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Some folks have this happen after just 12, 15 or 18 months.The red LED can be obtained for around $100 but there's a 4 week backorder on it. Researching this online while staring at a blue-green picture I found that this make and model of Samsung has this problem ALL THE TIME.In fact, I got pretty lucky that it lasted 2.5 years. I could buy a light engine for $1000 but that would be throwing another grand at a set that still has a weak red LED. This was my 2nd HDTV, the first being a rear projection unit. The picture was sharp and beautiful from July, 2007 up until January, 2010 at which point the red LED burned out. Something tells me that's another indication how common the problem is.
Reliability is perhaps the most important feature of a large screen TV for me, which this TV seems to fail miserably at. The failure rate is so bad that Samsung is stopping (or has stopped). Replacing the LED unit is very expensive, sometimes half the cost of the TV value. Go with bulb-based if you're getting a rear projection TV. Red LED died about 18 months after purchase, conveniently past the 1-year warranty mark. Seems to be a pretty common occurrence if you search around for Samsung LED DLPs issues. production on all LED DLPs.
Of course amazon only has a 30 day warranty and samsung only has a 365 day warranty (unless you pay extra)so we are stuck. This TV was fine for 15 months, and then the red led or something to that effect failed today so we now have a blue-green tv. I will post again if the local repair facility is able to fix it in a short and cost effective manner.If not, my advice is to not buy from samsung.
A bonus is its' very low max power consumption of 230 watts. Sweet. No thanks -- I live in Ohio where electricity is expensive.I have an unusual shaped den that has kind of a largish niche in one wall, so I didn't need a flat panel for (presumably) space-saving purposes. This is very possibly the best technology/electronics purchase I've ever made (and I've made a lot more than a few).The picture on this thing is just tremendous. An old-style 26" tube set is probably a lot thicker than this.After I had it for a month or two and realized it was the best TV I'd ever owned (and was definitely a keeper), I bought two cabinets to put on either side to hold the DVD player, TIVO, etc.
All I can say is that if you can still find one at any kind of reasonable price, buy it. The HD is flat-out stunning. There are smaller screen plasmas out there that take 500 - 550 watts. and then had a cabinet maker make a custom stand for the TV that matched the side piers. I've had this TV for just over a year now.
One of the outstanding features of it is how great regular, standard-def channels look on it.particularly compared to some I've seen on some LCDs and plasmas. This thing is still only about 11 inches deep.
Thank You Amazon & Samsung. Research/ Buying/Delivery and Product is just what you should expect. Customer comments, such as "buy the Next size up", because the stations transmit smaller images than the screen size YOU purchased, ex: 56" screen displays a 46" in the 4:3 transmission on cable networks.Amazon was a Good first time experience. Consumer Reports substantiated my homework as well in recent issues. I patiently did the Homework. The Comments were and are the best idea for consumers who want the peace of mind they made the Best Choice. I purchased the Samsung Surrond to compliment the Large Screen, and if you want to save more time and money, purchase the Optical and HDMI Cables OnLine as well, the Local dealers Are more expensive , including the delivery charge (if there is one online from Amazon).
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