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General discussion

LN46A550 switches channels by itself! Sound echoes too!

Oct 23, 2008 4:05AM PDT

Okay, I thought Samsung was among the best out there when it comes to LCD TVs, at least CNET reviews praise it. However, I'm now on my second TV in less than a month and it's driving me nuts! Sorry for all the yelling, but I'm frustrated.

The situation is as follows. I don't use a cable box (Comcast is my cable company) and I subscribe to only basic extended channels. So, all in all I have my coax cable fed straight into the TV. I also have the firmware of this bad boy upgraded to the latest available (ver. 1006 I believe). The damn thing simply switches channels on me several times in the span of an hour. I would be watching HD channel 1-5 with 1080i resolution and all of a sudden it will flip to a lower channel no matter where my remote is at the time. It's not the remote control because I hid it and it still does it! I'm, like I said, on my second TV now with same issues.

Another annoyance is the fact that sound is unstable, it just starts to echo at commercial time when any particular commercial starts to play. I have the TV hooked up to my home theater system, made by Durabrand, one of those cheap 5.1 surround systems, but I'm sure it's not my home theater that does it. The reason why I say that is because when I hear it to start to echo I can either switch to another channel or change the entertainment mode to off and then back to on and the sound problem is fixed (until the next commercial brake). I turned the TV sound off in the menu because that always interferes with the home theater system's sound quality and would constantly echo if not turned off.

Any bright ideas what to do? I'm afraid that this particular TV model is a lemon and Samsung is selling us stuff that isn't even tested properly. How else would you explain that two brand new TV sets, all manufactured in August of this year, both have identical issues?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

--Croatian

Discussion is locked

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HD without cable boxes
Oct 23, 2008 9:50AM PDT

Our tuners meet the specifications of what is required of the tuner broadcast spectrum in the U.S. That testing has been extensive, and as a result, very few problems have been reported.

I called Comcast this afternoon to see what they knew about these kinds of issues. While they keep HD broadcasts "open" (unscrambled), they do say that they don't guarantee that the signal coming in will work on every television. The variables included wiring, transmission, length from last repeater, among other things. Typically they will transmit local HD channels in high definition, but the customer support supervisor that I spoke with today noted that if customers have problems, and it's not uncommon without a box to have problems with HD programming, they highly recommend a HD box to maintain signal and strenth, which produces a stable, consistent picture quality.

HD programming takes more bandwidth. You may have great bandwidth transmissions with SD. But the information required to dry-line transmit HD feed is much harder. The cable companies know this, and that's why the box is an essential part of their HD offering.

Comcast notes that an HD box is required for HD programming on their website:
http://www.comcast.com/Customers/FAQ/FaqDetails.ashx?Id=177&lid=4FAQNeedforHdtv&lpos=TopFAQs

They do note, however, that "some customers can receive the unscrambled signals through the coax, and some can not. Those that can't, we recommend a cable box".

With digital tuners, if the signal isn't strong, the tuner may change to an available channel, thus, the channel changing. In the old analog tuners, you'd just get static. I'm not sure why the channels are changing for sure, but I'd suspect that when the television can't process the picture, it defaults to the next channel. Any other input would note that a "signal is not available", however, the signal is available; it's just not offering enough of a feed that can be processed properly.

Besides improving picture quality, a cable box would also likely calibrate the sound so that there is no delay or echo. That's the reason they have those boxes available - so if the delivery isn't strong, you have an option to improve your signal. What you're seeing is the new digital version of what used to be analog static.

Not to mention, many of those cable boxes have an optical out, which would allow you to get surround sound directly to your Durabrand when that signal is transmitted.

When you can fix two out of three transmission issues with a cable box, it's hard to suggest that the TV is the problem. And my best hypothesis is that the third symptom (channel changing) is the result of the picture signal not being strong enough.

Ask your cable provider if you can try a box free for a week and see if those issues don't disappear.

I can appreciate your frustration. Hey, I've been there too. At the same time, let's try and work together to find a solution.

--HDTech

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The HD signal quality
Oct 23, 2008 12:17PM PDT

Thank you for the quick reply and the effort you have put into this. I very much appreciate your suggestions. Calling Comcast was not something I expected you would do for me so I take my heat off to you for that one. What I took from what you have said is that maybe the signal strength isn't enough for the built-in HD tuner to operate correctly, so I went to check my signal strength meter in the TV.

The thing I found interesting is that not all 1080i channels (1-2, 1-4, 1-5 and 1-6) have the same signal strength. The poorest of them all are 1-2 and 1-5 that have only 3 bars with the 4th bar rarely showing up, but even then for only a second or two. The other HD and DTV channels show solid 6 bars with the 7th bar showing up sporadically in short bursts. All of the channels regardless of their signal strength are perfectly good to watch and without any picture degradation. The first TV that I returned had terrible picture degradation (pixelation) and at times would totally loose huge portions of the screen. But even under those very bad circumstances, my old TV didn't always switch channels when the conditions were so bad. At times it would switch, but other times it would stay on the same channel even though the picture would become badly pixelated. It was random, a hit and miss kind of thing.

This makes me believe that something is not right with Comcast service for those specific channels. When we moved into this home little more than 2 years ago I called Comcast because of a very poor picture quality on my old TV sets, but they took care of it right away by replacing the old coax with the brand new one from the utility pol in front of our house and to the cable box at the side of our house. The tech also installed new connectors in the crawl space under the house, which instantly improved the picture quality 10 fold.

However, the current situation is as follows. The channel 1-5 is the one I mostly notice being switched down to 1-2. But even when I watch 1-2 at times I would see the same channel label "1-2" flash before my eyes in the upper left hand corner of the screen as if I just switched to it even though I'm already watching it. That, to me, is not only an indication of a poor signal quality, but also tuner's tendency to default to that frequency spectrum without trying to renegotiate and reacquire the existing channel. That is not acceptable. I guess I have to look into buying some sort of a HD TV or cable TV signal amplifier.

My old analog TV at least didn't switch the channels on me just because the signal was poor. I am against having to buy any HD box from Comcast because their prices are already outrageous and having that box simply is another clever marketing trick to tempt us to buy more programming from them in the future. I have a teenager at home and having an HD box will certainly make him want more, the money I don't have and don't want to spend in these hard economic times. This TV was purchased on credit in good faith that the value of nearly $1500 will bring joy to our family without having to worry about these types of "ghostly" glitches. It is my reasonable expectation that when I buy such an expensive TV I will get my money's worth and not have to put up with it switching channels on me or making echoes. I would be okay with the poor signal strength if it meant that for a second I'd get a blank screen with a message telling me that it is reacquiring the signal (like satellite receivers do), but to switch on me like that is not something I am willing to live with especially when the picture I'm looking at looks more than perfect.

Thank you again for your suggestion to see if I can try their HD box for a week, I may just give it a try, but I will not settle for it to stay at my home so it can suck more money out of my already depleted pockets. I will keep you informed. In the mean time I have decided to turn off my computer underneath it because it has a WiFi card that I'm afraid may interfere with the sensitive tuner and control board electronics inside the TV. That would be even more sad to imagine being the case because one of the best uses I have found for this otherwise wonderful TV set is the ability to watch broadcasts over the Internet from my homeland as if I was there.

--Croatian

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Another response
Oct 23, 2008 6:49PM PDT

First of all, you're welcome. Happy We're here to help answer questions. The television has, for the most part, been the same technology for over 40 years. All of a sudden high definition enters the industry, the FCC mandates new broadcast tuner signals, and between the fears of people's TV's suddenly not working in February 2009 and the fact that you can buy an HDTV while standard definition signals still broadcast.. it's no wonder why the average consumer has a lot of qustions.

So let me try and address some more of the issues, and see what we can find out.

The signal strength that varies within the coax - that was a variable I hadn't considered. Those signals can't be independently varied, I do know that. But a weak signal will cause the pixelation or screen freeze. For what it's worth, that is the digital version of static - called the Cliff Effect. Analog signals are wavelength. In contrast, digital signals are series of 1's and 0's. If that transmission is interrupted or can't be processed, the picture freezes and pixelates. (Not that all pixelation is caused by absence of signal, but in this case, it is my suspicion).

Comcast, or any content provider, overall provide good services. I certainly don't mean to criticize content providers, or marginalize their service based on the signal quality of a few channels. But when they say their signal is good and your shows don't look good, it doesn't add up. Maybe this is just personal experience, but I've had two different cable television subscriptions in several different locations. I never got all of my channels perfectly unless I had the box. I'd have a technician come out, and they'd tell me in front of the snowy picture, "If you really like this affected channel, we've done what we can do unless you have a box". I didn't like it either, but I wanted that channel. I got the box, but I also told them that if every channel wasn't absolutely crystal clear-perfect every time, they could expect a call. I called once and got a box replaced. That was an analog, SD television. I imagine that HD-signals only compound in situations like this.

The box can also be a service. I hear what you're saying about the price and the advertising, and I have a teenager who loves an occasional PG-13 rated pay-per-view movie. If you want to block the purchase of additional programming altogether, you can do that. If you want to block channels (and we "censor" [oh no!] our kids) from objectional programming or channels, you can do that too. The box on the TV in the kids' room shuts off at 10pm and doesn't turn on until after school, so they can't sneak shows while we're asleep, and that also is programmable in the box. And if you have a problem with picture quality, you have the additional required box to demand satisfaction. The onus is truly on them to fix it. On the other hand, it's an extra box to hook up. Ideally, it should be unnecessary to have a box, but in this case, it may be necessary.

The channel switching may be due to the design of the tuner, but as a result of a weak signal going into the tuner. I don't know what the threshold is that might cause our tuner to "give up" and seek a different channel (if that's really what is happening), but I'm guessing that the tuner is struggling to process a weak signal and ultimately defaults to a working channel. I'll have to send an email to our engineers to clarify, though it may take some time. If that's the case, that would be an internal setting, and probably not something we can adjust. Again, I'll ask.

Consider that the tuner has to be compatible to receive signals from different cable/satellite/OTA providers, decode signals of all strengths and origins, distances and other changing conditions. When it comes to a weak signal, there's not much we can do with that. With a weak signal, the digital tuner would have to guess whatever information is missing or interrupted, and of course, it can't do that.

Channel 1-2 flashing on the television is simply noting that the signal was interrupted and reconnected, as channel markers are programmed to announce the connection of the channel. Again, it points to a weak signal on that channel, and validates your observations of 3-bars. Analog televisions wouldn't change channels because this is probably a setting in the new digital tuners to solve an issue that didn't even exist in the analog tuners. To an analog tuner, static is an acceptable signal because no signal is an acceptable signal - so here's the "snow picture" or blue screen in the meantime. To a digital tuner, no signal probably equates to no input. Either way, it's a different response and as a result acts differently.

I'd like to find out if there's a way to lock in on a specific channel for that model. I'd be interested to know because I've never come across that question before.

Satellite boxes will hang on because they are programmed to search and expect a signal when the signal is lost. The television tuner (any tuner) doesn't have that pre-programmed in to the best of my knowledge - again, I'll submit an inquiry about that.

That said, you did buy a significant investment, and I wouldn't think of marginalizing your expectations. It is reasonable to expect that it works to your expectations. Our goal is customer satisfaction and I want you to be happy with your purchase.

If it ends up that everything we try doesn't work and you're still unhappy, let me know and I'll do everything in my power to make it right for you.

I do have some good news. The Wi-Fi card and computer underneath your television should cause no interference with your television whatsoever. The co-ax to tuner is shielded digital (1's and 0's) with a hardwire, and isn't subjected to over the air interference like analog wires are. It should have no effect on the tuner whatsoever. So digital cable and the tuner actually works in your favor there. And OTA "rabbit ears" signals would be on a different frequency altogether.

I'll update here when I get a response from the engineers. Keep me posted on your observations, and I'll continue to be here for any further questions.

And I didn't say it before, but thanks for your support of Samsung products. I will work to solve this as expediently as possible.

Sorry for the essay here. I just wanted to hit all the points in your post. Grin

--HDTech

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The Digital Era
Oct 24, 2008 1:33AM PDT

The Digital TV is here to stay, let the games begin! Happy

I love your essay, I'm guilty of it too. I hate to pull any ranks on anyone and especially on you, the person who's trying all that's possible to help me out here. That said, I think I need to say where I'm coming from.

* At the age of 12 I built my first electro-set telephone.
* At the age of 16 i built my first pirate radio station with electronic tubes. Soon after I * discovered that commercial shortwave, FM and CB bands are even better to play with when using transistors and ICs Happy
* At the age of 19 I purchased my first computer, a clone of a Sinclair ZX81.
* At the age of 24 I emigrated to America before the *hit hit the fan in the former Yugoslavia. That was 1989 and ever since I've been a computer tech, an IT Help Desk manager and I love every minute of it.

Alright, enough about me. What I really like to say is that I'm probably very well suited to understand the technological aspect of it all. The ones and zeros carried over electromagnetic waves run through my veins Happy

I haven't looked more closely at the actual technology that enables cable providers to deliver a quality HD programming over a coax, but I do know that many cable companies have opted years ago to upgrade their main distribution lines to fiberoptic cables and all of their equipment to digital so they can have sort of a repeater in every neighborhood that would bring it down to coax level of service. Much of it was dictated by sudden hunger for broadband Internet access. So, I understand that if anything is to go wrong with my signal quality it is most likely in the last mile. I will call Comcast to arrange for a more closer inspection of their equipment at the local level and the quality of their digital signal coming to my home.

I want to get to the bottom of this issue and solve it once and for all and not simply dismiss it like an average consumer would do by returning the TV and going with a different brand or concept. I love this TV and all that it has in it, but especially the picture quality. I am by nature very curious, very meticulous and anal about how things should work. I will troubleshoot it with you and try different things.

Speaking of trying different things, the WiFi isn't the issue after all (thank God!) because the channel flipped on me again last night (from 1-5 to 1-2) when I was writing my reply to you. I love my wife's theory about it, she's in favor of a "friendly ghost" theory because that ghost knows her well and knows she loves the channel 2 news better over any other channel Happy

Okay, joking aside, I'm off tomorrow so I'll call Comcast and see what they can do for me.

Best regards,

--Croatian

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Cable vs. Antenna
Oct 27, 2008 6:44AM PDT

Regarding an HD box from Comcast, I called them on Saturday, but too late (1:15 PM) for me to go and pick one up. They said they would not give it to me for free, not even for a week. So, toss that idea out the window. Thanks, but no thanks.

I then started thinking (oh, no!). I had some bare copper wire, a few feet in length, so I put it to good use. I made a makeshift antenna with it. Simply put, a piece of 2" x 1/2" inch wooden plank, length of about 1.5' served me well when I coiled it with that cooper wire in two sections. The sections had about 5 turns each in opposite directions and slightly slanted from each other with one end from each coil meeting in the center of the plank. That was my connecting point to the TV over a coax. It's semi-directional and it does a wonderful job for DTV. I get 10 bars if I point it right (a detailed info and maps about the locations of transmission towers is available at www.antennaweb.org web site).

My observation is as follows. The DTV channel 5 over the air is of the same 1080i HD quality, but it's located on 5-1 rather than 1-5. The same can be said for all other local channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS...). The transmission towers are pretty close, not more than 5 miles from where I live. The signal strength varies depending on the direction in which I point the antenna. The channel switching or flipping doesn't exist! It is rock solid and focused on that channel regardless of the signal quality or the lack of altogether. Nothing can make it switch on me. The only problem that still exists is the annoying echo during the commercial brakes. I don't know how to fix that one, maybe by getting a different home theater system, I don't know.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions about this now, but I'll ask these hypothetical questions anyway. Is Comcast (or any other cable company for that matter) from time to time sending some encrypted signals over their lines cohabiting with the 1-2 ... 1-5 DTV range, which if misinterpreted by the DTV tuner has the effect of channel being switched? Could it be that the TV set treats the channel stability for when it is in the Antenna mode differently and with more "forgiving" than when it is set to "Cable" mode?

Whatever the case may be I'm pretty much at the end of my wits with this one and would like a functional TV, Comcast or no Comcast. Feel free to send expert crew (GhostBusters) to my address, maybe my warp field reactor is venting plasma and flooding the engine room with tachyon particle radiation so Comcast can't beam the poor Scotty up to my TV. Happy

--Croatian

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The firmware issue
Oct 28, 2008 3:10AM PDT

I just red the PDF file that comes with 1005.1 and 1006.1 firmware files and to my surprise I've found that the main and sub processors are treated differently, hence the need for two firmware updates on a single TV. To make it more confusing for us computer nerds, this "tandem" firmware upgrade is labeled with the major numbers being different, where the practice all around the world has been to keep the major number the same, but the minor one slightly different.

So, when I said earlier that I applied 1006 (which is really labeled 1006.1) I only applied that one and never applied 1005.1 that is required for the main processor, thinking that the major revision number supersedes the one before and is self-sufficient. The PDF file states that these two work together and that the 1005.1 should be installed first. However, the TV didn't complain at all and let me do the firmware upgrade "out of sequence". I don't know what to make of it, is the PDF file right about the need to first apply the main processor firmware? The TV itself seems not to care about the order of things as described in the accompanying PDF instruction manual.

I'll attempt to flash it with the 1005.1 this evening and see what happens.

--Croatian

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Flashing Firmware
Oct 29, 2008 3:48AM PDT

The 1005.1 went in fine after a question if I want to do that. Then I applied the 1006.1 afterwards and it too went in okay. I did not notice any difference what so ever regarding the issues I have on this TV.

In summary, I think that the instruction manual is misleading, to say the least.

Watching local channels over the air is great, no pixelation, signal quality is very strong (most towers are 5 - 15 miles from my home). The only trouble that it doesn't fix is the sound echo.

Mr. Samsung_HD_Tech; sir, may I have an update on the progress you are making with this or the lack of? I also went to chat online with a Samsung tech a week ago (certain Anthony M.) and he suggested that I call in for a repair service because he never heard of such issues before. I have the full transcript of it.

--Croatian

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I'm still with you!
Oct 29, 2008 6:39AM PDT

I've compiled a report and am working on this, and other sound issues. Please be patient, as I'm doing everything on my end here.

--HDTech

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Thank you...
Oct 30, 2008 4:40AM PDT

Thank you, I will wait. I have plenty of patience.

When it comes to sound, one more thing to consider is to find out if the echo when connected to a home theater system via regular left and right channel RCA plugs is due to some sort of a millisecond delay between the two stereo channels. I found a post on the Internet where some guy says that his Samsung 52" 550 model is echoing just like mine when the TV is muted and he has it hooked up to the home theater system. Here's the link:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14448747#post14448747

Thank you again for all your hard work on this.

--Croatian

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One last question...
Oct 30, 2008 9:00AM PDT

You're welcome. I want to get a fix for this.

When was the unit purchased? Just so I know.

--HDTech

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The purchase...
Oct 30, 2008 11:21AM PDT

No problem, you can ask as many questions as you want. I purchased the original TV set on the 21st of September, 2008. The second TV, which I got in exchange for the first one, was brought home a few days before my 30 day store return policy was to expire. It was purchased at Circuit City store number 00920. Both TV sets were manufactured in the month of August of this year. In a few minutes I will register this TV on Samsung's web site so I can get some use out of its warranty.

--Croatian

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Samsung Repair Tech is coming over...
Nov 3, 2008 12:16AM PST

I just wanted to let you know that I did arrange for a local repair center that does authorized repairs for Samsung to come over this afternoon and take a look at the TV and possibly repair it. I haven't received any confirmation of the appointment, but I did get a follow-up e-mail from him indicating that he did receive the order. This is because I requested for someone to come and repair the TV at Samsung's web site after a short registration process. We'll see how that goes, I'll keep you posted.

--Croatian

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Just got off the phone with the Samsung tech...
Nov 3, 2008 4:15AM PST

I finally got in touch with the tech. I explained all the symptoms, but he was puzzled and not sure what to make of it all. He said that he will research it and get back to me and probably replace the main board anyway just to see how it goes. I mentioned that my first TV did the same thing at which point he didn't know what else to say. The only suggestion he had was to check for the latest firmware, but I told him that's already done. For the sound issue, he blamed it on my home theater system that's outdated and doesn't have any digital or optical inputs, but just the old composite red and white RCA plugs. I guess I could try a different home theater system, but that means I'd now have to go and spend more money just to test that theory.

I'm starting to lose my faith in this whole process, but can't give up especially now that Circuit City store I bought the TV from is going out of business along with all other Circuit City stores in the greater metropolitan area. They just released the wire news that 155 of their stores all around the country are closing! It also seems at this point that I'm caught in a classic game of finger-pointing. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

--Croatian

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No help from the tech
Nov 3, 2008 6:30AM PST

He said he won't come because it's caused by a weak cable signal. That's a total nonsense and one that should (if true) cause Samsung to immediately issue a recall. It is absolutely unacceptable and it is an insult to my intelligence to state such a thing. Even if the cause is a weak signal, this TVs way of dealing with it is less than anyone would expect it to be, to say the least.

--Croatian

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Samsung ECR
Nov 5, 2008 5:09AM PST

Croatian,

I agree that blaming your stereo system is a poor excuse. From the information I've been able to gather from your (and others') issue, your stereo isn't the problem when the problem exists without a stereo at all (that is correct, yes?). I don't suggest buying an HD system just to test this theory.

Samsung is reviewing the information from this, and other reports. I apologize for the delay, but the issue is most certainly being explored; as a result, I have no ETA on a fix if one will be available.

I don't like fingerpointing either. Here's what we can do. If you can call 800-SAMSUNG and take your service number (get that first, if you don't have it already) and request ECR, which is our customer resolution support, perhaps we can resolve this to your satisfaction. Having it serviced was the first step, so you've already done that. Resolution is a part of our business, as not every product will work for every person in every situation (though, it is done on a case-by-case basis and is a process), but the sooner, the better, considering you purchased it very recently and can't return it to Circuit City.

In the meantime, I hope this can be addressed. I'll keep you posted on my developments here.

--HDTech

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The latest news...
Nov 7, 2008 12:13AM PST

Hi, it's good to hear that you're doing all you can and I do appreciate all the effort you've put into it so far. I hope that someone in South Korea will take a note of this and change the QAM tuner circuitry, fix the audio issues or issue a recall.

To answer your question about the sound issue. It doesn't matter how I setup my TV for the level of sound quality or whether the TV sound is turned off in the menu, muted or set to only stereo rather than SRS - it unexpectedly starts to echo no matter what. The echo comes out of my home theater system's speakers, I never noticed it coming out of my TV, but I guess I can try to live without the home theater system for a while to test if the TV would also echo.

And now the news. Comcast came over and changed all my end connectors on the coax, measured the signal quality with their signal analyzer and simply told me there's nothing further they can do and that it's not their issue. The guy laughed at the suggestion that it may be them causing the channel flipping. He also blamed my TV for inaccurate reading of thesignal quality, which still stayed at 3 bars. He said his equipment shows no problems and left it at that.

I will request ECR at this point since there seems to be no technical way of fixing this. Another thing that's really annoying is the loss of "Favorites" channel memory. Every time I mark those channels 1-2, 1-4, 1-5 and 1-6 as my favorites and the channel self-flipping happens the TV erases the channels 1-5 and 1-2 from the favorites and I then have to put them back on the list. Sometime it would say that it added the channel 1-5, but when I flip channels on my remote immediately after that it doesn't show the little heart symbol next to the channel number so I have to add it again until it finally takes it.

--Croatian

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I just called ECR...
Nov 7, 2008 1:10AM PST

After much explaining, which I don't mind, they agreed to have a regional engineer call me at some point in the near future. We'll see.

--Croatian

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I'm fed up now and very angry!
Nov 13, 2008 10:02AM PST

A field engineer came over to replace the "main board", which is apparently no different than the old one in every way. The TV still switches channels, the sound still occasionally echos for no reason and the favorite channels disappear as well.

The pattern of the channel switching is always the same. Try watching DTV channel 1-5 in HD and at some point it simply tries to switch to 92-2, which is a non-existent channel, or at least one which my TV can't pick up (it's maybe scrambled). As soon as the TV realises that it is trying a non-existent channel it then automatically switches to 1-2, which is the first available channel afterwards. The favorites 1-2 and 1-5 immediately are deleted. This all happens while the TV has a perfect picture, no pixelation what so ever.

I think I have seen enough of this bs and I'm finally fed up with it. No more Mr. Nice Guy! My next step is to call Circuit City or Samsung asking for my money back or a TV set that DOES WORK AS ADVERTISED.

--Croatian

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CROATlAN I agree
Dec 29, 2008 5:11AM PST

CROATlAN I have the LN46a630 and I too have this echo during commercials. I am also using over the air HD (tv is hooked up to av receiver via the two audio out ports on back of tv. I have experienced it on 1080i channels and 720p channels. It only happens during commercials and stops when the show comes back on. I have created a ticket with Samsung, though from reading everyone else's experiences I am not convinced I will get the problem fixed. People have had sound boards and main boards replaced and the problem continues.

Have you found a solution? (other than go buy a Sony?)

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Still no joy...
Nov 4, 2008 4:23AM PST

I finally heard from another Samsung field tech about the problem I'm having and he said he's been seeing this very thing reported at least once a week by different people who don't even have the same brand TV. Some are made by LG, but the only common part in all of them is the same exact QAM tuner circuitry or IC and all of them seem to be LCD as oppose to a Plasma screen TVs. He said Plasma don't seem to do it for some reason. All of the reported cases from this and surrounding Comcast and Charter service areas have the same issue with this channel self-switching and he has not found an effective fix for it yet. He at first offered me a firmware upgrade, but when I said that I already did that he didn't know what else he can do for me. He also stated that it may help to install a cable amplifier, but he's not sure that it would definitely fix it. The only effective workaround, he said, is to let Comcast install the HD box.

If this is the way these cable companies are forcing higher fees upon their customers it's nothing short of a mafia style organization in which people are left powerless and forced to give in. I refuse to get an HD box from them or anyone else for that matter. I will rather buy a cheap A/B switch box from Radio Shack and enjoy my OTA HD channels as God has meant for it to be than to give in to such outrageous and insulting prospect of paying extra for something that should be free!

Comcast is yet to call me to arrange for an appointment.

--Croatian

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WiFi interference
Nov 21, 2008 4:27AM PST

Just FYI, I was reading through this thread, as it was linked from another I've been posting in about the robot audio issue I'm having with a ln32a450 when I came across this statement:

"I do have some good news. The Wi-Fi card and computer underneath your television should cause no interference with your television whatsoever. The co-ax to tuner is shielded digital (1's and 0's) with a hardwire, and isn't subjected to over the air interference like analog wires are. It should have no effect on the tuner whatsoever. So digital cable and the tuner actually works in your favor there. And OTA "rabbit ears" signals would be on a different frequency altogether." (Mr. Samsung)

I just thought it would be useful information to note that when I first installed my ln32a450 every DTV channel via the QAM tuner was showing extreme pixelation and freezing. Knowing I was otherwise getting solid signal strength from a recent install of an HD cable box in another room, I bypassed all intervening splitters and connectors on the line, effectively running the cable directly from the pole to the back of my set, but to no avail. During my re-wiring process, however, I happened to move my wireless router, which had been positioned directly behind the TV's inputs in the back, and viola! No more interference. Experimenting I discovered the router only caused pixelation/freezing when positioned directly behind the inputs; if I moved it 4-6 inches in any direction the interference was greatly reduced or disappeared.
I share this in the hopes of sparing others from the 3 hours of aggravating frustration I went through until I inadvertently solved my problem with poor QAM reception.

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Yes, that does make sense
Nov 21, 2008 4:41AM PST

I certainly appreciate your input as many others probably will. That's something I suspected all along. My first TV had terrible pixelation because the coax cable was almost touching the antenna on the computer's WiFi card. Once the new TV came in the coax was further away from it (maybe 2 feet) and I had no pixelation what so ever. If we are right about this a simple test of bringing the coax back to a very close proximity of the WiFi will cause it to pixelate almost instantaneously.

However, that may not be the reason why the TV switches channels, loses favorites and echoes at times. That is something of a major flaw in the construction of the circuit, primarily of the QAM tuner and the audio component. I wish I could contribute all my troubles to the WiFi, but the reality is that even with it turned off altogether I still have those 3 other major issues with this TV set.

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Problem Resolution?
Nov 8, 2010 8:59AM PST

Has this problem been resolved? I have had pretty much the exact same problem with my TV since I purchased it in December of 2008, and was just wondering if there was a workaround. I am not having any problems with pixelation or anything, the channel just jumps from one to the other when watching certain stations.

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signal
Nov 7, 2008 5:15AM PST

The signal can be the problem in this matter, fluctuations in strength can cause a bypass on the channel and cause it to skip to the next strongest signal, this does not constitute failure on either side, but can combine to cause interference.

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The time will tell...
Nov 7, 2008 6:27AM PST

Lukster5, thank you for that input. I wish we (all of us participants in this thread plus someone from Comcast and Samsung ECR) could come together to a conference call to see what all those heads put together can come up with. An old Croatian proverb says: "When a man and a donkey team up they still have more brains than any one man alone".

I'm gonna be waiting for "that" phone call. Wink

--Croatian

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sound and channel
Dec 3, 2008 6:27PM PST

first let's cover the sound issue, if you are using a surround sound, make sure the tv is muted, not turned down, but in the sound feature in the user menu, check the mute feature and mute on, 2nd issue, there should be a firmware for the channel changing issue, go on the Samsung web site and look for it,

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Been there, done that...
Dec 3, 2008 11:17PM PST

lukester5, the sound issue exist whether I turn off the built in speakers via menu or simply mite them, it makes no difference what so ever. The channel switching cannot be fixed with either 1005.1 or 1006.1 firmware, which are the only two firmwares available on their web site for this TV model. It has been tried, trust me. If you know of another more recent firmware revision's secret hiding place please let us all know, because it sure is a surprise to me and a lot of people would be happy to try it.

Coincidentally, while waiting for Samsung to exchange my TV for another, better model, my house got broken into and the TV among other electronics got stolen. They already called me to exchange the TV set, but now I have to wait and see if the police is going to recover the old one first or there will be no exchange to speak of. I will for certain go and buy another TV set with the home insurance policy money I'll receive, but it for certain won't be a Samsung.