Samsung LN40A450 40-Inch 720p LCD HDTV

Picked this up as the cheapest sub $1000 40" TV still in stock for my mom's birthday. Was not disappointed by the Samsung name. Football looks great on it in HD, as did a western movie and various HD channels. This set really has a stunning - literally stunning - picture. The promo videos in the store are interesting but for the first two hours we were simply slack jawed at how great the image on the screen was at home. I was not disappointed with getting the 720p over the 1080p and my mother was unable to tell the difference from the couch. We had no problem seeing the sweat drip off the football helmets on the line or turf being thrown up by cleats at 720p.

Setup was simple, three screws in the swivel base, and then four screws connect the TV to the base (though you can't use a 4-in-1 screwdriver, the holes are too deep and narrow for anything but a regular screwdriver. Base is very solidly built - steel covered in the "piano black" plastic that adorns all Samsung TVs - nothing to break or fracture over the years. Other than that the TV came on and simply pushing the enter button on the remote 5 or six times got the TV setup. This being my first time setting up HDMI I figured it would scan the HDMI cable for all the available cable channels when selecting the "auto scan cable channels" - apparently this feature is only available through the coax/RF connection. Pushing the "HDMI Line 1" button switched to the FiOS HDMI connection and everything worked fine after that. The sound is pretty good for a stand alone but hooked it up to the pre-existing sound system.

Considering how small the price difference is between a 32" and a 40" it's definitely worth the extra dough, especially if you have a larger living room. This set went in a corner of an 18'x18' room and it absolutely dominates that corner. 40" looks tiny next to the 52, 68 and 72" tvs at the store but when you get it home does it finally dawn on you what sort of monstrosity you've let into your home. 40" might be too large for all but the biggest apartment living rooms, but for a medium to large sized house this is a great size. College kids put your money towards your tuition and get a 32", 40" is way too big for your dorm room.

I bought this TV as a replacement for my 37" Sony Trinitron that I bought in 1999. Alot has changed in the last nine years, such as my expectation that a TV would last longer than nine years.... So I had to buy a flat screen because it appears that tube TVs aren't manufactured anymore.

I don't have a HDTV signal from the my satellite dish, so I can't comment on the quality of the picture using an HDTV signal. I do have a DVD player and DVDs look really nice.

There are a few annoyances with using this Samsung. Compared to my old Sony, the remote control is almost symmetrical along the short axis, resulting in it being difficult to tell which end to point to the TV without having to look at it closely. Also, I could point my Sony remote anywhere near the TV and it worked; not so with the Samsung.

Since the TV is wider than a conventional tube TV, one needs to vary the picture mode--4x3, 16x9, Zoom1 and Zoom2--based on the video source. Zoom1 appears to be for watching shows such as 'House', 'ER', etc. that broadcast in non-HD letterbox. It cuts off the top and bottom a little, though, so one needs to move the picture up or down (usually up) to center the picture. I am not sure what good Zoom2 is, because it zooms in even more than Zoom1, resulting in a picture with all four sides cropped. Unfortunately, one cannot adjust the amount of zoom. The picture is a little soft as a result, but for me, TV is just TV, so I don't care.

What does irritate me is that the TV doesn't remember the zoom adjustments when I change picture mode or turn off the TV. Also, it doesn't remember that I always want the closed captions ON. It always turns them off when the TV is turned off. To turn them on, I need to turn the captions on, then off, then on again every time I turn on the set. Very annoying.

The captions are presented in a goofy manner as well; there's too much kerning (letters are too far apart) within words.

The sleep timer presents its messages in "Engrish." Setting the sleep timer results in the following message: "The sleep timer is set to work in 30 minutes." (including an extra space between '30' and 'minutes'.) The messages makes more sense if it read, "The TV will turn off in 30 minutes." Turning off the sleep timer yields an equally goofy message, "The sleep timer has been released." ("The sleeper timer is off." is less awkward.)

These problems are probably nothing that can't be fixed with a firmware update. (Hint, hint!)

Other than that, it's a very nice TV for the money. I bought this TV from another vendor, but as usual, Amazon makes it easy to leave feedback; the other vendor's website doesn't have a 'Submit' button.

The TV has amazing picture quality for the price. We shopped around A LOT, and this was the best deal out there. We haven't had any problems with it and were able to set it up easily. Our cable company had to come and upgrade our cable lines, but our picture is crystal clear now. The shipping was terrible, but free. Would've paid to have it shipped rather than deal with the shipping company. Awesome buy though! Would recommend it to anyone.

I have had this set for about a month and all seems well. It took the place of a 52 inch Mitsubishi DLP which now sits in my "man cave". This Samsung fits the room much better and the picture appears to be just as good as the Mitsu. Even when the tv set is off it looks good. Easy on screen set up and fine tuning. The remote is easy to use, however I have a harmony 659 controlling my complete home theather. This is a 720p but it looks as good as any 1080p I have seen. My eyes can not pick up any diffence at this size tv. Larger then 40 inch I can tell but not with this set. The cost of the set was very good and the "white glove" delivery was the best. They were at my house within the 4 hour window, unpacked the TV, put on the stand and sit it on the table I have in my room, plugged it in and turned it on, once the set was on they checked to color and offered to take away the box the set came in, all in twenty minutes! I will buy my next TV from Amazon just for this reason.

I bought this TV from an another store during a Mother's Day weekend sale and have not regretted it since. Awesome TV for the price. I paid about $50 more, and it works with virtually everything unless you're looking for 1080p with bluray, HDDVD, XBOX 360 or PS3. My Wii looks great on it even though that's only 480p. I have not tried running 1080i through this system yet although other reviews have said it's possible.

Basically, if you're looking for an impressive TV with an affordable price this is your TV. I spent about 4 months researching TV's and doing in-store comparisons and Samsung was the best everytime (and still is with their most recent releases). Side by side it was hard for me to differentiate between 1080p and 720p but considering what actually supports 1080p as of now this set performed just fine.

Some day I'll buy a 1080p with 120hz refresh, and make this set a bedroom TV :) but until more HD programming utilizes it or I buy an HD-DVD this TV is perfect. If you're in the same boat as me and don't need the top of the line right now, or in the next 2 years, this TV is should be something you consider.