First off, this is not a rip on Samsung or AmEx. I have been very pleased with my tv and AmEx provided what they promised. That being said...
...I have owned this tv for about a year and a half. I have never tried to hook up my computer to it until now, but I have been thinking for months about running cables through the wall from my office to my living room, and displaying my main computer on the LCD tv.
So over the holidays, I finally did it. I happened to have all the parts I needed - a dvi to hdmi adapter, and long (25 ft) hdmi cable, and a long audio cable (rca stereo to rca stereo). Here are some considerations:
1. I can't run audio through hdmi, since I only have a dvi video card. (I'll be getting a new card soon, so this will all be moot.)
2. My tv has 3 hdmi inputs, and I have 3 hdmi devices. The pc is the only device that doesn't run sound through hdmi.
3. On this tv, only ONE hdmi input allows you to associate another type of audio in. For the other two hdmi inputs, you ONLY have the option of audio through that hdmi connection. (Strange, because there are plenty of inputs...but this is the design.)
3. The manufacturer's warranty has expired on the tv. I bought the tv through AmEx to get the one year extension of the manufacturer's warranty.
So here's the deal - I couldn't get the audio to function from my pc to the tv. I tried for hours and checked every connection and cable multiple times. After a couple calls to Samsung, they verified what I wrote above - my only option for hdmi and rca audio is to use that one specific input - and it appears to be defective. Most likely it is simply a defect in the rca input plugs, a simple fix. But my warranty has expired, so...
...I call AmEx to go through their warranty extension. I have never used one of these before, so I was a little surprised to learn how it works. I have to call a service technician out to perform an estimate (they will pay for the estimate), submit it to AmEx with receipts and copy of manufacturer's warranty. They must then approve the repair, I would have it done, and then they would re-imburse the amount to me.
I'm a little torn on this. It is a good deal of extra work, my time (something I don't have very much), and wasted expense just to get this fixed. All this is to fix an issue that won't even still be an issue when I get a new hdmi-enabled video card. And going forward, it's not like dvi devices will be common, so it probably will never be an issue. On the other hand, if I'm ever going to get this fixed, I should probably do it now while it's still covered. Even if it's a 5 minute fix, the service call will probably be over 50 bucks.
This may be utterly boring to most people, but what I found interesting is
A. The TV has 3 hdmi inputs but only allows one to be used as a dvi-adapted input with external sound.
B. AmEx warranty extension is going to probably spend about $150 (at least two separate service calls), and I am going to be more inconvenienced, because of how they work. I guess I was expecting them to have an arrangement with Samsung, but now that I think about it, it makes sense that their warranty extension has to be more general.
C. Any suggestions? Should I get the input fixed or just say "screw it"?
...I have owned this tv for about a year and a half. I have never tried to hook up my computer to it until now, but I have been thinking for months about running cables through the wall from my office to my living room, and displaying my main computer on the LCD tv.
So over the holidays, I finally did it. I happened to have all the parts I needed - a dvi to hdmi adapter, and long (25 ft) hdmi cable, and a long audio cable (rca stereo to rca stereo). Here are some considerations:
1. I can't run audio through hdmi, since I only have a dvi video card. (I'll be getting a new card soon, so this will all be moot.)
2. My tv has 3 hdmi inputs, and I have 3 hdmi devices. The pc is the only device that doesn't run sound through hdmi.
3. On this tv, only ONE hdmi input allows you to associate another type of audio in. For the other two hdmi inputs, you ONLY have the option of audio through that hdmi connection. (Strange, because there are plenty of inputs...but this is the design.)
3. The manufacturer's warranty has expired on the tv. I bought the tv through AmEx to get the one year extension of the manufacturer's warranty.
So here's the deal - I couldn't get the audio to function from my pc to the tv. I tried for hours and checked every connection and cable multiple times. After a couple calls to Samsung, they verified what I wrote above - my only option for hdmi and rca audio is to use that one specific input - and it appears to be defective. Most likely it is simply a defect in the rca input plugs, a simple fix. But my warranty has expired, so...
...I call AmEx to go through their warranty extension. I have never used one of these before, so I was a little surprised to learn how it works. I have to call a service technician out to perform an estimate (they will pay for the estimate), submit it to AmEx with receipts and copy of manufacturer's warranty. They must then approve the repair, I would have it done, and then they would re-imburse the amount to me.
I'm a little torn on this. It is a good deal of extra work, my time (something I don't have very much), and wasted expense just to get this fixed. All this is to fix an issue that won't even still be an issue when I get a new hdmi-enabled video card. And going forward, it's not like dvi devices will be common, so it probably will never be an issue. On the other hand, if I'm ever going to get this fixed, I should probably do it now while it's still covered. Even if it's a 5 minute fix, the service call will probably be over 50 bucks.
This may be utterly boring to most people, but what I found interesting is
A. The TV has 3 hdmi inputs but only allows one to be used as a dvi-adapted input with external sound.
B. AmEx warranty extension is going to probably spend about $150 (at least two separate service calls), and I am going to be more inconvenienced, because of how they work. I guess I was expecting them to have an arrangement with Samsung, but now that I think about it, it makes sense that their warranty extension has to be more general.
C. Any suggestions? Should I get the input fixed or just say "screw it"?
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