Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV

Review by so-cal for Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV
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This set is exceptional in HD picture quality and performance. Regular non-HD channels do not look that great, however, it is still an excellent television. As a previous owner of a Samsung 50″ DLP I have firsthand experience with Samsung quality. This 61″ set has exceeded my initial expectations; DVD’s and streaming video through Windows Vista and the Xbox 360 are excellent, no complaints. I recommend sitting at least 7-10 feet from the screen as the picture quality degrades the closer you get, not to mention its tough on the eyes. As for the “white glove” delivery, this was non-existent through Eagle Freight.

The set must be a “most wanted” item as the price has increased at Amazon since my purchase two weeks ago; however, the price beats most big-box retailers.

Lastly, this is an excellent television and it has many unadvertised features such as upgradeable software or firmware via it’s USB connection ,etc.

Review by James Wedewer for Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV
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With Amazon’s GREAT price on this TV, had to pick one up. I find that the Sony A2000 & A2020 has a lot of motion blur, and while the Mitsubishi was good in my opinion, too many reviews put the Samsungs higher for color accuracy (Mitsu’s 6-color light system isn’t any good if the colors are all off) among a host of other things. And yes, this thing does 1080p over component video on an Xbox 360! Next step…have to test my HD-DVD player on my Xbox 360 to see if I’m getting true 1080p out of that too…all with component cables and not VGA too! On screen menus are good, colors are vivid and amazingly bright. The cabinet seems a little flimsy. You can easily shift the cabinet and “bend” the screen. It seems to settle pretty well when moving it, and that is probably the only thing I question about this TV. The picture and inputs are rock solid. I chose this over spending several hundred more on the 6189S because the upper model only has HDMI 1.3 spec that I would care about, and the more I have read the more it appears that HDMI 1.3 is probably 5 years away from ANYthing being produced in it, and perhaps 10 years from HD television using it. By then, we’ll probably have leapfrogged over HDMI anyway and it will be a moot technology.

Review by mi2k2 for Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV
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I bought this TV on 11/30. It has a severe case of the halo effect described in the “Consumer Alert” above. Although I wanted to like the TV and keep it, I have to give it the lowest rating because of the halo problem and the terrible service to fix the problem. The TV is fine, but the halo completely ruins it for me — it shows up as a blue/purple circular haze in the lower middle screen in a good number of high contrast scenes (extreme example: Harry Potter 5, chapter 2 – when Nymphadora makes her entry holding a point source light into Harry’s dark room).

My experience with 3 Samsung service companies in the DC area has been

horrible. The first two companies Samsung customer service scheduled for me never showed up and never returned calls. People from the 3rd one did show up but appeared completely clueless about the problem. By now I have this quite well researched — I showed them various movie frames where the halo crops up, and I also showed them test images from avsforum (search for posts by MLXXXp on Samsung LED rear projector owners thread). But they wanted to take the TV away for tests and then decide what to do about it. When I showed them the consumer alert on this site they said they know nothing about that problem.

I also talked to a supervisor at Samsung customer service. She refused to assign another service company or have them perform the service at my home even when I suggested that I may have to return the TV. I pointed the alert to her as well, to which she said that Samsung can not be responsible for any alert that amazon puts on it’s site.

Be prepared to potentially go through all this if you are buying it. Mine is going back.

UPDATE (1/25/08): I have returned this TV now. After two emails, a faxed letter, and a few phone calls over 20 days I was put in touch with “executive” customer service. The person I talked to seemed good to deal with and promised to take care of the problem. But my 60 days return deadline was nearing, and I still did not feel good about the local service. I was also concerned about the sudden TV failures (after working fine for a while) that other people have been reporting here. Ultimately I decided to go for an lcd (sony 52xbr4 $2800 + $320 5 yr sony warranty). While comparing with lcds, I realized that I had not considered the viewing angle of the 6187 which is much worse than most good lcds. In side by side comparison, the picture on good lcds seems brighter and sharper. The repair rates of Samsung RPTVs is 19% compared to 3% for Sony lcds. Other brand RPTV repair rates are even worse.

UPDATE (2/6/08): Samsung wrote to me that they cant help me any further if I choose not to send my TV to the assigned repair shop. They also left Samsung USA president’s address if I wanted to escalate it further. It does not matter to me any more, but still a surprising response!

UPDATE (3/18/08): This may be relevant to those who are trying to contact Samsung through email. I am receiving first responses to some emails I sent to their customer service in January. It is taking them 45-60 days to respond to customer service emails!

Review by Amozarte for Samsung HLT6187SAX 61-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV
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I’ve owned this TV for about three months now and I am extremely happy with my purchase. I spent a lot of time researching different HD options, including LCD, Plasma, and DLP and this unit was the winner. There are plenty of websites to help you decide which HD option is right for you in terms of LCD, Plasma, and DLP so I’ll just stick to DLP comparison.

One of the first things you should know about this model is that it *DOES NOT REQUIRE BULB REPLACEMENT* It has a special LED instead of a bulb- this is really important because a regular complaint against “normal” DLP TVs is that a bulb would need to be changed every couple of years. At a couple hundred bucks per bulb, there’s some cost savings, not to mention the hassle.

Second, since another knock against DLP is the amount of space they take up, you should know that this is the “slim” version, which means it takes up less space front to back. It will fit easily into most cabinets or cubby holes. It’s also pretty lightweight for it’s size (about 100lbs) so getting it where you want it is not difficult. You’ll need two people, but that’s only because it is just too large for one person to get his/her arms around it.

Third, this unit has a pretty extensive input panel. I had no problem getting my Satellite receiver, DVD player, and several video game systems hooked into the TV without the need for switch boxes. It has a digital TOSLINK output for surround sound systems.

Last but not least, Amazon has a great price on this unit. Believe me, I shopped around, but couldn’t find a better deal. Sure, some places offered a lower base price, but they also charged shipping. One important note regarding shipping: the shipper had to call to schedule an appointment before they would deliver. This was great security as far as making sure a 61″ TV wasn’t just tossed on my doorstep for the whole neighbourhood to see, potentially hours before anyone would be home. You’ll just want to be sure that your phone number is up to date so that the shipper is able to reach you.

Add these perks to the fact that this unit has superb picture quality and you’ve got yourself a really great product at a really great price. if you’re looking for the right HD TV, just click “Add to Cart”, check out, and enjoy.