Customer Reviews

Samsung HL-S5687W 56-Inch 1080p DLP HDTV

5 star:		(140)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I did pretty extensive legwork selecting a television. It was the first widescreen TV I've bought and was going into a new home, so I wanted it to be right. My experience was that I first had to narrow down which technology I wanted to buy. I found that rear projection TVs such as DLP or the Sony variation SXRD looked best to me -- Plasma and LCD were too "pixel"-y for me, and I appreciated rear projection's more film like look. You need to look for yourself at the local video store -- this part of the quest is a question of taste.

The short review of the television is that I found the high end Sony TVs to be best in class, and, after an hour or more of watching them side by side in several environments, could not discern any quality difference with the Samsung. I preferred the Samsung's styling, user control, remote design, and price. My online research indicates that the Samsung is highly configurable to industry standards by a qualified "tweaker". I have also read good things about Samsung's customer service and appreciated that there were no specific issues raised by online enthusiasts, in contrast to several issues such as a green blob discussed repeatedly in regard to the Sony SXRDs. I have had no issue at all with mine.

I'm very satisfied with the television and highly satisfied with Amazon's price, delivery and price drop policy.

The TV is very responsive to quality input -- standard def is OK, but the better the signal, the happier you'll be. I'm looking at DishNetwork satellite, upscaled DVD, and Hires DivX. These 1080i sources are great, and the TV is still limited by signal -- I've seen Bluray demo material on this unit and its yet another step up.

I found sports and high action scenes to look very good -- no rainbows that I can see. I felt that the image was sharper and color range better than other manufacturers' units, except for Sony's XBR series. The Sony I found to be identical in quality, with color and saturation differences that were subject to change based on settings and pretty subjective as to "best".

I feel like I got a bargain compared to the Sony XBR, without having to give up anything. This unit lacks cablecard slots and PIP capability, but my satellite service makes both of these a non-issue. They are available in another unit from Samsung which has identical picture quality. The Amazon price was quite a bit less than any other seller I could find.

Totally positive experience so far -- I've had the unit for about six weeks as of this writing.

This DLP TV is absolutely superb! The vibrant colors and razor sharp picture are incredible, making the picture beyond compare. It's everything you're looking for in a HDTV.

Interestingly I didn't notice any problems with the audio quality of the set. In fact, I feel the audio quality is better than that of the Sony widescreen HDTV it replaced! The picture is certainly much better.

With 1080p, a host of inputs (yes, you can even hook up your PC) and slim sleek styling, you're going to be hard pressed to find a better TV.

Five Stars and two thumbs way up for this Samsung TV.

Unfortunately, my shipping experience with Amazon was terribly disappointing. Amazon neglected to provide a contact phone number, so the shipper couldn't deliver the set. I ended up having to pick up the set at the distribution warehouse myself. So - For anyone considering purchasing this set (or any large TV) make sure Amazon has your information.

Amazon does a lot right, but really dropped the ball with the shippers on this purchase. If I hadn't followed-up, my TV would still be sitting in a warehouse.

I bought this TV about 2 months ago on Amazon for 2200$(I know:). The delivery was on time. The delivery service loaded it off a truck and put the box down in my living room. The TV itself is very light and two people should be able to lift it easily. The menu options are great and the TV has a lot of features.
First time HDTV buyers: the picture on SD programming is a bit underwhelming. It's pixelated and not very clear. You'll feel your old CRT TV was much better. To see the real value of this TV, you will need to get HDTV programming. You can upgrade your satellite/cable package or you can get an OTA antenna. I've tried a 50$ RCA indoor antenna and it's no good. I'm thinking of getting an outdoor antenna.
DVDs: I connected my old DVD player to this TV and the picture was, again, underwheling. I bought a sony upconverting DVD player and the picture is mind-blowing, almost HD quality. You'll need to get an HDMI cable. I got a 6 ft cable from amazon/antonline for 20$. DO NOT buy the cable at Best Buy. A 3 ft cable will cost you 50$ and the picture isn't any better.

This is a great HDTV - with a breathtaking picture from OTA (antenna) Dish network HD or C-band HDTV. The "buts" are small annoyances but still worth mentioning. There is no PIP function (even though the Samsung Factory site claimed it was included). There are many inputs available including 2 HDMI, but the input labels are few in number, awkwardly preworded and can be attached to any input by the user. So my TIVO must be labeled "PVR STB", and since I have two satellite inputs my Cband got the "Satellite STB" label, and the Dish had to be labeled "D-VHS" (it's the closest label to Dish). My old Hitachi had the ability to label each input with my own 4 letter code (TIVO, Cbnd, Dish, etc)- a much better system. Another weakness is that the various TV inputs are not directly addressable from the remote so you have to step thru the inputs one by one until you find the one you want- and the one you want may not show up at all unless that particular box is powered on. This means you cant set a macro in your Remote control to turn on the the desired box and simultaneously select the proper TV input. My old Hitachi had addressable inputs and my wife never knew that the remote was doing all the setup for her- she just pushed the DVD button and the DVD came on and the TV turned to the DVD input. This doesnt happen any more- As a result She's a bit frustrated with operating the new Samsung.
The comments on the sound quality are correct- It's just ok-(she said Tinny- but I'm more generous) but not up to the picture quality by far. I went out and bought a 6.1 Dolby sound system that is a big improvement. The TV does provide an Optical sound output that connects nicely to the Dolby receiver input with one connection and that's all you need for great sound from any of your inputs.
The glass and metal stands look great in the store but when you get all the wires connected they must look like a beaver dam under construction. I found a perfect TV stand at Ikea for $99 that hides the wires nicely after I added a couple of side panels.
Free Shipping from Amazon was promised in 3-4 weeks but actually took just 7 days- and was a pleasure. They brought it in, unpacked it, plugged it in, and took away the packing.
Overall- The Amazon experience was great (but why the pessimistic shipping times?), and the TV picture is superb- but Samsung lost one star on my rating for the mediocre sound and the little control annoyances that would have been so easy to get right.

If you compare all the ratings in the top 25, most of the HDTVs have 4 stars or above. I think the jump from SDTV to HDTV is so impressive that people are satisfied with their purchase. I've seen alot of TVs in the stores and I think most of the sets look great too. So knowing that many of the TVs already look good, I weighed other factors and prioritized them:

1. Price - Stay under $2000.
2. Screen size - At least 40".
3. Burn-in - I know the new TVs have protection to minimize this, but I'm guilty of pausing my DVR, DVD player, and video games for a long time. So I was worried about the effects.
4. Viewing angle - I have two sofas perpendicular to each other, so I can have horizontal viewing angles up to 160 degrees.
5. Contrast ratio - I read that color contrast is more important than resolution when judging picture quality. That's probably why Plasma sets look so good, while having low resolution.

After much research, I narrowed down to a Samsung 46" LCD, Sony 50" LCoS, and a Samsung 56" DLP. I really wanted to consider the Panasonic 42" Plasma because it looked great in the store, but I'm very concerned about the burn-in. The Samsung had a great viewing angle, and the flat panel was so sleek, but the lack of contrast ratio compared to the other sets really showed. The Sony looked really good and had much better viewing angle than the Samsung, but cost so much for the technology. So I decided I would go with the Samsung.

There are a few drawbacks to DLP in general like: Smaller viewing angles, have to replace the bulb in 2-4 years for $300, deeper panel, pincushion/hourglass effect. But the benefits for this particular set outweighed the cons: 130 degree horizontal viewing angle, high contrast ratio, no burn-in, fast response time, large screen size, and most of all bang for the buck price.

I've had the TV for a couple of weeks now and am very satisfied. I get all the broadcast HD stations in the Atlanta market using a cheapo indoor antenna I bought 10 years ago. I have DirecTV and SD looks good on some channels, and okay on others. I haven't tested out the 1080p capability yet, so I can't comment on it. The viewing angle is good for my living room, unless I am sitting on the floor. Overall, I am very satisfied with the product.

This is unrelated to the actual product, but I just wanted to mention that the service was great with Amazon and the shipper. EGL delivered, unboxed, and placed the TV. I was very impressed that I got all this for such a great price.

I've had this set for 5 months now. The picture is simply STUNNING. I use the TV mainly for movies, but do lots of gaming as well.
I've had zero lag problems at all when playing Nintendo Wii or PS2 games on this set.

All HD content looks absolutely flawless. This is the latest DLP technology and it definately shows!

5 out of 5!

P.S. Try these settings for the most true to life picture on this TV:

Mode: Movie
Hue: Warm 2
Brightness: 49
Contrast: 45
Color: 46
Tint 50
Sharpness: 0

Enjoy!

Purchased from Amazon, along with stand and the Samsung HTQ85(another good one), and the TV was the last to process and the first to arrive at my door. Awesome in person, although I had seen it side by side in the store, no one could touch Amazon. The picture was pretty fuzzy at first, however went and got the HD Cable box and it was heavenly perfection. This DLP is a sharp looking set, along with the stand and Home theater system it made my media room very complete. The picture quality did not dissappoint, it just beams off the screen. The dvd's looks even better. HD ESPN and some sports are a bit jumpy (slightly), but probably the signal. This DLP is sharp, bright, and simply astonishing in delviering a superior picture, that's even with other sets costing more. I researched for 60 days on which one to buy, and was all set on a 50inch plasma, but when I saw this TV from accross the store along side all the others, and that includes all models, it by far was superior. With all sets receiving the same signal HD picture, you could see things in this Samsung series, that you could not in the others. For instance, the blades of grass, and sides of mountian terrain. With the Samsung, the detail clarity was just plain clear down to the hair strands and tree branches. I even went to different storefronts to see the same thing. Stop looking, at this time 11/15/06 this is the best of the bunch hands down.

After months of research I finally pulled the trigger and purchased this set. I am extremely pleased with my decision. I do not believe that the price/quality factor with the 87 series Samsung can be beat. Kudos to Amazon and Eagle for giving me a speedy and smooth transaction.

The set looks great out of the box but with some simple tweaks it will be amazing. After this purchase I did not have $500 to get the set professionally calibrated so I used "Eliab's starter settings". Eliab is a very well respected calibrator on AVS forums and here is what he recommends to those who have not had a professional calibration:

Mode - Movie
Digital NR - OFF
DNIe - Off
Contrast - 40
Brightness - 45
Sharpness - 0
Color - 45
Tint - G50/R50
Color Tone - Warm2

This made quite a difference in my set and I imagine that it will do the same for yours.

I think the guy writing the review below was right on, except this is better than the SONY. I too need to literally tear myself away from this thing! It's just beautiful to watch. This Samsung has actually surpassed my high expectations and I give it 5 stars. I am a careful shopper and spend alot of time and energy getting the best bang for my hard earned dollar (ask my Wife ;>). I could buy which ever HDTV product I wanted and I compared this to Plasma, LCD, and even the Sony XBR. I think the later is the only one that compared to this set (I got to see them side-by-side), but given the price difference and size this was perfect. I also believe this set has a nicer exterior which should be considered (it is a nice glossy piano black), but I guess that is just a matter of taste. Look out SONY, Samsung is for real!

I Just received my New Samsung HL-S5687W 56" 1080p DLP HDTV which I purchased through Amazon.com. The picture is really better than I had hoped for. I have made no adjustments; It is just a great picture right out of the box. The item was delivered in about 4 business days, which was substantially faster than I had expected. The price was extremely reasonable-on the low end of the numerous venders which carry this product-and becuase I trust Amazon, I did not select the cheapest one available. Still it was hundreds of $ cheaper than many of the well know electronics outlets.

Some reviewers have complained that this product does not have Picture-in-picture, but my HD cable box offers that so I do not see the point in paying too much more for that feature.

Most important of course is the picture quality and the HD broadcasts seem perfect to me. I really don't see how the technology can improve from here, but I'm sure they will think of something.