Samsung TX-P3075WH 30" DynaFlat HDTV with Integrated HD Tuner
Great Picture, but Analog Audio problem
I have the TX-P3075WH, and while I think the picture quality was as good as the best I saw when I made the purchase, (This would include comparably sized units by Sony and Philips.) there are design aspects that create problems for me. These issues won't affect someone using the digital audio outputs, but anyone who is outputting analog audio to a stereo, will want to know about this. <br /> <br />First, there is only one analog audio output; the instruction manual says that it's volume is variable, but it is NOT. You must vary the volume using your stereo's volume control, not the TV volume control like the manual says. <br /> <br />Second, and this is much more important to me: There are 5 RCA jacks used in the recommended hook up for a DVD player, 3 component video and 2 analog audio. If you use this configuration, the sound output to the stereo is killed. You must listen to sound only on the built-in TV speakers. <br /> <br />The sound is obviously getting from the DVD player to the TV, because you can hear it on the TV. If you switch away from the DVD to over the air TV, you CAN get the sound to be played through the stereo. <br /> <br />Apparently, the design philosophy was that even in a situation where sound was transmitted by analog from the DVD player to the TV, if the video inputs used were the digital component ones, then the only way to get an audio signal out of the TV is by digital means. The TV has 3 kinds of digital outputs: DVI, optical, and an RCA style jack. <br /> <br />If I leave the audio cables where they are, but I change the video input from 3 component digital connections to one composite (the jacks are designed to be dual use), the circuitry again outputs the audio to the stereo. <br /> <br />This seems kind of unecessary. I don't get why they kill the analog audio output. The audio obviously gets to the TV, else you wouldn't be able to hear the sound over the TV. Why they can't continue to pass that signal to the monitor out, I don't understand. There must still be quite a few people out there who don't want to bother with surround sound. <br /> <br />You know, I might understand the behavior, if I were outputting digital audio from the DVD player to the TV, but I can't say it was well thought out the way it is. Frankly, even if I did connect digitally between the DVD and the TV, I think I should still be able to output analog audio to my stereo. <br /> <br />Regards, <br />nfsmith