A great picture, with only minor drawbacks, April 21, 2007

I have been putting this television through its paces since I got it a few weeks ago, and it is by far the best TV I have ever owned, and very difficult to beat. The image quality is really good, with bright, vivid colors and wonderful detail, especially for 1080i/p content, but even lower-resolution 720p content, which is what’s more commonly-available on OTA HD broadcast, looks phenomenal. I also have an Apple TV hooked up to it, and even though most of my content is encoded at either 360p, 480p, or 720p, it still looks quite good.

It does take some time to get the image tuned to perfection, and the default settings are way too bright with too much color saturation boost, and the DNIe processing system actually seems to make some motion effects worse. However, it’s very easy to change the settings and see immediately what effect they have.

Like all LCDs it does have some slight black point problems; these aren’t noticeable for fullscreen 16:9 content, but for older 4:3 content it’s pretty obvious that the black isn’t pure black. However, this is again tunable.

The only thing I really notice which is pretty annoying is that it doesn’t do a very good job of upscaling 480i content, such as the output from most video game systems, and for DVDs to look good you really need an upconverting player since even with a progressive-scan player there is a lot of visible pixelation when the 480p content is scaled up. It’s really more a sad reflection on how the previous “next-generation” video looks downright primitive by today’s standards.

The other noticeable issue is that unlike many televisions with digital tuners, it doesn’t have an on-screen program guide. My previous TV (also a Samsung) had an on-screen program guide, but it was rather cumbersome to use and took several minutes of scanning every channel to see what was on, and most local channels are pretty inconsistent about providing the EPG information anyway, so it’s not really that big of a deal. You can still see the detailed information for the program that’s currently showing, so it makes use of EPG, just not as much as it could.

This television’s tuner is also quite phenomenal. My previous TV required a very carefully-positioned powered antenna which was very sensitive to every little nearby fluctuation, while with this one I only have a piece of wire jammed into the antenna port and I get perfect reception of every local digital station.

Another nice improvement over Samsung’s older HDTVs is that it has a wide variety of zoom modes which allow you to counteract some of the stupider things that TV stations do (for example, pillboxing a letterboxed 16:9 show, which is very common for widescreen non-HD programming). Also, analog TV stations and source inputs get their audio signals upconverted to digital, so you only need to run a single optical audio connection to your stereo (while previous Samsungs required running both analog and digital cables and switching between the two inputs based on source material).

As a PC monitor this is also quite nice. I have a Mac mini hooked up via SVGA cable, and even with an analog signal it looks perfectly sharp and crystal-clear, and of course you can hook it up via HDMI (with a DVI to HDMI adaptor) as well. The only gripe there is that the supported resolutions are a bit quaint – at least on analog SVGA the only 16:9 resolution it supports is 1920×1080, which can be difficult for some older systems to handle. However, on HDMI it should support all the standard HD resolutions.

This television may be more expensive than others in its size class, but it also far outshines every other TV I have seen, aside from the newer LN-T4065, which is nearly identical aside from providing a higher dynamic contrast ratio. If you want to only buy one TV which will last for a long time, it would be hard to go wrong with this one.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comments (3)

Exceptional, April 30, 2007

By 

Scott Hilleque (Austin, TX United States) – See all my reviews

  

I’ve had the LN-T4061 for a week now and am still very impressed. The picture quality is excellent, build quality is solid, and ease-of-use is very good too. I am using it with an HD cable box, a Media Center PC, and a home theater receiver. In all cases, connecting and configuring the various inputs was completely obvious and pain free.

General Image: The colors are absolutely amazing. I’ve looked at a LOT of LCDs over the past few months and I can’t recall any of them looking this vibrant. The 10,000-to-1 contrast ratio really makes for a stunning image. The black level is very good for an LCD too, but not quite pitch-black. Since I like to watch movies at night in a dark room, I can pick out a tiny amount of dark grey if I’m looking for it. Still, it’s much better than most LCDs and the high contrast ratio makes dark scenes look much better. If you look at LCDs in a store, you’ll notice they always play bright, contrasty video. That’s because most LCDs have a problem showing the difference between dark colors, like in shadows and night scenes. The Samsung isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t wash out nearly as bad as the others I sampled.

Image Settings: You can fine tune picture settings (Color, Contract, Brightness, etc.) or use one of the built-in presets. The default setting was a little “over driven” for my eyes, so I stepped it back to the next level and haven’t had to touch it since. All settings are stored per-input, which is how it should be.

High Definition: Both of my sources output in HD, the cable box at 1080i and the HTPC at 1080p. I give it 5 stars each in image quality, color fidelity, lack of pixilation, and lack of motion tear.

Standard Definition: I don’t really have an SD source anymore as my cable box and HTPC up-convert the content to HD. I did connect an S-Video cable just to try it out though, and was generally satisfied with the picture. There were definitely artifacts of scaling and de-interlacing, but they mostly disappeared to my eye at couch distance (about 12 feet). I didn’t give it the close scrutiny I did with the HDMI and component connections though.

HDMI Inputs: I am using only one of the three HDMI jacks, and that for connecting the cable box. In the past I would leave the TV volume at 100% and use the PVR’s internal volume control to set the final level. Over HDMI though, you always have full volume going to the TV. The easy work-around for this was to train the cable remote to use the TV codes for volume. This works great and the picture quality is excellent. I also read a forum post about the TV “handshaking” intermittently over an HDMI connection, but I haven’t experienced it. Also, on a side note, do NOT buy expensive HDMI cables. The signal is 100% digital and doesn’t benefit in any significant way from a 0 “OFC” or “directional” cable. If you need a run of 50′ or more it’s a different story, but at 6′ it’s a non-issue.

Component Inputs: Before I got the HDMI cable, I used the component jacks for a few days and I can’t say that I noticed any difference when I went to HDMI. It’s nice having a single cable instead of the 5 for component, but I couldn’t tell one way or another.

Audio: The built in 10-watt speakers are not enough for immersive movie watching, but they do just fine for regular TV shows. Coupled with a home theater sound system, you’ve got the best of both worlds; easy operation for normal stuff and theater sound for movies.

On-Screen Menus: It has a nicely polished translucent on-screen menu system. The layout is simple, features that don’t apply are grayed out, and the hierarchy is logical. What more can you ask for.

Remote Control: I use the cable PVR’s remote most of the time, and had no trouble adding Samsung’s codes to it. The Samsung remote is actually quite nice, but there are enough special features built into the cable remote (PVR, guide, A B & C buttons, etc) that I prefer to make that the normal clicker. I still keep the TV remote handy though as there are a few features the other remote won’t do when watching movies. I wish I could do it all with just one, but I guess that’s where remotes like the Logitech Harmony come in.

Cabinet: Personally, I don’t like “shiny” media equipment; they just cause glare and distract from what you are really watching. The frame is somewhat shiny but the screen it totally matte. In my opinion, it’s a nice mix and looks quite professional. I was worried about the WAF, but the first words out of her mouth were “wow, its pretty”. That’s good enough for me.

Other: I played around with the “digital picture frame” mode some and it is kind of neat. You plug a USB stick into the side and it does a slide show of the photos and music on it. I probably won’t use it as I have a media center PC, but those that don’t might find it useful…

Read more

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comments (4)

Excellent picture quality for TV, PC, gaming, movies, July 3, 2007

By 

Michael Yuen “www.hkss.com (or) www.yuenStudi… (Fountain Valley, CA United States) – See all my reviews

  

There are some really good reviews of this TV already, and I will add to them my own good (and bad) experiences.

PROS: Excellent picture quality. Plenty of input sources, including VGA (for computers/laptops.) Sexy design and good value.

CONS: Some minor design issues. Remote control is laggy.

SUMMARY: You can’t go wrong with this unit. I like it a lot.

DETAILED REVIEW:

Like Phil, I also had in mind to use this TV for all my multimedia needs: computer, Playstation 2 Slim, Over-the-Air (OTA) HD TV, and of course, movies. I live in a 2-bedroom apartment and didn’t want anything less than 1080p. I also do not subscribe to cable or satellite TV due to the fact that I do not (yet) see the necessity to pay /month for something I don’t really use.

The television brands I was primarily considering were the Sharp Aquos and Samsung units. I settled for this TV due to the number of input options, good value (price), and sexy looks. I chose LCD over Plasma because of what I intended to primarily use the TV for: computer use, gaming, and lower chances of picture “burn-ins” that older-generation Plasma is known for.

Keep in mind that this review is written with the TV brightness set at 70%, as running it at 100% would shorten the lifespan of the LCD. At full 100% brightness, the television definitely is a stunner! The unit has also been configured to detect changes in room lighting and automatically adjust the brightness accordingly.

COMPUTER USE:

This is what I use this unit for primarily. Excellent image quality despite connecting a 1920×1080 resolution laptop to the Samsung with a regular VGA-to-VGA cable. My next laptop will likely have a DVI video port — when that happens, I definitely recommend a DVI-to-HDMI cable. Text is sharp and images are bright and vivid. Playing recorded HD television programs is bliss, and playing BBC’s/Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth mini-series at 780p has blown away the mind of every single person who wanted to see what this TV is capable of. My laptop could not smoothly handle the 1080p version, but that has nothing to do with the TV.

Computer games looked excellent and no blurring was noticeable. Games included Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, Need for Speed: Carbon, and many more.

I agree with one of the reviewers who mentioned how amazingly bad DVD movies look when compared to today’s available HD programs. But again, this has nothing to do with this TV at all as DVD video is becoming an outdated standard. The DVD movies were played through the laptop with no upscaling whatsoever. Blu-Ray simply looks amazing on this unit when my friend fired up his Playstation 3 with a Blu-Ray movie! The same can be said about HD-DVD when my brother hooked up his Xbox360 and a HD-DVD movie.

PHOTOGRAPHY USE:

When viewing my images, they look absolutely amazing! I am a hobbyist photographer (with ambitions to go pro) with a Canon EOS 30D digital SLR (see some examples of these images posted on Amazon.com by searching for the Canon 30D and going through the customer-supplied photos. The camera itself is astonishing.)

Friends and family marvel at how sharp and vibrant the photos look on this set.

PLAYSTATION 2 SLIM USE:

Picture quality was horrible when connecting the PS2Slim to the TV set with the included PS2 RCA cables. I read that buying the optional PS2 S-Video cable would improve picture quality, and so I went out to get one. It sure did help, but the games still look bad (but playable.) Suffice to say, the PS2 was never designed for HD. Get the PS3 or Xbox360 instead.

OVER-THE-AIR TELEVISION USE:

There wasn’t true 1080p content available for me to receive over the air. The closest was 1080i, and although most people said that it looked amazing, I’m a picky computer professional when it comes to picture quality. Nonetheless, it definitely played analog broadcast channels better than my dad’s Philips set. Those channels that I am able to receive (mostly 720p) looks pretty stunning.

One qualm I have about this unit is that it doesn’t seem to have an auto-resize functionality that would turn everything into widescreen. The manual recommends that full-screen content not be played for too long on ANY television set (not just this Samsung), as the difference between the actual video content and the black bars on the side may become a problem over time. You can force any video (except for the computer feed) into widescreen by using the included remote. I like how my dad’s Philips unit resizes everything into widescreen, though I don’t like how fullscreen content looks stretched when forced to widescreen.

Personally, I leave fullscreen content at fullscreen and take my chances. I did not know that LCDs could have “burn-in” problems, but hey,…

Read more

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comments (5)