Purchased the LN46C650 model 3 weeks ago ($1167 thru Amazon) and absolutely love it. I was not sure how much added value the internet TV would provide, but after having it for a few weeks I am very glad I went with this model over the non-internet models. I haven't tested every feature yet, so this review is based on taking the usual features for a spin.
Delivery: White-glove service was fantastic (on-time, no damage), but then again it would be pretty hard to mess up walking the set 15 feet inside the doorway. Nonetheless, they did great.
PROS:
- Pandora rocks. This is by far my favorite internet feature to stream music through the TV. I don't have a big stereo system and FM reception is spotty, so this really was a welcome feature.
- The sound is just fine. I know some say the Samsung sound isn't up to Sony, and that may be true, but how often are you blasting the volume past, say, 20? The room we have it set up in is relatively small (15x20), so it suits us just fine.
- YouTube, Vudo, Yahoo, Associated Press, Weather, and Flickr feeds are pretty cool. You can download movies from Netflix and Blockbuster, but i'm not sure this is any better (cheaper) than most cable services. I guess if you don't have cable this would be great.
- I have AT&T U-Verse, and the SD picture is great when tuned to non-HD channels. The HD is amazing.
- The Automotion is great, but only for sports in my opinion. We turn it off for regular programming as with HD and Automotion on, the scenes look a little on the cheap side (maybe too real??). It is like you are in the room, which i don't like. This is probably just a personal preference thing.
- The TV itself looks amazing and the lack of the red-touch-of-color I think is a good thing.
- Controls to tweak the picture seem more than adequate to suit anyone's preferences, though I'm not a A/V guru.
- AllShare feature lets you access music, photos and videos contained on networked computers through your TV (after downloading/installing samsung software on your PC). This worked flawlessly and setup was intuitive.
- Plug-N-Play media contained on a thumb drive works great too.
CONS: I can't think of any major ones, but I'll list a few initial thoughts...
- AnyNet+ seems before its time (you have to have all Samsung devices to use as far as I can tell)
That's about all I have. If anyone has any questions, I will try to answer. All in all, I have to give this TV a 5. The potential uses for the internet connectivity seems huge.
UPDATE: 4 months in and we still love this TV. No problems whatsoever. There are some new Samsung Apps i thought I'd mention...
- Google Maps App, can get live traffic just like the web version. Hard to get any accident data though.
- Other new apps (but haven't tried): Napster, Hulu Plus, Facebook, CinemaNow?, DailyMotion? Samsung LN46C650 46-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV (Black)
I've only had the TV for a few hours, but I have only good things to say at this point. The image quality is awesome, the box was pristine, and setting it up was really easy. The delivery guy even helped me get it mounted to the stand, which I don't think he had to do. I like the menu system--it looks cool and is intuitive and well organized.
There are a few things I was concerned about after reading reviews of other Samsung LCD TV's, but I haven't found any of them to be an issue:
- The remote is not finicky. You can point it in any direction, even backwards, and it works perfectly.
- While you would not mistake the sound from the TV as coming from a good stereo, I'm very happy with it. I've only turned it up to about 15 out of 100, and even that seems loud in a quiet house. If it scales linearly, I can't imagine ever needing to turn it up all the way.
- Some people complained about a system Samsung uses to dynamically adjust the backlight to get deeper blacks, and that this system is really annoying. This TV either doesn't use it, or it's not annoying, or maybe I just don't know what I'm supposed to be ticked off about :)
- One guy got the wrong stand for his TV. I think he might just be incompetant. I admit when I looked at the TV and the stand, I wasn't sure how they went together at first. When I found the bracket for connecting the two (with good, albeit unnecessary instructions), it became obvious.
- I'm not a big fan of the touch of color business, but most of the time you can't even see it.
The picture quality is so beautiful I've even found myself watching (some) pre-recorded commercials, admiring nature shots and cars with sleek lines. The new interest in commercials will presumably wane with time. :)
If I discover any problems, I'll come back and update.
UPDATE (5 months): I still love the TV, and as predicted, I've gone back to skipping commercials. With regard to the remote sensitivity, I believe the sensor on the TV is in the lower right. At one point we had the Wii sitting there, partially blocking that corner, and it seemed that the remote connection became more finicky. (The solution, obviously, is to keep that area of the TV stand clear.)
If you have a laptop, the internet connectivity may not be worth it; check the price of the LN46C630 instead, which is basically the same minus the net connection. Occasionally it's useful, but trying to type with the remote is clumsy, not all YouTube videos work (this is a licensing issue, not the TV's fault), and I can't open my Picasa account, despite going through the procedure to register my account. Since connecting a computer is really easy, I very quickly lose patience with the built-in system. I should try Pandora; I noticed another reviewer liked that. I still love the TV, because it's good at being a TV, and I don't need it to double as a computer when there are four in the house.
Regarding Auto Motion Plus: At first, I just noticed that everything looked kind of weird and smooth--the best description I have is that everything looked like a soap opera. Ultimately, I decided I hated it and turned it off. As I understand it, it's a way of interpolating frames when the input is slower than 120Hz. It seems like a good idea, I just couldn't get used to it. If I could bring myself to watch a soap opera, I'd be curious to see how much soapier it can get with Auto Motion Plus.
Also, do yourself a favor: buy a ~$5 HDMI cable online, rather than getting suckered into the $50-100 cables that do the EXACT SAME THING. Keep your cables short and use as few connections as possible, and you'll be just fine. - Samsung Lcd - 46 Inch - Hdtv - 120hz'
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