SIR-T150 OTA HD Receiver

[mcdonley]

I'll get a thread started...

Great receiver, but what a price these things command.

Remote won't control Panasonic CT34WX50 HDTV and Panasonic remote won't control SIR-T150...

Have you tried Samsung Technical support? I sent a detailed list of questions, and got back a real friendly response that did not address any of the questions. It suggested I telephone in...

My second complaint (or better said - feature criticism) about the SIR-T150 would be the inability to change channels while the "reception meter" is up.

[tviewer]

After reading about the "inability to change channels while the "reception meter" is up." I tried and sure enough that becomes a bad feature. My digital images appears to come in fine, so had no need for using reception meter. I was just lucky in this respect. This could be a real pain when you need to do the checking on different channels.

Never did get remote to control the DVD player. BUT -HAY- I get 1080i with the back 'resolution select' on 480 i.

[HokieD]

Ha! I just got mine and I'm playing with it. I too noticed you can't change channels while looking at the signal meter. A pain if you're trying to fine tune the antenna. Boy, I'm amazed that no snow, ghosts, or any of that crap. Especially since I could not get a clear picture at all with standard VHF analog signal. DTV is definitely the sh**.

The other thing I noticed and it may just be my tv. I cannot adjust the widescreen mode while watching HDTV. I wanted to loose the black borders on the 4:3 broadcasts. Just as letterbox is a pain to 4:3 people, 4:3 DTV is just plain annoying to me.

The other gripe is that it takes FOREVER!!! to get the guide to scan. Seems like it scans every channel just like when you click memorize. If I deleted unused channels, would that speed up the guide? Just wondering.

[mezman]

Does anyone know how to determine the firmware version on the Samsung t150? They have an upgrade to fix audio problems on the Samsung web site to ver 1.8, and the real bitch is it appears you need a special cable to upload the firmware.

[jmmesch]

I had one of these for about two weeks (bought from an authorized web dealer), and its audio was so weak, I called Samsung. They picked it up to "fix" the problem, but only after four weeks and lots of calls did we get it back.

So after I re-hooked it back up and noticed no improvement, I called again. This time, they picked up the receiver and a copy of my purchase invoice, and they sent me a refund check in full.

I now have a Zenith DTV1080 that works as designed, and very well, thank you. BTW the new 160 coming out later this summer also has a DirecTV tuner.

[kbandy]

Get the menu up, hover your pointer over the "help" selection on the left, press the "display" button on your remote.

[JoeInBH]

Has anyone tried the SIR-T151 yet? I see that it is out (Samsung website and several online dealers) and priced at $400. The original SIR-T150 (which I am currently using) has been lowered in price from $600 to $450 (msrp). Assuming that I could pick up either box for $350, is there any difference? I would expect that the T151 would be an exact duplicate of the T150, except for having the latest software. I checked the SamsungUSA website and can't see a difference in the product specs. If they are identical, it seems odd that the older model would have a higher msrp than the newer model. Any thoughts?

Joe

[jmmesch]

Don't say I didn't warn you. See my post above the T150 - what a piece of Cr*p, and what a hassle to attempt to fix and then get a refund from the manufacturer. I still can't believe Samsung paid me back for its purchase, but it was the least they could do after holding it six weeks and then sending it back unrepaired or ill-repaired. I'll never know...

[dmunn]

You can 'TRICK' your TV. I have a 16:9 set. There is a station (7) in my area that always does a ZOOM of their 4:3 broadcast. I just go into the setup menu, change the screen format to pillar and VIOLA! the picture at least is watchable. I do the same by changing my set to be a 4:3 and ZOOM for some programs.

[jp_texas]

Thanks for the tips. They were very helpful.