2008 Samsung DLP's Discussion (HLxxA650/A750) - Page 119

i found the coupon on slickdeals but went to my local BB and they dont have the 67 in.

there were two 'open box' 61's in for $1550 and $1600 respectively tho. wonder why they went back so soon. i couldnt see any flaw.

Well, I got my 67A750 delivered on Friday and was instantly pleased with the improved geometry compared to my 61A750 CC just took back. No tilt and much less overscan (using my 1080p test pattern). Even the 1080p over component for my 360 was good out of the box (it had the 1004.xx firmware, not the one released just the other day.)

I really thought I was finally done returning sets trying to find one that made me happy, but after tweaking the image over the last few days, I just cant seems to get the image as nice and vibrant as my previous 61". It may just be a light engine focus problem, or maybe, despite being 40% than last year, 67" is the threshold for these LED PhatLights. It doesn't seem to light up the screen as well as the 61".

Anyway, gonna go back and have them pull a 61" out of the box so I can check the geometry and get that swapped. Hopefully they don't think I'm abusing their return policy! This will be my fourth return/swap in just over a month.

Actually, this year is third generation I'm pretty sure....

ur right the first gen was the hls5679, 2nd gen was hl-txx87/89s and now this year A750 model LEDs

For those who have looked at/bought a Mack warranty, can you tell me the difference between the standard 3-yr for $210 (TV < $2500) and the PREMIER 3-yr for $348? Reading the descriptions on their site doesn't clear that up for me.

EDIT: E-mailed NWV Direct support and they gave me the answer.

I'm about to buy a new Samsung (my third Samsung DLP) and was going to get the HL56A650. However, a local store has the HLT5687 (LED) on sale for less than the HL56A650. I understand the primary difference in the sets is LED vs. bulb, however, I'm just wondering if there are any opinions on which one I should buy.

I've owned my 61/750 for about two weeks now and I'm in love again!! Best pic I've ever seen. Paid $1800 at CC plus tax.

I do have one problem, when the screen is mostly black or when the TV is on and no movie is playing I see what I would describe as two little round circles near the bottom corner, about half dollar size. Cannot see them when the movie is playing thank God. Could this be something on one of the1000000000 tiny little mirrors? Any ideas? Should I call in a tech or take it apart myself? Thanks!

Plugged my 61A750 into my Kill-A-Watt meter and it was running at 119. Not bad!!!

Just spend an hour at BB looking at a 56A650, 2-61A750's, and a 65" Mits.

Also played around with some of the remote controlled picture adustments on the 61A750. One of the 61A750's was an open box "Manager's special" with a price of $1499. Otherwise, I think the price was $1999.

First set I noticed was the 56A650. It was NICE and BRIGHT...even to just past 45º off center. Very impressive. Sharp too.

The 61A750 definitely was neither as bright, sharp, nor as vibrant off angle.
I asked the guy how much time was spent tweaking the sets in general, and he was honest enough to say that "basically, we just uncart 'em out of the box, set the cable channel line-up, and put 'em on the display". "Some of 'em are pretty punchy out of the box, but that's the manufacturer's doing."

When I looked at the setting on the 61A750, the contrast was set to 100, the brightness to 45, and the sharpness was at around 50 or so. The rest of the color settings were all around 50 or thereabouts.

I brought the brightness up to around 65, the contrast down to about 85, and upped the sharpness a bit. Overall, there was a tiny bit of improvement but nothing stellar. I was still far more impressed by the plasmas (of which there were many), and even moreso by the non-glossy screen LCD's. Still for the money, I could get a mediocre 50" plasma, or a 61A750. Problem is, once you see the BIG screens, your heart tends to sink a bit after looking at the 50's and 52's.

What was REALLY a treat was watching a big 65 plasma set up in the Theatre Room. NIIIIIICE!!!

Even though the 67A750 hasn't had stellar reviews on this board, I went ahead and purchased it through Intech AV. The LCD's and Plasma's are absolutely brighter and more vibrant, but once I get it in my home, I think the picture will pass the good enough test...especially based on price. I paid $1950, no tax, no shipping...it's curbside not white glove.

If you have an ABC Warehouse near you (only in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana) check them out. Last week I haggled with them and got the price of the HL67A750 down to $2099 plus tax. After reading today that BB dropped the price down to 2299 plus a 12% coupon that put it below my cost plus they had 3 year no interest. So I went back into ABC to see if they would deal with me again. After everything was all said and done they got the tv down to $1975 plus tax and 2 year no interest. So they are definately worth checking out.

Thanks for the info, $3.50/month savings now and $4.05 next month when my rate goes up 15%.

Well, I've had the 67A750 for about 3 days now. I absolutely love this set.
Excellent PQ. Standard DVD's upscaled through the PS3 look awesome. No tilt or bowing from what I can tell.

Also using this as a computer monitor as well. Couldn't be happier.

How do you check for the "BIOS" version again? Also, I'd like to throw up a grid to see if everything checks out...is this feature built in?

Hey N8DOGG , did Costco have its 'own' model number on this ? I just went to a Costco in Toronto and got them to check and they couldn't find 67A750 anywhere. They did tell me that Western Canada can get completely different stuff but they checked Canada Wide and couldn't find any evidence of it. They had one 67 inch with a stand for 2499 but in the system but it was a different model number.. 6756 I believe.

If anyone else here has any ideas on where I can look in Toronto it would be most appreciated ! I asked a Best Buy and they said they had no idea if they will get it in but IF they do it should be mid June.

Just ordered the 67a750 from Best Buy using the 12%-off coupon. I talked them into honoring the free delivery on top of the 12% so they took off an additional $80 for the TV. So, that brought the TV to $1,943.99 plus the $80 in-home delivery and tax. The in-home delivery/box removal with a 30-day unconditional return/exchange and 60-day price guarantee was the clincher. It had to be a decent deal to off-set the sales tax... Now to get this 61"er out of here before the 67 is delivered a week from today!!

Was it in Dynamic mode? That's basically useless. You should check it out in movie or standard. Try some of the settings from the FAQ. Will warn you though, it may look "dim: in the store in movie mode, but that is the viewing environment. The set is plenty bright, and the movie mode is quite accurate and reproduces a great picture. For more "pop" you can try standard mode and turning on dynamic contrast and LED adjust to Auto.

As nearly everyone on here who has this set in their home will tell you, it has a great picture.

You must be referring to the NWV Direct site...
I bought their PREMIER 3-yr for $348. After registering the warranty with Mack, I found there is no difference between the standard 3-yr for $210.
and the PREMIER 3-yr for $348.
So I phoned NWV Direct and told them I was going to do a charge back with my credit card Co. if they did not credit $138. back to my credit card. After arguing with me for 10 minutes he finally agreed to credit $138. back to my credit card. Two days later I checked my credit card statement online and the credit was there... In my pocket instead of theirs. I do not recommend this Co.

If I were you I'd go for the HL56A650. Besides the fact that there is a thread or two on AVS discussing the problems of the HLTXX87s, just look at the picture on the two of them. Set on Standard, side-by-side, and with the same video source, it should be obvious. The PQ on the HLTXX87 is reminiscent of the old CRT RP units. No pop. No color depth. Dull, under-bright picture. But then, that's just me.

Thats strange BB doesnt show 67 on the web nor do they stock them in Fla. Where did you find a BB that had the 67 ?

I called BB and they had them in their warehouse, but not yet in any stores. They are delivering mine to my local BB by Thursday.

Okay, I've been reading for days on this thread and am having trouble making a decision. I need some knowledgeable opinions. Please! Basically, I am trying to decide between the 61A750 DLP and the Sammy 50A650 Plasma. The price difference for me is about $350 (so not that big of deal). I pretty much sit on center from TV about 7-11 ft away depending on where I sit. I have a piece of furniture that will support the 61A750 so no issues there. Any opinions on my dilemma or on size vs. quality with these two TVs? Thanks.

The answers are in the Extended warranty thread, but I believe the difference is one covers bulbs and the other doesn't. With DLP LED you don't need bulbs, so you can save some money.

I only paid $130 or so from Texas TapeWorks, so I'm not sure what pricing you are looking at.

67" owners...

are any of you able to do the "frame twist" that I can do?

((stand in front of the TV, place both hands on top the set about 3ft apart and then push towards the rear with one and pull towads the front with the other.... does your screen slip/slide inside the frame. Also, if you can put a grid up, does this affect any of your geometry???))

I'd really like to know if everyone else or no one else can do this.... if I'm the odd man out (I must be the unluckiest person that buys electronics) I'm considering an exchange since so far everyone else says "zero Geo issues"... where I had noticable issues from first power up.

Thanks for taking the time to try it.

Yes, I can twist the frame on my 67 as well, it's suprisingly easy. Was helpful as well as I was able to correct a lot of geometry issues by doing so, top, bottom and right side are perfect, just can't get the left side. Has about a 1/4" which just seems uncorrectable. Not sure about anyone else but I have about 75 pixels of overscan in total both vertically and horizontally. All in all for the price I'm very happy with the set so far. :-)

That's actually a pretty huge spread between 7 to 11 ft viewing distance. Also, do you actually mean eyeballs-to-screen distance or something else?

Assuming eyeballs-to-screen distance, I'd probably go w/ the 50" plasma at 7-8ft, but would likely prefer the 61" DLP at 10-11ft (for me anyway) since the larger size would matter more at that viewing distance. However, if you love to sit really up close in the movie theater to cover nearly all your peripheral vision w/ the picture, then you'll likely want the 61" even from 7ft away.

For me, I find ~1.9x the diagonal size (of a 16x9 set) to be what I like most, so a 50" would yield an ideal ~8ft viewing distance for me. And a 61" would yield an ideal ~9.7ft viewing distance for me. I also find that give-or-take ~1/2 ft doesn't make a particularly noticeable diff to me (unless I'm deliberately comparing).

YMMV, so your best bet is to go see for yourself what actually works best for you. FWIW, I'm also debating between the 61" Samsung LED DLP and a 50" Panny plasma. I was pretty much set to jump on the 61", but then, some of the issues I'm reading now are turning me a bit off on it -- plus I just noticed that the price on the Panny 50PZ80 just got cut below the 61" Samsung at Amazzz... I mean Big River. And I also just realized that I probably won't need to buy a new TV stand for the 50" plasma like I would definitely need for the 61" DLP, which could easily save me another $200-300. But yeah, it's hard to consider 50" after deciding I really want 61".

_Man_

Yes, they are sitting in the regional warehouses. It takes them a day or two to "bring them in" after being ordered. And, if you want delivery another couple of days to go from your local BB to you.

I asked them about doing a paper return/exchange on or about the day they deliver it, so I could get the full 30-day return and 60-day price guarantee (as well as the most grace time on my credit card) and they agreed with no problem.

Even though I hate to pay the additional 8+% sales tax, the extra level of customer service and piece of mind return/exchange makes up for it...

Good to know... I was a little worried, but now that I know someone else can do this too I'll (try) to sit back and relaxe and enjoy... but I just put DVE in so I'll probably get a few more grey hairs, lol.

With the grids up I can see some geo issues.... but they're VERY MILD compaired to the 61" I returned.



On a side note.... I've had a repeating issue with the TV and my Onkyo 605 via HDMI. I'm still not sure if it's the TV or the Onkyo AVR. Basically, I'll switch from my PC (video -VGA- is connected via TV, audio via Onkyo) to my cable box (component video & audio) via the Onkyo I'll randomly get a "Blue" screen that has random "flicker chucks" appearing. If I reset the TV nothing changes.. but if I reset the Onkyo I get picture (although one time I got a stuck picture until I changed channels on my cable box).

I'd say Onkyo is the problem right?... well, I've also had an issue with my PC via VGA connected directly to the TV where the TV will show just a black screen... again, for some reason, resetting the Onkyo fixes this as well.

Am I looking at a handshake issue via HDMI that's getting the TV messed up? This also happened on the 61"... and as I've said both used 1004 firmware.

Does 1005.3 firmware exsist?... and can some get it to me so I can see if this fixes my issue?

Anyone else with an Onkyo AVR having this type of issue via HDMI????

Thanks.


EDIT - I just did a quick check at samsung.com... they have the 1005.3 firmware up for download on the official HL67A750 page!... I'm going to try this and see if my issues are resolved.

Firmware as well as directions can be downloaded at Samsung.com here:
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/do...Type=D&vType=R

Both the 61" and 67" model pages have the same firmware revision available so I'm assuming they're the same file... but play it safe and download the firmware from your sets official page.

My viewing distance is 12', so the 61" is the perfect size screen; 50" screen would be too small. At your max viewing distance of 11', you're at the outer limit of seeing any benefit of 1080P detail on a 50" screen. So, I believe 61" would be better. Also, a 61" screen gives 49% more viewing area than a 50". I don't know anything about Samsung plasma, so I can't offer any comments regarding comparative quality or features. I've had a very nice 50" Panny plasma and now the 61A750, and I have no regrets about this DLP choice.

Well, in reality the best choice probably depends on your usage somewhat, (i.e. do any gaming, room lighting, window reflections, etc). But, in reality, I would break it down like this - why go for 50" when you could have 61"?? If you get the smaller set, you'll always be thinking of those extra inches. Size does matter.

The reason for the spread is because on chair is at 11 ft and the couch is between 7 and 8. I'm wondering if 11 ft is too far away for a 50". I currently have a 56" Samsung DLP (on loaner), so it is hard to think about going smaller. But quality seems to be there in the 50" Plasma. Actually, I 'm considering the Sammy 50A650 Plasma and the new LG 50PG60 (waiting for CNET review next week). The LG maybe a real sleeper this year. But at the end of the day I wonder should I spend an extra $400 and go down 11" in screen. Just hard to make that decision.