Samsung LN40C650 LN40C630

Buy Samsung LN40C650

I bought this BD550 at Amazon.com using the SuperSaver Free Delivery on a Saturday. It arrived on my doorstep the following Tuesday. I don't see the point of paying extra for a faster delivery.

The player is very easy to use, and I didn't even read the written menu. All I did was plugging in the powerline and ethernet cable to my router, playing with the remote, scrolling the various menu up and down, and making some setup choices including network connection and the firmware update. The firmwares did take several minutes to load and update though.

What impresses me the most is the Netflix streaming. I didn't encounter any of the problems mentioned by other reviewers (I guess probably because I updated the firmwares before I even downloaded the first movie). I chose the titles in the Netflix website using my laptop, and saw the same titles showed up quickly on my TV using the BD550 streaming. It took about 10-15 seconds for the movie to load, and then the HD quality pictures (HD availability depending on the titles. Netflix will tell you on the TV screen) showed up right away. A slight negative: in the middle of the showing, Netflix did white out the picture for about 10 seconds for 're-buffering'. I don't know if it's normal or it's a LG or a Netflix problem. But this short interruption really didn't spoil the movie for me at all considering how convenient it is to get an instant movie download. Later I also realized that I could choose the movies titles using the LG remote without having to use the computer. The $8.99 monthly Netflix subscription fee for the unlimited movie streamings (although not all movies are available for straeming) has got to be the best entertainment value I've ever had.

The upconvert quality of this machine is also amazing. I used it to watch the standard DVD, Mad Men Season 2, and was constantly in awe by how clear and sharp the pictures looked. I had to eject the disc to see if it was truly a regular DVD. I began to wonder if it's really necessary to spend extra $ to get the BluRay discs, specially on the recent movies or TV titles.

Overall I owned this player for about 3 weeks now, and it worked flawlessly and gave me lots of joy.

Buy Samsung LN40C630

Have had the player for almost a month, and I can't begin to tell you how much we use it. We have not yet upgraded to HD yet, so I can't really comment on picture quality since I am just using the standard RCA jacks to plug into our old SD TV. That purchase is around the corner and I just didn't want to keep purchasing DVDs when they were on their way out. I have played 1 Blu-ray disc through this unit so far, and it loaded super quickly and played great. Plays all our old DVDs well too.

I will say this, if you just looking for a player and not looking for a lot of online features, then you shouldn't get this one. For instance, if you already have Tivo or X-Box live or even a Wii, then you have access to a lot of these features. There are other players out there for cheaper that don't have all the bells and whistles. That being said, one of the reasons we got this box was so that we could do Netflix and other on demand without having to pay for X-Box Live anymore. Totally worth it. The Netflix experience is not quite as nice as it is on the X-Box, but it is one of the nicer that I have seen and works just as well when it comes down to it.

Installation was a snap. I had to tweak the picture in the settings to get it to display my current 4:3 aspect ratio for Standard Def. But it was pretty self explanatory. I keep my router right by the TV, so there was no need to get the next tier model (which is wireless), but if that is an issue for you, you may want to consider the BD750. Connecting was a nonissue. Just plugged it into the ethernet port in back and connected it to my router. It recognized the connection as soon as it was turned on. I had to run the Software (Firmware) update a few times (2 or 3) before it installed all the updates. But since then, they have all been automatic. As long as you are connected to the internet, it should check for you regularly, but you can always manually check for updates yourself, which is also a plus. The last update I installed gave us the [...] app in addition to the others listed above, so they are not just troubleshooting firmware issues with the updates. They are also adding software content. That is a good sign that the support for this player is gonna be good.

HDTV Cheap

I bought this device just to stream movies on my ancient TV, which I think is from 1987 because I bought it when the Twins were heading to the World Series. Disks work great. Only streamed movies so far from Vudu, since Vudu offered $20 free. The movies look just fine. As well as previews from Cinema Now look just fine. Despite every possible permutation and combination of settings for resolution and aspect ratios, I'm not able to get the Vudu and Cinema Now menus very clear. Barely legible as you scroll thru movie selection, movie reviews, purchase screens, etc. I presume this is due to my ancient TV. Since the movies are fine, I'm happy with it, and if I need to do more than a little movie searching, I can do in on the Vudu or Cinema Now website on the computer instead of the TV. We're not that big of movie watchers, but it is very convenient to have instant access. Grandkids come over, and we can pick the film on the spot, do not need to subscribe to Netflix, no need to drive to Blockbuster, and again to return it. It's nice.

LCD HDTV Reviews

Samsung LN46C550 LN46C530

Buy Samsung LN46C550

I have had the Samsung BD-C5500 Blu-ray player for about a week now and I absolutely love it. It was very easy to setup and worked perfectly right out of the box. It's smaller in size than the DVD player it is replacing but noticeably heavier. It starts up quickly and loads Blu-ray discs quickly too. The buttons on the front of the player are touch sensitive and don't give the user any tactile feedback so sometimes it's hard to tell if you have pushed them or not but at the same time they are cool and have a cutting-edge appeal. Some people have mentioned that they don't care for the remote but I find it to be very adequate and easy to use. I like the larger size of the buttons since I have big hands. The remote seems to work well at different angles and distances as well. When I first hooked up the player it did a firmware update and about a week later it notified me that there was a newer firmware and again did an update. It's comforting to see that Samsung is actively working to improve the device's firmware by releasing updates frequently if needed. I didn't know what issues/features the firmware updates were addressing because the UI on the player doesn't really tell you but Samsung does list what the firmware updates change/fix on their website. The device didn't have any problems connecting to my home network using a CAT-5 cable. It doesn't bother me a bit that this player doesn't support wi-fi out of the box. In my experience wi-fi is very susceptible to interference from other devices such as microwaves, cordless phones, and other wi-fi routers so using it to stream a high-definition movie could be problematic when you decide to pop some popcorn during the show or if someone calls you on your cordless phone. You'll always get better streaming performance from CAT-5. Plus, it's a lot cheaper than the players that do have wi-fi built in.

I have used this player to stream Netflix content from my Netflix instant queue. Before having this player we watched a lot of Netflix streaming content on our computer but watching it on the HDTV using this player has been a lot more convenient and sounds better on the home audio system than on the computer speakers. Streaming works very well and I haven't seen it skip frames or stop to re-buffer the stream. It takes a little longer to buffer the stream at the beginning of playback than my computer does but after a 15-20 second wait it's good to go so it's not a big deal. I have spoken with people who stream Netflix through the PS3 or XBOX and they have told me it takes about the same amount of time to buffer on those systems and I would imagine other Blu-ray players that stream Netflix would have similar performance. Some of the Netflix streaming content will stream in 720p resolution which looks and sounds great. One thing to note is that this player will only see titles you have added to your Instant Queue on the Netflix website. You cannot use the player to browse for different content and add it to your queue. This has not been very bothersome to me but it might bother some people. I actually like the fact that I can put titles in the Instant Queue for my children to watch and they can't browse around Netflix on the player and find adult content accidentally in the process.

Streaming music through Pandora has been great too. The Pandora app works well and has a good interface. You can give songs a thumbs up or thumbs down but only while the song is playing. It would be great if you could go back through the list of songs that have recently played and give them the thumbs up or thumbs down after they have played like you can on the Pandora website but that's not the way it works sadly. The quality of the audio seems very good and the time it takes to buffer the music is not even noticeable. We have really enjoyed having a device capable of using Pandora connected to the home audio/theater system.

I used the Blockbuster service to rent a movie for my kids. The video/audio quality was excellent and I had no streaming problems but the price was a little absurd. The movies cost about $4 to rent and you only have access to watch the movie for 24 hours from the time you first start playing it. At that price I would expect that you would get to watch the title as much as you want for 5 days just like you would do if you physically rented a movie from a Blockbuster location. I don't think I will be using the Blockbuster service very much unless there is a movie I really want to watch and I'm too tired/lazy to physically go to a Blockbuster and rent it.

Overall I feel like the device does a lot for how much I paid for it and is definitely worth the money. I have already recommended it to numerous friends and co-workers who have been looking to get a Blu-ray player. This is the first Blu-ray player I have owned and might possibly be the last since it's so feature-rich and works so well.

Update 4/14/2010:

I have had this player for over a month now and I have received 4 firmware updates I think. With the firmware updates the device has only gotten better. The updates didn't appear to add any new features but they have made the player more stable so it is less likely to freeze-up or stop working in other ways. Everything has been working flawlessly for me.

There is a new service called Vudu now that this player supports. I have not tried to use it yet but it appears to give you one free HD rental so that you can try the service. It looks similar to the Blockbuster streaming app. Most movies appear to have options to rent/buy the title in 3 different formats. HDX (1080p 5.1 Surround), HD (720p 5.1 Surround?), and SD (Standard Definition 480p and I'm not sure on the audio). I have watched a few trailers on Vudu and they stream fine but I haven't tried actually streaming a movie from Vudu yet.

Buy Samsung LN46C530

I am just a common consumer so I can't really compare this to other Blu-Ray players. However, the C5500 starts up and loads fairly quickly. Setup was simple and the GUI is fairly easy. The blu-ray discs I played produced an excellent quality image on my TV. DVDs upscaling to 1080P was okay, about as good as you can hope for. Online features were sort of hit or miss. It was easy enough to setup Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and Blockbuster. However, I could not get audio to work. Audio from Blu-ray, DVDs, and even from HD Netflix videos was fine, everything else was mute. I tried calling Samsung, but this is such a new product that the customer support can't support it yet. They could only suggest waiting for a new firmware to come out.
I would strongly suggest for people considering this product to wait a month or two for Samsung to begin supporting this device properly. It looks like it will be an excellent product for the price... once the bugs are fixed in subsequent firmware updates.

Buy Best HDTV I am very pleased with this unit. It worked just fine right out of the box. As someone who has worked in IT all my life, I expected at least some problems connecting to the streaming features. I was pleasantly surprised when the Netflix and Pandora interfaces worked without any setup problems whatsoever. And, by the way, the

Buy LCD TV searched for a long time for a blu-ray player that would stream video and play a variety of video types, including Divx movies. I also didn't want anything that I felt was overpriced. This player has been exceptional. Easy to set-up and stream Netflix. I am having so much fun downloading and looking at really bad movies rather than wasting my subscription by having them sent home. I didn't have any problem with the sound, but I play all of my sound through my Sony receiver. I think this is a great player for the money.

Samsung LN55C650 LN46C630

Buy Samsung LN55C650

I picked this TV up a few months ago so I could get my 360 and PS3 off of my computer monitor. Clearly I knew I wasn't getting a super high end TV but at the end of the day all I wanted it to do was work for gaming on a functional level. To that end this TV met all of my expectations and exceeded them.

Games look fine, there's no ghosting, fine text is easily readable, and the color and resolution are nice enough. Compared to other 'better' TVs I've seen I would say that the colors are perhaps a little washed out, not quite as rich as other TVs I've seen. I've read of people playing around with various settings to get a better look overall but it's not something I'm well versed in or have tried yet. When switching inputs, or sometimes when firing up a game, the screen will display an odd green graphical pattern briefly at the bottom of the screen. The response time on switching inputs is also a little slow by comparison.

Movies, both DVD and Blu Ray look good, they more or less adhere to what I've seen with games. I'd say the visual quality, or lack thereof for lack of a better way of putting it, is a little more apparent in a movie than it is in a game. I recently watched some older movies and some of the darker and brighter scenes made this very clear. It's still infinitely better than the SD TV I had previously but there are discernable differences between this and other perhaps more pricey choices.

Cable TV to me looks worse than my SD TV for the most part. I don't have digital or an HD pack (don't watch enough TV to warrant the cost) so most of what I get in my package isn't high definition. The HD channels I do get look great but for some reason all of the other channels just don't look right. I don't know if it's a factor of not finding quite the right display settings, of which I have tried many, or if the flaws of the actual programming are more apparent. The typical cable show looks somewhat distorted and fuzzy to me. It isn't however so bad that I'm going to backtrack to my previous TV.

The built in sound isn't great either. Whether the game/movie/show is to blame or not you may find yourself battling with the volume controls at time to find a reasonable balance. I encounter this the most with movies, and the "Voice" sound setting helps, but I do have to do a fair amount of volume juggling with the stock speakers. I'm personally looking in to getting a surround sound setup which will likely remedy the problem but out of the box the sound isn't amazing. This is probably true of most stock televisions but there it is.

Features? Well there really aren't any. At this price I guess that's to be expected.

All things considered it's a great TV for the money. A more discerning aficionado could surely argue against this TV with great validity but I think for a more pedestrian consumer looking for a basic upgrade this is right on. For me this was my first HD set short of my computer monitor, so while I find myself greatly behind the technology curve this time, I'm sure there will be plenty of others just like me.

Buy Samsung LN46C630

I have owned this monitor for about a month. It works fine. It was easy to setup except that in order to get a reasonable picture I had to manually adjust the settings--not a big deal but it took some time to get it right. The picture is adequate. I have used it on gaming machines, DVDs, and HD TV. It is not even close to my Samsung Touch of Color TV, but it was not in the same price league. The sound is better than I expected and certainly adequate for a smaller room.

I got it for my "napping room", so I watch and sort of sleep. For that purpose it does the job. If you are looking for much more than adequate for a small room, you might want to look elsewhere.

I was looking for a 32 inch tv for our bedroom and looked at numerous tvs and reviews. I wasn't sure about buying a brand that is not well known and was worried that the price of this tv meant poor picture qaulity. After looking at the reviews on amazon and a few other sites, I decided to purchase this tv. It arrived quickly, in good shape, and was easy to get up and going. The picture looks great at the distance from the bed to the tv stand. If you get too close, or too far away, it appears a bit "grainy" but 10-15 feet is just right. I have had this tv for about a month and so far, no problems with powering on and off or anything else. Very happy with the purchase!

Best price for HDTV

Not familiar with Proscan brand, but I'm happy with this product. The special price was great, especially for a 32" LCD HDTV with 1080p. The setup was easy and the picture is really good. The only negative is changing channels hesitates too long. I definitely recommend this product.

After searching endlessly for the perfect TV for a newly decorated living room, I ran across the Procscan 40 in. on Amazon. The price was great compared to other sites. The TV is just the right size for the living room, not too big/not too small. I didn't use the stand that came with it but it fit nicely into the swivel stand I had. I would recommend the TV to others.

LCD HDTV for cheap

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the TV. The picture looks great. Its full 1080p. The colors and contrast are bright. I watch a lot of sports and the 6ms response is more than adequate. It sits in my bedroom and I really enjoy it.

I'd been wanting to get a new TV now for...awhile. Finally, the opportunity arose that I could. I always am a cautious shopper; I never rush out to buy something without checking out all options - I ultimately want to get the best for the least (I'm a NYC'er - it's in my blood).

Samsung LCD HDTV Reviews

I have had the LN52A630 for a week now and I have to tell you that it is clearly the best overall choice for an LCD TV with 120hz. I recently wrote a similar review for the LN46A630. I chose to replace it with the 52" only because our livingroom is too large for the 46". Buy Best LCD HDTV

I'm not sure why more people are not going for the 630's over the 650's just for the glare issue alone. My friend has an A650 and in my opinion the reflections are just as bad in his living room as they were in the showroom of the big box stores with the 650. I have two windows directly opposite the TV and a large bow window to the right. My concern was how little control I would have with that much natural light hitting the TV. So far, my 630 has past the evening lighting test with flying colors. With all of the possible lights on in this large room, there is absolutely no reflecting light visible on the TV. During the day with the Sunlight filtering directly into the back windows hitting the TV, there is no reflections to speak of. Awesome, consistent picture on the "matte" screen. Samsung LCD HDTV

Thanks to the reviews of the 650's about the reflections, I took a chance with the 630 with the "matte" screen and am I ever glad that I did. The difference is significant and because of this reason, I truly believe that the 630 has a better overall picture. It's all about personal preference. Sure it's got one less HDMI and slightly less contrast ratio because of the screen but there are more than enough settings to compensate for this. Buy LCD HDTV

I am still making adjustments and learning just what this TV is capable of, but I got to tell you that the Celtics/Hawks game in HD was nothing less than orgasmic. I was in awe switching between that and the Hockey game in HD. Unbelievable!

This TV is the way to go if you want all of the features of the 6 series but not all of the reflections. Get this TV, you will be happy that you did!

Update

I have purchased this TV and it is splendid. Unfortunately, the Amazon product description is wrong: the TV does not have an ethernet port and will not connect to the Internet. Photos of the connectors that have been posted to this page by consumers show no ethernet port. There is no mention in the product manual about an ethernet port and Samsung customer service tells me that it has none. This is a minor loss and doesn't detract from the worthiness of the product. (I spent 20 minutes on hold with Amazon after writing the foregoing. They agree that the product description is wrong and should be corrected. So, if you read this review but find no mention in the description of an ethernet port you will understand why.)