Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Inferior Products August 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
DO NOT BUY A SAMSUNG TELEVISION!! I made the mistake of purchasing a Samsung product thinking that Samsung was a reputable company. The television died within the first two years that I owned it. It just plain stopped turning on one day. Samsung has nothing to say but... we don't stand by our product after 2 years. And, the "executive care" customer service rep that I spoke with was VERY rude. Don't buy from Samsung if you want a television that is not disposable. They sell products that end up in the trash sooner than they should.
 Wonderful HD CRT May 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was initially weary of purchasing this tv due to the problems that other reviewers have posted. I realized that most of the problems occured with other models of this tv so I went ahead and and got it and have had no problems to date (6 months). The picture quality is outstanding and there are tons of inputs. The only feature I wish the tv had was an audio input so that I can route my xbox's audio through the tv instead of switching inputs on the stereo receiver when i go from tv to xbox. The 'slimfit' marketing scheme is slightly skewed in that the tv is still extremely heavy. A lot of neighbors got a good laugh as they watched me try to carry this thing up 3 flights of stairs alone. But it fits nicely into my entertainment center and all my guests think its LCD until I tell them otherwise.
 Slightly better than mediocre February 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Pros
-Cheap/inexpensive
-Bigger screen for less
-No motion blur
-High contrast ratio
-Better picture in analog or digital signal vs LCD.
-Will not heat up too much.
Cons
-Heavy
-Screen door effect
-High magnetic influences
-No noticable difference from HDTV broadcast vs Bluray
-Poor blue screen distribution.
-Can suffer burn-in
-Slightly curved widescreen
The Samsung TXT3093 is the TV you want, if you want to enjoy high definition without breaking the bank. It is ready for the digital switchover. It's a good bedroom option, before you get serious and decide to buy that bigscreen plasma or LCD TV.
Defective Product and Horrendous Customer Service February 5, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
We purchased the 3079 model in 2006. Although we intially loved the set, after a short time, we started experiencing focus problems which became progressively worse. After only one and a half years, the set was rendered inoperable. We were initially falsely advised by Samsung and its authorized dealer, Best Buy, that there was a 1 year warranty on the TV after I described the focus problems. We therefore took the television to a nearby repair shop who (1) confirmed that the picture tube was bad and (2) that there was actually a 2 year warranty on this part.
After several disconnects and nearly two hours, we were advised by Samsung that there was in fact a 2 year warranty on the picture tube, and that we should take it to the Samsung authorized dealer. We contacted the authorized dealer and confirmed once again that there was a 2 year warranty on the picture tube.
Incredulously, after their dealer confirmed the picture tube was bad, Samsung once again attempted to claim there was a 1 year warranty which they ultimately retracted. It turns out that the replacement part is not available and that they are unable to meet their contractual obligations to repair the set. Instead, Samsung offers us a "special deal" to purchase a new TV. After some research, I confirmed that I could get the same "special deal" on a new set via Ebay. After spending over $900 (price of set plus cost of repair shop evaluations) and hours of run around, Samsung has repeatedly attempted to avoid its contractual obligations by using deceptive practices. Samsung has repeatedly given us conflicting advice and we have literally been hung up on by customer service representatives simply because we wanted to speak with a supervisor. By the way, "supervisors" are never available, instead ask to elevate the issue to "ECR" if necessary.
For those who are actually happy with this product, you must be of the fortunate few who did not purchase a defective product (or perhaps the set has not failed yet) and have not needed to deal with Samsung's customer service. By the way, the service center has confirmed that ALL of the Slimfit models have had MAJOR problems, including but not limited to problems with the picture tube. If not under warranty, this part would cost nearly $300 plus $180 labor.
As you can see, I would not recommend any of the Samsung Slimfit models and would be reluctant to ever purchase from Samsung again.
 Crisp but distorted picture is a deal breaker January 13, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
HDTV is the biggest innovation for television broadcasting since the introduction of color, but the choices for which type of TV set to buy can be intimidating: plasma, LCD, rear projection, front projection, or CRT tubes. The Samsung TXT3093 30" Widescreen SlimFit HDTV is the CRT / tube variety.
CRT / tube TVs are established tech. Images are displayed using an electron gun in the rear of the cabinet that fires at the back of the screen, in sweeping motions, to excite particles that create a picture. The result is a smooth, crisp image with vibrant colors, and the deepest blacks possible on any TV set, but without the intense heat used in plasma TV sets (which makes them vulnerable to burn-in) or the jagged pixelation, somewhat muted color, and subtle flicker of LCD sets (which use back lighting to illuminate each pixel separately).
Tube TV sets are bulky, heavy and usually have curved screens, but Samsung's SlimFit design cuts the cabinet depth by a 1/3 the traditional size, lightens the load, and flattens the screen. Ironically, maybe it's these improvements that result in the Achilles heal of this TV set - distorted images.
The Samsung TXT3093 is incapable of displaying perfectly straight horizontal or vertical lines. If you don't want to stretch 4:3 content to fill the 16:9 screen, like any wide screen TV it uses black bars on the sides. The bars should be straight, but on this TV set, the edges of the picture are curvy. Since most TV channels are still broadcast in SD, these curvy side bars drove me crazy, unless I stretched the image to fit (but then everything and everyone looks fatter than normal).
Horizontal lines fare no better. The bowing problem is particularly evident (and annoying) when playing video games or watching the news or sports. If the picture includes a straight bar across the screen, for example (like a heads up display, a news ticker, scores, etc), the bar bends in the middle and curves up (or down) at the top (or bottom) of the screen's edge. Not only does this distort the bulk of the image, the problem results in lost picture at the margins.
The Samsung TXT3093's inability to display perfectly straight lines is made worse by the TV set's overscan of the image on the screen. The TV literally chops off 1-2 inches of the screen all around - no doubt in an effort to make the bowing lines (which get worse the nearer to the edge of the screen they get) less evident. When I compared the picture on this TV set to other HDTVs at the store, I was amazed at how much of the picture I wasn't seeing on the Samsung TXT3093.
I returned this TV to my local retailer and bought a Samsung LNT3242H 32" LCD HDTV model instead. Now, when watching SD content on my widescreen LCD TV set, the side bars are perfectly straight. When watching football or news on my LCD TV, the score bar and tickers are perfectly straight all the way across the screen. When playing video games, every straight line is totally straight. I realize now just how much those curvy, bending lines and lost picture at the margins drove me crazy on the Samsung TXT3093.
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