Did a lot of research on TVs before I decided to get this one. Was not excited about the 120hz TVs; do not like the soap opera/camcorder motion. I was debating if I should get the internet options with the apps on the other models, but I have a PS3 so it wasnt worth paying for the extra features. So I got this 60hz LCD and I have no regrets! The picture this TV produces are amazing, especially on Blu Ray. I watched my New Zealand vacation videos on it and it really brings out the colors and makes my video look even more movie like. Avatar looks amazing on it as well. I got it for $640 and worth every dime. Samsung LN40C530 40-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV (Black)
Upon breaking the LCD panel in my previous Samsung TV, the LN4065F, I sent myself to Amazon in quest of a new TV. I wanted another Samsung, since their build and picture quality are topnotch, but I also wanted something relatively entree-level as a cheap means of replacing my older TV.
The Samsung LN40C530 delivers in both apartments, and with astonishing results. At under 700usd, this set provides an excellent picture with extremely rich colors. There is no problem with backlight bleeding or color inconsistency either. Compared to my older TV set, this one has more of a semi-glossy screen with some matte properties. Most people would view a semi-matte screen bad over a very glossy screen, but the matte elements in the screen do a great job of ensuring the colors this panel provide are very deep and saturated. Having a very high contrast ratio helps a great deal of bit with color reproduction as well. At its default settings, the picture's a a bit too sharp, so setting sharpness down to around 30s will produce more desirable/natural pictures. Compared to my older TV, the sound seems to be lesser, and not as deep, so I manually had to go into its equalizer and raise the lower hz rates up a little to produce satisfying results. This is fine for most people, but ones who play games under game mode for lower input lag are forced to use default audio, so they should think twice if sound is a big issue to them.
This TV doesn't boast any of the newer technologies we see today in higher end TVs-- such as 120/240hz, or led backlighting with or without local dimming-- but this TV doesn't need them. Almost all signals are capped at 60hz, and it's up to the TV's motion estimation interpolation to render false frames (which can sometimes lead to unwanted artifacts/effects) True 120hz won't be taken full advantage of until everything is broadcasted at a native 120hz rate. led local dimming seems nice, but this TV already is very bright, and shows no signs of backlight bleeding (blacks could be a little blacker, but that can usually be fixed by setting HDMI black level to low-- if wanted) Besides that, there's little reason to be a stickler for very deep blacks if the TV shows no sign of backlight bleeding/clouding.
In terms of build quality, for a sub 700usd TV, the LN40C530 looks and feels like a 1500+usd tv. The bezel is small and compact (as well as a slimmer depth than my old TV: 3.1inches compared to 3.8inches), while Samsung included a row of touch sensitive buttons on the bottom right-- very akin to Sony PS3's power/eject buttons. One thing I am a bit disappointed in is the lack of Samsung's trademark lighting effect on the bottom center of the bezel, but the blown glass-like design of the clear plastic under the bottom bezel looks very nice. Even though Samsung says this TV doesn't come with a touch of color feature, you can make out a very faint amount of red accent in the very bottom of the TV. The remote is another letdown for me, as the general look to it is very cheep compared to my older model. Thankfully, the older remote works on this new TV as well.
As for the general consensus: If you're in the market for an entree level HDTV with amazing picture, you need not look further than this great piece of kit Samsung has introduced.
I haven't bought a television in 13 years and I wanted to make sure I got one that would last me at least another decade without breaking the bank. I did my homework and waited patiently for a price dip on a Samsung, which all the reviewers say are the best. I picked this one up for just over $600 and I'm so happy with it! Personally, I'm not interested in the technology race--I just want great picture quality and a set that is reliable and easy to operate. That's precisely what this is, with a fair amount of bells and whistles to boot.
Visually, this TV is excellent. The colors are vibrant and on-target (no purple cast like I've seen on some lower-end LCD TVs) and there's no ghosting. Like with any high-resolution TV without an expensive upscaler built in, regular definition sources (e.g. older DVD players and game consoles) look a little blocky. You can fix this with a fancy upscaling circuit like you find in the more expensive A/V receivers, but otherwise it's something you'll find on every TV.
The audio is pretty good for built-in speakers. It certainly has more bass than our old tube TV did; built-in amplifier technology on the TVs has advanced considerably over the past 5 years or so. The volume control seems a little odd, though, in that when it's quiet you have to nearly double the numeric volume before it's noticeably louder. I wonder if it might be using a linear scale instead of a logarithmic one (decibels, for example, are logarithmic). Still, decent built-in speakers; if you want really nice sound, you'll want an external receiver (which is probably true of any built-in TV speakers anywhere). It has optical and analog audio out if you want to plug it into a cheaper stereo instead of finding a more expensive receiver unit and speakers, which is nice (the analog is in the form of a stereo miniplug (headphone jack), which you can either plug in directly or get an RCA jack Y-adaptor for most stereos).
One of the HDMI jacks has a stereo miniplug linked to it for audio input so you can plug your DVI-capable computer in and pass the audio in through the analog jack (since many computers have DVI, which is easily and cheaply adapted to HDMI but does not carry audio content). This is a nice feature if you have a media PC or plug your laptop in for photo shows, etc.
One thing I wasn't such a fan of was the menu system. Samsung has always made nice TVs, but I feel their menu system has always been a little clunky (my old roommate had an older model and it was almost the same). This machine is at least pretty responsive when you push the buttons, unlike older ones which were a little sluggish, but the menu system goes far too deep and doesn't seem particularly well organized. I still can't figure out how to turn off the dynamic contrast scaling; the menu says it's off, but black screens full of white text (like the credits after The Office) cause the contrast to adjust up and down, making the text a different brightness on each subsequent screen depending on how much white text there is. Minor quibble, and it probably does improve the picture on the show itself, but still.
And, like most LCD TVs these days, it takes about 5 seconds to turn on or off, which is puzzling for people when they hit the power button and nothing happens instantaneously. This isn't unique to this TV or even Samsung TVs, of course, but if it's a surprise to you, don't panic.
My chief complaint about the menu system is that you can really only select from a handful of preset names for each of the sources; items like "TV", "Game", "DVD", "DVR" and a few other assorted oddities. I have a PS2, an XBox and a Wii; I guess I name them all "Game" and hope I can remember which input goes with which? I also have the new AppleTV (which is wonderful), but the closest category that fits it (to my mind) was "IPTV". This is somewhat superficial and not at all a dealbreaker, but it does occasionally confuse the less technical members of my household. Given that it would have been trivial for their software engineers to add an option for specifying a custom name, it's a little disappointing. I think I actually remember being able to do that on my old roommate's older Samsung TV, but maybe I'm misremembering.
Last complaint: No S-Video input. I'm probably part of a sub-1% group that finds this annoying, but I have several older game consoles which provide S-Video out and not component out, and their composite looks terrible (specifically the Super Nintendo). I suppose I'll just have to wait until I get a real receiver, most of which do have S-Video inputs (and better upscaling). I think I was just more surprised than anything else, since this is the first TV I've seen that doesn't have any S-Video inputs.
All in all, I am 100% happy with this TV, and I can't say I've ever seen a modern-day HDTV with a reasonable menu system. Make sure you measure your space before you pick the size, though! I did, and 40" is the perfect size for us; my wife thought it sounded way too big, and we almost went with the 36" (which would have looked oddly small in the space it's in). Eyeballing it is a good way to wind up with a TV that's too big (won't fit or overwhelms people at the viewing distance) or too small.
And, of course, if you're looking for bells and whistles like 120 Hz (I don't really watch anything that takes advantage of it, so it seemed like a waste of money to me), you'll need to pick a higher-end model. - Samsung Lcd - 40 Inch - 40 Inch Hdtv - Hdtv'
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