David,

Thanks for all the time it took to write that detail.

Living in a small, rural town makes local buying choices limited. I'll
be driving ~200 mi round trip to return the Samsung.

Any thoughts on Sanyo? They have some kind of warranty deal worked out
with WallyWorld that no other manufacturer does: longer exchange and
labor warranies and service through the store. Living far from the
big city makes that start looking more attractive considering the
Samsung experience.

Don

[snip]