours, I get the feeling that the set is on borrowed time.

But hey, you never know.

Then again, if I had felt the need to buy the warranty when I bought it, I wouldnt have bought it.

The Extended warranty on my Phillips Cineos 55PL977S was the reason I even OWN the Samsung. After many attempted and failed repairs to the old Cineos, they were unable to source any more parts, and ended up replacing it with the Samsung HLT-6189S. Only cost to me was the cost of a new extended warranty for the sammy, which I gladly paid. Not bad to get a MUCH better set (The old Cineos was great, but NOTHING compared to this one) for virtually no cost (I think the new warranty was a few hundred bucks). For something that is this much of an importance in my household, there's no way I wouldn't get the extended warranty.

I heard back from the tech. He got in contact with Samsung, and they said it was either the DMD or the main board. The parts are on backorder though, so I guess it's time to play the waiting game.

Be wary of the diagnosis... they replaced those in my set, and it didn't resolve the dropped color issue. At some point in one of the Samsung LED DLP threads someone mentioned a "cold solder" issue with the led's. This could cause the intermittent issue you are seeing. Basically, the led's are not mounted to the board correctly, and the heating/cooling cycles eventually make the led loose contact. Good luck... I hope things work out.

There is a thread over at cnet :

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-13973_10...hreadID=336352

A rep from Samsung is fielding questions and comments related to the LED DLP Replacement / Repair issues. If you are having problems, it might be a good place to ask for help.

Hi Guys,
Looks like I'm joining the growing contingency in the "dropped a color just out of warranty" parade. I lost the red color on my HLT5087SAX when turning the TV on one morning. I've had the set for 16 months and used it less than 2000 hours. Kind of put the whole "new and improved light engine" argument I used on my wife to get it out the window. Is the LED hard to replace and get? Anybody have any luck getting relief from Sammy on their sets just out of warranty? They did tout 20000 hours on the LED light engine. Great picture when all is well.

Coug1

And it continues on....some 8 weeks after my contacting the GE warranty people about my problem, the tv repair man arrives. We open the box and what to our surprise...They sent the wrong light engine; mine is the LED version; I got a bulb replacement unit for an older version! Back to ground zero...that is if they can find the proper unit............

wmeyer1:
Seems like the warranty people try everything they can to get out of paying and then the repair guy is incompetent. Sigh...

Hang in there and let us know how it turned out.

I am done with Samsung products. Both the 61" TV and my Blue Ray Player had to be returned for service/repair. Each one was out for two weeks.

Found out today that they are under investigation by the NJ State Attorney Gereral's office. That was all that the person could volunteer. There are numerous complaints filed....me soon to be be included, for manifold reasons! I have not found any active class actions; only people saying they wish to join one. My complaint will concern the continued sale until relatively recently of the DLP LED LIGHT ENGINE version; mine being a 61" HLT6187SX/XAA slim model manufactured 8/2007 and failing 4/2008. They knew that there is an inherent design flaw and stopped production and will not address the problem saying only that it is out of the 1 year mfgr warranty. There must be hundreds of complaints found online concerning this issue. Now the problem is in finding the correct light engine to get the unit up and running again (for however long that might be), replacement light engine is said to be back ordered up to 8 weeks. Wonder what gives???????

Interesting; do you have a link?

No llink; I called the NJ Attorney Genl's office. Also just spoke with someone at J&J Parts 1-800-627-4368 and they informed me that the part is no longer available, nor is the alternate...........WE ARE IN BIG TROUBLE FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bought the 61" LED DLP in December of 2008 - does that use the same light engine in it that you have in your 2007 model?

So far its been good, but its only been 6 months. It gets heavy useage here though since my wife and i are retired and therefore the tv is on most of the day and night. I was counting on it lasting 7 years or so. Now you got me worried!

Yes, I believe it does. I absolutely loved my tv too....until it failed. Bought mine 9/2007; it was mfg'd 8/2007; lasted 18 months!

So all of these failure stories got me a little concerned, but I figured mine was still going strong. This morning, however, I am hearing (for the first time, I'm pretty sure) a sort of whirring sound coming from the back left (away from the media connections). Is this indicative of a larger problem? I think I still have a year or so of extended warranty, fortunately.

I think that whirring is just the case fan.

But I am also concerned about the status of these TVs. I hope this forum can keep everyone up to date on the situation, particularly if there is, or will be, an organized lawsuit.

I have a unit I bought in mid 2007. The 1 year warranty extension from my credit card expires in about 3 months... The TV is working great right now, but like others, I'm quite nervous about what will happen in the near future should it conk out.

Certainly seems to me that if something with an advertised 20,000 hour avg. life expectancy is breaking within a few thousand AND they've pulled the product permanently due to whatever the technical issues are, then there's some form of misleading advertising here and should be the basis of a suit to make people whole -- at least on a pro-rated basis of the advertised life....

I sent the following email to CS Choi. I didn't get a reply, and I don't know if he actually read it. I suggest others try emailing the executive team at Samsung. I was "lucky" enough to be under the original warranty... I feel really bad for those that have been failing out of warranty.

cschoi@samsung.com

Dear Mr. Choi,

Normally, I would not attempt to email a company executive directly, but I wanted to make an appeal to you as a loyal Samsung customer. Over the years, I have owned, recommended, and enjoyed your companies products. Last year, I purchased an LED DLP television from a local retailer. Samsung literature rated the LED's at 20,000 hours of life. The television is now defective, and the repair company was unable to resolve the issue after trying four times over the past month. Your customer support team has offered to replace the set with a smaller LCD from the B series (LN52550B) . Due to my current financial situation, a refund applied to a higher end set is not currently an option at this time... so I plan on accepting the smaller TV. I just want you to be aware that there are many owners of these discontinued LED DLP's who are experiencing similar failures, and replacement offers. Most of the owners of these DLP's were very happy with the image quality... and are quite disappointed at the prospect of having their high end DLP replaced by a mid-range, smaller screened refurbished LCD. While I understand that all companies have standard policies on these issues, my appeal to you is to do the right thing for your customers. Samsung should be extending the warranties on these sets, and provide the best possible replacement to customers when they fail.

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day.

Sincerely,

Sean U.

Every story I read here gives me a queasy feeling in my stomach. Hopefully there are lots of people enjoying their 6187s sets that feel no need to come here and posts stories about how great their TV works still. I've had mine for about 16 months and have no complaints. However, mine is only on from about 7pm to midnight most of the time. I don't consider that heavy use so I am hoping it works flawless for a long, long time.

Good luck to all other owners, and here is hoping that a good percentage of these sets go the distance.

We've had the 6189 since late October '07 and we've had no issues with ours. We just love the TV. Occasionally I still will turn to my wife and say, "God, I love the picture this TV gives us!"

One of the phenomenon's associated with forums such as this, is you practically NEVER hear about people's GOOD experiences... those that are happy, simply don't feel the need to post about it. There are many many thousands of these tv's on the market, and there are a small handful of people here who've had problems with it..

I agree... it was very depressing to accept a smaller LCD when I was *so* happy wth the 5689. I should be getting my LN52B550 this week, but I expect it to be mediocre compared to the LED DLP picture.

I have an HLT5089S that has over 6000 on it with out a problem. Most people here that seem to have this light engine problem have the "87" versions. My question is, do the "89" version use a different version of the light engine that so far have not had this issue? Or have I just missed the post where people with "89" versions have this same issue? EDIT: Never mind, just saw the post above mine, guess I've been lucky so far.

I do have an extended warranty (third party) but, really don't want to have to go through that process again. Only reason I have the HLT is because of a warranty replacement on my HLP (color wheel back ordered forever). I will probably not buy Samsung again because I have had 3 warranty replacements in the last 5 years from them. My first HDTV, an HLN, was replaced with a HLP which was then replaced with my current HLT. My Sammy BD player (BDP-1000) was replaced with a 1200 (which I sold on ebay without even opening the box and got a PS3). Samsung makes some products that look amazing when they work, they just don't seem to last long.

I agree. I have had mine for 2 years now, and it is still great. It was the best technology I could afford for the size (56") I wanted at the time. People comment on the great picture often and are surprised to hear it is a discontinued 2-year old unit. If it lasts me a another year or two, I will be happy...and then I'll move on to whatever the best technology I can afford happens to be. Unfortunately, I think the days of the TV's lasting 10+ years are well over...like with the old CRT's.

When I researched before buying, the 89 unit only had a few things the 87 units did not have like an upgraded HDMI 1.3 (vs 1.2 for 87), PIP, and some bluetooth added features.

All that keeps me from really freaking out is how many people had the set with really bad geometry. To this day my geometry is perfect, so I keep hoping I got one of the "good" sets.

My Sony RP TV lasted over 5 years and was still going strong when I sold it after getting the 6187s. I hope for at least 5 years out of this TV. I stick around these forums hoping for better 3D info and to keep up in case the worse case happens. It looks like 3D is slowly catching on, let's hope it happens before these sets are all dead.

Well, my 2 year old HLT6187S lost all red color today. Guess it is a common problem from the sound of it. Any advice on the best route to get this fixed? Reading these posts makes it sound hopeless.

I guess the better question may be, has anyone actually had this problem repaired successfuly?

Sorry... i actually mis-typed in my post. My set is an HLT5687SAX. I think that the 89's didn't sell as well as the 87's, which may account for the lack of failure reports. I'd love to know what the failure rates are in the real world. My failure rate was 100%

Zero isssues thus far with my 6187sax purchased in very early 2008...though to be honest, it gets very light use, pretty much our 'saturday movie night' display. I'm basically just a weekend watcher, be it sports or flicks, otherwise, the bulk of my extra tv time is spent with my bedroom setup (Sammy LCD LN32A450). Last I checked, my 6187sax was not even at 400 hrs use yet! Sad, I know, but a flick or two every weekend is all I can get into. Quite certain this display at this pace will last me several more years until the next great thing convinces me to upgrade...in the meantime, my picture still looks INCRED! So there ya go, one very happy owner. (=

No issues with mine so far, I have the hl-t5687sax since Feb. '08 but I did take out the extened warrenty with verizon fios yesterday for 9.99 per mo. they say the light engine
is coverd after the 30 day waiting period. $75.00 service charge parts & labor coverd up to 2,500.00 per year - repair or replace tv guarantee. All these post are making me very nervous . I'm not in a position to replace a tv not to mention the "20,000 hours LED's". that I guess they are not backing. My usage on average is 8pm to 10-11pm daily.

Haven't seen many (if any) issues about the smaller sets vs. the larger ones. I've had the 5087SAX LED model since 8/07 and I've had zero problems with mine. Here's to many more years just like this!

Anyone out there with a smaller sized set have issues? I'd like to hear about them!

The red led blew out on my 61" HLT6187SX/XAA as well. (Just under 4000 hours) I only had the 1 year warranty and Samsung told me I was SOL. Last week I filed a BBB complaint (http://newjersey.bbb.org) and Samsung called me back today extending the warranty though July.

I'd prefer a replacement, but something's better than nothing. Soooo,...

My Repair Nightmare Story,...

I've been back and forth between Samsung and the repair company (www.WillistonTV.com) FOR OVER FOUR HOURS trying to arrange a repair.

The issue,... Samsung's newly updated computer system isn't updating the warranty status according to Williston. FYI, the secretary's at Williston took a fax and email of the warranty update, but when they talk to their own repair department the repair dept says they will ONLY accept the computer update.

The lack of communication among the people at Samsung, among the people at the repair company and between both companies is mind numbing. Anyway, the last woman I talked to at Samsung was well informed and called me back as she promised, so I am optimistic that something might get done soon. She promised to call me back in the morning, on the premise that they are trying to get the computer system repaired/updated.

I'll keep you guys informed of how my repair goes. I'm afraid of where this is going once the repair company finally looks at the set, considering the stuff I keep reading about the scarcity of the replacement part.