 An excellent set! |
| Review Date: April 7, 2009 |
| Reviewer: pelagikos, |
I was undecided between this 2009 model and last year's LN40A550.
The features are substantially identical, but after figuring that the difference between best prices for the two, which I could find after extensive shopping around, was only $50, I went for newer one for its updated look and lighter weight.
In the reviews, one of the principal complaints for 2008 was the sound quality. I can't directly compare 2009 and 2008, but found 2009's LN40B550 to have perfectly adequate, if not excellent speakers, as far as TVs go.
Picture quality, menus, setup are excellent as expected.
One aspect that I did find puzzling is Wiselink not being able to recognize my old trustworthy USB Flash Drive. I even tried formatting the drive in various ways, unfortunately none of the tricks worked.
Perhaps, it's the ancient drive not being comparable in some way, but it had never let me down before. Anyhow, I ordered a few different flash drives, and will try again, and then post an update.
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Tried four various flash drives, all of them work just fine in computers, all four freshly formatted same way (FAT32). Two of the drives are read by the TV with no problems, the two others are not recognized at all... Go figure... The slideshow functionality is nice, quite limited, but does the job.
Just for the reference, one of the drives that does work in this TV is Kingston Data Traveler 4GB. |
Feature packed and really good picture quality for a decent price
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| Review Date: May 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Byron Hooper, Saco, Maine |
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 1920x1080. 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!! |
Great TV
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| Review Date: April 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: P. Champlin, Nashville, TN USA |
I received the TV yesterday from CEVA. No problems in the delivery and set up. He unpackaged it and set it in place and connected the cable and put batteries in the remote. He offered to remove the box but I thought I'd keep it for a while just in case. I had to go get a Comcast HD DVR box. And I had also purchased a Samsung blue ray DVD player. I connected them all up but have not tried the DVD player yet. I still need to program the Comcast remote to control the TV. We got the 40" so it would fit in an existing entertainment cabinet.
The picture is great, almost too bright, especially when there is a lot of white on the screen. And I don't even see any red around the edge. Hate to think I bought the '09 just to get that and can't see it. Maybe you have to look at it from the side or something, which we can't do because of the cabinet. Very pleased with the TV and Amazon so far.
May 4, 2009 Update
If you see the Samsung add on TV with the red around the ouside and buy it for that you will be disappointed. There is 'NO' red visible on my TV. |
One of the Best HDTVs on the Market
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| Review Date: October 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Marissa, Grosse Ile, MI |
| We have three, yes three of these 40" Samsung TVs in our household. We are rather belated adoptors of consumer technology because we like to wait for prices to drop before trashing our old stuff and bringing in new ones. This was the year to replace all our old TVs. After reading many reviews, conducting online research and talking with salespeople at the "big box" electronic stores, we learned Samsung offered one of the best flat screen TVs in the market today. The B550 series represented the best value for our money. You don't have to be a videophile to learn the basics of what to look for in an HDTV - the dynamic contrast ratio, 720p vs 1080p and 60hz vs 120hz vs 240hz, all relating to picture quality. You will pay premium prices for units that have dynamic contrast ratios of 80:000:1 and above, 1080p which gives you more pixels hence greater picture detail, and response rates [how quickly the images get refreshed] of 120hz and 240hz. Try to get a unit with the highest contrast ratio you can afford, and go for a 1080p over a 720p. As an average consumer, it is hard to see the difference between refresh rates of 60hz and 120hz. This Samsung has just the right combination of a 70,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 1080p and 60hz for a family to fully enjoy the benefits of owning an HDTV. And if you've got cable hook-up, it gets even better! The unit also offers multiple connections for peripheral devices like DVD players, game consoles, etc. The sound quality is also great as it has an equalizer. Plus despite its large screen size, the unit is not heavy. A woman of average height and weight can carry [albeit somewhat awkwardly] this set to the second floor and mount it to its base with little difficulty. Is there something we like better? Absolutely! The 46" version :-) |
Amazing
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| Review Date: May 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Daniel J. Uhlemann, Minneapolis, MN USA |
| I purchased this TV about a week ago and have used it everyday since. It has an amazing picture and really stands out in the room I have it in. With that said, I did do a TON of research before I bought this TV as I was upgrading from another Samsung about 2 years old. I really had to decide how important 120hrz was to me and I decided that it is not necessary for the extra $300. CEVA was amazing as well. Get this TV, you will not be disappointed. |
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