The “Break it Down” Blog

It’s true, I love it, the Samsung HL-S7178W. I was reading through the AVS owners thread last night and came across some new posts with pictures and some interesting comments from our local professional calibrator, Eliab. We covered Eliab a little bit before with his suggested settings for this TV that will give it the best image possible without professional calibration.

There were two comments recently made to the thread that made me want this TV even more:

• “That depends. How much do you want the single best RPTV/DVD image that an RPTV has ever been able to afford?” (Link)
• “You have to love Samsung’s customer support philosophy. It really is the best in the industry in my book.” (Link)

There were also a few people raving about the Toshiba HD-A1 player, but I can’t tell if they are raving about the player or about the HD content, so I’m ignoring that for now until more players come out (namely, dual-format players). Now let’s get onto the pictures.

This picture was from ‘jlapolla‘ and shows the 7178 setup with all his components and speakers:

These next two are close ups from ‘Ragnarok‘ showing off a football game and the movie Sin City. I would point out these shots were taken in a dark room and the motion taken without a flash gives a little bit of blur, but you still get an idea of what the set can do:

Then we have this other frontal that gives a pretty good idea of just how big this set is from ‘KingRat’:

Unfortunately digging up a professional review of the set online has proven to be ellusive even though it’s been out for a couple months or so. The only thing I have to go by so far is that everyone in that thread has liked the TV. Unlike other threads I’ve been privey too there have always been topics (e.g. rainbows or color accuracy) that gets debated into the ground. There is also the issue that no where near the number of people are purchasing a 71″ set as are getting a 50 or 60″ set, so it’s possible that there just isn’t a big enough sample group.

I am pleased to know that Samsung’s customer service is first rate though, feeling comforatable and safe with your purchase is worth a few hundred dollars in my opinion.

Also just to throw prices out there, I was quoted $5400 out the door from Magnolia for this TV with the 4-year, 1-bulb replacement warrenty. I called TV Authority and was quoted $5000 out the door with free shipping on the TV with a 4-year, 2-bulb warrenty that included the screen. If I had to purchase this set now I would most likely go with TV Authority as quite a few AVS members shop with them and they are aware of who their audience is (not Joe-America, but Joe-AVS-Know-It-All-User).