Samsung HLR-6178 1080P
I recently purchased a Samsung HLR6178 1080P DLP. I’ve had a week to play with it. I wanted to post some information on my experience and answers to questions that I’ve had when looking to purchase the TV.
First off, I was only aware of the HLR6168 and right before I bought my DLP I found that Samsung had two models available: HLR6168 and HLR6178. I was looking for information on what the difference was but I had a hard time finding that info. However, I found that the 6168 and the 6178 are exactly the same TV function-wise. The only difference between the two is the actual look of the set. The HLR6168 has a new “floating-screen” design. Bascially, if you buy the matching stand that goes with the set then the TV fits into the stand in such a way that the gap between the DLP base and the screen makes it look like the screen “floats”. The black frame around the screen is a flat black finish. The HLR6178 looks similar to the original Samsung design with the internal speaker attached directly to the base; however, the finish on the frame around the screen is a high-gloss black lacquer finish very much like the look on the front of the Sony PSP. I think it’s pretty sexy so I bought the HLR6178. If any store tries to sell you the 6168 for more than the 6178 (TV Authority comes to mind) tell them to go bite themselves. They are just trying to rip you off as the two sets are EXACTLY the same.
Now to address another issue: lip-sync. On some channels, the lip-sync is just fine and you don’t notice a lag of the video behind the audio. However, on some channels the lip-sync can be almost and entire word off. This is caused by the video processing of the set and it does affect all 1080P TVs. I was in the store looking at this set and noticed on Discovery HD that the video was lagging behind the audio. I walked up to a Mitsubishi HD set, cranked up the audio, and you could still see the video lagging behind the audio. If you have a decent Audio/Video receiver, it should have an audio delay function that will delay the audio to allow the video time to catch up. Currently, I don’t have a nice receiver so I’m just ignoring the delay that I *sometimes* see. It’s usually only on certain HD channels or when I watch certain channels like G4. I have seen a specialized device that allowed you to delay audio but it came with a $300 price tag. For that price, I think I’ll upgrade my receiver for a bit more.
As far as picture quality, the picture on this set is awesome. HD channels look *VERY* nice. Even SD channels look okay although on a 61″ set you can of course see artifacts that you don’t notice on much smaller screens. There are some settings you can fiddle with but once setting you might want to mess with is the gamma setting. This isn’t something you can adjust through a normal user menu and you can only get to through the service menu. The way you get to the service menu is to power off the set, press Mute then 1 8 2 and then press power again to turn on the set. Be careful if you poke around in the service menu but if you like to tweak then enjoy.
Another concern people have with DLP sets is rainbows. Bascially, this is you are able to see a rainbow across the screen which is caused by the color wheel not spinning fast enough. Usually, it’s seen in a picture with lots of highlights and bright areas. At 1080i, I’ve only seen a rainbow a few times and that was only when I was laying on the carpet in front of the TV and turning my head to look at my computer sitting on the floor while I was working on the new server for this site. That’s a poor viewing angle anyway and I was turning my head quickly to look at the monitor and then back at the DLP. If I’m viewing it normally I don’t see rainbows at 1080i. Now, I did pop in a DVD into my DVD player to watch portions of a movie at 480i. At 480i, I kept seeing rainbows when I would move my eyes around looking at things in the scene and it started to make my eyes hurt. I put it in progressive mode at 480p and the rainbows went away. So, if you watch DVDs in progressive mode everything is fine. I don’t have to worry about SDTV running at 480i causing rainbows because my HDTV DVR box from Time Warner is outputting to the TV over HDMI which *only* outputs a 1080i HD signal. So, the cable box upconverts the signal to 1080i before sending to the TV which eliminates annoying rainbows. All I can figure is that the color wheel runs faster when doing progressive or HD content so you don’t see the rainbows but when viewing 480i it must run slower. This is just an observation but I would like to see real evidence, and I’d like to see if there was something in the service menu that would allow you to tweak the color wheel speed in case you need to watch something in 480i and the rainbows are bothering you. Rainbows don’t always bother everyone and some people don’t even notice them.
For inputs, this set has a ton. It has 2 component inputs, 2 HDMI, a DVI interface, and a VGA interface. The VGA interface is something that had been rumored to have been cut from the set before production but it is indeed there. Another rumor is that you can only get 1080P on the VGA input and not on the HDMI or DVI input. This doesn’t make sense to me but there is no way to test it right now as there aren’t any 1080P HDMI devices right now. The manual mentions 1080P for the VGA connection as well as various other resolutions for use with hooking up your computer to the screen. I think since people read that table in the VGA section they just assume it doesn’t take 1080P on the other inputs and then state it as fact. However, I have never seen a single link to official specs or any other evidence so I’ll have to wait and see. But, having 1080P available on an analog VGA connector and not on digital connections sounds stupid at best. However, for fun, since you can use VGA to get 1080P you can download movies previews and a few short segments from the Windows Media Player HD site and put a little 1080P content on your set from your computer.
Well, that’s all I have for now. I might update this with more info as I get it and as soon as I move to the new server that has WordPress I’ll make a static page to host the article permanently. Post any comments or questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer them.
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October 16th, 2005 at 10:58 pm
I enjoyed the information on the 6178. How about an update? Are you still loving it? I just purchased my own and shall have it within a few days. Have you tried to play any video games on the set? I paid $4,100. on mine and purchased it thru Ovation here in Indianapolis. Thanks for the info.
Darrin
October 18th, 2005 at 2:37 pm
Hi Darrin,
I just bought my 6168 for 3200 at ABC after showing them the prices it goes for online.
So check your prices better
TV $3200
Stand $240
Warranty $400 (5year including bulb
1 manufact 4 ABC)
Tax.
All and all about $4000 usd. So make them give you a better deal. If you want I can fax you my receipt to proove to them.
Chris cmed13@yahoo.com
October 23rd, 2005 at 10:12 am
Yeah, I still love this set. I love playing games so I’ve played quite a few on this set. I know I’ve seen rumors about a delay when playing games but so far I haven’t felt any delay. Games that support progressive mode look great and even ones that don’t support progressive look fine as well.
October 23rd, 2005 at 5:14 pm
Does the 6178 have a split screen so I can view 2 channels at once?
November 2nd, 2005 at 5:26 pm
I haven’t seen split screen and I don’t think it has it. It does have PIP though. In fact, my cable box has PIP as well so I’m actually able to do PIP to another channel with the cable box and then PIP with the DLP to another source. That gets a little crazy and not completely useful but it’s fun to play with :-).
November 8th, 2005 at 11:02 pm
hi,
we’ve been impressed with our 6178 so far as well. We are curious if anyone has played with the custom settings to find a picture they really like? The default factory setting seems pretty good regardless.
November 15th, 2005 at 12:01 pm
I usually use the factory presets as I don’t have one of the color tuner DVDs. I usually put it on Movie for the Component 2 input which goes to my DVD player. For my HDMI input, which goes to the HD Time Warner box, I keep it on Dynamic which I think looks really nice.
I saw a product a little while back that was a USB device that goes to a little suction-cup camera. You put the suction-cup camera in the middle of the TV and you run some software on your laptop with a DVD. It it supposed to do a really good job of helping you tune the colors correctly. It was a reasonable price, like $200 or so I think. I need to find the URL to that site again.
March 6th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Since December, we have had to replace on Samsung HLR6178 and now we have been told, we need to replace the bulb on this one.
Someone, please tell me that this is just bad luck, and the model is not a lemon
Thanks
March 6th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Hmm…. I think it might just have been some bad luck. I haven’t read anything about others having your issues. My HLR6178 has been working just fine since I’ve gotten it. I can imagine having a little bad luck and getting a set that’s messed up but I can’t believe the replacement actually needs a new bulb. Bulb replacement is something that shouldn’t need to be done for quite some time.
March 25th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Thanks for your reply, Saccia. Since my last post (today is March 25) Samsung has still not authorized repair.
Apparently it could be ballast (?) or DMD panel (board), the repair shop sent Samsung an email on March 15 for auth to repair and they have had no response so far.
I have have advised the dealer (where we bought all three of our big screen TVs at Christmas) that my next step was going public with our local consumer affairs reporter.
June 2nd, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Quick little update. I just noticed that my DLP has a dark blueish-purple band going from top to bottom on the left side of the screen this week. It’s very small at the top and about 1.5 inches wide once it gets to the bottom of the set. I called Tweeter warranty and the repair guy called back today. He had me explain what I saw and that it occured on every input. He told me it was a bad engine and that he’d order a part and be out to my house to replace it once the part was in. With the good reponse Tweeter has given, I’m hoping the guy comes out and fixes it right the first time. I would be most impressed. The sad part is that my DLP is less than a year old. I suppose the good thing is that it’s not too noticable while watching most things or playing games. It only shows up when the left side of the screen is displaying white or a very light color that doesn’t blend in the band.
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:14 pm
So is your TV a 1st generation DLP or second? Hopefully This is just a glitch and will be resolved quickly. Warren and I looked at a Mitsubishi DLP a few weeks ago and it looked NICE. I’m starting to get that itch to get new A/V equipment (post new home of course). If the Samsung turns out well, I might jump off the Mitsu bandwagon…
June 4th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
I bought my 6178 in December ‘05 and although I love the set I am not too happy that I could have waited 5 months and got better technology for less $ in the hls6188. Might go and try to trade it in.
June 11th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
I loved my Samsung initially, but 2 weeks into installing it my HLR 6178 has a dark semi-opaque band running from top to bottom on left side of screen, when on, in all type of ambient light situations and even in a dark room. Also sometimes the screen suddenly goes exactly half blank from midline. This resets sometimes if I switch off the set and restart. Sometimes I also put the picture in the “standard” mode setting instead of the “dynamic” mode to get the full screen back. Anybody having similar problems please do respond or advise. Thank you all in advance.
June 14th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Farrukh, this is exactly what I described in my update comment above. The repair guy said it is a problem with the light engine. Tweeter ordered the part under the warranty and the Tweeter repair guy will be here this Friday to fix it. I’ll post an update on how that goes. I’l hoping for the best.
June 24th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
Oh, update on the DLP. The Tweeter repair guy came out and fixed the TV in about 20 minutes. Apparently, Samsung’s DLPs are componentized. So, the repair guy opened up the back of the TV, slid out the light engine component, and put the new one in. Fix done!
It’s pretty neat that the TV is made of just three units. One part is the power unit, the other is the input block, and then in the middle is the light engine. The repair guy said Samsung DLPs are the easiest to repair because of this. Apparently, they had a 3 week training class on how to repair a Mitsubishi since they require alignment because Mitsubishi only sends the defective piece. He said they tried to convince the Mitsubishi rep to send them the entire light engine pre-aligned just like Samsung does.
So far, I’m really impressed with Tweeter and Samsung.
June 26th, 2006 at 9:07 am
Posting this for Kyle since the captcha kept him from commenting. Sorry about that:
“Hi I just got my Samsung DVD-HD960 and connected it to my HLR6168 and set the DVD player to 1080p and it kept resetting to 480p. I could get it to stay on 1080i but no luck with 1080p. So I contacted Samsung and after talking to 3 people and being directed to their tier 2 support I was
informed by a Samsung tech support specialist that “the HLR6168 only
accepts 1080p through the computer input and only up to 1080i via the HDMI connections”. He also said that the 1080p hardware via the HDMI was not available when this model was produced, but the new version HLS6187 would accept 1080p via the HDMI input. Talk about deception. Any specs I read on store websites for this said that it would accept 1080p from all inputs.
( I can’t locate specs on Samsungs website for this model) Has anyone else experienced this yet?
July 5th, 2006 at 10:11 am
Bought my HLR6178 last December and the lamp went out on Monday. Only 7 months old. I turned TV off when screen was to dark and lamp started to crackle. I looked behind TV and noticed the fan was not running. Don’t know if fan went out and this caused lamp to go out. I don’t know if fan is replace with the lamp assembly or not. Service Tech. coming Fri. if they have lamp in stock.
April 2nd, 2007 at 6:29 pm
No 1080P!!! Just tried to hook up a PS3 to this set, called samsung, the only 1080p input is the pc port. Will not accept HDMI 1080p signal. What a rip off. misleading and deceptive advertizing.
December 6th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
“misleading and deceptive advertizing” boy you said it. I’m totaly disguisted with samsung and the HLR6168. Not to mention the looser 2-tier tech I spoke the other day. All he could say was it upconverts 1080i to 1080P. Which in itself is total bull. If this tv is upconverting to 1080P then I’m really pissed off because the picture sucks ass. Well sucks ass when compared to my other 2 hd sets (XBR4).
STAY AWAY FROM SAMSUNG DLP! If you don’t you’ll regret it
January 31st, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Samsung sucks ass. All of their products are made with poor quality and the so called tech support has to be the worst around. Shit I’d buy a damn Visio before I buy another samsung