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Date: 2008-11-20 Just Awesome, can't think of a more creative word Awesome TV --that about sums it up. Now I will go through the details. First, have the software upgrade available. I have received two of these TV's and the first one didn't require, the second one does. Simply download the driver from the Samsung support site and place it on a USB drive. If you select sw update from the setup menu, it will tell you if the version is the same, so it won't do it unless needed. I have a basement with a window and a light right on top of the TV set. This is the first big advantage of this TV --namely the construction material of the screen. The low reflective layer simply ignores the external light source and it is almost as of it absorbs the light. The result is that the image from the TV is unaffected by the external light. It is as vivid regardless whether it's dark or daylight shining on the TV --truly amazing. Another amazing fact of this material is it allows viewing from a very obtuse angle without losing clarity. Remember those airplane mounted LCD monitors which turns black when viewed from an angle? No such thing with this TV. The picture simply looks fake. This is not a negative comment. Remember those magazine advertisements which always claim "simulated TV picture"? They basically cut and paste a picture to the TV screen. guess what, this TV looks fake. It looks like someone took a large poster of clear photo, and put it on the screen. Simply flawless. I have played with the settings and found that the default "standard" setting is the best for my taste. You can make the screen a lot brighter if you want. I strongly suggest to not set the brightness too high which may lead to clouding. I have read reviews complaining about lcd clouding --where on very dark solid scenes, an uneven brightness is visible on the screen. Clouding is common due to the way LCD matrix works. One way to combat this effect is to avoid watching your television in completely dark rooms. Turn on a lamp with a low light setting to keep a small amount of ambient light in the room. Some LCD manufacters offer ambient light built in to their television (such as Philips Ambilight) but this option is not available on this TV. So if you review 100 different TV's (even though they are all the same model), it is not uncommon to find one or two sets which has worse lcd clouding issues than the other. Mine is just perfect. The response time and 120hz made a big difference. A tv with 60 hz refreshes the screen 60 times a second. On an LCD screen, a high action picture can produce a blur simply because the refresh cannot cath up to the changes of the picture composition. Those days are over. 120 times per second the image is updated so it doesn't matter what movement or action you got on the screen --it remains picture perfect sharp. I was rather worried about the "red" bezel but this was unnecessary. The color tone is very subtle. Watching TV is a pleasure. I appreciate the channel list which actually reads the broadcaster info (station ID and the current program). The majority of the screens are smaller than what the screen can accomodate. Most cable deliveries (unless you have FIOS) do not deliver the full 1080p but a quick blu ray disk play will eliminate doubt that this is the most amazing HDTV. The WiseLink option is extremely poorly programmed. I stuck in a USB drive with directories containing files mixed with pictures, music, etc. The system is over protective to the user and attempted to make life easy by tabulating *ALL* the pictures and music for you. I prefer to be able to browse my thumb drive directories. It is extremely annoying trying to get to a particular picture you wanted to see and having to go through literally thousands of JPG files. Remember, if you have files such as offline internet browsing files, every single button and pictures are saved as a JPG. This is a major flaw in the software rather than the TV. Hopefully the programming team can revise the software and allow direct browsing. Again, I have to clarify that this shortcoming is a software issue rather than TV performance. When the TruSurround XT SRS sound option is enabled, the sound coming from the standard speakers is very commendable. The sound surround reproduction is rich as has dimension. This is probably moot for most users who will connect an AV receiver. Just make sure you have an optical cable to connect the TV to your AV receivers so you can get the best sound from the TV to your receiver as well. One sound option that is really nice is the sound leveler which can be set to "ON" in the setup (the default is off so look for it under sound). With this option on, when you channel browse, you no longer get surprises on those channels which are much louder than its neighbors (or much lower). Adjusting the volume from channel to channel is a thing of the past. A very nice welcomed addition. For those who struggle with component video cables please don't. You are shortchanging yourself. Please connect this TV using an HDMI cable. And don't go cheap on the HDMI cable. Make sure you get one with enough bandwidth to handle 1080p. It may cost more but it's worth it. The 50,000 to 1 contrast ratio is not just hype. I have a Sharp Aquos in the house as well and I have great respect for that TV but it can't compete with the dynamic contrast ratio which makes a big difference in picture clarity. I don't think I have seen a unit which can produce a sharper picture than this TV. Date: 2008-11-20 If you like a cloudy, picture with flashlighting and blotchy screen...then its PERFECT! I'm going to try and post a pic to explain this. For now, if you follow this link you can see how HORRIBLE this tv is that Amazon sent me: http://s492.photobucket.com/albums/rr286/DerekNJND/?action=view¤t=samsung-1.jpg But lemme just say, VERY disappointed in this TV set after reading everywhere how great it would be. It is great, but I got a set with THE WORST CLOUDING AND FLASHLIGHTING I have ever seen on an LCD set. Big blotchy cloud in the middle of the screen slightly left of center screen. Huge flashlight in the bottom right corner. GRRRRRRRRR. After reading up on AVSforums.com, and seeing a poll there, MORE THAN 50% OF 52" A650 OWNERS HAVE CLOUDING and/or FLASHLIGHTING. BUYER BEWARE!! If you buy this set, there's a better than 50% chance you'll have clouding. for those who don't know what this means, just go to google images and type in "lcd clouding." If you already have the set or just got it, pull out all the inputs, and have the screen completely black. jack up the backlight to 10, put the brightness all the way up, and Date: 2008-11-19 great tv i just purchased this tv. i got the bundle package with the samsung bluray for a total of $1840 (free shipping). they were shipped separately. this tv is amazing and you will be pleased with your purchase. the only thing i wanted to note was that amazon no longer does a price match (as of sept 1st) so i would definitely watch the price fluctuations before you buy this tv. Date: 2008-11-19 My Best Purchase on Amazon I waited and researched every review I could find. The 5+ rating is correct. We couldn't believe the clarity and quality of the picture. It's got all the bells and whistles for adding additional components, plus the jacks to accommodate them. If you planning on using as a wall mount, be sure and buy a good mount. We researched that as well and got one that would handle the weight of this unit. This Samsung will make a great addition to any family. Date: 2008-11-19 Samsung LCD TV review I did a lot of research and had some trepidation about ordering something of this expense on line but I have to say that I am quite pleased. Shipping and delivery were handled professionally with the new TV unpacked and set where I wanted it. Due to cold weather for delivery I waited about an hour for the unit to warm to room temperature before hooking things up and starting the set up procedure. I did have one immediate problem and that was a problem with the ON/OFF button for the remote control not working. I was able to get on an on-line chat with a Samsung Technician without difficulty and we went through a couple of things that did not work. He provided me with a link to order a replacement remote control but I wasn't able to complete that part of the on-line procedure. I then made a call to Samsung Customer Service and had no problem in almost immediately talking to a customer service rep. I told him of the problem and provided him with the on-line ticket number for returned merchandise. He took a couple of minutes to confirm everything and told me that a replacement remote control would be shipped immediately. I received an immediate follow up e-mail inquiring if I was happy with the way the customer service assisted me. The LCD it's self is beyond my expectations. The picture is fantastic. I took me a few minutes of experimenting with the remote (all other functions work fine) but I have been very pleased with the intuitiveness of the set up of the programming. HD channels are clear, bright, realistic. The 120hz refresh rate is a big plus as far as I'm concerned. It cleans up the action sequences very nicely. The only thing I would have liked is a bit more boost to the audio capabilities. I haven't hooked it to my Hi-Fi yet but don't anticipate any problems.
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