LE32R74BDX - Disappointed

Stvp

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Hi

I took delivery of a Samsung LE32R74BD from Dixons today as an upgrade to my Toshiba 32zp38. I got a good price (£638) but I have to say I'm extremely disappointed.

The sound is appalling and seems to have a clipping noise when playing music.

The picture on DVD through component is stunning but using normal Sky it's a real let down. I've had a fiddle with the settings and made sure I turned Dynamic picture off but no joy :confused:

Is there anything I can do to improve the sound and the picture (e.g. tried and tested settings)?

Thanks in advance

Steven
 
StvPl said:
Hi

I got a good price (£638) but I have to say I'm extremely disappointed.

How did you get it for £638?
 
StvPl said:
Is there anything I can do to improve the sound and the picture (e.g. tried and tested settings)?

Thanks in advance

Steven


There is something... Return it before your 14-day return policy runs out and get a Sony. Or a Panasonic. Or a JVC. Or a Plasma.


(this is from a former LE32R51 owner and a current LE32R72 owner)

Dixons have a 14-day no-questions-asked return policy so you should use that if you're not happy. Nothing will really fix the shortcomings of the Samsung, as i've discovered at my expenses.
 
rob_brum said:
How did you get it for £638?

There were some vouchers available for Dixons that knocked the price down to £709 and at the time Egg were offering an additional 10% instant cash back which took the total to £638 delivered.

Also, I've been tweaking a little more and I think the picture is getting better (do these take a few hours to settle in?). I've also got my PC plugged in and the picture is fantastic.

(Still haven't been able to do anything with the sound though).

Steven
 
DanDT said:
There is something... Return it before your 14-day return policy runs out and get a Sony. Or a Panasonic. Or a JVC. Or a Plasma.


(this is from a former LE32R51 owner and a current LE32R72 owner)

Thanks Dan, I think if the wife doesn't approve I may do that. I only went for the Samsung for the price and overall the reviews were good. The picture is definitely improving (still not great on regular Sky) and I guess I can get a Panny 855 to sort the sound.
 
StvPl said:
Thanks Dan, I think if the wife doesn't approve I may do that. I only went for the Samsung for the price and overall the reviews were good. The picture is definitely improving (still not great on regular Sky) and I guess I can get a Panny 855 to sort the sound.


The thing that really got to me is that you just never get good blacks whatever you do. A Sony will fix that and still give you loads of detail in dark areas (as well as bright areas), it's actually quite striking to see the difference after having been used to a Samsung.

I only mention the Sony cause it's the only one i've tested in comparison.
 
DanDT said:
The thing that really got to me is that you just never get good blacks whatever you do. A Sony will fix that and still give you loads of detail in dark areas (as well as bright areas), it's actually quite striking to see the difference after having been used to a Samsung.

I only mention the Sony cause it's the only one i've tested in comparison.

Whats the sound like on the Sony? I do have surround but rarely use it, didn't feel the need with the toshiba 32zp38. However the samsung is marginally better than my £4.99 clock radio (unless I have the setting completely wrong). I prefer to have 'good enough' sound without having to turn the amp on.
 
StvPl said:
Whats the sound like on the Sony? I do have surround but rarely use it, didn't feel the need with the toshiba 32zp38. However the samsung is marginally better than my £4.99 clock radio (unless I have the setting completely wrong). I prefer to have 'good enough' sound without having to turn the amp on.

Well you'll never gonna get great sound from LCD TVs simply because of the size. Compared to a Toshiba CRT i have in the house, the LCDs really are weak. Admittedly, my Toshiba has a built in sub-woofer and generally sounds awesome :)

I think the Sony is better than the R74 though. And for some reason i found that the R74 is much much weaker than the older R51.. go figure...
 
For some reason, even the Freeview tuner on the R7x i have is much weaker than even the R51. On the same aerial (roof, fabulous aerial) the R51 would give me full signal and no errors on any channels, but the R7x is never perfect, gives bad signal and is generally very weak... go figure...
 
The sammy is a great value 'screen' and i mean screen.
Personally from my testing it beats the viera, tosh and sony S giving you £100s back, but only in picture quality.

If you are the home cimema equipped guy, or PC user you cannot get a more brilliant panel for that price.
I never use TV speakers and would rather use headphones than the cardboard crap they hide behind those shiny silver/black curved faces.

Regarding your digital reception problems i had to call samsung on behalf of a customer because the lady had no reception on her new TV.
The customer service lady i spoke too, was very quick to say 'O yes its probably a faulty tuner - send it back we'll fix...' etc

Not even an attempt to diagnose the fault. So go figure ;)
 
Jury is still out whether or not I keep the Sammy. Sometimes I look at the picture on Sky and quite like what I see, other times particularly on those channels that don't get their fair share of bandwidth it can be quite nauseating. Having said that we have watched Finding Nemo tonight and the picture was superb! As is the PC picture.

We intend taking advantage of Dixon's 14 days no quibble return (thanks DanDT) and see how we get on with it over the next week.

Ironically, although I am in area where digital reception is patchy, the freeview reception is perfect!!
 
I have the Sammy... it really suffers if you don't use decent GOLD plated SCART leads for Sky SD.

For once, gold plated good quality DOES matter!

Try Richer Sounds, Cambridge Audio stuff.. excellent.

Hope this helps.

As for sound.. I've not heard ANY LCD or Plasma with good sound.. and don't expect to. I use a Pioneer VSX-C301 connected via Scart to Sky (soon to be optical via Sky HD!!!!)... sound is fantastic through 5 x monitor speakers.. never use my TV sound - EVER!
 
StvPl said:
Hi

I took delivery of a Samsung LE32R74BD from Dixons today as an upgrade to my Toshiba 32zp38. I got a good price (£638) but I have to say I'm extremely disappointed.

The sound is appalling and seems to have a clipping noise when playing music.

The picture on DVD through component is stunning but using normal Sky it's a real let down. I've had a fiddle with the settings and made sure I turned Dynamic picture off but no joy :confused:

Is there anything I can do to improve the sound and the picture (e.g. tried and tested settings)?

Thanks in advance

Steven

If want to improve the PQ form Sky, you need a DVD recorder (preferably Panasonic). Connect the SCART into the recorder’s AV2 and connect the recorder to the TV via component.
 
I got the Sammy R74 a few days ago and was at first a little dissapointed. However, after some playing with the settings on the TV and my sources and the purchasing of the right cables the PQ is fantastic on SKY+ and my DVDs and I have quite an old DVD player.

As for the sound, it is fine for general TV shows like he news, corrie etc considering you have not got two ugly speakers sticking off the side of the TV while as soon as a film or sporting event comes on, whack on the stereo speakers from an amp, not TV speakers can live up to proper speakers hooked up to a decent amp.
 
SD picture from a SkyHD box using Component looks surprisingly good on mine, not so good on scart.
 
thats why a Panny DVD recorder will improve the image quality
 
Try plugging your DVD player into it via RGB Scart, using a set up programme Avia or THX and set up the picture and then try Sky.
This is why Sky should have a calibration channel.
 

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