Samsung HL-S5687W Reviews

Great overall value and GREAT picture! One minor complaint
by Vince M. Rubino from Ohio, 2010-01-28

I purchased the Samsung HL-S5687W from Best Buy about two years ago. Overall, this has been one of the best pictures and values in a large screen TV. The TV was placed on a TV stand with media towers and everyone who ever came over would always say nice flat panel TV. If you put the TV on a TV stand with towers it really does look like a plasma or LCD TV. The appearance is very clean and has a nice timeless design. The TV is also amazingly light so very easy to move if necessary. When coupled with a Blueray player or HD signal from DirecTV the picture quality was great. We initially purchased the Samsung plasma, however, due to our great room having 20ft ceilings and a lot of windows the direct light from morning until 2:00 PM made watching the plasma TV, even a cloudy day impossible. We instead returned the plasma for this TV and it works great even in sunlight brightly shining into the room.

My only negative? The bulbs do burn out and need replaced about every 12-24 months. That's a huge swing in time, however, with toddlers in the house the TV is on several hours each day as they watch Horton Hears a Who and Finding Nemo, etc. I would say if you are an above average TV watcher the bulb will last 12-18 month, if you watch just a few hours a night you're looking at 24+ months before the bulb needs replaced. I strongly advise keeping a spare around, because when the bulb goes, it goes without much notice. You can't find the bulbs in stores...another negative. You can buy them on the Samsung website and other online merchants but they can be expensive. I ended up buying a Philip's brand replacement bulb on eBay and overnight shipping and all, it ended up being around $90...that's more than half the cost of the pricing I was seeing for the Samsung branded bulbs. I can honestly say that the picture quality is no different between the Samsung bulb and the cheaper Philips bulb.

I recommend this TV based on picture quality and over all value!

White dot problem on this model too
by Robert J. Zimmerman from media, pa, 2010-01-24

I was very satisfied with this tv until this week. The unit is now 2 years old and white dots are appearing on the screen. Samsung has experienced this problem on several models of DLPs. Unfortunately, Samsung has decided to repair several models in a recall/warrenty issue but did not include this model. So if you plan to purchase an older model look for one that Samsung will repair.

Sam 1
by Joseph Hunce , 2010-01-04

I purchased this set in November of 2006. This unit gets a lot of use. It is usually on 12 hours a day even if no one is really watching or playing video games. When I researched this unit I learned that a buld has to be replaced every 2-3 years depending on usuage. I replaced the buld 6/09. It was suprisingly easy. Found buld on line for $89.00 (Samsung wanted more than double). Great picture. Sound, though not great, in line with most sets. Happy with my choice and purchase.

Loved it for the whole 16 months that it worked
by Christopher S. Mendler from Raleigh, NC, 2008-06-27

Amazing tv.... while it worked. After 16 months my wife and I were watching The Office (in HD of course) and the screen turned into a blocky green mess for a split second and shut off completely. Samsung was nice enough to extend the warranty AFTER I had the local recommended repairmen say that he had seen a thousand of these models with the same problems. I called Samsung and insisted that they should own up to their manufacturing defects and they did (make sure you get to the second line of their customer service -the "ECR", they can do a lot more to help you). We have had a total of 3 seperate repair visits (very nice guys) and numerous parts ordered over the course of a month - This would of cost way more than the actual cost of the tv when it was new if I had paid out of my own pocket. They have replaced every internal part of the tv and it still is useless. It is now looking as if Samsung will be purchasing us a new tv. If it still worked and there were not countless other internet forums devoted to Samsungs faulty DLP, then I would give this product a 5 start rating. A 5 star product for the first year, then it might as well be a 56" brick. One star from me because I cannot give it a negative score.

Dont buy samsung TV
by A. Raviswaran from texas, 2008-03-22

We purchased the Samsung DLP TV about 9 months back. The TV failed in first week of Feb 2008. Samsung "certified" field service technician worked on the TV for 6 weeks, bringing 1 part every week to change & test. He had no idea what was wrong. Then he said the TV had to be replaced since it was under warranty. Then Samsung didn't approve a TV replacement for many days after this. Once they finally approved the replacement, they did not commit to delivering the replacement TV in anytime soon. Many calls to customer service over several weeks got the same response - "we dont know when we can deliver the TV & we cant do anything about it". I am still waiting for the replacement TV and it has been nearly 2 months since the DLP TV failed.