Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
From Samsung

Price: Too low to display

40" widescreen HDTV (16:9 aspect ratio) * high-gloss black finish * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) * built-in QAM cable TV tuner receives unscrambled programs without a set-top box (cable service required) * 1920 x 1080 pixels *

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #20 in Consumer Electronics
  • Color: Black
  • Brand: Samsung
  • Model: LN-40A550
  • Dimensions: 24.70" h x 3.60" w x 39.20" l, 54.50 pounds
  • Display size: 40

Features

  • Full HD 1080p Resolution
  • Wide Color Enhancer
  • 3 HDMI Inputs
  • USB 2.0
  • HDMI-CDC


Customer Reviews

Love the Samsung4
Very happy with the TV. Great picture especially in HD. Non-HD channels actually look worse than a regular tv. Not sure why. It's not this tv's fault, I think they're all like that. Nice looking set. Works great with plugging in a laptop computer and surfing the net etc. hooking up a digital camera and viewing pics in high res, also easy to hook up games etc. PS2 games don't take advantage of the 1080 res, so they actually don't look that great, like regular tv broadcast. I think a PS3 or Xbox 360 would need to be used to get the full effect. Took the stand off and mounted it to a wall, which was pretty easy. Bought a Sony HTCT 100 which improved the sound greatly. I don't use the internal speakers. Not that great. Try the Sony. Amazon had an excellent price and the unit was delivered quickly and taken out of the box by the delivery men.
Highly recommended! Will buy more Samsungs in the future.

Excellent television at its price point5
I spent a few weeks looking at various LCD and plasma television sets in my local BB and CC to get a feel for what was out there. I followed that up with another couple of weeks of research online into the models I was considering. After looking at the feature sets on various models, I decided to go with the LN40A550 and ordered one from Amazon. The delivery service was polite and fast and they were willing to work around my schedule to arrange a drop off time.

The television itself is pretty awesome, overall. The picture quality, from my unprofessional perspective, is at least on par with a large number of the plasma sets I looked at. The blacks are as black as I've seen on an LCD and there is no perceptible motion blur. The matte surface is excellent at handling the glare from windows opposite the telivision, which has been a blessing for me as I cannot rearrange the room. I will agree with some of the other reviewers, though, that the sound quality from this television leaves MUCH to be desired. The speakers aren't too bad, actually, but they are aimed downward and this causes significant muffling of the sound. I'm lucky enough to have also purchased a set of speakers and an audio/video receiver, allowing me to avoid using the television's speakers entirely.

I am a pretty avid gamer and this screen is excellent for gaming. In game mode there is no perceptible input lag and almost no motion blur at all (some can be detected on occasion but still much better than my older LCD television). I do wish that the different modes didn't gray out most of the configuration options, though. Game mode is required to reduce input lag but the lack of tweaking that can be done to the picture in this mode is irritating. It gives one the option of either enjoying no input lag and putting up with oversaturated colors or putting up with input lag in order to gain control over the color settings.

All in all this is an excellent television and I would purchase it again. The new Samsung models are pretty appetizing, though, and I'd recommend anyone looking at this model to also take a look at their most recent offerings.

Some Surprises4
Have had this TV for about a month now. Amazon delivery was great. They took it out of the box, hooked it up and tried it to make sure it worked with no problems. Could tell they were in a hurry but that is understandable. They did what was necessary and I am completely satisfied with the delivery.
The TV operates great no real problems. There seems to be a great variation in quality of signals coming in. I am hooked up with HDMI. HD channels are great but hard to watch SD after watching the HD. SD is nothing to brag about. My viewing distance is usually about 6 feet as I watch most of the time from my computer chair. Sitting a couple feet farther away does help with the SD. 6 feet is fine for HD.

I was pleasantly surprised by a couple things. The sound is much better than I thought it would be after reading all the negative reviews. A tip to others, there are 5 settings for audio you can try. They are Standard, Music, Movie,Speech and Custom. Check those out to find which one sounds the best to you. Check "Equalizer" and you will see what the settings are for each. Use the best settings as a starting point and use the "Custom" setting to fine tune. Worked for me. Also I am surprised at the quality of the video from a sharp angle. It is just as good as our 50 inch Plasma Panasonic. Overall I am very satisfied with this TV, it works great with my new compact Samsung DVD player and also flawlessly with my JVC VHS player. I give 4 stars because I think the SD should be better but it may be the quality of the signals. HD is Excellent with satellite signal and also Excellent with over-the-air local channels. The Olympics were fantastic with over-the air HD.


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