Samsung LED TVs

[rlpiii]

Originally Posted by rbinck

Attack the opinion not the opinionator. Thanks.

It's OK. . . he's just being true to his name.

[rlpiii]

We were watching Iron Chef a few nights ago - The Octopus challenge - and the detail was amazing. We were able to see the sweat glistening on the chefs faces, and shortly after commenting how hot it must be on the set doing all that cooking, we were able to see a bead of sweat drop into the bowl of food that one of the chefs was cooking. Once again, I was able to see something that I'd probably never see on another 40" TV. The food looked good in the final presentation, but I'm glad I was not a judge tasting food on that episode.

I was kind of hoping one of the judges would say, "Sweat in food, minus 10 points!"

[gstarr]

Comparison shopping for HDTV's in a Best Buy or other big barn store is generally a fools errand. The only thing you can really discern in a big box store is what features you want to have and the design of the set, because it certainly isn't going to help you much in determining picture quality. It will tell you which picture has the biggest "slam", not the best picture. No one watches TV in rooms that bright, nor should they.

The incredibly bright lighting in these stores means that anything other than an LCD will look washed out. You can get a sun burn faster in these stores than you could determine picture quality. This is the reason why Pioneer, Sony, Vizio, and others have dropped out of the Plasma game. They couldn't pass the Best Buy test--meaning that plasma, front projection, and rear projection don't have anywhere near as bright a picture as their LCD counterparts. This brightness differenciation is particularly magnified in big box stores when every HDTV is biased heavily in the vivid or bright mode. LCD's will always win the brightness test if that is what you are looking for. Big Box Stores realize that most consumers will perceive the brighter picture as having the better picture, which any videophile and video engineer knows is definitely not the case.

I have a Samsung 52" LCD/with LED backlighting in my living room and in my upstairs media room I have a Pioneer 60" plasma which my wife has commandeered away from me because she likes the picture better. So when I want to watch sports I am relegated to the living room while she goes upstairs to watch her chick-flicks and favorite shows.

I really can't argue with her, because the Pioneer picture is both better on DirecTV HD broadcasts and on Standard Definition and Blu Ray movies. The Pioneer plasma has a smidge better black level which enhances the contrast and makes the picture have great grey scaling. But I think the real difference is mostly seen in Blu Ray movies (and also SD movies) where the picture has a smoother analog quality than the Samsung. This is not to say I don't think the Samsung is an excellent HDTV--it is. But it just isn't quite as good.

Greg

[kloneman]

Originally Posted by gstarr

Comparison shopping for HDTV's in a Best Buy or other big barn store is generally a fools errand. The only thing you can really discern in a big box store is what features you want to have and the design of the set, because it certainly isn't going to help you much in determining picture quality. It will tell you which picture has the biggest "slam", not the best picture. No one watches TV in rooms that bright, nor should they.

The incredibly bright lighting in these stores means that anything other than an LCD will look washed out. You can get a sun burn faster in these stores than you could determine picture quality. This is the reason why Pioneer, Sony, Vizio, and others have dropped out of the Plasma game. They couldn't pass the Best Buy test--meaning that plasma, front projection, and rear projection don't have anywhere near as bright a picture as their LCD counterparts. This brightness differenciation is particularly magnified in big box stores when every HDTV is biased heavily in the vivid or bright mode. LCD's will always win the brightness test if that is what you are looking for. Big Box Stores realize that most consumers will perceive the brighter picture as having the better picture, which any videophile and video engineer knows is definitely not the case.

The salespeople at Best Buy have stated that they have made no adjustments to the sets. We were permitted to view the sets in any selectable mode and would probably be allowed to see what the range of adjustments are if we asked, but I did not need to do this. The picture quality is something I will judge for myself, rather than take anyone's word for it. People that paid too much for their sets are defensive about their purchases, and tend to make claims that don't bear a first hand inspection.

The room that contained the sets I was watching was not overly bright as you claim, and the Best Buy was not the only location where I found the Samsung, but it was the one where I could actually directly compare it to the Pioneer.

Actually, I watch television in a variety of settings, including normal room lighting. If a set can't perform in these conditions then I don't want it.

Originally Posted by gstarr

I have a Samsung 52" LCD/with LED backlighting in my living room and in my upstairs media room I have a Pioneer 60" plasma which my wife has commandeered away from me because she likes the picture better. So when I want to watch sports I am relegated to the living room while she goes upstairs to watch her chick-flicks and favorite shows.

I really can't argue with her, because the Pioneer picture is both better on DirecTV HD broadcasts and on Standard Definition and Blu Ray movies. The Pioneer plasma has a smidge better black level which enhances the contrast and makes the picture have great grey scaling. But I think the real difference is mostly seen in Blu Ray movies (and also SD movies) where the picture has a smoother analog quality than the Samsung. This is not to say I don't think the Samsung is an excellent HDTV--it is. But it just isn't quite as good.

Greg

My wife preferred the Samsung picture as do I. We watch it with Dish Network HD (and SD) content, as well as with BD and DVD content. (We also got a Wii free with the set and it looks great on that, though it is not state of the art video content!.) I cannot wait to try my computer on it!!) As I stated in a prior post, it is not what I want as my primary set (mainly due to its smaller size), but I find it a very pleasurable compromise.

[gstarr]

The people at Best Buy don't have to make adjustments to the tv sets on sale, as the manufacturers already bias the TV's to being overly bright to compete for viewers eyeballs in an already overly bright showroom environment.

I have two LCD sets (a Samsung LCD/LED 52" & a Sony 40" in my bedroom) and a Pioneer 60" plasma. All I am sayimng is that I prefer the Pioneer plasma over my other 2 LCD sets. If someone else likes their LCD set better, then so be it. But the best plasma sets all have much better off-center viewing than all LCD's, which is particularly nice when I am sitting off-center at my computer desk and can still see the plasma picture without fade, which happens with my Samsung downstairs whenI am off-center.

Also, when I am watching a B & W movie the Pioneer plasma renders the grey gradations all the way to black much smoother and better than my Samsung, probably because the Samsung's local dimming on the LED's shut-off on black and can't quite get the smoothness in grey shading to the extent a good plasma can. This is even true in color m,ovies in nightime scenes, where often my Samsung will blur out a face in the shade while I can see the same face in my plasma.

Anyway, it is true that individuals will likely have biases due to their purchases, but even the professional reviewers from CNET, to Ultimate AV, etc. all give the edge to the Pioneers and some of the new Panasonics over the best LCD displays.

Greg

[oscar_in_fw]

Originally Posted by rlpiii

We were watching Iron Chef a few nights ago - The Octopus challenge - and the detail was amazing. We were able to see the sweat glistening on the chefs faces, and shortly after commenting how hot it must be on the set doing all that cooking, we were able to see a bead of sweat drop into the bowl of food that one of the chefs was cooking. Once again, I was able to see something that I'd probably never see on another 40" TV. The food looked good in the final presentation, but I'm glad I was not a judge tasting food on that episode.

I was kind of hoping one of the judges would say, "Sweat in food, minus 10 points!"

How about some examples on Blu-ray of video scenes which you think make the Samsung LEDs "shine" over all the other flat panels you've experienced ? I'm not at all convinced any LCD would be worthwhile next time I"m in the market for a flat panel. [Just gauging whether I should be recommending double kornea transplants for you as well. ]