Samsung LN46A550 46-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

We love our new television! Everything related to this transaction was perfect--except for the suggested installation service, which we ordered but shouldn't have. Don't buy it! It's not necessary, and we ended up canceling ours because the installation guy wasn't available until about 5 days after we got the tv. The truck delivery was timely--it came exactly one week after we ordered it. The driver connected our tv and waited to see if everything was working before he left. In addition, we took advantage of the 24-month no-interest payment plan. All in all, we are very pleased and will look to Amazon in the future for more purchases like this one.

I was replacing my old Sony 42A10 Grand Wega Rear Projection LCD. That's an older set and the black levels were notoriously bad. After some calibration, I was able to get a decent picture out of it. Apparantly this line had been lemons though, as optical engine after optical engine being replaced had failed. Time for a new TV.

I was honestly going to go for a Panasonic Plasma originally. Plasmas are known for great contrast levels. I've seen 30,000:1 for some plasma contrast levels, but LCD's are catching up and Samsung this year brings out an affordable set that's below the popular $2000 budget, and makes it a breeze to use.

Out of the box the color levels aren't bad at all. Grey scale is actually not too far off from being accurate with the 'movie mode' setting, which takes off most artificial effects to the picture which would really make colors pop un-naturally and crush darker shades of black so you lose some minor detail. Of course, I did a calibration for this set based on some calibrations done in the AVSForum online and this set at that point blew me away even more. Samsungs over months and months of figuring out what I should buy between plasma or LCD, or what brand even, have come out on top in picture quality and color reproduction.

So there's the praise on the picture, but we all know that if you're serious about an HDTV you need to consider everything else. The 5ms response time is nice and works just fine with time sensitive games... forget wasting your money on the more expensive sets that give you 4ms response time. Hundreds of dollars for this and a 50,000:1 contrast ratio alone aren't worth it. This TV doesn't have 120hz but there's really nothing to say negative about any kind of motion blur, this set holds up extremely well with very very little or no blur at all.

How about the ease of use? The menus are very easy to navigate. I mentioned I did some calibrating, which usually means you have to go into a service menu that has to be accessed by punching a secret code in a remote. Then, you're staring at menus that you have no idea what anything means, so if you change the wrong values, you could potentially turn your TV into a large paperweight. Don't like the new service menu settings, and forgot to write down what the old ones were? Well, you're screwed. Especially since service menu tinkering voids your warranty!

Not so with this set, and this is my favorite part of the TV's settings since I love to tweak my set:

All of the color and white balance options are accessible via the normal user menu. Change your color mode to custom, and you can change all of your gains and off-sets... and if you don't like what you've done or if you messed up... there's a option in each color menu that says 'Reset'. Tell me that's not convenient. If you never wanted to shell out $200-$400 for a professional calibration, and you've always been a little weary of tweaking your service menu... fear no more.

The only downside to this set, is that the speakers sound pretty bad. Most people like myself, already have a surround sound system so this may not be a deal breaker... but the options for the sound can be calibrated to sound decent enough as long as you're patient.

Last but not least, Samsung has given us a much larger viewing angle for this LCD than we'd get with normal LCD panels. Samsung is ahead of the game with LCD's and if you're thinking about LCD (which I did because I game a lot and didn't want to even risk image retention with plasma), Samsung is the way to go. When Sony is using Samsung parts now-a-days, you know that's gotta mean good things, right? Great contrast, good black levels, good viewing angle, lots of HDMI and component inputs, can't ask for much more than that.

The first thing is the delivery. I ordered the TV on Wednesday and it was installed and we were watching it on Friday using regular delivery. It may be our location for the quick service. The White Glove service was everthing some people had said it would be. They called a day earlier to say it would be delivered in a three hour window which it was. The two people unboxed it, installed it in my built in cabinet which was about 1/8 inch to small but they made it work. They turned it on and set it up using the automatic channel scan. They hauled off the carton and packaging. I was really unhappy with the picture quality at that time. After they left I started adjusting the TV using directions I got from [...]. You have to remember that all TV's are set to full bright because they don't know which one will be a store display and they must be bright to attract the attention. Turn the back light almost all the way off and the picture will be much better. The picture quality is the best I have ever seen after it is adjusted. I have dish network and a regular outside antenna for the local stations. I live in the Dallas/Ft Worth area and found that the local "HD" channels look really good using my old antenna. We can now get almost 40 channels if you count the weather channels each station broadcasts and the channel for the D/FW airport ramp. I will have to upgrade to get "HD" on dish.
The sound quality is poor like most reviews have stated. You can make it bearable by adjusting the custom EQ. The one thing I don't like is the fact that you can only change the volume one click at a time. Maybe they will correct this where you can have a choice in some future software update. The TV would be a Five Star for picture quality but the poor sound brings it down to a Four Star. Make sure and watch the price for 30 days for a price drop to get your price guarantee. I missed mine.

IT IS AN EXCELLENT TV WITH VERY CLEAR PICTURE. AMAZON WAS OUTSTANIFNG IN HANDLING MY ORDER PROFESSIONALLY

Good TV.

Pros:
1. Very nice and intuitive menus.
2. Nice remote with lighting
3. The stand allows to rotate it side-to-side ( i.e. horizontally)

Cons:
1. Very poor sound from the built-in speakers. Unless you plan to buy a home theater system in addition to it, go with something else.


I have tried it for 3 weeks and decided to buy Sony KDL46V3000. The Sony has a sharper video (just a personal opinion and perception) and good sound from the TV speakers.