Samsung La40f71bx And La46f71bx

[lukos]

DUDE! That is majorly FARKED!!!! Get a service guy to come out IMMEDIATELY!!!! From the sounds of it you've had it less than 2 months (exactly how long have you had it?) so it would most certainly be covered by warranty. considering it's 3 years. Has this been happening from the beginning? If so, I would've informed the retail outlet you bought it from immediately and normally if you've had it anything less than a month they'll swap the faulty one for a new one.

So

1. How long have you had it

2. how long has the problem been around.

3. where did you get it from?

1. I have had it a few weeks

2. the problem happened from day one, it started only happening for around 10 seconds when i first turned it on so i let it go a bit.

3. got it from powerhouse - ex display model as i couldnt get one anywhere else, i checked the service menu before and it has done 225 hours.

Edited March 24, 2007 by lukos

[JasonInMelbourne]

1. I have had it a few weeks

2. the problem happened from day one, it started only happening for around 10 seconds when i first turned it on so i let it go a bit.

3. got it from powerhouse - ex display model as i couldnt get one anywhere else, i checked the service menu before and it has done 225 hours.

I would've told the salesperson (I hope you got their name) from the moment it started getitng worse that this problem was occurring. Go back today, show them the pictures you took and discuss this with him/her and DEMAND that they either replace it with a NEW ONE (unless you got it cheap because it was ex display, then there could be a problem). Avoid a repair (they'll probably tell you to ring the Samsung Service Centre), unless this is the only option as diagnosis and repair would take a couple of weeks or so, depending on availability of parts.

If you're not adverse to the idea of the 40" Sony Bravia, then perhaps bargain with the guy if they're not able to give you a new one or give you a refund, in exchange for the faulty unit and a very small extra amount. Or even the new Sharp 1080p unit.

At least make sure they're going to take some positive action to fix the problem.

[sillygit]

I just rang the Clayton (Victoria) service centre and organised a dude to come out on Friday to install the firmware upgrade. Too easy..

One question for those running a PC via HDMI. Do I need a fancy HDCP compliant video card? I'm hoping not, they cost to much at the moment and I still need to find a reasonably priced Blu-ray drive for my HTPC...

[lukos]

I would've told the salesperson (I hope you got their name) from the moment it started getitng worse that this problem was occurring. Go back today, show them the pictures you took and discuss this with him/her and DEMAND that they either replace it with a NEW ONE (unless you got it cheap because it was ex display, then there could be a problem). Avoid a repair (they'll probably tell you to ring the Samsung Service Centre), unless this is the only option as diagnosis and repair would take a couple of weeks or so, depending on availability of parts.

If you're not adverse to the idea of the 40" Sony Bravia, then perhaps bargain with the guy if they're not able to give you a new one or give you a refund, in exchange for the faulty unit and a very small extra amount. Or even the new Sharp 1080p unit.

At least make sure they're going to take some positive action to fix the problem.

Yeah called em back first thing today and im getting a direct swap - the salesman told me the new models are coming out 4-6 weeks as well.

according to him it is pretty much indenticle to the la4xf71bx but with integrated HD tuner, so i arranged to take my stuffed unit in and when the new model arrives for a direct swap with no extra cost.

[JasonInMelbourne]

Yeah called em back first thing today and im getting a direct swap - the salesman told me the new models are coming out 4-6 weeks as well.

according to him it is pretty much indenticle to the la4xf71bx but with integrated HD tuner, so i arranged to take my stuffed unit in and when the new model arrives for a direct swap with no extra cost.

That's actually turned out pretty sweet. Well done.

[JasonInMelbourne]

I just rang the Clayton (Victoria) service centre and organised a dude to come out on Friday to install the firmware upgrade. Too easy..

One question for those running a PC via HDMI. Do I need a fancy HDCP compliant video card? I'm hoping not, they cost to much at the moment and I still need to find a reasonably priced Blu-ray drive for my HTPC...

Not sure about the HDCP requirement. But at the moment I haven't seen many places offering any Blu Ray drives and those that are are charging from $925 to $1400. I don't think they'll come down in price very quickly either.

If you do send me an e-mail!

[Ace_Beef]

I've been using my HTPC with the Just Scan update for about a week now and I still don't seem to be able to get a real 1:1 mapping. I set my video card to output 1920 x 1080 and the text looks kind of blurry still and I occationally get some artifacts ( windows that shoudl be straight but have a bunch of pixels out of place, or wrong coloured pixels). I was wondering if anyone is using and Nvidia card, specifically a 6800 ultra, what drivers they are using and what settings have given a true 1:1 pixel mapping.

I've also been playing around with the setting and found that using movie mode gives me the best looking picture without the least problems, but its still nowhere near as clear as using the vga input, which is being used for the 360 and HD DVD addon.

[Vienna Coup]

Not sure about the HDCP requirement. But at the moment I haven't seen many places offering any Blu Ray drives and those that are are charging from $925 to $1400. I don't think they'll come down in price very quickly either.

If you do send me an e-mail!

If you want to play blue-ray on your htpc, you need a graphic card that is hdcp compliant and a fair amount of grunt to decode the H.264 encoding. You also need a DVD player software that can play Blue-Ray such as PowerDVD 7 Ultra. AND as you mentioned the drive is not cheap at the moment. I've got just about what is needed except for the drive. Am considering buying the Xbox HD DVD drive which I read have XP drives for it to work with the HTPC through a USB connection.

[JasonInMelbourne]

I've been using my HTPC with the Just Scan update for about a week now and I still don't seem to be able to get a real 1:1 mapping. I set my video card to output 1920 x 1080 and the text looks kind of blurry still and I occationally get some artifacts ( windows that shoudl be straight but have a bunch of pixels out of place, or wrong coloured pixels). I was wondering if anyone is using and Nvidia card, specifically a 6800 ultra, what drivers they are using and what settings have given a true 1:1 pixel mapping.

I've also been playing around with the setting and found that using movie mode gives me the best looking picture without the least problems, but its still nowhere near as clear as using the vga input, which is being used for the 360 and HD DVD addon.

See below for my nVidia card settings. Currently I couldn't be happier with it's performance combined with this screen. As mentioned on previous posts, I work at a boutique hi-fi/home cinema store on weekends and my mate that own's the store came over to have a look and his eyes popped out of his head at the clarity of the 1080p Quicktime and WMVHD trailers I played.

Model: GeForce 7600GT

Horizontal pixels

Front porch: 88, Sync width: 48

Back porch: 144, Scan rate: 33.69kHz

Sync Polarity: +, Back-end active: 28672

Front-end active: 1920

Vertical lines

Front porch: 4, Sync width: 10

Back porch: 30, Scan rate: 29.970Hz

Sync Polarity: +, Back-end active: 34316

Front-end active: 1080

[Craker]

Hey guys this will be my first time posting in this thread.

I picked up one of these babies yesterday I got the 46" model for $3900. I must say so far I am very very happy, a huge improvement from my 50" Panasonic Plasma (which I took back because it was faulty). Just switched on my 360 and had it running over component and with the default settings I thought I was going to get a tan it was so bright. The PQ is so good with this TV smooth and sharp, the blacks are not perfect but they almost are and better then any other LCD I have seen so far.

So now that I have it I need you guys to give me some help and advice. What are some must do things I should do in my first setup? What have people found are the best settings for each input and source? Also how do I go about getting this firmware update that I have heard about that fixes the 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI?

Thanks

[sillygit]

Also how do I go about getting this firmware update that I have heard about that fixes the 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI?

I just rang my local Samsung service centre (http://www.samsung.com.au/servicelocator.asp) and asked for the firmware upgrade...

[bigdonk]

Hey guys this will be my first time posting in this thread.

I picked up one of these babies yesterday I got the 46" model for $3900. I must say so far I am very very happy, a huge improvement from my 50" Panasonic Plasma (which I took back because it was faulty). Just switched on my 360 and had it running over component and with the default settings I thought I was going to get a tan it was so bright. The PQ is so good with this TV smooth and sharp, the blacks are not perfect but they almost are and better then any other LCD I have seen so far.

So now that I have it I need you guys to give me some help and advice. What are some must do things I should do in my first setup? What have people found are the best settings for each input and source? Also how do I go about getting this firmware update that I have heard about that fixes the 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI?

Thanks

I recently purchased the La40f71bx, and thus far very happy with the product.

If you find the detail in dark scene's disappointing and colors washed out, you may want to consider disabling DNIe, dynamic dimming, and dynamic CE, all done via the service menu, but be careful, see this post

For me i like the dynamic picture mode, and input sources, HDMI was hard to beat in terms of PQ and color vibrance, component was a close second, s-video crap, but not suprising.

[chugs]

I recently purchased the La40f71bx, and thus far very happy with the product.

If you find the detail in dark scene's disappointing and colors washed out, you may want to consider disabling DNIe, dynamic dimming, and dynamic CE, all done via the service menu, but be careful, see this post

For me i like the dynamic picture mode, and input sources, HDMI was hard to beat in terms of PQ and color vibrance, component was a close second, s-video crap, but not suprising.

46 vs 40 inch display?

The 46 has a better contrast ratio - so all owners of this set. Is 46 worth the extra couple of bucks?

[bigdonk]

46 vs 40 inch display?

The 46 has a better contrast ratio - so all owners of this set. Is 46 worth the extra couple of bucks?

well according to the Samsung web site, both 40' and 46' displays have the same dynamic contrast ratio of

6,000:1

both have the same brightness of 500 cd/m2

where did you figure the 46' has better contrast ratio that the 40 ' ?

LA46F71BX specs here

LA40F71BX specs here

[Ace_Beef]

See below for my nVidia card settings. Currently I couldn't be happier with it's performance combined with this screen. As mentioned on previous posts, I work at a boutique hi-fi/home cinema store on weekends and my mate that own's the store came over to have a look and his eyes popped out of his head at the clarity of the 1080p Quicktime and WMVHD trailers I played.

Model: GeForce 7600GT

Horizontal pixels

Front porch: 88, Sync width: 48

Back porch: 144, Scan rate: 33.69kHz

Sync Polarity: +, Back-end active: 28672

Front-end active: 1920

Vertical lines

Front porch: 4, Sync width: 10

Back porch: 30, Scan rate: 29.970Hz

Sync Polarity: +, Back-end active: 34316

Front-end active: 1080

Thanks for the help, Ive tried setting the custom resolutions but I can't seem to get it right. I also discovered that if I set my computer to treat me display as a HDTV and choose 1080i as the resolution I dont have any problems and when I check the info on the TV it says 1920 x 1080 i @ 60

Could there possibly be a problem with my HDMI to DVI cable?

[birdie1011503560221]

Ace_Beef,

I don't have this particular LCD, but I have had some experience in getting 1:1 mapping on a plasma and I think the knowledge is somewhat transferable.

Firstly, uncheck the "treat display as a HDTV' option as running at 1080i/p will have overscan and you don't want that. Apply those changes. Then go into the display resolutions and timings and use the advanced timings that JasonInMelbourne posted.

The best way to tell if you are running at 1:1 mappings is to create an image in MS Paint that is two pixels wide. Make one pixel white, the other black. Set it as the background to your desktop (tiled) and you should get 1920 black and white lines across the screen. Each line will be exactly 1 pixel wide and they will appear evenly spaced.

If you're not running at 1:1, the lines will look like they are unevenly spaced and it will be obvious to you that you aren't there yet.

My understanding with a digital signal (like the one you're sending via DVI-HDMI) is that the quality of cable won't matter too much, as the digital signal gets there, or it doesn't (unlike analogue that can lose strength along the way). I could be wrong.

Keep at it, getting 1:1 is well worth it - even on my piece of poo 50 inch LG plasma it made a difference!

Good luck,

Luke

[Craker]

I just rang my local Samsung service centre (http://www.samsung.com.au/servicelocator.asp) and asked for the firmware upgrade...

Yeah I just called Samsung Customer Care on 1300 362 603 and they put me through to a technician who knew exactly what I was talking about. He asked for my post code and then gave me the number of the nearest Samsung service centre.

When I called the service centre however the tech had no idea what I was talking about, so I explained the whole thing to him at which point he checked the Samsung service agent website and sure enough there it was. We then had quite a lengthy chat and he told me that there had been a firmware update on the 07/02/07 to fix the flickering colours that some people have been having problems with. I have not noticed this to be a problem with my unit yet.

And on the 08/03/07 there was another firmware update to fix the 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI. He was unsure if the new firmware update also included the first update in it but said he would research it and check. He did not recommend using either firmware update unless you do have that problem with your TV otherwise the update may screw something else up and there is no way to revert back to an earlier version.

He did give some more info on the 1:1 mapping firmware update. When using the 1:1 mapping via the Just Scan setting some users may see a "Garbage Bar" (a coloured strip down one or more sides of the TV). He said this is the result of poor components found on some of the cheaper video cards that don't output the full 1920 X 1080 even though they say they do. So as a result your image will now be under scanned and the "Garbage Bar" is put in to fill these pixels. Ace Beef is this what could be happening to you? I think this is something Samsung did on purpose to prevent users from seeing this "Garbage Bar" and thinking there was something wrong with the picture and then complaining.

If you are unsure what resolution you card is outputting follow another newbie’s guide for displaying the scanning lines. Very nice idea by the way

So if you do have this problem after the firmware update you can fix it by selecting 16:9 which will re-enable the over scan again.

So I have this same guy that I spoke to coming to my house on Monday to do this update. Only thing I forgot to check is if it was going to cost anything. I would assume that any updates and things should be covered under the warranty and Samsung would pay for the tech to come out to my house. Am I right or wrong on this? Has any one else been charged for the update?

[Hilsty]

I had purchased the LA46F71BX from a Harvey Norman store. They didn't have any in stock but told me they'd have a new batch coming in shortly. Next day I get a call telling me that Samsung has discontinued this model, but they are definitely bringing out an updated version late April/early May. The new version will have an inbuilt HD tuner, and will apparently fix the firmware issues. Harvey Norman told me that they could get an old (current) version if I really couldn't wait, but I decided to hold out for the newer TV, as I will be getting it for the same price. Hopefully it will be worth the wait!

[Heiser202]

What price Hilsty ?

[Hilsty]

What price Hilsty ?

$4500, for the 46in. Not sure what the standard retail price will be on the updated version, but as that is what I had already paid, I have been garunteed the new model at no extra cost.

Edited March 28, 2007 by Hilsty

[Heiser202]

I just called Samsung, they said they are going to be the same price with HD tuner built in. Im returning my 50 inch samsung plasma. Samsung told me 14 day out of baox warranty. im 10days in and its playing up. JB said Samsung get someone out to repair it. Sorry JB youve done it again

[spacious]

Thanks for the help, Ive tried setting the custom resolutions but I can't seem to get it right. I also discovered that if I set my computer to treat me display as a HDTV and choose 1080i as the resolution I dont have any problems and when I check the info on the TV it says 1920 x 1080 i @ 60

Could there possibly be a problem with my HDMI to DVI cable?

Checked NVidia website and they mentioned that only 7series has true HD capability. Maybe borrow a 7600 card to test it on your PC will make sure that it is the card not the settings that matter.

[Craker]

$4500, for the 46in. Not sure what the standard retail price will be on the updated version, but as that is what I had already paid, I have been garunteed the new model at no extra cost.

Well I picked mine up from Harvey Norman last weekend (the 46" model, last one left in Brisbane) and paid only $3900 and an extra $224 for five year warranty.

I went no JB first and was told the same thing that you were, that they had none left because they had been discontinued and they could not get any more in at all. The guy said that new model would be out soon with the turner built in.

But I did not want to wait as I did not want a in built tuner anyway and at $3900 for the 46" how could I say no. The 1:1 pixel mapping can be fixed with the firmware update so there is no issue. This is an awesome TV I love it.

[jonesy01]

The sammy tech didn't give me a copy. Instead you will all need to contact Win Aung at Samsung Electronics... tech support. Ask for him, and ask for the firmware update. He will get someone to come to your place and update the TV

Hooked my mac up via DVI>HDMI.. and wow.. what a difference compared to VGA. With all the processing in HDMI mode, the picture looks stunning. VGA looked good, this looks amazing...

Scottie

Hi all,

I am hoping someone will be able to help figure out this mac problem

1 x La40f71bx $2850 JB Hifi

1 x Just Scan firmware patch

1 x Macbook Pro

1 x DVI>HDMI cable

The TV says it is only getting 1920 x 1080i, however I spoke to apple and they said that the mac outputs 1080p automatically. I have to use over scan on the mac to fill the screen.

any ideas? Could it be a bug in the Just scan patch??? What am I doing wrong?

cheers

Scottie would you mind telling me what your display settings are?

[Vienna Coup]

Well the xbox hd dvd addon drive just came out. I bought one for $250. Simply plug it into my HTPC running XP MCE2005. XP recognize it straight away. Download the Toshiba drivers from the web and I can see my file system on the King Kong HD DVD that came bundled with the drive. Take a bit of fiddling but got it working using PowerDVD Ultra 7.2. I have a HIS XT1950 graphic card on a E6600 CPU running 2GB 800 Corsair memory. On the La40f71 box, it looks amazing.