My Samsung TV Rant

[TechBoyJK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hrZyb0hN_8

I bought a Samsung 50" Plasma about 2 years ago, and it's been a POS. Failed twice. First time Samsung replaced the panel (under warranty), 2nd time (same problem, same panel lifespan) Samsung said sorry, out of warranty. It wasn't until I bitched on twitter that I was offered a 10% coupon or $300 rebate on the repair. Sadly, the repair cost is more than I paid for the TV, and more than it'd cost to replace it with something that is honestly an upgrade.

I already bought a new TV (panasonic) that was only $510 shipped (employee pricing deal I found on slickdeals). But I figured I'd make a rant vid to send them just in case I could get a better coupon. I planned on getting a new tv already but I was hoping to put the Samsung down in my basement.

 

[JackBurton]

I stopped recommending Samsung after the LCD fiasco a few years ago. It was a flaw that affected 2 generations of LCD's and Samsung just ignored it. It wasn't a matter of IF your LCD would fail, but WHEN it would fail. And "when" happen coincidentally right after the warranty period expired. Funny how that works. It wasn't until a class action lawsuit was filed against Samsung that they did anything. And that was because they were force to act on it.

 

[Aharami]

if it's the bulging capacitors problem, you might be able to fix it yourself

 

[reallyscrued]

I stopped recommending Samsung after the LCD fiasco a few years ago. It was a flaw that affected 2 generations of LCD's and Samsung just ignored it. It wasn't a matter of IF your LCD would fail, but WHEN it would fail. And "when" happen coincidentally right after the warranty period expired. Funny how that works. It wasn't until a class action lawsuit was filed against Samsung that they did anything. And that was because they were force to act on it.

That's typically the response of any electronics company, they only act on it when backed into a corner. HP Laptops, Sony ac-chargers, etc.

If anyone can come up with an example of a non-safe electronics recall took place purely on the behalf of the manufacturer's good will, I'd like to hear it.

In any case, the Samsung LCD in my sig has been working fine for 3 years now, my parents Samsung plasma has been fine for a year. Will they hold up? We shall see.

 

[JackBurton]

That's typically the response of any electronics company, they only act on it when backed into a corner. HP Laptops, Sony ac-chargers, etc.

If anyone can come up with an example of a non-safe electronics recall took place purely on the behalf of the manufacturer's good will, I'd like to hear it.

In any case, the Samsung LCD in my sig has been working fine for 3 years now, my parents Samsung plasma has been fine for a year. Will they hold up? We shall see.

Apple would be a good example. There have been multiple cases where Apple would replace a product outside of the warranty period just out of good will. But I wouldn't try to focus on good will when something breaks, instead I'd rather focus on manufactures that build quality products that have a low failure rate. Samsung isn't one I'd put in that category. But then again, if you want a rock solid product, you're going to have to pay for it. Quality doesn't come cheap. McIntosh makes awesome amps, with an EXTREMELY low failure rate, but they aren't cheap.

 

[smitbret]

Nothing but goodness out of my 4 year old Samsung 50" plasma. Looks and functions as good as the day I purchased it.

 

[marcplante]

hmmm. we hae a Samsung LED TV that has already had a MOBO replacement after 90 days...(wife insisted on smartTV). The picture quality is good enough though it's just pixels. Sound goes outboard and we'll see how smart functionality holds up. I hope that the screen holds up past my amex extended warranty. we also bought the samsung since it fit best into our TV cabinet.

 

[mmntech]

I have a 27'' Samsung TV I picked up five years ago and the power supply has made a high pitched squeal when it heats up from the day I bought it. It was a refurb model but I don't know why I never just returned it. Just lazy I guess. Picture was great on it.

I've got an LG TV, same size, that I use with my desktop. Thinking about splurging and buying a proper monitor. Been looking at some Asus ones.

 

[sdifox]

I have a 27'' Samsung TV I picked up five years ago and the power supply has made a high pitched squeal when it heats up from the day I bought it. It was a refurb model but I don't know why I never just returned it. Just lazy I guess. Picture was great on it.

I've got an LG TV, same size, that I use with my desktop. Thinking about splurging and buying a proper monitor. Been looking at some Asus ones.

you need a projector more than you need a monitor :whiste:

 

[Number1]

I have been using a Samsung monitor for a number of years and it works flawlessly. I got it at Best Buy as an open box.

My 7 years old 42" Hitachi plasma TV started getting a red bar similar to your TV about 3 years ago. Luckily, it's intermittent and the red bar goes away after the TV has been on for about 10 minutes. It's not worth my time to fix it.
I paid $2000 back then and now I can get a similar size TV for about $500.

 

[evident]

i had a samsung lcd that was fine till it wasnt (bad caps issue) it didn't crap out until 4 years after i bought it though. I have no doubt in my mind that samsung would have given me the middle finger if it wasn't for the class action lawsuit, but as soon as i called and gave them the model number and the symptoms, somebody came out 2 days later and replaced the bad caps for me.

 

[purbeast0]

i've only had a samsung lcd monitor that i bought back in like 2001 (that is no longer in use) and a dlp i bought back in 2004, which still works flawlessly to this day. so i can't say i really have had any bad experiences with samsung in general though.

when i bought my current tv it was between a samsung plasma and a panasonic plasma. went with the panasonic though.

 

[mmntech]

you need a projector more than you need a monitor :whiste:

Ha, I wish. Gotta small space though. No room for a projector.

 

[UptheIrons]

I have both a Samsung 52in LCD tv and 22inch 226bw monitor. Both crapped out on me d/t bad caps. TV was out of warranty and apparently my model wasn't covered by the lawsuit (although they said it sounds like bad caps) but I was lucky to fix them both myself for cheap. Both are still working fine after a few more yrs.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I couldn't get anywhere with Samsung.

I bought a new Panasonic.

So I'm playing around with my samsung because I've been able to get it to run for hours without any problems. But then it glitches out again and won't stop until the tv sits for a while.

Here's a pic of the screen when it glitches it out. That band isn't consistent, it will flicker, and seems to only do initially with bright whites.

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt257/jasonallen19/IMAG2063_zps619bc030.jpg

One thing I've been able to narrow it down to is

If the tv has been sitting off all day, and if there's no inputs active (nothing connected to the tv), it doesn't glitch. I had it run the 'scrolling grey' for several hours and the screen was crisp and sharp. The SECOND I plugged in an HDMI cable, it went nuts. One instance I hooked up a computer via the svga input, and it ran a slideshow for 4 hours without glitching. So I have to wonder if it's heat related (like maybe somethign is swelling and it's losing a ground or something).

On a forum, somebody mentioned that it could be the buffer board since it doesn't act up until it has to start buffering the input data. The panel has already been replaced once and it's basically doing the same thing. This makes me think it's a power supply or controller board and not the panel itself.. Like maybe the voltages are wrong or something.

Here's a video of it acting up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feCWcfulfc0

Thoughts? I'm interested in fixing it if I can just buy the parts and swap them. I'm a computer technician, but tv's I'm not all that familiar with.

 

[jaha2000]

that looks like a bad buffer board to me.

if you want to take it apart

https://www.shopjimmy.com/

i had a buffer go out on my LG plasma. Did the same thing yours is doing. Part was 15 bucks or so from above website. Handful of screws to take the back cover off and 10 minutes to change the board out... TV shop wanted 500 bucks to fix it...

 

[Raizinman]

I purchased a Samsung 63 inch Plasma a few years ago at Nebraska Furniture Mart. Within 2 weeks, I got a bar almost identical to what TechboyJK above has. We called Nebraska and they send out a tech. He diagnoised it as the main board. It took a week to come in. He took the TV apart and repalced it. So far, from that day, it was worked great. I'm a bit concerned on the amount of heat this thing throws off, even when off. I've sinced moved this TV into the bedroom and put up a bigger TV so it doesn't get much use now.

 

[TechBoyJK]

that looks like a bad buffer board to me.

if you want to take it apart

https://www.shopjimmy.com/

i had a buffer go out on my LG plasma. Did the same thing yours is doing. Part was 15 bucks or so from above website. Handful of screws to take the back cover off and 10 minutes to change the board out... TV shop wanted 500 bucks to fix it...

Makes sense.

1) tv works fine without inputs
2) as soon as you give it an input with data to 'buffer' it shits out

 

[TechBoyJK]

I purchased a Samsung 63 inch Plasma a few years ago at Nebraska Furniture Mart. Within 2 weeks, I got a bar almost identical to what TechboyJK above has. We called Nebraska and they send out a tech. He diagnoised it as the main board. It took a week to come in. He took the TV apart and repalced it. So far, from that day, it was worked great. I'm a bit concerned on the amount of heat this thing throws off, even when off. I've sinced moved this TV into the bedroom and put up a bigger TV so it doesn't get much use now.

same thing as a buffer board?

 

[jaha2000]

same thing as a buffer board?

no.

At least in my TV, there were X buffer boards (3 of them, left center and right) and Y buffer boards (2 of them, top and bottom). Depending on which way the white line went and where it was at on the screen dictated which to replace. All the buffers were hooked into the main board. Basically each buffer drives a certain part and direction of lines.

Obviously the TV is unwatchable at this point, i would buy the center x buffer and just see if that fixes it. It might, it might not. Its cheap so if it does not work, your not out a ton.

The terms might be different for the samsung, you need to find a service manual for your exact model number to be able to order stuff from shop jimmy. its a lot easier to find by part number on that site.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I purchased a Samsung 63 inch Plasma a few years ago at Nebraska Furniture Mart. Within 2 weeks, I got a bar almost identical to what TechboyJK above has. We called Nebraska and they send out a tech. He diagnoised it as the main board. It took a week to come in. He took the TV apart and repalced it. So far, from that day, it was worked great. I'm a bit concerned on the amount of heat this thing throws off, even when off. I've sinced moved this TV into the bedroom and put up a bigger TV so it doesn't get much use now.

I'm going to order this part. I contacted shopJimmy and they'll let me return it less 20% restocking fee if it doesn't work for me.

UPDATE: I managed to pop the back off, and turn down some of the voltages. Not only did it clear up some of the whites, it really 'calmed' down the striping problem. If I let the tv cool down, it runs for about an hour or so before the striping shows up, and it's intermittent for a while. So it's semi-useable. I'm wondering if some high speed fans attached to the back vents to help airflow would help out.

 

[Tegeril]

High speed fans are not something you'll grow to enjoy listening to over time =\

 

[TechBoyJK]

High speed fans are not something you'll grow to enjoy listening to over time =\

I'd actually get some quieter ones. =)

 

[shingletingle]

Samsung is a horrible company and I will never buy one of their products again.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

That is unfortunate. Knock on wood, my Samsung DLP is still working great after almost 8 years.