 Samsung's Fabulous B630 Non-glare LCD HDTV |
| Review Date: May 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Rich Vergo, The Jersey Shore |
Being the first to review the 2009 Samsung LN40B630 on Amazon was purely an accident in that I actually bought the new Sony KDL-40V5100 on April 2nd. At that time, the Samsung B650 had just come out, but its high gloss panel would not have performed well in my brightly lit room. My high definition projection TV had kicked the bucket after 8-years, but I rarely enjoyed watching HD because the daylight glare would wash out the picture. The Sony's non-glare screen performed well except when the picture would black out during dark movie scenes. I discovered that many of the V5100 series have had this glitch and Sony had no fix for it at that time. To Best Buy's credit, they cheerfully exchanged the Sony under their 30-day return policy and delivered the Samsung B630 model which has a non-glare screen and is similar to the popular B650.
My expectations of the new Samsung were that it would perform much like the Sony. I could not have been more wrong. The B630 was like viewing another huge leap in a television experience, while the Sony seemed to be of past technology. The depth and breadth of Samsung's visual color tones are astounding and mesmerizing. A perfect example of that came from viewing scenes of the Caribbean Sea. The Sony could not match the Samsung's Wide Color Enhancer 3 processor with its three dimensional qualities and vibrant tones of turquoise, sea green, cobalt blue, coral pink and white sand clearly seen under the sea. It literally was like being there.
The Samsung's dynamic contrast of 80,000-1 was visibly superior to the Sony's 50,000-1 and convinced me that Samsung's contrast rating was more than a marketing numbers game. The viewing angle of the Sony was horrific when moving away from center by seeing flesh tones morph into green. Samsung's viewing angle was far better by maintaining the proper color tones, but it did lose contrast and brightness. Of course, a slight turn of its swivel base helped to alleviate Samsung's viewing angle issue.
The downside to Samsung's advanced technology was that every movie appeared as video and lost its magical cinema quality. Sony was superior in dealing with this issue. To address that problem, the backlight and contrast settings have to be toned down to soften the picture and to preserve a film's attributes. Most importantly, an adjustment to the 120 Hz Motion Plus feature must be done in order to keep movies from appearing surreal. While some recommend turning the 120 Hz off, I found video blurring far too annoying and placed the Auto Motion Plus to a custom setting of 6 for blur and judder reduction. That seemed like a good compromise without losing much of the film's realistic movement. Experiment with every adjustment to find your best settings and calibration instructions are easily found on [...]. It all came together beautifully for me and hopefully this information can be helpful to you.
One bad design feature was the power and channel functions on the TV itself. You cannot see where they are unless you have light shining directly on them. As long as you use only the remote control, it may be a non-issue. By-the-way, in case you were wondering how effective the non-glare screen was on the Samsung B630; it was perfect. I experienced crystal clear high definition TV -- Day or Night.
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An excellent LCD HDTV at any price!
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| Review Date: June 2, 2009 |
| Reviewer: S. Gibb, Clifton Park, NY |
I recently purchased this item locally but am so impressed by the TV that I felt I should post my impression for others trying to decide where to spend their hard earned money, especially these days.
First, I would recommend that you to your local electronics store and look around and see which sets grab your attention as what is best to my eyes may not work for you. In my case I was somewhat limited in selection since the TV must fit into a TV cabinet that we own, so 40" was my absolute max. This criteria limited me to Sony, Samsung, and Vizio (in order of price point). A local warehouse club had the Vizio and a comparable Samsung (ln40b610 vs. ln40b630) for side by side comparison, and simply put there was no comparison what-so-ever. The Samsung wins hands down in terms of picture clarity, overall brightness, and contrast. The 80,000:1 contrast on this TV really shines. The Samsung to Sony comparison was a bit tighter as both units offered incredible picture quality and features but again the contrast ratio on the Samsung just made everything appear more pleasing to my eye. Given this, we purchased the Samsung and haven't looked back. Every time my wife and I watch a Blu-ray movie we are even more impressed with the picture quality! Seriously, this is a great TV at any price. The only TV I looked at that had better contrast was the Samsung LED (3,000,000:1) model but the price difference was just too much to justify.
I do have to agree with other reviewers regarding the "Auto Motion" settings producing images that are almost surreal. I have found that setting this on the middle setting produces the best results for me, but I have not played much with the custom adjustment mode yet, so I will hold off on a final review until I have had more time to tweak. |
Amazing picture with tons of options for tweaking
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| Review Date: July 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: eddiebones, |
My old RCA 27" tube finally died, so it was time to enter into the world of HDTV's. After a ton of research and price hunting, I settled in on this 40" model for the full 1080, 120hZ experience (plus a smokin' deal from Amazon helped seal the deal).
First one arrived shattered, so that was a bit of a buzz kill. Fortunately the delivery includes set up & power up, so we immediately saw that the thing was destroyed. The delivery crew took it back with them and Amazon got another one out. The 2nd one arrived in perfect condition, and after getting DirecTV out to install the HD dish, I've been on HD for about a week now. I know this is not part of the product review, but Amazon's customer service was excellent in this matter.
All I can say is that the picture is more than I anticipated, having never owned an HDTV before. The clarity is unreal, the colors and images just pop off the screen.
Sports and movies are incredible to watch. I do see how some folks are a bit taken aback by how crisp movies appear (as if in 3d), and they have to get used to the look of cinema based stuff. It doesn't really bother me that much, as I know that's the byproduct of HD. It's crisp. It's clear. But I set the 120Hz option to standard, and I find that works well enough for my eyes. There are certain scenes in some movies that just look surreal, but not in a bad way (at least to me).
The amount of control that this TV gives you to adjust the picture is great -- you can stick with one of their built in "modes" (dynamic, standard, natural or movie) and then customize every aspect of the picture as much as you wish. I spent a couple of days just playing with the settings & calibrating. The dynamic mode is way too bright, and gives results that are just not natural. I've found that the "natural" mode works best for me, with additional adjustments in contrast & brightness to enhance the blacks as much as possible. The "standard" mode allows you to push the blacks even more deep, so I've been going back & forth between both that & "natural". If desired, you can adjust for gamma, white balance, flesh tones, so you can go pretty deep.
I do have to say that at this point, the 120Hz feature doesn't really appear to add that much. I did read in a number of reviews that it is not easy to discern the difference between 60 and 120Hz in most viewing situations. A fast millisecond response rate is where you want to be, and with this TV's 4ms response time, there's no issues. And for me, I don't mind having a little blur on fast moving scenes.
I have watched movies & sports on my dad's samsung 37" HDTV (LN37A450), which is a 60Hz model, and have to say that the picture looks just as incredible as on this 40". So if you're looking to save a couple hundred bucks, don't get too hung up on the 60Hz/120Hz issue. Go with the 60Hz, and you'll be plenty satisfied. But if you can get a deal for a 120Hz Samsung for under $1k, it's worth it. Always nice to have extra options, as long as you're not breaking the bank to do it. I just have not seen a major difference between the two. Having said that, I've not watched any blu-ray movies yet, but have watched a couple of HD movies from DirecTV. But most of the complaints about the 120Hz are with people who think it makes movies look weird -- so again, 60Hz won't kill you there. If you're a gamer, you may want to do some more research on it. I don't own an Xbox, Playstation or Wii, so I can't speak to that.
Many complain about the sound on this TV as well, but I found that with the surround turned on, the TV gives off a pretty decent output. I hooked up the stereo to the tv, so usually have the audio coming through the full stereo. But on it's own, the TV isn't too bad, especially for such a slim profile.
The touch of color is a really nice feature as well -- it does give the TV a very sophisticated look. I was concerned that the red may be distracting, but it's tastefully done and very subtle.
Overall, I don't regret purchasing this TV - I could've saved some $$$ by going with the B550 model and sticking with 60Hz, but for the price that Amazon had at the time($999), I felt that I'd just get the extra options.
For what it's worth, I believe that this TV is also an 'A' panel. I'm not even sure if there are 'S' panels being made anymore. If the last letter of the serial number is how this is determined, then I don't see 'S' panels on any of their models. But whatever type panel it has, it doesn't matter. It looks fantastic, and even more so after being adjusted/calibrated best to display in my living room. There is a review out there (hi Matt!!) that gave the tv one star because of this panel issue...but said little to nothing else on how the tv actually was performing. One of the complaints about 'A' panels was that the 'off angle' viewing was very poor. First of all, I don't know why you'd want to view these TV's from too severe of an "off angle" -- you want to be in front of it as much as possible -- maybe 45 degrees off...but I've also inspected it from severe angles (pushing 160-170 degrees) and the picture holds up just fine.
This model is fantastic. I still can't believe my eyes when watching some stuff...there was a show about the Grand Canyon on National Geographic channel this weekend. All I can say is, wow. Unbelievable. The epic Wimbledon final between Federer and Roddick was also fun to watch.
No regrets here at all. Great TV. Brilliant picture, with plenty of options to tweak to your preference.
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FANTASTIC.
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| Review Date: August 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Leftwich, Missouri |
I needed a TV to replace an old 27" CRT in the bedroom, and after lots of shopping and comparing and reading my wife and I chose this one - we got a heck of a package deal on the TV, an 8' HDMI cable, and a Sylvania Blu-Ray player all for $999 (thank you AMAZON!!! - what a great purchasing experience from start to finish - including CEVA shipping/delivery!). The TV just arrived today (10 days from first placing the order), we got it set up within minutes, and the picture right out of the box looks fantastic - truly stunning. The 120Hz makes a noticeable difference in reducing motion-blur, and improves the overall clarity and crispness of the picture in my opinion. I love the fact that there are so many ways to adjust/tweak different settings to your own tastes - so if you don't like the de-judder effects but want the blur reduction, you can adjust them independent of one another - something the A series from last year doesn't allow.
Sound was a little thin initially, but some adjustments using the EQ and turning surround sound "on" made it sound much better. I plan on calibrating the picture later this week and can't wait to watch Blu-Ray movies on it, but believe me when I say that the picture will not disappoint.
Chose the Samsung b630 over the b650 series because a) it was significantly cheaper at the time we ordered, b) doesn't have the extra "widgets" that are useless to us, and c) has a semi-matte screen instead of the "ultra clear" screen of the 650s, which works great for us as we have some windows/lights to contend with. Chose the Samsung brand over other brands because of the price/performance ratio and all the positive reviews that these TV's consistently get. Finally, we chose LCD over other technologies because at this size (40"), LCD gives the best price/performance and doesn't use as much power as some of the other TVs (e.g., plasma).
This TV (as well as the bigger sizes) would be perfect as a primary TV - being able to use it as a secondary TV in the bedroom makes it seem like I really splurged - but it was a great bargain in my opinion and definitely MONEY WELL SPENT. |
One of the best in terms of getting your bang for your buck
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| Review Date: September 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Ryan Smith, Slidell, Louisiana, USA |
Well, this is my first HDTV, so obviously I'm blown away by the visuals. Even playing regular old DVD's look 10x better than they did on my old CRT TV. I won't bore you with the same raving reviews that others have already given this fantastic TV (though they are all correct - this TV is AMAZING). Instead, I have a few things I'd like to point out that maybe contradict what others have said or offer a different point of view:
The sound. Coming from a standard def TV and having never used external speakers, I have absolutely no problem with the sound output of this TV. At max volume it's way louder than you'd ever want it to be, and I find the clarity to be on par with what I'm used to. In the world of music I consider myself an audiophile (all mp3's at 320kbps or greater, as I can easily hear the differences in it vs 128kbps - just so you know my ears are still good). However, in the world of TVs I guess I'm not. I found it to be loud and crystal clear, so if you're like me and never used an external speaker setup then this set should be fine.
The Red Touch of Color. I didn't notice too many reviewers of this model complaining about it, but on others in the Samsung series some people HATED it. I even read one or two of people RETURNING THEIR TV because of it. Just wanted to say that's assinine. When the TV is on you can't even see it unless you are actively looking for it. When the TV is off it's subtle enough that it's either not noticed or perceived as a nice touch to the set.
The matte screen. The matte screen is great at removing glare from ambient lighting. My fiance and I usually have a lamp turned on while watching TV and I've never noticed a glare at all from it. Sunlight through the windows can be seen sometimes, but I suppose that is all based off of where you are sitting, the position of the window to the TV, etc. It does a good job with ambient lighting, but don't think it'll magically remove all glares all the time.
The buttons on the display. Yep, everybody's right. They're difficult to find. Don't lose your remote because Samsung really dropped the ball on this one. Oh well, life goes on, and all in all it's not that big of a deal.
Infolink. Pretty useless at the moment. Gives a broad weather forecast and some news highlights, but nothing special. What I'm excited about is what they do with it in the future. Having an ethernet port on a TV opens up so many posibilities. I can't wait to see what they bring to the table in future models (maybe some Amazon VoD? Netflix streaming? Or how about an internal HDD that automatically fetches the latest edition of podcasts you watch on a weekly basis? Or even a web browser!) I already do these things via my Xbox 360 or using an external HDD connected to the USB port, but it would be nice if this was all integrated into the TV in a future model. I'm very excited to see where the industry goes with this.
Overall, this TV is just plain awesome. And if you're lucky enough to get it under $1000 like I did, then you're getting one heck of a deal. I've been looking for a TV that meets my high standards for about the last 8 or 9 months, and I stumbled upon this one at a price hundreds below what I was willing to spend. Fantastic deal, fantastic TV. You're gonna love it.
And now for my review of CEVA (which in no way will reflect the score I give this PRODUCT. This is a place to rate PRODUCTS, not the service you get from Amazon or other sellers!!).
CEVA was quite simply the most unprofessional service I've ever been given. He did arrive at my place on time, at which point he said he needed my help getting the TV from his van to my living room. Bring a dolly? A cart? So I give him a hand with that, and when he starts unboxing it and tells me "Okay, now you grab that end and we'll lift it straight up...." Oh, ok, so I guess now I'll be setting it up with him, even though it's his job that he's paid to do.
We get it unwrapped and he needs to install the the stand that came with it. The instructions he was reading for it (4 simple pictures in total) indicated he needed to use 8 screws, but the TV came with 12! Oh no! Not 12! What does this mean?! He was completely dumbfounded about why they would send 12 screws if the instructions only called for 8. I had to convince him that it was ok and we could install the stand the way the instructions said. He stayed confused for about the next 5 minutes and finally gave in. He looks at me and says "Ok, well where's your screwdriver? Gonna need a philips head." Are you kidding me? This is your job and you don't bring your own tools?! I don't mind letting people use my tools or anything, but I just can't believe this guy does this on a daily basis and doesn't bring his own equipment. Ridiculous.
Eventually we got the TV set up. Before I had a chance to plug the power cable in he was handing me a piece of paper to sign for delivery. At this point I was getting a bit frustrated, so I politely but firmly told him to wait while I make sure the TV turns on, gets a signal, and there are no signs of defects upon delivery. He obviously didn't like waiting, so I took my time :) Maybe that was my mistake because I then signed for delivery, at which point he assumes job complete. I looked over at the box and packing material and he tells me "Now I am supposed to take the box and everything away if you wish, but I strongly recommend not doing so because if that TV goes bad in a week or so they're gonna want the box it came in for returns." Not wanting to put up with him anymore, I told him to have a nice day. He didn't bother picking up the packing material or anything either. Pretty much left my living room a complete disaster.
Like I said earlier, my experience with CEVA was about as unprofessional as it gets. |
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