Customer Reviews

Gateway 56" Widescreen HD-Ready DLP Rear-Projection TV

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Its a much nicer looking set in my mind than the Samsung. It costs much less as well. The picture quality from the HI-def channels is Eye popping! Your tongue will hit the floor! The quality of DVD (especially if used in the DVI input) is breath taking! Its ease of use is a big plus as well. Especially impressive is the picture-in-picture (PIP) function.

The speaker base (referring to the base of TV from ground to where the screen starts) is a bit stubby so I had to buy a stand for it to bring it up to Eye level in my living room. But I can use the stand to house components that I use with it.

Initial impression - Very nice picture, medium to good features. The lamp on time is a little annoying but the picture quality in HD is definitely worth the wait.

Now for the bad news. This TV started getting a lamp error 30 days out of the box. It would start to turn on and then stop, flashing 3 times green and then 2 times orange. I didn't have time to report it due to deploying out of the country with the US Army so I was out of luck 10 months later when I did report it. It seems the lamp is a consumable item and only warrantied for 90 days and cost $399.00 to replace!
Gateway has a strict policy and wouldn't budge on giving me a pass on making me pay for the bulb. So, out to the house comes the repair guy, he replaces the bulb, turns the TV on and it doesn't give the error.
The next day...error.
I call Gateway and they say Hmmmm...lets try the ballast this time. So, again, the repair guycomes out. Replaces the ballast, turns on the TV and no error.
Next day, error.
So, I call Gateway and they tell me...get this....BECAUSE THEY DON'T CARRY THE TV IN STOCK, THEY CAN'T REPLACE THE TV, ALL THEY CAN DO IS CONTINUE TO REPLACE THE SAME PARTS THAT DIDN'T FIX THE PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! INDEFINITELY!!!
So, here I sit with a TV that is not repairable, that Gateway can't replace, that cost me $3500.00. I am beginning to wonder why they stopped selling them in the first place. I have a letter in to the Executive Response Team to see what they can do for me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Like I said, the picture is beautiful, the features are great. Maybe this should be a review of Gateway instead of the product.

Monday Night Football started last night - and I got to watch it in HD on the Gateway DLP ... I could not believe my eyes! I sat in awe at the quality of the picture, the crispness, the brightness of the colors, and the amazing plane of view.

I am completely impressed with this set.

One of the reasons I thought I purchased this TV was because just reading about the picture-in-picture capabilities was totally astounding - but to actually use them is even more stunning.

Digital content (especially composite HD) displayed on this TV is strikingly impressive and makes you feel like you are at the theatre.

And for the price compared to the same size plasma or LCD - the features of this set (no burn in, 150 degree field of view, PIP!!, # and variety of inputs, dual sound output for PIP, additional dedicated PIP remote) combine to make it completely unbeatable.

A couple of sidenotes - when you power on - the fan/lamp take about 45 seconds to warm up before the picture comes on. Also - I got a fan error the other night (blinking power/lamp LEDs and no picture/sound) - but I disconnected the set from power for a minute & then powered it back up & it was fine.

But even if this set died tonight - I would get another in a heartbeat!

Update: I bought this set on clearance for $2500 back in 2004 ... As you can see it's 5 plus years later ... The lamp went out last night for only the 2nd time ... I've been watching this set all the time since I bought it - so I'm thinking I got great hours/lamp ... Just found the lamp minus the carriage on ebay for $125 - that sure beats the replacement costs from Gateway ... Going to get it & do a self install ... Have never contacted Gateway support - have never needed to - so I can't comment on that experience ... It's a great set still ... And I would still get another in a heartbeat.

I have a second replacment set that also give me a lamp error. When I call customer support they play dumb. This set is discontinued on the Gateway site. Perhaps Amazon will know better to do business with them.

In a nutshell...let's just say we have a 56" paperweight in our living room. I originally LOVED it. Great picture quality. The TV was very good to us. Then the bulb went...$400 for a new bulb. Fine, whatever. THEN, hell broke loose. We noticed that the picture would sometimes flicker white in some spots. We knew it wasn't the bulb. So I called Gateway (another reason not to buy it...Gateway has HORRIBLE support. AND they are dumb as beets). The woman told me that it was the optical lense, and that part cost, gulp, $2,400!!! Now, when we bought this TV 3 years ago, we paid $3,000, why would I pay almost the same price for one part? I then asked her how much it would be to have someone come out a fix it. She said another $500. WHAT?!?! I told her I might as well buy a newer, BETTER TV that won't be so expensive to fix. That's when I spoke to customer service. This was the best part. He said these TVs aren't meant to last more than a year, and that they are meant for people who don't watch that much TV...for people how just like to have it sit and look pretty in their living room. Now, is that the DUMBEST thing you've ever heard? I told him that we love to have people over, to entertain. So we are not allowed to have that size TV? They sold me a $3,000 piece of equipment knowing it was going to break ina year? This shouldn't be happening after only 3 years. Please, don't buy from these people. They are rude, unhelpful, and full of it.

Bought mine in January 2004. Had a minor user manual error at startup that warranted a service visit before we could start using it. After that initial problem, was very pleased with the performance of the set. Outstanding picture quality and our first bulb lasted right at 10,000 hours. But, as mentioned by others the bulb replacement cost was ridiculous. I expected around $200 or less when purchasing the set. No 3rd party supply, so they basically bent you over. I bought my bulb from Visio at the same cost just to keep from handing any more money to Gateway. The color wheel bearing is now getting real noisy in the last few days. Called Gateway for a spare part. They don't sell just the color wheel, you have to buy the optical engine for $2000. Yea, right. Samsung DLP color wheels are $110 and you can install them yourself. I'll check with Visio again.

Looks like anyone who bought this set got screwed. I also went up the chain on their service line and got the Executive Review Team address. I will send my letter, too, but with their company stock at $2/share I don't expect much satisfaction. Gee, I wonder why their stock is so low.... I guess I got a lot more hours/$ than some here, but what a horrible company to basically sell us a $3000 plus throw away TV.

I will NEVER buy another product from Gateway and influence as many people as possible to do the same.

Got this TV from a Gateway store. Remember those? That was 2003, I think. Fabulous picture in HD. Non-HD picture was kind of lousy. Very versatile connection panel with computer hook-up. These were made before HDMI so the top end connection was DVI I think. Enjoyed watching this TV. Big screen. Clear HD viewing.....then the problems started. Picture flickering and scrambling. Very glad we bought the extended warranty! (Always do when I buy flat screen TVs now.) Replaced some circuit boards and the projector bulb. Worked for awhile. Then they replaced the TV. Worked for one week. Then problems again! Replaced TV again. By this time the TV was no longer produced so the replacements were refurbished TVs. More TV problems. Started complaining to Gateway. Over and over by phone. Got a Gateway employee on the case and eventually got some money back and they took the TV away. Took a long time though. After several years, we still got $2000 back. Not bad at all. Overall experience was painfull. If anyone out there still has a working TV, I have a projector bulb for this TV that I can provide you. Send me an email.

After going through 4 sets because the screen was warped, the set worked great for 3 years. The lamp did fail after about 3000 hours but was easy to find a replacement and simple to replace.

Picture quality and features are awesome. But that's the only good news here.

Recently the TV hums/buzzes so loud that it is unbearable to watch. We discovered that it is the color wheel. Well, forget about calling Gateway to help fix the problem. If you can manage to talk to someone who isn't one of the rudest people on the planet then they will kindly tell you that you are f-----.

In short. STAY AWAY FROM THIS TV. For that matter NEVER consider buying anything that has Gateway stamped on it. Their products suck! Their service stinks! Gateway at $2 a share? WAY over valued!

Any ideas on what I should do with my $3000 paper wieght? I was thinking of smashing it into a million pieces and sending them back to Gateway. Thoughts?

I have had this Gateway for almost a year and a half and I can't rave enough about it! I have had no lamp errors...in fact, I've had no errors whatsoever! The features are brilliant, the myriad of hookups and the HD picture...holy COW! I can see faces in the crowd when I watch a boxing match. Football games are simply AMAZING! My boyfriend recently hooked the computer up to it to play one of his videogames and I can't get him off of it! We've hooked the XBox, GameCube and Playstation to it and it's the ultimate videogaming TV. The thing is just HUGE! Our friends always oohhh and ahhh at it when they first see it. Make your friends jealous and improve your TV watching and video gaming. Get this TV!

I've had mine since late 2003, and I finally have to replace the bulb for the second time. This TV has a great picture and super PIP features. It works well with a Harmony remote, except for cycling through the inputs when switching from Comp2 to Comp1.

I'd buy another one - if they were still available...