Rating: 
Summary: Inconvenient, flawed HDTV receiver
Review: All HDTV recievers deliver a superior picture, by definition. Although this receiver is equipped with plenty and good features, the performance is bogged down by a slow interface and faulty sound output.
Audio output starts stuttering in Dolby 5.1 regardless of the quality of reception (optical or analog output). Automatic scanning to memorize channels is slow and takes minutes to complete. Channels cannot be added to memory, unless the digital TV station is actually broadcasting. Re-scanning erases all previous stored channels. I do not recommend this unit, unless Samsung fixes these problems
Rating:
Summary: Junk...don't bother with this unit.
Review: Apart from it's clumsy primitive user interface, this unit has two tragic flaws:1 - The on screen displays (program guide, info screen, setup menus, channel display, etc.) do not work when using the DVI port when the resolution is set to 1080i!! You're totally flying blind, with no visual way to set or confirm settings or channels. Samsung has confirmed that it is designed this way, but could offer no explanation why! This reason alone is enough to stay away from this model. 2 - The Dolby Digital implementation doesn't work correctly. When using the optical or coaxial digital output, while set to Dolby Digital output, the audio drops out repeatedly and constantly. It will usually work fine for a few minutes, then it starts cutting in and out. Changing channels will clear it up for a few more minutes, but the problem quickly returns. The only way to get functioning digital audio is to set it to PCM, but then of course you can't decode Dolby 5.1 broadcasts. Samsung has confirmed this design flaw, but offers no solution. Check with www.avsforum.com, and you'll find countless pissed off Samsung owners. Go with a unit from Zenith, LG or Motorola, you'll be much happier.
Rating:
Summary: Digital audio outputs defective
Review: Even with a signal strength of 9 (out of 10) on most channels, all I got was a bunch of garbled junk when the unit was set to dolby digital. I tried both the optical and coaxial outputs and had the same results.
Rating: 
Summary: Junk ? Mine is just fine !
Review: I am very happy with this unit. I have it hooked up to a Panasonic 51" projection HDTV, using it with a Zenith indoor antenna. Reception is not a problem (I am 35 miles north of Boston) and the picture quality is great. It took about 20 minutes to hook up, very easy, and the menus did not present any problem at all. I think it's a great unit for the money.
Rating:
Summary: SIR-T351 Great Picture - Great Price
Review: I bought my SIR-T351 on eBay for under $200.
READ THE DIRECTIONS. You get no signal and no picture until the unit is set up.
I am about five miles from digital towers in my area. Locks in on channels almost instantaneously. Two stations (ABC and CBS) are at light bulb status (<100watts). CBS comes in with 4 bars and is solid, ABC has one blinking bar and will not lock in. NFL football in HD off FOX is beautiful.
I believe people who are having troubles with this unit are:
1. Not properly setting up the set, or
2. Not realizing that 90% of digital reception problems are antenna related (multipath, etc.), or
3. blaming the receiver when the station is at fault. Digital broadcasting is a difficult and precise art that most stations are not capable of doing perfectly.
Rating:
Summary: Too many factors to blame the unit.
Review: I can agree AND disagree with everyone else's opinion of this unit. I have the unit connected to my 57" Hitachi Ultrvision via DVI-D interface, and to my Panasonic receiver via TOSLINK optical. When I first got the unit I connected it THRU the receiver via Component (RGB) cable. I experienced video dropout during sudden bright scenes, and occasional audio drop out in Dolby 5.1 as others have. I should note I am 55mile north of Tampa Bay and get about 7 or 8 channels (plus sub-channels) with a roof top antenna (Channelmaster from about 1990). The video droppout was clipping due to the Receiver's shortcomings, once I by passed it the video was excellent all the time. I also have not had an audio issue in some time now. Granted, being a TiVo family we rarely get to watch alot of "live" TV, but it has been great. Bottom line is this: reception is key. The signal is digital and thus will be slow to decode, uncompress and prone to packet loss (equating to picture pixelization and loss of Dolby soundtrack) Remember the UHF days? Ghosts, snow, etc.? Same thing, only digital. I previously bought a Zenith unit and it only got 1 channel. The sensitivity of the Samsung is by far superior to anything else in my experience. If you want terrestrial TV in HD for FREE, you'll need to invest in a well tuned aerial. Also I have a standard vhf/uhf 35db booster inline, 30ft from the aerial and 60ft from the tuner and it does not interfere with the signal in a negative way. I give it 4 stars because a this point in time we are too close to next-gen receivers to expect this unit to live up to the expectations of each individual user.
Rating:
Summary: Too many factors to blame the unit.
Review: I can agree AND disagree with everyone else's opinion of this unit. I have the unit connected to my 57" Hitachi Ultrvision via DVI-D interface, and to my Panasonic receiver via TOSLINK optical. When I first got the unit I connected it THRU the receiver via Component (RGB) cable. I experienced video dropout during sudden bright scenes, and occasional audio drop out in Dolby 5.1 as others have. I should note I am 55mile north of Tampa Bay and get about 7 or 8 channels (plus sub-channels) with a roof top antenna (Channelmaster from about 1990). The video droppout was clipping due to the Receiver's shortcomings, once I by passed it the video was excellent all the time. I also have not had an audio issue in some time now. Granted, being a TiVo family we rarely get to watch alot of "live" TV, but it has been great. Bottom line is this: reception is key. The signal is digital and thus will be slow to decode, uncompress and prone to packet loss (equating to picture pixelization and loss of Dolby soundtrack) Remember the UHF days? Ghosts, snow, etc.? Same thing, only digital. I previously bought a Zenith unit and it only got 1 channel. The sensitivity of the Samsung is by far superior to anything else in my experience. If you want terrestrial TV in HD for FREE, you'll need to invest in a well tuned aerial. Also I have a standard vhf/uhf 35db booster inline, 30ft from the aerial and 60ft from the tuner and it does not interfere with the signal in a negative way. I give it 4 stars because a this point in time we are too close to next-gen receivers to expect this unit to live up to the expectations of each individual user.
Rating:
Summary: Superb for the price paid
Review: I got my unit at a local CC for $130 as an open box special - actually there was no box - but the unit looked good and all the parts and manual, cables, etc. were there in a plastic bag - so at $130 (after making sure I could return it) - I took a chance. I had been wanting a tuner for my Hitachi 32" HDTV for some time, but balked at paying $300. This unit was on-sale for $239 at the time (with a box;).
I came here to check the reviews and that's the main reason I'm back to post this one. After reading the many negative reviews here, I thought maybe I'd made a big mistake - but I decided to give it a whirl anyway. On the first day - all excited - I started hooking everything up - pretty easy. I used component (YPbPr) so I had no problems at all getting 480i 480p 720p and 1080i right off the bat. I had no antenna, so I just grabbed the cheap (really cheap - not even very adjustable) radio shack rabbit ears off the TV in my son's room. Right off the bat I had many problems as reported here, picture pixelating, sound dropping out, and so on. I don't know that much about HDTV gear, but I did some careful reading here and check out a few inet sites. But that night I was pretty sure it was going back to the store.
The next evening when I got some time, I gave it another go. I had read on one of the sites the importance of the length of the antenna for the VHF channels, the UHF loop isn't even adjustable on the antenna I was using. So I tried adjusting them to the recommended length (13.5 inches or so, I think) and I found by making one a little longer than the other and turning it the right way, I went from 3 bars to 5-6 bars in signal strength and WHAM! a rock solid glorious image and sound!
I can get the closest channels (12-20 miles) with ease now - even though I live on a lot w/30-40 foot trees around the house.
I get a rock solid signal at night, during mid-day there are occasional glitches. But, of course, I need to get a *real* antenna!!! I'm sure then I will be able to pull in more channels and will have no more problems.
So, as many other sites (and some reviews here) suggested - it's the antenna that's key (Duh!). The unit itself works exactly as described and I have had no problems. The guide works fine once your unit has been on long enough the first time to down load the data. I think the unit looks nice and the setup, features and options all seem pretty good to me.
Now I can actuall watch HDTV for free on my Hitachi and I am sure glad I did not take this baby back!!!
So, don't let the negative reviews put you off - give it a shot if you can find one at a good price!
Rating:
Summary: Samsung - not ready for prime time
Review: I had two SIR T-150's die on me (just over a year each).
I bought the newer SIR T-351. Out of the box, it had a bad
right audio channel and one bad RGB channel, so it has to be
shipped to their service facility. They have only one such
facility in the US. Last time, the turnaround took almost
three weeks.
Samsung is trying very hard to become a major player in the
consumer electronics market, and I am quite satisfied with
my Samsung LCD computer monitor. But my experience with
the Samsung set top boxes will lead me to avoid their phones,
TV's, and other Samsung products. Motorola has just begun
to ship an HDTV set top box (HDT101), and it can't possibly
be as poor as this Samsung product.
Caveat emptor.
Rating:
Summary: Works well considering the price point.
Review: I have this tuner plugged into my Sony 36" XBR's component inputs (Video 5) and the picture is superb. I'm using a typical rooftop antenna nearly 50 miles from the Phoenix area broadcast towers, and they are not line-of-sight; I'm behind a mountain! Nevertheless, this unit found about 7 HDTV channels for all the major networks and a few others without any problems. (sadly, not our educational channel on 8) Yes, it is slow to start the decode to send to the TV, and the search for channels is slow, but once set up, I've been very pleased with the performance. Considering what the prices used to be, I think this unit is good value. I paid about $280 for a refurb unit.
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