Samsung LN52A550 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

I was trying to build a home entertainment center with some kind of restraint. It would have been easy to spend twice as much as I did for a comparable sized TV by going for the 650 or 750 Samsung series. I ended up getting this TV because I didn't think the 120hz was worth the extra $400-$600 and didn't really think the glossy finish on the higher models would work in a basement used to entertain with lots of lights. My only worry was that the picture quality would be lower than the newer TVs. That thought went out the window the second I turned this TV on.

I have a PS3 and an HD DVR both hooked up via HDMI. They both work flawlessly and look gorgeous. Blu-ray discs look spectacular and with some guidance from the AVSForums I was able to calibrate the TV to get unbelievably accurate color. Seriously, the 120hz capability to play discs at 24 frames per second and the auto-motion features seem overkill to me. I have over 400 DVDs and they look fantastic. People throw around the terms "unwatchable" and "horrible" way too much when they want to justify spending twice the price of this TV for the newest model.

The Samsung 5 series may be a bit older, but the quality is still fantastic. I've never been more happy with an electronics purchase.

Only cons: Do note that if you're getting a TV this large, you better be getting a decent receiver / sound system or at least a home-theatre-in-a-box since the speakers on the TV are pretty low quality, but that's not what you're paying for.

I got this nice piece of HDTV within the scheduled time frame. Picture quality is very good. No concern at all.

If you're planning on using the OPTICAL OUT (sound) feature of this television, keep the following statement from Samsung's manual in mind:

"When the source is a digital component such as a DVD and is connected to the TV via HDMI, only 2 channel sound will be heard from the Home Theater receiver.If you want to hear 5.1 channel audio, connect the DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (OPTICAL) jack on the DVD player or Cable/Satellite Box directly to an Amplifier or Home Theater, not the TV."

also:

"The difference between HDMI and DVI is that the HDMI device is smaller in size and has the HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection) coding feature installed." If connecting your computer for playing Blu-Ray, use a HDMI (#2) connection (not DVI).

Color brigtness is good but not excellent. For those watching sports, consider Samsung's 600 series (LNA650), which has 120 hz scan frequency. (more expensive, of course)

One of the nice features of this television, is you can hook it up to your pc. Just remember to set your computer's scan frequency to 60 hz BEFORE you connect the two.

As for the positive remarks concerning this tv-they've already been mentioned in the other reviews. I DO RECOMMEND this tv wholeheartedly, though.

Have had this TV about a month and love it. Amazon's price was the best around and the delivery was quick. Company delivering the TV took it out of the box and tested it to make sure it worked before leaving. We paid to have it installed for us and was told we didn't need any additional equipment from our cable company. Not sure if this is true. The channels that broadcast in HD format are incredibly clear. The ones that do not are average but still an improvement over our old TV. We do notice some shadowing on a few channels. Still, would definitely recommend this TV.

I upgraded to this Samsung HDTV after a full year enjoying my SHARP LC-42D64U. I wanted to get LC-52D64U, but I was scared I would get one that has banding. I've been fully enjoying this Samsung HDTV for a couple of weeks now and it's just awesome. I followed some calibration settings from avsforum. Also, I can't complain about the sound for this tv since I have an Onkyo TX-SR705 receiver for my 7.1 surround.