Samsung HL61A750

Manufacturer: Samsung Part number: HL61A750A1FXZA

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$1,299.99 - $1,899.99 at 12 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 13 reviews

Jul 2008

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Product series; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: Samsung's HL61A750 61-inch rear-projection HDTV delivers excellent overall picture quality, and, compared to flat-panel options, it's a real bargain.

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CNET editors' review

Samsung HL61A750

price range: $1,299.99 - $1,899.99

Reviewed by: Kevin Miller
Edited by: Matthew Moskovciak
Reviewed on: 07/18/2008
Updated on:07/31/2008

The good: Excellent screen size-to-price ratio compared to big-screen flat-panels; solid black-level performance; very accurate color, with minor tweaking; plenty of connectivity options.

The bad: Somewhat expensive for a rear-projection set; as with all rear-projection sets, off-angle performance is poor.

The bottom line: Samsung's HL61A750 61-inch rear-projection HDTV delivers excellent overall picture quality, and, compared to flat-panel options, it's a real bargain.

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Rear-projection HDTVs, as a category, are on their way out, and DLP-based sets are the only microdisplay choice available, now that all manufacturers of LCD- and LCoS-based rear-projection displays have basically ceased production. Samsung and Mitsubishi are pretty much the only players left in this category--they're the only two manufacturers listed on the Best Buy and Circuit City Web sites under "rear-projection." The way things are going, 2008 or 2009 may be the last year for rear-projection, lasers notwithstanding. As with any technology nearing the end of its lifespan, RPTV is becoming an even better bargain than before, as long as you're aware of its limitations, such as poor off-angle performance compared to plasmas.

Samsung's HL61A750 is the company's top-of-the-line 61-inch model. It has a really solid feature package, with lots of options focused on optimizing the picture, and generous connectivity to accommodate all your video sources without any issues. Most importantly--at least to this reviewer--it is an excellent performer, with deep blacks and accurate color temperature after just a few tweaks in the user menu. Rear-pros may be a dying breed, but if you're looking to get 61 inches for less than $2,000 (street price), the Samsung HL61A750 is an excellent performer and handily beats the comparable Mitsubishi WD-65735.

Design
If you've seen one big-box microdisplay, you've just about seen them all. This is especially true now that Sony's interestingly styled SXRD rear-projection sets are no longer produced. The Samsung HL61A750 sports a glossy black finish with a very thin bezel surrounding the left, right, and top edges of the screen. Samsung's signature round blue circle still sits directly below the middle of the screen.

While the TV's cabinet is unchanged, the remote has undergone a complete makeover. It has a glossy black finish, and I wasn't a fan of the multicolored buttons. I was disappointed that it is not backlit at all, and the round dial around the Enter button intended to help you navigate the menu is awkward to use; I found myself going to places in the menu I didn't intend to visit. The internal menu system has not changed since last year's DLP models, and is quite intuitive and easy to use.

Features

Like most modern big-screen LCDs, the HL61A750 has a native resolution of 1080p, which works out to 1,920x1,080 pixels. While we often downplay the importance of 1080p resolution at smaller screen sizes, with a 61-inch screen you should be able to see the benefits of 1080p over 720p, albeit at a very close seating distance of 7 feet.

You'll want to select Warm 2, as it's the most accurate color temperature.

Three picture modes are available, including Dynamic, Standard, and Movie. I chose Movie, as it produced the best results at the factory presets. The selectable color temperatures are Cool 1, Cool 2, Normal, Warm 1, and Warm 2; we selected Warm 2, as its by far the closest to the broadcast standard color temperature.

Dynamic may be the brightest, but Movie mode is the best for an accurate picture in a dark room environment.

The Detailed Settings menu includes several additional adjustments and almost all of them, including Black Adjust, Dynamic Contrast, Edge Enhancement, and xvYCC Color, are best shut off. The LED control adjusts the backlight for the LEDs, and is very useful in optimizing the black level of the set. The lower you set it the better the blacks, but you also decrease light output, so there is a tradeoff.

When in the Movie mode, you will find that many of the settings in the Picture Options menu are grayed out, indicating they are set correctly and should not be changed. I was very pleased to see that Samsung has added a Blue Only mode, which is helpful in getting color and tint set correctly, as a blue filter really isn't accurate enough with these types of displays (check this tip for details). Color Gamut comes set to sRGB, and that is the most accurate setting. This feature changes the primary colors, and sRGB is very close to the HDTV specifications for red, green, and blue. The Normal and Wide modes bring the primaries way beyond where they are meant to be.

(Updated July, 31, 2008) The Samsung's selection of aspect ratio modes is solid, and includes a Just Scan option that displays 1080i and 1080p without scaling. Since this is a rear-projection set it still overscans about 2.5 percent, which obscures the extreme edges of the image--whereas flat-panel sets can typically show the entire image with zero overscan.

With three HDMI inputs and two component video inputs, you should be covered for high-def video.

There are ample AV connections located in the rear right side of the HL61A750. The most important connections are the three HDMI inputs. Plus, there are two component video inputs for any analog HD devices you have. For standard-definition analog video, there is a single S-Video input and two composite video inputs. A PC-style VGA input is also included, as well as a digital optical audio output, too.

Performance
This is where the Samsung excels compared to the competition. Color fidelity is exceedingly accurate, requiring only user menu tweaks that don't need professional calibration to access. The primary colors and the grayscale could still stand to be improved a bit, and can be with full-blown professional calibration, but the out-of-the-box performance is still impressive in this regard. And most importantly, blacks can be made to surpass the old microdisplay black-level champs--the Sony SXRD sets, like the Sony KDL-55A3000--by proper manipulation of the LED Control feature. You can check out my full picture settings for more info.

Black level: Blacks are quite compelling on the HL61A750. If you turn down the backlight, using the LED Control feature, you can really get good, deep, inky blacks out of this set--but you need to do it carefully, as light output suffers if you go too low. I settled on just above Minimum and cranked the Contrast to 90, and got an acceptably bright picture with excellent black level performance. For example, at the very end of Chapter three of I Am Legend on Blu-ray, when Will Smith is locking down his house, the screen goes completely black, and the Samsung produced a convincing dark black field with little or no noise. It then goes back in time with Will and his family driving through NYC at night, which also showed off the excellent shadow-detail capability of the set.

I also looked at some of the outer space shots from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the Samsung clearly bested the previous referenced TVs for black in microdisplays, the Sony KDS-55A3000 and the Mitsubishi WD-65735. Chapter six is a good high-contrast scene, with both good dark blacks from space juxtaposed against bright whites from a space ship and a planet; displaying these scenes, the Samsung was a definitely notch above the rest.

Color accuracy: As I said earlier, the overall color accuracy of the HL61A750 is exceptional, provided you set it up properly. Grayscale tracking in the Warm 2 color temperature setting is close to the broadcast standard. Primary and secondary color points are quite close to the HDTV specification, and the color decoding is spot on. All of these things combine to give the Samsung the ability to deliver incredibly accurate color, and this is extremely impressive with high-resolution HD sources, like Blu-ray.

HD programming from CNET's DirecTV HD satellite system looked pretty darn good. HDNET, in particular, was crisp, with excellent color reproduction and exceptionally natural-looking skin tone rendition. Outdoor scenes from I Am Legend looked exceptional and natural, especially when compared with the Mitsubishi WD65735. The Sony KDS-55A3000 stood up to the Samsung a lot better than the Mitsubishi in this regard, but the Samsung still outperformed it.

Video processing: Video processing on the HL61A750 is quite good for a consumer HDTV. It passed both the Video and Film Resolution Loss tests on the Silicon Optix HQV Blu-ray test disc, which means it de-interlaces 1080i HD material, correctly preserving all the resolution in the signal. Processing was clean, as evidenced by the quiet nature of blacks.

Uniformity: White field uniformity is exceptional on this set, which is common for DLPs. A good scene for testing this is the very beginning of Chapter Five of The Italian Job, where they are all celebrating in the Alps. There is a long pan of snow-covered mountains, and the Samsung reproduced this scene flawlessly, with no color splotching whatsoever.

Standard definition: (Updated July, 31, 2008) The HL61A750 did well in our standard-definition tests. It passed the 2:3 pulldown test as long as we left the Film Mode in Auto as opposed to the default Off. It also passed most of the other HQV tests, displaying the full resolution of DVDs and handling video-based jaggies tests with ease.

PC: The HL61750 isn't an ideal PC display, because, as we mentioned before, even in Just Scan mode there is some overscan, which will obscure parts of the screen. Aside from that, we found text to be clear and crisp, although resolution tests from DisplayMate indicated that it wasn't delivering all full horizontal resolution.

How we test TVs

Geek box

TEST	RESULT	SCORE
Before color temp (20/80)	6510/6760	Good
After color temp	N/A
Before grayscale variation	+/- 209	Good
After grayscale variation	N/A
Color of red (x/y)	0.635/0.331	Good
Color of green	0.294/0.603	Good
Color of blue	0.149/0.059	Good
Overscan	2.5%	Good
Black-level retention	All patterns stable	Good
Defeatable edge enhancement	Y	Good
480i 2:3 pull-down, 24 fps	Pass	Good
1080i video resolution	Pass	Good
1080i film resolution	Pass	Good

Juice box

Samsung HL61A750	Picture settings
Samsung HL61A750	Default	Calibrated	Power Save
Picture on (watts)	171.24	83.38	N/A
Picture on (watts/sq. inch)	0.11	0.05	N/A
Standby (watts)	0.83	0.83	N/A
Cost per year	$53.52	$26.32	N/A

Score (considering size)	Good
Score (overall)	Good

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 13 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 13

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9 stars

This may be the best rear projection TV ever!

by WonderDude on April 29, 2008

Pros: Amazingly wide color gamut! (There are colors you didn't even know existed on many popular TV shows); Awesome black levels; Impressive brightness; Excellent up-scaling for a TV

Cons: Off angle viewing not as good as Plasma or LCD; Unable to correctly reproduce laptop's signal through D-Sub VGA input; Some have complained about random shut offs

Summary: This TV is amazing! Connect you're old DVD player through the component connections and watch in awe as this TV turns your old DVDs into stellar almost HD-looking movies! ...

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Summary: This TV is amazing! Connect you're old DVD player through the component connections and watch in awe as this TV turns your old DVDs into stellar almost HD-looking movies! My wife and I were absolutely blown away when we put in one of our season three Battlestar Galactica DVDs. The Shine on the Galactica and the stars, nebulas, etc... look so real, you feel like you are actually out there floating in space! Is this really a standard definition DVD??? WOW! Even after I got my Toshiba HD-A30, I did not see that much of an improvement with up-scaling over the TV's own up-scaling. And of course this TV will accept a 1080p signal through either of its three version 1.3 HDMI inputs, so HD sources are uncompromised. But the color and contrast of this set are what really set this TV apart from other sets that I've seen. I even slightly prefer it over my buddy's 50" Pioneer Kuro.

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6 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

Awesome TV :) LOVE IT

by cadiman26 on July 22, 2008

Pros: Great picture, looks great, it's LED!

Cons: Big Blue Button (I have a 2 year old)

Summary: This TV is awesome.. I have to comment on one thing in this review however.. The remot IS backlit! There is a button in the upper right hand corner with ...

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Summary: This TV is awesome.. I have to comment on one thing in this review however.. The remot IS backlit! There is a button in the upper right hand corner with a light bulb on it..

The only thing I don't like about this set is the front panel power button is BIG and glows blue if you have it set this way (Can be turned off). My two year old daughter is like a bug attracted to a bug light.. She can't resist.. I had to cover the button (even with the light turned off) to keep her from turning off the TV when I am not watching her..

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3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

Jawdropping - Simply Amazing - It must be the mirrors ;-)

by gbcox on August 10, 2008

Pros: Picture Quality, Build Quality, Power Consumption, Connectivity, Menu System, Size, Price, Weight

Cons: Viewing Angle and you can't hang it on a wall (neither of which matter to me)

Summary: I consider myself fairly picky when it comes to video quality and I have to say that this TV has exceeded all of my expectations. I've read all the ...

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Summary: I consider myself fairly picky when it comes to video quality and I have to say that this TV has exceeded all of my expectations. I've read all the reviews and decided to take the leap, against the advice of all my friends that said: get LCD, get Plasma. One weird thing I noticed was while it looks OK at the store, it is simply spectacular when you get it in your home. Several other reviews mentioned the same thing, and it's true. Yes, there is the viewing angle issue for rear projection, but that isn't a problem for me - and the picture is unbelievable - intense rich accurate color, tremendous blacks, excellent sharp detail... you'd have to spend $5000 or more to get this size and picture quality in a plasma or LCD, and I've looked at those and prefer the picture quality of this DLP. The LCD engine will last the life of the TV, you don't need to worry about bulb replacements and this is probably the greenest TV you can buy energy consumption wise... about 120 watts when on and less than a watt when in standby. Samsung absolutely did their homework when engineering this TV. Unless you are intending to hang it on a wall, or have the need to have people sit outside normal viewing positions it is an absolute no brainer, you should definitely buy this TV. This TV has a better picture than others costing thousands more...and it is simply an astonishing value.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Jaw-dropping, spectacular picture

by wkk5dl on July 28, 2008

Pros: LED Light Engine, Superior brightness with no need to dim ambient light, Superb color reproduction

Cons: Lack of 3-2 pulldown.

Summary: I purchased the 67-inch version of this set, which is identical to the 61-inch version except for screen size. I found CNET's review spot-on. However, CNET failed to emphasize ...

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Summary: I purchased the 67-inch version of this set, which is identical to the 61-inch version except for screen size. I found CNET's review spot-on. However, CNET failed to emphasize the advantages of the LED light engine. My old Hitachi failed in both lamp and light engine after about 6000 hours, or about 3 years of use. The LEDs in this Samsung are rated at 60,000 hours, so I'll likely not need to replace them for the life of the set. There is no warm-up required - full brightness is virtually instantaneous. Power consumption is half of my old set, and there is little heat produced by the LEDs. Brightness is excellent, with no need to cover my windows during daylight hours. In a dark room at night the picture is astounding! I see no picture tilting as mentioned in some other reviews. My cable company still sends some channels in analog-only format. I am disappointed that this set does not have the 3-2 pulldown that would allow me to use the full screen without distortion rather than have to use the 4:3 mode that reduces picture size. Overall, I find the plusses FAR outweigh the minuses in this set.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

I still blows me away.

by ripvanbuffed on July 22, 2008

Pros: Excellent picture. LED engine means I don't need to worry about replacing a bulb every 2000-3000 hours. HDMI 1.3.

Cons: Remote isn't universal. Slight tilting of picture.

Summary: This TV replaced my old Sony rear projection HDTV. I also have a DLP front projector and a 15" LCD in my bathroom. The Samsung blows them all away. I ...

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Summary: This TV replaced my old Sony rear projection HDTV. I also have a DLP front projector and a 15" LCD in my bathroom. The Samsung blows them all away. I bought this TV back in May and I'm still amazed at how great the picture is every time I watch it. (Just ask my wife. She hears about it every day.) The CNET reviewer said the remote isn't back lit. As you can see in the picture of the remote there is a button on the top right to turn the back lighting on and off. CNET also didn't mention that there is no bulb to replace. That was the main reason I bought it.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

Amazing picture Quality

by neersfan on September 26, 2008

Pros: I have DirecTV and cable hooked to this set and it the picture is crystal clear. I also have a Xbox 360 and the gaming feature works great. The LED lights burn a lot cooler and give off a brillant bright picture.

Cons: The built-in HD receiver will not label digital channels, only analog. Which means you have to turn to channel 81-803 to watch CBS, it can get confusing. Slight bowing of the picture, about an 1/8" across the screen, most people don't notice it.

Summary: I would recommend this set to anyone who doesn't want to shell out $2500-$4000 for a smaller LCD set. This is a great buy..........Enjoy!

Summary: I would recommend this set to anyone who doesn't want to shell out $2500-$4000 for a smaller LCD set. This is a great buy..........Enjoy!

1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

Best Picture I've seen from any DLP!

by 1080PGuru on August 30, 2008

Pros: LED Backlight last 60,000 hours! That's 8 hours a day everyday for 20 years! Not that I watch that much TV, but it's nice to know I won't have to replace the bulb! EVER!

Cons: May not have the veiwing angle that LCD's and Plasma's have, but for home theatre, this is the mark!

Summary: I've owned two big screen televisions by Samsung, and now this one. There's a reason I keep coming back to Samsung, and thats simply the picture quality dominates ...

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Summary: I've owned two big screen televisions by Samsung, and now this one. There's a reason I keep coming back to Samsung, and thats simply the picture quality dominates the competition! In the 90's all I would every purchase was Sony for televisions. Especially their trinitar tv's. Now were in 2008-09 and for the latest technology, I really think Samsung has the market won! I have one Samsung LCD which looked better than the same class sony, and another dlp 61" Samsung which again looked better than the equal from Sony. The only reason I'm made this purchase was to get 1080p and the LED long lasting light!

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
3 stars

Buyer Beware

by RaiderNation1469 on July 24, 2008

Pros: Excellent Colors and Blacks, Bargain Price

Cons: Quality Issues (Image Not Square in Screen)

Summary: I purchased a 52" DLP in 2003 (only 720p) for the basement and decided to purchase another DLP which is 1080p. I did my research and all reviews indicated this ...

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Summary: I purchased a 52" DLP in 2003 (only 720p) for the basement and decided to purchase another DLP which is 1080p. I did my research and all reviews indicated this set was excellent and energy efficient due to LED light engine.

I purchased this set on June 24, 2008 from my local BB and had it delivered the next day. After the set was delivered and setup, I noticed that the image in the screen was tilted approximately 3 to 4 degrees.

Obviously, I refused the set and BB delivered a new set two days later. This new set had the exact same problem and I refused the set again.

This exercise in stupidity continued two more times when I insisted BB contact Samsung and report an obvious quality issue with this set. Samsung indicated they would have an authorized repair technician come to my house and investigate this issue with my fourth delivered set.

The technician arrived at my house the next day and I explained the issue and he proceeded to calibrate the TV set. After calibration was complete the issue was not resolved. I requested the technician contact Samsung and let them know of the issue.

The technician contacted Samsung (special telephone number not available to consumers) and explained the problem. Samsung indicated that the allowable engineering tolerance is 10 mm (1/4 to 1/2 inch) for this set, and that this set was within acceptable engineering tolerances.

Needless to say, I did not find this acceptable and returned the set for good. I was so irate that I performed an additional investigation and visited my local CC and Tweeter and their display models had the same visible issue.

If you do not mind the fact that the image within this set is crooked, please feel free to purchase this set. If you are as discerning as I am, I would not recommend ths set. I challenge anyone out there to take a tape measure with them when they view this set at their local electonics store and request that the menu box or a channel with a ticker be brought up on the set. You will discover that the left or right side is 1/4 to 1/2 inch higher on one end and that it is not limited to just the bottom of the screen. Wait for a large logo to be present on the screen and it will be tilted in the center of the screen.

Although not as large, I purchased the Samsung LN52A650 and could not be happier.

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3 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

This is a Great TV

by parrothead on May 25, 2008

Pros: Perfect color and contrast

Cons: None at all

Summary: This TV is a great value. Bright picture with great color and contrast. This TV would be hard to beat.

Summary: This TV is a great value. Bright picture with great color and contrast. This TV would be hard to beat.

1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

This TV is all it claims to be...Awesome!!!

by sam rhodes on October 9, 2008

Pros: Sharp edges, clear bold picture, enomorous presence in our 15 x 30 den, all the details from packaging to menu operation are well thought out and easy. From football to baseball no motion blur. Don't be afraid of this rear projection technology.

Cons: Finding the right piece of quality furniture to set this on.

Summary: I have always been reluctant to buy a new product in its first production year. I have read all the tech blogs and all the reviews I could stand. Everything ...

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Summary: I have always been reluctant to buy a new product in its first production year. I have read all the tech blogs and all the reviews I could stand. Everything that was good about this TV I have found to be true and the few negative things have either been corrected or were based on user ignorance or product mishandling. My wife and I unboxed and set up within 30 minutes. Autoprogram and started watching our first HDTV on local channels. The menu format was better than our two previous Sony's. Never used the manual to set up. Issues we had read about such as cutting off on its own, dark corners, frame warpage, and various residual color spots were non existant. As with all previous TVs you need to adjust picture to your room and the amount of light you normally have. We have direct and indirect sunlight from several sides. No problems with glare on screen. The issue of this technology having less field of vision than LCD or plasma, though true is not really an issue for us. Most people set in the middle 50 to 60 degrees of viewing not int he 5 to 10 degrees on the outer edge. I feel that this issue has been blown out of proportion in an attempt to find something undesireable to say about this TV. Sales and political ads are usually bs. This an UNBELIEVABLE VALUE 61" of clear, bold, LCD quality for $ 1700. Shop hard and regular for a good deal. WE bought online and picked up at C City last week with a walk out of $ 1705. (8.25 % sales tax included) Sale price and 10% coupon. If your smart and have been saving up to PAY CASH for your first HDTV this is the best value in the market place.

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Samsung HL61A750

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