This may be new to some of you but it is very common for new tech products to have their release delayed. Just look at how many Blu-ray and HD-DVD players have been delayed. (Windows Vista is another example that comes to mind) Some of you guys need to just chill out and try to be patient. It is after all only a TV and not a donor kidney that you're waiting for.

In 3 months, there will be an upcoming display from some manufacturer that will look better the the 4x96 that will be released in just 3 more months. Wait 3 months and there will be news of a better display that will be released in 3 more months. Wait 3 months... you get the picture.

With any new technology, if you worry about what will be better in 3 months you will never be happy and the glass will certainly appear empty.

I know that im not that type of person but you are sorta wrong about the wait 3 months thing samsung aint making any more lcd's till next year maybe westing house or sony or sharp can compete but I doubt it can over take the 7000:1 contrast ratio i mean maybe it can do the 8 ms response time but then again 1080p will be the new resoulution this tv is my new TV. Until quad core cpu's come out in Q1 2007 along with the new G80 Nvidia Card Im just gonna stick with this tv Then purchase one of those 32 inch dell's with the 2560x1600 resoulition which in Q1 2007 G80 Nvidia cards are saying they will be able to achieve 5000x3200 resoulition. So do you see? the dell for my custom built comp but the tv for the xbox 360 ps3 soon to come and if I wanna sit back and play on a even bigger screen I can plug it into the samsung. Btw there was a new lcd tv released by cinema motion that already has the 5000x3200 resoulution its made for x-ray scan and such but can be used as a monitor for gaming or movies. Also just letting u guys know there was a 500 Gigahertz cpu invented by intel it worked only cause cooled to negative 450 deegres which is as cold as space. Imagine in 10 years the technology of today will be useless thats why This tv today will not be broken on the technology barrier. For atleast a year

Nobodies crying over it but are you retarted this tv was supposed to be out in May already now there saying july mid to end on websites and even august from tech support NOT TO MENTION the guy said he wouldent be suprised if it gets pushed back again. I waited too long for this tv and in the final moments the time has gone slower now another wait? of course im gonna be upset who wouldent .wow you really need to lay off the expresso friend

wow you really need to lay off the expresso friend

Sorry man I just like to do a little research if im gonna spend over 5000 dollars :)
btw its not espresso its beer Grand 9.5percent

This may be new to some of you but it is very common for new tech products to have their release delayed. Just look at how many Blu-ray and HD-DVD players have been delayed. (Windows Vista is another example that comes to mind) Some of you guys need to just chill out and try to be patient. It is after all only a TV and not a donor kidney that you're waiting for.exactly. and i'd rather wait and have something come out right then the manufacture rush it and have quality control issues

Trust me man almost everything I ever wanted has been delayed just I payed so much for the xbox 360 and my computer and I want to put it to good use on that tv playing on a 62 inch rear projection tv may sound like fun cause of the picture size but what good is that when the tv is a) not Hd its a few years old and b) its only 480 resouliton I cant compete with these nerds on tv there so good i need some kind of a edge... a 5000 dollar edge... that has been postponed. I expected this tv to get delayed but not twice

Cannot resist trying to see if this beauty can post. :D

http://www.plasmaplanet.com/LCD_DISPLAYS/SAMSUNG/IMAGES/NEW/4696D-46-POP-UP.jpg

Or smaller . . .

http://www.plasmacity.com/LCD_DISPLAYS/SAMSUNG/IMAGES/NEW/4696D-SMALL-1.jpg

Just saw 4095 in BB in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. PQ is great. They have blu ray player connected, but salesman could not connect anything else to it. Salesman, says can order 4095 or 4695 for next week. They know nothing of the 4696. :rolleyes:

Good info, glad you thought it was good.

I'd still like to see SD, but I don't think we'll have the chance.

Good info, glad you thought it was good.

I'd still like to see SD, but I don't think we'll have the chance.

Looking like University of 4095 for me if the 4096 isn't out until August. :D

I've read through this entire thread as I'm looking to purchase my first LCD flat panel and the 4095 looks like a winner. I saw it at BB the other day (checking out blu-ray, not the panel) playing House of Flying Daggers and the picture looked a little soft to me. I attribute that to Blu-ray and not the set (initial reports have ALL said initial blu-ray titles look soft).

[EDIT] I'll be heading down in the morning to buy one! I know I want 1080p

Nice additional news! It doesn't sound like you were blown away though, huh?Well I can't say that I was blown away because it looks to me as though the 8 msec response time on the 4095 isn't fast enough to eliminate pixelation when one is viewing fast motion. Also I went to another BB today where they had a 4095 displaying Showtime HD. It looked good but really not any better than the older plasma and LCD panels sitting next to it. The 4095 appears to shine best with a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD attached to it and with a selection of the "right" 1080i/1080p disc.

The thing that I cant understand is WHY O WHY hasnt anyone bought one?!? Im currently overseas But I know if I were there I would buy one in an instant..Is BB just showing them in display or are they selling them already?? I have a trip to L.A. in 2 weeks and I will buy one....

BTW can we expect any sales or lower prices on the 4th of july??...

8msec is good. Sharp says 6ms but i bet they lie.Its not CRT response but it should be sufficient. Or be like me, watch good movies rather than choppy socky action vin deisel crap, then there wont be much fast action to see it blur.

Still drinking.... I really cant believe a tv got me frustarted and some how in the end its gonna end up not worth it yet I still want this tv... Im hoping that by some act of god there is a shipment of the lns4696d by tommorow or friday but like they said august :(

[EDIT] I'll be heading down in the morning to buy one! I know I want 1080p

Great.

Please give us all a full review.

Glare

DNIe, on and off

SD and HD signals PQ

etc....

:)

Well I can't say that I was blown away because it looks to me as though the 8 msec response time on the 4095 isn't fast enough to eliminate pixelation when one is viewing fast motion. Also I went to another BB today where they had a 4095 displaying Showtime HD. It looked good but really not any better than the older plasma and LCD panels sitting next to it. The 4095 appears to shine best with a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD attached to it and with a selection of the "right" 1080i/1080p disc.

That is a bit disappointing.

But as we've been saying, the set is ahead of it's time a bit, and you're reallying getting yourself ready for the future 1080p world.

Well I can't say that I was blown away because it looks to me as though the 8 msec response time on the 4095 isn't fast enough to eliminate pixelation when one is viewing fast motion. Also I went to another BB today where they had a 4095 displaying Showtime HD. It looked good but really not any better than the older plasma and LCD panels sitting next to it. The 4095 appears to shine best with a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD attached to it and with a selection of the "right" 1080i/1080p disc.

Could you please elaborate on the observed pixelation. How frequent, how severe, what movie, did you try to dial it out, did you play with the settings at all, etc? Thanks.

this pixelation is from these so called hd channels, you will not see this with hd-dvd or blu-ray movies.

Could you please elaborate on the observed pixelation. How frequent, how severe, what movie, did you try to dial it out, did you play with the settings at all, etc? Thanks.

He said it was Showtime HD.

But yes, I'd like to hear more.

Plus he mentioned it was on fast motion. So I gather it was confined to fast motion on Showtime HD, some action flick probably.

I can certainly stomach a little pixelation on fast scenes, as I'm giving up mirror-like reflection, crummy sound, and other problems with my first generation plassy.

Could you please elaborate on the observed pixelation. How frequent, how severe, what movie, did you try to dial it out, did you play with the settings at all, etc? Thanks. The pixelation never appeared during scenes where people were walking or moving at moderate speeds. It only became apparent when the camera was panning across a scene or where vehicles were moving rapidly. They weren't playing a specific movie, it appeared to be of a promotinal segment for Showtime HD. There was no remote available to play with so I couldn't change the settings. Is it possible that the problem was due to compression issues? I used to observe pixelation on fast moving scenery right after I shifted from OTA to cable viewing and that was on a CRT HD monitor which shouldn't have issues relating to response time. Perhaps the pixelation was the fault of the cable feed that BB was using and not the 4095. I'd like to hear someone's opinion of how the 4095 performs with OTA broadcasts but I don't know anyone who has taken delivery of one.

He said it was Showtime HD.

But yes, I'd like to hear more.
(EDIT: Duh, posted this before I saw LCD1080's latest (#770). Thanks for your response.)

OK, if it's just off the in-store HD feed, who cares? Obviously cable/sat HDTV signals are compressed, even worse in these chain stores with all the splitting. Can't blame the TV for that.

I just want to make sure there's no pixelation on the Blu-Ray feed. In an earlier post, he said it wasn't as smooth as he would have liked. I wasn't sure what he meant. Probably two unrelated comments.

The pixelation never appeared during scenes where people were walking or moving at moderate speeds. It only became apparent when the camera was panning across a scene or where vehicles were moving rapidly. They weren't playing a specific movie, it appeared to be of a promotinal segment for Showtime HD. There was no remote available to play with so I couldn't change the settings. Is it possible that the problem was due to compression issues? I used to observe pixelation on fast moving scenery right after I shifted from OTA to cable viewing and that was on a CRT HD monitor which shouldn't have issues relating to response time. Perhaps the pixelation was the fault of the cable feed that BB was using and not the 4095. I'd like to hear someone's opinion of how the 4095 performs with OTA broadcasts but I don't know anyone who has taken delivery of one.

That's great info.

I would doubt that Samsung would have solved the problem of pixelation in one fell swoop with the 95-series.

Those Showtime promo clips are pretty darn fast moving, designed to shock the viewer, and cram tons into 60 seconds.

It's probably MORE challenging to the TV than is a World Cup Soccer match, or 90% of the viewing I'll see.

As for the 10% where I want to see a great action flick, I'll probably rent a Blu-Ray if i really want to put the set through its paces.

(EDIT: Duh, posted this before I saw LCD1080's latest (#770). Thanks for your response.)

OK, if it's just off the in-store HD feed, who cares? Obviously cable/sat HDTV signals are compressed, even worse in these chain stores with all the splitting. Can't blame the TV for that.



So when BB puts out a signal to 50 TVs, there's going to be degradation of the individual signals?

I know, very n00b of me. ;)

I just want to make sure there's no pixelation on the Blu-Ray feed. In an earlier post, he said it wasn't as smooth as he would have liked. I wasn't sure what he meant. Probably two unrelated comments.

No, he said it looked "a little soft to me" whatever that means.

I take it to mean not stunningly sharp.

No, he said it looked "a little soft to me" whatever that means.

I take it to mean not stunningly sharp.

On #723, LCD1080 said:


"My only criticism was of the Blu-Ray player itself. For some reason the image stream didn't seem perfectly smooth at times. I'm guessing that was because the player's processor couldn't execute the software fast enough? In any event the 4095 itself seemed very close to perfect under room lit conditions."

I'm still not quite clear what this means, but I'm assuming that it is totally different that the pixelation he saw with the in-store showtime HD feed.

You guys are aware that with 24 fps and how they are shot, motion pictures are designed to exhibit some motion blur, right? LCD1080, is that what you were seeing when you say it wasn't perfectly smooth?

So when BB puts out a signal to 50 TVs, there's going to be degradation of the individual signals?


I'm no flat panel mensa but yes, that is my understanding. All the mensas are always telling people to not get too worked up over showroom exhibitions, primarily due to poor signal quality, the panel not being dialed in, plus the lighting issues.

On #723, LCD1080 said:


"My only criticism was of the Blu-Ray player itself. For some reason the image stream didn't seem perfectly smooth at times. I'm guessing that was because the player's processor couldn't execute the software fast enough? In any event the 4095 itself seemed very close to perfect under room lit conditions."

I'm still not quite clear what this means, but I'm assuming that it is totally different that the pixelation he saw with the in-store showtime HD feed.

You guys are aware that with 24 fps and how they are shot, motion pictures are designed to exhibit some motion blur, right? LCD1080, is that what you were seeing when you say it wasn't perfectly smooth?

my bad. I thought you meant the other poster who said "soft"

my bad. I thought you meant the other poster who said "soft"
No worries. I'm just trying to figure out what he meant. And LCD1080, sorry to parse your comments with the fine-toothed comb, but we don't have a lot to go on right now and I value your feedback as you have been a great source of info so far.

Somebody go buy one of these things (and post), please!

I'm no flat panel mensa but yes, that is my understanding. All the mensas are always telling people to not get too worked up over showroom exhibitions, primarily due to poor signal quality, the panel not being dialed in, plus the lighting issues.

Roger that.

I woner if the 4095 LCD saw was hooked up via HDMI or not.

Also, as Mugen implied, if the subject matter was true HD or not.

If it was a promo clip of say an upcoming Showtime special series, it's unlikely that passes muster.

The purchaser's dillema is this. Will any of us have the opportunity to really put this set through its paces at a Best Buy?

I'd say no.

It's going to take a small operation like my over-priced Park Avenue Audio here in NYC, where there's only a few TVs on their set up, they'll give you the manual and the remotes to play with, and you can switch between a Blu-Ray and a solid PBS HD nature show.

Like it would be if you were at home.

That's not gonna happen at BB.

Somebody go buy one of these things (and post), please!

LOL!

Seriously. :)

Can someone who looks at the 4095 or 4695 please ask to see the manual.. of specific interest, I would like to know if either the zoom and/or stretch (wide fit) modes are availalble if input signal comes in thru HDMI.

Since its probably likely that that the signal on the actual display TVs is coming in thru component (?) you can't actually test this ability on the demo TVs to find out; only the manual would tell you this if the demo hookup isn't HDMI.

Thanks!

On #723, LCD1080 said:"My only criticism was of the Blu-Ray player itself. For some reason the image stream didn't seem perfectly smooth at times. I'm guessing that was because the player's processor couldn't execute the software fast enough? In any event the 4095 itself seemed very close to perfect under room lit conditions."
I'm still not quite clear what this means, but I'm assuming that it is totally different that the pixelation he saw with the in-store showtime HD feed. You guys are aware that with 24 fps and how they are shot, motion pictures are designed to exhibit some motion blur, right? LCD1080, is that what you were seeing when you say it wasn't perfectly smooth?
Yes there is a difference between my description of the Blu-Ray and the HD Showtime feeds to the 4095. With the Blu-Ray I wasn't speaking of pixelation but rather of a "fast slide show" effect at times when the speed of scenery motion increased. Let me try to explain -- with pixelated imagery each single frame is composed of blocky squares or rectangles whereas in a "fast slide show" each frame shows no pixelation but the frames don't change fast enough to obtain a smooth view of the action sequence (i.e. a view where the individual frames melt into continuous motion).

Yes there is a difference between my description of the Blu-Ray and the HD Showtime feeds to the 4095. With the Blu-Ray I wasn't speaking of pixelation but rather of a "fast slide show" effect at times when the speed of scenery motion increased. Let me try to explain -- with pixelated imagery each single frame is composed of blocky squares or rectangles whereas in a "fast slide show" each frame shows no pixelation but the frames don't change fast enough to obtain a smooth view of the action sequence (i.e. a view where the individual frames melt into continuous motion).
Very good description - thanks.

It can get a little tricky to interpret because some scenes in some movies are just designed to have motion blur. Even seeing Pixar's Cars in the theater last weekend, at times I noticed something like what you describe. But how the Blu-Ray player handles it versus how the director wanted it to look in the theatre could be an issue.

DNIE on the 95s

I had a chance to play with the 4095 at my friend's house in Jersey last night for a long time and can assure you that DNIE CAN be toggled on and off on the fly with the remote. SDs not any better than the 720p sets but the 1080i Discovery channel and the DVR'd ABC HD of the World Cup game (Korea vs. France) really glowed. Blueray movies were ho-hums surprisingly. No macroblockings or crawlers but pictures were soft and unimpressive. He claims it's due to the mediocre 24p film source.

I had a chance to play with the 4095 at my friend's house in Jersey last night for a long time...SDs not any better than the 720p sets but the 1080i Discovery channel and the DVR'd ABC HD of the World Cup game (Korea vs. France) really glowed. Blueray movies were ho-hums surprisingly. No macroblockings or crawlers but pictures were soft and unimpressive. He claims it's due to the mediocre 24p film source.Finally someone who's seen the 4095 without the signal being split 50 times by BB! It sounds like the 4095 is especially strong at displaying 1080i network programming. As for Blu-Ray I've read there's a wide variability in quality between one movie to the next. I saw 50 First Dates and it was quite sharp. Which movies did you see? Did you view any OTA broadcasts or were you only able to see cable?

DNIE on the 95s

I had a chance to play with the 4095 at my friend's house in Jersey last night for a long time and can assure you that DNIE CAN be toggled on and off on the fly with the remote. SDs not any better than the 720p sets but the 1080i Discovery channel and the DVR'd ABC HD of the World Cup game (Korea vs. France) really glowed. Blueray movies were ho-hums surprisingly. No macroblockings or crawlers but pictures were soft and unimpressive. He claims it's due to the mediocre 24p film source.nice thanks for the quick review.... :D

still no word on the 696D????

it's funny - i was at BB last night and they had a 4095 up, connected to the Samsung BR., and the Magnolia salesmen was literally apologetic for the image quality of the 4095.

They were showing Hero ( which I'd watched last week on an upconverting DVD player and my new 40s2000 and thought was stunning ). He said he was sure it was the panel because he'd tried the source on different panels and had been impressed, but that the 4095 was noisy and somewhat pixelated. To my eyes, he was right.

This was a disappointment because I may end up returning the s2000 for the 4096 if the PQ is worth the couple hundred bucks difference.

I'm really hoping the 96s and 95s look great because one will most likely end up in my living room, but I would not have bought the set I saw last night. Of course, I only spent a few minutes, didn't calibrate etc. but the guy in the store seemed to have spent some time with the unit.

..... This was a disappointment because I may end up returning the s2000 for the 4096 if the PQ is worth the couple hundred bucks difference. I thought the MSRP difference between the two was a lot more than a couple hundred bucks as a result of the 40S2000's recent price drop. Wasn't the MSRP on the 4096 reportedly to be ~$3500? If the street price difference is only a couple hundred bucks, then it would be worth the wait for the 4096 if the PQ is as good as expected.

still no word on the 696D????

Samsung's web site says "coming in June"

The original press releases said "august"

People who have spoken to Samsung have been told late july, august or maybe even later.

American Electronics says they've been given a ship date of July 17th.

abt electronics says "mid to late july according to samsung"

There are still a few web sites that say "coming in by the end of may"

Anyone placing bets?


Till then here's what it looks like: http://www.timlarson.com/samsung/SamsungLNS4662D.htm

I thought the MSRP difference between the two was a lot more than a couple hundred bucks as a result of the 40S2000's recent price drop. Wasn't the MSRP on the 4096 reportedly to be ~$3500? If the street price difference is only a couple hundred bucks, then it would be worth the wait for the 4096 if the PQ is as good as expected.

I think if the price drops under 3, I'll buy one. Considering Best Buy's got that 4095 at MSRP [EDIT], this doesn't seem impossible - it won't have to be a perfect alignment of the stars I mean.

I'm still optimistic about these sets, and will spend way more time than I should at that Best Buy.

Great.

Please give us all a full review.

Glare

DNIe, on and off

SD and HD signals PQ

etc....

:)

Well the BB near me only has the display one in the store so I couldn't make a purchase. :mad:

I'm going to try some other places tonight and see if I get lucky.

I spent about an hour with the 4095 that was playing BR House of Daggers and it looked kinda soft. Found the remote and noticed that the set was in Movie picture mode. When I changed it to the other modes the picture wasn't nearly as strong...artifacting on high motion scenes etc.

It was also running a direct tv HD feed (I think) through coax. Watched a MI:3 trailer in HD and compared it with the SD version. I was definitely impressed...especially with how SD looked. I was expecting complete crap but it was actually watchable at 5-7'. The HD version of the same channel looked downright amazing. Didn't see any of the artifacting that I saw on the BR.

I just ordered a 4095 from BB today, I get it on Tuesday! I saw on the computer terminal at the store that they had 63 in the warehouse but none at the actual store site.

it's funny - i was at BB last night and they had a 4095 up, connected to the Samsung BR., and the Magnolia salesmen was literally apologetic for the image quality of the 4095.

They were showing Hero ( which I'd watched last week on an upconverting DVD player and my new 40s2000 and thought was stunning ). He said he was sure it was the panel because he'd tried the source on different panels and had been impressed, but that the 4095 was noisy and somewhat pixelated. To my eyes, he was right.

This was a disappointment because I may end up returning the s2000 for the 4096 if the PQ is worth the couple hundred bucks difference.

I'm really hoping the 96s and 95s look great because one will most likely end up in my living room, but I would not have bought the set I saw last night. Of course, I only spent a few minutes, didn't calibrate etc. but the guy in the store seemed to have spent some time with the unit.

Definitely not the panel. It's Blu-Ray. The early offerings are a major disappointment.

Yes, If you review the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD many that owned both are returning the BD precisely for what many here have described that fail to replicate with the Toshiba and feedback is that it upconverts regular DVD's better also. :)

I have read online that Samsung's Blu-Ray isnt even supposed to be available to purchase in stores until June 26. How and where did you discover that people are returning them because they don't measure up to Toshiba HD (that they already own as well) Huh? Masses of people are buying Toshiba's units and getting Samsungs units at the same time (and they are not even released yet). Where do you get this information and report about Blu-Ray and about their movies being "soft"

:confused:

Report on? Difference between the 40 & 4695 vs 40&4696? Also when is the 96 series coming out?

Umm, check the blu-ray forum buddy, or the news on the front page of the site.

hey guys i went to best buy in west la tonight and saw the 4095! wow! what a set! it is beautiful. i really prefer the rectangular base of the 4095 than the ellipse of the other models...i wanted the 96 series but now i'm not sure...i guess i have to actually see a 96 series before i make a decision but i could be happy w/a 4695! there doesn't seem to be a huge difference between the two...i'll have to look at the specs again.

the salesguy said they'd get the 46 in a couple of weeks...they had the 4095 paired with a blu-ray player and the picture was just gorgeous! it was playing a demo disc w/excerpts of movies (aeon flux, chicken little, hitch, etc.)...was nice!

hey guys i went to best buy in west la tonight and saw the 4095! wow! what a set! it is beautiful. i really prefer the rectangular base of the 4095 than the ellipse of the other models...i wanted the 96 series but now i'm not sure...i guess i have to actually see a 96 series before i make a decision but i could be happy w/a 4695! there doesn't seem to be a huge difference between the two...i'll have to look at the specs again.

the salesguy said they'd get the 46 in a couple of weeks...they had the 4095 paired with a blu-ray player and the picture was just gorgeous! it was playing a demo disc w/excerpts of movies (aeon flux, chicken little, hitch, etc.)...was nice!

Nice. I'll have to make a trip out to BB and check it out finally, although my new Sharp is being delivered tomorrow. ;)

Well the BB near me only has the display one in the store so I couldn't make a purchase. :mad:

I'm going to try some other places tonight and see if I get lucky.

I spent about an hour with the 4095 that was playing BR House of Daggers and it looked kinda soft. Found the remote and noticed that the set was in Movie picture mode. When I changed it to the other modes the picture wasn't nearly as strong...artifacting on high motion scenes etc.

It was also running a direct tv HD feed (I think) through coax. Watched a MI:3 trailer in HD and compared it with the SD version. I was definitely impressed...especially with how SD looked. I was expecting complete crap but it was actually watchable at 5-7'. The HD version of the same channel looked downright amazing. Didn't see any of the artifacting that I saw on the BR.

Wow. I can't tell if this is a positive review or now. Sounds mixed. Thanks.

the salesguy (at BB in L.A.) said they'd get the 46 in a couple of weeks...they had the 4095 paired with a blu-ray player and the picture was just gorgeous! it was playing a demo disc w/excerpts of movies (aeon flux, chicken little, hitch, etc.)...was nice!

I doubt the dude knows that for certain, but thanks for a hopeful word.

Yes, If you review the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD many that owned both are returning the BD precisely for what many here have described that fail to replicate with the Toshiba and feedback is that it upconverts regular DVD's better also. :)

I'll check out the Blu-Ray forum.

But people are returning the things already?

The BB near me couldn't get the darn disc to play.

edit: I did some reading in the forum, sounds disappointing

I have one question is the HDMI 1.3 or not
please help
thank u,
zak

I have one question is the HDMI 1.3 or not
please help
thank u,
zak

My understanding is the 1.3 chipset standard is in its infancy. It's not available yet, and may be out in many months possibly.

I'll check out the Blu-Ray forum.
But people are returning the things already?
The BB near me couldn't get the darn disc to play.
edit: I did some reading in the forum, sounds disappointing
The Blu-Ray forum should be must reading for anyone before they go to see the 4095 at BB. The forum has dozens of negative thoughts on the BR player as well as the discs that were seen by early viewers. From this point on I plan on evaluating the 4095 in light of reports from people who own it and who have observed some of the better 1080i shows on cable along with PBS nature shows OTA. For me the jury is still out. I'm still leaning toward the 4096 but the upcoming Olevia Signature LT 42HVi has become another contender. The Silicon Optix Realta scaler on the 1080P Olevia appears to be second to none which should do wonders for SD viewing. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/1/prweb328712.htm Whether it's worth waiting for until August is another story.

The Blu-Ray forum should be must reading for anyone before they go to see the 4095 at BB. The forum has dozens of negative thoughts on the BR player as well as the discs that were seen by early viewers.

Yeah, I second that. I just spent some time over there in the Blu-Ray forum and early adopters are not happy with the artifacting, etc. Sounds like the encoding of these initial Blu-Ray disc releases is screwed up, so it may be a bad way to evaluate the 4095.

The problem appears to be the MPEG2 encoding and the low bit rates required to fit the movies on the single layer 25 Gb discs. I think there is a demo disc which looks great as it uses higher bit rates. Try and find that.

The Blu-Ray forum should be must reading for anyone before they go to see the 4095 at BB. The forum has dozens of negative thoughts on the BR player as well as the discs that were seen by early viewers. From this point on I plan on evaluating the 4095 in light of reports from people who own it and who have observed some of the better 1080i shows on cable along with PBS nature shows OTA. For me the jury is still out. I'm still leaning toward the 4096 but the upcoming Olevia Signature LT 42HVi has become another contender. The Silicon Optix Realta scaler on the 1080P Olevia appears to be second to none which should do wonders for SD viewing. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/1/prweb328712.htm Whether it's worth waiting for until August is another story.

I agree 100%.

Think of it, ..... how could the 1920 X 1080 Samsung's be anything but fantastic. I'm blaming Blu-Ray now if I'm anything but impressed.

The Olevia sounds interesting, but why only 1600:1 Dynamic Contrast?

Is that a typo?

The problem appears to be the MPEG2 encoding and the low bit rates required to fit the movies on the single layer 25 Gb discs. I think there is a demo disc which looks great as it uses higher bit rates. Try and find that.

Yeah, I bet demo disc is like 45 minutes long and fills the disc with a higher bit rate.

At least that's what I'd do if I were Samsung. :D

I hope I don't send anyone on a wild goose chase looking for a "demo disc". I'm not positive that there actually is one. In lieu of a demo disc try looking at it using 50 First Dates if possible as it's apparently the new reference title for Blu-ray. Also Lord of War and Crash are supposed to be good (http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa122.html). Steer clear of Fifth Element.

hey guys i went to best buy in west la tonight and saw the 4095! wow! what a set! it is beautiful. i really prefer the rectangular base of the 4095 than the ellipse of the other models...i wanted the 96 series but now i'm not sure...i guess i have to actually see a 96 series before i make a decision but i could be happy w/a 4695! there doesn't seem to be a huge difference between the two...i'll have to look at the specs again.

the salesguy said they'd get the 46 in a couple of weeks...they had the 4095 paired with a blu-ray player and the picture was just gorgeous! it was playing a demo disc w/excerpts of movies (aeon flux, chicken little, hitch, etc.)...was nice! :o Great! Verfication of the demo disc and the 4095 looks good running with it.

Btw, in any case it's probably worth it to double check that the player is actually outputing at 1080i, apparently it defaults to 720p over HDMI.

wow i hope 4696 doesnt get delayed till august...cant wait that long. salesmen at BB try to sell me monster power center with voltage regulator. saying it improves sound and picture quality. how true is this or is it just a waste of money?!!?

Hey I heard this tv is Hdmi 1.3 compliant. I mean hdmi 1.3 compliancy was finalized at gizmodo.com but samsung didint appear under the list of makers of it. I believe its toshiba sony sharp and some other companies. btw the hdmi 1.3 upgrade makes a very big different 4 gigabyte transfer to 10 thats more then double of faster streaming video. Now just because of this if the s4696d dosent have it ill be forced to buy another tv with it or wait a whole year lets face it samsung has no tv's coming out till next june... PLZZZ BE HDMI 1.3!!!

http://www.samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/PressRelease.asp?seq=20060524_0000257857

"The 46" LN-S4696D ($4,799 MSRP) and the 40" LN-S4096D ($4,099 MSRP) will be available in August 2006. "

Straight from samsung's website. Sad news.

http://www.samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/PressRelease.asp?seq=20060524_0000257857

"The 46" LN-S4696D ($4,799 MSRP) and the 40" LN-S4096D ($4,099 MSRP) will be available in August 2006. "

Straight from samsung's website. Sad news.
That is a month old Press Release which gives date ranges - the Products Page still identifies the panel as "Coming in June" I would expect if August was true they have the capability to update their own web page as it takes about one minute to change and publish those changes to Website. There has been no Delay Press Release and many vendors note July. Not saying your wrong but that's a press release that has nothing to do with delaying - those stores with inventory would know best otherwise someone has fallen asleep at Samsung Products Page. :D

Cannot wait to get my hands on the 57" version of this puppy:
http://www.hdtvexpert.com/images_b/samsung06_2.jpg

That press release also has no mention of the 95, as if it doesnt even exist. So I wouldnt even take it seriously, may be true, but may not.

salesmen at BB try to sell me monster power center with voltage regulator. saying it improves sound and picture quality. how true is this or is it just a waste of money?!!?

:o Great! Verfication of the demo disc and the 4095 looks good running with it.

Btw, in any case it's probably worth it to double check that the player is actually outputing at 1080i, apparently it defaults to 720p over HDMI.I hope that was the case at my local bb

i went there today to check out the tv... it was hooked up to the blu-ray player playing a demo disc... of the few clips i watched the animation ones looked awesome, but willy wonka and that jim carey movie looked ho hum

I also went to my local BB today and they had the BR paired up with the 4095. The sales rep said that the 4095 would be available Monday. The setup looked nice, the TV with its sleek black look. They were playing a demo that was a trailer for the movie Swat. The picture quality was so so. I bent over and took a look at the BR player and confirmed that it was using HDMI @ 1080p. I was confused as the picture quality really didn't stand out at all. I asked my girlfriend what she thought and she said, "it looks softer than the rest". The colors look a little dull compaired to the other TVs on display. This was only a trailer for Swat though. Oh, and also.. the green screen that comes before movies:

[see below]

That looked absolutely HORRIBLE on the screen. The green was different shades around the screen and you could see the pixels around the letters. It looked as if there were green blotches. On the other hand, I went over to the Westi 42 1080p connected to the Toshiba HD-DVD player and the same green screen looked FANTASTIC. The PQ on the Westi was awsome paired with the Toshiba. I think im going to go back and have them connect the Toshiba to the 4095. Im going to bring my camera and try to take some pictures, maybe even video ;)

Gotta be the source. If my best buy wasnt an hour away id take a look, shucks.

The Olevia sounds interesting, but why only 1600:1 Dynamic Contrast? Is that a typo?Comparing contrast performance figures from different manufacturers is practically meaningless because there is no standard methodology for making the CR measurements. Check out this article where this point is explained more fully. http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/contrast-ratio.html

I just got back from the Santa Monica Best Buy where I saw the 4095 hooked up to a Blu-ray player. It was running a sample disc that went through a couple SD vs. HD demos and some movie trailers.

The best looking scenes were probably the HD demos and the Chicken Little trailer. Both looked really nice. The Chicken Little scenes looked a bit soft, but that might have been the movie itself since everything in the movie is a fuzzy, cute creature.

I remember reading earlier in the thread that people were worried about DVI-to-HDMI adapter support since the 4095 only has d-sub/vga input. I looked at the back panel and the HDMI ports were actually labeled "HDMI/DVI" and there were two RCA audio inputs next to them labeled something like "DVI audio input."

Being a novice and seeing 4095 at best buy, it sounds to me it is the blu-ray that is soft and not the lcd. Even the 19 year old salesman said the upconverting dvd player looked much better on the 4095 then blue-ray.

When the heck is the 4695 coming out?

datavision price pre-order on 4696 should be checked out, much better than msrp, don't know what shipping is but if so, may be a time to pre-order to lock in price.

seth

I also went to my local BB today and they had the BR paired up with the 4095. The sales rep said that the 4095 would be available Monday. The setup looked nice, the TV with its sleek black look. They were playing a demo that was a trailer for the movie Swat. The picture quality was so so. I bent over and took a look at the BR player and confirmed that it was using HDMI @ 1080p. I was confused as the picture quality really didn't stand out at all. I asked my girlfriend what she thought and she said, "it looks softer than the rest". The colors look a little dull compaired to the other TVs on display. This was only a trailer for Swat though. Oh, and also.. the green screen that comes before movies:

[see below]

That looked absolutely HORRIBLE on the screen. The green was different shades around the screen and you could see the pixels around the letters. It looked as if there were green blotches. On the other hand, I went over to the Westi 42 1080p connected to the Toshiba HD-DVD player and the same green screen looked FANTASTIC. The PQ on the Westi was awsome paired with the Toshiba. I think im going to go back and have them connect the Toshiba to the 4095. Im going to bring my camera and try to take some pictures, maybe even video ;)

Reports by many over in the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD threads that've bought both are that it's the BD not the TV as most are returning the BD and keeping the Toshiba despite some it's clunkiness and bad remote most find it far superior and without artifacts and upscaling much better than the BD. Definitely recommend going back and plugging the Toshiba and running the test. :)

Gotta tell you folks, the reviews we have so far are not exactly making me want to run out and get one of these. I went to a couple of the BB's here in Dallas and received blank looks from the employees when I mentioned the model number. They looked it up and didn't see any coming on he horizon. They then tried to sell me an older model. :rolleyes:

The employees at Best Buy vary greatly in knowledge and intelligence, so I would not take much of what they say too seriously. If they are unaware of the model number, simply refer them to their own company website and show it them. On another note, I recently returned my Westinghouse 1080p monitor and ordered the 4095d at Best Buy and it should be in tomorrow (fingers crossed). Upon receiving it and setting it up, I will post a review of my impressions (hoping for good things!)

Can't wait. Thanks

pyrahnaWesty I look forward to your review, esp considering you had the westy.

Speaking of Best Buy employees, I was in another BB yesterday to pick up a few things and figured I'd swing by and play with a 4095 again hoping that maybe this store had it configured differently. Unfortunately, they didn't have one set up and none of the employees knew what I was talking about. That's pretty normal, but when they asked why I was so interested in this particular model and I mentioned 1080p, one of them proceeded to lecture me on why 1080p is all hype, a complete waste of money, that they would only be carrying 1080p sets that are over 50", and that I should be looking at the 720 LCD or >50" projection sets they have on display now. If there's two things I hate, it's condescension and an assumption of stupidity. He's just lucky I didn't feel like taking him to school. :rolleyes:

I wasnt impressed with the 4095d using its built HD tuner. The picture seemed to have a lot of "digital noise" and couldnt handle motion very well. I havent seen the picture with the samsung blu-ray yet.

And Best Buy does not have the 4695d in its inventory system. The 4095d has been in the system for 3.5 weeks now. So I wouldn't hold your breath about the 4695d "arriving in a few weeks," at least at best buy.

The Magnolia inventory didnt have the 4695d nor any 96 models.

That's becoming a theme (i.e., the 4695 not being abkle to handle fast motion). I realize it's all relative, but that will personally drive me nuts. I figured with 8mms the motion issue with LCD's should be dead. I wish I could see one in person to know if I like the TV or not but I can't find a soul in Dallas that has it. :mad:

That's becoming a theme (i.e., the 4695 not being abkle to handle fast motion). I realize it's all relative, but that will personally drive me nuts. I figured with 8mms the motion issue with LCD's should be dead. I wish I could see one in person to know if I like the TV or not but I can't find a soul in Dallas that has it. :mad:You know it's not all that wise judging motion in a store where the feeds are split dozens of times and some using inferior connections. Both my Sharps are rated at <12ms and I have ZERO motion issues with viewing TV or gaming yet I saw issues in the store. My 45" Sharp looks far better in my home than it has ever looked in any store as it gets the best source/feed and clean power. I also trust the Samsung given the same treatment will respond in-kind or perhaps better as it's about 9 months newer tech.

I repeatedly see these posts despite the fact most people don't bother to understand they are seeing garbage being fed by mostly uninformed teens working their way through school and probably could not afford more than a Westy in their house and if they cannot tweak their own product do you trust anything they tell you?

An HD broadcast being fed is going to be amazing on a native 1080P display and not represent what has been reported by a few folks here - I own a native 1080 display and say what many throw up as their reviews is CRAP as it's based upon a false representation and anyone understanding an HDTV and native 1080P realizes the PQ represented above must be a bullshit feed not the TV unless the connectors are bad as the tuner doesn't work halfway if it's fed properly.

Do you really think anyone would keep in their home what some represented above? Of course not which means your seeing crap and don't know it. Do you think they build 1080P that will come out any other way? It's digital and thus the technology belies the statements above - look behind All those dozens of TV's and realize how many are SHARING and falsely presenting the panel, it simply could not look that bad otherwise there wouldn't be a waiting list for the TV. Even SXRD and Plasma can have motion issues or judder though they are faster I have no suchissues on the Sharps.:rolleyes:

Westa, Reading between the lines here, you're basically saying that seeing a set in stores is pointless? So, aside from "expert reviews" and first hand reports by people on this forum, the only way to tell whether a set is acceptable or not is to buy one and try it out? That makes sense I guess, but returning and repurchasing another set will be a pain.

You know it's not all that wise judging motion in a store where the feeds are split dozens of times and some using inferior connections..My 45" Sharp looks far better in my home than it has ever looked in any store as it gets the best source/feed and clean power.Westa what brand and series of cable do you use to connect your Sharp LCD to your signal source? Also what brand and series of power conditioner do you use?

BTW I saw the 4095 at BB and even though the Blu-Ray disc was encoded in MPEG-2 instead of the superior VC-1 I could see distinct PQ advantages with the 4095 compared to the surrounding flat panels. However at a second BB I saw another 4095 connected to a Showtime HD feed that had been split at least 20 times and you are right, no conclusions on PQ of the 4095 can be reached from viewing that sorry affair.

Fair enough Westa, and I understand what you are saying as it has been said before. But what is the alternative? Just buy it? That's tough for me as this will be my first big TV purchase.

When shopping for TVs in a store, dont look at the quality of picture compared to what you THINk it SHOULD look like. You compare it to the sets running off the same feed. If the Sharp looks better than the Panasonic, then you can make a judgement about the quality. Granted the settings are not out of whack which they commonly are. Stores are only usefull to compare sets.

Has anyone been to a store where perhaps the 4095 is right next to a 4092 ? Curious how these 2 compare with SD, HD and (why not ask) even BlueRay feeds..

I'm about set on a 4095 or 4096, but I really want some feedback that this TV is worth the extra $1200 or so over the 92 series.

I was at BB yesterday and was able to see both of these sets. Unfortunately, they were not right next to each other and the 4095 was running off the Blu-ray player v. split HD soccer on the 92. Just the same, I thought the blacks were much better on the 95. That parameter is really important to me... it's the reason I've held off getting a flat LCD until now. The colors were more saturated as well.

What I cannot get me head around is the pricing on the 4095. At BB it was only around $500 more than the 92... BUT still more than I paid for my livingroom's Mid-line 720p 52 inch DLP over 2.5 years ago.

Don't you all think these prices are a bit outrageous?? I admit that the tv has a great picture, is quasi-futureproof, and has an attractive cabinet. But the dollar to size ratio seems very steep.

That said, my bedroom armoire can accomodate only a 39.5 inch wide tv and this is the LARGEST tv that will shoe horn in the cabinet. I can get the panasonic x60u 37 inch for $1500 less :eek: but the picture, to me, is not that great.

what to do, what to do???? :rolleyes:

Yeah the the demo disc playing on the 4095 was very good. and I switched the source to the live feed and still am somewhat impressed. It performed well in the dark scenes to me. I didn't notice any significant details lost to shadow without having to brighten up the screen and gray out the blacks. I did notice, however, a red line that has formed perfectly straight up and down on the right side of the panel. Has anyone else seen this. May be a panel defect in this specific tv. I was rushing so I didn't take time to ask someone at the store.

Has anyone been to a store where perhaps the 4095 is right next to a 4092 ? Curious how these 2 compare with SD, HD and (why not ask) even BlueRay feeds..I'm about set on a 4095 or 4096, but I really want some feedback that this TV is worth the extra $1200 or so over the 92 series.
It looks like most BBs isolate the 4095 with a Blu-Ray or they mix the 4095s with other panels that receive split signals. Bottom line is that direct comparisons are difficult to make. The 4095 did stand out however when fed by Blu-Ray. The PQ was by no means perfect however I did see a picture quality that far exceeded anything I've seen on the 4092 or anything produced by Sharp or Sony. It reminded me of the quality I used to see on my CRT HD monitor back in the days when I watched PBS live specials OTA.

I noticed that the BB ad in the Sunday paper today has the 4095 is in it. So, I would think that most stores should be getting it soon, if they don't have them already.

I also noticed that BB has dropped the price (can't post, so check BB site). Could this mean that maybe the 96 series is coming out soon? Why would they drop the price so early after release?

And Best Buy does not have the 4695d in its inventory system. The 4095d has been in the system for 3.5 weeks now. So I wouldn't hold your breath about the 4695d "arriving in a few weeks," at least at best buy.

The Magnolia inventory didnt have the 4695d nor any 96 models.

I take back what I said about Magnolia Home Theater not having the 4696 and 4096 in their computer system. Today I found Sku's for both, however it says that they both have been DELETED. So it looks as if Best Buy Magnolia HT stores planned to carry them, but changed their minds.

How come every time the Hdmi 1.3 compliance question comes up it gets ignored? Ive seen atleast 5 different people that have asked this question and its important to know because hdmi 1.3 has twice the data conversion/transfer rates allowing for alot better picture quality. basically the higher megapixel the recording device is being a camcorder/camera the more space this image or movie will take up like that 111 megapixel movie camera they made check gizmodo.com the only flaw being that it takes 5 gigabytes for a simple 5 minute recording. so as you can see hdmi 1.3 can be as much of a advantage as say going from 1080i to 1080p so some knowledge would be vastly appreciated.

Is anyone that has ordered thr 4695 receiving anything yet? I'd like to order but it doesn't sound like any shipping has occured.

Argh.

BB at Landmark Center Boston had the 4095 set up out in the boondocks showing SD, which didn't look very good to me. They had had a BR to demo, but a Red Sox player came in and bought the BR on display, so now they can only show SD. It's set up too far away from the rest of the HDTVs to get the usual HD feed.

I'm sure Samsung would be pleased to know this.

I take back what I said about Magnolia Home Theater not having the 4696 and 4096 in their computer system. Today I found Sku's for both, however it says that they both have been DELETED. So it looks as if Best Buy Magnolia HT stores planned to carry them, but changed their minds.


not true on Long Island. you can order the 4095 for delivery next week from the magnolia located inside one of our local best buys :)

How come every time the Hdmi 1.3 compliance question comes up it gets ignored

How come every time the Hdmi 1.3 compliance question comes up it gets ignored

This is just a guess but maybe it's a non-issue to most people.

not true on Long Island. you can order the 4095 for delivery next week from the magnolia located inside one of our local best buys :)
New Yorkers got it good right now - another NY/NJ member PM's me that he got the Samsung LN-S 5797D that I've been seeking in our area unsuccessfully at PC Richards & Sons for a better value than the authorized Datavis Samsung authorized vendor but unfortunately we don't have any PC Richards in Michigan. Perhaps they have these smaller Samsungs also? :)

not true on Long Island. you can order the 4095 for delivery next week from the magnolia located inside one of our local best buys :)

4095 is no problem, warehouse has 100+ on hand, I'm talking about the 4696 and 4096.

This is just a guess but maybe it's a non-issue to most people.

If it was a non issue why did atleast 6 people in this forum ask the question and not get a response its because of lack of knowledge... you seem to have that problem too.

If it was a non issue why did atleast 6 people in this forum ask the question and not get a response its because of lack of knowledge... you seem to have that problem too.
What is there to discuss as it was announced for production but exists in nothing presently. The potential of the specs are great but it's not going to make anything else perform less than since it is legacy compliant and to discuss it is nothng but conjecture as it isn't in the marketplace YET much like SED is discussed as vaporware until it becomes reality to the consumer.

If I've been viewing a native 1080 display for the past 8 months streaming beautiful 1080i and 7.1 surround sound am I having regrets ? NO. HDMI 1.3 will be a good thing but it's not going to halt consumers unless they choose to wait just as some are waiting for SED and PS3.

Pipe increase and capacity is great but it has no impact on these current panels unless Samsung has their own supply but it won't make the set perform any less than if fed full source if it has 1080P media. If HDMI 1.3 is so important to you and those six others than post your own dedicated thread for it as for now nobody has one to discuss thus = NO DISCUSSION.

How the hell do you expect people to discuss something that isn't available to evaluate firsthand? and then insult a fellow member when this is not a discussion of HDMI 1.3 is it! It is OT and needs to be discussed on it's own as HDMI 1.3 applies to the industry not just Samsung LCD's. Perhaps when we find one with 1.3 it's a matter to be discussed but do you expect this when it is not the HDMI 1.3 thread if you read the title. Sort of like speculating within the SXRD thread on the SED Panel when the SED is more than a year away and nothing real to evaluate outside Trade Show Demo's.:)

thanks, westa! you make sense...that guy is annoying.

If there's two things I hate, it's condescension and an assumption of stupidity. He's just lucky I didn't feel like taking him to school. :rolleyes:

lol... I hate that too.

come up with that all by your self groove?

Comparing contrast performance figures from different manufacturers is practically meaningless because there is no standard methodology for making the CR measurements. Check out this article where this point is explained more fully. http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/contrast-ratio.html

Very cool, thanks.

I also noticed that BB has dropped the price (can't post, so check BB site). Could this mean that maybe the 96 series is coming out soon? Why would they drop the price so early after release?

You see foxdie's post? :)

The 96 is now popping up on Magnolia's SKUs.

New Yorkers got it good right now - another NY/NJ member PM's me that he got the Samsung LN-S 5797D that I've been seeking in our area unsuccessfully at PC Richards & Sons for a better value than the authorized Datavis Samsung authorized vendor but unfortunately we don't have any PC Richards in Michigan. Perhaps they have these smaller Samsungs also? :)

Hi Westa,

Any reason you don't just purchase your stuff over the web at stores in the US?

Are you of the belief you should purchase the stuff at a store, so it can be returned or something?

Just curious.

BTW, I'm 99% in full agreement with you. Despite the spotty reviews here, I'm just going to wait for my pre-ordered 4096D and take posession of it.

I believe the negative reviews here are the fault of the poor connections the sets are getting at Best Buy, and the problems with Blu-Ray.

I'd sure like to see one of the Home Theater magazines do a review. A real pro, with good connections, putting the 4095D through its paces.

I hope I do before the 96 comes out, so my 99% moves to 100%.

I had a chance to play with the 4095 at my friend's house in Jersey last night...SDs not any better than the 720p sets but the 1080i Discovery channel and the DVR'd ABC HD of the World Cup game (Korea vs. France) really glowed.That's the kind of "in home" report that tells more than 10 trips to BB ever could. I suspect that the PQ was so good on Discovery HD because the 1080i signal didn't have to be scaled down. You've got 1080 lines of source material feeding onto 1080 rows of pixels, that's the best of all possible worlds. Throw in improved black levels which the 4095 appears to have and the result is one impressive picture. As for the so so report on SD they probably didn't upgrade the scaler all that much which if true would be a bit of a downer but I guess we're primarily buying this model for HD performance and PC use at 1080p.

That's the kind of "in home" report that tells more than 10 trips to BB ever could. I suspect that the PQ was so good on Discovery HD because the 1080i signal didn't have to be scaled down. You've got 1080 lines of source material feeding onto 1080 rows of pixels, that's the best of all possible worlds. Throw in improved black levels which the 4095 appears to have and the result is one impressive picture. As for the so so report on SD they probably didn't upgrade the scaler all that much which if true would be a bit of a downer but I guess we're primarily buying this model for HD performance and PC use at 1080p.

Does the set automatically deinterlace the 1080i signal to make it 1080p?

Does the set automatically deinterlace the 1080i signal to make it 1080p?Yes and apparently the deinterlacer in the 4095 does its job very well considering the positive report we heard on how good the 1080i network feeds come through with this model.

Has anyone talked to any other of the 'usual suspect' retailers to find out when the 95 or 96 models will become available at other stores aside from BB -- eg. J&R, B&H, *******, Vanns, etc.. ?

Odd isn't it that nobody aside from BB has in stock? Wonder if that ties back to a long time ago the speculation that the 95 models were going to be exclusive to BB?

I would hazard a guess that only when multiple retailers begin offering these sets can we hope for a significant price reduction..

Has anyone talked to any other of the 'usual suspect' retailers to find out when the 95 or 96 models will become available at other stores aside from BB -- eg. J&R, B&H, *******, Vanns, etc.. ?



I haven't but in NYC the Samsung site says B&H, Datavision and PC Richard all have the 4095D and B&H has the 4695D.

I'll go look at the 4095 if the PC Richard near me puts it up.

Otherwise, I'll keep listening to the reviews from people who actually have one at home.

I haven't but in NYC the Samsung site says B&H, Datavision and PC Richard all have the 4095D and B&H has the 4695D.

I'll go look at the 4095 if the PC Richard near me puts it up.

Otherwise, I'll keep listening to the reviews from people who actually have one at home.

Where do you see this availability on Samsung's site.. I go here:

http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/lcdtv/index.asp

and there isn't any "buy from online dealer" orange link button for the 4095 at all?..

I guess we're primarily buying this model for HD performance and PC use at 1080p.

Precisely.

And you're ready for the upcoming content.

For me: vs. my plassy this is about glare suppression, less wires through the wall (dual HDMI vs. component and audio), better sound, less heat, thinner and 1080p.

I am anxious to hear a really professional review though.

Where do you see this availability on Samsung's site.. I go here:

http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/lcdtv/index.asp

and there isn't any "buy from online dealer" orange link button for the 4095 at all?..

I meant the Store Locator in the 10003 NYC zip code on the 4695D

From there, I see they have the 4095D

Precisely.

And you're ready for the upcoming content.

For me: vs. my plassy this is about glare suppression, less wires through the wall (dual HDMI vs. component and audio), better sound, less heat, thinner and 1080p.

I am anxious to hear a really professional review though.

The only thing I'd add to that would be HD gaming (360 & PS3 for me). Hopefully someone will tell us soon if 360 looks better set at 720p or 1080i. I'm hoping the Sammy HD scaler will handle 720p to 1080p nicely, because the setting the 360 to 1080i seems to introduce artifacting on some games.

New Yorkers got it good right now - another NY/NJ member PM's me that he got the Samsung LN-S 5797D that I've been seeking in our area unsuccessfully at PC Richards & Sons for a better value than the authorized Datavis Samsung authorized vendor but unfortunately we don't have any PC Richards in Michigan. Perhaps they have these smaller Samsungs also? :)

Anyone have the dimensions on this? The Samsung site lists only "shipping" dimensions (I assume crated/tally).

May I ask for an owner of the LNS5797D to post W x H x D (w/base). ??? ;)

I've decided on this model, versus plasma and DLP/LCoS. Now, to decide on who to rob to finance it! :D

1080i is only 60 fields, apposed to 720p which is 60 frames. And being that some games are scaled to 1080i and not rendered that way, Im gonna say 720p will be the way to go for 360

The only thing I'd add to that would be HD gaming (360 & PS3 for me). Hopefully someone will tell us soon if 360 looks better set at 720p or 1080i. I'm hoping the Sammy HD scaler will handle 720p to 1080p nicely, because the setting the 360 to 1080i seems to introduce artifacting on some games.

It'll be good to hear from the gamers, yes.

I just ordered a 4095 from BB today, I get it on Tuesday! I saw on the computer terminal at the store that they had 63 in the warehouse but none at the actual store site.
Wow that's tomorrow! You'll be the first owner in this thread who can play with the 4095 day and night. Please let us know about your first impressions.

1080i is only 60 fields, apposed to 720p which is 60 frames. And being that some games are scaled to 1080i and not rendered that way, Im gonna say 720p will be the way to go for 360

Good explanation. It's my understanding that almost all of these games are designed for 720p, so set the 360 to 720p, then let the panel scale to 1080p.

Im an xbox 360 owner and a pretty high tech computer owner Ill let you guys know how it goes with the s4696d btw good news the 96d is now avaiable to preorder online! i know it was available before but samsung actually updated there website and theres an orange buy from online retailer. btw they said this tv is being released in west and moving to east good luck getting one in best buy circuit city and mongolia not to mention pcrichards... so far only guaranted seller of this tv is abit electronics i just preordered it now and Ill let you know on a few things Im planning on plugging this into my xbox 360 and seeing if it converts to 1080p then im gonna get a samsung dvd player see if that converts to 1080p Ill also let you know of the hd singnal/quality any glitches with the tv and last but not least DVI cable from back of my computer plugged into a hdmi adapter ill keep you updated on all this and if theres something special you would like to know ask me specifically.

Thanks SpecSniper! Here's my checklist of things to test with a PC:

- grey background (for backlight test)
- checkerboard pattern (use red outline in the image to test overscan)
- 1080p movie Elephants Dream (http://www.elephantsdream.org/) played using VLC player
- take photos to give us an idea what a windows desktop and webpages look like

Also, if you have an antenna, give the ATSC tuner a spin.

Basically I want to know these Samsung's can do everything the Westinghouse displays can do, but with better PQ, and better QC.

Spec Sniper, you mean, how well they convert to 1080p, not "if". If they didnt, there would just be a black screen with nothing on it.

I want the 96, but Im still confused about its advantage over the 95, Im pretty confident it will have some higher scaler in it but Samsung doesnt say anything. I dont want to pay $400 for a cable card slot lol.

Can anyone tell me the difference between the 4095 and the 4096? They look identical on Samsing's website...thanks.

At this point the differences are nill.

96 has Cable Card, 95 does not (who cares, except people who must have never heard of Tivo)
96 has firewire, 95 does not (really only an issue if youre into DVHS)
96 has a peice of glass at the bottom, plastic on the 95, oooo ahhhh
and get this, 95 has 1080p over component, 96 does NOT, seems backwards doesnt it? Although I think they will release new specs and have 1080p over component on the 96 aswell.

The big question is DNie and maybe upgraded scalers in the 96. But so far samsung has said nothing, nor do i think they will. So why the F*ck should we pay for for nothing. Atleast tell us what were paying more for, it doesnt even look different. Retards if you ask me.

At this point the differences are nill.

96 has Cable Card, 95 does not (who cares, except people who must have never heard of Tivo)
96 has firewire, 95 does not (really only an issue if youre into DVHS)
96 has a peice of glass at the bottom, plastic on the 95, oooo ahhhh
and get this, 95 has 1080p over component, 96 does NOT, seems backwards doesnt it? Although I think they will release new specs and have 1080p over component on the 96 aswell.

The big question is DNie and maybe upgraded scalers in the 96. But so far samsung has said nothing, nor do i think they will. So why the F*ck should we pay for for nothing. Atleast tell us what were paying more for, it doesnt even look different. Retards if you ask me.

what you mean 95 has 1080p over component?

According to the spec sheets. the 95-series will accept a 1080p signal over Component. Where as on the 96-series spec sheet, only 1080i is stated.

Anyone hook up the 95 to a PC using HDMI-DVI yet?

does anyone know when the broader roll out will be? havent seen it at the best buys near me (NYC) and Circuit City/PC Richards on 14th street also have no idea

It also seems as if the 96 has QAM and the 95 does not, a much bigger deal than cablecard, for me.

does anyone know when the broader roll out will be? havent seen it at the best buys near me (NYC) and Circuit City/PC Richards on 14th street also have no idea

LOL!!!

Again I was in the 14th Street PC Richard, and nothing!

They keep saying they will set up the 4096D but they don't.

So clueless. :)

Wow that's tomorrow! You'll be the first owner in this thread who can play with the 4095 day and night. Please let us know about your first impressions.

Abt in Chicago still says the 4096D ships the end of June, and they are getting 50 of them.

I find it hard to believe, but ...... :)

The question is what's up with the scaler in that bad boy. Seems to me the 4095 was kinda tossed together on the fly.

HDBeat: Component looks better then HDMI on Samsung's BD-P1000 (http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/06/27/component-looks-better-then-hdmi-on-samsungs-bd-p1000/)
Anyway, I left Pioneer feeling a LOT more confident about what I was seeing from the Samsung player. I know now that the picture quality the player delivers via HDMI is significantly inferior to that of its component output, and I know that Samsung's 1080i component output comes very close to delivering the full image quality encoded on the discs.
A more in depth review of Samsung's BD-P1000 Blu-ray player reveals the HDMI signal yields degraded color and contrast and that component is actually the better way to go. Also more verification that MPEG2 encoding is a problem as well.

Abt in Chicago still says the 4096D ships the end of June, and they are getting 50 of them. I find it hard to believe, but ...... :)
I believe it mainly because Samsung has continued to display "Available in June" on the 4096 home page. I mean here we're just 3 days from June 30, they should have amended the site by now were there a change in plans.
The question is what's up with the scaler in that bad boy. Seems to me the 4095 was kinda tossed together on the fly.They don't seem anxious to point out any new features for the scaler, in fact I can't think of a single word they've said in that regard. Marketing guys love to point to major changes that affect PQ so I'm not holding out much hope that the 95/96 scaler is any better than the 92. This set seems geared toward every 1080i/p source that's out there.

II'm not holding out much hope that the 95/96 scaler is any better than the 92. This set seems geared toward every 1080i/p source that's out there.

I can dream, can't I? ;)

Pipe dreams, sure ;)


ron

Just preordered the LNS4696D from abt... My wife's birthday is coming up... :D

are you sure its for your wife lol... or for yourself

I just saw the 4095 at BB in Bloomington, MN tonight and I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. Forgive me if any of this is redundant. These threads geat so long that I just don't have time or patience to read all of them.

As far a picture quality goes, I was more impressed with the Westinghouse 42" paired with the HD-DVD in 1080i. I believe that the reason for this is that most of the content on the HD-DVD is original (not upscaled) 1080i/p. I noticed that alot of the movies on the Blu-Ray demo disc were older and probably not filmed in 1080 (or whatever, give me a break, I'm a layperson).

Chicken Little looked very good. I believe that the reason for this is that it's a recent CGI film, and was probably created at 1080 or better. Color was also very good-when the content was good. For instance, some green screens (movie preview rating screens) were very dull, but one was vividly green. All the green screens on the HD-DVD were vivdly green. The color on Chicken Little was very good too.

So I believe that the 4095/Blu-Ray combo is as/more capable than the Westy/HD-DVD. I just think that someone did a crap job on the Blu-Ray demo disc. In my opinion, this is a major oversight when trying to sell the latest video equipment.

Oh about DNIe... There are three settings: on, off, and demo. Demo is a split screen (side by side) comparison of on and off. DNIe seems to increase contrast to an extreme. In my opinion, it can look good depending on what is being watched, but it is not a "true picture" if you know what I mean. For example, brown hair looks almost black with DNIe on. Purple looks deeper purple, blue deeper blue, etc...

Make sure that the surround mode is on (in sound menu on TV) when you check it out or it will be so quiet you can barel hear it.

Still want to see a 46" though... :cool:

I picked up the 4095 from Best Buy today - I ordered it last Thursday. This is my first high definition TV so, to be honest, I really don't have much to compare with it. I just moved into my first condo so I wanted to get a solid high definition TV that won't be obsolete too soon (hence 1080p). I will be watching movies and playing XBOX 360 games on it mostly with regular TV too.

Once I get high definition cable and the rest of my home theater gear hooked up, I'll post more of my thoughts here. It's amazing how much time it takes to move into a new place!!

Just preordered the LNS4696D from abt... My wife's birthday is coming up... :D

I'm sure she'll love it. :rolleyes:

LOL, I recenly bought my wife a iPod nano and a second LCD for the PC rig.

I'm thinking she'll love a PS3 for Christmas. :D

That is if I decide to go Blu-Ray. I have my reservations now.

I picked up the 4095 from Best Buy today - I ordered it last Thursday...Once I get high definition cable and the rest of my home theater gear hooked up, I'll post more of my thoughts here.Do you have a portable HD antenna with which you can pull in 1080i PBS or CBS broadcasts on your 4095? You may have to wait until tonight because that's when most of the high quality programming is sent out over the air waves. I'd like to get a first read on OTA performance since no one appears yet to have reached that point.

Purchasing a Plasma or LCD TV for your wife's birthday is grounds for divorce in most states. The statutes vary from state to state, but it is usually covered in the same section that deals with lawn tractors.

Do you have a portable HD antenna with which can pull in 1080i PBS or CBS broadcasts on your 4095? You may have to wait until tonight because that's when most of the high quality programming is sent out over the air waves. I'd like to get a first read on OTA performance since no one appears yet to have reached that point.

Hi LCD,

Who makes those antennas? are they inexpensive?

I ask because I'll have the 4096D freestanding for a week while I cut out the wall and build the cabinet, and I might like trying OTA.

My apartment has a clear view to the antennas that sent out those signals for the NYC area. (where the WTC used to stand)

Yes, I had a full view of the towers falling. :(

Hi LCD,

Who makes those antennas? are they inexpensive?

I ask because I'll have the 4096D freestanding for a week while I cut out the wall and build the cabinet, and I might like trying OTA.

My apartment has a clear view to the antennas that sent out those signals for the NYC area. (where the WTC used to stand)

Yes, I had a full view of the towers falling. :(

BB or CC should have them or RS, they are inexpensive. around 40ish give or take some dollars. Some get better reception than others so keep your receipts.

A good ol set of rabbilt ears might work just as well in some cases.

Hi LCD,Who makes those antennas? are they inexpensive?I'd get the Silver Sensor, also known as the Zenith ZHDTV1:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/silver.html
It's about 20 to 25 bucks and does a good job with HD frequencies. Radio Shack has a good one too but it's a bit more clunky looking.

I'd get the Silver Sensor, also known as the Zenith ZHDTV1:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/silver.html
It's about 20 to 25 bucks and does a good job with HD frequencies. Radio Shack has a good one too but it's a bit more clunky looking.

Very cool, thanks.

BTW, ... June 28th and the 96-series still reads Available in June.

They've got a lot of nerve if they switch that over the weekend.

I'd get the Silver Sensor, also known as the Zenith ZHDTV1:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/silver.html
It's about 20 to 25 bucks and does a good job with HD frequencies. Radio Shack has a good one too but it's a bit more clunky looking.

I have a Silver Sensor and it's great for UHF but not for VHF. I use a rabbit ears and join it with the silver sensor via a splitter and I can pull in both VHF and UHF without an ugly outdoor antenna.

Very cool, thanks.

BTW, ... June 28th and the 96-series still reads Available in June.

They've got a lot of nerve if they switch that over the weekend.

The wait for the 4096 is killing me. But whatever, at least we'll get some early reports on the 4095, and as more retailers start carrying 4095 or 4096, we'll see more competition on price.

By the way, did anybody notice that the 96 series models support MP3 players (RS232C port)? Not sure that I really care since I do this with the 360, but it's a kinda cool bonus.

Was just at my local BB yesterday (16th St, SF). The salesperson at Magnolia inside told me that they expect to get shipment of the 4096 on July 26th. How many units, he doesn't know yet.

I also saw the 4095 playing a blue ray disc (from the new Samsung BR Player). I was shocked... not the least bit impressed!!! Pictures looked grainy... I am not sure what all the hype about blue ray is, it looks WORSE than standard DVD on my sony wega. Am I missing something?!?

:confused:

Are the majority of the hardcore posters in this forum hardcore sammy fans or just wanting to adopt a quality first out the gate 1080p fp. I know JVC, Toshiba, Mitsubishi*i think* coming out with some too. As early as July. Anyone like me just waiting to see which tv will give them the most bang for their buck? I want a 46" give or take a couple inches. Have seen better prices with JVC and Toshiba in my price range, however I have not paid too much attention to the quality of their panels in the past in comparison to the sammys

Are the majority of the hardcore posters in this forum hardcore sammy fans or just wanting to adopt a quality first out the gate 1080p fp. I know JVC, Toshiba, Mitsubishi*i think* coming out with some too. As early as July. Anyone like me just waiting to see which tv will give them the most bang for their buck? I want a 46" give or take a couple inches. Have seen better prices with JVC and Toshiba in my price range, however I have not paid too much attention to the quality of their panels in the past.

I think it might be because Samsung is now percieved as the industry leader in flat panel displays. A lot of people seem to be really impressed by what they're seeing in-store from them.

But I agree with you, it looks like there's a whole lot out there to consider before making a decision.

Was just at my local BB yesterday (16th St, SF). The salesperson at Magnolia inside told me that they expect to get shipment of the 4096 on July 26th. How many units, he doesn't know yet.

I also saw the 4095 playing a blue ray disc (from the new Samsung BR Player). I was shocked... not the least bit impressed!!! Pictures looked grainy... I am not sure what all the hype about blue ray is, it looks WORSE than standard DVD on my sony wega. Am I missing something?!?

:confused:
Read the blu-ray player forum threads to find out the problems with blu-ray. Don't blame the panel. There's a little discussion on it in this thread too.

But what do I care? Everyone, don't buy the 95 or 96 series Sammies so the price falls for me. :P

From what I understand the folks in the Blu-Ray forum are saying that the first BR discs have been encoded in MPEG-2 rather than VC-1 or H.264. Apparently MPEG-2 is an older codec that has some technical issues relating to relatively high data rates necessary for achieving good PQ. I imagine that they'll iron out this issue fairly soon but for now the fur is still flying. I'd like to see one of the HD-DVD players hooked up to the 4095 because I've read in the forum that HD-DVD discs are encoded in VC-1 but so far I haven't been able to find a BB with that setup.

From what I understand the folks in the Blu-Ray forum are saying that the first BR discs have been encoded in MPEG-2 rather than VC-1 or H.264. Apparently MPEG-2 is an older codec that has some technical issues relating to relatively high data rates necessary for achieving good PQ. I imagine that they'll iron out this issue fairly soon but for now the fur is still flying. I'd like to see one of the HD-DVD players hooked up to the 4095 because I've read in the forum that HD-DVD discs are encoded in VC-1 but so far I haven't been able to find a BB with that setup.

You probably wont find that setup unless an actual employee is curious about that setup as well. The Samsung Blu Ray is on best buy's planogram to be coupled with the 4095. maybe in about a month, when the planogram changes you could possibly ask an employee to hook the HD-DVD to the 4095. I wouldnt ask on a weekend, esp if you dont plan to buy, unless you wanna be a jerk.

Oh about DNIe... There are three settings: on, off, and demo. Demo is a split screen (side by side) comparison of on and off. DNIe seems to increase contrast to an extreme. In my opinion, it can look good depending on what is being watched, but it is not a "true picture" if you know what I mean. For example, brown hair looks almost black with DNIe on. Purple looks deeper purple, blue deeper blue, etc...




so is it official....the DNIe can definitely be turned off for the 4095???

also does Samsung seem to have the broken pixel problem that so many Sony LCD owners are reporting? I can't stand it if even one is out. I stare at it the entire time just because I know it's there.

so is it official....the DNIe can definitely be turned off for the 4095???

Definitely.

Was just at my local BB yesterday (16th St, SF). ... I also saw the 4095 playing a blue ray disc (from the new Samsung BR Player). I was shocked... not the least bit impressed!!! Pictures looked grainy... I am not sure what all the hype about blue ray is, it looks WORSE than standard DVD on my sony wega. Am I missing something?!?

:confused:I was told at my Best Buy that not everything on the demo disk is true 1080p. There was a trailer/clip for the Chicken Little movie that seemed to be 1080p and another trailer about some Asian warriors was really impressive visually, but some of the other pieces were grainy and generally mediocre. I don't know what this says about how the 95's picture will look for "normal" HD material.

I just came back from Best Buy in Nyc on 23rd street. the 4095 was on display with a shiny new Samsung BR attached to it.

First impressions.....it's a samsung. mmmm ok. I stepped real close to it. nice build...slick metal bottom. shiny exterior...pitch black. so far so good...that is until the Blue ray stuff came on.

It all seemed a bit.....soft. not as sharp as the Westinghouse 42 / HDdvd combo that used to hold that spot. I could not help but to notice a few noisy grains in the picture. not pixelated noise ( thank god when in fast motion ) Just the quality of the blueray just...put it simply did not impress me one bit.

As usual, the smart lad at best buy chose to display it under their sun-bright ceiling lights. I must admit, the sammy held its own. gorgeous blacks, rich colors.

for me it seemed a bit, too small. and considering I saw the previous setup of Westy and HD, I find spending over 4k for the total package of Lcd + BR player. hard to swallow. what I saw looked no better than an upconverted dvd player to a plasma at 1080i .

I can see i am not the only one who was not wow by this combo.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=693117

I am glad to see the lcd menu is slightly different then the 92 series. I will head to Circuit city this week, hopefuly they would have some on display where I can judge the quality of SD on it.

After I left, I went to PC richards on 23rd st ( another local vendor for those not in Nyc )

Tthe sammy was not to be found, as usual the mets game is on every set ( yawn )

what caught my eyes was this sharp 37" 1080p lcd, hooked up to this slim 1U Hd player that looked to be propriatary and its displaying 1080i to the unit. what i saw was ...breathtaking, gorgeous shots of flowers, sea scapes....clear.....no noise unlike the sammy which had a bit of noise.

I am not sure if to blame the sammy yet, considering all the bad reviews and shaddy tactics of sony. How convenient that the westy 42" and HD combo was no longer in the store. gee I wonder why. I will report on this again soon.

as of now, I was not that impressed and I am looking forward to more reviews . I may as well wait for larger sets ie 47 westy, 46" sammy or the mysterious syntax 1080p lcds which i heard whould give everyone a run. ( I hope it comes out soon )

It all seemed a bit.....soft. not as sharp as the Westinghouse 42 / HDdvd combo that used to hold that spot. I could not help but to notice a few noisy grains in the picture. not pixelated noise ( thank god when in fast motion ) Just the quality of the blueray just...put it simply did not impress me one bit.

I would be interested to see how the 4095 looks hooked up to a HD-DVD player instead of the BD player.

Incidently, I have the new Sharp 37" 1080p tv and it is pretty nice. Nice blacks, colors, great digital PC connection via DVI-I port, very stylish. Only problem with it is noticeable (but not terrible) washout of blacks/colors at relatively small angles off-axis.

I'll most likely keep it, but I've been following the Samsung 4095/4096 so long that I still feel the need to see them in action.

the 4095 was on display with a shiny new Samsung BR attached to it....It all seemed a bit.....soft. not as sharp as the Westinghouse 42 / HDdvd combo that used to hold that spot.I would attribute the softness to the BR disc rather than the 4095. The BR discs are likely to improve but for the moment they have some encoding issues that are best explained in the Blu-Ray forum.what caught my eyes was this sharp 37" 1080p lcd, hooked up to this slim 1U Hd player that looked to be propriatary and its displaying 1080i to the unit. what i saw was ...breathtaking, gorgeous shots of flowers, sea scapes....clear.....no noise unlike the sammy which had a bit of noise.Another apples vs. oranges comparison. Had the Sharp been connected to a BR player your impression would likely have been quite different. The new Sharp 1080p LCD is a nice piece of work but at 37" I think that it's too small for 1080p unless one is prepared to sit 4 and a half feet away from the screen.I may as well wait for larger sets ie 47 westy, 46" sammy or the mysterious syntax 1080p lcds which i heard whould give everyone a run.The Syntax 1080p is the one that may well outperform the 4095 particularly in scaling SD source material but I'm still debating whether that is worth the extra wait. How much SD material will we be viewing in a year's time, not much I would think. Or perhaps I'm just rationalizing the lack of SD relevance.

Syntax better than Samsung at Scaling? Not sure why you think that, but if you like your blacks to be offwhite then go with Syntax.

Syntax better than Samsung at Scaling? Not sure why you think that, but if you like your blacks to be offwhite then go with Syntax.
I say that because of the new Silicon Optix Realta video processor that is integrated within the new 42" Syntax Signature 742i. The reports from CES were quite favorable.
http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CEStechnology/SiliconOptixRealta.php

http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/188920.html

thanks LCD1080, you took the words right out of my mouth.

again this was my brief observation of the set. as far as SD content is concerned, its very unfortunate, that what mostly most cable companies offer. even with the hd package. so yes. SD is still important.

It really a tough way to judge the sammy, hence why i am not passing judgment yet. From what I did see, I just was not too impressed with the Blueray combo. Its like you hear of this like the coming from christ from sony, then you walk in expecting picture perfect, no grain, no noise....for 3k for telly set and 1k for br player...I wanted " perfection"

i will wait till i see this set again this week, play with it, hook up SD and diff materials to it.

I am sure this sammy is star. more than likely its the BR player at fault. esp after I read that post on how crappy hdmi is on it.

necrolop the syntax signature series coming has some serious hopes for it. read up on it.

Possibly. But I take any claims Syntax has with a grain of salt. How often does a company switch from making cheap chinese junk, to stuff thats better than Samsung and Sony.

The 7-series is their bid to enter the high end of the flat panel business. Based on everything I've read and heard I take them quite seriously.

I don't think Syntax TVs are cheap Chinese junk as the previous poster said. I happen to know that Syntax uses LG panels for most of their TVs and actually uses Samsung panels for some of their 40" displays. I am not saying Syntax is as good as Samsung or Sony, but I think they are good for the money.

Back on topic...I too had a chance to see the 4095 hooked to a BR player at BB. There was one demo in particular that the BB employees were going on and on about. It was a watch making scene. It really looked amazing. Then they played a concert video (I think it was the Eagles) and the picture looked really grainy.

My guess is it all depends on the source material. The watch demo must have been shot on top of the line 1080p HD cameras.

The thing is when it comes to HDtv, what really counts is the final product, esp how well it scales and processes all incoming signals. regardless of manufacturer.

so much has to happen before you get that wow factor.

this is syntax' first entry in the high end market and I hope they will do it right. so far they are on track to do ..just that.

read up more on them http://www.hqv.com/index.cfm

and you will see why there is so much expectation. read this thread for more info as well.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=616051&page=1&pp=30

I have yet to make up my mind what set i want. so far i am rooting for sammy, westy and now syntax. I have my 4k saved up. this will be a fun summer.

It wasn't too long ago that people were resistant to buy Samsung products because they were cheap Korean crap and not "quality" Japanese engineering like Sony. Now, Samsung is often considered an equal of Sony and perhaps in some ways, superior. As far as Syntax goes... while they may have started out in the low end, they along with Westinghouse are helping to push prices down and quality up. Technology moves at such a fast pace that it's not unreasonable to fathom Syntax engineering products equal to or better than established brands and I personally welcome the competition.

I would attribute the softness to the BR disc rather than the 4095. The BR discs are likely to improve but for the moment they have some encoding issues that are best explained in the Blu-Ray forum.Another apples vs. oranges comparison. Had the Sharp been connected to a BR player your impression would likely have been quite different. The new Sharp 1080p LCD is a nice piece of work but at 37" I think that it's too small for 1080p unless one is prepared to sit 4 and a half feet away from the screen.The Syntax 1080p is the one that may well outperform the 4095 particularly in scaling SD source material but I'm still debating whether that is worth the extra wait. How much SD material will we be viewing in a year's time, not much I would think. Or perhaps I'm just rationalizing the lack of SD relevance.

Aren't HQV panels terribly laggy? If so, I wonder how that'll affect the set's performance with old consoles like PS2 and Xbox ... how 'bout DVDs, even?

I saw the same setup today and I saw the 42" Westy at the same spot last week.
I did like the Samsung picture much better.It did not seem soft and the black were very impressive for a LCD. The BR footage was with mixed quality. It was too far and under the bright lights to compare to anything.
IMHO the Westy and Sceptre do not compare picture and build wise.
I only wish the Samsung was in their price range...

I just came back from Best Buy in Nyc on 23rd street. the 4095 was on display with a shiny new Samsung BR attached to it.

First impressions.....it's a samsung. mmmm ok. I stepped real close to it. nice build...slick metal bottom. shiny exterior...pitch black. so far so good...that is until the Blue ray stuff came on.

It all seemed a bit.....soft. not as sharp as the Westinghouse 42 / HDdvd combo that used to hold that spot. I could not help but to notice a few noisy grains in the picture. not pixelated noise ( thank god when in fast motion ) Just the quality of the blueray just...put it simply did not impress me one bit.

As usual, the smart lad at best buy chose to display it under their sun-bright ceiling lights. I must admit, the sammy held its own. gorgeous blacks, rich colors.

for me it seemed a bit, too small. and considering I saw the previous setup of Westy and HD, I find spending over 4k for the total package of Lcd + BR player. hard to swallow. what I saw looked no better than an upconverted dvd player to a plasma at 1080i .

I can see i am not the only one who was not wow by this combo.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=693117

I am glad to see the lcd menu is slightly different then the 92 series. I will head to Circuit city this week, hopefuly they would have some on display where I can judge the quality of SD on it.

After I left, I went to PC richards on 23rd st ( another local vendor for those not in Nyc )

Tthe sammy was not to be found, as usual the mets game is on every set ( yawn )

what caught my eyes was this sharp 37" 1080p lcd, hooked up to this slim 1U Hd player that looked to be propriatary and its displaying 1080i to the unit. what i saw was ...breathtaking, gorgeous shots of flowers, sea scapes....clear.....no noise unlike the sammy which had a bit of noise.

I am not sure if to blame the sammy yet, considering all the bad reviews and shaddy tactics of sony. How convenient that the westy 42" and HD combo was no longer in the store. gee I wonder why. I will report on this again soon.

as of now, I was not that impressed and I am looking forward to more reviews . I may as well wait for larger sets ie 47 westy, 46" sammy or the mysterious syntax 1080p lcds which i heard whould give everyone a run. ( I hope it comes out soon )

dont get me wrong sledge, I would love to see the samsung perform on a diff player. From the several post I read, I am starting to think that the BR player is the culprit in this equation.

the samsung does indeed have a sexy build. top not black levels esp. considering that best buy has this nasty habbit of blasting that area with those mega watt bright white lamps. it held its own.

Yes the PQ of the content display was of mixed quality, however keep in mind that people like myself will be reacting to what I seee on the screen ie there were time it was so bad that local Hd sets near by looked better.

considering that the price of this BR player as well as the samsung I was expecting a bit more. noise is what to me turned me off about the last 92 series.

as per this post http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=693117

as you can see, once tweaked and not using the hdmi cable with that player. the content PQ improved. too early to tell, so best to play with it, view it for yourself as well was wait for review. overall, I have mixed feelings about it.

I can see i am not the only one who was not wow by this combo.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=693117



Shinraven, thanks for pointing out this brief thread. It does seem to raise some questions about the HDMI connection on the panel, because post #13 in that thread talks about hooking up the Tosh XA1 and finding that it too worked better over component than HDMI on the 4095.

There are so many variables to consider (is player set at 1080i or 1080p, component vs. HDMI, is panel properly tweaked, what is quality of encoding on disc, Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD, etc.), who's to know what exactly is to blame, but people should be aware of this potential issue.

I noticed on the Samsung website that there are two component ins on the 95 & 96 series.

A previously posted link(actually one more click into the link) put the br at fault in this particular case. Comparing it to upcoming pioneer on identical screens, and then switching screens and creating the same problems on the other one. Both BR players used same hdmi hardware and chipset. However when using component the picture was greatly improved when compared to the other identical display. Interesting read http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa122.html

start at the 6/26/06

I noticed that the sammys have 10 bit video processor. The upcoming toshiba 1080p line have 12bit. Besides the obvious reasons of "its processing 2 bits more" what are the big picture advantages having greater bit processing and does greater in this case mean better, or does it still come down to the quality over quantity.

my gut instincts so far tells me that the blue ray players on the market are just not cutting it.

the samsung still was decent. I am trying to head to circuit city , J&r today, hopefuly their sets will be set up better/

A previously posted link(actually one more click into the link) put the br at fault in this particular case. Comparing it to upcoming pioneer on identical screens, and then switching screens and creating the same problems on the other one. Both BR players used same hdmi hardware and chipset. However when using component the picture was greatly improved when compared to the other identical display. Interesting read http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa122.html

start at the 6/26/06
That was a good read - I had seen that link previously in the BR forums, along with a lot of commentary.

But it is a different issue relative to the thread Shinraven introduced. For one, thedigitalbits wasnt commenting on 40" Samsung LCD. For another, they didn't test the Toshiba HD-DVD player on the 40" Samsung.

Check out this post by painit77, post # 13 in this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=693117 -

"I had my BB hook up the Tosh XA1 to the Sammy 40 inch LCD. It made a night and day improvement. The TV has issues even the Toshiba couldn't fix. I had them put in Apollo 13. I tried hooking it up with HDMI then Component. The analog connection on the Toshiba was hands down 10 times better in quality. My theory and opinion is that there is a reason why HDMI 1.3 is coming. 1080p over HDMI ain't happening. It sucks period. I hooked back up the sammy and tried to change the output to 1080i. It wouldn't let me. I don't know why, it just wouldn't. We went to component on the BR player. It improved it in some scences like the Pirates fight scene in the iron shop with the mosquito noise. It only seemed to effect the noise. The color was little more edgy and defined but overall, it was an imrovement. This is just my opionion but I think HDMI needs the added bandwidth and bit bucket to do 1080P correctly or least get to component quality."

So if both BR and HD-DVD are worse via HDMI to this set, it could be that both the Tosh HD-DVD player and the Sammy BR player have problems with HDMI out, or is it that the HDMI connection on the panel is part of the problem?

Aren't HQV panels terribly laggy? If so, I wonder how that'll affect the set's performance with old consoles like PS2 and Xbox ... how 'bout DVDs, even?I searched the Video processors forum but find anything about lag effects for HQV. The NEC Theatersync scaler which features HQV is described in this thread with no mention of lag -- see: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=607046&page=1&pp=30&highlight=silicon+optix
Where do you recall reading about HQV panels being subject to lag effects?

The wait for the 4096 is killing me. But whatever, at least we'll get some early reports on the 4095, and as more retailers start carrying 4095 or 4096, we'll see more competition on price.

By the way, did anybody notice that the 96 series models support MP3 players (RS232C port)? Not sure that I really care since I do this with the 360, but it's a kinda cool bonus.

LOL, no kidding, I'm dying here.

Yes, I noticed the firewire port.

I saw the 4095D for the first time. It rocks, especially with content like Chicken Little. You're definately ready for the newest content.

No reflection at all. I looked over at a wall of plasmas playing, and man, what a differance.

Are the majority of the hardcore posters in this forum hardcore sammy fans

Well it is a sammy thread....

So if both BR and HD-DVD are worse via HDMI to this set, it could be that both the Tosh HD-DVD player and the Sammy BR player have problems with HDMI out, or is it that the HDMI connection on the panel is part of the problem?


Yeah, with the lack of available players and decent movies its a toss up. Kinda puts us at a stalemate because we cant judge performance on 4095 when there is no other BR to compare it to. And just like the dvd upconversion market, some are going to be worse and some going to be better. However the article did say the the Pioneer used the same HDMI hardware and chipset as the Samsung BR, and the Pioneer clearly outperformed the Sammy on identical 1080p displays using hdmi. HDMI out on the players shouldn't be the issue I think. You wonder if these companies actually hook their products up together and see if they actually do what they are supposed to. What good does it doo to introduce a 1080p panel and BR combo that don't gel together right of the bat. It should be like peanut butter and jelly, bonnie and clyde.

I was told at my Best Buy that not everything on the demo disk is true 1080p. There was a trailer/clip for the Chicken Little movie that seemed to be 1080p and another trailer about some Asian warriors was really impressive visually, but some of the other pieces were grainy and generally mediocre. I don't know what this says about how the 95's picture will look for "normal" HD material.

That's blatantly obvious to me.

Why anyone would run a montage of footage like that, I do not know.

Check out this post by painit77, post # 13 in this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=693117
The part of post #13 that I found interesting was where he said that hooking up the Toshiba XA1 HD-DVD player to the Samsung 40 inch LCD made a "night and day improvement" (over the Blu-Ray player). He found that hooking the 4095 to the Toshiba XA1 via the analog port to be "10 times better in quality". At least that much is encouraging.

Well it is a sammy thread....

Well I am a good product fan, I put little emphasis on name unless it deals with reliability, which is why I read the forums so I can see who is saying what.. With JVC, Toshiba, Samsung, Sony, and Mitsubishi coming out I can pull the trigger on any of them as long as they have quality and comparability.

Then they played a concert video (I think it was the Eagles) and the picture looked really grainy.



That's not graininess, that's pot smoke. :D

I have yet to make up my mind what set i want. so far i am rooting for sammy, westy and now syntax. I have my 4k saved up. this will be a fun summer.

That's the attitude. :)

However, as Rick says in Casablanca "Fate just took a hand." I'm betting my 4096 suddenly ships from Abt and I'm a done deal.

I'm betting my 4096 suddenly ships from Abt and I'm a done deal. I think you mentioned that Abt is getting 50 of them for shipment by the end of June. So 1 of those 50 most likely has your name on it designated for shipment by the close of business tomorrow ;)

I was in BB two days ago. I was talking to one of the super-nerd employees in the Elect. Dept. He said they tried hooking up the Blu-ray to all the 1080p TV's in the store. They all looked like crap. By the end of the day they just decided not to display it.

The part of post #13 that I found interesting was where he said that hooking up the Toshiba XA1 HD-DVD player to the Samsung 40 inch LCD made a "night and day improvement" (over the Blu-Ray player). He found that hooking the 4095 to the Toshiba XA1 via the analog port to be "10 times better in quality". At least that much is encouraging.

I have totally tabled getting the PS3 now.

I've pre-ordered the new Sammy DVD recorder with upscaling, which Amazon says ships on July 14th.

That should hold me for a little while until these issues get ironed out.

Plus i've got a boat load of old Star Treks I need to get off the DVR before my wife hits me with a frying pan. ;)

I think you mentioned that Abt is getting 50 of them for shipment by the end of June. So 1 of those 50 most likely has your name on it designated for shipment by the close of business tomorrow ;)

I believe the guy when he said Sammy promised them 50, but I'm pretty sure the 4096D is not going to be "Available in June" at the site STILL says, LOL!

I was in BB two days ago. I was talking to one of the super-nerd employees in the Elect. Dept. He said they tried hooking up the Blu-ray to all the 1080p TV's in the store. They all looked like crap. By the end of the day they just decided not to display it.

I believe you, but i also find it hard to believe anyone a BB has the discretion to not obey the home office's order to display the Blu-Ray.

The part of post #13 that I found interesting was where he said that hooking up the Toshiba XA1 HD-DVD player to the Samsung 40 inch LCD made a "night and day improvement" (over the Blu-Ray player). He found that hooking the 4095 to the Toshiba XA1 via the analog port to be "10 times better in quality". At least that much is encouraging.
Good point. And I can live without using HDMI if necessary since the 95 & 96 models have two component ins. I'd just kind of like to know for sure that HDMI works before I lay out $3K. Anybody out there using one of these for cable TV via HDMI with success?

The part of post #13 that I found interesting was where he said that hooking up the Toshiba XA1 HD-DVD player to the Samsung 40 inch LCD made a "night and day improvement" (over the Blu-Ray player). He found that hooking the 4095 to the Toshiba XA1 via the analog port to be "10 times better in quality". At least that much is encouraging.

I hope so, The local BB has the A1 and the Samsung on the same 4095 display. The BD was running the demo disk via hdmi. The A1 was hooked up via component but the Tosh demo disk was missing.

I was so eager to see the display before, but after seeing it, I'm left with an empty feeling. What I did see was noisy and bewildering. The 4095 was set to dynamic mode which had the colors way over saturated and seemed to me induced a hint of balloning on the brights. I set to standard but it was hurt by the fact that it was on a brightly lit end cap. Coupled with the nosiy picture from the BD, I could not decide what to think.

Playing with the remote I turned off Dnie with the dedicated button and it seemed to help at some times and seemed to hurt at others. I am not talking about the color saturation that Dnie pumps into the picture. It seems as though you noticed more back ground noise with the BD player and DNie enabled and at other times forground noise was worse with Dnie disabled. I felt very conflicted looking at the set, at least while it has the BD player shackled to it.

I walked the isles looking for any other nice displays to gawk at. In the section of the store with the dimmed lights I saw the plasmas that had the glowing effect that I sought from the new Samsung. I ran my eyes around all the display and kept noticing the thing that makes a plasma impossible for my set up- glare.

I noticed the samsung 4692 then. It came very close in my head to pulling off the plasma effect. Thats what I want from the 4095/96. I not sure what was the problem on the end cap display but I will need some more time to disect the 95/96 series beefore I jump for a 1080p LCD. The 4095 seemed to come up lame in its first showing for me.

LOL, no kidding, I'm dying here.

Yes, I noticed the firewire port.

I saw the 4095D for the first time. It rocks, especially with content like Chicken Little. You're definately ready for the newest content.

No reflection at all. I looked over at a wall of plasmas playing, and man, what a differance.

According to the spec sheet for the 4096, there's firewire (IEEE1394) plus the portable audio player connection (RS232C).

Glad to hear the positive review. Did you play with the settings at all or did they have it set up to your liking?

According to the spec sheet for the 4096, there's firewire (IEEE1394) plus the portable audio player connection (RS232C).

Glad to hear the positive review. Did you play with the settings at all or did they have it set up to your liking?

Good info. :)

The remote wasn't around, so I didn't mess with it.

I have to use HDMI. I have no way to pull all that wiring through my wall for dual component plus sound.

I'll use the upcoming sammy DVD recorder with upscaling for a while, and see how BR and HD-DVD battle it out from now until Christmas.

Im just brainstorming here and not really that intersted in blueray players seeing how im waiting for a ps3 (already have xbox 360 and gaming comp) but lemme just put this out there for you guys what if blueray is having all those grainy pictures and such because of via the cable? hdmi 1.3 is supposed to double the speed with alot of features and has been finalized. www.hdmi.org anyone thinking to wait for lets say a hdmi 1.3 compliant blueray player and then really see the difference?

What I want to know.. is it possible that the grain is just that, grain from the original film the movie or whatnot was filmed on? And perhaps for the first time, 1080p resolves enough detail that you can actually see it? Especially folks walking thru BB and viewing the screen from perhaps 3 feet away...

Anyone familiar with digital photography might also know about noise/grain suppression. there are a lot of software products out there that remove 'noise' or 'grain' (as it might be interpreted) for photography, to the effect that image becomes plastic looking and loses some actual acutance. Perhaps some players and/or some sets have noise/grain reduction built in, and perhaps some don't.

Is this perhaps the case? I honestly don't know.. just throwing this out there.

...i've got a boat load of old Star Treks I need to get off the DVR before my wife hits me with a frying pan. ;)I just did the same thing with my DVR and VAIO PC. The VAIO has a Gigapocket video recorder that records video signals from the DVR via the co-axial cable. Now the DVR is empty and I can upgrade to the 160GB model from the old 80.

What I want to know.. is it possible that the grain is just that, grain from the original film the movie or whatnot was filmed on?Yes I believe that is correct. Check out this episode of DL-TV where the technician talks about his experience with the Blu-Ray player and the grain from original film:

http://gearlog.com/blogs/digitallifetv/archive/2006/06/28/14620.aspx

Im just brainstorming here and not really that intersted in blueray players seeing how im waiting for a ps3 (already have xbox 360 and gaming comp) but lemme just put this out there for you guys what if blueray is having all those grainy pictures and such because of via the cable? hdmi 1.3 is supposed to double the speed with alot of features and has been finalized. www.hdmi.org anyone thinking to wait for lets say a hdmi 1.3 compliant blueray player and then really see the difference?

Do you think PS3 will be 1.3?

It's due in mid-November. That's may not be enough time, no?

Also, does the TV need to be 1.3 too? The chipset in the TV, that is.

I just did the same thing with my DVR and VAIO PC. The VAIO has a Gigapocket video recorder that records video signals from the DVR via the co-axial cable. Now the DVR is empty and I can upgrade to the 160GB model from the old 80.

Fat.

Will an upcoming Sammy DVD recorder need any tweaks to record off the DVR's HDD? Are there any issues I need to be aware of?

Yes I believe that is correct. Check out this episode of DL-TV where the technician talks about his experience with the Blu-Ray player and the grain from original film:

http://gearlog.com/blogs/digitallifetv/archive/2006/06/28/14620.aspx

Also taking a step further with analogy to digital photography.. has anyone ever played with a sharpening tool in a photo editing program? Perhaps sharpening algorithms programmed into the BR and/or TV are lesser than on other models/types of machines? perhaps for this reason there's the softness issue. One should note that with a 'grainy' or 'noisy' photo, the application of sharpening would enhance and make even more visible the grain/noise, as in effect it would add more delineation to the actual grain and make it even more pronounced.

So the problem might possibly be that you need a hi def capture from the very beginning, and there are very few original sources I imagine that exist. 70mm film (is that a size that movies are still filmed in) is about 3" in size. And you're blowing up to 40" screen size or more. 35mm film (which you may be familiar with) would be equivalent to blowing up to a 20" print. Think about what grain you'd see on that size enlargement if you took one of your negs off to Costco for a print. I may be very off base here, but perhaps there's a valid point here. I'm not a very technical person, nor know what movie film formats are really filmed in these days...

I'm starting to get worried that the 4696 may not be the HDTV of my dreams. What I've learned from this forum is that Blue Ray has problems, HDMI has problems and that PQ is worse than we anticipated. At the end of the day 90% of what I watch will be coming to my HDTV via a cable signal. How is the PQ of the 4095 when you're looking at a signal from cable?

I'm starting to get worried that the 4696 may not be the HDTV of my dreams. What I've learned from this forum is that Blue Ray has problems, HDMI has problems and that PQ is worse than we anticipated. At the end of the day 90% of what I watch will be coming to my HDTV via a cable signal. How is the PQ of the 4095 when you're looking at a signal from cable?

Your first problem is in thinking that there's a "TV of your dreams" out there. All TVs have issues, you just have to prioritize what you can and can't live with.

When you base your TV search on this premise, everything becomes much less stressful, and you'll probably even end up enjoying your set more because of it.

Happy hunting. ;)

I have never posted but I have followed the message board. I just bought the 4095 from best buy early this week and it was delivered today. I do not have a 1080p source yet so I can't comment but the colors are the best I have ever seen. The high definition is really excellent and there is no motion artifact and again very impressive color scheme including the blacks. The standard definition is basically the same as any other tv in my opinion. REGULAR dvds seem better to me -- I am not sure why. I am not going to get the blue ray as I was not impressed with the best buy setup in fact when I saw that I was hesitant but now I think it is worth the money. I will probably get the PS3 in november as it supposedly will do everything the blueray will do and play games. Hope this helps

dave

Will an upcoming Sammy DVD recorder need any tweaks to record off the DVR's HDD? Are there any issues I need to be aware of? I've never worked with a DVD recorder however I can't forsee any special issues that should stand in your way. All you do is go to your recorded list on the DVR, choose the TV broadcast that you'd like to transfer, and press "Record" on the DVD recorder.

I just bought the 4095 from best buy early this week and it was delivered today...the colors are the best I have ever seen. The high definition is really excellent and there is no motion artifact and again very impressive color scheme including the blacks....I was hesitant but now I think it is worth the money.Thanks Dave. I think that you're the first owner to post an opinion of the 4095 in action. You said the words I wanted to hear, which are "no motion artifact" and "the high definition is really excellent". Have you tried receiving OTA broadcasts or has all the programming been received over cable? Will you be hooking your PC up to the 4095 and using that as a 1080 source?

I did a search on the zipcode area on the Sasmung website and it gave Boscovs as a Local Retailer for the 46" LCD ???


I was surprised by this, I figured that Best Buy or Circuit City would come up.

I just received this regarding my preorder for the 4696:

"Thanks for placing your order at **************(dot)com.

Unfortunately your product is on backorder and will take approximately two

weeks before it reaches our warehouse."

Two weeks? I can live with that...


Jerz

Purchasing a Plasma or LCD TV for your wife's birthday is grounds for divorce in most states. The statutes vary from state to state, but it is usually covered in the same section that deals with lawn tractors.

......well you see it all depends on your strategy. I've been working this angle for about six or so years when I brought home some good wine and then loaded the wife into the car, carried her to Circuit City and convinced her how beautiful the 53" Sony 53HS10 was.... that TV is still in our family room today however it does not go with her new interior decorating design so she wanted one of these tv's that looked like a picture frame and I found one ;)

I just remind her that those picture frame tv's were about eleven grand when we bought the projection screen and she really *thinks* it's a good deal (good thing it's her birthday).

Cheers!

Jerz

Stopped by Circuit City today. They don't carry the fp but do have the sammy 1080p dlps hooked up. I sat down and watched the full BR demo. Something I will have to do at BB to compare, but for the most part the like someone stated before, not all of the video could be processed right. I noticed the grainy Eagles concert that was mentioned earlier, but also was very impressed with the watch making segment. I also was blown away by Samsung demo with guy sitting in the morphing room looking at his tv in high def. I didnt wait long enough to see these on the 4095 so I will have to in order to compare

just cable -- have not tried over the air. premium channel movies are spectacular. better than regular DVD in my opinion. Also the picture does seem to be better with component cables vs the HDMI. I am not sure how to explain this. Surround sound is suprisingly good for a TV as well. Most standout feature is the color -- I think the cold flouresent gadget really makes a difference. There is also a PIP with the 4095. I am not sure if the 4096 has this feature. I just got tired of waiting so when I saw at best buy bought it with the thought I would take it back if I didn't like it but I am going to keep it.

Dave
'

...premium channel movies are spectacular. better than regular DVD in my opinion. Also the picture does seem to be better with component cables vs the HDMI.When you watch the 4095 at night with the room lights turned off how close to pure black are the blacks. Is there significant light leakage adjacent the edges of the screen?

I have been saving up money for a new TV for a while now I should have enough money to buy the LN-S4696D ($4298.00) in a couple of weeks.

Dave:

On the motion issue, have you watched sports or similar "fast-moving" program? Thanks

I just received this regarding my preorder for the 4696:

"Thanks for placing your order at **************(dot)com.

Unfortunately your product is on backorder and will take approximately two

weeks before it reaches our warehouse."

Two weeks? I can live with that...


Jerz

Fantastic news. Keep us posted.

Most standout feature is the color -- I think the cold flouresent gadget really makes a difference. Dave
'


Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet !

Cold cathode baby.

How hot does the TV get? I'm hoping it remains pretty cool.

Thanks Dave. I think that you're the first owner to post an opinion of the 4095 in action. You said the words I wanted to hear, which are "no motion artifact" and "the high definition is really excellent".


Just like Westa said. :)

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to upgrade my cable to get more movie channels.....

High class problem. :)

I'm starting to get worried that the 4696 may not be the HDTV of my dreams. What I've learned from this forum is that Blue Ray has problems, HDMI has problems and that PQ is worse than we anticipated. At the end of the day 90% of what I watch will be coming to my HDTV via a cable signal. How is the PQ of the 4095 when you're looking at a signal from cable?

Chill out Hoss. :)

Blu-Ray is buggy, but we're getting excellent reviews on the Toshiba HD-DVD.

The poor reviews on the 4095D appear to be due to crummy split signals reaching the set at Best Buy, and due to Blu-Ray.

We do have one poster with the 4095D at home now, and he says it's fantastic, no artifacting and the color and contrast are superb.

The 4696 is going to ROCK!

As for HDMI vs Component..... try what works for you. I'm going with HDMI and looking to 1.3 when it rolls out.

Oh yeah and is there any fan noise from the 4095?

Oh yeah and is there any fan noise from the 4095?

The issue for most of us is whether the fan turns off when you go into the standby mode. In theory, fans only need to run in standby when you have CableCard or TV Guide On Screen. Without these functions, there is no need for the processors to run when the TV is turned off and therefore no need for cooling fans. This is one advantage of NOT having TVGOS or CableCard.

The issue for most of us is whether the fan turns off when you go into the standby mode. In theory, fans only need to run in standby when you have CableCard or TV Guide On Screen. Without these functions, there is no need for the processors to run when the TV is turned off and therefore no need for cooling fans. This is one advantage of NOT having TVGOS or CableCard.

Interesting.

So if you use the CableCard, the fans keep whirling even when the set is off?

Bummer....

Interesting.

So if you use the CableCard, the fans keep whirling even when the set is off?

Bummer....

Yes, but not everyone finds it to be an issue. Some fans are quieter than others and some people less sensitive. The placement of the TV in the room is also a factor. Most -- if not all -- HD Cable boxes also have fans that run 24/7. The high speed digital processors generate enough heat to need a fan and the Cable Companies insist on being connected to their customers at all times. The Motorola DVRs for example have really loud fans. I'm interested in getting some feedback on the noise levels of the 4095 and 4096 because it would go into a room where quiet is desired.

I seem to be the only one with the TV at home so far. So like in medicine -- an N of 1 should be taken as just that one persons opinion. I am also not as sophisticated as some of you but 1) the blacks look great to me in the dark 2) I was not even aware of a fan problem but when I mute it I don't hear anything. 3) world cup soccer, baseball, and golf are fantastic in high definition. I watched Rounders last night in high definition premium channel - it was better than DVD version. basically I have nothing bad to say and very impressed however my old tv was a panasonic high definition projection and maybe I am more easily impressed. Also I have not seen anything in 1080p and probably wont until PS3. I do have a question about the 1.3 hdmi. will it have the same cable and just plug into our tv but the output source sends a different signal or is there a different cable and we wont have compatible tvs when it comes out.

Dave :)

If you get the 4096 but never insert a cable card in the card slot then the fan will remain off permanently? The answer may be obvious but I'd like to know for sure because if the fan is off 100% of the time then I won't have to evaluate whether fan noise is an issue.

I do have a question about the 1.3 hdmi. will it have the same cable and just plug into our tv but the output source sends a different signal or is there a different cable and we wont have compatible tvs when it comes out.The cable for HDMI 1.3 is the same as the current HDMI 1.1 cable. No new connectors are required. See the comment from Mr. Depew in the blue box at the bottom of this web page:http://www.hdblog.net/2006/06/20/hdmi-13-needs-new-connectors/

no new connectors are required lcd1080 but if you read the full detail youd know that you wont get the dual link or double bandwidth billions of colors and all the other goodies persay your tv is hdmi 1.2 or 1.1 and you plug it into a 1.3 plug it wouldent work at the 1.3's spec's ull just be running 1.2 on a 1.3 basically...

Here is the "Is HDMI 1.3 necessary?" thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=661064&highlight=hdmi+1+3

davermd - does your new tv have a "smart stretch/non-linear stretch" (maybe called wide-fit)? If so does it function over HDMI when an SD (480i or 480p) signal is sent (from a cable box for example)? How about over component? Thx.

Alright...Let me try to break down the issues with blu-ray, HDMI, and compatible TVs in this one thread considering that so many links were posted above. Hopefully, I can answer all the big questions in one place.

It seems that blu-ray is the cause of the poor picture quality at the store because it is being encoded with MPEG-2 as the dual layer blu-ray discs have not been released yet (lower quality takes up less space on the disc), and are expected to be released around Christmas time. Also, the HDMI out on both the HD-DVD and blu-ray players are NOT nearly as good as the component out. A firmware update for the HD-DVD player is available for the HDMI out, but it still is a worse picture compared to the analog component connection. This is in part perhaps due to the whole HDMI 1.3 thing which I will now attempt to explain (hopefully well).

HDMI 1.3 provides superior bandwidth over its previous versions making for better colors and objects in motion along with loss-less audio in 7.1 channels. The problem is that no current player supports 1.3 with the Playstation 3 most likely being the first blu-ray player to have such a technology. That's good news for most people like me that is going to get one. The problem is that you also have to have an HDMI compliant input as well. So, if these Sammys do not support HDMI 1.3, it does not matter anyway if the source is 1.3 because the quality is only as good as the weakest chain in the link. This is why, then that many think the blu-ray player looks worse over the digital HDMI connection. It currently does not have enough bandwidth to transfer a 1080p signal with sound completely. Now, it could be that the chipset in the players are just bad, but I would doubt that they would put less than the best current HDMI set available considering they are such a high price. And obviously, one cannot blame the disc on the poor HDMI output if people are using the same disc over component and then looks better on the latter connection.

As for the TV side, I'm hoping that the 96 series supports it (although I highly doubt it considering the technology is so new). If not, then the 95 series may be the way to go. I say this because if you cannot get a good quality connection with HDMI, then you will want to use component. However, the 96 series does not support 1080p over component where the 95 does. So then the only way to get amazing 1080p would be with the 95 series.

ATTENTION: SPECULATION COMING This fact though does give way to believing that the 96 series will support HDMI 1.3. Assuming that the 95 series does not have version 1.3 since I have heard no mention of it, what would be the MAJOR advantage of the 96 series, and why would the 95 series support a better component connection than Samsung's top of the line TV - the 96 series? The answer may be that the 96 series does not need 1080p over component because it will have HDMI 1.3 which will be able to handle the signal completely without a problem like the current HDMI has. I figure that Samsung had to have known that the component connection was better than the HDMI connection before they released their blu-ray player. And if it is indeed better over component because of this whole HDMI 1.3 thing, then we may very well see HDMI 1.3 in the 96 series (especially for your sake, SpecSniper :) )

Lastly, for those of you that are wondering more about this 1.3 thing, all HDMI versions are compatible with each other. As for the TV sets, only a hardware upgrade can make the TV compliant with HDMI 1.3. So if these Sammys do not support 1.3, a firmware update will not make it so. In order to get it then, you'd probably have to buy a new TV that is compliant (available in the near future), or for the more adventurous, open up the set and install the new hardware at risk of destroying your new Sammy TV.

I hope that this can help some people that were confused get a basic understanding of this whole TV, blu-ray, HDMI combination problem. Why do things have to always be so confusing?

Thanks for reading, and pray for Sammy compliance,
Jared

HDMI 1.3 provides superior bandwidth over its previous versions...As for the TV side, I'm hoping that the 96 series supports it (although I highly doubt it considering the technology is so new). If not, then the 95 series may be the way to go. I say this because if you cannot get a good quality connection with HDMI, then you will want to use component. However, the 96 series does not support 1080p over component where the 95 does. So then the only way to get amazing 1080p would be with the 95 series.That's an excellent point IF the 96 truly does not support 1080p over component which I'm having a hard time believing. Why would Samsung make a more expensive product (the 96 being more expensive than the 95) and proceed to make it less capable in the most fundamental of ways? That question does make seeing the 96 all the more important so that we can verify whether support for 1080p over component is lacking.ATTENTION: SPECULATION COMING This fact though does give way to believing that the 96 series will support HDMI 1.3. Assuming that the 95 series does not have version 1.3 since I have heard no mention of it, what would be the MAJOR advantage of the 96 series, and why would the 95 series support a better component connection than Samsung's top of the line TV - the 96 series? The answer may be that the 96 series does not need 1080p over component because it will have HDMI 1.3 which will be able to handle the signal completely without a problem like the current HDMI has. They just approved the HDMI 1.3 spec on a week ago http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/11230/HDMI-13-Spec-Finalized That would make it impossible to incorporate 1.3 in a shipping product in early July.I figure that Samsung had to have known that the component connection was better than the HDMI connection before they released their blu-ray player. And if it is indeed better over component because of this whole HDMI 1.3 thing, then we may very well see HDMI 1.3 in the 96 series If they were planning on releasing a 96 with HDMI 1.3 in early July then wouldn't Samsung have waited to release Blu-Ray until then? Why would Samsung release their premier product (Blu-Ray) and show it off with an inferior HDMI 1.1 connection when they could have waited 3 weeks and made a spectacular first impression with an HDMI 1.3 connection?

Why would Samsung release their premier product (Blu-Ray) and show it off with an inferior HDMI 1.1 connection when they could have waited 3 weeks and made a spectacular first impression with an HDMI 1.3 connection?

Well, it wouldn't matter since the player does not support 1.3. So the quality would not be any better on a 1.3 TV. Please let me know if I'm wrong in thinking this. :)

They just approved the HDMI 1.3 spec on a week ago http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/11230/HDMI-13-Spec-Finalized That would make it impossible to incorporate 1.3 in a shipping product in early July.

That article just states how they announced publicly the specifications of 1.3. Developers may have known about the specs for some time earlier, just not the public. But don't get me wrong as I too doubt that the set will have 1.3, but I love to have some hope.

Oh, and also remember that the founders of HDMI are Hitachi, Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic/National/Quasar), Philips, Sony, Thomson (RCA), Toshiba, CableLabs, Silicon Image, and SAMSUNG. Samsung would have had access to the new technology throughout its whole development. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

While this site was down earlier today a 4095 owner posted that he was having some difficulty in getting a good quality image from his HTPC to the 4095 on both the analog and digital ports. The digital was no surprise because the 4095 isn't supported but the analog got my attention because viewing my PC at 1080P is one of the major things I want to be able to do with my new 1080P LCD. The post got deleted when the site went down for the second time but I hope that he re-writes his original post. If anyone else has connected their 4095 over the analog port to their PC please let us know how the quality of the image turned out.

I don't monitor this section so not sure where you all are discussing the Sammy 1080p sets so put my feedback here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7932443&&#post7932443

Per post above, I will udpate as I learn more...

It seems that blu-ray is the cause of the poor picture quality at the store because it is being encoded with MPEG-2 as the dual layer blu-ray discs have not been released yet (lower quality takes up less space on the disc), and are expected to be released around Christmas time.
Quite correct :).

Also, the HDMI out on both the HD-DVD and blu-ray players are NOT nearly as good as the component out.
Not true. HD DVD does superbly with HDMI. My testing with 4095 shows superb resolution and overall fidelity with HDMI.

As for BD and Samsung player, yes Bill Hunt started this in digitalbits. But my testing and that of others has shown that component is no better than HDMI and if anything, is a bit softer. Cnet magazine just tested the Samsung BD player and said the same thing (assuming one values what Cnet says about A/V products :)).

A firmware update for the HD-DVD player is available for the HDMI out, but it still is a worse picture compared to the analog component connection.
Again, this is not correct. The firmware fixes are for DVI colorspace issues. Most people will probably not see these problems.

HDMI 1.3 provides superior bandwidth over its previous versions making for better colors and objects in motion along with loss-less audio in 7.1 channels.
Not true. Older versions of HDMI have sufficient bandwidth for 1080p just the same. Remember, we are talking digital domain and not analog. If bandwidth is not there with digital, you get distinct problems like horizontal noise lines.

The problem is that no current player supports 1.3 with the Playstation 3 most likely being the first blu-ray player to have such a technology.
This is still unconfirmed. And to be clear, HDMI 1.3 does NOT provide improved picture quaility. It provides other enhancements though such as compressed audio pass through which is not a useful scenario in this TV.

However, the 96 series does not support 1080p over component where the 95 does. So then the only way to get amazing 1080p would be with the 95 series.
I am not aware of consumer products -- sources or displays -- handling 1080p over component. The highest mode is 1080i. The Samsung BD player for example or the Toshiba HD DVD player, do not support 1080p over component.

Sounds encouranging Amir, do you plan on connecting the 4095 to the RGB output of your PC and set the PC resolution at 1920x1080? I'd like to hear your impression of the image quality if you have the time. Thanks.

Sounds encouranging Amir, do you plan on connecting the 4095 to the RGB output of your PC and set the PC resolution at 1920x1080? I'd like to hear your impression of the image quality if you have the time. Thanks.
Yes, I will do shortly. My first test though, did not work.

I tried using the VGA input for grins with my new Vaio laptop that supports 1080p on its output. But despite seeing the capabilities of the Sammy up to 1080p, I got no image. My dell laptop though, had no trouble driving it at 1280x768 on the same input. Not sure if it is a problem with Sony though.

I hope to try it out with my media center PC in the next couple of days and will report back what I find. That should eliminate a lot of things that can go wrong with the laptop's dual output.

Amir, The 4095 states in its spec sheet that it does indeed support 1080p via Component. I too am not sure of any sources, but I would assume the PS3 will. Also possible for future HD-DVD and BD players.

Amir, The 4095 states in its spec sheet that it does indeed support 1080p via Component.
I just noticed that. I stand corrected :). I assumed that was for PC RGB input only as the manual makes no mention of it.

I too am not sure of any sources, but I would assume the PS3 will. Also possible for future HD-DVD and BD players.
Politically, this will be a difficult thing to do for CE companies.

Sharp Aquos 1080P's vs. the new Sammy's. I realize we are all still waiting with baited breath for the release of these, but what is the deal with the Sharp's? Are these of lower quality then the Sammy's? Are they the same? Sorry for the stupid questions, but I was at the Home Theater Store today and one of their sales guys was showing me the Sharp's and he told me the new 46inch Sharp 1080p will be around 10K. :confused:

Hi i am new to this site but i read everything about this forum on this samsung. I was wondering if it is going to be in full 1080p like the new Sony xbr3 that is coming out in sept?

I set up my 4095 today and I don't think I like the PC input so far. I'm no AV expert so I'll try to describe things the best I can.

First, I tried a DVI to HDMI cable and the resulting image was TERRIBLE. It looked like someone oversharpened the image in Photoshop. I also couldn't get the screen to be a perfect 1:1. It always overscanned or underscanned for some reason. A quick look in the manual revealed that the DVI/HDMI ports don't support PC input. I wonder if this applies to those new video cards that have built in HDMI ports.

Next, I tried VGA using a DVI/VGA adapter (my 7900GT only has dual DVI out). The image looked pretty good at first. I played Oblivion at 1920x1080 and it looked incredible.

Next I tried playing some video files through my PC. I got a lot of blocks and banding in downloaded divx videos and in the Microsoft HD demo wmvs. I'm not sure if it's the VGA connection or just the videos, but scenes that have a big gradient (like a sunset) look pretty bad. Fadeouts or crossfades between scenes seem to be especially bad.

I put in the Lion King DVD to compare between my computer output and my Oppo 970HD output and the OPPO definitely looks better. The computer output has blocks and banding in areas where it transitions from dark to light or vice versa, but it wasn't as bad as the Microsoft HD demo videos.

I'm considering returning the s4095d to get the Sharp 37d90u (37" 1080p). It has DVI input.

Next I tried playing some video files through my PC. I got a lot of blocks and banding in downloaded divx videos and in the Microsoft HD demo wmvs. I'm not sure if it's the VGA connection or just the videos, but scenes that have a big gradient (like a sunset) look pretty bad. Fadeouts or crossfades between scenes seem to be especially bad.
Yup. This is a major issue with this set. I am watching mine and banding is a big problem here. On the Samsung BD player, the home screen is a graduated blue. It looks absolutely horrid on the Samsung.

On Divx content though, you may be seeing compression artifacts which can cause the same problem. So you are getting hit from both ends here :)

Not true. HD DVD does superbly with HDMI. My testing with 4095 shows superb resolution and overall fidelity with HDMI.

As for BD and Samsung player, yes Bill Hunt started this in digitalbits. But my testing and that of others has shown that component is no better than HDMI and if anything, is a bit softer. Cnet magazine just tested the Samsung BD player and said the same thing (assuming one values what Cnet says about A/V products :)).


Again, this is not correct. The firmware fixes are for DVI colorspace issues. Most people will probably not see these problems.

Allow me to list my source for all of this news:
http://www.dvdtown.com/article/toshibavs.samsung-hd-dvdvs.blu/3595/

True that HD-DVD does HDMI better than blu-ray, but this article claims that the firmware update made it much better.

Not true. Older versions of HDMI have sufficient bandwidth for 1080p just the same. Remember, we are talking digital domain and not analog. If bandwidth is not there with digital, you get distinct problems like horizontal noise lines.

I admit you are quite right in that bandwidth will not make the picture better. I should have stated that the newly supported 30, 36, and 48 bit color depths are much better than the previous 24 bits. The higher bandwidth makes for better sound, as you stated with "horizontal noise." Thanks for allowing me to correct this :)

Oh yeah, this is from HDMI.org:
Higher speed: HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth from 165MHz (4.95 gigabits per second) to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps) to support the demands of future high definition display devices, such as higher resolutions, Deep Color and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.

Deep Color: HDMI 1.3 supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification.

* Lets HDTVs and other displays go from million of colors to billions of colors.
* Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors.
* Enables increased contrast ratio
* Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white
* At 30-bit pixel depth, a four times improvement would be the minimum, and the typical improvement would be eight times or more.

Broader color space: HDMI 1.3 removes all limits on color selection

* Next-generation “xvYCC” color space supports 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals
* Lets HDTVs display colors more accurately
* Enables displays with natural, vivid colors