 More with less |
| Review Date: May 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Paul Moskowitz, Yorktown, NY |
My requirement for a television is quite simple: plug it in to the cable box and have it work the first time; then turn on the sports event of the day, e.g. Mets or Yankees, Jets or Giants, etc. The Samsung 46 inch LED TV does that very well. You plug it in, it works.
This TV does more with less. It weighs only about 40 pounds plus another 10 pounds for the stand. Compare that with the older Samsung 950 model of the same size which weighs 70 pounds. The elegant stand allows for easy rotation. The TV is only a little over one inch thick! Power consumption has been measured by reviewers at about 105 watts. The 950 model comes in at 180 watts.
The picture is great. The contrast ratio, rated at 3,000,000 to 1, exceeds that of older LCD TVs. The black areas are dark and the picture has an almost 3D quality. There are four preset picture options. I chose the "normal" setting. The next higher setting, "standard", makes infield grass look almost dayglow. I do not think that there is a need to have any further adjustment done on the picture. However, there is an automatic dimming of the overall brightness for dark scenes. For instance, when the credits of a movie run against a black background the lettering becomes dimmer. This has no effect on sports, but does effect dark movie scenes.
The screen surface does reduce reflections but does not eliminate them entirely. The black frame is shiny and does also reflect some light. Rotating the screen to the best angle helps.
The remote provides choices for four picture size variations. I use "16:9" for the HD format or "wide" to make the non-HD, 4:3, video fill the screen. That loses some of the 4:3 picture at the top and bottom edges, but the picture quality is still good.
The sound also has four preset choices. Although, the internal speakers are not bad, I decided to use my sound system for the audio. The TV has an audio output connection, but the TV remote volume control only allows variation in the sound level for the internal speakers. The audio output stays at a constant level. I got around this by taking the audio from my cable box directly to my sound system and controlling the level with the cable remote. This works.
Although Samsung provides a version of the instruction manual on a USB drive with the TV, I found it easy to download and print a pdf of the manual from the Samsung support center. Having the printed manual is helpful. (See my comment for the web address of the support center.)
After one month, I still really like this TV. It is great for sports. An added bonus is that my electric bill has actually gone down.
Note that there is a similiar 7000 model. The 7000 model differs from the 6000 model in its I/O capabilities. Recently some people have reported that the 7000 has a better picture. If you do not need the extras, go with the 6000 and save a few dollars.
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My first HDTV
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| Review Date: May 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: David Courtney, Deltona, FL United States |
I want to start off by warning everyone that this is my first HDTV ever, so I have nothing to compare it to other than regular old school 4:3 CRT televisions.
I bought this TV Friday, May 8th, 2009.
The main thing about this Samsung TV is that the picture is unbelievably rich and vibrant! (So much so that it takes a little getting use to.) The clarity is so good that it is actually distracting to me. (Though I'm sure I'll get use to it.) But as an example, I was re-watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and I couldn't stop noticing the lines on the actors' faces, individual blades of grass, creases in fabric, and all sorts of other subtle details long enough to pay attention to the actual movie! OK - so maybe that is more of a general HDTV thing and has less to do with the Samsung TV? I don't know. Again - this is my first HDTV ever.
The Samsung TV is incredibly thin. This was one of the things that really drew my attention to this TV when I was doing my comparative shopping. Flat panel TV's are an order of magnitude thinner than their larger CRT cousins, but this Samsung TV takes the thinness to a whole new level.
I've read that this particular TV uses less power than standard flat panel TV's. While I'm not a tree-hugging hippie, I do prefer to be a good steward of the planet whenever possible. But more practical is the fact that less power consumption = less heat generated. I live in Florida so I prefer electronics that don't radiate lots of heat.
The integrated speakers are functional, but I can't imagine anyone would spend this much money on a TV and be satisfied with the integrated speakers. I'm not taking points off the review for the relatively lousy speakers because I believe lousy speakers are par for the course with flat panel TV's. (Or TV's in general really. Even CRT TV's have pretty lousy built-in speakers.) If you really want a high quality audio experience, you know you're going to have to use external speakers.
I can't say much about the input options. I bought a Samsung Blu-ray player at the same time I got the TV and I got an HDMI cable to hook up between the two devices. It "just worked." The Samsung TV / Blu-ray player seem to be a good match. When I put in a DVD or Blu-ray disc, the TV turns on automatically and switches to the correct HDMI input. But otherwise I don't have any devices plugged into this TV yet. I don't have cable or satellite or a video game system.
I would suggest that anyone who buys this TV should try to put the TV in a room without any windows or bright lights facing it. I bought this TV for my bedroom and it sits about 12 feet directly in front of my bedroom window. Fortunately the window is on the backside of the house and has a thick blind over it, otherwise I think the reflection from the window would be overwhelming during the day.
The TV is certainly bright and vibrant enough to watch in daylight conditions, that's not the issue. The issue is the amount of reflection on the TV screen. During the day, I can see the reflection from the edge of my window. It's fairly subtle and I can easily address this by buying a decorative curtain to place over my window, but it is something that I think is worth pointing out. If you know you're going to have your TV in front of a big window, it could be a major distraction if you can't cover the window properly.
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The perfect TV?
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| Review Date: April 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Michael O'Brien, Dumfries, VA USA |
Pros:
* Contrast almost makes the image look 3D (3,000,000:1 contrast ratio)
* Vibrant colors
* Ultra-Green -- uses almost no power (40% less than an LCD) and uses no mercury in production.
* Very easy setup
* Clean design
* Great remote
Cons:
* Can only take 1 component video connection
* Although I use my receiver for sound, the built-in speaker does not sound great.
* Not really a con but they have an RJ-45 port for a network cable, but don't have wifi -- if it is going to be networkable, wifi is so much easier to set up.
Summary:
Last week my wife and I finally upgraded our Dish Network to HD. We had an 8-year old HD-ready rear projection TV -- and I was crushed to find that the HD didn't look very good at all.
My very-low maintenance wife didn't understand why we needed a new TV, but was nice enough to humor me.
I did some research and we went to Best Buy to check out a TV that Consumer Reports ranked as #2 for LCDs. But right next to this TV was the Samsung UN-46B6000 and there was absolutely no comparison. My wife who was hesitant about even getting a new TV looked at them both and said, "Damn - we have to get this one. I didn't want to get a new TV but if we are going to get one - we have to get this one."
So there you have it - a TV even a reluctant wife realizes is the best one in the store. She now sees the error of her ways and LOVES the new TV.
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worth every penny
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| Review Date: May 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: H. Sung, Houston TX United States |
I had one 40inch LCD 720p in the living room for over 2 years. I was waiting for the price to drop so I could buy 46inch LCD 1080p for my bedroom. recently I went to local store and checked out some 46inch tv's with 60Hz priced around $1200. I went to check out the qualities, I immediated noticed big difference between 60Hz and 120Hz. I didn't know the difference would be that big of a deal but when the camera was moving, that's when I could tell the big difference. I came back home and researched some more. Most 46inch with 120Hz were around $1600 or more. I went back to store and compared, and I saw this one TV with outstanding picture which was Samsung LED 46. It was definitely over my budget, but I couldn't resist. I came back home and researched and found out that LED has many advantages (40% less electricity than LCD, longer life time that it can be viewed over 100,000 hours, thinner, better contrast and so on). So I bought this.
It's been 3 weeks now, and now, I love my room more than I ever did. I don't wanna talk about all the merits of this LED that everyone already knows. One thing I didn't know when I was researching was that this unit can play many types of movie files (.avi (divx and xvid), mp4, mpeg, .mkv, and many more and your firmware can be upgraded for the future movie codec)
I have many files that are .avi and .mkv with the size over 2gb that are blu-ray ripped. Those big .mkv files play without any problem and near blu-ray quality.
I also figured that this unit works with any USB external hard drive as well as USB memory. I tried my 1TB seagage external hard drive with power adapter, 500GB portable WD hard drive without adapter, and it worked like a charm.
I checked the electricity consumtion with my P2 gauge, and it was measured between 85 - 110 watts.
I know this LED is edge technology type of LED that some say it's not a true LED, and LG's new model is true LED, but that will consume more electricity and that is thicker and heavier than this one.
Also some of you are waiting for OLED to come out, but that will be at least 4-5 years and the price will be toooo high.
This Samsung LED is without a doubt, the best quality TV out there in the market, and if you don't mind spending $4-500 more, that's good investment you won't regret |
If you're debating between less glossy Sony and thinner, glossier Samsun, read on...
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| Review Date: November 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. Burns, Cincinnati, OH |
I recently purchased a Sony 52" 52Z5100 LCD television. Ultimately, I ended up exchanging it for the Samsung on this page. Why? Well, read on.
First, I had a 42" LCD projection 720p. Nice picture but time to upgrade. I always disliked glossy screened models but drooled over the thinness of the Samsung LED's. At Best Buy, I looked at all the TV's. I didn't care about 240hz b/c it's not a noticable difference over 120hz, so I was considering many displays. I kept coming back to the Sony 52Z5100 ($1899) and the Samsung UN46B6000 ($1839.) I know Sony makes good displays and I was worried about the glossiness so I purchased it and had it delivered. When I got it hooked up I was impressed but I never could quite get the picture they had in the store that was almost 3D. I know part of that is b/c they have all the settings pushed real high in-store, but even when I did that I couldn't get it. Now, don't get me wrong, it looked really good and I was really thinking of keeping it. But every time I looked at it from the side it just seemed a little bulky. The other issue I was having was the brightness. Even with the backlight turned to 1 and brightness turned down low, the display was too bright. It was fine when watching a show but if a commercial came on with a white background it sometimes hurt my eyes. It was that bright. Some would view that as a good thing but I constantly found myself adjusting the backlight and brightness. I can't say I wasn't satisfied with the display but after 3 weeks I found myself still considering the Samsung and I saw that as a sign that I should exchange it.
Having had the Samsung for 2 weeks now I am happy that I made the exchange. The glossiness, while not ideal on a bright day, isn't that bad. In fact, I would say that if this TV didn't have the glossy screen it would be almost perfect. The extreme brightness on the Sony tended to wash colors out a little...something I didn't really notice until viewing the Samsung. Colors were much more saturated. Some people have mentioned uneven lighting with the Samsung. I have looked hard for it and as picky as I am I can't see it at all. The sound is also very acceptable...much better than I expected, and that's nice since I don't always want to play it through my stereo. The Samsung also gives you more control over its settings than the Sony did. Perhaps that's why I could never get the Sony to exactly where I wanted it. The only negative I would give this TV is the motion control settings. Honestly, my favorite is usually off. I don't see much blur at all with it off. Putting it on Smooth, Clear, Standard, or even Custom with the blur on 10 and judder on 0 can look somewhat artificial at times. For instance, I replayed a scene on my DVR using all the settings. During this scene the camera pans across a bunch of people sitting on a bus. While smooth looked kind of neat, it created a little "jump" or judder at one portion of the pan. In fact, all the settings except off did this. (I also tried custom with judder at various settings.) Now, many people wouldn't even notice this and by no means does it ruin the experience, I'm just left with the feeling that this whole 120hz and 240hz is much ado about nothing. Like I said, turning it off is fine...even when watching football.
To sum up, by no means do I mean to imply the Sony is a bad TV - far from it. If you have recently bought one you have a very good TV with a beautiful picture. Just for me, preference wise, I prefer the Samsung. I love the thinness and deeper color saturation. Now, perhaps if I sat further from the TV (I'm at 11ft) or had this in a room with windows facing the TV (mine are to the side of it) I may feel differently. It all comes down to personal preference when you're talking about TV's of this caliber, so hopefully I've just provided a little more for you to help you decide which is for you. Happy viewing!
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