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  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: jnies3rd

    Updated:05-17-08

    Duration of ownership:14 Days

    Strengths: Great picture in light and dark room. Easy to set-up

    Weaknesses: Sound is a little thin. Need to point remote at lower right corner

    Overall Evaluation: I am driving this TV with cable HD through an HDMI cable (1080i)- looks great. I am using the factory settings and it looks perfect so I haven't tried playing around too much with all the picture settings - haven't had the need. Did go through teh menu and it looks pretty straight forward. Everyone comments on the crystal clear HD picture. Non HD picture looks pretty good also. Nice one button picture zoom which sizes std def to the widescreen but cuts off top and bottom to fill so it doesn't stretch. Makes the picture a bit grainy but not bad. Good if you don't like the black bars on each side of the picture. Connected an up-converting DVD player since I didn't want to shell out big $$ for blue ray yet, and the picture looks better than std DVD on the Samsung. Lightweight too, so it was real easy to hang on the wall. The side input jacks allow easy quick connection of devices that aren't permanently connected. Get as much HD content as you can, drive the sound through a surround sound system and you'll have an awesome set-up.

  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: rob489

    Updated:05-12-08

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Beautiful color, clarity, 1080p, 5 MS response rate, 30,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio, works great with a HTPC after you set it up. Blu-ray movies look GORGEOUS!!!

    Weaknesses: Wasn't super easy to setup with my PC thru HDMI. You have to use the second HDMI port and set the "Name" of the connection to "PC". But after you get past that it works perfect.

    Overall Evaluation: This is my first LCD TV but it's been fantastic so far. I did TONS of research before I made this purchase and I'm very very happy with my purchase. It comes out to cheaper than the older Samsung model but instead you got 5 MS response rate and a 30k dynamic contrast ratio. I don't notice any kind of "blurring" or "ghosting" during action scenes at all. Everything looks incredibly sharp and clear. It's a perfect size to use a computer monitor especially for gaming). I'm playing Bioshock on this with my 5.1 Logitech Z-5500 sound system and it's just insane. If you want a quality LCD and don't want to waste money on 120hz and "anti-judder" technology that hasn't quite matured then go for this TV, you won't be disappointed.

  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: jc66

    Updated:05-07-08

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: 30,000:1 contrast ratio, picture, set up

    Weaknesses: Only 1 S-Video/RCA Jack, 'Enter' button on remote is not convenient, some closed captioning appears in the middle of the screen

    Overall Evaluation: I had already bought a Toshiba 37CV510U for a gift, but I wanted a 40 inch for myself. Contrast ratio and response time were both very important to me since from what I can tell, it mattered greatly to the picture quality and sports action.I wanted to get a 120Hz TV, but they all cost too much. When the series 5 Samsung's came out, the improved contrast ratio, 5ms response time, and price fit everything I was looking for.The set up was very easy as there was nothing to assemble. The HD pictures look great as long as you're not sitting a foot or two away from the TV. Watched some DVD's on a normal DVD player and the picture was great. The only thing that looked a bit weird was the subtitles were a bit pixelated. I imagine an upconvert DVD player will look even nicer.I am currently just receiving over the air broadcasts and the digital broadcasts look great. The analog broadcasts look better on the old tube TV's though, but it really won't matter with the required transition in 2009.The only issues I had with the TV are: (1)There is only one S-Video/RCA Jack so you pretty much need to upgrade all of your equipment. (2)The close captioning on some channels appeared in the middle of the picture. (3)There is only 1 'enter' button on the remote and it is at the bottom with all of the arrows. When I manually punch in a channel near the top of the remote, I either have to wait or press the 'enter' button at the bottom.Those are all very minor issues though and I would certainly buy this TV again and recommend it to others.

  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: kaktus505

    Updated:04-29-08

    Duration of ownership:3 Days

    Strengths: Great picture. Awesome contrast. Awesome definition. Easy setup. Great sound.

    Weaknesses: None

    Overall Evaluation: This tv right out of the box completely blew me away. The Setup was a simple plug and play no following wiring diagrams like on older or other tvs. All Connections are labeled well. Turned tv on and just set in front of it with my mouth open. I watched two movies just to try out all the settings and for the most part i am back on the factory settings. A must buy great lcd would strongly suggest it.

  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: gabriel1221

    Updated:04-23-08

    Duration of ownership:5 Days

    Strengths: Had it for only 5 days. Perfect size, perfect visuals, easy to install, very simplified remote control and easy menu on TV. Great color. No weight at all. Swivel base very convenient.

    Weaknesses: None

    Overall Evaluation: Even though I read that it was defficient in sound, I find it very convenient for me as I find no fault in the sound. Definetely great TV for my money. I had done my homework on plasma televisions and this television was half as much as my other alternative.

  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: dominator_1084851859

    Updated:04-19-08

    Duration of ownership:3 Days

    Strengths: Wows, Samsung did it. Price is cheaper than 2007 model, brightness and response is much better than 2007 model

    Weaknesses: Only 1 S-Video on the side but most video input are now either HDMI and component

    Overall Evaluation: I've always been Sony fan but I think Samsung wins me over with this TV. The 2008 series is awesome in term of picture quality and price over their own 2007 model but also beat competition hand down. Although this TV is not the same level as 120Hz models but very close, I would say this TV is 8 and the 120Hz is 10. Connection to computer using HDMI cable is awesome as well. I can use this TV as a computer monitor to play game @ 40". Need I say more. I highly recommend this TV to anyone that want to upgrade to 1080P at a budget.

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Samsung LN40A550 40" LCD TV
$979.95 • •Specs
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