Status of the 921?

[SParker]

Any idea when this puppy is coming out? Also still no idea what the cost will be? I am thinking about getting one of these before I get a HD set.

[Frapp]

Expect Dish to release about 1000 units around the country maybe late summer or early fall. This way, they can have paying customers beta test for them while they track the units performance.

I would not expect a 921 to be readily available for purchase by the general public until close ( if not ) the holidays later this year :shrug:

[dmodemd]

I hate to say that the demand will be so large they wont be able to keep up.... then with all the new people getting HDTVs (esp. around the holidays) the demand will continue to outpace production capacity :(

[DarrellP]

Thus keeping the pri$e artificially inflated.

[SParker]

Hey guys well I went and did it. :) I bought a HD ready set today. Any opinions on this one? I hope it is a good one. Its kind of the bargain basements sets at $949.

http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?eUser=&prod_id=TXN3071WHFX%2fXAA

[Lee L]

That set is OK, I've been considering one myself, check out the Samsung forum at www.hometheaterspot.com for a few service menu tweaks that will vastly improve the picture.

[Chris Blount]

Originally posted by SParker
Hey guys well I went and did it. :) I bought a HD ready set today. Any opinions on this one? I hope it is a good one. Its kind of the bargain basements sets at $949.

http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?eUser=&prod_id=TXN3071WHFX%2fXAA Not bad. You won't regret going with a 16X9 screen. The only thing I didn't see is whether or not it actually displays 1080i. However with that size of screen, you may not see much of a difference between 480p and 1080i.

[John Walsh]

I am sure that you will be happy with it an I certainly agree with going with a 16x9. If I were you then I would get an extended service agreement with it too if hadn't already done so. I have a Toshiba 57x81 that my wife bought me for Christmas in 2001 and last month it crapped out on me. I did not buy the ESP and had to pay about $600.00 to get it fixed.

BTW that advice on going to the hometheatrespot forums is a great idea. I am a contributing member and get a lot of useful info including other electronics like DVD players, remotes, home automation etc...

[SParker]

John,

I did get a 4 year extended warranty.

Chris,

It does do 1080i but not 720p but most receivers can convert 720p to 1080i right?

[SParker]

Lee,

Thanks for the suggestion it is much appreciated.

[SParker]

Chris,

I looked at the brochure thing on that samsung site and it says this.

"Digital TV High Definition Monitor 1080i
Capable Display: accepts signals from an
optional HDTV receiver/decoder that outputs
1080i or 480p."

[Lee L]

On the samsunusa web page, all the TXN sets are listed as having 800 lines of resolution so if I am understanding things they are a little short of HDTV resolution even in their published specs but they still look good to my eyes, certainly neating the crap out of the 32" 4x3 I have in the bedroom right now. Heck, most every RPTV with only 7 inch guns can't really resolve 1080 lines so it is not all that unusual.

[SParker]

Yeah I would of like more likes of res but then it would of been a lot more $$ too! So I think this one is plenty of TV for me at this time. Lee I looked on hometheatrespot but couldn't find a thread for the service menu on my TV. Any ideas?

[Raymond Simonian]

For the Samsung TXN service menue go to AVS Forum.com. Then go to Samsung section. You may have to go back a few pages. There are quite a few threads on the TXN 3071, 3075 and the soon to come TXN3098.

[Chris Blount]

Originally posted by John Walsh
I am sure that you will be happy with it an I certainly agree with going with a 16x9. If I were you then I would get an extended service agreement with it too if hadn't already done so. I have a Toshiba 57x81 that my wife bought me for Christmas in 2001 and last month it crapped out on me. I did not buy the ESP and had to pay about $600.00 to get it fixed.

BTW that advice on going to the hometheatrespot forums is a great idea. I am a contributing member and get a lot of useful info including other electronics like DVD players, remotes, home automation etc... Dang John, that scares me. I've had my x81 since May of 2001 and it still works great. I did buy the 4 year service plan. What went wrong with yours?

BTW: We try not to mention the "spot" forum here. The admin over there threatened legal action against us for a really stupid reason.

[Raymond Simonian]

I purchsased the Samsung 30 inch TXN3075 as a second HDTV for the bedroom a month ago. I have had the RCA38310 since FEB. 2002. I do not have the 6000 because I have been waiting for the 921 since June 2002. Charlie said that any HDTV questions would have to wait until the July 14 Tech chat. Any new information before then would be appreciated. Wide screen DVD's have been awesume on both televisions.

[SParker]

Raymond,

Assuming you have Star Wars Ep 2, do you get little black bars on the top and bottom of the picture? I have the DVD set to 16:9 and the TV on widescreen. Spider-Man fills the screen however.

[Raymond Simonian]

SParker,

Yes, I have black bars. But I get it on the RCA38310 also. It has nothing to do with the televisions. Its the way the DVD's are formated. Look on there covers. Star Wars Ep2 is formated in 2.35:1 (aspect ratio). Spider-Man is formatted in 1.85:1 (aspect ratio). You will find all DVD formatted in these ratios will fill the screen in the same fashion. The zoom 1 feature on the Samsung is similar to the way it fits on my RCA. I think zoom 2 may distort it some but I am not sure. The widescreen setting is definitely distorted. I assume your 3071 has the zoom features.

[SParker]

I think I like the panorama setting better than widescreen.

[Raymond Simonian]

Do you have the zoom settings. If you don't your widescreen setting may be the same as the zoom setting on the 3075. I have huge sections on the top and bottom that are black on the widescreen setting when viewing Star Wars Ep2 and very little picture. So the 3071 and 3075 may be a little different. The panarama setting leaves the center image unchanged but expands the left and right of the picture to fit the screen. It is for use on 4.1 format or "full screen" DVD's.

[SParker]

Yes I do have zoom. For me the black bar is just about 1 inch each on the top and bottom.