46" - DLP - 16:9 - Surround - HDTV - MPN: HLP4663W
Strengths: Size, Picture, PC Interface, Great Sound
Weakness: First set had Lamp issues, be prepared for the worst...
After several months of research, we purchased our HLP4663W from Sears. The first set lasted between 6 and 10 hours of operation, then the lamp exploded. Samsung was contacted prior to this review for which they stated: "We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the recent malfunction of your Samsung DLP. There are no known issues with our DLP's". Do your own research, you will find several similar Internet customer complaints which state a much different feeling.
We exchanged the set at Sears, which is yet another story, and the second set has run flawlessly for 6 days. If this set continues to perform, I would say "We Love it!" Just be aware there is a chance you might end up with a bad one. My encounter with Sears Fraud Dept. to be posted on the Internet soon. Best of luck.
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TopStrengths: Great Picture
Weakness: The lamp, cooling fan and problems associated with these items
I purchased this HDTV and the picture that it produces is great.
However, after powering off the set, and within 20 minutes powerin on again I kept getting a warning message that fan #1 was not operating correctly and the "lamp" light would be flashing. To correct this I had to unplug the set from the power supply and try to power up again.
The next day I got the same warning message about the fan again.
Figured that I was not going to spend this kind of money on something that was not working correctly from Day 1, returned it to the store, bought and Sony HDTC (CRT).
Also, the globe, needs to be replaced every two years or soner.
If youget one of these DLP sets be sure to get the extended warranty.
I feel that much work still needs to be done on these sets to make them more reliable, but, there is no doubt that when they do work their picture is great.
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TopStrengths: Great picture
Weakness: Shoddy workmanship
Bought this TV in late November 2004 from a retailer. It worked fine for 3 weeks--in fact, we were ecstatic with the quality of the picture. Then, poof, the lamp warning light came on and stayed on, and no picture. It's now the middle of January 2005 and we just finished our THIRD service call on this set, and it's still not fixed. Perhaps the fourth service call, in another week, will do the trick. We've replaced the lamp, then the ballast board (twice, since Samsung sent the wrong ballast board the first time) and now will replace the entire "lamp engine"--the guts of the TV.
I've purchased about $5k in Samsung products over the past year, but will never do so again. The quality obviously is not there, and their cheap approach to working the service isn't working either.
Make the TV and its component parts properly the first time. Hey, that's an idea!
Too bad. It was a fine TV for the few weeks we were able to enjoy it. It's going back to the retailer.
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TopDont buy a Samsung. No matter what.. If you think your going to buy a Samsung DLP , "The official T.V. of the N.F.L. " and be the lucky one who doesnt have problems with it YOUR WRONG. I will tell you exactly what will go wrong with it to.. Somewhere between 6 and 18 months the screen will go black.. then the three lights of doom will begin to flash... your warranty runs out at 1 year.. even if you have an extended it takes weeks and weeks to get any service.. and it will all happen over, and over again.. You will be lucky to see your T.V. six out of 12 months a year.. Maybe you will have to take off work to wait for the repair man several times too? You will have to have the bulb, replaced, the ballast, and the circuit board.. several times each.. This isnt a question of a few people being unlucky or a case where "everything breaks down sooner or later" This is a design flaw.. Thousands of Samsung DLP' T.V.'s all with the same problem and Samsung just says.. "too bad " With the boycott of inferior chineese goods this year it may be time to boycott Samsung and the N.F.L. where does Samsung come from? Korean? anyone know how to start a class action lawsuit.. The people at Samsung should have a mask and gun.. If you think Im one disgruntled customer.. go to the avs forums.. there are thousands.. DONT BUY THE SAMSUNG..
Strengths: Picture quality when it is there
Weakness: Poor reliability
I purchased this TV new in July 2004. Since then, I have had the TV serviced 4 times. Fortunately, as I was concerned about the complexity of the DLP technology, I purchased an in-home service plan. But it has been a hassle having the service techs come out to the house so frequently. The system board has been replaced as well as the lamp. However, the picture just goes dead with the three indicator lights flashing. Occasionally, you can reset the TV and get the picture back by unplugging the unit, but eventually it goes completely dead. The same symptoms come back. The service vendor can't correct the problem and both the retailer and Samsung have offered no help.
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TopStrengths: GREAT PIC
Weakness: ALLWAYS BROKEN DOWN.. PARTS COST MORE THAN A NEW SET.. WILL SELF DESTRUCT BETWEEN 6 AND 18 MONTHS GARAUNTEED..!!
Dont buy a Samsung. No matter what.. If you think your going to buy a Samsung DLP , "The official T.V. of the N.F.L. " and be the lucky one who doesnt have problems with it YOUR WRONG. I will tell you exactly what will go wrong with it to.. Somewhere between 6 and 18 months the screen will go black.. then the three lights of doom will begin to flash... your warranty runs out at 1 year.. even if you have an extended it takes weeks and weeks to get any service.. and it will all happen over, and over again.. You will be lucky to see your T.V. six out of 12 months a year.. Maybe you will have to take off work to wait for the repair man several times too? You will have to have the bulb, replaced, the ballast, and the circuit board.. several times each.. This isnt a question of a few people being unlucky or a case where "everything breaks down sooner or later" This is a design flaw.. Thousands of Samsung DLP' T.V.'s all with the same problem and Samsung just says.. "too bad " With the boycott of inferior chineese goods this year it may be time to boycott Samsung and the N.F.L. where does Samsung come from? Korean? anyone know how to start a class action lawsuit.. The people at Samsung should have a mask and gun.. If you think Im one disgruntled customer.. go to the avs forums.. there are thousands.. DONT BUY THE SAMSUNG..
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TopStrengths: Beatiful picture, relatively lightweight, easy set up.
Weakness: None found so far
Evaluated a number of television types before settling on this Samsung. I have seen none of the problems that other people have written about in reviews, I did however buy the extended warranty to cover potential lamp failures.
My wife even loves it, which is amazing.
Great set ,must recommend.
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TopStrengths: Texas Instrument DLP technology amazes everyone. Stereo speakers are 15 watts per channel with a lot of high end and low bass too. No visual pixalization problems that plague the plasma sets.
Weakness: Automatically converts ALL inputed signals to 720p. This is not a huge problem, but an absolute perfectionist should be aware of it.
We've had this set for five months. It's installed inside a huge oak amoire with swing-shut doors on the front. The set is about four feet off the floor in the amoire, so I have the set propped and mounted so that it's tilted downward toward our couches at about a 20 degree angle. This provides perfect alignment with our viewing angle when we are sitting down. I have not experienced any problems with this set. I have not had any lamp problems. I'm using a "dynamic" picture setup of 100 percent contrast and 60 percent brightness. I also purchased the Samsung 451 HD tuner to receive local HD broadcasts. Using the DVI input, I'm picking up seven local HD signals (and several sub-channels) with a Winegard Squareshooter antenna hooked to it. So far, so good. Very happy and no complaints.
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TopYou mention your HD receiver and antenna setup, but not how far from the market you are... Any idea what kind of usable range your setup might have?
According to www.antennaweb.org I live about 25 miles away from all of the Detroit area transmitters. Plug your home address into that web site and it will give you the distance and direction coordinates to all of your digital HD transmitters. My Winegard Squareshooter antenna is only about 12 feet off the grond on the outside of the house. However, the Squareshooter is an extremely directional antenna and I have the benefit of living on higher ground, not down in a valley.
Strengths: Picture
Weakness: Lamps don't last very long SD not very good
I've been through 3 lamps since I bought the set. I finally got to hear what blown lamp sounds like last night. I noticed the picture getting progressively darker, even after I cranked the brightness and contrast settings up to full throttle. The two previous lamps I had to replace just kept making the T.V. shut-off. I haven't had to replace a ballast or color wheel yet. The picture of the set is still great, especially in HD. SD still leaves a little to be desired, but I can live with it
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TopStrengths: The picture
Weakness: apparently its junk!
Have had TV for about 9 months now. It started shutting off on its own not long after we had it but didnt happen often. Now the whole thing has shut down , there is no picture - no sound and the all the lights are flashing. Contacted samsung they said I need a new bulb (hope thats all) it is covered under the manufactures warranty but from what Im reading on here this is only the beginning of my issues. The service tech will get here when the part comes in however they havent even come to look at the TV to see exactly what is wrong with it. Im beginning to regret wasting my money on what I thought was a great TV for a fabulous price!
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TopStrengths: Nice picture.
Weakness: Component failure shortly after warranty expiration.
I have a Samsung DLP TV, model HL-S5086W that intermittently shuts off. It can happen once an hour or ten times an hour. The problem started happening about 15 months after I purchased it and is getting worse. I have had many other TVs but none as bad as this Samsung.
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TopMy Samsung DLP is doing the same thing...shuts off on it's own, sometimes after hours of being on today every few minutes!! It is getting worse. We replaced the bulb already and samsumg told us we need to have it serviced...I see dollar signs in their eyes. This TV is a piece of crap. I will NEVER buy Samsung again..ever!
Strengths: picture quality
Weakness: reliability
Two bulbs in 3 years and the power supply went after 3 yr, fan noise from day one. The cocts for maintenance make samsung DLP a bad choice. The bad rep. for samsung is widely seen in reviews and internet blogs
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TopStrengths: beautiful picture (crisper than LCD)
Weakness: picture turns off with 3 error lights - expensive to fix and repeatedly has this issue (after fixes)
I purchased this TV 2 years ago (3/2005) and have had it serviced twice. The first time, after working with City Disadvantage and their incompetent service workers, I called Samsung directly. Samsung customer service was and has been exceptional. The first repair required an entirely new light engine (covered under the 1 year manufacturer's warranty). The same problem has happened again, just 1 year later. No warranty this time. $600 and going on 2 weeks to repair. Strongly consider a different manufacturer for this type of television.
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TopStrengths: picture
Weakness: price, reliability, service
I bought a 56 inch Samsung DLP TV in September 2003. I also purchased a four year extended warranty. Total cost came to $5,000. During the first two years the TV was in storage about 6 months and wasn't used. I had the color wheel repaired once under warranty and had several times where the TV did not seem to operate properly.
Soon after the warranty expired, I had the white dot problem. The TV would shut down or go blank on its own. I contacted Samsung - they said "it is out of warranty, we cannot do anything". I contacted Samsung's executive customer relations department and ask if they could help with the repair. They refused.
I contacted the store that sold me the TV (Magnolia HiFi) - they refused to help or contact Samsung to complain about the product.
Samsung took my complaints and enrolled me in their email program to alert me to their products - this was pretty insulting.
As a last resort and because I had never been contacted by anyone at Samsung in response to my complaints over a 6 month period, I called Samsung once more. Guess what? The TV had been the subject of two recalls that likely would have fixed the problem. But, no one at Samsung ever told me. Too late as I had bought a new TV.
I will never, ever buy a Samsung product again.
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TopStrengths: Nice picture quality, good looking set
Weakness: After about 3 years, we started to see stars (little white dots) with more each day. By now it is the Milky Way across the entire screen & seeking answers as to why & what to do.
Long out of warranty, I am expecting it will be time to scrap the set - miss my CRT sets that live forever. Curious to find others who've seen stars on their Samsung DLP sets.
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TopHaving the same "stars" problem with mine.
A few more each week.
Also some problems with sound recently. Takes awhile to get sound.....About 2 mins of just playing around and good till next time.
Any clues
Strengths: GREAT PICTURE - WHEN IT'S ON!
Weakness: CONSTANTLY SHUTTING OFF!
Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these complaints- thought just happened to ours until friend mentioned his had same problem. Exactly the same problem - sometimes few
times a day - sometimes every few seconds! Called Samsung
and was told "too bad". We all got stuck with a lemon - they know it but don"t care. I'm all for a class action suit! BOYCOTT SAMSUNG! [SET PURCHASED @2004 -2005)
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TopStrengths: Nothing above any other TVs that are out there
Weakness: Lamps blow, shuts itself off, LOUD whirring noises and blackouts.
Just an note to concur with all other reviews that indicate blown lamps, unit shutting down, whirring noises, lamps flashing. I replaced the lamp less than a year ago and am not planning on doing it again. I think the problems are far worse than the lamp. I'll never buy another Samsung TV.
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Samsung Hlp4663w 46 In receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 2.76 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #37 DLP projection TV of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...
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Samsung 46" Projection TV
Strengths: size, picture,no burn in,no picture degradation
Weakness: buy the warranty-
I bought this third generation DLP after a long hard search for the "perfect" HDTV. Plasma's expense and burn in problems (I watch FOX and CNBC often) just worried me too much, and LCDs looked good but not like this.
Almost bought an EDTV 42" Samsung plasma because of the cost and the 2 year standard warranty, but I knew I would eventually wonder about a full blown HDTV and would buy one in a few years to replace it. I consider this set a way to avoid that step. I was also worried about the salesmans desire to take it out of the box before I bought it and confirm that it worked - and he stressed about not tilting the set past 90 degrees - this had me concerned about how fragile it was.
The DLP is not quite a sexy as the plasma, but at 13 inches deep, it fits in my entertainment center perfectly and I have been repeatedly asked if its a plasma (no - it's better). The settings are very versatile and the sound system is surprising good - I didn't hook up my THX HK/Klipsch system for a few days since it was decent (and I was lazy).
Now the bad part - I am writing this just after talking to a major chain and having the set swapped out in the 30 day replacement period. The set had sound but no picture today when I went to put in a movie for the kids. The three blinking lights, according to the manual, says "lamp may be defective. Please contact a certified technician" so I guess Nemo stays lost tonight.
I bought the set and waited to buy the extended warranty, but after calling Samsung and finding out a replacement bulb is currently $241, I bought the extended for four years with bulb replacement for $399.
Samsung offers free replacement after one year, but I figured the third or fourth year would be when it went and justified the warranty on that basis alone. Also, if they can't fix it before the warranty expires they replace it or credit you back, I usually never buy these things but I'm sure glad I did now. The peace of mind it worth it.
Also - buy the HDTV DVD player - it matches and gives you 720 instead of 480 dpi, a cable for $100 will get you 1080i but I'm waiting for my reward points for that. Be aware that when you look at these things they have them hooked up to that DVD player - it makes a difference when you get it home and you hook up a standard progressive scan.
sorry I rambled - but hope it helps -
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Nov 13, 2004
Actually. Don't be duped (or worry about) into getting a significantly more expensive high definition DVD player.
Heres the solid reason: DVD release are NOT in 720p or 1080i resolutions, they are in the 480p format. So although, yes, the HD DVD player will spit out a 720p picture, it has to interpolate the signal (you know, imagine blowing up a 640x480 digital picture to 720 or 1080 resolutions, rough analogy) to make it 720, it is not a real 720 picture. Of course, the DVD players have technology that makes the picture look as good as possible when it expands it from 480 to 720 but in truth the picture isn't essentially any better. Wait until DVD publishers release titles in 720p (or higher) format before getting a HD DVD player.
I've got this Samnsung TV and the picture looks fine. I also bought the extended warranty so I could crank the brightness up and not worry about the lamp (its covered for 4 years.)