This set has a 2299 msrp, and is my current consideration after reading the user manual. Does anyone have this set, or compared it to a Sharp or Panasonic LCD? My local Best Buy only has the 26" versions on display, but the Samsung looks the best by far, followed by Sharp and then the rest. I'm not as comfortable with the Samsung name as some others, but it would be a good bit cheaper than the Aquos I would guess.

# HD-Grade 1366(H) x 768(V) Pixel Resolution
# 3,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
# 500 cd/m² Brightness
# Samsung DNIe™
# 170°(H)/170°(V) Viewing Angle
# Fast 12ms Response time
# 3D Y/C Digital Comb Filter
# Brightness Sensor
# SRS TruSurround XT™
# HDMI, 2 Component Video, S-Video, PC Inputs
# Anynet™ System Control Solution
# VESA® compatible

Panel Type: PVA
TV System: American NTSC Std Color
Channel Coverage: VHF VHF 2-13,
UHF 14-69
CATV 1-125 (up to 181 preselected channels)
Audio Power: 10W X 2
Power Requirements: AC 100~120 AC, 60Hz
Power Consumption: Power On Approx. 184 Watts
Standby less than 1.0 Watt
Connections:
Antenna in 1
HDMI in 1
Component (Y/Pb/Pr) in 2(480i/480p/720p/1080i)
S-Video in 1
A/V (RCA) in 1
PC input D-sub15 pin (VGA-WXGA)
PC Audio in Yes
Headphone out Yes
Anynet RS232 1
On Screen Display: English, French, Spanish
Net Dimensions:
Monitor with stand 31.4"(W) x 9.8"(D) x 25.6"(H)
Monitor without stand 31.4"(W) x 3.9"(D) x 23.3"(H)
Monitor with stand weight 39.0 Lbs.
Order Code: LNR328WX/XAA
UPC Code: 036725232839
Warranty:
Consumer use 1 year parts and labor
Commercial use 90 Days

i'm considering this as well, esspecially after seeing the 26" model in the stores. Just like you, my bb only had the 26". Though they had the 32" sharp lcd up running on an HD feed.....and man was it beautiful. so my choise is between the LN-R328W and sharps 5U model. I honestly think i'll end up with the sharp as i just dont trust samsung.

I have seen both side by side and like the Sammy a little more than the Sharp.
Of course you must use your own eyes , also I have called Samsung a couple of times and they were always willing to answer any questions and were very helpful :).
That has to go a long way , at least in my book :D
Still IMO wait for the LN-R408D , if you have the extra space and bucks.
You will lose an analog input ,but gain a larger screen CC and 2 additional color controls in the "My Color" settings.
Also they just came out with there new ED plasma SP-R4232 w/CC and in a couple of months should have there HD version model # HP-R4252 also with CC.
Gary

My local BB also has the LNR328W on display and even seems to have some stock. I'm seriously considering picking one up tomorrow since the local store seems to be running a first week promotion on the set. I already posted my first impressions in this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=527770

To paraphrase, based off of BB's HD feed, I thought the Samsung sat right in the middle of the Sharp and Panasonic LCDs. I didn't have time to mess with the menus since I had to get back to work (lunch). The price, of course, is only beat by the entry-level LCDs (Westinghouse, Scepter, and Syntax).

I've been waiting to test my HTPC on an HD set. At the moment, I don't have a lot of room for a larger screen, as much as the ED Plasmas on display impressed me, they were just too big for my current living space.

- David

Would this be a good TV for video games? It looks like it has a nice response time with the 12ms and I know this is good for PC LCD's for gaming so I suppose this will be good for them.

I plan on hooking an XBOX, PS2 and Gamecube to this, and later this year XBOX 2 with its hi def gaming capabilities.

I recently returned the Sony 27HS420 CRT TV, which is a nice TV but I think I want something smaller for my bedroom with the same screen size and this will be my first LCD TV so I am a little concerned on the difference I will be seeing going from a CRT for my whole life to getting an LCD TV.

Thanks for the input.

Paul

Also, does anyone know release date or MSRP for the LN-R329D? I cant find it on any of Samsung's pages.

I purchased this set yesterday morning, having earmarked my bonus for a television upgrade. It looks like I got the last set at my Best Buy, apart from the display model. The BB attendant said they had three new displays earlier in the week, so apparently I wasn't the only one with more than a passing interest.

The shipping box that housed the display had certainly seen some travel and I was worried about whether I could fit it into my Camry. It slid into the back seat without issue, so that was a relief. Of course, the first thing I noticed, just by carrying the box around, was the weight difference. Even when nestled within all of the packing materials, this display is still lighter than my 27" CRT. Things were off to a good start.

Once I got home, I unpacked the display. The first thing I noticed when opening the box was the detached stand in its own protective bag. The other notable item was a simple brown box. I'll describe the contents shortly. I set both of these aside so I could remove the top level of thick molded foam housing the screen itself. As with the stand, the LCD was also wrapped in its own protective bag. The top vents had a sticker covering them that I needed to remove and there was some clear tape protecting the black glossy border on the right and left sides of the screen. I kept the clear tape on while moving the display into place to keep my fingerprints off of the finish.

So, what's in the box? ;)

The box had quite a number of goodies inside of it: the remote, two AAA batteries, a power cable, an RF cable, an audio cable to connect to a sound card, a plastic cover for those wishing to wall-mount the unit, four screws for the included stand, and a whole collection of printed documentation. The user manual was probably the most unexpected surprise. This thing is thick! I thought companies stopped making manuals like this, but I guess I was wrong. The manual has all of North America covered with separate English, French, and Spanish sections and each section has 81 pages worth of content. I was disappointed that Samsung didn't include at least one standard video cable. I wasn't expecting an HDMI cable, but a component cable would have been very nice, as would a standard VGA cable, even including your basic coaxial A/V cable would have been a plus. That being said, and since I'm an HD newbie who is going to buy cables anyway, that is only a minor mark on an otherwise impressive delivery with regard to packaging and contents.

Saturday was a busy day, so I only had an opportunity to test analogue cable. I don't have an HD cable box, so this is all purely SD commentary (with a little bit of basic setup to even things out). Once the TV was in place and plugged in, I turned it on. I was automatically taken to setup the tuner. I selected standard cable and let the auto-programming feature find all of the channels. Once that was finished, I was asked to set the clock and then I got my first glimpse of Comcast's standard cable feed.

It goes without saying that I was concerned about how I would perceive the quality of an analogue SD signal on a high resolution progressive display. And since I wasn't filtering the signal through my HTPC in this test, I intentionally kept my expectations low. With all of that preamble aside, I got another pleasant surprise: At my normal viewing distance, comparing just the tuners, I can actually see an improvement over the interlaced output I was getting from my 27" JVC set on most channels. And when viewing the signal in 4:3 mode, I'm only losing .5" of the diagonal real estate I'm already used to, so no worries. At least, that's how it was for me, YMMV.

So far, at the factory default settings, the colors actually seem to be pretty good. Once I pick up some video cables for my progressive sources, I plan to really dive into the menu system. At the moment, I'm having fun playing with Panorama mode. I haven't had an opportunity to check for dead or stuck pixels, but I am pleased with the back-light on my unit. With a few minor tweaks here and there, I think this display is a definite keeper. I'll be sure to make updates here as I go along.

- David

The LN-R328W seems to have the right features and specs and I like the price, but...

I really find the design distracting. That strong "V" with the bullseye at the bottom really draws the eye away from the picture and breaks the frame's ability to "hold" the image in a non-competitive way.

Are there any other 32" lcd units that are competitive with the Samsung?

Richard

By "bullseye" I guess you are talking about the power button? I don't notice it much myself. The angled bottom edge is definitely bold, but it doesn't phase me either. Then again, it looks like the LNR329D will have a flat bottom edge, so perhaps it's worth waiting if the current design is too much of a distraction. I noticed the 9D is also supposed to have an ATSC tuner which is another thing the 8W lacks.

- David

Thanks technoblue, very good review! This is definately still on my short list, probably in first place unless the 329D is due out soon for a few hundred more.

Okay, for those interested, here is my current setup:

* I should add this to my sig *

Samsung LNR328W
Comcast Cable from the wall
Denon 1600 set-top DVD player
Mobile Athlon XP HTPC w/1GB of Memory and SoundStorm
Nintendo GameCube

I also have a Mitsubishi S-VHS VCR that I use to backup old videos to my HTPC. At the moment, however, I've set it aside. I'll be glad to test the S-Video connection if anyone is interested, but VHS isn't a high priority at this point.

On Sunday I picked up a set of component cables for my Denon DVD player. I am going to have a lot of wires to clean up once everything is said and done. Since my old 27" CRT only has one S-Video input, this is the first time I've seen a progressive signal from the Denon. And wow, what a picture! I screened whatever was close at hand, so there is really no methodology at this point in my review. I went through a mix of 16:9 and 4:3 content: movies, animation, and television series. It will be nice setting some time aside to watch my favorite titles again. I thought I wouldn't be this excited since I've been viewing DVDs on my computer for years now (and monitors are progressive by default). But there is something to be said for a sizable display. Once I perform basic calibration (I need to order Avia or VE sometime this week), I'll update this section with a more detailed report.

Even though it isn't officially supported by Samsung, I plan to connect my HTPC using a DVI to HDMI cable. I ordered that on-line today, so while I wait for it to arrive the supported PC input (standard VGA) will have to do. I have a Geforce FX 5700 providing the visuals from the home theater computer. The highest resolution over the PC input seems to be 1360x768. It will be interesting to see if I can push the native resolution on that connection using nVidia's custom resolution dialogs.

At 1360x768, the HTPC signal is not objectionable by any means. The desktop, in fact, seems nice and sharp. Navigating through Windows and browsing through Firefox is crisp and clear, as one might expect from any LCD monitor. The one downside is that DVDs now look a bit soft through Media Center when compared to the progressive feed from the Denon box. My first thought is that this is due to the fact that the HTPC is not running at the panel's native resolution. Of course, there could be some settings that I've overlooked somewhere. The Samsung's menu also has adjustments that might help improve the standard VGA signal. I do know that I will have to investigate the quality of the PC input further and double check the computer's video properties to make sure everything is setup correctly.

But before I get into all of that work, I think I'll test some games. ;)

More later...

- David

The limiting factor on your DVI to HDMI connection is likely to be the HDMI transceivers. For some reason the parts that are used tend to only support the resolutions that are needed for HDTV and little else. If your hookup doesn't work I would suspect that before I suspect the video card.

Could you test its dark scene performance compared to CRT?

Interesting and very helpful. Thank you, martyj19. I'll have to keep that in the back of my mind when the cable arrives. I don't mind having two cables running from the HTPC. If I can't use the HDMI connection at all, that would certainly be a deal breaker. But if I can use DVI/HDMI to achieve 1 to 1 pixel mapping and fall back to standard VGA when I need a lower resolution, I wouldn't have much to complain about (nothing at all really).

I do wish these new sets had a DVI-D port like last year's models.

- David

junekwan: Those black level comparisons should be appearing here within the next couple of days.

How does the samsung handle 1024 by 768?Is there any type of unerscan or overscan?Thats the resolution most of my older games need to run at so it is important to me as to how the TV handles it.Thanks.

To cut a long story short, (especially as this is my second attempt at this post - damn PC crashed) - I'm pretty sure you should find you are already getting a 1-1 pixel mapping on the VGA input.

The reason the manual tells you to setup your PC to 1360 x 760 resolution, is that that is the closest to the display's native resolution that PC video cards can support. PC video cards, for whatever reason (search these forums), can only display resolutions evenly divisible by 8, which is why the PC has to be set to 1360 and not 1366, while 768 is o.k (divides evenly by 8).

However, Samsung has done there homework well and you will find the display is *NOT* scaling the video when at this resolution - look *very* carefully at the display and you should see that 3 pixels on the left and 3 pixels on the right are not being used. It's easiest to compare by switching sources while at a close distance - you should see that when you switch to SDTV that the extra 3 lines of pixes on both sides are used. Samsung did a very nice job with this. Note, you should however make sure that you use the tv's auto-adjust function, which is accessible from the display's menu (Setup -> PC -> Auto Adjustment).

You may also want to turn off (I'm assuming you're using Windows), the font anti-aliasing. I find font display to seem crisper without this. Particularly ClearType seems to make font display seem less distinct - I'm wondering if the layout of the matrix of color dots is different on the LCD TV's from standard PC monitors (ClearType relies on this layout).

Anyway, onto some bad news. As good as the VGA input is for the PC, for me at least the HDMI input has been awful. I have tried all sorts of different resolutions, including 1280x720 and 1360x768, along with a whole host of other resolutions. I've also tried a bunch of different monitor timing. I have an NVidia 6800 card - the control panel for this card allows setup of different custom resolutions and timings. All to no avail, picture quality is nowhere near as good as the VGA input. I also get pretty bad underscan/overscan with all the settings I've changed. Although the control panel allows adjustments for this as well. Finally note, I do have decent cables - I bought Monster DVI to HDMI cables.

For me, the only minus to the VGA input, is that if I look *very* closely (try looking at a black text on a white background, or white on black), I see some minimal ghosting of the text. This is completely invisible from normal viewing distance. However, it probably does have a minute deleterious effect on picture quality.

All in all though, the display looks amazing! If you haven't already, wait until you try displaying some of the Windows HD video samples. Absolutely awesome.

On the off chance that there are some magic display settings which can get good display of video from the PC via DVI<->HDMI (maybe using PowerStrip), I'd appreciate it very much if you could post the settings here.

Anyway, good look with your new Samsung. Hope you like it as much as me! ;)

Phil



Originally posted by technoblue
Interesting and very helpful. Thank you, martyj19. I'll have to keep that in the back of my mind when the cable arrives. I don't mind having two cables running from the HTPC. If I can't use the HDMI connection at all, that would certainly be a deal breaker. But if I can use DVI/HDMI to achieve 1 to 1 pixel mapping and fall back to standard VGA when I need a lower resolution, I wouldn't have much to complain about (nothing at all really).

I do wish these new sets had a DVI-D port like last year's models.

- David

junekwan: Those black level comparisons should be appearing here within the next couple of days.

Originally posted by dono35
How does the samsung handle 1024 by 768?Is there any type of unerscan or overscan?Thats the resolution most of my older games need to run at so it is important to me as to how the TV handles it.Thanks.

It handles it very well (I assume you're referring to use through the VGA input - if not see another of my posts in this thread).

You can choose via the display's menu to either scale the 1024x768 picture from 4:3 to 16:9 (1360x768) or just leave centered. If you choose the latter, obviously you get black bars on either side. However, you do get a 1-1 pixel mapping.

Phil

Thank you for all of that useful information, Phil. I had a hunch that I might already be getting 1-1 over the VGA input since the desktop looked so sharp. I am concerned about DVD output on my HTPC, though. It looks like I'll have to make some color adjustments to get the VGA feed looking as nice as my DVD player. I don't know what it is about the nVidia codecs, but compared to the Denon's progressive input, the picture seems soft and the colors through Media Center are subdued. I hope calibration will fix that disparity. Or perhaps the nvidia codecs aren't the best solution given this application. That's probably something to pass by the HTPC forum.

I'll make sure to post my findings if I can make a breakthrough using the HDMI connection. That sure doesn't sound promising. I was hoping that HDMI would behave more like a DVI connection. How much overscan are you seeing? I would expect about 2%, but not more than 6%. If it's giving more than 6%, then that isn't good either. Now I'm curious to try it out. The cable I ordered should arrive in a few days.

- David

Technoblue or pspidey,

Can you report on how video games play on this set (if you concern yourself with them). I plan on hooking all my consoles to them and wonder what it is like compared to a crt.

I know this set has a good 12ms response time, so does the image look good move fast and have minimal or better yet no ghosting??

Thanks in advance. I plan on getting either the 26 or 32 inch shortly.

Oh, and the display I saw of the 32 inch at the store, the stand made the unit a little wobbly. Is this the case with your TV's? Im just thinking they didnt attach the stand too good.

Originally posted by pmvella
Technoblue or pspidey,

Can you report on how video games play on this set (if you concern yourself with them). I plan on hooking all my consoles to them and wonder what it is like compared to a crt.

I know this set has a good 12ms response time, so does the image look good move fast and have minimal or better yet no ghosting??

Thanks in advance. I plan on getting either the 26 or 32 inch shortly.

Oh, and the display I saw of the 32 inch at the store, the stand made the unit a little wobbly. Is this the case with your TV's? Im just thinking they didnt attach the stand too good.

I haven't tested this in anger, but I did play a couple of games for a few hours. I wasn't actually looking for ghosting, so I may not have had my 'critical' head on, but I can say that I never noticed any ghosting. Half Life 2 looked really good on the display. This of course was from the PC via VGA input. I don't have any consoles, so I can't tell you how the other inputs look.

Phil

Ha! I'm in the exact opposite situation, pspidey. I haven't had time to load up any games on my HTPC at this point. I've been too busy playing around with the LCD's display settings. I noted earlier how DVDs looked soft coming from the PC. Man, what a noob! Thank goodness it only took me an hour to finally notice that the Sharpness setting isn't active over the VGA input. And when I turned Sharpness down, the pictures looked nearly identical (apart from some minor contrast and brightness differences as my settings are still not calibrated). I'm excited to try out ffdshow on this display now.

Anyway, back to pmvella's questions:

As noted, I haven't tested PC games yet, but I have been messing around with my GameCube. I'm using a basic S-Video connection since the Component wires seem to be out of stock on Nintendo's accessories site. At 480i, I'm dealing with a low resolution image, but I haven't noticed any ghosting while testing any of my games or any unexpected distracting artifacts (at low res, I do expect some jaggies). I definitely prefer the Samsung's picture to that of my old CRT. I spent the most time testing Soul Calibur II which uses indoor, outdoor, and underground backdrops that vary from colorful to moody. I felt it was a good test to eyeball basic issues. Resident Evil 0 is dark by nature and I plan on using it to test black detail specifically.

The stand wobble could be due to the fact that they didn't attach all four screws when setting up the display. I've noticed that some stores cut corners like that. Then again, I can exert enough force to make the LCD wobble if I want to, but it doesn't wobble if I walk by or exercise around it. If you must use cables with a death grip, you will have to brace the other side of the display to put them on without moving things around, but I could say the same thing of light-weight CRTs. I tend to avoid cables with a death grip, myself. My guess, with the single pedestal stands, is that you are going to get a little movement when mounting connections, but it certainly shouldn't be anything excessive if the stand is mounted correctly.

- David

Thanks for all the inside information, I think I am going to buy this TV as well, mostly for my computer.But I have a question if anyone can answer it.The manual lists all the PC resolutions but it jumps all the way from 1024 by 768 to 1360 by 768, does the Tv support 1280 by 768 or 1280 by 720?If so does it fill the entire screen and with no overscan.The reason I ask is because all the newer games seem to support 1280 by 768 or 1280 by 720.I have never seen one support 1360 by 768 though.Thanks for any help.

Originally posted by dono35
Thanks for all the inside information, I think I am going to buy this TV as well, mostly for my computer.But I have a question if anyone can answer it.The manual lists all the PC resolutions but it jumps all the way from 1024 by 768 to 1360 by 768, does the Tv support 1280 by 768 or 1280 by 720?If so does it fill the entire screen and with no overscan.The reason I ask is because all the newer games seem to support 1280 by 768 or 1280 by 720.I have never seen one support 1360 by 768 though.Thanks for any help.

I've tried the following resolutions which are supported by my video card (Nvidia 6800): 1280x720, 1280x768, 1360x720 as well as the mode of preference (1360x768). These all display fine on the Samsung. They obviously don't look as good as 1360x768 as there is some scaling going on, and there isn't the 1-1 pixel mapping but by no means do they look bad. You may sometimes have to run the auto image adjust on the tv after changing resolutions, but once you've done this it seems to correct any overscan/underscan issues.

Regards,
Phil

^^ ditto

- David

How well does the display perform as a monitor doing typical computer tasks (e-mail, websurfing, iTunes, etc)? What is your typical viewable range, and how far do you sit to enjoy it the most?

Through the PC input, there is really no trick to using this display as a monitor. The display is capable of a variety of VESA modes (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and 1360x768). I will have to increase the font size In order to really appreciate my desktop from the couch or from the comfy chair (both are in an area between 8 to 10 feet from the LCD). At 1360x768, and with my eyes, I can go back five feet before I have any real trouble reading fonts at their standard size in any program on this display. As already noted, the fonts are clean and crisp at 1360x768 which gives 1:1 pixel mapping over the VGA input. Increasing the dpi is easy enough. I have performed basic ghosting tests now using fast-paced First Person Shooters and the standard web browser scrolling test and I still haven't detected any ghosting in this display.

All of this goes to say that this display can certainly handle typical computer tasks once the desktop is tuned to your nominal viewing distance. After hearing so many good things about Samsung in the monitor space, it's nice to see that some of that has migrated to the FP TV space. I don't have i-Tunes installed, but I have used Winamp extensively to test music and visualizations, FireFox for web browsing, and Thunderbird for e-mail.

The HDMI input, however, is still somewhat of a mystery to me. Using just the basic nVidia drivers, I have been able to get 480p and 720p working over the HDMI input. Even 1080i will work, but it is obviously scaled along with the rest. The problem comes in getting that magical 1:1 resolution. I've been reading up on similar 16:9 displays that use 1366x768 and I have tried various settings in Powerstrip with no success. It would be nice to get 1:1 over HDMI since all of the standard display functions that are unavailable over the PC input are available over the HDMI input. This means I could tweak the settings on the display side and leave my computer's display properties at a neutral configuration.

The nVidia drivers work really nice if I force them to treat the DVI output as an HDTV connection. There is a small amount of overscan, but I can tune all of it out using the included overscan utility. The problem is that I can't create custom resolutions when forcing the DVI ouput to HDTV mode. Again, I am limited to 480p, 720p, or 1080i, and that's it. When I turn that option off, I can make custom 1360 or 1368 resolutions to my heart's content, but then it looks like the HDMI cable is feeding an interlaced signal and the overscan dialogs are no longer available.

The good news is that the standard 15-pin VGA input looks really nice on this LCD. I'll continue to test HDMI since it is a nice challenge to find the native resolution using Powerstrip, but it isn't a priority of mine.

- David

technoblue-

Thanks for the reply! Another question if you don't mind, have you experienced SD cable on the set? How well does it do at handling it? I notice you have Comcast cable, how bad does it look on the LCD compared to your old CRT?

I don't mind at all, ghostee. Thank you for asking.

I find that SD cable scales really well on this set. My eyes have adapted rather quickly to the seamless image. I was always sensitive to scan lines and, now that I'm used to the LCD's image, I find that the scan lines found on traditional SD CRTs jump out all the more. Granted, when I play a DVD or a WMVHD sample movie from my HTPC, there is that obvious jump in quality, but SD cable is not objectionable to my eyes given the source.

I considered keeping the CRT for cable content briefly, but after a week with the LCD, I decided it wasn't worth it. Taking a more charitable turn, I gave my JVC away to a deserving couple (friends of the family) who I think will enjoy it as much as I did.

The one thing I loved about the JVC was its rich black levels. The Samsung comes really close to my standard in this regard. It's off ever so slightly and I think I should be able to calibrate it to my expectations once my DVE DVD arrives later this week.

- David

By the looks of both your reviews this LCD seems to be a winner. I will be getting mine as soon as I can and will post my impressons when I have it.

i'm highly considering this samsung right now, but i'm also thinking about the sharp 5u. When in best buy the samsung looked way to contrasty, while the sharp looked perfect. It looked like somone had turned on some sort of contrast enhancment feature to high on the samsung and it litteraly made the image look like random area's of neon colors. Sence there was no remote around i had no chance to look in the menu for a way to defeat it. Does the samsung have a contrast enhancing feature, and can it be defeated?

***also, does it allow adjustment of the backlight brightness?

pagusas,

Yes, the LNR328W has a Brightness Sensor, Dynamic Contrast, and Digital Noise Reduction. The display model I was reviewing at Best Buy had all three "features" switched on. The display I actually purchased only had Dynamic Contrast and DNR switched on out of the box. You can switch all three features on and off using the user menu. You also have the standard Brightness and Contrast adjustments found on any television or monitor.

There is no specific backlight adjustment in the user menu. I'm not sure how to get into the service menu to check and see if one is hiding there. To be honest, though, the backlight glow is only just discernible on my LCD. I guess YMMV since different people are more sensitive than others. Personally, my eyes are a touch photosensitive, so I was concerned that the backlight glow would be too much, especially at night. I was glad to find that this wasn't the case in my experience.

pmvella,

I look forward to your report!

Cheers,

- David

[Edited: Forgot to mention Digital Noise Reduction in my original post.]

After giving in to my own curiosity and performing a quick google search I found out how to get into the service menu. There is a Reset option, but I'm not sure how fool proof it is so the usual warnings apply:

* If you don't know what you are messing with, it's better to leave it alone
* Record the default settings before making any adjustments

To access the service menu,

1. Make sure the TV is powered off
2. Using the remote, press: [mute], [1], [8], [2], and [power]

I scanned the adjustments and didn't recognize anything that looked to be exclusive to the backlight itself, so I didn't play with these settings.

- David

when is samsungs LED bacllit display suppose to come out?

Looking back at my CES notes, Samsung stated around May/June timeframe for the LN-R409D. We have received in our first shipments of the LN-R models (23", 26", 32", 40" sizes). We expect to see the 15" & 20" models in 1-2 weeks.

My Digital Video Essentials DVD arrived in the mail yesterday. The actual disc was loose in the keep case :mad: and as a result was damaged in transit, so I'll be sending it back for an exchange. I decided to put the DVD into my DVD player anyway to see how far I could get before the scratched area became a problem. Luckily, I was able to get through quite a few of the calibration routines.

Brightness and Contrast

As expected, the contrast on my LCD was set to a very aggressive level. Using a blank piece of bright white paper and one of the basic test patterns, I toned things down to what I considered a more natural level. I settled on a contrast of 75 to start and there is room to tweak that figure down a bit. I may settle somewhere between 65 and 75 when I have more time to critique white levels.

I set brightness to 49 to start. With Dynamic Contrast switched off, this provides a nice level of black detail.

As an aside, I've been playing around with Dynamic Contrast quite a bit since I bought this set. It seems to add a tiny bit of depth to the image while sacrificing a lot of black detail. Since this feature adjusts itself in real time, there isn't a way to accurately adjust the brightness to match the contrast on any given scene. I end up having to make compromises. Should I set the brightness so that I have detailed blacks in dark scenes, or should I set it even higher so I can have those detailed blacks in bright scenes? It is annoying and reminds my of contrast on older SD television sets. Adjusting the backlight would be a better option and is something I'm still researching.

Sharpness

The sharpness setting was also set too high by default. I should probably just turn Sharpness down to 0, but right now I have it set to 35. I still think it might be a bit too much for some of my source material. Unfortunately, my eyes got used to it. Now that I have a bunch of test patterns to work with, the noise in the sharpened image is quite evident. Animation is also a good litmus test and that's what I was using before I bought the DVE calibration disc. At a setting of 0, I didn't noticed any blurring, so that is a good thing. I just need to get off this sharpening habit I picked up. ;)

Color - The Blue, the Red, and the Green

Having access to color filters is as much a curse as it is a blessing. Calibrating blue was easy enough. Tint seemed fine at its default setting of 50 but I had to turn the color control down to 34 so that the pattern was even through the blue filter. Switching to the Green and Red filters tells another story.

With Red, there was a slight deviation when viewing the pattern through the filter. I was able to tune this out using the custom color controls. Green seems to be the one color that is out of whack on my display. I couldn't get even tones using the green filter and the test pattern. Granted, my other settings might be off, so I'm willing to put more work into tweaking everything. In the end I gave up on the green filter and settled on tuning green until yellow looked like yellow. I can't say I've achieved my goal at this point, but I'm close. Perhaps I should call on a calibration specialist local to my area. I'm no sure my eyes are the best tools.

That's about as far as I took things last night. In the end, the adjustments I made did improve things. It's easy enough to reset everything, so I might set my tripod up and take some before and after shots and post them here over the weekend.

- David

the only thing keeping me from purchasing this set is that dang backlight, why did samsung have to skip making it adjustable?!?!?!

Yeah, I would say that having no adjustable back-light can be a definite Achilles' Heal. Since I'm still within my 30-day window, I'm trying to keep an open mind with my critiques and praise. I'm not a veteran of LCD technology by any means, so anything I say is just based on my limited experience.

Oddly enough, Circuit City now has a discount on the Sharp LC32GA5U. The side speakers aren't detachable, but the menu system is really slick. And after playing around with it, I was able to get a nice picture off of the store's HD feed. I walked to Best Buy next door and looked at the Samsung and Sharp right next to each other. Now that I know a little more about what I'm looking at in the image, it's a tough call between the two.

The newer 6U and 7U models still have a price premium that push them out of my reach financially. The 5U, however, now has a very attractive price. I'm actually considering picking it up to compare both sets.

That is to say, I understand completely.

- David

I purchased this set a week ago and so far have been VERY happy with it. Except for one problem. When I plugged the DVI to HDMI cord from my Cox Cable HD DVR into the set, it told me I couldn't use the cable because my set wasn't HDCP compatible. I put a call into Cox Cable and they told me it's a bug with the DVI port on their end. Anyone know if the LN-R328W really doesn't support HDCP?

There is no such animal as HDMI without HDCP.

I went to best buy today and looked carefully at the samsung, and noticed a few very disturbing things. Firstly the manager let me see the remotes and use my DVE disk, so i calibrated the Samsung and the 32" sharp 5U right below it. When i got done, i switched to the in store digital feed they had and watched carefully.

The first thing i noticed is the Samsung's scaler is no where near as good as the sharps. the feed was 1080i i believe, and the samsung had stair stepping going on, while the sharp has smooth lines.

Secondly, it seemed the samsung suffered from motion artifacts. when the Robots demo came on, it looked like objects were getting "pixilated" when they moved fast. I thought at first maybe it was the store's digital signal, but when looking at the sharp, it didn't suffer from it.

I'm going to take a trip to another store and compare again, but judgeing from what i seen, i've lost all interest in the samsung. Dont get me wrong, it looked worlds better then the cheaper 32" lcd's there, and it looked great with still images (it and the sharp looked near identical in color accuracy and blacks) but when it came to motion it seemed to fall flat on its face.

i'll post back with more impressions when i go to Ultimate Electronics tomorow

pagusas,

Thank your for that quick comparison. I'm looking forward to your next report. As I noted earlier, I was also able to get a nice picture from the Sharp at Circuit City (although I didn't have a calibration disc in hand -- nice job) and the picture looked good to my eyes as well. I wish I knew the actual contrast ratio on this Samsung panel, because I think contrast on the Sharp is better. Not by much, but it is there.

That's interesting about the scaler. I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary on DVDs, but I have noticed some jagged edges on SD content. I like to use X-files re-runs, since you get quite a few scenes with power lines in them. Wires should look smooth without those stair-steps.

You said the sharp was near identical to the Samsung in color accuracy. Using DVE, which set had the best colors? Or is it really too close to call?

Thank you,

- David

It was very hard to tell a difference between blues and reds. I couldn't get the greens to match exactly on the samsung, but they appeared perfect on the sharp (keep in mind that i did not have access to the service menu, perhaps given time with it i could have made both identical). if it wasn't for looking through a color filter, i would say the two are both good at reproducing accurate color.

Somthing i forgot to mention in my earlier report! DVD SD quality looked good on both, however i noticed the samsung again was giving jagged edges to some curvers that the sharp was making smooth (watched Toy Story 2, the scene where they are crossing the street, great for color accuracy, movment artifacts, and black details in the shadows). I played with the sharpness control, but found it was always there. My best guess is the sharp just has a better scaler. For regular cable I can't honestly judge due to the poor signal running through BB, there was alot of noice (it was some snow boarding demo thing). When i go to Ultimate Electronics tonight i'll see if they have some better sourses.

Thanks again, pagusas!

I have an opportunity to pick up the Sharp LC-32D7U. I originally thought I wouldn't be able to pick one up within my budget, but it turns out a little footwork proved me wrong. I really like having the speakers along the bottom instead of on the side. Otherwise, I would have picked up the LC-32GA5U already for a direct comparison at home. I had a hunch the Sharp was giving better greens, since I thought the yellows on the 5U looked more natural on the HD feeds in the store. Since Blue and Red are basically identical on each LCD when calibrated, that quiets another concern of mine.

After a couple weeks with the Samsung, I'm finding that the green push on my set is giving me a headache. I'm not sure if that is indicative of a defective set or just my own anal retentiveness. I am very pleased with how much this set has to offer at its particular price-point. Most of the issues that were already brought up don't bother me. I don't mind the housing, the speakers are fine, even the back-light isn't an issue since it's nice and even. The jagged edges are there, but I have to search for them, so even your latest critique doesn't bother me too much. In the end, it's the aggressive green push on my particular set that is proving to be the biggest hurdle to my satisfaction.

- David

the only concern i have with the sharp is i will be using it as a PC monitor as well, and sharp does not "officialy" support 1360x768 output from a pc, even though thats the displays native res. however, i know there are ways around this slight flaw, even though it does seem to be a inconvience.

*question about the Sharp LC-32D7U, is the bottom speaker removable? I actually hate the look of the 7u serries because of that bottom speaker, i find it makes the display look cheap (just my opinion, i know alot of people like it). But is it removable? if it was then i'd have no problem with it.

I haven't seen one at local BB or CC..

Mike

The description on Sharp's website says that the speakers on the 7U are detachable. I believe Mike53 has also confirmed this in an earlier post of his.

PC use is also a concern of mine since I have an HTPC. One of the things I love about my Samsung is that the PC input is truly plug and play. I don't have to mess around with any display properties to get 1360x768. The Samsung uses its native resolution by default.

As usual, there is always some compromise. ;)

PanamaMike,

I've been to quite a few stores now and it looks like the LNR328W is still scarce. The new 26" models are plentiful, but it seems like most B&M stores still have last year's 32" LTP model on display.

- David

Originally posted by pagusas
Secondly, it seemed the samsung suffered from motion artifacts. when the Robots demo came on, it looked like objects were getting "pixilated" when they moved fast. I thought at first maybe it was the store's digital signal, but when looking at the sharp, it didn't suffer from it.

Actually pixelation is not a sign of a bad display. On the contrary, it is a sign that the display is sharper and possibly has higher response time. Unless you are seeing some other artifact, pixelation is in the source (compression artifacts of MPEG-2). The sharper the display, the more you notice them.

LCDs tend to smear content on fast moving subjects which typically is also where you get pixelation artifacts (since moving targets are harder to compress). The smearing may hide some of the compression artifacts but obviously, this is not a good characteristic in the display.

Having said this, pixelation can als be exaggerated by poor scaling and limited dynamic range in the display. If so, then you may indeed have lower peformance LCD.

Hopefully I did not confuse you too much :). But this type of fault is usually blamed on the display when in reality, it shouldn't be.

Amir

You didn't confuse me :) I had a feeling it could *possibly* be the digital feed best buy had, thats why i'm going to Ultimate Electronics to check out the displays in 15

Any additional thoughts, pagusas? Or did your Ultimate Electronics field trip solidify your original opinion? I haven't done anything drastic at this point since I'm waiting to hear from a couple sources on whether the LC-32D7U is in stock. Like the LN-R328W, it looks to be part of the spring-time refresh and is hard to find.

- David

Sorry guys, i got back late last night.

Firstly i must highly recommend visiting a local Ultimate Electronics if any one has one, their staff was extremely helpful to me. they actually moved the sharp, sammy and 32" panny into the demo room for me (so i got to enjoy the testing from a nice comfy seat)

They also hooked up 2 different dedicated HD feeds (one 720p, a demo of an NFL game) and one in store demo of several different movie trailers (such as troy)

anyway, on to my observations...

When using the 720p sorce i noticed all 3 displays performed great (keep in mind i had already calibrated them) I did notice a green push on the samsung, as it made the grass seem off compared to the panny and sharp. The panny seemed to have some tonal problems with red's, but nothing major. The sharp performed admirably and was the best of the 3, though i still found them all great.

I did NOT notice any motion artifacts on any of the displays, all did a great job of handling fast camera movements.

The 1080i sorce is what was the real judger though, as this put the units scalling ability to test. First, the UE logo appeared, and around the letters i noticed the samsung had stair stepping, while the sharp and panny did a fine job of making it look smooth. On the troy preview i again noticed stair stepping on some of the edges of swords and armor (though it was very brief as no one seems to want to hold their sword still :( )
I think its fairly obvious my main fault with the samsung is its scaler, both the panny and sharp did an excelent job. Also, during troy the green push of the sammy became overly apparent, as compared to the sharp and panny it just looked very off in the yellows.

I have to run to class now, but i'll post more comments in a few, as i got a chance to compare sharp's 45" vs the 32" to see any difference between 1080p and 720 (768 really)p.

Originally posted by pagusas

The 1080i sorce is what was the real judger though, as this put the units scalling ability to test. First, the UE logo appeared, and around the letters i noticed the samsung had stair stepping, while the sharp and panny did a fine job of making it look smooth. On the troy preview i again noticed stair stepping on some of the edges of swords and armor (though it was very brief as no one seems to want to hold their sword still :( )


Did you have noise reduction, dynamic contrast, brightness sensor, etc, turned on or off?

Then there is hope! :D

I boxed up my Samsung at lunch because I find that I really am too sensitive to the green push on this display. I did my best to adjust to it, but it still is too much of a distraction for me. I'll be giving the LC-32D7U a try and since there is already a dedicated thread for that display here on AVS, I'll post my future impressions there.

For those of you who still have questions about the LN-R328W, I'll keep an eye on this thread to provide answers as best I can. I just won't have this display on-hand going forward (I'll be returning it to Best Buy this evening), so please keep that in mind.

And, as already noted, there many things to like about this display. So much of this is personal and what tripped me up (with regard to the green push) may not be an issue for others.

Cheers,

- David

i'm back, and dont feel like using the edit button, so i'll just jump back into my mini opinions

if i could afford the sharp 45" i'd jump on it, however sence i cant i will point out that the 32" does an EXCELENT job of scaling 1080i images, so good that when viewing from around 5 to 6 ft, the images (other then relative size) looked near identical (resolution wise, i didnt get a chance to calibrate the 45")

Back to the sharp vs panny vs samsung. I must admit the panny took me by suprise with how high quality it is. The menu on it had all the same options the sharp had, and a far more adjustable back light. (the sharp had 16 notches for backlight setting, the panny had 32(or 64, i didnt check how low it could go).

So my final thoughts on my visit are:

1.Sharp Aquos 32GA5U

+excelent colors, the best of the bunch
+no noticable ghosting or motion artifacts
+a great scaler that leaves little to no jagged edges
+an amazingly sharp picture
+good black levels
+ I love the remote, the hidden buttons are kinda fasionable :)
+The cabinate design is simple and small, just how i like it. No gloss black frame, no strange bullseye, no trinangular bottom
+the stand is the most stable of all 3 displays

- Price, the most expencive of the bunch
- PC imput, from what i hear, is a bit odd as it doesn't support 1366x768 (its native res) officially.
- I've heard reports of Sharp's customer service not being very friends, i've not experianced this my self, but if you search the forum you'll find some comments about it.


2.)Panasonic TC-32LX20

+amazing picture, nearly as good as the sharp, near perfect color accuracy (for an LCD)
+black levels are pretty good
+no detectable ghosting or motion artifacts
+Price, much cheaper then the shapr
+good scaling of 1080i signals

- the remote is awful, it looks and feels very cheap
- a gloss black bezzel, the picture blacks dont looks black, but rather very dark grey (like all lcd's it seems) when compared to the frame of the lcd, lol. in a dark room this wouldn't matter, but its obvious in a display room.
-The bottom of the frame curves backwards, making the display look deeper then it really is. This is just asthetics, but i would find it annoying if i wall mounted the display.

3.) Samsung LN-R328W

+good color accuracy, if you can forgive the green push
+no detectable motoin artifacts, could have just been best buy's feed that caused them last time
+good black performance
+Price, same price as the panny

-GLOSS BLACK AGAIN, ARRRGGG
-again i dont like the remote
-the stand seems VERY unstable, as mentioned earlier by another user
-the bezzel design is to dramatic in my opinion
-Green push
-the scaler, read above
-no backlight adjustment
-the dynecontrast enhancer destroys any shadow details




*****edit*** and mbjorkman, yes i had all those turned off (though i experment with the contrast enhancment while testing) I also had the store manager compare with me, we made a full list of pro's and cons. Very good place to shop, if it weren't so expencive there i would of actually considered buying the sharp on the spot

Great review, pagusas. Thank you.

The one hesitation I would have with the Panasonic would be with a PC connection. Sharp and Samsung both advertise PC compatibility, but Panasonic does not. With regard to aesthetics, I guess I'm a push over. ;)

- David

Wow u made me glad i picked up the Sharp... thanks for the relief.

I'm making myself dizzy flip-flopping on what LCD to keep. In an effort to gain perspective, I decided to do a comparison similar to what pagusas did above. My review focuses on my experiences with the LN-R328W and the LC-32D7U.

After having both units setup at home for about two weeks (unfortunately, not side by side like my in-store previews), I have developed a good idea on what I'm willing to compromise on and what I consider invaluable. My final decision ended up surprising me. I hope this helps prospective buyers. In the end, I am sticking with a flat panel LCD since I can't get enough of the exact geometry. I also highly recommend TVAuthority since they have been incredibly patient with me and my odd strain of obsessive videophilia. ;) Really, they have earned a repeat customer. Kirk has gone out of his way to make sure I'm satisfied with my first purchase. When I have a bigger space and all of these technologies are that much better, I'll be going to TVAuthority first for my next upgrade.

So, with that said, what's my final report? Both sets are very nice and they both have their quirks, as all displays do. At the beginning -- and here at the end -- I was originally looking forward to using this LCD with my HTPC. TV was a bonus. The Samsung excels with that plug-and-play VGA input. If Sharp really wants to one-up their Korean competition in this area, they need to add some sort of native resolution support through the built-in AVC unit. Whether that resolution is 1360x768, 1368x768, or if they are able somehow to get 1366x768 to work exactly, this will increase the value of these smaller sets for PC users tremendously. As it is, getting even 1280x768 to work on the Sharp requires some serious voodoo with the right video card, powerstrip settings, and sometimes EDID magic with third-party add-ons. DVI versus VGA? Honestly, based on my experience I would have to say VGA. The Sharp has a flexible DVI input, but since all of my PC resolutions had some sort of scaling added to them, it looked horrible.

Speaking of picture quality, I would also like to first mention pixel defects. As noted above, I only had both sets for a couple weeks. In that time, I was able to calibrate them and connect my HTPC to search for dead and stuck pixels. Out of the box, both sets looked good. At the end of my first two weeks, when I returned the Samsung to Best Buy, the Samsung still had zero pixel defects. No stuck or dead pixels. In contrast, pixel defects on Sharp panels seem par for the course. And where they may be small enough to ignore on a 1920x1080 display, at 1366x768 it isn't so easy. Using my PC, or even my GameCube, my 32" Sharp has one nasty stuck-on blue pixel that always pops up. There is also a stuck-on green pixel near the center of the display. I would expect pixels to deteriorate over time (months or years), but after only a week? That seems to be a bit much to accept at this price range. Again, Samsung gets the point.

Color reproduction and image clarity are also important to me when determining overall picture quality. DNIe gets its share of critiques, but I find that it does provide a very clean image. The Sharp seems soft by comparison. I didn't notice any of the scaler issues pagusas first noted above with the Samsung. And, to be honest, I thought the Samsung did a comparable job of scaling content both above and below the panel's native resolution. The Sharp did have an odd mosquito effect going on and some ghosting around letters (think credits and the like). I've already gone on at length about color reproduction. Sharp has the upper hand where green is concerned. Samsung pushes green, but I was able to tone it down to an acceptable level on all inputs excluding the odd standard crappy cable channel. Personally, this has been my biggest hurdle. Whether I stick with Sharp or Samsung, I am compromising something: stalemate.

The view modes on both displays are comparable. At least, on paper in the user manual, it looks like you can pair the view modes up easily. Side Bar maps to 4:3, Smart Stretch maps to Panorama, Zoom is Zoom, and Stretch maps to Wide. Panorama on the Samsung sets itself apart from Smart Stretch since it has a fish eye effect. Smart Stretch on the Sharp seems to dull this sensation by adding some vertical overscan to the image. Oddly enough, playing the GameCube over the S-Video input crops the width of the screen on the Sharp in Stretch mode. On the Samsung, using Wide mode, I didn't notice a cropped width.

The user menu on the Sharp has more color options than the Samsung. That being said, the actual User Menu is easier to read on the Samsung at a distance. Sharp does have the familiar back-light option that Samsung lacks (instead you get dynamic options). However, thinking back on my usage, the brightness option on the Samsung seems to be tied to the back-light. On the Sharp, adjusting brightness doesn't affect the back-light. Sharp also has TV-Guide On-Screen. This makes it a better option for people who watch a lot of TV. And the included digital, cablecard, and firewire inputs are present to sweeten the deal. Although I do think these features are nifty, I am not a TV person.

Both manuals could be improved, but the Sharp manual falls short of the Samsung. For instance, the Sharp has two different standby modes, but the manual doesn't do a good job in describing them. You get a rather simplistic summary stating that one uses more power than the other. You are not told that Mode 1 should be used to retain settings and TV Guide information. You are also not told how much power Standby Mode 1 uses. It seems many menu options were glossed over to give room for TV-Guide instructions. I find that disappointing. And perhaps a note on compatible video cards is in order? I do think Samsung uses a better layout. Being a technical writer myself, I know how having a layout that's easy to navigate will add to perceived documentation quality.

And last but not least, Sharp has a better remote. It even lights up. The Samsung remote is a plain no-frills device in comparison. Both remotes run off of two AAA batteries. Then again, there are nice third-party universal remotes available that are compatible with more devices.

Here is my pros and cons table:


Samsung Pros | Samsung Cons
-------------------------------------
Even back-light Suspect yellows
Good black detail No dedicated back-light adjustment
Good white detail The odd visible DNIe adjustment
PC-friendly
No pixel defects
Crisp Image
Exact geometry

Sharp Pros | Sharp Cons
-----------------------------------
Even back-light Suspect black and white detail
Back-light adjustment Not PC-friendly
Contrast ratio Softer/noisier image
TV functions Pixel defects
Exact geometry Channel display issues
Incomplete user manual

Sounds like you are leaning towards the Samsung. For TV, what kind of HDTV signal are you using? Sat., Cable, Antenna? How is SD looking?

So samsung doesn't have backlight adjustment.
Is it too "shiny" for our eyes if we want to use as PC monitor for a very long time?
:confused:

I just have the standard crappy cable feed or plain old SD cable (minus the sarcasm). I don't plan on getting a cablecard since I have no want for any premium cable services at this time. I tried using the Sharp's digital connection to see if I could lock onto any open HD cable channels, but it didn't find any. My area seems to get all of the cable improvements after everyone else, so that might be rectified in time given the new laws.

That said, SD cable looked nice on both sets. Some channels are worse than others, but the majority of channels that I tend to watch come in just fine. Animation is great on both LCDs from the various cartoon channels. I got into the habit of watching cable in Panorama or Smart Stretch mode instead of 4:3 or Side Bar. I would even turn on the Samsung's Dynamic Contrast while watching the odd TV show late at night. It didn't seem to have as much of an adverse affect on the cable feed as it did on my DVDs over the progressive inputs. The Samsung does seem to lose an equal amount of black detail with Dynamic Contrast on as the Sharp does using my calibrated settings. With Dynamic Contrast off, the details come back at the cost of some depth. I couldn't fix lost shadow detail on the Sharp without pumping the brightness and making the picture washed out. Back-light adjustment didn't help.

-----

junekwan,

With Dynamic Contrast off, the back-light on the Samsung seems to manually adjust when you decrease the brightness. This is different from the Sharp where the manual back-light and brightness options are separate. At the factory default settings, both LCDs are set too hot. Both displays can be calibrated to very comfortable viewing levels. I didn't get any headaches from either display after extended use when calibrated properly.

- David

Technoblue,

Thanks for your reply. If I may continue, what is your viewing distance?

It's likely that I will be getting one of the new Samsung 40" LCD models this summer. (408d or 409d). Initially, most of my TV content will be 4x3 SD content from DirectTV. Thus, it's an area of concern for me that SD looks decent. Even after DirectTV gets locals on HDTV with a DVR that supports it, there will still be a lot of SD content, especially for my children.

Other content I will be running:

Progressive DVD via Component Cables.
PS2 to S-Video or Component
Xbox via Component
Apple PowerBook photo slideshows / iMovie HD slideshows probably via VGA port.

Thanks,

Mark

No problem, Mark. I haven't mentioned it in a while, but I upgraded from a JVC 27" CRT. My viewing distance hasn't changed. I normally sit back between 10 to 12 feet when watching TV (the couch and the comfy chair, respectively). When using the console, I sit a little closer: about half the distance (5 to 6 feet). Whether in 4:3 mode or Wide mode, my small library of GameCube games looks nice over the S-Video connection. I have an older cube, so I plan to pick up component cables for it soon. When using the PC, I sometimes sit as close as three to four feet. Even this close, the image still looks nice. The image retains its quality in off-axis viewing.

To give you a better idea of where I started, my JVC only had one S-Video input, so everything was routed through my receiver, even the HTPC. Going from S-Video to component on my DVD player, allowed me access to its progressive features. This was a noticeable improvement. Going from S-Video to VGA on my HTPC was astounding. I didn't notice the difference between 1360x768 off the PC and the native 1366x768 at my normal viewing distances. You are only losing three columns of pixels on each side. I didn't notice any color banding on the Samsung. I did notice some on the Sharp.

After reading all of the horror stories involving SD on a digital display, I went into my purchase with low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. I've gotten used to the upscaled image and now notice the scan lines and geometry defects on most CRTs. To me, an upscaled 480i image looks more pleasing at normal viewing distances than the same image on a native 480i CRT display. I'm not familiar with the resolution DirectTV puts out, but if you have a good signal you should be okay. The Samsung I originally had showed no false contouring. The marketed response time also seems accurate since I noticed no ghosting from any of the inputs. If you have a store in your area that is open to connecting a standard cable feed, you might want to check it out before buying. Since people see things differently, sometimes a good review isn't enough. There's no substitute for seeing a display in person.

- David

i think its a fair assesment that both TV's are worthy of our money. You cant go wrong with either

Agreed wholeheartedly. For my part, I know I passed into the realm of splitting hairs a couple weeks ago. I have definitely learned a lot with this added experience and I'm glad I was able to see both displays at home. The Sharp 32D7U is an excellent mid-sized display. For my intended use, the Samsung just fits better.

so you decided on the samsung blue?


also....one questiona bout the samsung, somthing i didnt get to test. How does the PC imput look? Sence its not all digital, do you see any analog conversion artifacts?

It probably got lost in my long post above, but I didn't see an appreciable difference going from analog to DVI. In fact, since the Samsung panel is capable of 1:1 pixel mapping using my Geforce FX 5700, I thought it looked better. The Sharp panel doesn't like my 5700. Apparently, it's the whole EDID issue raising its ugly head. I tried following the various guides using custom drivers, resolutions, and even Power Strip. I switched out my DVD-I cable for a DVD-A cable I had on hand without any noticeable change. I could have gone further and switched out my video card for a newer Geforce or an ATI card to see if that did the trick, but once pixels started going I decided that the Samsung was the better match to my HTPC. If I were building my HTPC from scratch I could have matched the components better. At this point the Samsung is a better match to my current HTPC.

Originally posted by technoblue
It probably got lost in my long post above, but I didn't see an appreciable difference going from analog to DVI. In fact, since the Samsung panel is capable of 1:1 pixel mapping using my Geforce FX 5700, I thought it looked better.
Even with 1:1 pixel mapping, every LCD display I've tested looks sharper
using DVI than using analog for computer-based display content. It should
especially be noticeable on the text.

If you have ClearType of some other font smoothing (blurring) technology,
turn it off and you should see the difference.

can you connect a htpc to the Samsung by useing a DVI to HDMI cable?

and does the display support 1280x720 and 1280 x 1024? according to the manual it does not, but i cant see samsung not being so idiotic as to not add support for it. it would be awful for PC gaming

Sharp DVI-A versus DVI-I

Text did look a little blurrier using the DVI-A cable. Using the DVI-I cable, text was still soft since the LCD was scaling the image at 1280x768. I can't say it was better since text on screen was still difficult to read. I wasn't using ClearType fonts. Graphics looked good using either cable.

Samsung VGA versus HDMI

The VGA input provides a 1:1 1360x768 resolution that results in a nice clean image. Fonts are sharp and graphics look good. I didn't notice any artifact, although I would be hard pressed to know what to look for. Of all my possible HTPC connections, VGA looked the best and I found that I missed it when I switched to the Sharp. The HDMI to DVI cable also works. The drawback to this connection is horizontal overscan and fixed 480p, 720p, and 1080i resolutions. The bootscreen is displayed in using either connection. The one advantage to using the HDMI input is that you can adjust more video options from the Samsung's user menu. Using the VGA input, certain menu options are unavailable.

Samsung VGA versus Sharp DVI-I/DVI-A

Perhaps it's my eyes, but the Samsung looks better. I don't doubt that a digital DVI connection is preferable. To be honest, it would have been nice if Samsung carried the DVI input over from the previous generation. However, I'm going to stand by my original statement.

- David

does 1280x720 and 1280 x 1024 work though?

Originally posted by pspidey
I've tried the following resolutions which are supported by my video card (Nvidia 6800): 1280x720, 1280x768, 1360x720 as well as the mode of preference (1360x768). These all display fine on the Samsung.

My experience was the same as pspidey's. So that covers 1280x720. I didn't try 1280x1024 with the Samsung, so I'll have to get back to you on that. On the Sharp, I had to add 1280x720 as a custom resolution even though the manual listed it as a supported resolution. The Samsung actually has more resolutions available over the PC input than what's listed in the table. I guess the important distinction in Samsung's manual is that the table lists the resolutions Samsung optimized for quality. It isn't a full list of working resolutions like the table in the Sharp manual.

- David

When you connected to Sharp, did you configure the panel for
"DigitalPC" or "AnalogPC" DVI-I cable can be used for both digital
and analog. DVI-A can only be used for analog. DVD-D can only be
used for digital. So with DVI-I, it is important how you configure the
display.

You mentioned the Sharp was stretching the picture. Did you try changing
"View Mode" to "Dot by Dot" which essentially disables the scaler? At
1280x768, you will get slight black bars on both sides around 40 pixels
wide, but the picture should be significantly sharper.

I now understand why you say VGA looked better than DVI/HDMI for
the Samsung. What I now gather is the Samsung has to *scale* the
DVI/HDMI input to match the display's native resolution, while the
resolutions it accepts via VGA is more broad. It would be nice if the
Samsung was able to accept 1360x768 via DVI/HDMI interface in the
digital domain.

So to rephrase my earlier statement, given both 1:1 pixel mapping,
every LCD I've seen looks sharper with DVI-D than with VGA/analog.

However, VGA/analog with 1:1 mapping looks better than DVI-D with
internal scaling by the display. DVI-D with 1:1 is ideal.

I have two 21" Samsung LCD monitors for my computer. One is in Landscape mode and one is in Portrait mode. The Landscape monitor is connected via DVI to my PC and the Portrait one is connected via VGA cable. The Landscape monitor is at native 1600x1200, the Portrait at native 1200 x 1600. It's very very hard to tell the difference in picture quality between the two. Maybe the samsung monitors just have very good analog processing. These same two monitors are also connected to a Mac, but the connections are reverse. Mac has VGA to Landsacpe and DVI to Portrait. Again, very difficult to tell the different in PQ.

I'm sure if you took a loupe and examined the picture it would be different, and one mode might be slightly warmer, but I think the VGA analog display is more than satisfactory.

Therefore, I am personally not concerned about using a VGA connection on a Samsung LCD.

Right. The reason I bought the DVI-I cable was so that I could see the bootscreen in analog mode. Switching between Analog PC and Digital PC wasn't the issue.

For whatever reason the Sharp panel acted screwy when using my eVGA Geforce FX 5700. Windows XP reported all of the supported resolutions but 1280x720. I had to add this as a custom resolution. On the hardware side, the Sharp panel recognized all of the supported resolutions but 1280x720 and 1280x768. When using either of these resolutions in Analog or Digital PC mode, the Sharp scrunched everything into a 1024x768 window when set to dot by dot. Even the little blue corner display said 1024x768 when using those resolutions. And no matter what settings I changed, I couldn't get those resolutions to work as advertised on the Sharp. Everything up to 1024x768 was recognized by the panel, even 1280x1024 was recognized, but the resolutions in between might as well not exist with my setup. It was frustrating.

I didn't have a new Geforce or an ATI card on hand to test. It seems these may work better with the Aquos. From what I've read here at AVS, it looks like ATI cards shouldn't have any trouble at all feeding 1280x768 to this display in dot by dot mode. To that end, I think Sharp should provide a video card compatibility list. Unfortunately, my HTPC has a Geforce from the last generation installed and I don't want to mess with a new video card since things are pretty stable.

- David

Originally posted by technoblue
I didn't have a new Geforce or an ATI card on hand to test. It seems these may work better with the Aquos. From what I've read here at AVS, it looks like ATI cards shouldn't have any trouble at all feeding 1280x768 to this display in dot by dot mode. To that end, I think Sharp should provide a video card compatibility list. So my main reason for replying originally was to express surprise
that the Samsung looked better using VGA than DVI, but I guess I
understand now that the DVI was being scaled and apparently it is not
possible to do 1:1 using Samsung DVI, only Samsung VGA, which I think
is OK for most folks, but good thing to know in case it matters to you.

Not to take the topic too far off, but my Sharp manual specifically states
it can *not* determine the difference between the following resolutions:

640x400 ... 720x400
640x480 ... 848x480
1024x768 ... 1280x768

For these resolutions, you need to go to Menu->Setup->Input Signal
and tell the display which resolution to use (after which it should
remember your settings)

No problem, sfhub. I understand where you are coming from. And you are correct, the HDMI connection on the Samsung isn't meant for PC use. It will display an image, but there is some overscan. I couldn't find a way to adjust for this at 720p. Old Samsung panels had a lower native resolution and a DVI input, so getting 1:1 over DVI was easier. For the LN-R series, 1080i seems to be the only realistic resolution when using a DVI to HDMI cable as your interconnect. I prefer the flexibility of the standard VGA input.

That bit about manually choosing the resolution was in the manual for the LC-32D7U too. I thought I had it after telling the display to use 1280x768, since there were small bars on the side, but the fonts on the desktop still didn't look as nice as they did on the Samsung. Personal preference is what it comes down to. The Sharp's image was good even given my problems, but I found that I preferred the Samsung's image.

- David

i'm going to bring the sammy home and try her out. I'm getting sick of how unfriendly the sharp is about my PC imput. Its very capable as an HTPC display.....it just requires to much tinkering to get it perfect. I want somthing that is fast switching. I'll try out the sammy at home, will give me more hands on experiance with it, then i'll write up a review.

Also, i'm going to try getting the serves menu codes, see if we cant fix this common green push they all seem to have.

Finding out how to get into the service menu was easy. I didn't mess with the color settings while I was poking around a couple weeks back, but they are there. The service menu has a basic monochrome layout and has quite a few options. Make sure to write everything down first.

-----

Service Menu

I missed my own post on page 2 while scanning this thread last night! LOL!
I need to get more sleep, but here is a direct link:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5505109#post5505109

- David

I am having a strange or annoying problem with my samsung R328W, When I turn it on it makes strange creaking sounds every 5 to 10 seconds for the first hour+ it is on but after the first hour to maybe an hour and a half they go away.This happens everytime I turn on the TV, I am guessing it is heat related, maybe it is stabalizing once it reaches a constant temperature.Whatever it is it is really annoying, I sit about 4 feet away from the TV and use it for a pc monitor and to play Xbox games on it.Anyone notice the problem with this model or do I have a bad set?

I have noticed a similar noise, but I attributed it to the display settling on the stand. I guess it could have something to do with temperature. I haven't given it much thought, to be honest.

Hopefully a stupid question here but does the LN-Rxx8W line have 3:2 pulldown for 480i film sources? There is no "Film Mode" option in the Picture menu, while the LN-Rxx9D manual shows the option on those models (plus my Sammy HLP5063 has it as well and I know that my DLP has DCDi).

Just curious. Can't imagine that the 8W line wouldn't have it but want to make sure before I take delivery of mine.

Thanks,
Eric

It looks like Samsung is finally adding extra features in the 32" space with the 329D. In the LN-Rxx8W generation, extra features like film mode and certain color adjustments are unavailable. It seems as though these features are available for all LN-Rxx8D and LN-Rxx9D units.

- David

David,

There has to be some sort of automatic film mode in the 8W series, no? How can a $2,000+ display not have 3:2 pulldown. I'm just guessing you can't turn it off.

I didn't go through the 9D manual thoroughly but I personally felt better about my 8W purchase (see my reply to your very helpful post in the other thread) given that not much appears to be changing.

That's a good point. There probably is some sort of digital adjustment going on in the background. I do know that I never had a problem watching 16:9 or 4:3 DVDs on either the Sharp or the Samsung. Movement was fluid with no stuttering and there was no ghosting. I tested using my Denon DVD player and my HTPC. On my old JVC CRT set, which I no longer have, video from the HTPC was prone to stuttering.

- David

Just called Samsung and they confirmed that the 328W has 3:2 pulldown and it's always on (I think it's auto sensing like the "On" option on the 9D).

Hey everyone, glad I found this thread.

I have the European equivalent model of this set - the LE32R41B. It's the exact same panel, but with a European SCART connector (commonly used in Europe to give interlaced RGB video from Digital TV decoders etc) on the back instead of one of the sets of Component inputs.

So far I have to agree with some of the problems of other users. I see a definite green push that I can't seem to correct with the "My Color Control" option. As for not being able to adjust the backlight - this is causing a BIG problem for me. The "Brightness Sensor" is quite frankly, a joke. It's either turn it on, have the TV dim the backlight to a really dull level, or turn it off and have the Backlight on what looks like full power. WHY would they leave this option out? The service menu code didn't work for me, but I could be doing it wrong. Do I press each button seperately or hold them all at once, or what?

I miss being able to map seperate picture settings to different inputs as well... although you have 4 different editable picture modes, which you can assign to the different inputs.

Also, I have a more serious problem. Component is fine, but I've noticed some tearing on the bottom quarter of the screen over the HDMI connection when running US 60hz DVD movies. This has happened on two DVD players - a Pioneer Elite player (not sure what the equivalent US model # is - whatever the one JUST below the 59-avi is) running at 480p, and my new Panasonic DVD-S97 at 720p. If I can't get that resolved, I am going to have to send the set back.

Also I agree that the VGA input is astoundingly good , and that the 1080i scaling isn't very pleasing on the eye. The menus of my DVD player just look pixellated to me when the other modes don't.

Hi Lyris,

The green push is definitely there. I was never able to calibrate it properly using Digital Video Essentials. I adjusted color until blue was spot on and then I adjusted tint until I had acceptable levels using the red and green filters. Beyond that, color adjustments were done by eye. I also was disappointed by the brightness sensor and the Dynamic Brightness and Dynamic Contrast features.

In the end, even though I tried Samsung a second time, my HD journey went full circle twice and I ended up with a new Sharp. Personally, I think the only real advantage to the Samsung is the built-in 1360x768 resolution. A backlight adjustment would help the set immensely, but I'm not sure if Samsung ever plans to offer that as a feature. The service menu didn't have any "hidden" backlight adjustments.

On the US model, to get into the service menu, you press each button in sequence. I'm not sure if the code is the same on the European LCDs. I'm not all that familiar with the HDMI connection. I only tested it with my HTPC briefly.

Thanks for that technoblue, it's too late for me to try the service code again because the TV is in the corner waiting to be packed away. I'm glad it's not just me who's eyes didn't agree with it, though.

I've put my Sony KLV-26HG2 26" set back in the Samsung's place. Now, you guys over there are more familiar with Component and HDMI than me so perhaps you can answer this for me. Sadly, Sony took the DVI connector off of the European 26HG2 and provided a SCART input instead (their next range will have HDMI however, as HDTV is finally launching here in the UK soon).

Bar a bit of noise on saturated colors, the Component pictures on the Sony actually look the same as the HDMI ones on the Samsung. Am I the only one who found the Component pictures on the Samsung sort of... ropey? With too much false contouring, even when the sharpness was at 0? It could just be the green push again, but something just didn't look right about it. I'm certain 6 more inches of screen couldn't make THAT difference to the image.

Also, someone mentioned the HDMI performance being a bit suspect. To be perfectly honest, I expected more. Even at 720p, my DVD player's menus had some color misalignment and the image didn't blow me away like the Sony's Component did. On VGA mode, even when I was using non-native resolutions, the image quality was much better than similar resolutions being put out over HDMI. Surely that can't be right?

Techno,

You went back to Sharp again? I thought you had settled on the Samsung. Care to share you decision making process on this latest round of the saga?

I'm still pretty settled on the Samsung 408d as it will fit my space (409d won't) and looks like it has all the features I'm looking for.

Mark

No problem, Mark.

The second Samsung I picked up had a manufacturing defect in the glass and a pattern to the backlight that was quite evident when viewing gray color tones on Digital Video Essentials. The pattern was also noticeable while watching television and DVDs. Anyway, that's why I returned Samsung ver. 2.0.

While playing with the dynamic features on both Samsung LCDs, I noticed the picture loses shadow detail with certain DVE test patterns. When using the OPC feature on the Sharp, I found that shadow detail was retained. I like how both features provide a better black when there isn't a lot of ambient light, but Sharp has an advantage with the dark color details to my eyes.

Samsung has the advantage with that plug and play 1360x768 PC resolution. However, I do like how Sharp lets you use 1280x1024 which is a nice standard (albeit scaled) resolution for gaming. And, with many apologies to sfhub, DVI does indeed look very nice on a Sharp panel that is setup correctly. I was able to get 1280x768 working with my 5700 after making some fine adjustments this time around. I'm going to try to test 1360 and 1368x768 over the next week or so to see if I can get either of those to work on the Sharp.

In the end, I was given a good price on the Sharp and I didn't want to miss out on it, the store let me do one last switch, and I felt that the overall picture of the Sharp looked better once both sets were calibrated and sitting here at home. With regard to connections, the Sharp also has added flexibility over the LN-R328W with its support for cableCARD and digital tuners. I really don't use either at this point, but I might try splitting the cable connection to see if there are any HD cable channels in the clear. I also like having a bunch of settings to play with in the user menu. And when I turn off Sharp's OPC feature during the daytime hours, I can adjust the backlight manually.

- David

When are the new Sharp's supposed to be coming out. I'm sure the prices on the existing line will much more competitive.

Personally I don't like the physical look of the GA5U but I do like the GD7U. I just can't find the 7U for anything close in price to the Samsung, so I went with Sammy. If I decide not to keep it, I will be looking to get the 7U.

Mind sharing where you got such a good deal on the 7U technoblue?

You know, looking back on it, I'm honestly not sure if this TV has a 3:2 pulldown mode. Whenever I looked at the results from my LaserDisc player (S-Video), it did look like everything was being deinterlaced in the traditional method with lots of little flickery pixel artifacts...

Can anyone confirm?

You know, looking back on it, I'm honestly not sure if this TV has a 3:2 pulldown mode. Whenever I looked at the results from my LaserDisc player (S-Video), it did look like everything was being deinterlaced in the traditional method with lots of little flickery pixel artifacts...

Can anyone confirm?

I actually called Samsung tech support about this issue. The tech researched it and said that "film mode" is always on on this TV. Would be pretty pathetic to not have 3:2 in a 32" LCD.

I picked up the Sharp from TV Authority. They do not list the 32D7U on their website, but you can call in and ask about stock and price. As one of the forum sponsors, TV Authority comes highly recommended here at AVS and my opinion is no different. The sales team is top notch.

The 32D7U seems to be popular, though, as stock is scarce. I only just recently started finding it at the local shops out my way.

- David

Actually pixelation is not a sign of a bad display. On the contrary, it is a sign that the display is sharper and possibly has higher response time. Unless you are seeing some other artifact, pixelation is in the source (compression artifacts of MPEG-2). The sharper the display, the more you notice them.
I should point out that the issue with pixellation on this set is different to this (apologies if this has already been said). It wasn't a result of compression, it genuinely was the scaler - even the menus on my DVD player when set to 1080i over HDMI had the pixellation. Very offputting indeed.

Just got my LNR328W home last night. Hooked it up quickly via component cables to my Scientific Atlanta 3250HD STB and it looks pretty good. Have not fiddled with any of the picture settings (other than to change Dynamic to Standard) yet but plan to spend some time this weekend tweaking w/ DVE. Plan to hook up a Sony progressive scan DVD player via component (although I'll also test out my Panny S97 upconverting player which is currently in the living room to see how the display performs). Also plan to connect the STB via a DVI-HDMI hybrid cable.

One thing that seems weird though - I have the display attached to the included stand and it seems to be titled downward slightly. If you look at it from the side, the screen is not perpendicular w/ the tabletop it's resting on. Actually not a big deal b/c my bed is a little lower than the dresser so it works well but just wondering if this is how it's supposed to work. I attached all four screws pretty tightly and it doens't look like the stand is adjustable at all.

Will post more thoughts on the display once I have a chance to play.

I purchased this set Monday. I would like to thank all on this board for the notes and advice (both positive and negative). It came down to the Samsung and the Sharp. As this is now my main living room TV the better half was brought into the decision making process. We chose the Samsung over the Sharp for these reasons:

1) Contrast ratio - Black levels seemed deeper on the Samsung.
2) Speakers - We have limited shelf space for the TV. The speakers on the Sharp made it too wide for us.
3) Appearance - The Samsung looks like a piece of art, the Sharp looked like an industrial machine. We have already had a couple of people over since Monday and all have been impressed with TV design and style.
4) Overall HD picture. After tweaking the sets at BB the Samsung just looked better. The HD picture "wow'ed" us more than the Sharp.

Don't get me wrong, the Sharp was an excellent TV. We are extremely happy with our Samsung purchase. DVDs look amazing and even basic DirecTV in 4:3 looks good (not great but think about the source).

For the other Samsung owners, what do you have your TV calibrated at? Using AVIA via the DVD Component inputs (I don't yet have an HDMI capatible player) I ended up with the following mods. I'm very curious to see what others came up with as this is my first time tweaking a non-CRT set. Please post your calibration scores. Thanks!

DVD viewing via HDMI:
Dynamic Contrast and Brightness Sensor - Off
Contrast 85
Brightness 42
Sharpness 35
Color 31
Tint 50/50
Tone Color Normal

SD viewing via S-Video (darn DirecTV and their lousy DVR connections):
Dynamic Contrast and Brightness Sensor - Off
Contrast 85
Brightness 49
Sharpness 35
Color 34
Tint 51/49
Tone Color Warm1

I do not yet have any HD input sources.


JS

Do people generally recommend turning Sharpness down to zero on these sets? On my Sammy DLP that's what I do as Sharpness seems to have no real impact and most people suggest you set it at zero - wondering if this applies for their LCDs - haven't had a chance to play around yet.

One other thing I noticed in my limited time watching HD on this set. When I change channels on my 3250HD STB, there is a couple of second flicker as the TV converts the resolution of the channel. Not sure if this is the STB or the TV. I am currently using component cables with all output resolutions (480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i) enabled on the STB. Going to try DVI/HDMI as well but wondering if others were experiencing this flicker with different STBs?

Flicker is pretty much a given. It takes a little while to lock onto the MPEG stream, negotiate whether it is authorized, and start decoding. Changing connections is not going to help you.

But is it the box or the display? On my Sammy DLP connected via HDMI to a 8300HD DVR there is no flicker and the channel changes happen even quicker which doesn't make sense given that the DVR is actually buffering when it changes channels.

So I'm hoping it's the box, not the display.

Had some time to tweak my LNR-328W today - first order of business is to decide whether or not to keep it or return it and get a Sharp. Then I want to figure out what cable box I should use and how I should hook it up.

I currently have two cable boxes in my home - an SA 3250HD (connected to the Sammy LCD in the bedroom) and an SA 8300HD DVR (connected to my Sammy DLP in the living room). I have the 3250HD connected via component cables currently but I tried hooking it up via DVI/HDMI and also moved the 8300 into the bedroom and hooked that up with both component and HDMI/HDMI to the LCD. I had the HDNet and INHD test patterns saved on the DVR so I was able to do a basic calibration of both HDMI and Component and also popped in DVE to do a calibration of my Sony DVD player (connected via component w/ progressive scan turned off). What I did not do was move my Panasonic S97 HDMI DVD player into the bedroom to test that out and run a DVE calibration, although based on the settings I use in the living room I doubt they would translate well for a STB.

Component Inputs

The good news is the calibration results I got on the component inputs using both DVE and the HD test patterns were virtually identical:

Dynamic Contrast - Off (see below)
Contrast - 90
Brightness -48
Sharpness - 0
Color - 42
Tint - 50/50
Color Tone - Normal

Overall I'm quite pleased w/ the picture quality on the 3250 over component. HD looks great, and SD is better than I expected. On the 3250 I can pass through all of the output resolutions (480i, 720p and 1080i) but when I change channels it takes the cable box a second or two to dial in the resolution, which is annoying (I have concluded that this is definitely the cable box's fault and not the TVs as I didn't have the same issues when using the 8300). Before calibration I found the colors on the set were a little too punchy, but think they look a lot better now. Every now and then you'll tune into something where reds look a little too vibrant but skin tones generally seem accurate and don't notice any issues w/ green (although I couldn't get the color decoder to set green or red properly - see below).

With regards to Dynamic Contrast, I personally prefer to leave it off - picture seemed a little too dark, almost crushing detail in dark scenes; skin tones also didn't seem as natural. Clearly this is one of the features that Samsung touts in these displays so I was reluctant to turn it off but I just liked what I saw better. It's tough to do a true A/B comparison though. The brightness levels are so different with DC on vs. off that you need totally distinct calibrations - simply toggling DC on or off isn't really fair. I haven't tried doing separate calibrations - one w/ DC on and one w/ DC off - and storing them each as separate picture modes so that you could fairly quickly toggle DC on or off and swich the picture modes to see which you would prefer.

Motion blur seems minimal to non-existent on this display. Watched some of the Wimbledon action this morning (of course not in HD - thanks as usual NBC Sports) and saw virtually no motion blur from my normal viewing distance, which was a pleasant surprise. On a 130mph Roddick serve didn't see anything. If you get up pretty close you can notice some blur but still not too bad.

DVDs on my basic Sony PS DVD player via component looked excellent. Watch parts of LOTR ROTK and the colors in the opening scene looked incredible. Motion blur in the battle scenes was non-existent. Wasn't planning to get an upscaling player for this display as it's probably overkill for the bedroom but I may test my S97 just to see what it looks like.

HDMI Input

Next I hooked up the 3250 via DVI/HDMI the STB and the first thing I noticed is the the STB won't let you pass through resolutions (again a fault of this STB) so you basically have to pick a single resolution that all channels get converted to. Picture looked good, esp HD (as good or marginally better than component but not a huge difference), although SD didn't look as good as component. The fact that the STB converts all 480i channels and 720p channels to 1080i (you could choose to have everything converted to 720p instead) most likely has a negative impact on PQ, esp. SD. Didn't spend much time playing w/ this and couldn't run any test patterns to accurately calibrate, so it's possible the results could get better. I was also experiencing some problems w/ the DVI/HDMI connection (it's definitley not the cable), mostly when I was fiddling w/ the output resolutions on the 3250 - you need to unhook the DVI and use use component and then recoonect. When I reconnected, I often had to reseat the HDMI end of the cable in the Sammy and even though there was a tight connection, I found that I wouldn't get any picture unless I jiggled it a little bit and then the picture would come on. Kind of worried me that the HDMI input on the Sammy may be hypersensitive.

I then hooked up the 8300HD via HDMI/HDMI and tried to calibrate that. Results were as follows:

Dynamic Contrast - Off
Contrast - 85
Brightness - 42
Sharpness - 0
Color - 42
Tint - 50/50
Color Tone - Normal

Again HD looked as good or marginally better than component on the 3250HD but SD still looked a little worse. The 8300 lets you pass through resolutions as is (other than 480i which get converted to 480p) and had much smoother channel changing transitions than the 3250. Don't really need the DVR functionality in the bedroom but if I decide I want a digital connection this box is way better than the 3250.

Tested component briefly on the 8300 and think I preferred component on the 3250.

Red & Green

One thing to note - in all of the calibrations (DVE as well as HDNet and InHD) I was able to set blue properly (Color at 42) but could never get green and red just right. Red seems pretty close but green is definitely off according to the color decoder. Tried fiddling with Tint but it didn't do much. Also tried My Color Control breifly but that didn't appear to do much either. So I ended up just leaving Tint at 50/50. Overall when I watch TV the picture doesn't usually seem to have too much red or green so it doesn't bother me (much), although as mentioned above, when there are problems I would say it's more with the red than with the green. I really need to give it some more time and see what I think.

Initial Conclusion

Ultimately I will probably keep the Sammy. I was most concerned w/ the unnatural color out of the box and based on some of the posts I've read here. I found that by turning Dynamic Contrast off and lowering the Color setting to 42 that skin tones look pretty good (at least to my untrained eye). HD PQ is very impressive (definitely cleaner looking than my 50" DLP) and SD looks better than expected. Black levels are also better than expected, which is very important as I spend the majority of the time watching in a dark room. Finally, I give the Sammy a significant edge over the Sharp models in terms of aesthetics and of course WAF. While it would be nice to get a Sharp w/ CableCard, it sounds like it's a real PITA to get the CC and TVGOS fully functioning and those features definitely make the Sharps more expensive.

Still have the next couple of weeks to decide for sure and I plan to do a fair amount of normal viewing before making a final decision. Ultimately if I keep the Sammy I will need to figure out the STB situation - the 8300 is clearly better if you want to pass a digital signal but the 3250 appears to have the edge if I am ok using component.

The dust that collects on the black bezel is still driving me nuts but I suppose I can live with it. The included microfiber cleaning cloth is pretty nice but even after wiping down the bezel, dust literally collects within minutes.

Eric, using the AVIA disc I was able to improve the red and green settings on my LNR328. I set the Easy Control to Custom and via the Detail Contol I made the following changes:

Pink - 0
Green - 75
Blue - 50

I found that after doing this the red and green colors match up much more closely with the AVIA tests of those colors.

Interesting. And how does that affect the picture? Does it look natural?

I find that it is only a minor change, nothing dramatic. But it seems to tone down a bit of a red push and give greens a more naturalistic color. Things like grass and trees look better while skin tones seem more natural. But again, nothing dramatic and when you use the color control to do comparisons of still picture it seems to affect backgrounds more than people. I have no HD inputs though so this just may be an improvement I see via these less impressive input sources.

JudgeSmails (great name by the way)

Will fiddle around w/ MCC when I get a chance. I find it's really distracting the way they split the screen into "original image" vs. "adjusted image" since you are adjusting a shrunken image.

BTW, I edited my longer post up above to provide some more color (no pun intended) on some of my thoughts.

Wondering if any LN-R328W owners found have found discrete codes (power/input/etc) for this LCD panel? I've searched through AVS and RemoteCentral, but not had any luck :(

Also, what's the story with the Samsung LNR3228W (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-qjsxW3Axpqn/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=305LNR3228&search=LNR3228W)? It looks very similar to the LN-R328W ... is it just the all-black faschia that distinguishes these models?

hey guys quick question, I am waiting for the Sony v series 32 inch, just wondering how it would compare to the Samsung since the Lcd chips on the both of them were a joint venture between sony/samsung.

Sony has on there new V series ccfl backlighting, does this model of samsung have the same and or simular.

Thanks

Sony has on there new V series ccfl backlighting, does this model of samsung have the same and or simular.
Most definitely not - the backlight on the Samsung was what I found very disappointing. Not only that but as stated, there's no real control over it.

thanks lyris looks like I will be waiting to see how the sony is, less then a month to go.

Hopefully it'll be out for me here in Europe too soon. Do you guys in North America have a release date yet? I'm just hearing "August/early September" here.

I have the current KLV26HG2 and love it despite the 15:9 panel. If the new V-series just includes better connectivity, has a full 16:9 panel, a slightly better contrast ratio, it'll be perfect for me.

in the Sony style mag it says july,

I am thinking late july early august here.

Wondering if any LN-R328W owners found have found discrete codes (power/input/etc) for this LCD panel? I've searched through AVS and RemoteCentral, but not had any luck :(



I have found that most of the discretes (at least the input ones) that I programmed into my MX-500 for my Sammy HLP5063 DLP work fine w/ the LN-R328W. Unfortunately I don't have the information right in front of me but do a search on HLP and discrete codes and there is a big post (that I may have even started) about them. May also try looking on remotecentral for the HLP codes.

As for power on/off, they never worked well on my HLP so I didn't program them and hence haven't tried them on the LN-R.

I have found that most of the discretes (at least the input ones) that I programmed into my MX-500 for my Sammy HLP5063 DLP work fine w/ the LN-R328W. Unfortunately I don't have the information right in front of me but do a search on HLP and discrete codes and there is a big post (that I may have even started) about them. May also try looking on remotecentral for the HLP codes.

As for power on/off, they never worked well on my HLP so I didn't program them and hence haven't tried them on the LN-R.
Many thanks ... I've since found the power on/off discretes and the PC input discrete ... but I'd like to find VID3/4/5 input discretes - I'll try the HLP5063 and see what it nets me - thanks!

judgesmails,

Finally got around to fiddling w/ the My Color Control. Lowered the pink to 0 and left the other two at 50 and it does appear to tone down the reds a little bit.

Basically need to make up my mind in terms of keeping or returning the Sammy this weekend. Think I will ultimtely keep it.

Anyone else out there have any thoughts on the Sammy LCD? You really don't read a whole lot about them on these boards and I'm sure they are selling pretty well.

Hey guys, I have a quick question regarding PC calibration. What settings have you set up for "Coarse" and "Fine" under PC -> Image Lock setting.

Thanks.

So I was in PC Richards in NYC today and just for kicks asked the salesman what kind of deal he could give me on the LN-R328W. He said he had them in stock and could sell it to me for almost $200 less than what I paid for it about 3 weeks ago, which was already a pretty discounted price (matched off the Internet). I had pretty much decided I was keeping the Sammy so I couldn't resist and bought it. Right now I have the two displays set up side by side and with identical settings they produce pretty different results - the newer one is a little brighter and punchier (which is saying a lot). Went into the SMs of both and they are definitely different firmware versions and have different menu options. Didn't want to mess around in there too much but clearly the settings vary from display to display.

I did a DVE calibration on the new display and found that by turning My Color Control to Pink - 0; Green - 75 and Blue - 50 (with Color at 42) that blue and red look perfect and green is much better than it looked before. So I'm pretty pleased with the new display and feel like I got a super deal - much cheaper than I could have ever gotten the Sharp for.

Well I guess my excitement was a little premature. I noticed that the new display has 5 busted pixels. When looking at a completely black screen on a DVE test pattern you see little speckles of light - very small but there are 5 of them scattered around the screen - I can only assume these are blown pixels. My original display didn't have any - I checked it thoroughly again today.

I also checked the color decoder on the old display with the new My Color Control settings (hadn't done that before; just eyeballd it) and turns out that Red and Blue again are perfect and Green is really close. So the new set doesn't seem to have "better" colors.

Think I am going to take the new set back to PCR and see if they will give me a replacement since 10 blown pixels seems like a defective product to me. If they won't I'll demand my money back (it's a day old tv) and keep the higher priced older display.

Makes me feel even better about my Sammy decision though.

BTW, I bought some Monster Screen Clean (which was the reason I was in PCR in the first place) and it does a really good job of cleaning the screen and eliminating the dust (from static electricity) that seemed to immediately appear around the bezel after using the cloth that came with the Sammy.

I work for BB, we sell out of this all the time. Im about to pick one up, but Im going to magnolia and thinking wether or not I should wait for the small xbr's. I hate to hear that about the DVI, it may be the unit, Ill hook up a mac mini to it via DVI and post what I find. I have used all my resources as a magnolia AV pro (believe it or not we have extensive sales training, but no matter how much training you get it never comes close to owning the actual product, thats why BB has employee discounts :) what is the responce time? Is it in the 70;s? or reasonable like 32? Something PC gaming equivilant (my only thing hooked up to it will be the HTPC). I also thought about that 30" philips we carry, great PQ, but color is low, and so is contrast, 600:1 as apposed to 3000:1.

Also, Samsung does, in my opinion, make some of the best PC LCD's around, next to dell, who we know just uses OEM products.

The 3000:1 contrast ratio is a little overstated - it's Dynamic contrast ratio and I personally prefer to turn that feature off. Even w/ DCR off I find the contrast is excellent but it's not 5 times better than the Sharp at 600:1.

So I brought the defective display back to PCR and they swapped it out for a new one. I actually wanted to just get my money back and keep the higher priced display so I didn't have to deal w/ the headaches but they wouldn't do it. I brought DVE with me and insisted that they let me test it out, specifically to look for blown pixels.

Did a quick calibration when I got home and the results were almost identical to the other June build display I had gotten from PCR and again different from the May build I had originally.

So I boxed up the original and brought it back to CC. Their whole return policy is pretty unbelievable. They didn't even ask me why I was returning a $2000 TV althought I offered that I had gotten a much better deal. They had some random salesman remove the display and plug it in to an outlet just to see if it would turn on. It did and that was enough for them - didn't hook it up to a video feed, examine it or check serial numbers.

Here's the kicker though. When I originally purchased the display from CC the salesman kind of slipped the extended warranty on the invoice. He said it's really no big deal to cancel it and since I wasn't taking delivery of the display for a few weeks I figured I would probably just cancel then (especially after I read the paper work and saw that despite what the salesman had told me, the EW ran concurrently w/ Sammy's 1 year MFG warranty). So when I went to pick up the set I asked to cancel the warranty. They told me they could do it but they couldn't credit my credit card and had to mail me a check. Was a little annoyed but figured it wouldn't be a big deal. Check actually arrived the other day for the full cost of the EW plus tax (almost $500). So today when I return the display to CC and they see my receipt with the EW on it, they credit me for the full amount of the TV plus the warranty. I stopped the cashier and pointed out that I had already cancelled and been reimbursed for the EW and that she was crediting me too much (tried to do the right thing). Not only did she not seem to care but when I asked her if she wanted to get a manager to look into it, she said don't worry about it. So not sure if they will ultimately catch this - I tried to point it out to them - but if they don't let's just say I got a REALLY good deal on the Sammy.

Wow, I'm surprised. I had issues here at my local CC.

Anyone play Playstation 2 on this TV? Everything looks great on this TV except for PS2 games. I'm going crazy with the settings on the TV to try and make it look right but I can't settle on anything. Anyone have settings for PS2 that you are happy with? I'm using Monster Cables too, still not happy.

Anyone play PS2 on this TV? I can't seem to get the picture the way I want it. If anyone has good settings for PS2 please share them, because i'm going crazy trying to get the best picture possible.

Sorry for the double post..I got an error when I entered the first one.

Just about all PS2 games are interlaced, and for some reason the video hardware in that particular console makes the jagged lines all the more noticeable. It doesn't matter what brand cable you have, the only way I can suggest cleaning that up is to spend a lot of money on a video processor which might give better results.

Technoblue, I know you seem to have quite a bit of knowledge in the Samsung department. I used to have one of their Flat Panel HDTVs but I just picked up the LCD LNR382w set. I've been tweaking the settings here and there, but I wanted to know what settings you had the best pic quality in.

I'm currently connecting via Component cables and running Comcast Digital as my cable source.

I'm kinda a noob to this area of adjustment so if you could be as clear as possible, I'd appreciate it.

I'm looking for basically your Custom settings and also I was curious as to what this mysterious "green push" that you spoke of is.

o2byzt,

Keep in mind that each TV's settings vary slightly - I've been through 3 LN-R328W (read the prev. page in this post) and had 2 side by side at any given time and with identical settings the displays looked quite different.

That being said there are some adjustments you can make that will probably improve your picture but of course these are all subjective recommendations.

1) Turn off Dynamic Contrast - I know that's one of the big selling points for this TV and others may disagree but personally I thought DC crushed blacks and just made the picture darker

2) Turn the Color setting down to around 40 - on the 3 displays I had, they all looked pretty good at 40-42

3) Go into My Color Control and turn the Pink down a lot - I have mine at zero. I find the reds on this display are really in your face and setting the color down a bit and lowering the Pink helps mitigate this and flesh tones look more natural

4) Brightness is pretty decent around 50. If you have Digital Video Essentials or Avia you can use the test patterns to set black levels very accurately.

Would love to hear other people's settings.

Good luck

Anyone have the discrete for RF input? I've found all the other ones, but this one isn't working. I grabbed the Samsung Discrete Excel sheet that lists it as 1B, but it didn't work.

Also, I seem to be having cablecard issues. When I turn the TV on after it being off for a while the TV says, "CableCard Inserted" as if I put it in the first time. The channel names are also missing, but after a few minutes they populate. I'm not getting the built in guide either. Comcast hasn't gotten its act together either. I'm not recieving most of the digital + channels. I get ESPN and Showtime (which I don't even sub to - confusing) but all of the other ones are missing. No INHDs and Discovery make me sad. HD locals come in fine too ... very confusing. I get all the channels on my Moto STB in both my home theaters, so I know its a cablecard/samsung lcd issue, not a wiring/signal one. Should I just complain to comcast till they get it right? I have a feeling its more a sammy issue though ...

Other then these two issues my 408d has been pretty nice. I'm enjoying the picture (except for a few shows where they oversaturate the HD picture, Las Vegas, I'm looking at you!) and not having to deal with powestrip to get a custom resolution kicks butt.

Eric, I tried the settings you suggested and your right they do look better. I would appreciate it if you could give me a more detailed list of your settings. The way my display is set up now is via the Component connection. I chose "HD STB" as my source...since I run Comcast Digital Cable I thought that made the most sense.

What I'm looking for is your complete custom settings (or at least as close as possible) that you enjoyed the most. For instance, in the "My Color Control" area, what settings did you have your blue and green at?

Here's my rundown (decent picture I think...but could be better):
Mode: Dynamic (not sure if this is best or not)
Size: Wide
Digital NR: On
DNe Demo: Off
Dynamic Contrast: Off (although I think it looks better On...but again not sure)
Brightness Sensor: On

Under My Color Control: (Easy Control)
Pink: 0
Green: 50
Blue: 50

My Detailed Settings:
Contrast: 90
Brightness: 50
Sharpness: 0 (I've heard lower is better)
Color: 42
Tint: 50
Color Tone: Warm1

Also, "Blue Screen" On or Off?

I'd appreciate the advice to get the best possible picture...since you and Techno seem to be the only others who really have this set.

Eric, glad adjusting the Pink helped you. Ok, here are my current settings.

For DVD viewing via HDMI:
Digital NR: Off
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Brightness Sensor: Off
(While the Dynamic Contrast helps at times, all this artifical stuff bugs the hell outta me)

Contrast - 85
Brightness - 51
Sharpness - 75 (yes, 75. Started with 0 and think higher is better)
Color - 37
Tint - 51/49
Tone: Normal


For D* viewing via S-Video:
Digital NR: Off
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Brightness Sensor: Off

Contrast - 85
Brightness - 42
Sharpness - 75
Color - 42
Tint - 51/49
Tone: Warm 1

For all viewing modes:
Pink - 0
Green - 75
Blue - 50

JS

What about Xbox Hi-Def settings? I went to play Halo 2 tonight and the colors looked all funky. Too much reds, everything seemed to be a lot out of whack. Anyone else noticed this?

I've got both the Xbox and Cable running into a system selector and then out to my LCD. With my old Samsung Flat Panel I never had any issues but the colors and settings were seriously messed when I played Halo 2.

In addition to normal settings, how should I hook up my Xbox (PS2 & GameCube) so that they all look decent, cause right now...those colors are not looking good at all. And the image itself seemed too dark in some areas and then in open rocky levels (Burial Mounds for those who play Halo 2) looked almost orange.

Help!!

o2byzst,

Below are my detailed settings. To set contrast, brightness and color I did a DVE calibration through my DVD player and compared the results to the 8300HD DVR with HDNet test patterns that I have in the living room. In both cases, the black levels (brightness) were perfect at 50. Note that the "Picture Mode" has no impact on PQ in and of itself - in other words if you calibrate Movie and Standard w/ the same contrast, brightness, color, etc you will get an identical picture - just think of these as four individual presets with different names.

HD STB - Sci. Atlanta 3250HD connected via Component 1
Standard (again this doesn't really matter):
Contrast - 90
Brightness - 50
Sharpness - 0
Color - 42
Tint - 50/50
Tone - Normal

Sony DVD Progressive Scan Player (Prog. Scan Off) via Component 2
Movie
Contrast - 85
Brightness - 50
Sharpness - 0
Color - 42
Tint - 50/50
Tone - Normal

Global Settings
DNR - On
Dynamic Contrast - Off
Brightness Sensor - Off (I strongly recommend you turn this off; if you leave it on, the settings up above for brightness and contrast are pretty much useless)

My Color Control:
Pink - 0
Green - 75
Blue - 50

Settings like Blue Screen and Melody have absolutely nothing to do w/ PQ so don't worry about those.

Hope this is helpful.

i've been thinking about getting the samsung ln-r328w for practically the entire summer. online, i can get it for $1700. the new sony came out at BB for $2k and it looks just as solid.

my problem is that i heard the samsung pushes colors too much, and that the sony looks great. but now, i've read on a couple of postings that the sony blurs alot with games. i know response time is a prob with lcd, but i was wondering how people think the samsung holds up with video games?

is this a serious problem or are people being nit picky? i mean i can deal with a little blur compared to my crt 27" if the lcd is in f@cking 720P

thanx

I'm having a little trouble finding the exact video timings for connection a Crystalio Scaler to my Samsung LCD TV. The resolution is correct (1360*768), but the rest of the numbers seem to be a little off (front/backporch etc.).

I have tried the settings which I used to connected my Mac Mini before the scaler, but they won't work on the scaler.

Maybe somebody has a HTPC running with PowerStrip and could post his timings ?

Thanks
Tobias

I went in to the service menu

TV power off...
mute > 1 > 8 > 2 > power on remote.

I went to adjustments, I chged the color settings, and some sharpness settings. But I didn't write them down... AHHHHH


Now I just want to go back to factory settings.

If someone would be willing to go in and post there settings for the adjustment menu I would be very appreciative. And also the second option from the main menu. lol I forgot what it called.

Thank you very much in advance.

-SOWK

Not sure if you still need this, but here's what I found on my LNR237W:

Video Mute Time 8
Melody Volume 5
Ana_Dimm_Max FEH
TTX Contrast 50
TTX Brightness 50
TTX Color 50
Dynamic Contrast 100
Dynamic Color 50
Dynamic Sharpness 60
Standard Contrast 90
Standard Brightness 80
Standard COlor 70
Standard Sharpness 70
Movie Contrast 60
Movie Brightness 50
Movie COlor 50
Movie Sharpness 40


BTW, did you try the "Reset" option?

Hi guys. I have been looking around these forums and trying to find out how to adjust the TV to the best possible settings for Xbox gaming and movies. Well I just went into the Service Menu and didn't change anything, was just curious. Turned the TV back on and all my settings were back to normal, I switched them to what some of the settings you guys had and in Halo 2 load up where it's white, I noticed that in the corners that there's a slight blue/green tint in the corner. It's not that noticeable, especially if it's just normal viewing. It's only noticeable if the screen is white there. Now I'm wondering why this happened when I didn't change anything in the Service Menu. Should I just go back into the service menu and select Reset? Thanks

bump

o2byzst,

Below are my detailed settings. To set contrast, brightness and color I did a DVE calibration through my DVD player and compared the results to the 8300HD DVR with HDNet test patterns that I have in the living room. In both cases, the black levels (brightness) were perfect at 50. Note that the "Picture Mode" has no impact on PQ in and of itself - in other words if you calibrate Movie and Standard w/ the same contrast, brightness, color, etc you will get an identical picture - just think of these as four individual presets with different names.

HD STB - Sci. Atlanta 3250HD connected via Component 1
Standard (again this doesn't really matter):
Contrast - 90
Brightness - 50
Sharpness - 0
Color - 42
Tint - 50/50
Tone - Normal

Sony DVD Progressive Scan Player (Prog. Scan Off) via Component 2
Movie
Contrast - 85
Brightness - 50
Sharpness - 0
Color - 42
Tint - 50/50
Tone - Normal

Global Settings
DNR - On
Dynamic Contrast - Off
Brightness Sensor - Off (I strongly recommend you turn this off; if you leave it on, the settings up above for brightness and contrast are pretty much useless)

My Color Control:
Pink - 0
Green - 75
Blue - 50

Settings like Blue Screen and Melody have absolutely nothing to do w/ PQ so don't worry about those.

Hope this is helpful.

Thanks for these settings!! I noticed that my HDMI settings look a little different than component when running your identical settings in both HDMI and component watching the same HD channel. Do you think that those same values you listed above are still closest to your calibration disk even though I'm running my HD channels through HDMI?, even though they visually look a little different than component? Have you tried HDMI via cable box? Also,under the my color control, and then you go to easy control, do you leave yours at custom? I'm not sure what the easy control is for? Thanks again!!

Thanks for these settings!! I noticed that my HDMI settings look a little different than component when running your identical settings in both HDMI and component watching the same HD channel. Do you think that those same values you listed above are still closest to your calibration disk even though I'm running my HD channels through HDMI?, even though they visually look a little different than component? Have you tried HDMI via cable box? Also,under the my color control, and then you go to easy control, do you leave yours at custom? I'm not sure what the easy control is for? Thanks again!!

I actually just started hooking my cable box (now a SA 8300HD) up to the Samsung via HDMI and honestly haven't had a chance to go back and recalibrate. However the picture looks pretty good to me so not sure it's really even necessary. When I calibrated the TV initially, I had tested out this same cable box over HDMI and the settings were almost identical.

As far as MCC, leave it on "Custom". Easy Control just lets you use some presets that Samsung programmed in. But if you set the colors manually using the Detail Control then you want Easy Control on Custom (which I think it does automatically).

Thanks again EricScott. One more question :D Do you think that those settings would be the best to use on the upcoming Xbox 360? I would think that since your settings are closest to the calibration disk as you could get, that these settings would be best for the 360? Wouldn't your settings be the closest colors that the game developers intended to be displayed? I'm kind of confused on if game settings and HDTV viewing settings should be similar.

Any response?

Any response?


sorry. have been travelling a lot.

really don't have any advice here. haven't calibrated either of my displays for any game systems - i have a ps2 but rarely use it. not sure how the settings would carry over.

Anyone that own's this tv has to try Eric's settings. They are great! :D Thanks for posting those settings, they helped out a lot!

Hey mukdweller, I currently have my Xbox connected in high-def and the picture looks great with those settings so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same with the 360.

Under global settings you have DNR set to on, what does DNR do actually? :confused:

Under global settings you have DNR set to on, what does DNR do actually? :confused:

I couldn't tell the diffrence in pq either when I had it on/off, so I just left it on also like the settings that where posted.

Hello all. Question. I really love my LNR328W. I've got my settings set as I stated above (very similar to EricScott's). Yesterday I was in Best Buy and was browsing their TVs just for fun. They had two LNR38Ws ($300 cheaper than I paid 4 months ago...oh well :) and I noticed that one had a dramatically better picture when viewed from an angle than the other. I looked at the settings in the menu and the only real difference I noticed was a slight contrast difference in the two. When I got home I looked at my TV and noticed my picture at an angle was between the two in the store...not great but not poor. Any idea what in the world they may have had set to get such a good picture on the LCD from an angle? I was stumped.

JS

is their a way to put this tv in 720p mode or does it auto detect?

as i am not that much of a gamer to stand in a line for 19 hours like one of my co workers did to get an xbox 360 (since ps3 will kill it anyways) i was wondering if any owns a 360 and has this lcd and was hoping on some feed back as to how it looks and how the ghosting is if any.

is their a way to put this tv in 720p mode or does it auto detect?

I guess this depends on what device you use with the TV. On the Xbox 360 you can set it to 480p, 720p, & 1080i.

as i am not that much of a gamer to stand in a line for 19 hours like one of my co workers did to get an xbox 360 (since ps3 will kill it anyways) i was wondering if any owns a 360 and has this lcd and was hoping on some feed back as to how it looks and how the ghosting is if any.

Yes you can see ghosting but it all depends on what type of game you play. I can clearly see ghosting when I play PD:0 because you move the gun pretty fast (left,right) but ghosting problem doesnt bother me at all. While playing Kameo you can't notice any ghosting at all.. Liek I said the ghosting issue doesnt bother me.

is the ghosting on PD:O like, i just woke up and eyes havent focused yet or is it more like damn i need more beer type of ghosting. just curious as to how much ghosting there is if this post makes any sense considering a hang over after turkey day kind of a post.

The ghosting of the gun in PD0 is an effect built into the game. I played the game on a 20" CRT and had my character spin around. You will notice that the gun exhibits ghosting. I get the same results on my 23" Samsung LCD. So, it's not the LCDs fault. You still get some minor blurring when using the LNR238W (sames as the 32" model). It's not that bad though.

I guess this depends on what device you use with the TV. On the Xbox 360 you can set it to 480p, 720p, & 1080i.



Yes you can see ghosting but it all depends on what type of game you play. I can clearly see ghosting when I play PD:0 because you move the gun pretty fast (left,right) but ghosting problem doesnt bother me at all. While playing Kameo you can't notice any ghosting at all.. Liek I said the ghosting issue doesnt bother me.
ya I put the xbox in 720 mode so I guess that is all that needs to be done, besides switching it to HDTV mode on the plug

is there any way to hit 1 button to go to a certain input setting? I hate having to cycle through three input modes just to get to component 2 for my xbox 360.

Heck, even if there was a way to skip the tv mode.

Maybe the harmony remote?

Hey ive basically been researching the sony kdfe42a10 for the last few month and just a few days ago had the let down of noticing it doesnt fit where i was planning on putting it. So any way heres the question if I buy this samsung 32 inch tv is there any way for me to hook it up to an optical digital cable as the 42a10 can, a digital coax cable would work to. My second question is I think the 42a10 can pick up hd channels over the air just by searching for them [ or somthing like that ] can this tv do that to

Can anyone share their VGA PC settings and Component Settings for the LN-R series Samsung LCD? I have the 23" (LN-R238W) but this thread was the closest match....

My Reds are horribly bleeding from my screen, everything else is fabulous with the display. Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=613718

had both sharp and samsung, prefer Samsung and the features

I picked one up at Best buy, good price and all sorts of Gift Cards, DVD Recorders came with it. I've been eyeing this set or a panny and it was a good deal. I've only minorly tweaked it, of course the sales guy wanted to sell me $150 HDMI cables. I'll need about 6ft but don't want to spend that much can someone point me to a good deal.

Yeah, im getting some horiztonal lines running down the screen (darker or ligher color) and my pc refresh rate is set at 1360x768, anyone know a way to fix it?

I couple of Impressions after a couple of Days of Use.

The Set had great Blacks. With Extended contrast turned on almost too much. I have'nt quite decided How I like that. I find I use it with my Hi def Cable, but turn it off with lower definition DVD's. Maybe once I get my HDMI Cable for my Sony Changer maybe upconverted images will be better with it on. Xbox 360 hooked to the VGA Input looks great. I notice that the enhanced contrast does not work in PC Mode, still looks great thou and much better than my Viewsonic LCD.

I notice that all bets are off on LCD set, I would never have my Regular sets turn up to 85 contrast, but that almost where this set has to be, I guess you do not run into as much of a possibility with burn in to worry about this.

Standard Def Cable surprised me, it looks much better than I expected it to.

My only complaint so far is that this set is a dust magnet. The piano black trim really picks up dust. I guess I see why it comes with a cleaning cloth. How does everyone clean their actual screen thou, I figure just some light water on a microfiber cloth would do the trick.

My only complaint so far is that this set is a dust magnet. The piano black trim really picks up dust. I guess I see why it comes with a cleaning cloth. How does everyone clean their actual screen thou, I figure just some light water on a microfiber cloth would do the trick.

This was my one complaint as well. The solution (and I hate to actually endorse one of their products) is Monster Screen Clean. There is an anti-static substance in the spray that dramatically reduces the amount of dust that collects around the screen.

Eric, who sells that cleaner?

You can get it at CC or any of those places. It comes w/ 2 blue micro fiber cloths as well.

Has anybody played any games on this thing with very specific timing like dance dance revolution or sports games with timing meters? Did you notice any lag? I'm thinking about getting the 408d version of this TV and will use it primarily for gaming.

After reading all the issues with the DLP samsung I was wondering if there were any issues with the LCD's.

The Samsung has been touted to have Lag, but damn if I see any on my 360. I've played Call of Duty, Quake 4 , and a few other games and have noticed no lag. On my Viewsonic 2750 there is slight blurring.

I got my HDMI cable yesterday so I tried running a few DVD's from my Sony Changer to the set and the upconverted image does look pretty dang nice. The only issue I have with this set is the Green Push. It's not noticible on anything but Black and White TV shows or Films. Problem is I watch alot of Black and White TV Shows and films. The colort temp helps a bit. I find the Normal or Warm 1 minimizes it the most. The Cooler settings gets rid of the Green Push but adds a Blue tint I don't like either.
Changing the Color Detail settings for green really does'nt help.

If anyone has any suggestions in the service menu let me know. Overall the set is nice. At the Best Buy yesterday I went back to the TV section, they have a Sony Bravia 32" right next to the Sammy, and it's tough to justify the Extra Grand for the Sony. The Pictures are pretty similar.

Does anyone know how to turn off the the TV tuner input on the sammy LCDs.

I don't use it since I use my DVR box for TV viewing so I'd like to remove the TV input from input selection.

thx,
Rob

Does anyone know how to turn off the the TV tuner input on the sammy LCDs.

I don't use it since I use my DVR box for TV viewing so I'd like to remove the TV input from input selection.

thx,
Rob

Unfortunately I don't think you can.

Hey all,
I've had my LA-32R51B (Aussie version of the LN-R328W) for a few months now and I'm loving it. I don't have any problems with the bleeding reds that others have mentioned. The only downside I've found is the lag - a second or two pause - when changing input sources. It's even more annoying that you can't disable the AV1 input, adding a few more seconds of nothing to get from AV Stereo to PC input...

Overall I give it two thumbs up.

Cheers,
Dan

I am watching " LOST " on my TV and I have tried all the settings listed in this forum discussion and the PQ is terrible when they show night shots. It is very difficult to see what is going on. Any suggestions?

I am watching " LOST " on my TV and I have tried all the settings listed in this forum discussion and the PQ is terrible when they show night shots. It is very difficult to see what is going on. Any suggestions?

It may be the source. I have the same problem and its DirecTV's fault. DVDs and other high quality input sources look great on the TV. But my standard non-HDTV DirecTV has some shaky shows and this is one of the worst. If you still have issues, contact the Dharma Initiaitive or Hansa Insititute for assistance.

I am watching " LOST " on my TV and I have tried all the settings listed in this forum discussion and the PQ is terrible when they show night shots. It is very difficult to see what is going on. Any suggestions?


Yeah, watch it in HD. HD was just fine last night.

Pre-HD on my analog JVC blew. Pre HD on the Sammy Blew.

Only way to go is HD. I don't think there is much more that can be done.
There just is not enought data in the signal to create a decent picture.

Two questions: 1) I just moved and currently have a sony kdf42we655. It is just a little wide to fit in the corner I need it to so I'm going to sell it. I'll be sitting about 6 feet away and use it for mostly xbox 360 and hd cable through time warner. Would this be an appropriate sized set? It's so hard to tell in the stores.

2) If I do get this set, for the xbox 360 should I use component input or get the vga cable for the best 720p results?

Thanks!!!

I'm using mine from that distance and it's fine. As far as the cable goes I tried it with both the Component and the VGA and the Vga I think looks better. THe Vga input does not let you use Dynamic Contrast but to me that's ok cause using it when I tested it on the Component inputs made the picture way too contrasy and you lost fine details, important for navigating those darkly lit games like Quake. It looks quite good on the VGA Cable.

I have the 32" LN-R3228W (all black bezel and black stand version of LN-R328W)

Can someone tell me what the defaults are for "Panel Option" and "Gamma" under "2. Option table" of the service menu?
(to enter the service menu hit: Mute 1 8 2 "Power on" on the remote control)

I was moving around the screen not intenting to change anything and I may have inadvertently changed one of them.

(yeah, I know write it down first....)

What is strange is that of the possible four choices of "Panel option", AUO and CMO are also the names of two large Korean panel makers. Hmmm....

Thanks!

bumping up my post above:

Any help appreciated

Thanks!

bumping up my post above:

Any help appreciated

Thanks!
There should be a reset option in the service menu. Just move to it and press the right arrow. It should power off the tv and when you turn it back on, I think all the options including the settings in the service menu should be reverted back to default settings.

Yeah, I saw the "reset" service menu option...

I was hesitating to use it since it is sort of drastic given i may have changed ony one or two fields. Have you ever tried the reset?

As a habit, I always use the less intrusive fix as possible (this coming from my programming background). I may end up up using the reset anyhow if I don't find the defaults for these two fields.

Thanks!

dp

The only issue I have with this set is the Green Push. It's not noticible on anything but Black and White TV shows or Films. Problem is I watch alot of Black and White TV Shows and films. The color temp helps a bit. I find the Normal or Warm 1 minimizes it the most. The Cooler settings gets rid of the Green Push but adds a Blue tint I don't like either.
Changing the Color Detail settings for green really doesn't help.
If anyone has any suggestions in the service menu let me know.
Hmmmm. I sure don't want the extra green. I'm replacing my nearly two decade old Samsung 27" CRT with the LN-R3228W model, soon delivered in a few days.
The CRT's picture is overly green most of the time which I suspected to be due to age of the screen. Since I also watch a lot of B&W I wanted to remedy this with a new widescreen LCD. Even color TV is usually in a greenish haze, so I'd hate not having a color-correct appearance on the new TV. Sure hope that won't be the case, maybe it varies. I even think my cable signal might be partially at fault sometimes when I notice better gray shades and colors on different channels at different times. There's a low channel number here (Charter CATV) that will have things like the 1950's Ozzie and Harriet or Lone Ranger shows on that could pass for a lush rainforest jungle, darkness included!
In fact, I worry about my Cable... it seems to be over-powered and causes orange colors to go fuzzy and distort the rest of the picture. I thought my TV tube was going bad for sure. Cable has been checked out but everything is supposed to be within proper specs. Just not sure I can believe that. I'm hoping for perfection after seeing the new TV, if that's possible. :rolleyes:
I'll be posting here again later in the week to tell about the outcome of what my LN-R3228W is like after I see it for myself. The only other I've seen is at Best Buy, the LN-R328W model, and it looked very good far as colors goes.
The TV got here yesterday. Seems a big improvement going from the old 27" CRT Samsung I replaced with this. Of course I expected that much unless it had a defect of some kind.

A short list of possible problems, though, would begin with the overall graininess of the picture. It's something I'm having trouble ignoring, even after trying changes to settings such as DNR, Sharpness, Dynamic Contrast. In fact, I noticed Zoom mode creates checkerboard patterns in parts that move or shift quickly.

I use a Samsung DVD recorder/VCR combo to connect by HDMI, and coax for Cable TV when powered off, so there could be some issues with cables.

The volume level begins very high. 0 is basically off then 1 is already loud enough to hear, and more than 6 is too loud when things are quiet around. I tried up to 30 for a moment and it was like putting headphones on with the volume set too high. Surprised about that since I knew it was only going to have 10 Watts per speaker and thought it would be fairly weak alone. I use the Samsung Home Theater system I just got, too, when playing DVD's and expected I'd be using it more for most TV watching. The HT is a 5-disc changer, too, so it's connected by component cables to the TV (very cheap cables). The picture quality isn't good.

I've got those set to Progressive Scan but before I did the PQ was terrible. I'm using 480P on the DVD-R/VCR only because the cheap HT doesn't have settings for that.

So, with all that said, if anyone has other ideas about the graininess I'd love to hear from you. Could it be a common characteristic of this particular Samsung model? Just seems like the pixel resolution might not be all there, plus the way it appears as a kind of OTA 'snow' is strange. This is my first LCD TV, if I haven't said that already.

I have the 32" LN-R3228W (all black bezel and black stand version of LN-R328W)

Can someone tell me what the defaults are for "Panel Option" and "Gamma" under "2. Option table" of the service menu?
(to enter the service menu hit: Mute 1 8 2 "Power on" on the remote control)

Hey there, I checked that service menu here. Says:

2. Option Table B004H 01CAH

Inch Option 32" Ant. Gain Display OFF TTX Group Auto
Gamma 32" AUO Language English TTX Level LEVEL 1.5
Panel Option AUO Auto FM OFF DNIe ON
Auto Power ON High Deviation OFF Msp Ver. K
V-Chip Area CA TTX ON DVI ON
V-Chip Enable ON TTX List Flop Debug OFF
LNA OFF TTX TOP OFF

Curiously, that V-Chip Area setting seems to indicate this TV was going to CA originally so I changed it to US, my only change and hopefully okay to do. I'm not going to go into anything else. ;)

Anyone have an idea about what the highlighted (although unchangeable) alphanumeric's are on the first service menu screen? Shows these two there at the bottom left of the list:

T-ROME2MNUS-3002
T-ROMEMNUSS-1000

Oh, and since I got into that service menu... what's the correct way of leaving it?
EXIT on my remote did nothing, except when leaving parts of the menu itself so I went ahead and pressed the remote's Power button.

Thanks for the info Motionpixels...

Seems that my settings were intact. To leave the menu I also just used the remote's power off button.

Ahhh alrighty then, power button it'll be unless someone says otherwise. That is, if I ever go into it again.

I found my custom settings in the regular menu needing a few changes to get back to normal, which I didn't expect since all I touched in that service menu was that one thing for V-Chip Area. I knew something was amiss because the picture was somehow different from before I went into there.

Sound settings were still the same, though, so it wasn't as if it had caused a complete reset to defaults by using that service menu. Just FYI if anyone cares to know that.

I own the LN-R328W and have a couple of question about the settings:

1) Does anyone know what color temperatures the color tone options correspond to?

2) I not sure I understand the Pink control. Why not have Blue, Green and Red. The fact that people are setting it to 0 must mean it doesn't affect red all that much.

I own the LN-R328W and have a couple of question about the settings:

1) Does anyone know what color temperatures the color tone options correspond to?

2) I not sure I understand the Pink control. Why not have Blue, Green and Red. The fact that people are setting it to 0 must mean it doesn't affect red all that much.


If anything the set has a green tinge that's most evident in B&W Programming I'd love to find out if there's a way to get rid of that

Ok.. So I have some questions.. I've read this thread and a few others, but I'm still in a grey area..

I have a Philips 30" lcd which I hate.. I'm offing it soon and hope to aquire this samsung 32"

The biggest problems I have with the Philips are the fact that SD looks like garbage, and HD doesn't look great either. I have a rear projection mitsu 55" in my living room and it looks fantastic, HDTV in my bedroom on the Philips is horrible.

Is this just because the philips sucks, or am I just being picky trying to compare my mitsu to an lcd.. HELP!!

--Josh

I don't see extra green. Old B&W movies have very good shades of gray and are very much black and white if Dynamic Contrast is on-- but I don't like that so I leave that switched off.

My old CRT Samsung had become terribly green-tinted and my only control over it was either color saturation or tint, neither of which actually helped enough.

That My Color thing turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. I expected it to have 6 possible color settings according to the description given about it. I later thought the LN-R328W was the one with the 6 colors (I have the LN-R3228W) until I read here what people were saying.

Apparently that Pink does control how the reddish colors look on my TV, because I was able to turn it down to 25 (from default of 50) and make the intense reds diminish. Is really strange that Samsung chose to let Pink be adjusted and not Red, I don't understand that either except that I sure did notice I was seeing extremely pink mouths on people (mainly on Cable News for whatever reason) before I changed the color settings. Maybe these LCD's have specific enhanced color regions compared to other displays...? I sure don't know. :confused:

And I don't know the Kelvin color temperature equivalents for the color modes Cool2, Cool1, Normal, Warm1, Warm2, but that would be interesting to learn about. If Normal were at 5000 then maybe the cools are about 5200 and 5400, warms about 4800 and 4600. But I'd be making a complete guess. :rolleyes:

Oh, yeah, about SD... It isn't all that good when viewed closely. Close being within 6' or so. If I were to base my opinion about this Samsung purely on that I'd probably hate this TV. My viewing distance is 8' so it can look okay, but I still have some trouble getting used to the widescreen stretch, granularity and obvious scaling artifacts. Overall, though, it's an improvement over the 4:3 CRT. Cost being maybe 3 times what I might have paid for 32" HD-ready CRT makes it more difficult to justify but it's good enough for me I believe.

Still wondering about the My Color being able to adjust "6" different colors. The instruction manual I received with the TV covers many different models but I've read the specific description for it from an online PDF file and it definitely says white, red, pink, yellow, green and blue should be in there.

http://product.samsung.com/SamsungUSA/PRODUCT/20050504/lnr3228.pdf

Manufacture date of my TV was November 2005 and the model (order number) is exactly what it says in that file.

Makes me think I'm missing something in the way I'm accessing the menu-- doubt I could be, though.

And while I'm back once again posting a message... I've decided there is a lot of smearing in the CATV pictures possibly all due to response time or another factor. I wasn't noticing the effect during watching of widescreen version of The Incredibles DVD last night. That had a 'looking through a window' appearance for the most part, albeit at computer-generated imagery. :D It's my Cable programs that look rather sloppy. :(

I continue to learn to live with this new stuff called LCD television. I'll certainly have an easier time choosing my next LCD unless I happen to end up getting something having a totally different technology years from now. ;)

Motionpixels,

I found that some SD digital channels show much better than others on my LN-R3228. The worst offenders that I have noticed in terms of artifacts and granularity is hockey in SD. I turn sharpness to zero in that case. But watching a hockey game (or anything else ) in HD on this set is just awesome. I set the color temperature to Cool2 and the ice is just as bright white as in the arena.

I also notice only three color settings instead of the six shown in the manual.

Still wondering about the My Color being able to adjust "6" different colors. The instruction manual I received with the TV covers many different models but I've read the specific description for it from an online PDF file and it definitely says white, red, pink, yellow, green and blue should be in there.

http://product.samsung.com/SamsungUSA/PRODUCT/20050504/lnr3228.pdf



AFAIK, the 3228W is identical to the 328W (other than the all black speaker grille) and my 328W's manual definitely only describes 3 settings for MCC. Note that Samsung's 9D line does have the 6 color adjustments. That is one of the only differences b/t the 9D and 8W, other than aesthetics of course.

Correction: my manual only shows three colors as Eric pointed out.

But the Samsung Spec Sheet (http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/pdf/lnr3228spec.pdf) for this model does show 6 colors.

Right, I see the manual here does just show those three in My Color Control>My Detail>

I think Samsung is risking a lot of customer confusion by touting that 6-color adjustment in all its descriptions. It isn't just the fault of vendors to be showing incorrect info when Samsung has their own info at their website telling of these exact models with the feature.

Yeah, Denis15, SD channels vary in PQ alot here. The LCD panel is bringing out all the bad about my Cable signal. I'm getting some F-connector terminators to put onto my unused line and splitter ends, something needing done years ago and never got around to it.

I thought it strange that Cable channels show so much of a lagging smear effect because that The Incredibles DVD had no such noticeable effect. I think some people are calling this ghosting (for LCD's anyway). The ghosting I think of is like multiple image edges and so is nothing to do with response times or lag.
This last sentence reads back to me wrong. I'm talking about CRT's there, not LCD's. I actually see both kinds of effects on my LCD here-- just not always.

Gee, I can't resist writing more and more about this Samsung. ha ha :)

I've been using PC and PIP together and encountered a major annoyance. The Sound menu setting for Main/Sub doesn't stay, keeps resetting back to Main every time I quit PC mode by changing Source and then return to it.

Apparently the people at Samsung were thinking it would be best to default to the PC sounds not to a PIP window. Unfortunate for me because I don't use the computer's sound (yet) and I'd rather watch and hear TV at the same time. For example, I'm here writing this message with the Samsung acting as monitor and watching the Sci-Fi Channel movie Magma. If I expected to play computer games then that would be a different story, I'd want to have the sound from the PC connection-- but I'd probably not be watching TV at the same time. :cool:

The ghosting I think of is like multiple image edges and so is nothing to do with response times or lag.
This last sentence reads back to me wrong. I'm talking about CRT's there, not LCD's. I actually see both kinds of effects on my LCD here-- just not always.
Motionpixels,

I can sometimes see what you describe (multiple image edge) when using component input. If I turn the closed caption on, this effect is plainly visible on the white letters against a black background. I replaced the component cable with HDMI, and the effect was completely eliminated.

I can sometimes see what you describe (multiple image edge) when using component input.
I have the HT 5-disc player connected via cheap component cables and the PQ is awful compared to the other player connected via HDMI. I blame the cables themselves but only used S-Video direct to the old TV before this new one was put in so I haven't compared those two connections.
Thinking this is probably a good time to show how I connected it all together so here's a sloppy little diagram of how mine is set up right now. Must imagine the optical digital audio cable between the two DVD boxes so I can get the sound through the HT speakers when the DVD recorder/VCR is being used.
http://www.3digitaleyes.com/public/hdtv_setup.jpg
Back to the LCD 'ghosting' or smear effect... you know, I believe if it weren't for the crisp details I see when camera or other things are motionless I probably wouldn't notice it much. It's the change from clear to blur that makes it worse than it really is. The overall PQ actually seems pretty good to me as long as the channel itself is good. I've already seen how DVD's can be either good or bad, too. It's hard to blame the Samsung without side by side comparisons in-home. I know it (LN-R328W model) looked very good in the Best Buy store.

I have the HT 5-disc player connected via cheap component cables and the PQ is awful compared to the other player connected via HDMI. I blame the cables themselves but only used S-Video direct to the old TV before this new one was put in so I haven't compared those two connections.

According to most Electronic Engineering Professors and the Intro on the AVIA calibration disks, expensive connection cables don't make a difference unless your runs are over 12 feet. I believe these various sources and have stopped purchasing expensive cables.

BTW - the 6/3 color thing has been a source of confusion for me as well. Everything one reads online about this TV claims it has 6 adjustable colors, then you get it home and wonder if you have last years model, or something... It's weird.

Concerning SD picture quality, I had always wondered why it is so poor on digital sets. The guy who calibrated my other set wrote this about the subject:

The problem with 4 X 3 is that the TV still scans the full screen, so it has to store the 4/3 image until the beam gets to the point where the 4/3 image starts, then has to spit the 4/3/ image out quickly so that the image is complete by the time the beam gets to where the end of the 4/3 image ends, then put the 4/3/ image back into storage until the beam finishes that first line, begins a second line, gets to the place where the 4/3 image starts, and so on. That's a huge amount of signal processing on an already low rez signal. And, while that's not out of the realm of modern day electronics, this is an HDTV set that's designed for HD pictures, and Mits (and everybody else, BTW), is going to cut every corner they can to make these things cheap. And if 4 X 3 performance on low def has to suffer, then that's just the way it is.

Here's the link: http://www.***************.com/htsthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/778708/an/0/page/0/gonew/1#UNREAD

You know, I believe if it weren't for the crisp details I see when camera or other things are motionless I probably wouldn't notice it much. It's the change from clear to blur that makes it worse than it really is.

OK so you see some motion blur.... Do you see this on DVD's (I don't have a DVD player pluggged to my Sammy so I can't check this out).

There are two possibilities: If this is visible on CatTV it can be caused by the compression of the signal. Highly compressed signals show blur and artifacts during motion. You shoudn't see this on a DVD since you don't have the variable compression factor that you have on CatTV. It can also be due to the LN-R3228 actual refresh rate which has been verified to be between 18 ms to 28 ms in independent testing. It's like the old contrast ratio conundrum where most companies overstate the true contrast ratio. Samsung probably used gray-to-gray in their refresh rates. But white-to-black or black-to-white is a more extreme way to test it. Most companies do the same thing in regards to refresh rates than they do with contrast ratios. Check the following comparison review (http://www.denguru.com/2006/01/20/are_32_lcd_tvs_ready_for_prime_time/index.html) which tested true refresh rates on a number of models including the samsung LN-R328W. According to this review, Samsung seemed to fudge a bit more than the others as far as refresh rates are concerned.

In Hockey in HD I only see slight blurring blur when the camera pans accross but not when the hockey player zips along across the screen at high speed when the camera is fixed. Why is that so? In the second case there is much less information to transmit from the cablehead since the entire background is fixed. In the first case, everything is moving on the screen so there is a lot of info to send from the broadcaster to the cable provider then to the TV, compression notwithstanding. So my first inclination would be to think that this is caused by signal compression. But then again, there may be some part of it due to the real refresh rate.

I read on other posts that SED panels have refresh rates that eliminate blur even when the camera is panning across. Well if the motion artifacts is at the source then the SED's will not be of any help in this case.

Let me know if you see this type of motion blurr on DVD's. This will shed a bit of light on this issue.

Thanks for the responses tegage, denis15.

I've seen that comparitive review. It's a bit disconcerting to have bought this TV based on the 12ms RT since I knew a little about that having the computer LCD's and I wanted to stay away from older designs still using 16ms or slower. The 8ms LCD TV's I considered buying were either lacking in something (HDMI, lower Contrast Ratio, etc.) or were more expensive or just not priced right for the features. This Samsung was just right for me.

I'm going to try leaving Digital Noise Reduction off now, maybe it could help prevent slowdown of the incoming signal to picture processing(?).

I'll restate the fact that the DVD by Pixar, The Incredibles, looked flawless to me. I saw that movie at a theater and it's probably better on this TV than that was. Of the (only) 30 to 40 discs I own it's also one of the more recent, along with War of the Worlds, Finding Nemo, Ice Age, A Bug's Life, Lost in Space, Matrix, Star Wars: Episode II and a few others actually made during the last 10 years or so. Most are from over 30 years ago so they probably aren't the best to check PQ with. That new War of the Worlds (4:3 version) looked awful in widescreen mode. I'm not even sure if the widescreen version would be all that good since it seemed to be mainly due to the way they filmed it, perhaps, having a high-speed film graininess and soft glows around highlights. At least I think that's the way it actually is. I saw that one in a theater, too, but I can't remember exactly how it looked there.

Of the Cable channels (SD kind) I think SciFi is probably one of the worst. Looks like they blur everything before it even gets to my TV screen! I do believe much of the trouble I see is with the simple fact it's a regular 4:3 SD signal, as is well-known, stretched to widescreen. Something that's no doubt relative among 16:9 TV's. Only way I'd ever know for sure how this Samsung compares to others would be to have them here to see alongside each other, and that'll never happen until I replace this one with another new TV someday.

Motionpixels,

If your DVD show flawlessly (even with fast motion), that would suggest the blur I see in hockey HD broadcast during camera pans is probably signal compression from the source. Not much can be done at our end to improve this. The camera pan blur is not pronounced by any means and otherwise does not mar the fine HD hockey experience at all. Everything else is crisp and the picture is superlative.

I'm pleased overall with this purchase.

Here's another thing I don't like in the marketing. The claimed 170 degree viewing angle is not realistic. Soon as I move 20 or 30 degree off axis, the colors start to fade. But for me this is not an issue fortunately as I am the only one viewing this TV so I am always dead center in front.

Hi Tegage,

It is indeed a challenge for HDTV's to render SD signals in a way that pleases the viewer. Before I swapped my LG 32LXD1 for the Samsung, I was able to evaluate its performance on SD. The XD engine on the LG seemed to me consistently better than the Samsung for SD rendering. I cleaned up noisy analog channels much better than the Samsung does. In the end I opted for the Samsung because the LG used a cooling fan that was on 24/7 even when the TV was turned off! Samsung uses no such fan.

I also am an HD junkie so I surf mainly those HD channels first before moving to the realm of SD channels. Still, many digital SD channels show very well in the Sammy even on stretch mode. For example Star Treck Enterprise in strech mode from the SD digital Space Channel (available on Rodgers Cable) looks very nice. Other shows on the same channel don't look as nice so there is also the source material as well as the input signal quality that will affect the viewing experience.

The claimed 170 degree viewing angle is not realistic. Soon as I move 20 or 30 degree off axis, the colors start to fade.

Yep. Although, it looks to me to be more of a contrast/brightness situation. I can start noticing a change from just 15 degrees off-center, but it actually keeps a good viewable picture even from way off to the sides or when looking up or down at the screen. Can't say the same for my computer monitors-- only wish I could. This is something that equals out when going from a curved CRT to flat panel LCD so I'm also happy with it.

Reminds me of the two reasons I chose this kind of TV. The screen doesn't reflect room lights or windows, and it doesn't have that RP-like shallow viewing angle.

I'm counting on this Samsung doing fine for the next half dozen years and by then there's going to be a similarly priced TV that's vastly improved over this one. I'm just going to need to forget about the idea of keeping a $400 TV a dozen years each time and plan to spend more during less time if I want to upgrade my television-watching.

I have actually been very pleasantly surprised w/ the quality of SD channels on my 328W. Obviously depends on the quality of the feed of each channel (garbage in, garbage out) so maybe I'm lucky and have a really good feed. But almost all of the channels look pretty clean - better in most cases than my 50" samsung dlp.

As far as motion blur goes, I really tried to look for it a lot when I first got the display. Watched men's tennis, Nascar, baseball, etc and really had a tough time seeing any blur whatsoever. So overall I never found this to be an issue on the Samsung.

My only issue initially was the reds were too punchy. But by taking the Pink in MCC down to 0, that helped a lot. Now colors look quite natural and black levels are still decent. I leave Dynamic Contrast off, btw.

Given that this is a bedroom TV, maybe I'm a little less critical of the picture quality, but overall, I have a great experience with this display.

As far as motion blur goes, I really tried to look for it a lot when I first got the display... I never found this to be an issue on the Samsung.

Hi Eric,

In my case, the blur happens only when the camera pans quickly and only for those objects that are fixed (people in the stands, announcements on the boards in the arena etc). When the camera pans to follow the action, the players themselves which is the center of focus do not blur. The blur is subtle for the fixed objects during the pan but it is there for sure. Check it out on fast moving sports and let me know if you see what I describe.

However, the worst PQ on my LN-R3228W in terms of artifacts and noise is hockey in SD regardless of channel. In HD it is quite amazing and crisp. Luckily, I have good HD coverage of hockey by my cable provider to make this a non-issue.

I'm fairly far down the line where I live, I think, miles away from any town. I just don't know where the Cable company equipment is located out here. There's a highway nearly two miles from here. Have a 400' distance to the power pole with another pole on my property between it and the utility pole at my home. It took a few years of asking for Cable before they finally installed it, and I'm last on the line. Not sure where it ended before that, possibly hundreds of feet toward a small group of fairly new houses. Could be that the signal is degraded here but it isn't at all obvious to me except for a few channels with ghosting and vertical bands propogating across the screen sideways. Which is why I'm finally going to add terminators on the unused connections to see if that helps any.

Oh, and you say hockey games are where you notice blurring... I never watch the sports channels enough to see how they appear on the screen, I'm more of a old movie fanatic (or Sci-Fi, or animations). I was watching Turner Classic Movies last night and paying close attention to details like fences and other things with fine lines. When the camera was still it was very sharp and clear, then when it moved even slightly it all became smudged out. Not like the overall picture is bad... just happens to make it more apparent that it could be much better if it kept the same clarity while moving. And, of course, anything else moving even while the camera is motionless does the same and so if a person holds still enough their face can become very clear, wrinkles, freckles, etc. If they talk or move even a little bit it smears into a smooth texture. :cool:

It's not bothering me extremely since I like the improvement over the old TV's scan lines and green tinge. :)

Hi Tegage,
I also am an HD junkie so I surf mainly those HD channels first before moving to the realm of SD channels. Still, many digital SD channels show very well in the Sammy even on stretch mode. For example Star Treck Enterprise in strech mode from the SD digital Space Channel (available on Rodgers Cable) looks very nice. Other shows on the same channel don't look as nice so there is also the source material as well as the input signal quality that will affect the viewing experience.

I have been pleased with the SD quality of this set as well. It seems better then my Mitsubishi 5507. Like you, however, most of what I watch is HD (or DVD).

Another recent Comparison review (http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124311,00.asp) by PC World

They compared five sets: here's what they say about the LN-R328W: "this basic TV was the clear winner in our image-quality tests"

It's nice to know this model is well regarded.

How do you get rid of the black bars, when watching non-HD? I currently have the TV connected to a comcast HDTV cable box (component 2) , when I watch non-HD TV I have black bars on all the channels. If I connect the cable directly to the TV the channels come in fine but I won't be able to see the HD channels and use the On Demand function the comcast offers. I get wide, zoom and 4:3 options but non of them fill in the whole tv unless its a HD signal. Please help.. Thanks :confused:

I have a Motorola 6412 III HD Cablebox. It has various settings. One of them is called 4:3 override. It has 4 settings. Off, 480I, 480P, stretch. If you set it to stretch, all standard definition channels will be diplayed in 16:9 aspect ratio. It is stretching the 4:3 picture to fill your 16:9 screen. I set mine to 480P. You get a better standard definition picture and the zoom features work. On some sets, if the HD channel is being received in 4:3, there is no way to change the picture size with either the cablebox or the TV. However, some sets do have a picture size settings that will work with HD.

Some digital channels just broadcast their entire program at 1080i or 720 but with the pillar boxs (black bars on left and right) for programs in 4:3. In that case I don't think you can get rid of them if the black bars are added by the station and not your tuner.

Thanks Little Buddy, I have a Motorola DCT6200 from comcast. I downloaded a user-manual and used it the change the settings when the box is off. I now have the TV-screen filled by using the 480p. My settings are: TV Type 16:9, YPbPr 480p and 4:3 override 480p. Thanks

Motionpixels and all,

There is a free DVD recorder promotion for purchasers of LN-R3228W and LN-R238W. If one buys or alreaqdy bought one of these models between Nov 1 2005 and Feb 2006 one can get a free DVD recorder with the Samsung promotion currently running until Feb 6. Motionpixels, I think you would qualify for the free DVD-recorder since you bought yours very recently.

Check out http://product.samsung.com/pdf/nfl/nfl_rebate.pdf

I don't qualify unfortunately because the promotion only starts in January for purchases made in Canada (my purchase was made in Novevember).

So I just picked this one up yesterday at CC. Absolutely beautiful picture. I actually could have picked up the Sammy 42" DLP for $100 more, but the PQ is not even close.

32" is surprisingly large, but more importantly the picture is just stunning. I have Bright House Networks HDTV going into it with a SA8300DVR via HDMI.

Thanks to all here who have suggested the Brightness, Contrast and other settings, they are perfect.

I set Pink to 0, Green to 75, Blue to 50
Contrast: 90
Brightness: 50
Sharpness: 15
Color: 49/51
Dynamic Contrast: OFF
Brightness Sensor: OFF

Dynamic Contrast and Brightness Sensor are really no replacement for a properly calibrated picture. I just don't understand why people would use it, but to each his own :D

Can't wait for the Superbowl today!!

Hi PerfectCr,

Are you sure you didn't set contrast to 90 and brightness to 50? I think you might have got them reversed. If I set brightness to 90, my picture is all washed out. At a brightness of 50, it looks great.

Hi PerfectCr,

Are you sure you didn't set contrast to 90 and brightness to 50? I think you might have got them reversed. If I set brightness to 90, my picture is all washed out. At a brightness of 50, it looks great.


WHOOPS! Major TYPO :eek: I will edit it now. :D

Hey, that's great denis15! NFL promotional thing, eh?

Thing is... I bought mine from amazon.com and the delivery people didn't leave a box (as part of their service) with UPC label. Also not sure how I'd send a valid receipt, too.

Well, I'll watch those Seahawks anyway. Lived in the Seattle area 15 years (not since 1985) so guess I'm obligated to cheer on the team despite my lack enthusiasm. ;)

Motionpixels and all,

There is a free DVD recorder promotion for purchasers of LN-R3228W and LN-R238W. If one buys or alreaqdy bought one of these models between Nov 1 2005 and Feb 2006 one can get a free DVD recorder with the Samsung promotion currently running until Feb 6. Motionpixels, I think you would qualify for the free DVD-recorder since you bought yours very recently.

Check out http://product.samsung.com/pdf/nfl/nfl_rebate.pdf

I don't qualify unfortunately because the promotion only starts in January for purchases made in Canada (my purchase was made in Novevember).

Yes, I am sending in the rebate tomorrow. Can this thing double as a regular DVD player too?

PefectCR,

Yes. You can also use it as a regular DVD player.

Enjoy!

Motionpixels,

Since I don't qualify, I don't need the UPC for my LN-R3228W. I can send it to you ... If you bought your set at Amazon, you probably have an online account with them. Check your Amazon online account to obtain your receipt. Once you get your receipt let me know and I will arrange to send you my UPC from my box. There's no rush since you have until March 31 to put it in the mail and have it postmarked.

I can't decline that offer! If it works out I'll give you a big tip (not the word kind). Not sure if they'll have some way to compare UPC with receipt but it's worth a try.

Heck, a few months of waiting to find out... I've forgotten about these rebates before so I probably threw away supposedly junk mail that probably had a check in it. Guess there would be no mistaking a box.

I'll mail you a SASE for the UPC label to be sent in when we start on this.

That Amazon 'invoice' was easier to get than I thought it would be, just a matter of listing orders and going to a print invoice link. So if you'd like to private message me here I'll watch for that. Might not see it until tomorrow if you see this before then.

Thinking now what can be done with the DVD Recorder since I already have one. Maybe give it to someone I know or sell it. Will figure that out someday.

[I]I thought I would add my .02 on this Samsung product. Please keep in mind that I am new to this forum and HD purchases in general :

Originally a month ago I had purchased a Westinghouse 27" that ended up with a strange audio problem. I returned it to the "mom and pop" store where I had purchased it. They did not have a replacement for it so I got a refund and purchased the Samsung 26" from CC and had it for a week. I was so impressed with the quality of the picture utilizing BASIC Cable from Charter and DVD's that I called them [CC] up an asked if I could bring it back in exchange for the 32". They said "No problem". The price difference was $300 and I got a rebate form for a Samsung DVD-R which I mailed out ASAP. This TV is gorgeous, no kidding. I watched the Super Bowl last night in Panorama mode and it looked fantastic even with just the basic cable ! I already had purchased the Samsung HD-850 after I got the Westy so I have a nice HDMI Connection between the two Samsung products. My audio out is backed by twin NAD-2200's [bridged] and some nice Polks................Later

So I just picked this one up yesterday at CC. Absolutely beautiful picture. I actually could have picked up the Sammy 42" DLP for $100 more, but the PQ is not even close.

32" is surprisingly large, but more importantly the picture is just stunning. I have Bright House Networks HDTV going into it with a SA8300DVR via HDMI.

Thanks to all here who have suggested the Brightness, Contrast and other settings, they are perfect.

I set Pink to 0, Green to 75, Blue to 50
Contrast: 90
Brightness: 50
Sharpness: 15
Color: 49/51
Dynamic Contrast: OFF
Brightness Sensor: OFF

Dynamic Contrast and Brightness Sensor are really no replacement for a properly calibrated picture. I just don't understand why people would use it, but to each his own :D

Can't wait for the Superbowl today!!

PerfectCR. How did these settings work for the Super Bowl? Did you arrive at these settings with Avia or Video Essentials or just experimenting visually? Is your STB set to 720P or 1080i output? Thanks

[I]I thought I would add my .02 on this Samsung product. Please keep in mind that I am new to this forum and HD purchases in general :

Originally a month ago I had purchased a Westinghouse 27" that ended up with a strange audio problem. I returned it to the "mom and pop" store where I had purchased it. They did not have a replacement for it so I got a refund and purchased the Samsung 26" from CC and had it for a week. I was so impressed with the quality of the picture utilizing BASIC Cable from Charter and DVD's that I called them [CC] up an asked if I could bring it back in exchange for the 32". They said "No problem". The price difference was $300 and I got a rebate form for a Samsung DVD-R which I mailed out ASAP. This TV is gorgeous, no kidding. I watched the Super Bowl last night in Panorama mode and it looked fantastic even with just the basic cable ! I already had purchased the Samsung HD-850 after I got the Westy so I have a nice HDMI Connection between the two Samsung products. My audio out is backed by twin NAD-2200's [bridged] and some nice Polks................Later

You should've seen it in Actual HD ! If you have access to HD I would recommend it to make the most of this set, although it does OK on Standard Cable, better than Most LCD's I've seen.

PerfectCR. How did these settings work for the Super Bowl? Did you arrive at these settings with Avia or Video Essentials or just experimenting visually? Is your STB set to 720P or 1080i output? Thanks


I get the Best results in setting the Contrast to 85, the Brightness to 50, Color to 45, tint 53 on the reds, using Warm 1, Dynamic Contrast On (THe Blacks just seem better that way.) The Color Detail I have Pink set to 20, Green to 25, Blue to 50.

PerfectCR. How did these settings work for the Super Bowl? Did you arrive at these settings with Avia or Video Essentials or just experimenting visually? Is your STB set to 720P or 1080i output? Thanks

I found them by first reading this thread, then using the THX optimizer. However the the setting I found on this thread (page 5 or 6 maybe?) are perfect. My STB is setting for 480p, 720p, and 1080i output.

I get the Best results in setting the Contrast to 85, the Brightness to 50, Color to 45, tint 53 on the reds, using Warm 1, Dynamic Contrast On (THe Blacks just seem better that way.) The Color Detail I have Pink set to 20, Green to 25, Blue to 50.
Dynamic Contrast to me seems to kill blacks for me, I just don't like artificial processing to get in thre way of the picture, you know?

Xbox looks great on it too!

Dynamic Contrast to me seems to kill blacks for me, I just don't like artificial processing to get in thre way of the picture, you know?

Xbox looks great on it too!

I agree on the DC point. They tout it as this great feature of the display. I did lots of A/B comparisons with DC on vs. off and virtually every time I preferred it off - especially in dark scenes, which is where I thought it would be most useful.

I agree on the DC point. They tout it as this great feature of the display. I did lots of A/B comparisons with DC on vs. off and virtually every time I preferred it off - especially in dark scenes, which is where I thought it would be most useful.
Exactly, I did give it chance, but like you, most times it made the picture look unnatural.

OBSERVATIONS! This is very good and interesting discussion. I have tried many of the suggested settings to get the best picture quality on my LNR-328W. But so much of it boils down to what each of our idea is of the best picture quality. Also, some settings vary somewhat even between the same brand and same model. Different imputs vary also. Built-in analog tuner, sattelite, cablebox with analog signal, cablebox with digital signal, standard definition picture, high definition picture, DVD player (standard) DVD player (progressive scan) DVD player (upconversion), etc.
Too, the cable companies don't do much to improve SD with analog signal. They do a better job with SD with digital signal and the best usually with HD digital signal.
I guess my point is that there is so many variables, that it is diffcult to lock in on a certain set of settings for ever situation.
One smaller LCD set that own, I have has 4 presets. I can customized each preset and do it for each of my imputs. That gives me the most options for setting picture quality.
Having said that, I add, "Keep those suggestions coming". I rather experiment with picture quality on my Samsung than watch most of the programming that is available.

have had the tv since thanksgiving and have tried every option to erase a line that runs north south down the middle of the screen
it looks like the ghost of the DNIe demo: not as pronounced
DNIe is definitely off!

does anyone have any ideas?

thanks in advance


ps: my $.02 on settings (in order): custom; C 90; B 53; S 70; C 50; T 50; warm 1

(thekid83) You have probably tried these, but---
(1) Unplug TV & plug it back in
(2) Turn Dnile Demo on and run it and then turn it off again.
(3) If connected to cablebox, reset cable box and change cablebox settings.
(4) Does this happen with all inputs? Built-In Tuner, Cablebox, DVD player, etc.
(5) Contact Samsung Customer support.
Good Luck!

is anyone else out there using this tv LN-R238W or bigger model as a windows mce monitor as well? i'm looking for a better vga cable, but when i went to the local home theater place the guy tried selling me a $200 dollar vga cable DB15! i'm on a college students budget.

and kid you might have a set on your panel going out, not uncommon on LCD it could either start as a light or dark line and then as time goes on it will fade through the colors till it dies out and nothing is displayed. i'd call support and tell em to send someone out. i've seen it happen many times while working as a tech on computer LCD monitors.

is anyone else out there using this tv LN-R238W or bigger model as a windows mce monitor as well? i'm looking for a better vga cable, but when i went to the local home theater place the guy tried selling me a $200 dollar vga cable DB15! i'm on a college students budget.
All you need (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&description=vga+cable&Submit=ENE&Ntk=all&N=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0)

Yeah, im getting some horiztonal lines running down the screen (darker or ligher color) and my pc refresh rate is set at 1360x768, anyone know a way to fix it?


To get rid of these just goto settings on the tv when connected to your pc, select setup - more- pc- auto adjustmnt.


That got rid of any darker text I noticed on mine as well. Hope that helps.

did that auto adjust, and on top of that my x1900xt has all sort of options for color and other adjustments, i think i might be that i'm comming from a DVI 19" LCD monitor, is there really that big of a difference in DVI vs DB15????? i mean i always knew there was but WOW!!!

FYI i called a friend who owns a stereo place and he just sent me a monster DB15 computer cable i guess they retail for around 40 dollars so if the picture is sharper i'll let you guys know i don't think 40 for a 6' cable is bad at all.

I usually opt for the cheapest stuff-- if it works okay-- so all I paid for a 10' VGA cable was $8.53, shipping included. It makes for a great computer screen, sans the lack of color adjustment so is always oversaturated. Didn't have correct grayscale either until I did something to it, which I already forgot what that might have been. Was warm toned originally... maybe it was some sort of auto adjust in the TV...?

The 6' component cables I bought were only $11.90 total, too, although they might be reducing PQ from my 5 disc DVD HT. I just don't have a way to be sure, and S-Video or HDMI through the DVD Recorder looks about the same so it could be the DVD player itself.

As to video games on this TV, well, I don't have any other than computer games-- haven't even tried any of those yet-- but somehow I doubt the response time could keep up if it did anything like the TV tuner does. Lots of smearing is obvious to me when watching TV. I really should give a computer game a try through that VGA cable and see how it does... eventually I will.

Oh yeah, wanted to remind myself to mention Sharpness setting next time I ever posted a reply here. For the first week or two it was Sharpness 67 (or two-thirds) because the 75 it started at was too grainy. Then I saw people here saying they use 0 instead. Gave that a try for another week or two. Well, I'm back up to 50 now. I like the clarity it has when things aren't overly grainy or smeared by in motion, versus it always being either soft or pixellated. I noticed how one of the best examples for seeing the change in sharpness (ghosting, or whatever it may be called) is The Weather Channel radar animations. It sure does blur while in motion and then sharpen up as it freezes between loops.

I still think it's interesting that seeing the TV from 12' looks nearly perfect, especially compared to my old CRT, and a little unfortunate that I actually watch it from only 8' or less so the imperfections become apparent. Even so, I'm not disappointed with this first LCD TV. I believe I could have made a worse choice at the price I was paying.

I've been looking at the Samsung LCDs for some time, and have been comparing this TV with Samsung's 26" model with the faster response time. If my primary use will be XBox 360 (Halo 2) gaming, would I be best off going for larger size or a faster response time?

How much more will the gaming screen actually increase in size? If it doesn't actually get TALLER, I'd be wasting money going from the 26" to the 32", right?

I just got this set replaced after a month for the Reds being way to bright and bleeding out all over the place. Must be a problem with this model because the new set is no different. I was just wondering if anyone could post their color settings that seem to work for them so I can try to reduce this color push. It only effects oranges, red-oranges, and pinks every other color looks mint. I get a better picture with DINe off but cannot find a way to keep it off. The only option is to turn the demo on and off with splits the screen and shows you the picture with DINe on and DINe off. Does anyone here know how to turn DINe off for this set.

I just got this set replaced after a month for the Reds being way to bright and bleeding out all over the place. Must be a problem with this model because the new set is no different. I was just wondering if anyone could post their color settings that seem to work for them so I can try to reduce this color push. It only effects oranges, red-oranges, and pinks every other color looks mint. I get a better picture with DINe off but cannot find a way to keep it off. The only option is to turn the demo on and off with splits the screen and shows you the picture with DINe on and DINe off. Does anyone here know how to turn DINe off for this set.
Turn "Dynamic Contrast" Off, and goto Custom Color setting and put "Pink" at 0. This should solve the Red Push issue.

I got a 25 foot VGA cable with integrated audio on eBay for $15 with shipping. My set up is spliting the VGA signal from my computer through a 400 MHz splitter/amplifier that I got on eBay for $10 and I get a perfect signal.

To theKid83 How did you turn DINe off all I can find is the demo setting but that is off and DINe is still on by default where is the setting to turn it off?

To theKid83 How did you turn DINe off all I can find is the demo setting but that is off and DINe is still on by default where is the setting to turn it off?
Did you read my post? I said turn Dynamic Contract off. That's it.

To theKid83 How did you turn DINe off all I can find is the demo setting but that is off and DINe is still on by default where is the setting to turn it off?

On the LN-R models you cannot turn DNIe off. I would do what PerfectCr suggested - that's what I suggested a long way back in this thread when I had precisely the same problem. Have been very happy w/ PQ ever since.

On the LN-R models you cannot turn DNIe off. I would do what PerfectCr suggested - that's what I suggested a long way back in this thread when I had precisely the same problem. Have been very happy w/ PQ ever since.
I was under the impression that DNIe = Dynamic Contrast. No?

If not, then try the service menu, but I can defintely tell that DNIe is NOT on for me because when I view the demo the "On" side looks nothing like my normal picture.

I was under the impression that DNIe = Dynamic Contrast. No?

If not, then try the service menu, but I can defintely tell that DNIe is NOT on for me because when I view the demo the "On" side looks nothing like my normal picture.

No - DNIe stands for Digital Natural Imagine Engine (or something like that). It's Samsung's proprietary image enhancement algorithm(s) which are in all of their displays - dlp, plasma, lcd. On prior year's models (like my HLP DLP) you can disable DNIe, which most people preferred. On this year's models - HLR, LN-R you cannot. Pretty sure you can't even disable in the service menu but I could be wrong about that. That being said, I find that DNIe isn't nearly as bad on my LCD as my DLP. So I don't mind leaving it on.

But Dynamic Contrast (which is specific to Sammy LCDs), I agree, looks better off. Although many prefer it on. Only your eyes can tell you what looks best.

I have Dynamic Contrast Off and the Pink Set to zero I have not been able to find anything with red in it so far to really compare. Funny you cannot find a goot test screen when you need one I think I need to get one of those Digital Video Essentials DVDs. I still would like to turn DINe off. My dad has a Samsung DLP and it looks great and I have DINe off on that set. I service tech that was here said he was sure you could turn it off but did not know how. I don't see why they would have a demo with it off if you cannot turn it off obvioulsy the demo can.

Agreed the DLPs look a lot better w/ dnie off but don't notice the same artifacts on the lcd with it on that I saw on the dlp - obviously tough to compare the two picture given the different technologies but I like the lcd's picture better.

Agreed the DLPs look a lot better w/ dnie off but don't notice the same artifacts on the lcd with it on that I saw on the dlp - obviously tough to compare the two picture given the different technologies but I like the lcd's picture better.
Agreed, got a friend with a DLP set and LCD's look much better. Directview beats projection anytime.

I don't see why they do not allow you to disable DNIe I look at the side by side demo and you lose so much detail in the shadows with DNIe on it is just annoying. It is not a "feature" unless you can choose not to use it if you ask me. Maybe it is because disabling DNIe also disables My Color control and they did not wnat that to happen.

On another note does anyone have an in depth guide to the service menu. What the settings do and any recommendations. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

And please if anyone knows the secret code to turn of DNIe please let me know.

Hi everybody. Some of you specified different picture settings for different inputs. While I have the LD-R329D, I don't see how to set them separately. Do you simply change the settings for different picture modes, and then switch over to that mode in the menu every time you switch over from component back to HDMI, for example?

(To MeddlingKids)
My 2 Cents.
I don't know about the settings for your model, but on the 328W you can adjust the settings for each picture mode, dynamic, standard, movie & custom, and save them. However, you cannot do that for each separate imput, like you can on some brands and models.
For example, here is the system that I use. My dynamic mode, after some minor adjustments, I use to watch most HD programming, especially sports, from my HD STB connected with a HDMI cable. (channels in 800 series on my cable). My standard mode, after some minor adjustments, I use to watch most SD from a digital source, (channel 100 up through channel 700 series) from my STB via HDMI. My movie mode, after some minor adjustments, I use to watch most movies, from my DVD player connected by component cables and SD & HD movies from my STB via HDMI. My custom mode, after some adjustments, I use to watch most general viewing through the set's regular built-in analog tuner (channels 1 up through 100). Some folks probably don't use the analog tuner at all, but watch all cable viewing thru their STB. However, I have found that the built-in analog tuner does a lot better job with SD channels 1 - 100 than my HD STB.
I hope this is of some value to you. Good Luck!

Can anyone recommend a good upconverting and cheap dvd player for this LCD. Or which should I pick from the current best buy selection. I'm currently using a toshiba sd-4980 through hdmi. The picture is decent but isn't as good as when I watch a DVD connected through the laptop. I'm going to try the sony s70 when my best buy gets their shipment in. The picture with the Toshiba is great from 7-9 feet, but when between 3-5 feet i can tell the difference immediately between my dvd player and laptop (watching DVD through the laptop connection is the 2nd best to my eyes so far, the best I've seen this display was in the store). If not I can live with the toshiba because I usually watch dvds from far away since that's where my sofa is. I'm also guessing that my DVDs (my reference disk at the moment is the Matrix from the Ultimate Matrix set) just won't look as good as the display at the store because at the store they feed all the tvs w/ HD signals. (So is HD signal, even HDTV, better than upconverted DVD?)

Can anyone recommend a good upconverting and cheap dvd player for this LCD. Or which should I pick from the current best buy selection. I'm currently using a toshiba sd-4980 through hdmi. The picture is decent but isn't as good as when I watch a DVD connected through the laptop. I'm going to try the sony s70 when my best buy gets their shipment in. The picture with the Toshiba is great from 7-9 feet, but when between 3-5 feet i can tell the difference immediately between my dvd player and laptop (watching DVD through the laptop connection is the 2nd best to my eyes so far, the best I've seen this display was in the store). If not I can live with the toshiba because I usually watch dvds from far away since that's where my sofa is. I'm also guessing that my DVDs (my reference disk at the moment is the Matrix from the Ultimate Matrix set) just won't look as good as the display at the store because at the store they feed all the tvs w/ HD signals. (So is HD signal, even HDTV, better than upconverted DVD?)

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=125

The above is a link that you can go to get reviews and ratings of DVD players.
The upconverting players that have the best ratings like the Oppo and Panasonic 70 series tend to be pretty expensive as DVD players go. $200 to $300. Also, you may already be aware of this, but most of the experts say that upconverting DVD players are a waste of money and nothing more than a marketing scheme. I have a Toshiba and a Samsung and have tried an LG and Sony and I have never been able to see any improvement in picture quality over progressive scan. There are quite a few threads on this forum that discusses upconverting DVD players. Just do a search and type in Upconverting DVD players. Good Luck!

so is it to my understanding that on this screen, watching a DVD within 2-4 feet will actual look pretty bad?

also, the best you can possibly play a dvd (progressive with or without upconversion) isn't even close to an HD signal?

You are right, there is no way to get a true high-definition picture out of a DVD player by progressive or upconverting. You still have the same amount of information (picture detail) as you begin with. Save your money for the new generation of high definition players that are coming out this year.