Customer Reviews

Samsung HLR4667W 46-Inch Widescreen HDTV DLP TV

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm one of those guys who has to know I'm making the right decision before pulling the trigger (especially on a big-ticket item, so big that I felt ill just thinking about it), so I researched the HDTV market ad nauseam before buying the 4667w. If you're reading this, you probably are, too, so the bottom line is this: unless you're a hardcore videophile with a trained eye, it is unlikely you will find anything wrong whatsoever with this TV. Even though I occasionally see the rainbow effect in high-contrast situations (e.g. white text on a black background), it is not enough to distract from the screen size and quality for my dollar that I got. My wife doesn't see the rainbows, and chances are you won't either, but even if you do, it is only occasional and not distracting in the scheme of things.

PROS:

1. Excellent picture and color reproduction, especially with component video. NOTE: The factory settings for the various modes have the contrast cranked up much, much higher than it should be, especially for a darkened room. If whites look painfully bright, dial down the contrast to 50 or so.
2. Video games look jaw-droppingly good. It's like playing a different game entirely.
3. Value. We paid $1800. A LCoS or plasma of comparable size is 3-5 times as much for a marginal improvement, if any.
4. Menus are easy to understand and navigate.
5. Weight. The whole thing weighs less than 70 pounds.

CONS:
1. Vertical viewing angle. Much has been written about this, and I admit that standing a few feet in front of the set, looking down, makes the picture very hard to see. This bothered me, then I thought about how often I watch TV standing a few feet in front of the set. Never.
2. Lag on video games. Chances are, you will notice a considerable lag playing games, at least at first, especially with shooters. If you run component cables from your system and assign "Game" to the Component mode on the TV (recommended by Samsung), the lag becomes ALMOST nonexistent. It will still be there a little no matter what you do. I think it's because of Samsung's DNIe filter, which you can't disable.
3. Standard analog TV looks worse than on a CRT. Compared to HD, it looks awful anyway, but one drawback of DLP is its SDTV performance. Deal with it. If you're planning to watch a lot of SDTV, why would you buy this TV in the first place?
4. Occasional rainbow effect. Most people don't notice, but even if they do, it doesn't detract.
5. Built-in speaker is just okay. We haven't gotten a DTS receiver yet, so have just been using the TV speaker for everything, and it ain't the greatest, but in all likelihood you'll have a whole separate audio system anyway.

I went from an old 27" CRT to this 46" DLP. It's great, except it encourages me to watch too much TV.

The picture is just awesome; it can even be too bright. There are 4 picture settings, and i've toned down the color with the "movie" setting. DVD's via component in look great, and HDTV (720p) even better.

I was predisposed to dislike a rear projection set, I think from years of seeing those very beamy, poorly converged, sets. But this DLP changes all that. There is no convergence issue, the picture is extraordinarily sharp, and the set has a reasonably wide horizontal viewing angle. The vertical viewing angle is narrow, but unless you want to watch the TV standing up, it's not been an issue.

I've never seen this "rainbow effect" that some talk about as characteristic of DLP.

I also like that there is no "burn-in" issue, when 4x3 TV is viewed. I experimented with forcing it to 16x9, but don't like the distortion. I leave regular TV as 4x3.

The sound is also much better than expected.

What could be better?

The built in TV Guide, which seems like a nice feature, doesn't seem to work for me. It's supposed to download listings, but constantly says it can't find a match for my comcast cable and zipcode. Switching between the PIP screens requires going through a menu.

Overall, if you can't tell, I'm delighted.

I am VERY dissatisfied with the on going current repair problem.

11 days after March 30th the repairman arrived with the long awaited lamp that Samsung diagnosed was the problem.

The lamp did not repair the TV. The serviceman says the ballast is bad, will have to order one. ANOTHER WEEK OR SO!!!

The serviceman said he was told by his office not to leave the new lamp in TV even a ballast was going to be replaced.

My first complaint is why not leave the new lamp in TV to protect the new ballast and save Samsung and me another service call in the near future for replacing the lamp which is sure to fail soon.?

My second complaint is why can't you keep the service agencies supplied with common spare parts that usually break down.?

I am becoming very unhappy with Samsung and the repair process.

Well here it is April 18th. The serviceman made another stop this time with a new lamp and ballast. GUESS WHAT NO FIXIE!!

He said now it will have to go to the shop. Probabaly another week or so. I called Samsung and they said "We have to allow 30 days from the 1'st service call and then if not repaired they will send me a new TV. Gee I wonder if I could ask for a different model as I found out I have the older Osram light engine where bulbs are outrageously priced. If you ever buy one of these be sure you have the Phillips light engine inside or has the lamp replacement listed as ....0826A on the side of the TV which indicates a Phillips engine.

Disclosure: My original review (below) was written after owning the TV for six months. It's now been two years since buying, and I've never experienced one problem with this TV. In fact, I recommended it to a friend who bought it a few months after I did, and his hasn't had a problem in the past ~18 months either. I felt compelled to mention this since there have been some complaints about quality in other reviews. Now, on to my original review:

The color and picture are amazing -- especially watching high definition channels (obviously). A good friend of mine says the picture might be too good -- that "you can actually see flaws in acting and the actors, themselves." Sports are a dream in high-definition; watching standard definition now is almost painful.

The setup of the TV was quite easy; and the menu system for changing settings (etc.) is intuitive and uncomplicated (including settings for Picture-in-Picture, which is quite customizable.) I've also used the TV as my laptop monitor by purchasing a cable to connect my laptop with the TV. Plug it in, and click the "source" button on the remote, and it's as easy as that. Unless I haven't figured out another way to do it, though, your computer input must be the primary view on the TV while using PIP; and there are a few less options (changing size, shape, location) of the PIP screens while using the TV as a computer display than there would be using all other display sources.

I really liked the TV Guide feature, but it can't be used in conjunction with my cable set-top box, and so I'm back to using the guide provided by the cable company.

Also, for those considering the CableCard technology as a replacement for the aforementioned set-top boxes; I wouldn't recommend it just yet. The communication is only one way (signal sent from your cable provider), unlike the two-way communication through set-top boxes, so you wouldn't be able to access On Demand or PPV content from your cable provider, you'll have to use the TV Guide instead of your cable provider's interactive guide (not a huge loss, in my opinion). The two-way CableCards are still in development, and last I heard, they won't be around until late 2006 or some time in 2007.

I've never seen any rainbow effect or anything of the sort. My TV is in a very bright room that is entirely windows on two different sides, and the sunlight/glare are almost never a problem (unless the sun is shining directly on the TV, which makes it more difficult to see). I've never had a problem with it in the time I've owned it, and have recommended to several friends (who have also done their research and bought this model.)

I bought this TV from Circuit City on 9/03/2005. I paid for their extended service plan. I now find out that these TV's have a problem with the lamp going out often. My TV went out on 1/28/2006. Not even 5 months old. Called Circuit City and they informed me that for the $499 I paid for extended service plan they would replace the lamp 1 time only!. I could buy the lamp myself for $199. I called Samsung and their warranty will cover lamp for first year. Here it is now 1/19/2006 and my TV is still not back from TV shop. The lamp has been replaced,the ballast and now we are waiting on the lamp engine assembly. Samsung basically says sorry about your luck. Dont deal with Samsung or this TV. Buyer beware.

The T.V. itself is fantastic and sets the standard for picture quality in a DLP set. The problem is it keeps breaking. I've had the set one month and have had 3 repair visits they are giving me a new set now so we'll see how it works. From what the repair man has told me this is common with this set. If it works it is a great T.V. Since some of the sets have a problem where it randomly shuts itself off.... not so much. You can roll the dice and see if you're fortunate enough to get a working set, but I'd suggest looking at others before making this purchase!!!

This is an excellent TV for HD viewing and it does well with non-HD signal as well. DVD is material impressive. I watched the Matrix on it the first day after the TV arrived and it was like being back in the theater.

The only drawbacks of the TV is that the vertical viewing angle is quite small. By this I mean that if your eyes are not close to the vertical center of the television you will notice a significant decrease in screen brightness. This seems to be a general drawback of the DLP technology as I have seen this on other televisions. The horizontal viewing angle is great though, 150 - 160 degrees with no detectable decrease in brightness.

The TV has a plethora of inputs including a connection for computer RGB out, which is great if you are inclined to surf the web and watch TV at the same time. I would have prefered a better inferface for the PIP in functions, but these are passable.

I haven't used the cablecard functionality as I have the Scientific Atlanta HD DVR STB, which works great.

TV died after 4 months. Covered under manufacturer's warranty but after 4 attempts to fix the TV I have now, Samsung finally agreed to give me a new TV. Its 2 months later since this whole process started and I still have no TV. Because they no longer make the 46 inch model that I have, I'm not guaranteed I will receive a new model. It will probably be refurbished. They had the nerve to offer me an upgrade for the newer model if I wanted to pay $350. This is by far the worst experience I have had with a customer service dept. Stay away from Samsung.

We purchased this TV a little over a year ago. It's still under warranty because they gave us an extended 90 day warranty. The problem is they don't warranty their product. I purchased a lamp and that didn't fix it. So, I returned the lamp. Samsung told me to call a warranty rep. I did and made an appointment, but they didn't show up. Samsung told me they didn't have anyone else in our city so I would have to wait 2-3 days for approval for someone from 70 miles away to come work on my TV. I called back later and was told I had to wait 6-8 days. Then I called back on the 8th day and was told I had to wait 7-14 days for approval for out of town service. On the 14th day they approved someone else from my town to come...not 70 miles away...amazing...now they had 2 warranty reps in my town...not sure why I needed to wait 14 business days. The new people made the appointment and came out...very nice people. The problem grew...it wasn't the lamp and it wasn't the ballast. It was the biggest, most expensive component on the TV...basically the guts of my TV. They told me they would have to get approval from Samsung. Five days later, they called and told me Samsung doesn't make that part anymore and wanted the warranty rep to take it to their shop and see if they could fix it. Amazing, a TV is still in warranty and they don't make the part for it anymore...isn't that illegal? Save yourself the headaches and frustrations, don't buy any Samsung product if you are expecting it to be covered under warranty. They have no desire to repair their products under warranty and are very rude and matter of fact about it.

Samsung DLP HL-R4667W TV is a lemon. I bought this model about two years ago. It got problems less one years. Service man gave me a list of parts to replace to fix the problems.
1. Lamp. 2. Ballast. 3. Fans. 4. Color wheel. 5....
If you like looking for trouble, go buy Samsung projection TV. Otherwise, get away from these lemons.