Customer Reviews

Samsung HLS-5679W 56-Inch LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

When I first started looking at buying an HDTV I talked to my friends that had them. The response I got was, "DO NOT BUY SAMSUNG!" My friend had an early model of the DLP 50" and sent it back after a week. The problem he had was with sound and video not syncing due to the delay caused by up-converting to 1080p. This was particularly bad when it came to video games and there would be a 250 millisecond delay between a button push and an action on screen. This made timing particularly difficult, which was devastating for gaming.

That in mind I delved into research on what TV brand and style would not have that delay, but still be big and do 1080p. I went to Bestbuy and spoke to their sales guys, I read reviews on both amazon and consumer reports, and everything else I could to make sure I wouldn't have this problem. My answer came back that it was an issue with older TVs, and while any up converted signal will have delays, they are minuscule and unnoticeable on this TV. Problem solved.

That said, my games look great. Picture and sound are both excellent. The LED Engine resolves the problem of the old DLP bulbs burning out at 3,000 hours (promising a life of closer to 20,000 hours). The menu prompts are slow on the remote, but not problematically slow... and barely noticeable once you've used them for a few minutes. All in all it is a great TV, and the price is unbeatable.

Two other things to note about these TVs.
#1. It will be shipped by Eagle. They are supposed to call you to arrange a time you will be home, but if you track it, and it is nearby, it goes much faster for you to call them. I got my TV a full 6 days earlier than the anticipated delivery date. Their number is 1.800.888.4949. They will need your tracking number to set a delivery time. I recommend this highly. The driver was supposed to call me 30 minutes in advance, but didn't... and they were afraid of my driveway, so I took the TV up in my truck. However, this is not typical service of them, and they are very very good.
#2. I wrote a 3 star review for the stand that Samsung recommends for this TV. It is not very good and for the price it would be better to find a local furniture store, take the dimensions of the TV and find something with more/better storage (These shelves are just a little too short to hold a standard DVD box). It is just ok... and I would've done it differently if I had to do it over again.

Great TV. Bought in late December for all the games in early 2007. Great picture and great performance. I initially hooked it up with component cables and later switched to HDMI. Did not notice a difference in picture quality but the sound was much better with HDMI. I thought I was having problems with the TV at first and based on the input from my local cable company I returned the first one. When the second TV had the same problems I decided the cable signal was the problem added a cable signal booster and most of the problems went away. I still get some pixelization due to poor digital signal from time-to-time.

Great picture for HD .... not so good on regular cable or HD converted programs. This is a problem that all HD TVs experience. I went for the LED version for the longer life and recommend this TV.

Before purchasing I reviewed the full Samsung line and noted that this TV has a great menu but it can be frustrating accessing the menu screens as the TV is slow to respond. As long as you are not constantly switching inputs or picture type not a big deal, just be prepared to press the buttons a few times to get it to respond.

I spent months researching HDTV's and finally pulled the trigger on this Samsung. Shipping was fast and the delivery was easy- although the fastest way to get the TV, is to call EGL once Amazon has delivered it to them and schedule an appointment yourself. Don't wait for them to call. I called them on a Monday morning and they were able to deliver it that same afternoon. They brought it into the house, helped me set it on the TV stand and offered to take the box away (which I kept in case I needed to return it). FYI - they wont hook it up for you.

The positives for the TV:
- Great contrast: deep blacks and bright whites; beautiful brightness
- Don't need to worry about replacing the bulb every 2,000-4,000 hours. With the LED technology they should go for 20,000 hours.
- No macroblocking or rainbows.
- Looks great when hooked up to my Oppo 981HD DVD player.
- The price on Amazon right now is a steal- buy it!
- Plenty of options and modes to customize the picture quality (during the day, the "TV room" is pretty bright- which looks fine in Dynamic mode, at night though, try Movie mode for a film like quality).
- The TV itself is gorgeous. Even when it's not on, it's a good looking set.

A few cons, although nothing major:
- Sound quality leaves a little to be desired. All of my sound, with the exception of my cable runs to my Onkyo 6.1 receiver (I ran out of inputs for the cable...) and when watching TV movies, etc. the sound just lacks. Not a big deal though.
- The onscreen menu- when I first hit the menu button to calibrate the TV, I was impressed. It's a nice looking menu. Where it gets frustrating though is there is a delay. So you press the right button on the menu to adjust picture, count to 3 and then go on. It's looking using a run down PC full of spyware and viruses. Not very snappy, but it works.

All in all, this TV is a great set. Upscaled DVD's through the HDMI like darn close to HD quality. HD cable is a sight to behold (try watching Planet Earth in HD- my jaw was on the floor for the first 30 minutes) and without the cons of plasma and LCD (burn in, dead pixels, etc) this set will be a welcome addition to any home theater.

And Sasmung from previous experiences also has very good customer service. And I did by the 4 year extended warranty, but have had no use for it yet. Hope this helps!

I bought the TV the first of March and it was delivered on the 17th of March. The picture is great as long as the scene on the program you are watching has plenty of light. Like football games or any sports programs. However I have watched several movies and when it is a dark scene there is a haze on the walls of a room or when I watched the movie U-571 on DVD the underwater scenes were so distorted you could hardly tell there was a sub in the water.Also on the series 24 in dark scenes their faces are splotchy.I have a call into the warranty people at Samsung and they are suppose to have someone come out at look at the TV to see if it can be fixed. Fortunatly I don't have to take it in as the nearest service personal is 81 miles from my house.If it gets fixed I will let you know how turns out. I hope so because I really do like the TV. It is the perfect size for us and looks good in our house.


As of 4/19/07 I heard from a service person that handles Samsungs warrenty work. They talked too Samsung and were told that my DIGITAL MODULE was not working properly. The service people have ordered the part and I am now waiting to hear from them. I have no idea what a DIGITAL MODULE is. More to come.

Outstanding picture using ATSC tuner and an antenna. Network primetime, Lateshow, Leno all look exceptional. However because this set displays the high quality stuff so well you will notice all the commercials, programs, news segments etc. that are of inferior quality. The transmitted resolution is only a piece of the puzzle. Even 480i (standard def can look quite good on this set if it was captured, edited, transferred maintaining high quality standards. Conversely 1080i transmitted stations can look very poor based on the same issues Capture (cameras), editing equip (especially transitions or fades), and transfer equipment. For example, syndicated "Friends" was originated on good cameras - probably 35mm film. But on my 1080i station it looks awful , I am guessing its a result of transfer standards and playback media or something along those lines. Image size and ratio changing from program to program is annoying, That's not the fault of this set. The image being a bit squished side to side in 4x3 probably is the fault of the set resulting from image scaling - pixel relationship at the DLP Chip. You have the option to zoom fit which fills the screen but images are not symmetrical- now stretched wide typically.
I expect it will all get better as advertisers, producers broadcasters realize how much better they can look and the good equipment becomes more affordable.
Back to this set: Looks very very good provided quality material. Even in standard def. Playing back Video and still pictures into the composite inputs again quite good - better than expected. My regular Tivo (compressed recording of analog cable) looks better than expected though of course its not particularly good and now I want a hi def recorder.
Agreeing with other comments I've seen here:
1. Settings as it arrives are way too hot - you need to adjust them and it varies by material as well.
2. Remote response is a bit slow - its tolerable- take a deep breath.
3. Side viewing is still quite good - up and down is not forgiving. Do not expect to see anything good standing up near this set. Position it at eye level when seated. I built a stand for mine (with a swivel), don't plan on sitting this set on the floor - you won't like what you see (or should I say what you won't see).
4. Remote layout is poor especially the enter button which is required for direct channel entry.
5. One time (in 1st month) the sound went helter skelter - echoy tinny silly sounding- powered off, unplugged it for 10 seconds or more, replugged and powered it on and it came back fine. Keeping fingers crossed.
6. Image in a bright room is still good but you will want to avoid direct reflections of windows etc.
7. Grayscale could be better. Shadow areas often go quickly to black.

Amazon has been quite reasonable in fact a really good vendor on this- they credited me the $50 price reduction that occurred before I received my set.Then they credited the $119 that it was further reduced 2 weeks later. I simply emailed customer service with my order number and pointed out the price reduction. They email responded that they were crediting my credit card. I feel this was a very good deal at the price, no tax, no shipping charge. Eagle delivery came a few days earlier than predicted and they were willing to move a couple things. They were in and out in 10-15 minutes.

Very happy with the set. If the LED light engine holds out as it should 20K hours, I should come out way ahead. I also factor in that a 50" plasma consumes 500 watts or more. This is rated at 230w and someone said they measured 180W consumption. That is hundreds of dollars a year difference in the electric bill.

This may not be the end all HD set but is a great value for the money. So far I am very pleased.

The HLS5679 is absolutely sweet! The hype about calibration is overstated. Check out AVSForum for the basic setup and adjust to your viewing pleasure from there. I had been tracking this model for a couple months. When Amazon surprised all by giving the Super Saver price drop plus a rebate, plus free white glove delivery, I (and others) jumped all over it. The debate between the Sony 56" and the Samsung 5687 model was over.
The HLS5679 with the LED light engine beats any light bulb/color wheel technology hands down. The 8 second turn on time is great. One added bonus is the "extra" HD channels I receive from the direct cable input that my other TV with the box does not get. I must say the first time people see the HD quality on this TV they all go "WOW". Some shows are so life like you feel as though you could reach out and touch the scene as though you were looking through a window.
Awesome TV! Good job Samsung!

My new Samsung HL-S5679W 56" LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV arrived early and with no obvious damage. But unfortunately, the screen would intermittently go totally black for a couple of seconds on every input (cable, DVD, PS2, and digital cable). Samsung's phone service people were very helpful and provided me with contact information for a local warranty repair service. The shop is 20 miles away away, but they picked up, repaired, then delivered the unit back to me - although this took two and one-half weeks.

The repair shop replaced the set's entire LED engine (they refused Samsung's request to troubleshoot the unit to the component level). The cost of the LED engine was more than what I paid for the TV. I wonder if Samsung is still fixing engineering design flaws.

I love the TV, the picture quality is excellent, but I'm somewhat concerned about how long it will last. Thank goodness this service was under warranty.

March 2008 - The TV went totally dark - for good this time. Another week long trip to the repair shop. According to the technicians, there is not much left to replace in this unit. I hope this is not indicative of all Samsung products.

Bought this off Amazon for $1549 + free white glove shipping, and I haven't regretted it for a second. Running it as a computer monitor too (1920x1080 @ 60hz), plays Divx encoded Planet Earth HD DVD rips great, plays downloaded 1080p trailers great (Fantastic 4, Oceans 13, etc). Wish it had a 3rd HDMI slot (DVI/HDMI1 for computer, HDMI2 has DVD, would like a 3rd for DirecTV HD reciever. Currently leave DirecTV in and swap HDMI for DVD player when I want to watch a movie.

On a side note, I ran a side-to-side comparison of a cheap BestBuy DVD player outputting a raw 480i signal via HDMI and allowing the TV to upconvert, and compared it to the Samsung 1080p upconverting DVD player hooked up via HDMI, and I could see little to no difference. Their upconversion does a pretty damn good job, I don't think you'll see ANY advantage to getting a 1080p upconverting dvd player over just giving it a straight 480i signal and letting the TV do the conversion.

First let me comment about the extended warranty. Get it.

Second, the shipping. I live in Austin. After ordering the TV, the tracking information indicated that the television was shipping from Dallas. For those of you who are not familiar with Texas, Dallas is 3.5 hours north of Austin. Great! it's in Dallas, it will be here in a day or so. Wrong. It took a week for EGL to deliver the set. A week? It's 3.5 hours away! Are they walking it to my house?

Third, the set. There were uneven overscan issues. Each edge had a different overscan percentage (image was not centered). The top of the image sagged. The image was hourglassed and the bottom of the image was wider than the top.
Ok, so there were problems out of the box with the chip, no problem. I bought the warranty, lets get it replaced.
This morning, four days after calling for a replacement, the LEDs died. A hard click and the smell of really warm electronics filled the room. Did I mention that the warranty is a good idea? I know this was just a bad set, the signs were there from the start.

On a positive note, the image really was nice when the set worked, the changes to the picture settings suggested on AVSForum really make a huge difference. They have a huge thread on the 5679 that is worth reading.

As far as Amazon goes, they are replacing the set. I just cringe knowing that EGL is handling the shipping. I'm sure I'll have to wait another week before they can find a mule train to walk a replacement to me from Dallas.

So this will remain a 3 star product until a fully working set arrives.

I was >this< close to buying one of the high end 1080p plasmas when I happened to see this TV in one of the big box stores (for a LOT more money than amazon is selling it for). Side by side against a 1080p Sony plasma and you would expect to see a difference in quality between the plasma and the DLP - I did, the DLP blew away the plasma in terms of colors, sharpness and brightness. The TV even upconverts my standard DVD's, so no need to go out and buy an upconverting player. My FIOS HD cable box is feeding the TV through HDMI, and it looks amazing - the HD channels are fantastic and even the SD channels look very good.

The "white glove" shipping was great, they called me 3 days before the "estimated delivery" date, and were even able to tailor the delivery time to meet my needs. The two guys that came brought it down a flight of stairs to my media room and put it on the cabinet so I could plug it in and test it. They would have taken the boxes away but I wanted to save them, "just in case".

Why spend $1500 more than you need to on a plasma that's going to burn out in a few years anyway? Get a better quality picture with this Samsung HLS-5679W and use that extra money to buy yourself a better sofa, because you are gonna be spending a lot of time in front of the new TV :)