Cardwell

Thanks for the information. I'm on holiday now, but I'm going to contact my Samsung repair center as soon as I get back and have them take another look at it. What a pain!

Well, the microscopic hair-line cracking might account for the wiggly clear sections and the gradual spreading from the middle sounds right. But I can't account for the fact that the problem disappeared after several days of sitting in the service agent's air-conditioned shop, then gradually re-appeared over the next few months. Also, I ALWAYS use the remote to turn it off. My problem is with a reddish haze, not blue or yellow, but perhaps the red LCD light engine could be cracking. My TV was 6 months old when it started. I would love to have an explanation. Do you have any more thoughts?

Martonl - Your problem sounds like mine. It started as an oval area in the center and gradually got larger. Please report back on what you find out. At this point, Samsung has said it must be because it is too humid and I can't argue because the service agent "fixed" the problem by letting it sit in his air-conditioned shop for several days. However, we've tried everything we can think of to make it a less humid environment and nothing seems to help. HARI - Thanks for posting that picture. It doesn't really look like my problem, but I still think it may be dust. When we first took it in, we assumed it was dust on a lens or mirror somewhere in the system but when it cleared up it seemed to eliminate that. I don't suppose the lens is anywhere accessible where I could look at it?

SCREEN PROBLEM!! I've had my 46" LCD for a year and the picture is generally great EXCEPT that about 6 months ago we started to notice a reddish area about 8" across near the center of the screen. It didn't show up at all when the colors were bright, but it's very visible against some yellows, light greens, and skin colors. The border was irregular and it had clear wiggly lines through it. Took it to a Samsung service agent, along with pictures taken of the screen which verified the problem. Samsung said they had never heard of the problem. Then it went away! Sitting in the service agent's air-conditioned environment for a few days had cleared up the problem. We live in North Queensland where the humidity is pretty high so we decided it was some form of condensation on a lens or mirror. The agent said we might want to run our air-conditioner all the time but we don't like to do that. Besides, it's winter now. In the last six months, the reddish haze has gradually come back until it covers the whole screen, still with wiggly clear areas through it as though a worm had crawled back and forth cleaning it. It's not visible most of the time but shows up clearly in some colors. The manual cautions against humid environments but doesn't say what problems it creates. Anyone else know anything about it?

I called Herrman at the Chatswood Retravision store (he said other people have called, too). He said the $430 Ausid box was sold WITH a Fujitsu plasma TV. He said the best he could do for a stand-alone price on the Ausid is $649. Anybody else got another recommendation for a store?

Thanks for the replies. That answers my questions. I think I'll go ahead with the AUSID, then. I won't worry about the digital sound output for now and if there's more digital sound offerings in the future, I can get an adapter. What is surprising to me, after reading 25 or so of the latest threads under HD/SD Set Top Box Receivers, is that you are all so excited about this AUSID box. STD's have been out for a long time. It seems unbelievable that the bugs are just getting worked out. There should be LOTS of great choices instead of just one and yet you all seem to agree that this box is a huge improvement.

Just getting FTA digital in our area so I'm new to the STB topic. Did I understand correctly that the only digital sound output on the AUSID is coax? My receiver only has an optical input. I don't suppose there's an inexpensive converter.

Some problems fixed and a new one emerges. Situation normal. It took me a while to get my DVI connection from my PC to my 46" Samsung working with the right resolution. I have the ATI X300 and the latest Catalyst drivers. With help from several of you, I eventually did the "Force 720p" and got it working right. The only problem was that as soon as I clicked on the Force 720p, my computer display changed from 1280x1024 to 600x800. But the TV output was great. I was getting a full 1280x720 and no gray borders. I could disconnect from the TV and reboot and my monitor would go back to 1280x1024. So ... since I'm only using it to play DVD's right now, I figured I could live with it for now. A few days ago, I updated XP to Service Pack 2. That went ok. But the big surprise was that the next time I connected the DVI cable, my monitor stayed at 1280x1024 while the TV went to 1280x720. Hooray! Problem fixed. Except ... now I have a gray border on my TV screen where before it filled the screen from side to side. Sigh. More experimenting, I guess.

Got it! I am now getting 720p on the TV. It was a little disconcerting, though, when I clicked the "Force 720p" on the Troubleshooting page. My monitor immediately went to 600x800 while the TV went to 720x1280 - maybe that's a limitation of the Radeon X300's memory. I had to leave it on low resolution, with about half of the picture actually displaying on the monitor, while getting a perfectly wonderful 720p DVD movie on the TV (in clone/theatre mode). I can live with that for now, but after the movie I have to shut the PC down, disconnect the DVI cable (no big deal, because I'm just disconnecting the DVI extension cable), then restart the PC, then adjust the monitor settings back to 1280x1024, my normal setting. It won't let me make any changes as long as the TV is connected, even if I de-activate the TV on the Display/Settings/Advanced/Displays screen. I do have the latest Catalyst 4.8 drivers. Now I will download Powerstrip and try to get it down to 50Hz and see if I can sort out the display settings problems. As Churchill said, sort of, "This is not the end, but at least it's the end of the beginning." I'm on my way! Thank you, everyone.

Thank you very much, DA. I was really getting frustrated. I felt that it must be able to do more than 1024x768, but when I connect the DVI cable and reboot, both my monitor and the TV settings are automatically set to 1024x768 and I can't change them. Plus, the manual with my 46" Samsung and the manual I downloaded from the Samsung site both say the same thing. I have the new Radeon X300 graphics card and the latest Catalyst 8.4 drivers. I've also been getting the gray borders with the wrong aspect ratio which you mentioned. I'm running the TV in Clone Mode and specified the Theatre Mode with 16x9. I guess I'll download Powerstrip and try to override the settings. Thanks again!

Since DVI splitters are either unavailable or expensive, I suggest you plug a DVI extension cable ($20) into the TV if you want multiple DVI inputs. The extension cable is female on the end that connects to the TV and male on the free end. That way, when you want to switch inputs, you can change connections on the extension cable rather than disconnect it from the TV. My Sammy manual says it's limited to 1024x768 for DVI input. Can anyone explain that limitation, since it also says that its native resolution is 1280x720? I've been poring over every forum I can find and I just don't understand it.

Thanks, Glo. I was able to get my VGA monitor settings back by disconnecting the DVI cable and re-booting. Thanks! I didn't realize that DVI and 1024x768 are "linked". Maybe it wasn't Hari who posted the link to the ATI Control Panel Screens. They are at this site: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1642413,00.asp When I right-click the ATI icon and go to ATI Display Settings, I do seem to get the functionality I need. But instead of saying "ATI Control Panel" as it does in the above article, it says "Plug and Play Monitor and X300 Radeon". The screens look different but seem to have similar functionality. I will try the Force 720p command again later when no one is using the TV! My wife is getting annoyed at all my experimenting during prime time.

I have had my 46" Samsung for 2 months now and I love it. I just bought a Dell 8400 PC with one of the new ATI Radeon X300's, which I think is roughly equivalent to the 9200 except it uses the new Intel PCI Express motherboard. I probably should have got the top-of-the-line X800, but right now I just want to play DVD's through the DVI connection. I have read this entire forum over the last couple of months plus read several of the other sites on this topic. I have also read all the ATI stuff I can find. But I still have some questions. If someone has some answers or can refer me to another source, I would really appreciate it. Incidentally, I'm an American living in Australia, so most of my DVD's are Region 1. I'm using the Region-Free software, which seems to be OK. Here are my questions: 1. Am I correct that the "normal" way to play dvd's to the TV is to use Clone Mode/Theatre Mode? This works fine except that it forces both my monitor and the Samsung to use 1024x768 resolution. The Samsung documentation says to set the resolution at 1024x768 and 60Hz for input from the PC but I thought some of you were getting 768x1280 and using 50 Hz. Don't PAL formats need 50 Hz for best results? Is this where I need Powerstrip or something like that to override it? 2. Am I automatically getting progressive scan from the PC? I read where someone used the Force Progressive Scan on the Troubleshoot screen. When I did that, my monitor went whacko. How can I tell whether I'm outputting progressive scan? 3. I downloaded and updated the Catalyst 4.8 stuff with no problem, but I don't get the screens that Hari linked to that say ATI Control Panel at the top. I do get lots of ATI screens, either by right-clicking on the ATI Tray icon or clicking the Advanced button on the Display Settings. Is there some special way of calling up the ATI Control Panel? 4. I downloaded Zoomplayer (the free version) but can't get it to play DVD's. The Web site seems to say it plays DVD's, but the DVD button on the actual software says it doesn't support DVD's. Do you recommend buying Zoomplayer Pro? All I have is Windows Media Player right now. 5. And, last, does anyone know a way to temporarily uninstall the DVI connection? I can disable it, but it still restricts my monitor to 768x1024. The only way I could get it back was to run a System Restore from before the DVI connection was recognized. Thanks for any information you may be able to provide. I apologize if some of these questions seem elementary. I have long experience with computers, but not much with multimedia. If there's another forum that you think would be more appropriate for my questions, please let me know.

OK. The model number of my Panasonic DVD player is DVD-S75, bought this year. To recap my question, I have a brand-new 46" Samsung which is working great after many tweaks of settings on the TV and DVD. Most of my DVD's are NTSC, since I'm American. My Panasonic supports progressive scan for NTSC and that has worked well, too. However, I'm having a problem with one specific NTSC DVD (True Lies - Schwarzenegger) which has a noticeable double-image (especially noticeable on the titles). When I play it on my PC, it looks fine. The Troubleshooting Guide says if you have ghosting, turn off the Progresssive Scan. Didn't fix it. The ghosting persists through all picture sizes and types, plus various other tweaks I've tried. This is no big deal since my others work fine and I'm getting an HTPC set-up within a month or two so I can just play it from my PC. Just thought I'd ask in case someone has a suggestion.

GLO - I'll get the model number when I'm at my new place tomorrow. I'm actually not moved in yet - still renting until the deal closes. We are from California, near San Jose. Actually, we're Silicon Valley-ites. Both of us worked in the semiconductor industry for a long time, then went sailing for several years and ended up here in Cardwell, Qld. Been in Oz for 2 years and love it.

Just bought the 46" Samsung LCD rear projection and I'm thrilled with it. I'm an American living in Australia and have mostly NTSC DVD's. After days of fiddling around with various settings on the DVD and TV, things are looking great. I can use progressive scan on the NTSC stuff now and it looks fine. I have a recent model Panasonic DVD player - I'm not at my apartment now so don't have the model number. One minor problem: on one NTSC DVD only (True Lies - Schwarznegger) I get ghosting. It's really apparent on the titles where the letters all have double images. The Troubleshooting suggested turning off the progressive scan, but that didn't help. Tried lots of stuff, but no luck so far. It plays fine on my PC, but I don't have DVI output - YET! Thanks to all of you for the great stuff on the forum. I'll have my HTPC going soon and hopefully won't have the problem. Really just wanted to say hello to everyone and hope I can contribute to the forum in the future.