July 8, 2009
Top Samsung HDTV July 2009
These are the top 5 bestselling Samsung LCD TVs as of July 2009 with reviews:
Number 5 - Samsung LN32A450 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
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Most helpful review:
487 of 490 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent TV for a good price, May 1, 2008
By Steven V. Viscido (North Carolina) - (REAL NAME)
Pros: Outstanding, crisp HD picture; excllent color contrast; solid response time
Cons: Slight pixelation with poor quality SD signal
"After doing a huge amount of research, I finally settled on this set. I was actually interested in the slightly lower-priced Toshiba Regza, but every store in my area was out. While shopping around, I noticed that this Samsung in particular seemed to have a top-notch picture. Finally I decided to take the plunge 3 days ago, and I have not been disappointed at all. In the past I have had several issues with LCD TVs, which is why I had been hesitating up to now. I know these issues are on many people's minds, and so I will address each one:
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Motion Response
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First, and most important, is response time with fast motion. I am driven absolutely nuts if the TV can't "hold" the motion (that is, if the image smears, or fractures, when high speed elements are zooming across the screen). The element you are looking for in an LCD monitor that tells you about this is "response time", and you want something 8ms or below. I believe this TV is 6ms (the specs say this on Sammy's website, but several stores have it listed as 8ms). In any case, this TV "holds" the motion of even fast images extremely well. In the store, it held motion best of all comparably priced models, including the Sony Bravias around $1k, and the Sharps around the same price. When I got it home, I tested it out with Star Wars ep. 1 and the battle sequence from Narnia. Both looked outstanding using a regular DVD player with HDMI upconvert to 720p. You will not see ghosting issues with high def images.
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Color and contrast
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Color fidelity and contrast are also important to me, and LCDs have been known to have issues producing deep blacks and bright whites. This is not a problem for this set. It produces excellent color, and did so right out of the box with the factory pre-sets. I have not had to fiddle with it at all. I did try switching to "Cinema" mode, which has some nice characteristics, but even without that, everything looked amazing.
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Standard Def rendition
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Another major issue with LCDTVs and monitors is that anything not displayed at the native resolution tends to look blurred or "fractured". I was very concerned about this because I have lots of old DVDs of shows like Seinfeld and the Simpsons, which I know were never broadcast in HD. Also many TV stations have not yet made the switch (though most have). Here the TV was about as good as I have seen, though it is not perfect. The good news is that upconverted SD sources like the Seinfeld DVDs look excellent — every bit as good as on a regular TV, if not better. The bad news is that your VHS tapes are going to look blurry and pixelated on a set like this. I don't have a lot of VHS tapes left, and so this isn't a huge deal. Regular SD sources with this set vary in quality. For example, the SD version of Animal Planet had a special on the other night that almost looked HD. At the same time, flip channels to CNN, and it looks terrible. I suspect this is the broadcast quality and NOT the set… otherwise all channels would look awful in SD. So when you get a nice SD source being broadcast, it looks fine.
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I would highly recommend this set. After connecting my HD cable box today and watching things like CSI:Miami, Vegas, and Miss Congeniality, all in widescreen HD, I can say that I am totally blown away by this set's HD performance. I don't think you'll be able to find a better HD TV set for the price."
Number 4 - Samsung LN46B750 46-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV with Charcoal Grey Touch of Color
Most helpful review:
46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great TV, bad quality control from Samsung, May 5, 2009
By John Grey "AV98" (SF Bay Area, CA) - (REAL NAME)
Let me say that this TV is one of the best in the market for the price point. The pros are too many to list and so far has been a great choice as far as features and performance. I'm an early adapter for HDTV in 03 going from a Zenith C32V37 RP CRT (4:3); which unfortunately is getting replaced due to a humming power supply. The B750 can match the black levels of the RP CRT and has no clouding or flashlighting that I was seeing on the A750/A850 sets, which my wife and I almost decided to get. With Amazon's pricepoints coming very close to the discounted price of the previous generation Samsung sets it was a no brainer.
Now onto the Cons, I would have given this B750 5 stars if not for the crappy Samsung Quality Control. I received my TV out-of-the-box with a remote that had 5 dead/non-working buttons= mute, up arrow, play, red options button and "1". Also, after 2 days of setting up the TV and getting all our inputs connected using almost all of them (analog & digital); yes even both USB ports, the HDMI inputs 1-3 stopped working properly. Now, those inputs will only take the signal from the HDMI 4. EG: If I select HDMI 1-3 and have a source such as Bluray running on the HDMI 4 (side-port) it will display that source signal. Talk about disappointing QC. After a few calls to Amazon and Samsung; I will be getting a new remote and have Samsung's local service technician out to fix the HDMI input problem. I can't believe these QC issues out-of-the-box are occuring for such as middle-tier to higher end line of prodcut; very poor testing on Samsung's part.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the performance of the B750 but very disappointed with their QC process which can be greatly improved. In my 20-30+ years of owning electronic equipment I have never encountered these types of QC problems out-of-the box with any products.
Number 3 - Samsung LN40B550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color
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Most helpful review:
84 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent set!, April 6, 2009
By pelagikos
I was undecided between this 2009 model and last year's LN40A550.
The features are substantially identical, but after figuring that the difference between best prices for the two, which I could find after extensive shopping around, was only $50, I went for newer one for its updated look and lighter weight.
In the reviews, one of the principal complaints for 2008 was the sound quality. I can't directly compare 2009 and 2008, but found 2009's LN40B550 to have perfectly adequate, if not excellent speakers, as far as TVs go.
Picture quality, menus, setup are excellent as expected.
One aspect that I did find puzzling is Wiselink not being able to recognize my old trustworthy USB Flash Drive. I even tried formatting the drive in various ways, unfortunately none of the tricks worked.
Perhaps, it's the ancient drive not being comparable in some way, but it had never let me down before. Anyhow, I ordered a few different flash drives, and will try again, and then post an update.
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Tried four various flash drives, all of them work just fine in computers, all four freshly formatted same way (FAT32). Two of the drives are read by the TV with no problems, the two others are not recognized at all… Go figure… The slideshow functionality is nice, quite limited, but does the job.
Just for the reference, one of the drives that does work in this TV is Kingston Data Traveler 4GB.
Number 2 - Samsung LN32B460 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
Most helpful review:
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Samsung stands out in hdtv!!!, April 23, 2009
By J. Hobson (Lebanon,Va) - (REAL NAME)
Very impressed with my new Samsung LN32B460. very easy to set up with the on screen plug and play setup.Bought this tv for my bedroom looks great with the sleek design and appereance.The contrast is unreal life like picture.Can't beat the price of 599.00 plus free shipping and no TAX!!!Fast delivery ordered on 04-19-09 recieved it on 04-22-09.Highly recommend the Samsung LN32B460 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
Number 1 - Samsung LN52B750 52-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV with Charcoal Grey Touch of Color
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Most helpful review:
336 of 349 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for mini home theater, May 17, 2009
By EarlyMon (New Mexico, USA)
I've been an HDTV owner for six years and during that time, I've assisted about two dozen friends in their HDTV home theater setups. I've just upgraded to the Samsung LN52B750 and I couldn't be happier. For reference, I'm upgrading from a Samsung DLP and I own another Samsung LCD HDTV.
There's a lot that's misunderstood about this TV, so rather than the usual Pros and Cons, I'd like to share how I'm getting viewing value from this set.
First, if you're reading this, you're either already an LCD owner or have read about them - and have read about this new breed and if you're like I was, you're wondering what's what.
Color swirls - you never read about this, but if you've watched TV on an LCD set in the past, especially with standard def (SD) stations, you've seen it. The backgrounds look like compressed colors from jpg photo files. My earlier LCD HDTV (8ms response time) had it - this one simply does not. (I did have trouble watching compression artifacts in a movie from 1930 on TCM on this TV - but that movie was so hosed, I can't blame the TV only.)
Contrast - you've read by now that all LCD set makers lie about this. If you're confused and remember the old audio days, that works like this: You'd have a 35 watt RMS/channel amp (into 8 ohms). Some would lie and call it a 70 watt amp. Then lie some more and call it a 140 watt amp (how about 4 ohm speakers?). Then lie some more and refer to peak instead of RMS - and suddenly a 35 watt amp is legally lied about as a 200 watt amp. Now - I don't know the ins and outs of legal contrast lying, but I believe what I've read - it exists in this industry. This set is rated at a contrast of 150,000:1 - with every stretch of legal lying possible - the contrast on this set is amazing. I still cannot believe that it's an LCD. It's simply that good in terms of contrast. One plasma-owning friend insisted for a half hour that I was wrong, and had gotten a top line plasma.
Blur/response/lag - LCDs are noted for this weakness. Not this TV. Read on.
Quality of SD programs - some controversy exists. Not a problem on this TV. Read on.
240 Hz AMP - this is the most misunderstood feature I've read about on this TV. Nothing I've read in any review prepared me for what to expect. I was buying the TV partially for this feature, noting that depending upon whom you believe, you turn this feature on, off, on for movies but not sports, on for sports but not movies.
It's none of those on/off things. It's adjustable. Here are my simple recommendations based on my setup:
1. DirecTV.
I use a Dayton HDMI cable, also bought on Amazon (amazingly good cable - buy it), from my DirecTV HR20. I have the HR20 set up to display all resolutions in Native mode. The LN52B750 switches resolution so quickly that this is not a problem. Unlike earlier sets I've owned, the HDMI input on this TV accepts 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p - the HR20 outputs all of those on HDMI. In DirecTV circles, it's well-known to set your TV and your HR20 to the TV's native resolution and turn Native output off on the HR20. This is because the HR20 is purportedly better at 3:2 pulldown processing than the top of the line chipsets/firmware used only a few years ago, in that the pulldown is done between the steps of converting the satellite signal to TV frames - and my own experience agreed with that.
However, I offer this simple advice - set your HR20 output to Native, all resolutions, and set the B750's 240Hz processing to: Blur=5, Judder=3 - and you'll be exceptionally happy with the results from all program input. My Boston Legal reruns have never looked so good and they appear on some of the poorest-signal (highly compressed) stations in my lineup. So, with this setting, SD as well as satellite 720p and 1080i programs look great - not fake at all. (And all you have to do to see the controversy on this feature is to "turn it on" without customizing its adjustment - and wait for your eyes and stomach to turn.)
I played baseball as a kid - loved it. Still remember what a ball looks like going through the air. When you're at the right angle, you see a stobe of blur and clear, red stitches. With the Blur=5,Judder=3 adjustment, I have finally seen just that watching a dropping curve ball (720p source). Any higher or lower, the ball looks wrong - oh, yes, very exciting - but wrong.
So I strongly recommend this set for its 240 Hz processing - providing you are willing to change those two parameters slowly and study a lot of source material to dial in what's right. I contend that if you're a DirecTV HR20 owner, I've just given you the key to really great SD and HD viewing.
And don't fear about those great blurs being missed from movies that wanted it there - Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire looked really great in that regard.
BTW - resolution switching on this set is FAST - you'll experience little or NO extra delay when switching resolutions. (Not true on my older HDTVs.)
2. HTPC (Home Theater PC)
I use a Mac mini. I know, people hate them, you pay too much for Macs, yadda, yadda, yadda. The Mac mini is THE correct form-factor for a HTPC. You can find duplicates of this form-factor - and directly comparable features - in the Windows world for **exactly** the same price as a Mac mini - so, 'nuff said on price.
But - so far as a I know, only the built-in Apple DVD Player plays movies at 24 frames/second. Last I checked (and this may have changed by now), all other software (Win) does playback at TV rates: 60 frames/sec, with progressive scanning, etc.
Now - I'm not explaining all of this to brag about Macs - this is all about Blu-Ray vs. DVDs.
The de-judder tech being targeted by the 240 Hz processing is all about reconciling Blu-Ray 24 fps (read: real theater) vs. 30/60 fps (read: TV signals).
I don't own a Blu-Ray player - my gut, after all of these years, is still telling me to wait for the right features and prices.
But, I do use a Mac mini for my HTPC and if you do - or are considering one - here is my recommendation (based on Leopard 10.5.7): set the DVD Player to Best Quality Deinterlacing, set the Mac Display preferences to 1920×1080 at 24 Hz (it's progressive by default), and feed that into your LN52B750 with the 240 Hz options set to Blur=5 or 6, Judder=6 or 7 - and your jaw will drop. If you have a copy of Moulin Rouge - use it as your reference for the settings. I particularly recommend noting that you'll actually see the dust kitties on the floor in the Tango Roxanne chapter (among other things) and also suggest that you'll really love the depth and details of the stars, lace and glitter in Your Song.
With those settings you'll not only get a great HTPC, but you'll get possibly the best standard DVD player you've ever owned. Before the LN52B750, it was very good - now it's really incredible. Ghost Dog and Moulin Rouge on DVD are now completely three dimensional (not exaggerated foreground fakey - actually 3-D looking) - I didn't even know that this sort of picture was possible from a DVD.
I think my setup shows how well this TV works with a 1080p/24 fps source - I can only imagine that Blu-ray looks even better.
(edited 5-26-09)
3. Sound
People complain about the sound quality of the LN52B750. I don't know. I haven't used a TV for sound in 8 years. I don't wish to sound snobbish, but really - you're spending a boatload on your TV and input sources, why listen to TV speakers?
I don't go for surround sound. I'm an audio purest that prefers the highest fidelity stereo. To each his own, but if you're like me, here's the secret on that: route the optical audio out from the LN52B750 into the Mac mini, not from the DirecTV's optical port. This routing is surprisingly better. Use Rogue Amoeba's free LineIn software, set all buffers to default values except for output - use a buffer size of 2048 - convert the optical to copper stereo and pipe that into your stereo system. This is the best TV-to-stereo sound I've gotten in 8 years.
I'm using large electrostatic panels, driven by a 400 watt (peak)/channel amp and a 2 kW servo-controlled subwoofer. You hear sound from all over the room and the depth and spacial qualities are great. I recommend more money into a better stereo and less room wiring over surround sound, but that's just me. To each, his own.
4. Miscellaneous Adjustments
Next, some words on clouding, screen adjustment and glare.
Glare - I don't have any. Yeah - I can see some reflection in the screen at various times of the day. The picture quality is so deep - as is the contrast - that I don't even notice glare, if it is there. And the screen is neither glossy nor matte. It feels glossy, but is low-glare like matte, but sharp and clear like glossy. They're telling the truth on that improvement.
Clouding - let the set burn in for a few days before looking. This is great advice for any large LCD, by the way. Clouding - I don't have any.
Adjustments: Go. Very. Slow. I'd recommend not touching a thing for a full 24 hours of viewing. So far, I've turned down the backlight and the contrast and turned up the brightness. I'm not going to suggest numbers here, though - there are too many factors, such as your room, that will dictate what's right. I will say that out of the box, the contrast is too high, as is the backlight (but not the brightness) - so, as I said: Adjust. Each. Parameter. Slowly. You'll be pleased.
5-26-09: Three things - absolutely *turn off* Dynamic Contrast and Edge Enhancement!! Also, Digital Noise Reduction (NR) defaults to auto - certainly on DVDs, this causes an electric sort of look to things like paper; better at Medium or High.
Color - I read a review that favored Auto over Native - I agree.
Film mode - It defaults to Auto2 (optimized for scrolling text). Use Auto1 (film optimized) - text looks just fine.
5. Internet
This is not a worthless feature. I thought it would be - but it isn't. If you're using a Mac mini and getting the net wirelessly, go to System Prefs->Network->Ethernet, and set DHCP with manual IP - set IP to 192.168.2.1 - then go to Sharing and share your Airport connection through the Ethernet. Run an Ethernet cable 100/1000BaseT type (looks like a big phone connector) from the Mac to the TV. Set the TV internet as follows: IP=192.168.2.2, mask=255.255.255.0, and BOTH Gateway and DNS Servers to 192.168.2.1 - and you're all set.
Note - this doesn't support your DLNA features into the TV - and if you have a HTPC, especially a Mac, you don't want that anyway. Your music files will all have to transcode to support the feature - stick with your native music format, and simply switch to Mac Front Row for your music listening. You'll get higher quality and you've already made those music import decisions - and I suspect the same is true if you're a Vista/Home Media user and that's your HTPC.
BUT - and this is a big BUT - if it's easy, hook up your Mac or other HTPC to share its internet connection. You already get your OS upgrades via the net, regardless of whether you prefer OS X or Windows. Well, guess what? This TV is at its heart, a whole lot of computing technology. Out of the box, my LN52B750 firmware was marked from 3-30-2009 - and last week (in May 2009), Samsung already had a firmware upgrade for this set. What did Samsung upgrade? I don't know and I don't care. I let my Windows XP and Mac OS X computers upgrade themselves all the time. These guys want to fix things for free, I don't argue - I take the fix.
Get it connected to the internet and you'll never have to sweat getting an upgrade or remember how to transfer it to your TV via a USB stick. For upwards of US$2k, I like not sweating things. BTW, please note that at this point, the TV doesn't seem to support automatic updates - so you still have to go over to that menu option. Not bad.
Having gotten that far, I tried out the Yahoo widgets. This is an underrated feature by far. I'm now set up to get the quick 5-day forecasts here, back where Mom is, and out where my company's other locations are. It puts the TV show being watched into its own shadowbox while viewing the widget. This is insanely faster and easier than using my Mac Dashboard or the DirecTV widget for the same thing - and I never lost track of my show and I never picked up a mouse.
Oh - I also used Yahoo News and Video to get the latest web video of the Hubble repairs during a long commercial break. Sure, it was low-res. But I did it with my remote, and not a mouse, and didn't lose track of time on the web looking at Hubble stuff during a commercial break.
So - I strongly recommend the internet connection option for this TV, too.
6. Heat
LCD sets get hot, the longer they're on. I burned out my first LCD HDTV from days-long ontime. I left this TV on for 50 hours straight. It is summer (here in the desert), and I do have my swamp cooler on - but this TV screen is still barely warm to the touch.
7. Trusting commercial reviewers
Anyone who publishes that they've tested the X-inch model of this set, but this one is the same - don't read them, don't believe them. Quality control for manufacturing LCD sets increases almost exponentially as you go up in size. Only trust reviews on the actual set you're looking at - not the next one over, not last year's model.
8. LCD response time
This set is rated at 2 ms. I've heard that's a lie in a review of 120 Hz sets - although the reviewer wouldn't mention manufacturers. That reviewer said that they were simply taking 8 ms panels, and rating them at 4 ms when doing 120 Hz processing - and so, while my TV was in transit, I rightly wondered if the 2 ms is simply the same math applied to an 8 ms screen at 240 Hz (4 time as fast as 60 Hz, four times as fast as 8 ms).
I have no earthly idea. All that I can say for a certain fact is that this thing is razor sharp and lacks the motion artifacts (and swirls) I've seen on my other 8 ms LCD HDTVs. I hope this helps, some, with that confusion.
9. Actual Size
I don't why it does this but it does: it sees my Mac via the DVI-HDMI connection and gives me a Fit Screen size adjustment. No more lost pixels, no more need for SwitchResX or DisplayConfigX. No such option from the DirecTV HDMI input. I don't know why.
But I do know this: for years, HDTV makers were hiding a bit of the edges from their input sources - causing no end of grief for HTPC owners. This set does away with all of those woes.
(**** UPDATE, May 23 - The Screen Fit option works with any HD source - DirecTV or HTPC. Switch to 480i input, and the screen fit option goes away. Also - when you get the typical HistoryHD show where they just stretch the letterbox picture horizontally, giving everyone that Pillsbury Doughboy face, you can fix that by quickly switching the TV to 4:3 mode. You end up with an HD in letterbox - not as good as full-screen HD, but way better than watching the Pillsbury Doughboy.)
10. Correct Adjustment.
They tell us that the only way to do this is with a TV tech, and to pay for it professionally. Believe them. This TV has no less than 9 adjustments for red, green and blue - add in brightness, gamma, etc and you have over a dozen adjustments there.
Think: 12-sided Rubic's cube - now you've got the idea.
So, I'm just adjusting the brightness/backlight/contrast myself. Independent reviewers all claim that the Samsung brand rocks right out of the box for color correctness. That wasn't true of my older Samsungs - it most certainly is for this one. The color just looks great.
13. The Remote
I had things down to just my Mac remote and my DirecTV remote. Now I've got that third remote happening again, to use some of this TV's cooler features. Just like most people use surround sound while I use stereo, it seems most people get integrated remotes instead of using several.
OK - I'm a Luddite or something. We use multiple remotes. (This one for music, sound, photos and DVD control, this one for DirecTV and now this one for switching source inputs and checking out my Yahoo widgets.) My wife and I just find this easier. So, if you're like us in that regard:
This is a great remote. It feels comfy in the hands like you wouldn't believe, it has backlighting, the buttons are big enough to read. What more can I say than that?
14. Viewing Distance
I watch mine at 12.5 feet from the screen. This is well within reason for this size TV. If you watch at a showroom, be prepared to pace off what your viewing distance will be. I often go through stores and see people judging HDTVs by being 8 feet in front of one, 12 feet in front of another. Don't ever do that. I cannot overstate the importance of judging TVs from the distance consistent with your own use.
15. Pilot Delivery
I got my LN52B750 via Amazon's supplied Pilot Delivery. These guys were great. Others have had issues, many haven't. Pilot seems to employ local guys for their white glove delivery. My local guys were great - 'nuff said.
16. 6/13/2009 edit - If you register your TV on the Samsung website, they give you an additional 3 months on your warranty.
Well - that's it. Thanks for reading. Hope I've helped.
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