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Date: 2008-11-28 Very good, enough said I was very fortunate to find this TV! I was either going to get this LN26A450 or the Sharp LC26SB24U (as I was buying locally from a Fred Meyer in-store). After doing some research I was persuaded to get the Samsung, and I must say, Samsung = quality. About on the same level of quality as Panasonic and Sony. This TV has so many picture options, you could spend many, many minutes trying to get it all perfect (there are calibration tables floating around on the net though). The rear video connections are very easy to get to and easily top any other setup by far(side mounted and ESPECIALLY vertical mounted/upside down inputs like on the Magnavox 32MF337B are just an unnecessary nuisance). The well placed inputs are also what convinced me to get this set over the Sharp LC26SB24U. With this TV being the upper end of Samsung 26'' line, the picture is fantastic and the speakers dont disappoint for regular use. I do have this tv hooked up to an 80 Watt shelf system for movies and music, though. The digital channel signal is far better than my Magnavox 32MF337B, meaning it cuts out far less with the same HD antenna. Cons? Yes there are a few, though minor and insignificant. - DNIe setting is off by default and is not usable, you need to change the Picture Mode to Dynamic to use DNIe. Doing so will disable Detailed Settings. I have heard that DNIe can actually reduce picture quality, so no big deal. - Standard speaker power is weak (but passable) for some applications. [The biggest con]- Viewing angle is poor (compared to most other HDTVs). Make sure the TV is setup to be viewed from a direct angle or slightly below eye level. Viewing this tv from above eye level causes a blueish washout to fill the screen (it looks kind of like a picture negative). This tv is set at a low spot on its stand so the problem does not affect me. This viewing angle issue is why i give 4 stars and not 5. The picture quality, however, beats just about any other 26'' LCD HD set out there. In what seems like a trade-off, the screen type appears to be more likened to that of a monitor than an hdtv, as viewing angles are poorer, but the picture quality is better (likely due to this tv using a S-PVA lcd panel). Just as long as you're not going to wall-mount this tv (viewing angle), I highly recommend this for a 26'' HD set. I will conclude this review with some decent calibration settings. I have spent a while tweaking and testing to get these results and they are the best for this t.v. (well, for me at least). Just turn the brightness up or down about 5 notches to get the best out of certain content as not all content will look the same with these settings. Mode: Dynamic Backlight: 4/10 Contrast: 75/100 Brightness: 54/100 (add or minus 5 for certain content (for best black level) Sharpness: 30 Color: 45 Tint: G50/R50 (default) Detailed Settings: (disabled in Dynamic Mode) Picture Options Color Tone: Normal Size(ratio): (personal preference) Digital NR: Auto DNIe: On (Despite what has been said about it, I prefer the picture with DNIe enabled.) HDMI Black Level: disabled (use 'Normal', if using HDMI) Film Mode: Off Blue Only Mode: Off ***[UPDATE 12-19]*** With the mentioned settings, black crushing still seems to be an issue. DNIe and Dynamic Contrast do give a brighter and more colorful picture, but black areas get smooshed together. I have come up with some changes for more improved settings, they're worth a try! Mode: Movie Detailed Settings Black Adjust: Low Dynamic Contrast: Off Gamma: +2 Color Space: Native Edge Enhancement: On White Balance R-Gain: 30 G-Gain: 25 B-Gain: 12 Picture Options Color Tone: Warm 1 Flawless....seems like I'm being nit-picky, but heck, I'm a video nut!! Date: 2008-11-28 Fantastic TV I did a lot of research and finally ended up purchasing this TV. It's fantastic. I've had it since September 2008. The only thing that is really weird is that when I'm on a HD channel (I do not pay for HD channels, but the built in tuner picks up the local channels that broadcast in HD) and I'm using a microwave to heat up dinner, the channel loses its signal. What is also bizarre is that even when I'm not using a microwave this happens randomly. My fiance suggested it was from the uneven power affecting the TV and that I may need a better surge protector. I live in an apartment complex, so perhaps if you live in a home, you won't have this problem. And I have to tell you, my family got me a Sanyo 26" from Walmart. It was all they could afford and was a very thoughtful birthday present. I'm more into games than watching HD content. Also, I don't have any new generation systems yet (just the Wii, but that doesn't output very high anyway). When I hooked up the PS2, Wii, and SNES to the Sanyo, they all looked horrible. I was playing an underwater level in one of my games, and the contrast ratio was so low on the Sanyo that I kept swimming accidentally into the walls because I couldn't see. Then I get this TV, the Samsung. All of my old generation systems look amazing on it. No hard pixelated edges like I saw on the Sanyo. The progressive scan options on my PS2 games looked great. Even the SNES games looked okay because of the high contrast ratio. (They looked awful on the Sanyo) I even went and picked up an up scaling DVD player which outputs at 1080. Not all movies look great, but it's more the movie than the TV. I'm very pleased with this TV and am trying to convince my mother to get one, too. And the price dropped, too! Why wait? Date: 2008-11-23 Not too bad The only issue with this tv is that the image is not good from all angles. If you have it up above you even only a foot or so above eye level the picture is not very good. Especially in dark sceens. I do like all the input features and it works ok for me. I've got a 46" LCD samsung and it is flawless. I figured this would be the same. Not so much. Date: 2008-11-13 Great medium size TV Samsung LN26A450 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV I have always been a Sony man but this TV has sold me on Samsung! I bought it for the bedroom and it is really a nice good looking TV as well as a great performer. The audio sound is terrific for it's size and I couldn't be more satisfied. You can leave the default settings as they are or tweak it to suit yourself because there are so many adjustments (If you want to) The picture is also great and does not leave you wanting for anything. You can't go wrong on this one and I highly recommend it. Date: 2008-10-19 Very Good HD Picture Very good HD picture, I have two Panasonic Plasmas, and this for its size, is just as good of a picture. If you are looking for a small HD set, this is it.
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