Customer Reviews

Samsung TX-R3079WH 30" Wide SlimFit HDTV with Built-In HD Tuner

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

While I love gadgets, I'm not into spending tons of money on televisions. I frankly don't watch TV as much as I did in my teens and as long as I can see everything without snow, I figured I didn't need anything too fancy. I was content with the 32" Sony CRT I had for the past 8 years until it went off to be with the Lord.

I went to some local super centers to look at their offerings - it's nice to have lots of TVs in a certain price range, all playing the same loop, side by side so you can compare color depth along the entire gamut as well as refresh rates, intensity, glare, etc.

I had heard that HDTV was the next wave of the future and since I expect a TV to last at least 10 years (or until it gives up the ghost), I didn't want to be left in the technological dust, regretting my purchase, so I compared prices and quality, and this Samsung SlimFit was the hands-down winner - NO CONTEST.

The clarity in HD is stellar and in regular, non DTV mode, it's no slouch, either... but if you're used to a regular analog (non digital) TV, you will notice lower quality on analog channels. Why is this? A typical analog CRT set has about 300 lines of phosphors top to bottom. The HDTV has 1080 lines - so it has to take the 300 lackluster analog lines and basically triple the info - so it looks ok, but underwhelming if you are switching from a nice, expensive analog TV.

I asked tons of questions at the big box retailer to make sure that if and when I got this home, I wouldn't be coming back with an AK-47 if my reception did not match what they had in the store.

I live in a town of about 90,000 people and while we have digital cable, we do not have HDTV available via cable. The big box retailer is stuck in the same town, and they assured me they were not getting a satellite feed.

When the delivery men came with my TV and set it up, I was underwhelmed. The reception was worse than on the dead TV when it was still living. I went back to the store and talked to the salesman, who filled me in on some great information.

With HDTV over the air, if you get as much as 51% of the signal, you get the whole thing... so I got some RCA HDTV-ready rabbit ears and voila - I get local HDTV streams for free over the airwaves from Dallas and it is so stunning, I've caught myself frozen on the carpet, standing and staring at vacuum commercials. The depth, the clarity - mind blowing.

I have an old DVD player - about 7 years old, and it does not have progressive scan, but a fairly new DVD, "The Bourne Identity," looks freakin' awesome on this TV, even w/o the progressive scan. The better option from progressive scan is the up-conversion which gives even more of a clarity booster.

The TV has it's own equivalent of an A/B/C/D/E switch via remote, so when you want to switch from Playstation to DVD to TV to PVR, you don't have to keep hopping out of your seat and flipping a switch. Three cheers for couch potatoes!

My less than stellar review is for the following reasons:

1.) The directions are incomplete. I have a PVR/DVR and while I had everything flawlessly hooked up with my previous TV myself, even the "specialists" that set up my TV didn't know what to do. I had a committee meeting of sorts with the guys at the big box retailer until after about 30 minutes, one of them came up with the solution that was not provided in the manual.

2.) If you've pointed your antenna toward the transmitter in your town for DTV signals, sometimes you'll get all but one of them and one will fade in at out - but will have brain freeze while you try to change channels while it tries to decide if it's getting a signal or not. It is MADDENING!

3.) You can add/delete channels, but not the HD sub channels (ie, 4-1, 5-1, 5-2, etc.) so if it doesn't get it by auto scan, you have to keep fiddling with the antenna and pray and auto search the entire spectrum over and over again. This drove me freakin' crazy and everyone at Samsung should have their fannies smacked for this.

4.) The warranty sucks unless you get an extended warranty, which I did. It's covered for a year, but the set weighs over 200lbs and you have to pay to ship it to Samsung w/ the 1 yr warranty! Then, they decide if it's covered or not. Even if it's covered by the warranty, you still have to pay to ship it back. It's crazy! I paid the big box retailer a couple of Benjamins for a 4 year warranty that not only quadruples the warranty, but also means that if it croaks, the big box retailer comes to my house and hauls it off at no charge and they take care of everything through Samsung for me. If I never need the warranty, my daily cost of ownership over 4 years is pennies a day - but if I ever do need to make use of the warranty, it's worth its weight in freakin' gold.

The friends and family that have come over to visit have had their jaws drop on the clarity of this TV and are all coveting one themselves. I looked at HDTVs for 3 months before settling on this one and despite the shortcomings cited above, this is the best one you can get for the price. The next step up is going to get you in the big-time 4-5 digit range to get a DLP - which in comparison, makes my own awesome set look like doggy doo... which is hard to fathom being possible until you see a Samsung DLP in person - it's enough to induce convulsive sobbing from the sheer emotional joy your eyes experience... but until I hit the Lotto, this 30" SlimFit is going to do the job quite nicely.

Have had it a day, and so far so good. Quality with SD (cable and DirecTV) is what I expected but the upscaling gives it a more "BBC" look and far less articating than with most LCDs. Progressive DVD is really nice. I was shocked at how much better 480p is compared to 480i zoomed (to fit letterbox to screen).

I have yet to get HD via my cable company so I hooked up some rabbit ears and the Built in ATSC tuner picked up all of my local networks flawlessly. HD quality is fantastic. In all honesty probably a tiny bit fuzzier than a high end Sharp LCD or Sony WEGA, but coming from a 27" tube, this TV is amazing considering the price and size.

For a 30" television it really is tiny. You'll immediately notice how thin the shipping box is. Granted, it's not LCD or Plasma thin, but 16" isn't too shabby.

Speaker quality is okay, bit lacking in bass but not bad for built ins.

OSD is intuitive as is the remote (though pretty basic looking)

It is HEAVY

HD awe aside, i did notice that there is a slight curvature on my set mid left-very bottom but only noticed it when there was a news ticker. Things like this usually bug the heck out of me but I noticed this to be the case in the display model as well.
I assume it's due to having to increase the deflection angle in order to make the set so slim. I'm willing to live with it, keeping in mind that this is the thinest 30" widescreen at this price.

Speaking of which I got this at a local CC for under 880 w/tax, so perhaps it's shortcomings are outweighed by the price for which one can get it.

I strongly recommend taking a look at it in person if you're picky, but otherwise the picture quality is superior to any of the Phillips and Others I saw in this price range.

In the last weekend I first came home with a Syntax Olevia 27 inch LCD, on sale at Fry's for 699. I figured it was at least worth a shot but I definetly got what I paid for, painfully cloudy and slow standard def TV. While the slim feature was nice I had to return it. I picked up the Samsung instead because for the price (899 out of box at Bestbuy) it showed a very clear HD picture that the store clerk said he had just pulled from the air, no HD tuner or anything. Although the set is somewhat slim comparatively, it weighs just as much as conventional sets because the only thing missing is the air that would be in a larger tube. I will be moving it a couple times a year which will be a pain but I do believe that good tube picture is much clearer and brighter than most decently priced LCD's, and I wasn't about to break the bank for a plasma.
I don't have High Def broadcasting yet, but considering picking up a cheap antenna to see what I can get from over the air like other reviewers mentioned.
I have Xbox hooked up with High Def cables, and Widescreen Halo 2 in 480p is a dream. I also play a lot of MVP 2005, which supports 720p resolution and is incredibly clear. The xbox also my dvd player for the time being, I'm considering getting an HD Upconverter Player, but for now it's great. Even though the Xbox is a 480i only dvd player Band of Brothers and We Were Soldiers looked so much better on widescreen.
Standard Def Tv looks great too. Although the widescreen may seem a little stretched at first but you get used to it in a day. Overall a great deal I think, I'm not sure what the other reviewers are complaining about with news tickers, mine looks fine.

I bought this TV to replace a 27" 10 year old Toshiba. The size is great for a room that does not want the TV to be a focal point. It is less imposing than the older 27" it replaced. We have digital cable with only 8 HDTV channels. Hoping for more soon. Std. and HDTV pictures are both good if not excellent (not sure how to compare to other, more expensive systems). Sound is very good. No problems to install and interface with our cable set-top box. To use all sound, picture and cable options, we need to utilize both remotes. Lots of options to choose from for picture and sound. No operational problems after 3 weeks. Wife particularily likes the slim design. Definately has improved our enjoyment of watching TV with HDTV and DVDs in 16:9 format. For the money, a very good decision.

I actually wanted to buy LCD TV. but I chose a SlimFit made by Samsung. It only costs almost half as much as LCD TV does.
Let's take a look at its beatiful feature. it's just like other Flat device TV's. Besides, LCD has its defect that it can't display sports and games as they really are due to slow response time. For the time being, I strongly recommend Slimfit to you.

First, addressing the complaints of others. Earlier versions of this product had geometry issues caused by poor quality control at the factory. This has now been corrected, and the incidence of geometry issues is much lower now.

This is a great tv for many reasons.
(1) The picture quality is amazing. I compared it to everything they had at Best Buy, and only one looked better to me. (Sony HS 420 - colors looked more lifelike: but I'll get to that). The problem with looking at tv's in the store is that they are set to look good in store lighting. You need to get the TV home and adjust it to your specific viewing conditions.
(2) the TV looks beautiful just sitting there, not even turned on. It looks like an LCD from the Front. The slimfit design is revolutionary. It is space, and weight saving.
(3) value: for this price range you will not find a better quality widescreen HDTV with built in tuner. The only one I found that was close was a phillips for about $100 less. But, the TV itself was big and bulky (and ugly in my opinion), weighed much more, and most importantly the picture didn't look nearly as good.

For my first HDTV I had the following requirements. Widescreen, HDTV, at least 26 inches with a tuner, under $1,000. I spent three months, and countless hours comparing tv's and this is the cream of the crop.

Went shopping for an LCD TV, watched the standard signal, which was awful. Found this set and thought it was a LCD TV at first. It amazed me with fine HD signal display especially given its price range. I play video games a lot, so this set is exactly what I am looking for. With standard HD tuner and HDMI input, it is a great set!

Haven't encountered any of the problems mentioned in earlier reviews, except that the delay of several seconds when changing channels is mildly annoying. Remote and on-screen controls easy to learn and use. Buy this TV if: 1) you want TV with built-in HDTV tuner (which you should want); 2) you don't want to hang your TV on a wall; 3) the 16" depth is of value; 4) you believe that conventional CRT tube still provides the best picture. The $999 price is cheap compared with plasma/lcd with comparable features. When shopping prices, beware that several dealers who offer $888 add shipping charge which brings price pretty close to the $999 I paid Crutchfield.

Bought this set less than a year ago, and have been happy with the picture quality and features. But, now it unexpectedly turns off a few minutes after it's turned on. Spoke with a salesperson at Best Buy about this set and he says that they aren't well made and often develop problems from poor components.

This thing weighs 120+ lbs. and it is no easy task getting it somewhere for repair.

I would certainly think twice before buying this, or any other Samsung product.

I got this TV after reading through reviews of several different TVs at Amazon. However, one of the reviews I read mentioned distortion in the news tickers at the bottom of the screen; I haven't at all noticed this problem with my TV, maybe his was defective.