HL-T5087S - First Impressions and Setup

At CEDIA this year, two things excited us about Samsung's new rear projection DLP display offerings. First was the fact that they were using LED technology. LEDs promise to extend lamp light up to 20,000 to 50,000 hours, don't requires the use of a color wheel, and have a shorter warm-up cycle. Also, all of Samsung new DLP displays can utilize their new DLP 3-D technology. With an external box and a set of cool glasses, the Samsung can run very exciting 3-D games. Unfortunately, they didn't bother to send a 3-D box and shades so we weren't able to test out this new feature. We saw it at CEDIA and, while cool, it was a little disorienting. Oh well, they can't take LED away from us.

First Impressions and Build Quality

I've reviewed a number of flat panel LCD and Plasma displays from 42 to 50 inches and I can tell you this - moving the Samsung HT-T5087S was a joy in comparison. At only 63 lbs, I could easily lift it and place it on my component cabinet. I wouldn't recommend it, but I could do it. It was well-packaged (strapped down to its own half pallet, no less) with the appropriate amount of protection. I prefer to see these displays double-boxed, but for all intents and purposes, it's probably a useless gesture. What exactly is that one extra layer of cardboard supposed to do anyway?

My first impressions were all very positive with the huge flat screen bordered by an impossibly thin edge and the trademarked Samsung logo and power button on the bottom-center of the unit. The little cut out just below that serves not only as a place to reflect the accent light, but also the sound from the speakers. The right side of the unit has all the inputs and outputs with the removable power cord located just around the corner on the rear of the unit. The HL-T5087S has two full HDMI inputs and one HDMI/DVI input (made to be used with a DVI source - also has analogue audio inputs), 2 component video and analogue audio inputs, 2 composite video and analogue inputs, and one composite output with analogue and optical audio outputs. You should be set for connections except that there is no way to get audio to the unit digitally except through the HDMI inputs. I'd like to see a coax or TOSLink input as well.

Now, if you want to connect up a PC, they've also got you covered with a VGA input and an audio jack. RS-232C is present as is a USB input for portable media such as MP3 files (man, does EVERYTHING play MP3's these days?) and jpegs and movies. Personally, the USB would do better on the front of the unit as many installations are looking to hide the majority of the display, making the side less than accessible. A little door would make it all but invisible.

The conspicuous power button on the front just begs for little fingers - and my children were more than happy to oblige. The funny part was that it turns on and off with a short sound effect eerily reminiscent of jumping into the bottom of a box to get a coin on Super Mario Bros. which was plenty loud enough to hear from an adjacent room. The first time they started playing with the set, I could hear it and spent a long while trying to figure out what the sound was. Kids. There are buttons on the side for volume, channel controls, menu and source that are near impossible to see much less operate. I suppose in a well-lit room you could use them, but I had to turn on every light in the vicinity or run for a flashlight if I wanted to use them.

Set-Up & General Use

If you've set up one display you've set them all up - at least as far as connections go. I ran a single HDMI from my receiver to the HL-T5087S, a pair of component cables (for my Xbox 360 and from the Denon DVD-3910), and a composite cable from the receiver "just in case". Hey, don't mock it. In my business, you can always count on that composite to work when everything else fails (thank you, HDMI). Everything on the panel is well laid out and separated so you shouldn't have much of a problem. I wouldn't mind seeing the outputs separated from the inputs (they are mixed in currently) though this is really a minor gripe.

What isn't so minor is the (suspected) firmware issue I had. Now, I review a lot of displays so I'm used to my fair share of problems, but this one had my head shaking. At first I thought I had hit a wrong button but it turns out that it wasn't me. Apparently, there is a "show mode" for this (and other) Samsung displays that reverts them back to the factory (torch) settings every 20 minutes or so. This can be fixed by a few button presses (apparently). My issue was different. First, I couldn't get the display to play any sound through the speakers via the HDMI input. Now remember that I had heard clearly (from the other room no less) the power on/off sound effect so I know the speakers work. I checked my receiver's settings and even connected the player directly to the set with no luck. When I finally got sound out of the speakers using an analogue connection, the results were tinny and thin (as to be expected). Let me sum up - if you're going to spend $2400 on a display, cowboy up and buy some speakers you tight-wad.

All of that was mostly just a minor annoyance (and actually, for me, it was a bonus as I never use the internal speakers anyway - one less setting to adjust) but I had some major problems with the settings. Now, this is a true story. I'm saying that because I read so many, "And my wife could hear the difference from the kitchen" reviews that it makes me want to puke. I had some family over and we've got the lights dimmed and we're watching TV. My father looks at me and says, "Man, this thing is so bright it's hurting my eyes." I realize that I'm squinting as well. So I check the settings and sure enough, it's in torch mode. Now, no display has ever been in my setup for longer than 5 minutes before I've switched it from "Dynamic" to just about anything else. In this case, I had chosen "Movie" as even "Standard" seemed a bit bright. Confused by this change of setting, I switched it back and made a mental note to check it later. After everyone had gone to bed, a few minutes of investigation revealed that it wasn't operator error (or kids) but that every time I turned the display off or switched inputs, it reset the HDMI input to Dynamic. So, off I go to the Internet (again) to see what the deal is. Well this, apparently, isn't some sort of weird setting but a firmware issue. No problem right? I'm a reviewer; I update firmware all the time. The display has a USB port on the back so this should be as easy as pie right?

Wrong.

I visit the Samsung website just to find that they are very, VERY reticent about handing out firmware updates. They have a few for their LCDs and Plasmas but nothing for their DLPs. Well, that's a pain because it would require a service call. Of course, if I had bought this unit, it would be under warranty and I probably wouldn't be too put out by it, but as a reviewer it's a pain. The only thing to do is to take meticulous notes and be prepared to either leave the set on a lot or re-enter settings every time the unit is powered up. Now, remember those little fingers and that "impossible not to press" button on the front of the unit? Oh yeah, this was a fun review.