Comments on: Samsung HLT5087SAX 50Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP

By: B. G. Wilke

B. G. Wilke — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:18:16 +0000

Happy Happy!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Great Product no complaints, right choice for the money!

Best Tv After doing allot of research on what I wanted 1080p games look amazing!

Picture is great for non high-def cable too.

By: dbh62

dbh62 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:16:24 +0000

Wow–good value and fabulous picture
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
When shopping for a new TV, I went in to several stores to stand back and pick the best picture out of dozens of units. I was drawn to the Samsung sets without exception. I’m so happy with my purchase and still believe Samsung has the best picture available at this time. We’ve been using our set for a few months, so I waited to write a review because of issues that others had after a short period of time. I guess we’ve been lucky because we had no technical issues. Also, I highly recommend Vann’s due to low price (I was able to purchase a $150 universal remote for only $50 with the purchase of this unit) and good service. Vann’s lowered the price of this set by $100 after I purchased, and I was credited for the difference in price.

I’m intentionally leaving all the technical information out of my review because I think that has been covered elsewhere, and I want to empasize the fact that this set can be used by anyone who doesn’t understand a lot of the technical terms anyway. Setup is quick, easy, and painless.

We have used everything from a 10-year-old VCR to a Nintendo Wii with our new Samsung TV and are absolutely thrilled with the picture quality. I keep telling my husband that there are people in our living room! The picture quality in HD is truly that realistic. We watched the July 4th fireworks on three different channels (it was raining in our area that night) and now see no reason to leave the house next year because it can’t get any better than what we saw on our set.

Depth of the set was not an issue for us, and I’m glad we chose this unit. We have all of the accessories (HD receiver and DVD recorder from Comcast, DVD/VCR recorder, etc.) to store anyway, so no big deal.

I highly recommend this unit to anyone looking for a lot of bang for the buck and crystal clear picture quality.

By: Steve K. Close

Steve K. Close — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:46:59 +0000

Great TV except when the scene is dark
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I bought this TV several months back from Vann’s for $1200 including (no)tax and delivery. Price was good, delivery was prompt and the TV has been free of defects. The picture is fantastic when the scene is bright. Outdoor documentaries in HD are matchless. However dark scenes sometimes appear too dark. Though last night I watched The Departed with the TV set on Dynamic and the picture was quite outstanding throughout. I wish I could give it 4 stars instead of 3, but I can’t seem to make that editorial change.

By: dan

dan — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:35:54 +0000

mine is a lemon
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
When the tv was working, I generally liked it purely because of its size and price. Getting a good brightness and color setting for the screen is challenging. There is a very narrow range of view angles for optimal quality - directly in front of the screen and near eye-level. Otherwise, the picture is dim. It's frustrating to see such a big difference just from standing versus sitting in the same spot. I haven't had any other DLPs to compare this to.

I can't comment on HD. SD is acceptable for normal programming, although I'm sure HD would look snazzy. Sports can be frustrating to watch at this size in SD, though.

The #1 problem with mine is that the volume spontaneously goes all the way up to 100, and unplugging the set for several minutes is the only solution. This happened within an hour of getting it off the truck, but then didn't happen again for maybe a month. After it had happened a few times, I called Samsung for repairs. After 2.5 weeks in the shop, it just came back today - worse than before. I had it on for ~15 minutes at a time, then the volume cranked up and it had to be unplugged for several minutes. So for now, its only use is as a big expensive digital photo viewer.

It's probably a bad sign that while this tv was in the shop for two and a half weeks, I really didn't miss it.

By: A. Paeth

A. Paeth — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:13:56 +0000

Almost Great
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I've had this set for about a month now. Delivery was a breeze since we followed the instructions in one of the other comment logs. The color reproduction and the picture quality is miles above the old 35" CRT that we used to watch.

The reason I say this set is "Almost Great" is the fact that near the top of the screen the image bows slightly downward. The bowing is very slight, but noticeable. The repair tech came and said that it was within tolerance set by Samsung. The bowing is really only noticeable when watching a wider then 16:9 format video. However, I'm still quite happy with the set and would still recommend it to anyone else.

By: Nicholas M. Maurice

Nicholas M. Maurice — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:00:31 +0000

Good Product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Very good value for the money, have owned the product for about a month now, so far so good. Slight bowing on the upper portion of the screen, however i only notice the bowing when there is a straight edge on the screen to compare it to. During movies and games I can’t even notice it. Just like the many others, I was hesitant to buy DLP, being newer technology. The image is very clear and sharp if you are sitting the appropriate distance away. DLP is the cheapest technology to go with based on the size.

By: Stewart R. Shields

Stewart R. Shields — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:19:01 +0000

Samsung's LED Based DLP sets Completely Destroy LCDs, Head to Head.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
There's no contest, and it's a crying shame that these sets are a fast dying breed. 1080p, 120hz, HDMI 1.3 support, and an inherently faster refresh rate than ANY LCD panel produced and you've got by far and beyond the absolute best HDTV to reproduce any blu-ray that exists.

Having seen blu-ray on 120hz LCDs, I quickly developed a distaste for the image which due to the problems inherent in digital displays, the look and feel of film had completely disappeared. Pirates of The Carribean: At World's End, looked like it was shot with a nice HD Camera and forgot to undergo the post production processing that makes it film.

However, when it comes to watching HD Video (like HD off-air broadcasts or HD Satellite TV) this set is no slouch. Watching college football on ESPN or CBS will make you cry and almost forget about buying season tickets. The color palette is incredible and the blacks are BLACK, not dark gray or charcoal.

For reference sake, I'm using a Dishnetwork ViP 211 HD Satellite receiver, a Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-Ray player (best you can by for under $1000, I promise you) and both are jacked in with Accell Ultra Pro AV 2m HDMI 1.3 cables, capable of slinging 10.2 Gbits per second, just like the Monster Cable 1000 HDMI cables for 3 times the price.

I have no regrets. You can take your LCDs and shove 'em!!

By: J. F. Sarile

J. F. Sarile — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:11:36 +0000

Best TV for the Money
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
After nearly 5 months of ownership, I have yet to find a flaw. The picture is far brighter than most DLP’s I’ve viewed and will rival LCDs and plasmas, minus the high power consumption and the heat generated by these flat screens. If you take the time to fiddle with the audio controls and customize it, the built-in speakers can also provide good sound (although if you had a tv this good, you’d really want to pair it with at least a 5.1 surround system). I hope Samsung continues to evolve the DLP LED series because from what I’ve seen, this is a truly worthwhile technology.

By: Y. Li

Y. Li — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:59:52 +0000

Horrible Service and Defective TV (but decent picture quality)
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought this DLP TV on March 8th, 2008 from OneCall (through Amazon). On the third day I started having problems. The TV cannot be turned on properly from a cold start (like turned on overnight). All three lights (one red, two green) flashing. Samsung manual indicates there is possibly a defective LED engine. I would need to unplug the power and reset for a minute. The problem is intermittent and unpredictable.

The service is terrible...They sent people who know nothing about this TV. Now it's May 9th and I still haven't got it fixed. I am switching to a different service center.

I am happy with the picture quality (when it's being turned on).

One drawback of DLP TV is it takes too long (20-30 seconds) to turn on (if ever properly turned on). I would definitely consider a LCD or Plasma next time.

Be aware of OneCall, there is no return of defective TVs bigger than 20''.

Spend a little more money, buy directly from Amazon (not from OneCall). Amazon takes returns if TV is defective.

By: William D. Turnipseed

William D. Turnipseed — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:13:47 +0000

Do not buy Samsung
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I purchased a Samsung television about eighteen months ago. Two weeks ago the picture became all distorted. Since my television warranty was through Circuit City I had no choice but to call a television repair person out to look at it. As soon as he walked in the door he knew what the issue was. He told me that the part would cost almost as much as the television and that his recommendation was to throw away the television and purchase another one. After doing some research I discovered that there were quite a few Samsung televisions that were going out and that the parts were on backorder for about a month. Samsung was also not helpful. I trying to discuss this with SamsungTweets on Twitter, but he blocked me when I asked why nobody called me like he said they would. The only other answer I got from Samsung was that I needed to take it to a service center; this is after I told them that a television repair person had looked at it. From what I can tell from looking on television repair forums, Samsung televisions look to be pretty flakey.