Great Picture!
I’ve been wanting a new flat-panel TV for some time and, though I do make a lot of purchases on-line, I felt like I actually needed to look at a TV in person. My wife and I were looking at the TV’s in Wal-mart when another customer pointed out that the better TVs had a higher contrast ratio and he thought that was the most important factor. Sure enough, the one we thought had the best picture was the one with the highest contrast ratio – it was 3200:1, the best 32-inch in the store. (I really wanted something with 1080p resolution, but they only had 720p in the 32″ size TVs. We decided to get that one, since we had seen it and felt like we could enjoy it – but they didn’t have one in stock…
I came home and began to research. It turns out that there are only a very few 1080p TVs in the 32″ model, this being one of them. In looking at the contrast ratio I found that this one was rated at 15,000:1 – almost 5 times better than the best one at Walmart. (High contrast ratio seems to give you darker darks and whiter whites – lower contrast ratios have a milky looking gray where it’s supposed to be black…) My research combined with what I saw in the store gave me the confidence to purchase a TV on-line. I settled on the Samsung LN32A550.
The TV arrived in good working order and I had it set up and running within 30 minutes. (The biggest problem was unhooking and moving the old one!) The picture is everything I could have imagined it would be – far better than anything I saw in the store. The crystal clear picture and crisp, well defined images make this simply the best picture I have ever seen on a TV. I saw a bit of a NASCAR race on this unit and the motion was unbelievably smooth – no after images at all.
I debated a bit on giving this unit a five-star rating. I felt like the picture quality so outrated the sound that I had to bump it up a bit. But if sound is an issue you may want to consider this to be a “four-star” unit. While the TV has a built in equalizer function (with some presets based on your listening preferences) I found the sound, even in the best adjustment leaves a lot to be desired. It has a tinny sound much like you would expect from an old transitor radio. I would suggest investing in a good pair of external speakers to enhance this unit. (If you already have a home theatre set-up sound is not an issue anyway…)
So far I’m glad I made this purchase. If Samsung can improve the speakers on this TV they will have the perfect TV!
*****
UPDATE:
OK…. Now that I’ve owned this thing a few months I’ll tell you how it’s going:
First, it was pointed out to me in a post that the contrast ratio on 27- and 32-inch TV’s was 15,000:1 instead of 30,000:1 as I incorrectly surmissed from the somewhat unclear (to me) product update. I have edited the initial review to reflect the correct information. I’m sorry for any confusion it may have caused. (If you want the higher ratio and have the room, you could consider going with a larger screen size. 15,000: is still a pretty amazing ratio though…)
Overall I am happy to report that I am just as satisfied today as I was the day I first turned it on. I did purchase a set of Creative GigaWorks T40 Premium 2.0 Speakers (available at Amazon.com) for around $125 – and this dramatically improved my viewing experience. (I’m sure the best option would be to use a home theatre set-up – but this unit is in my bedroom…)
I still recommend this TV – just don’t expect too much out of the sound – without a little help.
Good TV at a Great Price
I bought this last week, and so far, its exceeded all my expectations except in one regard (below). The picture is fantastic, and each input is customizable so you can use one video setting for each device you have plugged in. This is especially handy as it doubles as a PC monitor for me. Some people say you can’t tell 1080p quality on a 32″ screen. Well I’m here to tell you their wrong. The difference is noticeable, both when using it for my PC and when lying back in bed watching movies. The interface is user-friendly, the remote well laid out, and setup was easy. This brings me to the one flaw in the system: the on-board speakers are tin-y and low-quality. Get a set of external speakers ASAP if you by this set. If you’ve got a home theatre system already, then this isn’t an issue, but be warned, this is one of the worst sounding TV I’ve ever had. Still, for a picture this good, its worth it.
Deffinetly worth the money
This was my first television purchase. I wanted a true 1080p high definition television. I didn’t want to spend over $1000 and I did some serious shopping between Circuit City, Best Buy, and Target.
I found that the in store guy I bought my television from at Circuit City matched the online price they had listed. At first, one guy tried to sell me it for 1099, but that is not the point of the review, but be careful…do you’re home work before purchasing. You could be missing an online sale like I almost did. Also, AAA gives a discount for 8% on purchases over 150 at Circuit City.
The picture clarity in HD is simply amazing. I was watching the Masters on Sunday and the detail was just incredible. It made me very happy with my purchase. The picture clarity with standard non-HD programming is not as good as my old 20″ TV. I’m not sure why this is, I assumed it would also be a better picture…I was wrong.
Gaming on this TV is incredible as well. The Playstation 3 HD games are so bright and vivid, it really does make it more fun to play with the picture clarity being so clear. The system hooks into the TV via HDMI cable and was so easy to set up. This TV has three HDMI inputs, two on the back one on the side. I can hook it up to my PC too, though that is not an important feature to me.
The design is nice and simple. All black with an easy to install TV stand. The remote is big but not to big, with buttons spaced out nicely and the back light turning on each time a button is pushed. Installing this TV was very simple, that was great!
The only negative about this TV is the sound quality from the built in speakers during DVD viewing. They speakers become tin(e) and sound quality is distorted. I recommend investing in a nice home theater system. Sound quality is good while watching TV and gaming.
Overall I would give this TV a 4.5 out of 5. I am very happy with it and its abundance of HDMI inputs. The picture quality is amazing for HD programs and gaming. The contrast isn’t the greatest for regular tv viewing and the sound is tin(e)/distorted while watching DVDs.
