Samsung LN40B550 40 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color

Samsung LN40B550 40 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color

39.9″ screen (measured diagonally) * widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio * Touch of Color high-gloss finish — black with red accents * 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 *

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Feature packed and really good picture quality for a decent price
I had been eyeing upgrading to an HDTV of some sort for about three years. I had been researching and dreaming about it for the whole time. Samsung was always on the top of my list, and when they came out with this model, which has a lot of features for a comparatively reasonable price tag I finally decided to take the plunge.

I have the most basic Cable service imaginable, so most of the time I am viewing SDTV (480i) stretched to 1920×1080. Considering this enormous stretch, it looks pretty good. It is definitely a tad fuzzy, it looks as good as any other 1080p TV I’ve seen. Similarly, my Wii is pretty fuzzy if you get up close, but it looks fine from my couch, especially when I enabled Progressive output. The Wii isn’t trying to be a graphics powerhouse anyway.

On the flip side is my DVD player. It has component output and is capable of doing 480p, and holy cow does it look awesome! After watching the SDTV and Wii, I was a little worried my DVDs would be equally blurry unless I upgraded to an upscaling player, but with progressive output, holy cow, I do not feel that is necessary at all. I was very pleased because watching movies is what I do most.

As for HD picture, my options are limited currently, but I for some reason NBC does come in in 1080i over my plain non-digital cable and I also tested OTA HDTV and I’ve gotta say, it is GORGEOUS. So in my limited experience, the HD picture on this TV looks fantastic.

My Dell laptop has an HDMI out (video and audio) so I decided to hook it up to the side HDMI connection on the TV. At first it looked kind of terrible and I had to do a lot fiddling. It still didn’t look right though. After consulting the manual, I discovered that computers are really supposed to be connected to HDMI 1. Switching to that I also discovered that naming the HDMI 1 port “DVI PC” it disables audio input, so bear that in mind. Once I hooked it up right though, it is fantastic. Videos and games look great and surfing the web with a wireless mouse and keyboard is AWESOME.

There are tons of video options and tweaks so you can get the TV to look perfect in whatever environment it is in. Another great feature is that you can connect a Digital Camera or USB storage device to show pictures at the full resolution intead of 480i all streched out if you do it over composite video. It looks great, but unfortunately my Canon camera uses PictBridge instead of acting like a USB Mass Storage device, so I can’t do it. I’ve tested it with a USB Thumbdrive and it looks great though.

So, here’s a recap for the “Too Long; Didn’t Read” crowd:

+PROS+

+Great Price/Feature ratio

+Awesome HD Picture (as far as I’m concerned)

+Great DVD 480p picture

+Tons of Video Tweaking options

+USB

+Tons of Inputs

+Digital Audio Output

+Rotatable mount

%Neutrals%

%SDTV Picture is only OK

-Negatives-

-Auto Program takes FOREVER

-Front buttons are practically invisible… and therefore practically unusable.

-No Picture-in-Picture at all

As you can see, the negatives are pretty minor (except maybe the PIP for some people). All in all…. I love this dang TV!!

5 Stars Very Happy with TV and Delivery
NO problems with TV and Delivery…. got a call 2 days earlier than I expected from CEVA to see if they could deliver the TV in the next two hours so that was great…they put the TV on the stand and sat it in the cabinet…they were going to connect it but I said let me do it…I plugged in the componet cable and 2 HDMI devices and then we turned it on to make sure the TV worked….they asked me if I wanted to keep the empty box and I didn’t so they took it…the 40 inch TV fit my cabinet with the doors on, thanks to the people who measured their tv for me…

5 Stars Awesome.
Amazing TV.

Cheaper than any store, especially Best Buy.

You won’t be disappointed.

5 Stars Really stylish
After a lot of research finally decided on this new model with TOC.Happy with the delivery as it arrived before expected with installation done .The picture quality is really good esp the HD Channels.My DVD plays too good in it.It has 1080 p(Full HD) with resolution 1920 x 1080 and dynamic contrast ratio is also high compared to LN40A550.Sound is pretty ok.TOC is really glamourous n makes it look gorgeous.Not too much red but just a tinge of it makes it look beautiful.Light weight n its swivel function is an added feature which makes it more lovely.Overall an amazing set with a very stylish look.A good set for the price.

1 Star I will never buy Samsung again
I purchased a Samsung TV and I had done alot of research before. I thought I was getting a great TV. Wow, was I wrong. About a month ago, the screen went blank and all I had was the audio. I called Samsung and they contacted some fly by night TV shop to fix the problem. Guess what, the problem is still there and the TV shop damaged the TV. Samsung doesn’t want to know anything about the damage. They are not standing behind the TV. From now on, it is Sony all the way. I am very surprised about Samsung but I have heard other stories like mine and the initial problem with the screen going blank is a problem they have been having with many of their models.

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