This thread is for OWNERS of the new 1080P Samsung LCD Panels LN-XX95 and LN-XX96 series.

I am the proud owner of a Samsung 4095 and so far I am very happy with the display. The idea behind this thread is to give owners a place to ask questions and post there calibrations and settings to give others an idea of what might work well.

It should also be used to post your actual impressions of the TV that you now own. So please post you favorite connection (DVD, Xbox, HDTV, etc) and you configuration info that you use (Brightness, Contrast, Color, etc).

Also, any questions (other than price talk) about the capabilities of the TVs would make sense here.

I just purchased a samsung 4695, which I should receive in about 10 days. I'll be looking forward to calibration posts, etc. One question I had, not concerned with settings, has to do with an appropriate wall mount. (Hope it's ok to ask this on this thread.) Can anyone recommend an articulating arm mount that will hold this panel? Will any of the single-stud mounts rated to 80 pounds max work with this panel, or do I need to get a beefier mount? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I just purchased a samsung 4695, which I should receive in about 10 days. I'll be looking forward to calibration posts, etc. One question I had, not concerned with settings, has to do with an appropriate wall mount. (Hope it's ok to ask this on this thread.) Can anyone recommend an articulating arm mount that will hold this panel? Will any of the single-stud mounts rated to 80 pounds max work with this panel, or do I need to get a beefier mount? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I am in the same state... Mine is a 4095 and I saw the premier mounts which suggest to be able to hold 40" but the max weight of about 50lbs seems too low. again some others say they can hold upto 80 lbs but they are recommended only upto 37"

Very difficult to guess ... I think the best to do is to call the company that manufactures and ask.... costco has some good returns policy.... might be a good place to start.

... Will any of the single-stud mounts rated to 80 pounds max work with this panel, or do I need to get a beefier mount? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Have a look at the articulating arms offered by Peerless Industries.

I have been looking at the Sanus VM400B for my LN-S4096D. It claims an 80 lbs. capacity, which would be more than enough since the 40" LCD is only about 46 lbs w/o stand (if I remember correctly). What you may want to look at also is that the single stud models (like the VM400) only have an arm length of 20", so you may not be able to turn the monitor 90 degrees.

One thing I have not been able to find is how metal studs affect the capacity. The installation manual I found online recommended wood studs and said nothing about metal studs. Am I going to run into a big problem with this? I have a couple more weekends before I can put the mount up anyway, so I'll keep poking around to see if I can find an answer.

I have two questions related to my new 4695 that I thought I would be pushing it if I asked in the original thread so here it goes. I have a cable DVR box and and DVD recorder so I use HDMI1 and HDMI2. Nothing else is connected to the TV yet when I click source on the remote it goes through HDMI1, HDMI2 and Cable/ANT (although not connected). I don't want to cycle through 3 sources when I have only two. I orginially had cable connected for a test but not now. Any way to fix it that when I click source I only have the two sources? Like I said, the Ant/cable is no longer used on the TV (no cables are connected to it).

2nd question: I see a USB port in the back for "service" can that be used for anything else besides trouble shooting?

My impression after having my TV for a week...love it. Datavision came through. Also contrary to most postings, IMO sometimes SD is very good depending upon the channel (I use COMCAST). If you get close then it doesn't look so good but beyond six feet or more it usuallly looks much better than my old 36 inch JVC.

Tony

I have two questions related to my new 4695 that I thought I would be pushing it if I asked in the original thread so here it goes. I have a cable DVR box and and DVD recorder so I use HDMI1 and HDMI2. Nothing else is connected to the TV yet when I click source on the remote it goes through HDMI1, HDMI2 and Cable/ANT (although not connected). I don't want to cycle through 3 sources when I have only two. I orginially had cable connected for a test but not now. Any way to fix it that when I click source I only have the two sources? Like I said, the Ant/cable is no longer used on the TV (no cables are connected to it).

2nd question: I see a USB port in the back for "service" can that be used for anything else besides trouble shooting?

My impression after having my TV for a week...love it. Datavision came through. Also contrary to most postings, IMO sometimes SD is very good depending upon the channel (I use COMCAST). If you get close then it doesn't look so good but beyond six feet or more it usuallly looks much better than my old 36 inch JVC.

Tony

On your first question, I noticed that as well when I switched between component and HDMI. It first had to go to antenna, but it did know that I had disconnected component and connected HDMI. I actually think this is impressive since most tvs make you scan through ALL the inputs. Knowing that the set automatically determines whether a source is active, I would doubt you can remove the antenna from the inputs since the set can't tell if an antenna is plugged in or not.

As for the USB port, Bear5k posted on the regular forum that he used it along with his software to calibrate his unit.

I have been looking at the Sanus VM400B for my LN-S4096D. .
Thanks, shamste and OJM for the wall-mount info. Turns out that a single stud mount probably won't work for my Sammy 4695 because there's no stud even close to the center area of where the panel will be, and thus I'll probably have to use a two-stud mount. The optional wall mount kits shown in the 4095/4695 manual look like a one-stud mount for the 4095 and a two-stud mount for the 4695. Plus, the 4695 manual mentions that the 4695 takes the 600mm x 400mm VESA mount pad, which may limit my choice to a larger two-stud mount anyway. (Does anyone with a 4695 know whether there are also holes for a 200mm x 200mm VESA pad like there are on the 4095?)

Anybody want to share some settings? I have been flopping back and forth between modes and settings, and haven't found the sweet spot yet!
I used the DVE disk, but depending on source haven't found it yet. I think I will be setting up three or four default settings.

I have a 4095 and I was looking at the peerless articulating mount in COSTCO....
The only drawback is it says it is for 22-37' but it seems to be able to hold 80 lbs.
its inexpensive as well......


Would this be advisable?

Anybody want to share some settings? I have been flopping back and forth between modes and settings, and haven't found the sweet spot yet!
I used the DVE disk, but depending on source haven't found it yet. I think I will be setting up three or four default settings.


I'm hoping somebody comes through with some settings as well, to atleast get a good base. I'm haven't gotten a calibration dvd yet, so any settings right onw are prob better than what I've got now.

Finally bit the bullet on the Sanus VMAA18b.
I went to Costco yesterday and the guys there told me that he has installed some of the mounts that claim 80 lbs.... but dont really "feel" sturdy enough to hold a 40 inch given that we might move them a bit. He said there is a good chance that they will hold for ashort while but in the longer run for articulating arms with moving parts it is better to get something that can really hold a lot more weight ... for one he said a lot of the calibrations are performed with the mount not being extended... so it could really be misleading.

So I dissuaded myself from having to take the risk for about 50-100 dollars... went with a bigger one I found online (the guys was not trying to sell me something that COSTCO has.. so did trust him a bit when he talked about the way those joints started sagging after a few months). He also mentioned using the oil used for skates to maintain the moving parts ... hope this tip is correct and helps others as well. Will post once I get my wall mount and I myself put it up.

Need help for my new 4696d. I'm trying to set picture to what I like, and haven't even started to calibrate yet. Problem is the set automatically resets to Dynamic (torch) with full lamp every 20 to 30 minutes even when source remains the same!

Can anyone tell me what is going on, or how to access the service menu to figure out how to turn this off. It's really anoying, and must be shut off somehow. If not, I'm chucking this set for an XBR3.

Took delivery today of my 4095. Set-up was very easy with HDMI-1 and Cox Box (Motorola DCT6416). PQ very, very good.

But... slowly, but surely, strange full-screen vertical "pin-stripes" begin to appear. Faint at first (almost like digital noise), then more pronounced, until a fine HDTV image has vertical lines of varying color, roughly every inch or so. As the screen image changes, so does the color of the stripes. The green football field has pink stripes and the blue backgrounds in the stand have yellow portions. The talking heads on ESPN- HD really look like they are wearing old-time pin-stripe suits -- hence my name for the problem. Unfortunately, everything else does too.

Changed to HDMI-2, tried also component connection, and even disconnected Cox box and connected to an HDMI-ported Sony DVD player. No change. My other HDTV in living room has its normally very good PQ so it isn't the cable signal. Powered everyting off all around, rebooted STB, and even changed power source AC outlet. But all eventually exhibited same symptoms: at first great picture, then within 5-10 minutes, the "stripes."

I called Samsung and after a few routine and ineffective suggestions, a tech will be "contacting me soon." I'll post any results.

Anyone experienced anything similar? Any fixes or advice? Thanks.

For what it's worth: before the problem occurs, the PQ is outstanding.

On your first question, I noticed that as well when I switched between component and HDMI.
As for the USB port, Bear5k posted on the regular forum that he used it along with his software to calibrate his unit.
Thanks!

Need help for my new 4696d. I'm trying to set picture to what I like, and haven't even started to calibrate yet. Problem is the set automatically resets to Dynamic (torch) with full lamp every 20 to 30 minutes even when source remains the same!

Can anyone tell me what is going on, or how to access the service menu to figure out how to turn this off. It's really anoying, and must be shut off somehow. If not, I'm chucking this set for an XBR3.


If it changes display settings on its own something must be wrong. I would say you need to have it checked or take it back.

Need help for my new 4696d. I'm trying to set picture to what I like, and haven't even started to calibrate yet. Problem is the set automatically resets to Dynamic (torch) with full lamp every 20 to 30 minutes even when source remains the same!

Can anyone tell me what is going on, or how to access the service menu to figure out how to turn this off. It's really anoying, and must be shut off somehow. If not, I'm chucking this set for an XBR3.

When you first went through the setup did you change it from store/showroom (forget the exact wording) to home? Mine did the same thing until I change the mode to home.

I have the LNs4095d. And this was an odd thing that happened to me. I first had the SA3100HD with component cables then changed to the SA 8300HD hd dvr with HDMI. For some reason, the component video connection looked better. I had both connections calibrated too. I don't know if it was the box or what. I even used component cables with the HD DVR and it still was worse pq than the SA3100HD. kinda odd, huh? so i returned the SA 8300HD. I really thought that the hdmi would have better pq, but was sad to see the results. Kinda sad, b/c i like the pip on the hd dvr. I can't get pip on the SA3100HD.

I did have some initial problems installing the HD DVR via HDMI though. Initially it said there was a problem with the hdcp. then i restarted my box, and it worked fine.
Anyone else have similar problems?

I checked my set up menu and Picutre menu, but I don't have a setting for anything like Store/Home mode. Does this exist? It seems to be what the set is doing, but I need to find how to turn it off.

I checked my set up menu and Picutre menu, but I don't have a setting for anything like Store/Home mode. Does this exist? It seems to be what the set is doing, but I need to find how to turn it off.

With the TV tuned to any channel, press the "info" button on your remote. The bottom of the screen will show the mode. It says "shop mode" on mine. I haven't tried to change this setting yet, but will experiment with it later.

With the TV tuned to any channel, press the "info" button on your remote. The bottom of the screen will show the mode. It says "shop mode" on mine. I haven't tried to change this setting yet, but will experiment with it later.


Info only brings up a box in the top left screen with the input setting, and the HD signal (1920x1080i @ 60Hz). Nothing on mode.

Info only brings up a box in the top left screen with the input setting, and the HD signal (1920x1080i @ 60Hz). Nothing on mode.

If no mode shows, then it is already in "home" mode. To toggle the setting, push and hold the "menu" button on the Rt. side of the TV for five seconds.

OK, FWIW, here's what Sypder TV came up with. I have power saving set to medium.

Brightness - 46
Contrast - 96 (that's right, 96)
Color - 50
Tint - 69
Color temp - Warm2

Anyone else have some settings they'd like to share???

If no mode shows, then it is already in "home" mode. To toggle the setting, push and hold the "menu" button on the Rt. side of the TV for five seconds.

Still doesn't state what mode it's in, but now TV acts normally.

Thank you, I think I've reached "home" mode.

Now, before I break out Digital Essentials, who's got good calibration settings?

OK, FWIW, here's what Sypder TV came up with. I have power saving set to medium.

Brightness - 46
Contrast - 96 (that's right, 96)
Color - 50
Tint - 69
Color temp - Warm2

Anyone else have some settings they'd like to share???

Any change to Sharpness?

Any change to Sharpness?

Spyder doesn't calibrate for sharpness. DVE says to just visually reduce it until you don't see edge enhancement.

Spyder? Explain.

Spyder doesn't calibrate for sharpness. DVE says to just visually reduce it until you don't see edge enhancement.

DNIe or not?

Digital Noise reduction on or off?

I'm playing, and so far the DNIe doesn't seem to distract me, but I also don't miss it when it's been off for awhile.

DNIe or not?

Digital Noise reduction on or off?

I'm playing, and so far the DNIe doesn't seem to distract me, but I also don't miss it when it's been off for awhile.

I have both set to off.

OK, FWIW, here's what Sypder TV came up with. I have power saving set to medium.

Brightness - 46
Contrast - 96 (that's right, 96)
Color - 50
Tint - 69
Color temp - Warm2

Anyone else have some settings they'd like to share???

I also find the the reds a bit suppressed for skin tones. I used the Avia calibration DVD and found that HDMI input supresses the reds even further. Coretly calibrated color (according to Avia) was typily between 60-70 tint. But for component inputs with an older DVD it was close to 50.


If you have power savings set to medium you will probably need contrast high. I keep my Low most of the time or even off if I am watching in a bright room...


Here is my typical config for Xbox 360

==========================================================
Room Light: Low light but not "dark"
Connection: Component
Source: Xbox 360
Brightness: 40
Contrast: 46
P. Savings: Low
Color: 44
Tint: 60
C. Temp: Warm 1
DNIe: Off (always)
Noise R.: Off (for all but poor SD Cable)
==========================================================

The more I have played with DNIe the less useful I find it. Unless I happen to watch a lot of washed out South Park episodes, I don't expect I will be using it. It completely compromises all detail for contrast and it gives images an oversaturated cartoon look (which is why it works fine with cartoons :)) I also find it distracting to watch it work as it quickly adjusts the picture for the overall brightness in the scene. I could probably get used to it but I don't see the benefits of using it. Things look so much better with corectly set contrast and brightness.

The Digital Noise Reduction actually helps a little bit with weak or poor SD cable stations and it does not seem to harm good ones so I turn that on when watching cable SDTV. It improved (slightly) some ghosting of the white lines on the tennis courts. I just wish all the settings were maintained per input source.

I do find Power Savings helps with black level depending on how dark the room is. In a dark envirnment I put Power saving on Medium. In a dimly lit room I put it on Low and in a day time environment I turn it off. Of course there is a balance between contrast and the power save level but I can usualy come up with a good balance between them that is more natural and not so intense for conent that has both light and dark scenes.

Anyone paired their set with a nice sound system? I'm set to have DefTech Mythos 6 and 7 fronts and center, Supercube sub, and Canton surrounds. I'm pairing that with Onkyo 604, but I worry that might not be enough receiver for the whole shebang. Tempted to set up to the 803 or Denon 2807.

Thoughts without getting off thread?

Has anyone gotten the 4095D to accept 480i over HDMI? I have the Directv HD TiVo and 480i over HDMI doesn't work. I can't tell if the box won't output 480i over HDMI, the set won't accept it or both.

I can't find the answer in my manual, so if anyone does find it please let me know what page. The website only lists the supported resolutions on the component input, not the HDMI input. I know that a lot of devices have problems with 480i over HDMI because it's bandwidth is actually below the HDMI spec. This is why so few DVD players output 480i over HDMI.

The reason I ask is that I am going to have to return the Direct HD TiVo because of OTA issues and am thinking about getting a Series 3 TiVo. It has a native pass through option(480i, 720p and 1080i) and I want to make sure the 4095 accepts 480i over HDMI before I drop $800.

Any help is appreciated.

I know my 4695 doesn't accept 480i from my Dish HD receiver...

I have noticed that my LN-S4096D does not like 480i over HDMI from my Series 3 TiVo. The Series 3 does have a couple different options for upconverting 480i signals to 720p or 1080i, which is what I am doing for now.

does the 4696 have input memories? that is, can you set settings (color, contrast, sharpness, etc.) for different sources like dvds, sd, etc. and it remembers the settings when you use that source? or do you have to reset it everytime?

I have noticed that my LN-S4096D does not like 480i over HDMI from my Series 3 TiVo. The Series 3 does have a couple different options for upconverting 480i signals to 720p or 1080i, which is what I am doing for now.

How do you like your Series 3 TiVo?

That stinks about the 4096 not accepting 480i over HDMI. Thanks for the reply, though.

does the 4696 have input memories? that is, can you set settings (color, contrast, sharpness, etc.) for different sources like dvds, sd, etc. and it remembers the settings when you use that source? or do you have to reset it everytime?

No. Setting stays when inputs change.

No. Setting stays when inputs change.


This is one of the few benefits the Sony XBR2/3 have over this TV. I wish it had it but there are 3 settings that are all the same (Standard, Custom, and Dynamic) which you can use for specific inputs. Movie always does something to the vid processor to enhance (or not process) contrast.

So for me....

Standard = TV
Custome = Xbox 360
Dynamic = DVD

Dynamic is only messed up by default but you can complely reconfigure all the settings. So I just look at it as Config1, Config2, Config3.


------------- On another note I am not happy with the Dennon 1730 -----------

I just returned the Dennon 1730 DVD player I bought. I should have known better but the DVDs image quality was no better than my 5 year old DVD player that actually has the Farouga chip and outputs component.

Also, one strange thing with the Samsung is that if the input is HDMI, it does not offer the same zoom modes as with component. What this means is that if you play old (crappy) DVS or new (crappy) Star Wars bonus discs which are "LETTERBOX" the zoom will not keep the corect aspect ration.

Other problems with the 1730 were the layer change was not good at all. It was just as slow as other really cheap ones and maybe worse. And you could dim all the lights on the front but they were still too bright and they added an anoying bright orange LED to indicate the HDMI cable was active but you could not dim that at all. All in all, I was simply not impressed with the 1080i scaling and could not see any improvement over my much older DVD so I returned it.

What this means, is if you are getting a HDMI DVD player or HD DVD make sure it supports a number of zoom features so that it can use the whole TV for these old things. Of cousre it won't look that good but I like to use the whole TV whenever possible.


----------- And HDMI Cables.... "I mean Come On" -----------------

One last note: When I picked up the $160 Dennon DVD the salesman pointed me to there Audioquest HDMI cables for.... get this... $360 :eek: I had to laugh in his face. I mean you can argue the merits of high quality analog signal cables all day but these are digital signals. They did have cheaper ones for $80 but once again, give me a break. I told him I could find them much cheaper online and he kind of shook his head as if to say good luck.

I picked up 2 HDMI gold connector cables over at monoprice for about $6 each. For a total of less than $20 I had 2 cable shipped to my door.

I know cables are always a rip off but this is price gouging at a whole new level and its shameful for stores to try to get away with this. Don't buy these overpriced rip-offs HDMI or DVI cables.

How do you like your Series 3 TiVo?

That stinks about the 4096 not accepting 480i over HDMI. Thanks for the reply, though.

Still kicking the tires, but so far I really like it. Having CableCard issues with Comcast, but what else is new. Haven't had a chance to get everything scheduled on the series 3, so I keep having to go back and forth to my Series 1, but going back to the series 3 after watching the series 1 is like seeing sunshine for the first time.

No. Setting stays when inputs change.


I could of swore my 4695 changed settings when I changed from one source to the next. I'll have to double check that.

----------- And HDMI Cables.... "I mean Come On" -----------------

One last note: When I picked up the $160 Dennon DVD the salesman pointed me to there Audioquest HDMI cables for.... get this... $360 :eek: I had to laugh in his face. I mean you can argue the merits of high quality analog signal cables all day but these are digital signals. They did have cheaper ones for $80 but once again, give me a break. I told him I could find them much cheaper online and he kind of shook his head as if to say good luck.

I picked up 2 HDMI gold connector cables over at monoprice for about $6 each. For a total of less than $20 I had 2 cable shipped to my door.

I know cables are always a rip off but this is price gouging at a whole new level and its shameful for stores to try to get away with this. Don't buy these overpriced rip-offs HDMI or DVI cables.

Get a great deal on the big unit, then they make up the difference on the little stuff. I thought I got out of the store OK buying 2 HDMI cables for $45 each. Guess I should have gotten my own via internet, but the store is doing the custom install on all the other stuff so it's hard to separate things like that.

PS if anyone cares I ditched my Onkyo 604 for a Pioneer Elite 80 to pair with the TV. Sales guy really tried to push the Onkyo to the point I suspect the store has some secondary gain if they sell more Onkyo's. For the money, the Pioneer actually got me much more.

The following note was on a recent SONY 2500 board...Overscan. You lose 2% of whatever HD signals is being fed to the Sammy sets versus other brands (Sony, Sharp, etc.). The easiest way to spot this is to go to an electronics store on Saturday or Sunday afternoon and watch an HD football game in progress on several HDTV's. Wait until the TV camera stays on a stationary shot (a graphic, a crowd shot that isn't panning, a long shot of the stadium, etc.) for an extended period of time (5-10 seconds), pick an object on the edge of the Sony/Sharp/etc. screen (the edge of a graphic, a fence, a spectator) and then watch that same object on the Sammy sets. You have to be looking for this on more than two sets next to each other, so don't try this when the TV cameras are panning or moving. I guarantee you that, once you see it on the Sammy sets (and several LG HDTV's too), you'll be surprised to see how much 2% missing image will bother you. This broke my heart because the Sammy 1080p LCD's seemed to have OK picture and were much cheaper than Sony and Sharp models. Once you spot the overscan it's like a dead pixel; once you see one you'll see it on your mind when nobody else can and will drive you mad!

I though this was only true for HTPC or Games...If I intend to use the 4095 for DVD and HD through a cable box this would be a major concern....Any comments???

I wrote the paragraph you copy-pasted. I'm not into HTPC or hooking-up computers to my future HDTV, just want to make sure when I get PS3, OTA/cable HD stations and HD-DVD/Blue-Ray that I see the 1080p resolution I'm paying top dollar for. This is why I'v ignored HDTV's that display 1920x1080 but don't accept 1080p signals (JVC, Toshiba, etc.) and concentrated on brands/models that do. Twice I came sooooooo close to pulling the trigger on either a 4095D or 4605D it's not even funny, with my perpetual self-doubt about the Sammy's being so many hundred dollars cheaper than the Sony XBR2's stopping me. Then our astute Godmother of pointless-but-deep 1080p testing Therese put several 1080p HDTV's through their paces and discovered the 2% overscan and lack of 1:1 passthrough on the 4X95D Sammy's. It wasn't until last weekend that I saw the ABC college football game on several HDTV's in a store that I could see the missing 2% image on the Sammy LCD's that was not on the other monitors. Not just Sammy 1080p LCD's but also 720p plasmas, LCD's and DLP's as well!

Bottom line (and this hurts my pocket big time because the Sammy 1080p LCD's can be gotten for really low prices at Datavision's eBay store compared with other stores): whether it's an HD TV signal or computers or videogames, the Sammy LCD's don't pass the signal 1:1 and overscan (i.e. crop out and lose) 2% of the image it receives. Don't take my word for it, go to a store that is displaying the same HD, screen-filling video feed (preferably a live HD football game) and wait for the camera to stand still. Position yourself between Sony XBR2 and Sammy 4X95D and look at the screen carefully. Maybe you can live without 2% of the picture, but once it's in my head there's no getting around this fatal flaw of the Sammy LCD. Got damn shame! :(

OK, FWIW, here's what Sypder TV came up with. I have power saving set to medium.

Brightness - 46
Contrast - 96 (that's right, 96)
Color - 50
Tint - 69
Color temp - Warm2

Anyone else have some settings they'd like to share???

I thought I read in the manual online that you can't adjust tint on the 4695 through component or HDMI. Can someone set me straight on that. Thanks.

I thought I read in the manual online that you can't adjust tint on the 4695 through component or HDMI. Can someone set me straight on that. Thanks.
In custom mode you can. Don't know about doing it in the pre-sets.

In custom mode you can. Don't know about doing it in the pre-sets.

I thought it said when watching digital TV via HDMI or component that you can not change the tint at all on the 4695. I hope you are right though. Thanks.

I thought it said when watching digital TV via HDMI or component that you can not change the tint at all on the 4695. I hope you are right though. Thanks.
Sorry, I have a 4696, not 4695, mistake on my part.

I am waiting on delivery of a 4696D in about a week. Time Warner is my cable provider. Should consider using a cable card instead of a set top box? My major concern is picture quality. The only feature I would miss is the on screen guide. I would trade it for a better picture.

I thought I read in the manual online that you can't adjust tint on the 4695 through component or HDMI. Can someone set me straight on that. Thanks.

I have the 4095 and you can change the tint when using HDMI(1080i) input on all the modes. The only time when its restricted is when you use PC/VGA connection. When you use that connection you can not change the color saturation and I believe tint as well is disabled. This was the problem I had with the 360 using VGA. You could not adjust the color settings.

I saw the 4095 hooked up to Blu Ray last night at BB - it was pretty awesome, but the HD feed coming off the component standard def DVD player on the 4096D was even better. They had it right next to the Sony 46XBR3, and it was better than the new bravia. Even the magnolia guy recommended the 4696D over the XBR3 :) The Elite plasma hooked up with the HD DVD drive was pretty amazing though, better than both - but at $9,999 I'm not surprised.

I have been looking at the Sanus VM400B for my LN-S4096D. It claims an 80 lbs. capacity, which would be more than enough since the 40" LCD is only about 46 lbs w/o stand (if I remember correctly). What you may want to look at also is that the single stud models (like the VM400) only have an arm length of 20", so you may not be able to turn the monitor 90 degrees.

One thing I have not been able to find is how metal studs affect the capacity. The installation manual I found online recommended wood studs and said nothing about metal studs. Am I going to run into a big problem with this? I have a couple more weekends before I can put the mount up anyway, so I'll keep poking around to see if I can find an answer.
I actually bought the VM400B to mount my 4095 and everything seems to be ok. It works well and feels solid for my purposes. However I only pull the arm out fully from time to time (just for show) so I can't really say if it can hold well with the tv fully articulated for long periods of time. I figure the farther away it is from the wall the increase of stress on the stud.

------------- On another note I am not happy with the Dennon 1730 -----------

I just returned the Dennon 1730 DVD player I bought. I should have known better but the DVDs image quality was no better than my 5 year old DVD player that actually has the Farouga chip and outputs component.

Also, one strange thing with the Samsung is that if the input is HDMI, it does not offer the same zoom modes as with component. What this means is that if you play old (crappy) DVS or new (crappy) Star Wars bonus discs which are "LETTERBOX" the zoom will not keep the corect aspect ration.

Other problems with the 1730 were the layer change was not good at all. It was just as slow as other really cheap ones and maybe worse. And you could dim all the lights on the front but they were still too bright and they added an anoying bright orange LED to indicate the HDMI cable was active but you could not dim that at all. All in all, I was simply not impressed with the 1080i scaling and could not see any improvement over my much older DVD so I returned it.

What this means, is if you are getting a HDMI DVD player or HD DVD make sure it supports a number of zoom features so that it can use the whole TV for these old things. Of cousre it won't look that good but I like to use the whole TV whenever possible.




Padrino, could you share with us the model of your 5-year old DVD player? I am also debating whether it worths the money to get an up-convert DVD player.

The price on S4695D just kept falling. I was going to wait for the Sharp D62, but finally pulled trigger on a S4695D at *******, and it is scheduled to arrive tomorrow or Friday. Also purchased 4-year extended warranty, and will have it extended by another year with my Amex card. Have ordered an upgrade to Dish HD, and am looking for a DVD player. Believe it or not, my DVD player does not have component output :o HD-DVD or Blueray is definitely not in my list, so I am left with 480p or up-convert. I was going to order an Oppo, but have seen quite a few post like yours on up-convert not making much difference.

Thanks much for posting the settings.

Can someone please share the differences between the 4095 and the 4096? Thanks.

1)DCR
2)Cable Card
3)active USBport -not only for service(95d back panel-service2-looks like one in the manual)-Wiselink
4)Wiselink software
5)Firewire IEEE- 2
6)DNET software
7)Design -glass speaker reflector on bottom
-4696d- circular stand
- slightly rounder backplate
8)Size- 4696d - + .1 inch depth size
9)Viewable screensize- 4696d has + .1inch width and height
10)extra s video on the side panel for the 4695d

Wow - I don't use CableCard or DCR, usb and firewire use seems obscure on a TV - I am DEFINITELY going for the 4095d!!! I can get it for only about $200 more than the 4092D through amazon!

I actually bought the VM400B to mount my 4095 and everything seems to be ok. It works well and feels solid for my purposes. However I only pull the arm out fully from time to time (just for show) so I can't really say if it can hold well with the tv fully articulated for long periods of time. I figure the farther away it is from the wall the increase of stress on the stud.

I am installing the mount this weekend, but I will also only be pulling the panel out ocassionally to watch it from the kitchen.

Can someone comment on the 4095 picture quality when viewing a dark movie scene in a dark room? I've heard black levels can be dissapointing, how do they look? Say a scene like Batman Begins in a dark room?

The pitch darkness can really disppoint any of the LCD gung-ho..chaps..
It will take a while for LCDs to reach the contrast depth of plasmas..

anyways on the overscan issue.... the way settings work for sammy looks a little different than what might work for Sony.

sometimes the 16:9 setting helps keep the entire 100% of the picture in shape and within the exact viewing limits... sometimes when u switch between DVD/Cable, when one of the source systems performs a stretch or any sort of "upgrade" to picture size assuming a large screen, a switch always messes up the TV, so it might be important to check botht the source and TV to get the right combo for all Sammy's.
Nevertheless will go to the store and see if My theory and experimentation works with the TVs there.... if yes then it will only mean that the way input settings in Sammy is calibrated is a little different from others ... **Different not a loss**

getting the mount today....finally will be able to mount it up and see the picture up there :-)

How bad is the black level/shadow detail in the dark? This is the only thing holding be back right now...

If worried about the black level read this. I know it not the same exact tv but it's still a Sammy that has that option available.

About halfway through my review, I decided to see what would happen when I pressed the E.Saving button on the remote. Lo and behold, I had found the adjustable backlight. Samsung calls it "Energy Saving" and buries it on page two of the TV's general setup menu. You can choose between four Energy Saving settings that dictate the brightness of the LCD's backlight: Off, Low, Medium, and High. With Energy Saving off, the TV puts out the maximum amount of light and thus uses more energy. In the High mode, it saves the most energy by outputting the least amount of light, dropping from 138.2 ft-L down to a still-bright 41.15 ft-L. Obviously, this also had a huge effect on the TV's black level, lowering it to 0.032 ft-L. That's not the best measurement we've ever gotten from an LCD, but it's close, allowing for a much richer, more attractive image in a darkened room and an excellent overall contrast ratio of 1,286:1.

With just a few presses of that E.Saving button, my opinion of the LN-S3251D changed dramatically. Where once it was an average LCD, hindered by black-level and assorted noise issues, it had now become a pleasure to watch. Obviously, the better blacks were a welcomed improvement, but the lower backlight also drew less attention to the bit-depth and edge-enhancement issues. All of that extra light output was essentially shining a flashlight on these weaknesses. In the darker mode, they were less pronounced, which allowed me to sit back and enjoy the TV's strengths—its color temperature, detail, color, and contrast ratio—with few hindrances. Higher-resolution sources like HDTV and HD DVD looked especially good, but DVD and even upconverted SDTV held their own.

I am considering the 4095 (and the Westinghouse).

Can you tell me if the Samsung 4095 is good on non-hdtv signal such as regular digital cable? I am wondeirng how good the chip is, are there alot of articfacting?

Thanks!

I'd also love to know if the 4095d uses the same panel as the 4096d. Dark scene results/pics?

Padrino, could you share with us the model of your 5-year old DVD player? I am also debating whether it worths the money to get an up-convert DVD player.

The price on S4695D just kept falling. I was going to wait for the Sharp D62, but finally pulled trigger on a S4695D at *******, and it is scheduled to arrive tomorrow or Friday. Also purchased 4-year extended warranty, and will have it extended by another year with my Amex card. Have ordered an upgrade to Dish HD, and am looking for a DVD player. Believe it or not, my DVD player does not have component output :o HD-DVD or Blueray is definitely not in my list, so I am left with 480p or up-convert. I was going to order an Oppo, but have seen quite a few post like yours on up-convert not making much difference.

Thanks much for posting the settings.


Sure, my old player was a Philips DVD Q50. At the time is was rather pricy since it was 480P and had the Faroudja video processor. The picture on it was very good but the player over-heated all the time. I still have it but for now I am just going to wait for HD-DVD for 360 which should be around $250 I believe or just keep waiting for the whole Blu-ray HDDVD thing to settle down a bit.

The bottom line is, if you have a decent DVD player with "Component" into your TV a up-scaling DVD will not buy you that much. The scaler in the TV is pretty good.

If you have a really old s-video or composite DVD player thats a diffrent story or if you are planning to get the very high end DVD player you will probably get a better picture. The way I figure it if you are going to spend that much you might as well get an HD-DVD player.

I am considering the 4095 (and the Westinghouse).

Can you tell me if the Samsung 4095 is good on non-hdtv signal such as regular digital cable? I am wondeirng how good the chip is, are there alot of articfacting?

Thanks!

480i SDTV does not look as good as a good Tube TV. However, from what I have read, that is pretty much true of all the large (46 inch and up) HDTVs. Scaling 480i to 1080 will always be problamatic and the large the TV the worse it will look.

If you don't get HDTV with your HDTV you may want to wait or see what your options are for getting HD signals.

I still watch SDTV on mine and its not bad at all. Very wachable. Its just I know my old 32 Tube looked quite a bit better side-by-side. But since HD-DVD is just around the corner and I have HD games to play I was glad to make the jump.

thanks for the help.... something to think about as i will be watching mostly broadcast tv and hdtv cable, not too much dvds.

would you reccommend that i wait a bit to get a new tv then?

also not looking for over 46, i want around a 40 inch. do you suppose the scaling would be better on one of those?



480i SDTV does not look as good as a good Tube TV. However, from what I have read, that is pretty much true of all the large (46 inch and up) HDTVs. Scaling 480i to 1080 will always be problamatic and the large the TV the worse it will look.

If you don't get HDTV with your HDTV you may want to wait or see what your options are for getting HD signals.

I still watch SDTV on mine and its not bad at all. Very wachable. Its just I know my old 32 Tube looked quite a bit better side-by-side. But since HD-DVD is just around the corner and I have HD games to play I was glad to make the jump.

thanks for the help.... something to think about as i will be watching mostly broadcast tv and hdtv cable, not too much dvds.

would you reccommend that i wait a bit to get a new tv then?

also not looking for over 46, i want around a 40 inch. do you suppose the scaling would be better on one of those?

Thats what I have... The 40 inch set. Its simply a trade-off. When you watch SDTV over cable, it will look much the same or a bit worse depending on the quality of your old TV. On the other hand, this TV handles HD very well and things look pretty amazing. I had a top of the line 32 inch Sony and I would say it looked about 10% better for the same size SDTV (its hard to quantify but thats my best guess).

So you give up a few notches of quality on the already inadequate SDTV but you gain with HDTV, HD-DVD, Xbox 360, etc. I would say Standard DVD is around the same quality. The technology is always getting better so you can just keep waiting but at some point you just have to look at what you will be getting and determine if its worth it for you...

For example....

For me...

Xbox 360 ++++ Looks way better and its now wide-screen 40 as apposed to squished down into a 32 tube which makes it equivalent to a 30 inch wide screen. Its about 80% bigger image in total and it look crystal clear.

Standard DVD ++ Bigger and Wide Screen. Image Quality is about the same.

Standard TV - Look a bit worse and only takes up 4:3 of the screen. Still it very watchable and if the show is wide screen you can zoom. Of course when you zoom it makes the picture a bit more fuzzy (by definition). Overall I think the TV does a respectable Job with SDTV. Also the lack of black level in LCD is amplified in this mode due to the lack of detail in the image*

HD-Cable +++ Amazing image quality in wide screen. Pretty much new to me. Once I got this TV I knew I had to try out HD cable.

HD-DVD +++++ I don't have one yet be I will be looking this X-Mas. It looks even better than HDTV or HD movies on HD cable because its not as compressed. Other than 360 games its probably the only thing that comes close to the TVs capability.

====


*The only negative to getting an LCD TV today is the lack of black leve in a dark room. There is a lot of talk about it and it a valid concern. I can't say I am 100% happy with the black level but my eyes were always a bit strained in a pitch black room so I usualy don't watch movies in a very dark room. Also, the issue is much, much less with HD content. So, once again its more of a problem with SDTV than HDTV. It is still an issue overall but with HD its much less of one.

At first I imagined I did watch TV in a very dark room but it turns out that that is only case about 10% of the time. Most often there is ambient light from outside etc. So the problem if good black levels certainly exists but there are ways to make it better and its not like all source matermial is a dark movie. All you need to do is know how to use the PowerSave, brightness, and contrast and you can work around 95% of the issue. If movies are you're prime use and you lake to watch all your TV in a very dark room you should take a look at Plasma but Plasma also has its set of issue you have to be knolegable about.

I do believe in the next year or 2 new LCD TVs that have programmable arrays of LEDs for backlighting are going to trump Plasma. SED is still unproven and may be too expensive but I get the feeling LED array backligts are much more practical and cheaper and may be the next big thing in TV. SED may work out but its going to be way too expensive for the average consumer for a least a few years after its even releases. In some respects I think this may be worth waiting for but I had already waited a few years for LCD to mature and I was not going to wait another year. The LCD/LED TVs may be less than a year out but they will definaly be more expensive. If you feel like you can wait a year than just do that but tech is always improving so you can never avoid the "I just got this thing x months ago and now y comes out and its way better" syndrom :)



LED Backlight Samsung 40

http://www.gizmag.com/go/6118/

Great short bit on LED TV tech that I agree with...
http://displayblog.wordpress.com/2006/08/07/samsung-led-based-40-lcd-tv/

Can anyone tell me what the difference is between these two Samsung LCD's.
I have been trying to review specs at Samsung site and other retail sites and am totally confused.
The S4096D appears to be able to broadcast in 1080P but some sites indicate the S4095D does too but not quite as clear at other sites. The S4096 appears to cost a bit more for some reason. I would like to get 1080P for the future and want to be clear on this.
Appreciate any clarification anyone can provide.

Can anyone tell me what the difference is between these two Samsung LCD's.

From page 2 of this very thread (did you really look Jake34? :rolleyes: ), courtesy of fellow poster kaijo:

The 4X06 has (over the 4X95D):

1)DCR
2)Cable Card
3)active USBport -not only for service(95d back panel-service2-looks like one in the manual)-Wiselink
4)Wiselink software
5)Firewire IEEE- 2
6)DNET software
7)Design -glass speaker reflector on bottom
-4696d- circular stand
- slightly rounder backplate
8)Size- 4696d - + .1 inch depth size
9)Viewable screensize- 4696d has + .1inch width and height
10)extra s video on the side panel for the 4695d

Just to clarify, that list was from someone in the other Samsung thread. I probably should have noted that when I first posted it.

So the Samsung LN-S4095D is a 1080P Hi Def LCD?? The specs seem unclear on certain sites?
Also, what is DCR?
Sorry for what may seem like naive questions, but I really don't know.

Yes Jake, both the 4X95D and 4X96 Sammy LCD's (40" and 46") are 1080p LCD's that accept a 1080p resolution. People that have tested the 4X95D sets (or have seen them in person like myself) report that the picture, although great-looking, has 2% overscan that's undefeatable and processes the 1080p signal instead of displaying it 1:1 untouched (like the Sharp, Sony, Westy and Mitsubishi 1080p LCD's). Whether this is a big deal or not is entirely up to you. Also its unknown if the 4X96 sets have the overscan since all the proof/eyewitness account of the 2% overscan is from the 4X95D sets. Since both sets share the same glass and circuits (the differences between the two are mostly cosmetic and features not dealing with picture processing, like Cable Card or USB port activation) it's assumed that the 4X96's overscan and don't pass 1080p signals unmolested just like the 4X95D.

People that have tested the 4X95D sets (or have seen them in person like myself) report that the picture, although great-looking, has 2% overscan that's undefeatable and processes the 1080p signal instead of displaying it 1:1 untouched (like the Sharp, Sony, Westy and Mitsubishi 1080p LCD's).

My take on the whole overscan issue...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8515665&&#post8515665

I thought I'd post the calibration settings that I've been most happy with so far with my 46" LN-S4696D:
Contrast 75
Brightness 36
Sharpness 30
Colour 45
Tint 50/50
Tone normal
Energy Saving: low/medium

[Brightness update] For most movies with letterboxing, using Brightness=28 makes the bars as black as they're going to be (at Energy Saving = medium) - going lower gives no further blackness. However, at this point, there is a small loss of detail, so depending on the scene 28-40 seems to be the sweet spot on my set.

Now, I think absolutely *everyone* here has recommended that DNie be turned off. I can honestly say that I've never really seriously tried DNie out. Until tonight.

Tonight I was watching Star Trek Insurrection, and was playing around with settings (which seems to be my obsession lately! LOL) and discovered I actually liked the DNie processed image better!? I was like, Holy Cr*p!? How can that be ... because everyone here says DNie makes things worse!?

I tried it with a bunch of other recorded HD programs and found that while my preference varied depending on the lighting conditions that prevaled in any given program, more often than not, I liked the DNie version better.

That said, in some programs, the DNie processing made noise more visible and in others introduced a slight "clayface" effect. But not all programs, that's for sure, but from now I'll be turning DNie On as my default and turn it off for a specific show only when I see problems.

So, for my tastes, this sums up my feelings about DNie:
DNie On - 75% of the time excellent picture, 25% of the time strange artifacts
DNie Off - 100% of the time very good picture

So, how's that for contrarian?

One thing I'd also like to add is this: I don't believe DNie processing is the same from one set to another. I previously owned an Samsung LN-S4692D model and it seemed to me that using DNie on that set didn't give the same result as using DNie on this new set. My belief is that "DNie" is simply the marketing name for "whatever the hell image processing we decide to do for any given set." I believe that DNie was the likely cause of some very distracting scene persistance issues on the 4692 that I don't see with the 4696.

...discovered I actually liked the DNie processed image better!? I was like, Holy Cr*p!? How can that be ... because everyone here says DNie makes things worse!?

I tried it with a bunch of other recorded HD programs and found that while my preference varied depending on the lighting conditions that prevaled in any given program, more often than not, I liked the DNie version better.

That said, in some programs, the DNie processing made noise more visible and in others introduced a slight "clayface" effect. But not all programs, that's for sure, but from now I'll be turning DNie On as my default and turn it off for a specific show only when I see problems.

How would you break your preferences of DNie usage by SD and HD? In other words, did you find yourself turning the DNie on/off more/less during SD? Or viceversa when watching HD stuff/playing videogames/watching HD-DVD or Blue-Ray/etc.? Maybe DNie can make SD look better (or not) and HD look better when its on (or off). Confused? So am I, thanks! :confused:

I have had my S4695D for 5 days now, and am still looking for a DVD player. I am considering Oppo 970HD, but am concerned by complaints that Samsung LCD does not take pure 480i over HDMI interface, a strong suite of 970HD whose upconvert capability is not as good as 971HD and others since it does not have the touted Fa****** processor. Can any 4x95/96 owner confirm the 480i input over HDMI problem? Even with this limitation, I am still hoping that 970HD can output good quality 480p signal for S4695D to upconvert to 1080p as I believe the upscaler inside S4695D is superior to Oppo. Appreciate if you can share your experience with Oppo and Samsung S4x95/96D.

On another note, my wife and I have been happy with SD signals from Dish receiver displayed on S4695D (HD upgrade was put on hold due to installation issues. Long story) We are sitting about 11-12 ft away from the TV.

Is anyone using the over the air HD tuner in these sets? Samsung is known for having very good HD tuner reception. Does this hold on these sets?

Thanks,
Ron

Hi Ron

I recieved my 4696D three days ago and use an HDMI cable box for Time Warner and rabbit ears for over the air. I am amazed at how well the digital tuner picks up all my local HD stations here in Dayton as well as most of the Cincinnati HD broadcast stations. The HD video is about the same from Cable and over the air. The audio is better from over the air. I have the LNA enabled.

I also installed a Samsung HD960 DVD player today via HDMI 2. I let the player do the upconvert and feed a 1080P signal to the set. Both video and sound are excellent but not as good as a good HD broadcast.

I have the cable people coming out next week to install a cable card. The cable box has trouble at times on power up syncing up with the set over HDMI. The HD960 has no problem on HDMI unless I hit the progressive scan button and get a green screen. I guess with the setting already at 1080P the button confuses the interface.

John

John,

Thanks for the info on OTA HD reception. Very useful.

Ron-C

I just called Samsung to ask them why my TV (4695) keeps switching the picture mode I set after 10 to 20 minutes back to Dynamic. The guy tells me that Samsung made the TV that way, he has the notes on his computer stating that when the TV is recieving an HD signal, it will automatically set it back to dynamic because its the best setting for the HD signal. Well I guess Samsung is now deciding what is best for us I guess, lol.

After reading this thread (Thank the heavens for AVSforum!!)....I'm led to believe that Samsung has incompetent people working for them in the customer service tech department. I will try the menu button on the side of the TV and hold for 5 seconds (as stated in this thread) to get it out of shop mode (which is what I saw the last time i pressed the info button on the remote and thought to myself what that could mean). I'm hoping that it will work and rid me of this annoying matter I've been dealing with for the past week. I would of known earlier if I had known about AVSforum earlier!!

PS. I'd also like to state that I'm glad I found this site.....wonderful people here with informative commentary!

Just purchased a 4095 (picking it up next week). I am new to the world of HD, and have a few questions.

It was started above that the TV wont accept 480i through HDMI. If I am connecting my Direct TV HD/TiVo Receiver through HDMI, what does this mean for me? Do I also have to connect it through component to get the SD channels?

Right now I only ave a Playstation 2 for a DVD player (gasp). I believe that it only outputs 480p for DVD playback. Any one know if this is true, and if it is will they look worse then my old CRT? Hey, maybe I can use it as a excuse for the boss to let me get a X-Box 360 (they have a HD DVD add-on coming soon).

Thanks for your help. I'm glad I found this site!

i finally saw the 5296 at BB/Magnolia last...it certainly is bigger than 46! but at MSRP of $5,500 too steep! although i've been waiting for these sets for a while (first 4696 then 5296 when it was announced)...the price is kinda stopping me although i do love the design of this set...now costco has the 46" sony version of the v2500, still 1080p...i might go that route since i wont have to get the extended warranty at costco (prolly another $500 at Bb or CC)...

:o

Just purchased a 4095 (picking it up next week). I am new to the world of HD, and have a few questions.

It was started above that the TV wont accept 480i through HDMI. If I am connecting my Direct TV HD/TiVo Receiver through HDMI, what does this mean for me? Do I also have to connect it through component to get the SD channels?



I had at D* HD/Tivo connected via HDMI to a 4696, no problem. Since the HR10-250 doesn't have native pass through capability just set the output to either 720p or 1080i and let the box scale the 480i for you. One thing to mention, the HDMI interface on the HR10-250 does not pass Dolby Digital audio over the able, just PCM audio. That's OK for channels that don't have DD but when you do tune to one the audio will drop out if you have DD enabled in the HR10-250. If you went with component connection then this isn't an issue. Frankly, with the quality of the D* signal, due to overcompression and scaling down the resolution I don't see loosing much if anything by going component until they clean their act up.

It worked!! I pressed the menu button on the right side of the TV and held it for about 5 seconds and it took the TV off shop mode. If you press and hold it again, it will bring your TV back to shop mode. I'm glad I fixed this small problem. Thank you Don S and everyone!! No thanks to you Mr. Samsung tech guy!!

I thought I'd post the calibration settings that I've been most happy with so far with my 46" LN-S4696D:
Contrast 75
Brightness 36
Sharpness 30
Colour 45
Tint 50/50
Tone normal
Energy Saving: low/medium

These are my settings for HD through my Directv HD-DVR (HR20)
Calibrated using HDNet Test Patterns

Contrast 67
Brightness 50
Sharpness 0
Colour 35
Tint 50/50
Tone normal
Energy Saving: medium

and for DVD
Calibrated using a combination of Avia/DVE/and Get Gray

Contrast 51
Brightness 58
Sharpness 0
Colour 30
Tint 50/50
Tone normal
Energy Saving: medium

At first when I calibrated I was using a much lower brightness setting (around 34-35), but I found that I was really irritated by the crushed blacks I was seeing. After a lot of messing around with different calibration discs (for DVD, and later with the HDNet Test Patterns) I found that I really was losing a lot of shadow detail. Things look a lot better now, but last night I watched a recording of "Heroes" from earlier in the week and noticed crushed blacks again. I rechecked my settings and reran the HDNet Test Pattern but everything was fine. I'm not sure if that particular show just ran darker than usual or what.

ZyronEnder, are you noticing any crushed blacks with your brightness settings so low? I read in another thread that this set couldn't properly display blacks below 30 IRE, could this be the reason for the crushed blacks at lower brightness settings?

I can live with the overscan (I've been living with it in one form or another all my life), but crushed blacks are hard to bear.

i finally saw the 5296 at BB/Magnolia last...it certainly is bigger than 46! but at MSRP of $5,500 too steep!

:o
Does anyone actually pay MSRP? That 5296 can be found for under $4K from an authorized Samsung Dealer unless one is allergic to on-line shopping and saving money or feel their patriotic duty to pay more tax to their local state coffers.

The price may drop a bit more with the new D62 Sharps pricing structure and the fact the large Sharp Panels (57"/65") MSRP will be cut in about in half in price effective tomorrow October 1st when Sharp is scheduled to make that announcement. Oh Fun - Competition brings that price down and we benefit.;)

"Patience is bitter but it's fruit is Sweet" Mag stores seems to get the jump with Samsung exclusives a few weeks in advance as they did with the LNS5797 which now 3 months later can be had outside Mag for 35% less from an authorized Samsung Dealer. I suspect the same will occur with the 5296 as Sharp D62 pricing will force it to do so. :D

Hi 4696/95 owners - now that you've chosen Samsung over xbr2/3, can you pop over to this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=730256

And discuss what made you choose this set over the sony?

Thanks!

Does anyone have the 4095d with the xbox 360 hooked up via VGA?....

for some odd reason, i couldnt get the cable to output HD

The price may drop a bit more with the new D62 Sharps pricing structure and the fact the large Sharp Panels (57"/65") MSRP will be cut in about in half in price effective tomorrow October 1st when Sharp is scheduled to make that announcement. Oh Fun - Competition brings that price down and we benefit.

Hey Westa,

Did you mean tomorrow, or monday ?

How will that effect the current Sony 46xbr2/3 msrp? and the soon 52xbr3?

Wanted to thank you also, being that I am not a shopper, I started to read about a certain Big Box store ;) price match policy in regards to Internet pricing, and low and behold they will price match plus 10% of difference if the company also happens to have a brick and morter storefront.

Well a couple of these locations on Long Island told me to stick it where the "SUNSHINE" doesnt hit cause they are not in the local market. Well that particular Titanium seller just happens to have their headquarters on Good Ole Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn NY, all that was left was travel from Long Island to one of those BB(stands for big box) that was in the local market. :D

Although it is killing me I am reluctantly willing to wait a few more days to see how this all shakes out. I so wanted to stop at Nathans famous today in Coney Island.

I have the 4095 and you can change the tint when using HDMI(1080i) input on all the modes. The only time when its restricted is when you use PC/VGA connection. When you use that connection you can not change the color saturation and I believe tint as well is disabled. This was the problem I had with the 360 using VGA. You could not adjust the color settings.

I've had my 4095d since July and an Xbox 360 since Feb. The recent news of the upcoming update to the 360 to allow 1080p upconversion is huge, but with it only working via a VGA connection I wanted to know if the 4095 and xbox 360 vga connection worked. Have you had any issues with this connection?

I haven't tried VGA yet but wrt 360 1080p support, I believe that games will be able to use 1080p over component and I think plain DVDs too. It's just the HD-DVD content that can only go 1080p via VGA - and they say that's purely a licensing restriction.

Hey joekun - wrt brightness settings. What I've been finding is that everytime I set it to something specific I find some other content for which this setting is just not "right". SD varies widely, HD has less variability but still has it and xbox 360 games seem to have different takes on brightness/gamma. So what I've done now is used standard/dynamic and custom to select different brightness settings: 28, 37 and 45. Then when I tune in a show I switch between them until I get one I like.

The other day I was watching Stargate: Atlantis, I paused and adjusted the brightness down until I brightness was as low it could go without losing blacks. This setting was around 35 or so. But then I change the channel (SD shows in particular) and find the image is a bit washed out. So then I'm stuck adjusting the brightness again. Honestly I never used to be this fussy with my picture settings - I don't think I adjusted my tube set's colour/brightness/contrast in 10 years. For some reason my perfection expectations have gone *way* up with this set. Must be the gazillion dollars I spent!!!

More and more I find that DNie can help in these circumstances. My take on DNie is kinda similar to "auto-volume". You know how annoying it can be to change the channel or put on a DVD and find that suddenly its really loud or really quiet? I'm finding that DNie functions kinda like that auto-volume but for brightness and contrast settings. Like for my wife who doesn't like monkeying with the settings all the time, and watches a wide variety of different sources - she gets the best mileage out of having Dnie on.

Hey Westa,

Did you mean tomorrow, or monday ?

How will that effect the current Sony 46xbr2/3 msrp? and the soon 52xbr3?

Although it is killing me I am reluctantly willing to wait a few more days to see how this all shakes out. I so wanted to stop at Nathans famous today in Coney Island.
The Announcement I am informed is expected October 1st and many dealers that were at CEDIA are aware of it but of course must wait for it officially but I've noticed a curious thing occurring is the MSRP has dropped at a few dealers in advance to slightly over the new MSRP knowing full well that by the time any sale were to occur the announcement will have been made. Rules prohibit me from identifying those.

If it fails to occur then I eat crow but there is no other reason for an on-line dealer to suddenly price a 57" Sharp at $8K in the last 24 hours since none have been close to that figure since it's debut. Since many of these internet dealers don't work on Sunday I wouldn't expect alot of action though on-line since their Web Hosting and updates may not occur until Monday unless some have planned for it in advance. Web Designers get weekends off too. ;)

What I will bet knowing Samsung is I bet they will lower the MSRP of the 5797 by at least a thousand dollars or more since they've had a 3 month headstart as the price leader and suddenly the SHarp MSRP will be lower than theirs - Samsung pricing history is to try and stay ahead of Sharp in this area. As to Sony, they have nothing larger than 52" and they love living off of brand loyalty and they take a bit more to move in price but it sure cannot hurt to have these guys fighting for our dollars. Good news for us! :)

Thanks ZyronEnder, I have tweaked some of the different settings for various inputs, but I might try out some of your suggestions. Like you I never noticed this issue with my old direct view CRT, or my old 55" widescreen rear-projection set but I don't think it's because of increased expectations as I've been calibrating my TVs using whatever means available (Video Essentials LD, then DVD, then Avia, then DVE, then Get Grey, now have a Spyder and am considering CalMan) and once things were setup they always looked great.

I tried out two "value" LCD sets before getting the Samsung, and it is by far and away the best of the three, but they all had problems with crushed blacks. I don't know if this is related to the inability of LCD to deliver a true black (which doesn't bother me because I never view it in a dark room and don't really notice) or if it is just another limitation of the technology.

I thought I'd post the calibration settings that I've been most happy with so far with my 46" LN-S4696D:
Contrast 75
Brightness 36
Sharpness 30
Colour 45
Tint 50/50
Tone normal
Energy Saving: low/medium

[Brightness update] For most movies with letterboxing, using Brightness=28 makes the bars as black as they're going to be (at Energy Saving = medium) - going lower gives no further blackness. However, at this point, there is a small loss of detail, so depending on the scene 28-40 seems to be the sweet spot on my set.

Now, I think absolutely *everyone* here has recommended that DNie be turned off. I can honestly say that I've never really seriously tried DNie out. Until tonight.

Tonight I was watching Star Trek Insurrection, and was playing around with settings (which seems to be my obsession lately! LOL) and discovered I actually liked the DNie processed image better!? I was like, Holy Cr*p!? How can that be ... because everyone here says DNie makes things worse!?

I tried it with a bunch of other recorded HD programs and found that while my preference varied depending on the lighting conditions that prevaled in any given program, more often than not, I liked the DNie version better.

That said, in some programs, the DNie processing made noise more visible and in others introduced a slight "clayface" effect. But not all programs, that's for sure, but from now I'll be turning DNie On as my default and turn it off for a specific show only when I see problems.

So, for my tastes, this sums up my feelings about DNie:
DNie On - 75% of the time excellent picture, 25% of the time strange artifacts
DNie Off - 100% of the time very good picture

So, how's that for contrarian?

One thing I'd also like to add is this: I don't believe DNie processing is the same from one set to another. I previously owned an Samsung LN-S4692D model and it seemed to me that using DNie on that set didn't give the same result as using DNie on this new set. My belief is that "DNie" is simply the marketing name for "whatever the hell image processing we decide to do for any given set." I believe that DNie was the likely cause of some very distracting scene persistance issues on the 4692 that I don't see with the 4696.
Interesting issue for the 4692 I am going back to take a really close look at this. I watch a lot of Hockey thank you for the info I also think DNie is a marketing tool and should be defeatable other wise "makes you think"

rswmkw - I should clarify that the persistence issue on the 4692 was I believe caused by processing and only happened with very dark scenes (say bright white title credits on jet black background, or the iPod commercial.) Once I saw a "smear" manage to crawl its way into the black letterboxing area at the top. It started with just a little section of line but over time a faded version of it over time crawled up higher into the black letterbox area. Strangest thing. The picture was otherwise fine. I could only explain it as a processing problem. Things like watching a fast moving hockey showed no problems - this is a really fast LCD panel. If you search for my posts you'll see that I've explained it better elsewhere.

Again, the 4696 looks great!

I've had my 4095d since July and an Xbox 360 since Feb. The recent news of the upcoming update to the 360 to allow 1080p upconversion is huge, but with it only working via a VGA connection I wanted to know if the 4095 and xbox 360 vga connection worked. Have you had any issues with this connection?


when you find out... please let me know

I've had my 4095d since July and an Xbox 360 since Feb. The recent news of the upcoming update to the 360 to allow 1080p upconversion is huge, but with it only working via a VGA connection I wanted to know if the 4095 and xbox 360 vga connection worked. Have you had any issues with this connection?

I wouldn't get too excited about Xbox 360 over VGA. The connection works fine (make sure to set the Xbox 360 to 720p first otherwise my 4095 would not communicate) but the results are very bland. You can get 1080p from a PC over VGA but this connection has no life, no zing, no pop. The colors and image are dull and soft, and cannot compare to the component connection or HDMI connections. Load up a PC game over HDMI and the colors and image almost jump off the screen (Serious Sam 2, I know it stinks as a game, is breathtaking at 1900x1080).

Just to clarify:

"1080p is supported over VGA for DVD, HD DVD and gaming output. And yes, AACS [a form of DRM] does allow 1080p over VGA (classified under authorized "computer monitor outputs")."

The VP goes on to add that "for component, you get gaming up to 1080p, and 1080i for HD DVD. DVD only works at 480p over this connection. The latter two are due to restrictions in DVD CCA and AACS rules for DVD and HD DVD playback respectively."

http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/21-09-2006-3668.html

I wouldn't get too excited about Xbox 360 over VGA. The connection works fine (make sure to set the Xbox 360 to 720p first otherwise my 4095 would not communicate) but the results are very bland. You can get 1080p from a PC over VGA but this connection has no life, no zing, no pop. The colors and image are dull and soft, and cannot compare to the component connection or HDMI connections. Load up a PC game over HDMI and the colors and image almost jump off the screen (Serious Sam 2, I know it stinks as a game, is breathtaking at 1900x1080).


you have the 4095d?

Kaijo's link reports 1080p over component will be possible - just stick to that. VGA isn't as pretty.

is there a way to manually dial in channels? I have the 4095 and I am trying to get the only Local HD that the auto-tuner is not picking up. I read the manual but it is silent.

Other than that I am fairly happy, disapointed over non 1-1 for PC use. The set might go back depending on how good the sharp 42 is.

Other than 1-1 and this last local HD (it's abc too which is 40% of my TV viewing). I am pretty happy with the set.

just got my HDBOX from Time warner cable.

trying to watch hockey but i am noticing blurriness when the camera moves. This blurriness lasts for a split second, but its getting pretty annoying.

Can somebody tell me if this is normal on LCD screens? I am not sure if i can handle this.....

thank you for any info u can provide.

I just bought a Samsung S4695

have you tried putting it on "game" mode to speed up the processor?

just got my HDBOX from Time warner cable.

trying to watch hockey but i am noticing blurriness when the camera moves. This blurriness lasts for a split second, but its getting pretty annoying.

Can somebody tell me if this is normal on LCD screens? I am not sure if i can handle this.....

thank you for any info u can provide.

I just bought a Samsung S4695

Even though a small very fast moving object (lick a puck) might blur with LCD, refresh rates with the new LCD TVs is much higher and this blurring is not an issue for most people. What you are probably seeing is compression/mpeg artifacts. Some stations compress more than other and may produce a momentary blockness or blur when the entire image changes. This is more due to the quality of the broadcast and the compression they use than the TV.

Many people here have confused the "macro blocking" seen with the TVs video processor but I find this type of things on certain HD station while others look really good. For example I have never seen any blur or blockiness while using the 360 or watching 360 HD videos but I have noticed in in certain HD cable stations.

Due to the required bandwith for true HD content, providers will continue to use crappy compression and when you have a nice big high rez display you may notice these things even more.

have you tried putting it on "game" mode to speed up the processor?

i dont see where i can put it in "game" mode...there seems to be four modes....dynamic, standard, movie, and custom....but no game mode?

Even though a small very fast moving object (lick a puck) might blur with LCD, refresh rates with the new LCD TVs is much higher and this blurring is not an issue for most people. What you are probably seeing is compression/mpeg artifacts. Some stations compress more than other and may produce a momentary blockness or blur when the entire image changes. This is more due to the quality of the broadcast and the compression they use than the TV.

Many people here have confused the "macro blocking" seen with the TVs video processor but I find this type of things on certain HD station while others look really good. For example I have never seen any blur or blockiness while using the 360 or watching 360 HD videos but I have noticed in in certain HD cable stations.

Due to the required bandwith for true HD content, providers will continue to use crappy compression and when you have a nice big high rez display you may notice these things even more.

do DLP screens have the same delay response times.....
could it be that i am sitting too close to the screen?
this really sucks...i am starting to be dissapointed..

i dont see where i can put it in "game" mode...there seems to be four modes....dynamic, standard, movie, and custom....but no game mode?


It's not in that part of that menu picture. Go over to the setup section. It's just under the timer setting.

CrysDark - I am returning the Sharp 42" for a Samsung 4095. The viewing angle is absolutely brutal on the Sharp 42". If you are not sitting front and center, there is a severe drop off in color (very washed out picture at any angle what so ever). I'm hoping the 4095 is the answer for me!

CrysDark - I am returning the Sharp 42" for a Samsung 4095. The viewing angle is absolutely brutal on the Sharp 42". If you are not sitting front and center, there is a severe drop off in color (very washed out picture at any angle what so ever). I'm hoping the 4095 is the answer for me!

I second that. But, I'm just going to hold off on buying a panel altogether. I'm not sure that the 4x95 is the answer. But, I'm going to give it a much closer look this time around.

My first HDTV, and loving the way this thing handles SD source. I know, I know, but have to wait 2 months until construction completes to get the dish installed outside. I think I stumbled on the power saving bonus of better black presentation. My high-quality ReplayTV recordings look very acceptable.

question: what D-Net devices/services are currently available? The number of caveats is greater than the useful information, so i'm guessing this is a wasted port. Please prove me wrong.

John

Hi everyone. I’ve had my 4095 for about 3-4 weeks now and I do like it a lot. It is my first HDTV, as I upgraded from a basic 25” CRT.

At first I was using the following settings:

Under Picture:
Contrast – 90
Brightness – 37 to 40’ish
Sharpness – 75
Color – 50
Tint – 55
Color tone – normal
DNIe – off

Under Set Up:
Energy Saving – low.


I did use DNIe here and there for brighter scenes, and thought it was great! But it’s as if it gets rid of ambient reflected light, so shadows were overly black. As mentioned by others, it would kick in odd artifacts under some content. Outside of the “too black” issue, DNIe looks great!

As far as blur, or “blocks” appearing during fast motions, I have noticed this too. However I do believe it has to do with compression as others have said. Concerned, I went to BB and messed with their 4095 hooked up to the Bluray player and replayed several fast motion scenes. No blocking at all!

These blocks appear clearer when the contrast is set very high. Also when contrast is set high the text in many broadcasts can have artifacts around them, but both the motion blocks and text artifacts are hard to see when more than 5 feet away.

However, to further rid these distortions, I set the following:

Contrast – 85
Brightness – 58
Shapness – 55
Color – 50
Tint – 55
Color tone – normal
Energy Saving – low

Reducing contrast brings down picture brightness, so to compensate I raised the actual Brighness setting. The increast brightness also helps with dark scenes. I’m still playing around and will report further findings.

I was almost completely sold on the LN-S4095D, until I saw it at Circuit City and the "black piano finish" bezel around the screen was so warped it was a deal killer! Anyone else experience this? Does it normally come smooth (as in you can see smooth reflections)... or is it always kinda warped? I would get really distracted by this.

I was almost completely sold on the LN-S4095D, until I saw it at Circuit City and the "black piano finish" bezel around the screen was so warped it was a deal killer! Anyone else experience this? Does it normally come smooth (as in you can see smooth reflections)... or is it always kinda warped? I would get really distracted by this.

I have the 4696, it's not perfectly smooth, there are a couple 'bumps' around it but I'm too busy looking at the picture to be bothered by it.

Has anyone actually got a cablecard working on one of the **96 sets? Only reference I could find was one person having trouble and one planning to try.

If anyone has it working, does it force a fan on like I've heard the JVC does?

Thanks,
Dan

Has anyone actually got a cablecard working on one of the **96 sets? Only reference I could find was one person having trouble and one planning to try.

If anyone has it working, does it force a fan on like I've heard the JVC does?

Thanks,
Dan

I had a CableCard in my LN-S4096 and do not remember the set giving off more noise than usual (which is none). Alas, I no longer have it in the set since I had to re-use it in the TiVo Series 3 when the installer only brought 2 cards and, of course, one would not work. I haven't scheduled another truck roll to get a new card for the set yet, and may not since I use the TiVo for most of my viewing. Thought it might be nice if I was recording two shows and wanted to watch a third, but not sure if that is worth the extra $5/month Comcast charges here for extra cards.

I was almost completely sold on the LN-S4095D, until I saw it at Circuit City and the "black piano finish" bezel around the screen was so warped it was a deal killer! Anyone else experience this? Does it normally come smooth (as in you can see smooth reflections)... or is it always kinda warped? I would get really distracted by this.

Yes it is warped and not smooth as you would like but it doesnt bother me one bit. It doesnt distract me or anyone else who has viewed football games and the baseball playoffs either.

I was thinking of getting a 4096 but I just cannot tolerate how low the black levels are in this set. I turned the brightness on a demo all the way up to the maximum and I still can't see the outlines of someone's dark hair or dark blazer on this TV.

Anyone else have this problem?

Did you try turning DNIe off?

Hello
I just bought a Sammy 4696 and its truly amazing. There is a slight buzz (high pitched) coming from the cablecard slot on the back however. Can anyone confirm that this is normal? it's really slight - only hear it when TV is muted and I put my head to the back....but I'm niggled!

Thanks

Relative to the question about cablecard, I am using a Scientific Atlanta card supplied by Time Warner on my 4696D. I started out using their HD set top box but got tired of having to re-boot the box to get it to sync up with the set using HDMI. Everytime I powered down the set and the box I would get a message from the box that my set was not HDCP compliant when I powered them back up.
I had Time Warner come out and install the cablecard & returned the set top box. The installer could not get it to work with the subscribed digital channels and blamed it on a weak signal. He put a work order in for a house signal amplifier. After he left I got on the phone with level 2 support at their head end and after about an hour of trying they finally were able to hit the card and give me an "auth received" status on the "SA CableCard CP Screen."

What I discovered is that the Samsung digital tunner does a much better job on both picture and audio quality than the set top box. It is very noticeable with the audio. You give up the pay for view interactive stuff and the cable program guide. The only problem I am left with is an occasional hang up when changing digital channels that can be overcome by either switching back to another chanel or giving the card a reset from the set up menu. Also noticed that every time they send a channel up date to my location the cable favorites get reset in the channel manager.

I was thinking of getting a 4096 but I just cannot tolerate how low the black levels are in this set. I turned the brightness on a demo all the way up to the maximum and I still can't see the outlines of someone's dark hair or dark blazer on this TV.

Anyone else have this problem?

Just not true.... I have the 95 and the black levels are very good once the set is adjusted. Even in a dark room, black detail is excellent in dark scenes. I'm also very happy with the degree of white detail.

Turning off DNe is an absolute must. With it on, all blacks appear crushed.

And don't forget to use the "energy saving" mode to turn down the backlight.

I was thinking of getting a 4096 but I just cannot tolerate how low the black levels are in this set. I turned the brightness on a demo all the way up to the maximum and I still can't see the outlines of someone's dark hair or dark blazer on this TV.

Anyone else have this problem?


listen to Rad....

Turn the energy savings to Med or High, and you'll be much happier.

anybody having issues with LN-S4095 when it comes to video games I have an Xbox 360 and I will probably use the tv mostly for gaming, and also how well does this tv handle SD signals, I would really appreciate any input before I purchase this tv

GHSER7, turning down the backlight won't end up making the set even darker?

OK, I'll try that and the DNLE thing today...

anybody having issues with LN-S4095 when it comes to video games I have an Xbox 360 and I will probably use the tv mostly for gaming, and also how well does this tv handle SD signals, I would really appreciate any input before I purchase this tv


what do you mean? elaborate please

what do you mean? elaborate please

I was just asking in general nothing specifically, for example problems with ghosting or any potential problems

i have the 4095d for mainly everything but recently its just been 360 and i must say that when i showed my friends the 360, their jaw dropped at how lifelike the picture looked...

i havent had problems with the 4095d with games except the fact that i cant use the vga port with the xbox.... it doesnt let me pick 1280x720.... so that sucks..

i have asked if anyone had the 360 and vga cable with the 4095d, but no luck

Hey guys
I have the Samsung 4696 and want to connect my PC so I can watch video content from my PC etc. How should I connect the PC to the 4696? Manual says it has to be VGA cable and you can't connect to the DVI/HDMI cable. Is this true? Is VGA much worse than DVI?

Thanks!

How do you turn DNIE off? I was able to do the split demo thing and saw that it was much better with it off, but I can't find the option anywhere in the menus or the TV to turn it off...

On the 4095, if you keep hittting the DNIe button on the remote, it will cycle thru on, demo, then off. You can go into the "picture" menu and shut it off as well.

According to a lot of pc-weenies, VGA is the root of all evil; everything is completely "wrong" with it.

This is completely untrue. In computer applications I have used both and never saw any issue relating to PQ. I did a set-up for a well-known professional photographer was picky like no tomorrow. He had a much better "eye" than I (was also a lot younger). He had an issue with an overly bright monitor... I knew that I'd have additional controls too tone done the brightness via VGA that I wouldn't with DVI. He had seen all the VGA bashing and said he "couldn't use it." I finally convinced him to try it and live with it for a week before making that judgement. He WAS quite sheepish admitting that the ONLY difference was that he COULD tame the brightness with VGA... other than that, the PQ was the same.

Hey guys
I have the Samsung 4696 and want to connect my PC so I can watch video content from my PC etc. How should I connect the PC to the 4696? Manual says it has to be VGA cable and you can't connect to the DVI/HDMI cable. Is this true? Is VGA much worse than DVI?

Thanks!

Your set will easily connect using an DVI/HDMI cable. And if you have an Nvidia video card you can also eliminate the overscan while still running at 1080p. The digital connection does look much better. Downloaded HD material played over this connection from a PC is where these sets shine.

I have the nvidia software and it doesn't eliminate the over scan and retain 1080p on my 4095. The nvidia software does fit the screen to the boarders but it's some wacky resolution like 1720x940 craziness.

Anyways dvi/hdmi is not native resolution, which effects the picture quality.

This set is going back for me and I am picking up the sharp. Larger size; 1:1, same PQ and cheaper price.

Your set will easily connect using an DVI/HDMI cable. And if you have an Nvidia video card you can also eliminate the overscan while still running at 1080p. The digital connection does look much better. Downloaded HD material played over this connection from a PC is where these sets shine.

My Samsung 4696 manual says you cant connect a PC to the TV via DVI/HDMI. Is it possible? I thought my only option was VGA.

I just got my 4095 Yesterday. I love it but I haven't had much time to play with it yet. My question is about the remote. I'm trying to program the 4095 remote to control the STB which is a Motorola 6412 Dual Tuner DVR. The manual gives a code of 064 which doesn't work. It then says to try every code listed. My attention span isn't long enough to try that many codes. Is there someplace to look for more codes or does anyone else have the same DVR and had success?

My Samsung 4696 manual says you cant connect a PC to the TV via DVI/HDMI. Is it possible? I thought my only option was VGA.


Yes you can, but it is at non native resolution, and the problem with VGA is something to do with degraded PQ. The colors just don't seem as Vibrant with dvi/hdmi.


If your going to be using this set for any HTPC I would strongly recommend against it. You might as well use a 720p set because your not going to get 1080p on this set for PC use.

Try the Sharp.

Since you can't get 1080P with the PC does that mean there's gonna be problems with 1080P with the PS3?

It's going to overscan 2% no matter what source it is.

It's going to overscan 2% no matter what source it is.

The VGA doesn't overscan at all.

However, saying "you might as well get a 720P set" is retarded. Last time I checked, 1800x900 is a lot larger than 1280x720 (also note that no 720P set is going to have 0% overscan, so it would likely be more like 1100x620.

If you absolutely have to have 1920x1080 for the desktop, then yes, get the Sharp or the XBR2/3... but lets not blow things out of proportion here.

Also, note that with the nvidia (or ati) controls, you CAN get 1:1 pixel mapping. It's at the lower resolution, correct, but it's still 1:1. Overscan and 1:1 are two different things entirely.

Since you can't get 1080P with the PC does that mean there's gonna be problems with 1080P with the PS3?

No, you will still get 1080P, but there will be overscan (around 2%). This is no different than 98% of all HD TVs currently on the market. Only very recently have major manufacturer LCD panels (ie - NOT Westinghouse, etc) even included the zero percent overscan option for sources other than VGA.

So what your're saying is when I put the PS3 in 1080P, the top, down, left and right sides will be cut off right? And there's no "squeeze" option to show everything. That's going to be a problem. Let's say a game has the health meter on the upper right. With the overscan, some of the area on the health meter will get cut off?

You are correct sir, please see pics of HUD for GRAW and you can see the cut off of picture.

Last time I checked, 1800x900 is a lot larger than 1280x720 (also note that no 720P set is going to have 0% overscan, so it would likely be more like 1100x620.


How did 1920x1080, with 2% overscan, become a 1800x900 set?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your point here, but regardsless of the amount of overscan, a 1920x1080 set has 1920x1080 pixels. Effectively, the original 1920x1080 image gets cropped by the %overscan, then is scaled back up to 1920x1080. Not that I'm thrilled with this, either.

How did 1920x1080, with 2% overscan, become a 1800x900 set?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your point here, but regardsless of the amount of overscan, a 1920x1080 set has 1920x1080 pixels. Effectively, the original 1920x1080 image gets cropped by the %overscan, then is scaled back up to 1920x1080. Not that I'm thrilled with this, either.

In the case of all inputs but VGA, correct, that's how it works.

You are correct sir, please see pics of HUD for GRAW and you can see the cut off of picture.

Ugh... I hate this "evidence" that people point to. The problem with GRAW is that the developers were idiots. They put in a needless green line around the HUD in the game that will get cut off on 99.5% of all televisions in the world. It will ONLY display correctly on an LCD panel with 0% overscan. How something like that got past their testers I have no idea.

But, that is NOT what the other guy was asking. He was asking if health meters, ammo counters, etc. would get cut off. Of course they won't. They don't get cut off in GRAW either... just the pointless green line that they drew around everything because they somehow forgot that EVERY TV IN THE WORLD except a few of those built in the past 4 months (and only LCDs, all other tech still has overscan mind you) has overscan (from 2% up to 6% or more in some cases).

I's actually 1808x1004 on my set. The Samsung reports ithe signal as 1920x1080p @60Hz. The bottom line is that you can't tell the difference between this set or the XBR2 over HDMI to a PC. The Samsung HDMI PC image is spectacular I've now hooked up my main computer as an HTPC because the image quality of my Viewsonic vp191b can't touch the 4095 at 1080p. HD video is Blue Ray and HD DVD quality. Don't let people convince you that it isn't worth hooking up a PC over HDMI, it is the only way to go! My MS Office programs provide me with crisp and clean text that just jumps off the screen. Widescreen PC games at this resolution are far superior to XBOX 360. I'm comfortably typing this 8 feet away on my leather recliner sofa using a wireless keyboard and mouse. If you own one of these sets then use it to its fullest potential. I'm not trying to talk people into buying one of these against their will, I'm just trying to assist those of you that already own one of these sets.

1808x1004 still not true 1080p and you are displaying at non-native res which is going to effect video quality.

For me that is unacceptable.

Oh man. I just returned my Sharp 46" because of all the banding issues and the BB guy cut me a great deal on the 4696D. What do I do now? I'm want my TV ready for the PS3 but if I'm not gonna see everything, then I am doomed (from enjoying the PS3 to the fullest!). I guess the only set left is the Sony xbr3. That's gonna cost an arm and a leg.

I's actually 1808x1004 on my set. The Samsung reports ithe signal as 1920x1080p @60Hz. The bottom line is that you can't tell the difference between this set or the XBR2 over HDMI to a PC. The Samsung HDMI PC image is spectacular I've now hooked up my main computer as an HTPC because the image quality of my Viewsonic vp191b can't touch the 4095 at 1080p. HD video is Blue Ray and HD DVD quality. Don't let people convince you that it isn't worth hooking up a PC over HDMI, it is the only way to go! My MS Office programs provide me with crisp and clean text that just jumps off the screen. Widescreen PC games at this resolution are far superior to XBOX 360. I'm comfortably typing this 8 feet away on my leather recliner sofa using a wireless keyboard and mouse. If you own one of these sets then use it to its fullest potential. I'm not trying to talk people into buying one of these against their will, I'm just trying to assist those of you that already own one of these sets.

Why would Samsung say you cannot connect PC over HDMI if it is clearly possible?

Before I spend $$$ on a 50ft cable (TV is in another room from PC!) - can someone tell me if there is a clear winner between HDMI or VGI input for my PC on the 4696?

Thanks!

Do the Samsung DLP 1080P monitors also suffer from overscan?

Why would Samsung say you cannot connect PC over HDMI if it is clearly possible?

Before I spend $$$ on a 50ft cable (TV is in another room from PC!) - can someone tell me if there is a clear winner between HDMI or VGI input for my PC on the 4696?

Thanks!
Because of Liability and warranty coverage obligations. As these panels are not fully designed for HTPC and the various interfaces that may be used if you simply ignore it in the manual you can exempt liability that would be there if they placed in writing. If something goes wrong with hobbyist perhaps they can exclude it from warranty coverage even though in many cases the panels will work with a PC despite what the owners manuals state or neglect to even reference.

The Lawyers have alot to say as to what goes in the manual. It's a TV after all - they don't have to deal with every type and age video card and connections so you leave it out or provide the very basic info even though you know they are aware of virtually everything it can do considering many of these panel makers are also in the IT field in Asia and elsewhere. Hobbyists here test and prove/disprove that capability very promptly. :)

Because of Liability and warranty coverage obligations. As these panels are not fully designed for HTPC and the various interfaces that may be used if you simply ignore it in the manual you can exempt liability that would be there if they placed in writing. If something goes wrong with hobbyist perhaps they can exclude it from warranty coverage even though in many cases the panels will work with a PC despite what the owners manuals state or neglect to even reference.

The Lawyers have alot to say as to what goes in the manual. It's a TV after all - they don't have to deal with every type and age video card and connections so you leave it out or provide the very basic info even though you know they are aware of virtually everything it can do considering many of these panel makers are also in the IT field in Asia and elsewhere. Hobbyists here test and prove/disprove that capability very promptly. :)


Thanks for explaining. And just to be sure....you can't "damage" the TV by connecting your PC to the HDMI input can you?

Thanks!

Actually, lack of 1:1 pixel mapping affects HDMI, but not VGA.

I have a LNS4095 which I purchased at Best Buy. I also purchased a Sanus (#VMAA18) wall mount and installed it myself. The mount works great and I highly recommend it. It's a little on the expensive side at $350 but it does have a 19" articulating arm and a tilt feature.

I have the LNS4095 and came up with the following settings using the AVIA disk.
Contrast:80
Brightness:49
Sharpness:25
Color: 42
Tint: R53 G47
Color Temp: Warm 2
Energy Saving: Low
DNIe: Off

The lack of 1:1 pixel mapping (thus overscan) only affects the VGA input. Since you're buying a PS3 for the glory of 1080p content - you'll connect it via HDMI. Right?

You can keep your TV unless

1) You are going to connect the PS3 via VGA (is this even possible?)
and
2) The overscan will bother you.
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taphil
Member

Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 21

Actually, lack of 1:1 pixel mapping affects HDMI, but not VGA.



ARRRGH! You guys are driving me nuts. Now I'm confused as to get this set or not. So the 4696D is not really a 1080P?

Go back to the sharp Cyber, or pony up the money for the XBR, but that set has it's problems too.

As far as I am concerned the Sammy is not 1080p, it's 1080 - 2% which makes 1058.4p :)

Clarification: 1080p 1:1 is only available via vga, the sammy has undefeatable overscan on every other input.

There is an issue with the VGA that muddies the colors and ruins the POP that the Sammy sells on.

Hello guys I'm in the market for a 40-42" lcd screen. My budget is around $2000-$2200.

I've narrowed my choices to:

Samsung LN-S4095D
or
Sharp LC-42D62U.


Spec wise, the Sharp could be better and does not have overscan. Also allows PC connectivity thru its HDMI. However, viewing angles could be an issue on this model.

For the samsung, I've seen this set in the store and the viewing angle and PQ totally blow me away... what's stopping me from declaring this my purchase is the fact that it can not handle HDMI -> DVI PC connection @ 1080p. It must use their crappy VGA port?
Secondly, like many said, it's not true 1080p 1:1 since it has overscan.

I'm clueless... should I hold out til December and wait for NEC's line of 42" LCD display?

I just ordered the 4095d today from tvauthority. This will be my second HDTV. The first is a 55 inch Sony LCD Projecttion. Like the first HDTV, after reading reviews on AVS, I made my choice. I cant wait to get this new toy. I will be sure to post a review.

Hello guys I'm in the market for a 40-42" lcd screen. My budget is around $2000-$2200.

I've narrowed my choices to:

Samsung LN-S4095D
or
Sharp LC-42D62U.


Spec wise, the Sharp could be better and does not have overscan. Also allows PC connectivity thru its HDMI. However, viewing angles could be an issue on this model.

For the samsung, I've seen this set in the store and the viewing angle and PQ totally blow me away... what's stopping me from declaring this my purchase is the fact that it can not handle HDMI -> DVI PC connection @ 1080p. It must use their crappy VGA port?
Secondly, like many said, it's not true 1080p 1:1 since it has overscan.

I'm clueless... should I hold out til December and wait for NEC's line of 42" LCD display?
l337hxr - I returned a Sharp LC-42D62U for a Samsung LN-S4095D. The viewing angle on that particular Sharp in horrible. Please do yourself a favor and go into a store and check out the Sharp if you are even remotely considering it. I purchased the Sharp site-unseen and boy was that the wrong decision (at least for my requirements). The drop out in color when you sit at pretty much any angle is bad. The screen becomes extremely washed out in appearance. So far, I'm very pleased with the Samsung 4095. The viewing angle is wonderful and HD is great. I do give credit to the Sharp for viewing standard definition programming. It does a wonderful job at it. The HD is fine too, but viewing angle is very important for my setup.

Good luck!

l337hxr - I returned a Sharp LC-42D62U for a Samsung LN-S4095D. The viewing angle on that particular Sharp in horrible. Please do yourself a favor and go into a store and check out the Sharp if you are even remotely considering it. I purchased the Sharp site-unseen and boy was that the wrong decision (at least for my requirements). The drop out in color when you sit at pretty much any angle is bad. The screen becomes extremely washed out in appearance. So far, I'm very pleased with the Samsung 4095. The viewing angle is wonderful and HD is great. I do give credit to the Sharp for viewing standard definition programming. It does a wonderful job at it. The HD is fine too, but viewing angle is very important for my setup.

Good luck!

rcraigiii

hrrm..thats the exact kind of user experience i want to hear too.

I did stop by a local Circuit City today. They had numerous LCD's on display. They had the Aquos 46D62U and the Samsung 4695D.

Granted the samsung was a 46", i'm sure the 40"(which fits my budget) wouldn't disappoint.

I quickly noticed that on the Sharp 46D62U, the "off-angle" viewing was not as great as the Samsung 4696D. Likewise, I felt that the Samsung had a slightly marginal better PQ. Everything I had hope for in the Sharp did not exceed my expectations...In fact, the Samsung basically just stood and said "look at me! look at what i can do!"

this is truly why I now am leaning towards the xx95 series of the samsung. Particularly the 4095. I have heard 3-4 more cases that the Sharp 42" D62U does have off-angle viewing problems.



may I ask you what other LCD 1080p screens you were considering?

Here are/were my current choices (budget: give or take $2000:


Samsung LN-4095D (Blew me away in PQ/viewing angle) (i don't need the 46-series since i won't need the DCR card feature..i have comcast cable...they use cable boxes here)

Sharp LC-42D62U (fit my budget the best, and was the "latest" in LCD production)

Sharp LC-46D62U (saw this at CC, out of my budget slightly, has banding issues now, and also the viewing angle did not wow me...even cheaper 4095d samsung performed much better at viewing angle than this one)

Samsung 4395 (plasma) not 1080p- i only considered this because there is a super deal on this at frys... that was up until i heard this particular model has serious "buzzing" issues that couldn't be fixed easily.

Hitachi 42HDS69 (1080i plasma) - by far the best priced 42" plasma with the best PQ for the money i had seen at the stores.. the contrast/pq was right on! unfortunately, i too also read it has problem with "flickering" problem..as you can see there's a huge thread on it.

Westinghouse LVM42 - bargain priced 1080p. i saw this at bb...it looked real good for the money...i was surprised..i thought it would be crap since in America, you "get what u pay for". However, next to it was a true Samsung 4096D ...that one just blew it away in PQ...as well.



As of right now, I dont know what to say..... I wonder if the Samsung 4095D overscan will be a huge issue for me..

my main purpose of the screen is for:

-SD/HD broadcast viewing (50%)
-Computer hook-up (1920x1080) to watch my DVD movies since I don't have a DVD-player (35%)
-Playstation 3, Xbox (15%)


I just worry that the 4095 can't do DVI -> HDMI as stated in the manual.

l337hxr:
I did quite a bit of research and went with Samsung 4696D. PQ cannot be beat (and that's what counts to me), great looking set, and overscan is just not an issue. Also, I hear you can connect PC via HDMI and if you have nVidia card you can eliminate the overscan.

At the end of the day - no TV is perfect. Whatever you choose you can guarantee a better model will be out within 6 months, and probably cheaper. That is the nature of this business.

l337hxr:
I did quite a bit of research and went with Samsung 4696D. PQ cannot be beat (and that's what counts to me), great looking set, and overscan is just not an issue. Also, I hear you can connect PC via HDMI and if you have nVidia card you can eliminate the overscan.

At the end of the day - no TV is perfect. Whatever you choose you can guarantee a better model will be out within 6 months, and probably cheaper. That is the nature of this business.

i couldn't agree with you any less! I thought cellphone technology evolved faster, it seems like I was wrong, Panel technology/war evolves even faster!



Just a quick question, all the 4095,4695,4096, and 4696 share the same LCD panel technology right? The difference in them is just the size and the 96 series just basically mainly has DCR?

thanks.

4095d is a great tv. Watched some football this weekend and my friends were blown away by how lifelike the picture looked

i couldn't agree with you any less! I thought cellphone technology evolved faster, it seems like I was wrong, Panel technology/war evolves even faster!



Just a quick question, all the 4095,4695,4096, and 4696 share the same LCD panel technology right? The difference in them is just the size and the 96 series just basically mainly has DCR?

thanks.

Same panel, but some other little differences besides DCR. There are plenty of places on this forum which list the differences between 96 and 95 models (sorry don't have the info to hand ..)

Got my 4095 2 weeks ago. Love it so far (replaced a 30" Tube). X-box 360 looks amazing, PS2 looks better then ever. SD looks good except the local channels through Direct TV (they can't come untill mid-november to put in the HD dish). Used the settings you all posted as a basis for my calibration, and with a little tweeking all the inputs seem to be set right for my room (thanks).

However I have a question. From what I understand, Movie Mode is the 2:3 pulldown toggle. When should I use this (I am new to HD)? Does it help SD at all?

Thanks.

May I ask you guys where you guys purchased your set and if it was a good experience?

I'm thinking BB/CC would be the way to go since they're local for me and if anything bad happens, I can immediately return it. I'm just not sure if this "peace-of-mind" is worth the extra $300-500 to pay to a retail store like this.

I did ask TVauthority if they did local pick-up since I did not want to pay their $245 shipping fee. They said most of their sets are shipped from manufacture directly. Plus, I don't like waiting 2 weeks =]

i have the 4095d for mainly everything but recently its just been 360 and i must say that when i showed my friends the 360, their jaw dropped at how lifelike the picture looked...

i havent had problems with the 4095d with games except the fact that i cant use the vga port with the xbox.... it doesnt let me pick 1280x720.... so that sucks..

i have asked if anyone had the 360 and vga cable with the 4095d, but no luck

thanks for the input 360 is going to be my main use for this TV as I don't watch that much television

May I ask you guys where you guys purchased your set and if it was a good experience?

I'm thinking BB/CC would be the way to go since they're local for me and if anything bad happens, I can immediately return it. I'm just not sure if this "peace-of-mind" is worth the extra $300-500 to pay to a retail store like this.

I did ask TVauthority if they did local pick-up since I did not want to pay their $245 shipping fee. They said most of their sets are shipped from manufacture directly. Plus, I don't like waiting 2 weeks =]

Got mine from BB (I work less then a mile from one). Great service, and got some $$ off for buying my HD Satelite Reciever through them. I looked at getting from an on-line retailer, but decided that the service plan from BB was worth getting it there, since all I have heard are horror stories about Sammy's customer service.

However, get your HDMI cable from somewhere else. They are very expensive at BB.

May I ask you guys where you guys purchased your set and if it was a good experience?

I'm thinking BB/CC would be the way to go since they're local for me and if anything bad happens, I can immediately return it. I'm just not sure if this "peace-of-mind" is worth the extra $300-500 to pay to a retail store like this.

I did ask TVauthority if they did local pick-up since I did not want to pay their $245 shipping fee. They said most of their sets are shipped from manufacture directly. Plus, I don't like waiting 2 weeks =]
I bought mine at Circuit City and yes I bought the warranty. I used to work at CC and buying the extended warranty (protection plan, ESP, cheese, etc) buys you leverage to return your product. I originally had a Samsung 46" DLP from a year ago and after a while, it "wasn't performing like day 1" so I did my legwork, had Samsung and also CC come out for service calls. I ended up getting CC to return the tv for a full refund (minus what I had consumed time wise on the warranty) and put that towards a Samsung 4051. Thought the 4051 was pretty good, but then there was all the talk on the Sharp's. Returned the 4051 for the Sharp 42", really disliked it, and returned it for the Samsung LNS4095D, which I think is a wonderful product. Yes, there was some legwork involved, but sometimes it takes getting a set in your house before you can truly see if it's the right one for you. You pay somewhat of a premium buying locally, but in the end, you have less buyer's remorse and one heck of a lot of leverage to get something new 2 years down the road.

Has anyone used the Samsung AV adapter for IPOD with the 4095d?

First time poster here, I just purchased the 4695 from CC on sale. Going to be receiving it Friday. I am going from a 42" Sony Rear Projection to this. I figured to make the move now because I wanted to gain some space in my living room, pretty small roughly 10 X 13. I was set on mounting this on the wall, which I think I could handle with some help but concerned about concealing the wiring and also I have an older home so the studs are not 16 on center. So I figured I would get a stand for now and then mount on the wall down the road. Can anyone recommend a slim profile stand, I am not concerned how wide, just looking for something that is not deep, like just with enough room to put a directv box. If someone has a stand or recommendations i am all ears. Pics would be great if allowed or you could email me.

Has anyone noticed any big difference in PQ between these two? I have seen them, and I have to say that there doesn't seem to be any difference. Other than certain features ( ie. cablecard ). I mean it is cut from the same glass, so other than a few minor features, it seems to be and perform the same. Anyone else notice this or am I seeing things here?

I have the 4095d and was considering the 4096 originally, but couldn't wait, and didn't want to shell out the extra $$. After sitting with my 4095, I am happy that I didn't wait. The only minor problem I have is that there are no dedicated buttons for each source. That would make it easiar to cycle between sources.

Is there that big a difference if you use the cablecard vs a STB? haven't seen a cablecard on one of these yet.

has anyone been able to get their overscan fixed by a technician yet?

Another question for you guys, does anyone know if when I connect my PC to the xx95 or xx96 series, can it handle any resolution less than or equal to 1920x1080p ??

example...if my desktop resolution is 1024 x 768 can it handle that? thanks

Another question for you guys, does anyone know if when I connect my PC to the xx95 or xx96 series, can it handle any resolution less than or equal to 1920x1080p ??

example...if my desktop resolution is 1024 x 768 can it handle that? thanks

Can handle any resolution your video card can throw at it I think. I did a test at the weekend and hooked my PC up via VGA. My PC is 1280x1024 and on the 4696 this was 'stretched' to fit the screen so not great. I simply switched to 1920x1080 and looked great. I just ordered DVI-HDMI cable as I heard it will let you connect via HDMI so long as you can deal with a bit of overscan (or eliminate it using nvidia cards).

So, I purchased a 4696 at the Magnolia - Best Buy shop down the street three weeks ago. Added a Comcast CableCard and was enjoying really terrific HD and even 480i stations. Unfortunately, what I discovered was a defect in the left speaker system - a vibration of sorts with some lower audio frequencies. It sounded bad - so much so that I found myself using my AV sound system more often than I normally would.

Applying some hand pressure to the left side of the TV in the rear moderated the vibration somewhat, but it was real obvious that something was mecahnically out of spec - perhaps a blown speaker, or even a defect in the plastics.

I went down to Best Buy and explained my problem. They apologized and said they would have a new 4696 to me the following week. It arrived as promised today. They removed the defective one and set up the new one. I was very impressed with the service (try that with an online vendor!).

I have not detected any audio problems with this one. Hopefully it is one of those 1% defects.

So, I had taken the CableCard out of the old TV and inserted it in the new one. Unfortunately, I could get no service beyond the standard cable channels. I couldn't even get CNN. I called Comcast several times and each time the CS person "sent a signal" to the card, but nothing happened. They scheduled a tech visit for tomorrow, but I felt that the issue was far simpler.

Sure enough, when I checked the original service call receipt to install the CableCard in the first TV I found the CableCard, Host, and Data addresses listed. The the Host and Data addresses were different on the new TV.

I made yet another call to Comcast and this time the CS person understood the issue and forwarded my call to a technician who was able to enter in the new addresses and get the card working. A bit of a hassle, but knowing who to transfer the call to is important! Also saved them a support visit and me a couple more hours of wait time and $15.

Very, very pleased with this Samsung though.

The only minor problem I have is that there are no dedicated buttons for each source. That would make it easiar to cycle between sources.


I haven't done a lot of experimenting with this, but there may indeed be separate codes for each input. I say this because my Harmony Remote lists separate buttons for each input under the TV device.

I'm having an issue deciding if I should go 40" or 46". I stopped by BB today and revisited both sets. I thought the 40" was "small" ...the westinghouse 42" next to it looked bigger of course.

then I re-visit the 46"...i wonder if that might be too big. CNET says viewing distance should be 1.5X the screen size.

For me, I am going to be mostly 5-6ft. from the TV. No more, no less. I'm trying to justify the extra $$$ to get the 46". But I think the 40" might serve me ok??

No need for 46' at that distance. Min 8ft away for 46".

IMO!

I bought the 4095 from Best Buy last week. I have 30 days to decide if I'm going to keep the set or upgrade to the 46 inch. We sit 6-8 feet from the set. I have read that with high def you can sit closer and still be happy. After a few days, I'm more than happy with 40" You also have to consider how much non-HD content you are viewing which would not look good from that close on a bigger TV. If my room were bigger, I could see going bigger, but 40 inches is plenty. I can take the difference in cost and invest in an HD-DVD player or upgrade my sound system

I was viewing my TV (4695D) last night and thought it to be a tad to small. I used to have a 61" Sammy DLP in its place but my dad took it when he moved out unfortunately, lol. I wish I could get my hands on the 52" Sammy...or even the 57"....wayyy to much money for those sets though.

whoever has purchased the 4095d and owns a xbox 360 w/vga cable, please tell me your results... i cant seem to use it because it doesnt go to a hd setting...

whoever has purchased the 4095d and owns a xbox 360 w/vga cable, please tell me your results... i cant seem to use it because it doesnt go to a hd setting...

Have you flipped the switch on the AV cable that plugs into the XBOX 360?

what switch?

on what side is the switch?

on what side is the switch?

Right on the top of the plug under the paper peel off strip.

ARRRGH! You guys are driving me nuts. Now I'm confused as to get this set or not. So the 4696D is not really a 1080P?

It amazing the extent to which this overscan deal is getting blown out of proportion in the past few weeks. Aside from the Sony XBR2/3, and some Sharp models, EVERY HD television currently in homes or on the market has overscan. Every single one of them. All rear projection sets have it, that won't ever change. All plasmas have it. Sometimes it's less than 1%, but it's still there. LCDs are the only technology that currently allow for no overscan OOTB (and very few at that), but suddenly zero overscan has become the most important thing on the planet. Good lord.

Bottom line: if you aren't hooking up a PC, it won't matter to you at ALL. If you are hooking up a PC, it will only matter if your video card isn't able to adjust the resolution to match the amount of overscan.

The Samsungs allow 1:1 full 1080 vertical res OOTB with the VGA port. All the other ports have roughly 2% overscan. That is not much. It will in no way affect your ability to play any PS3 or XBox360 game, because pertinent game elements will NEVER be placed within the outer ~7% of the picture frame. The consoles are designed for televsions, NOT PC monitors. The reason that PC games have HUD elements with 0% overscan is because PC monitors have never had overscan. It's expected with them. But for TV's, overscan is expected, and will be for many MANY years to come like it or not. As I stated before, GRAW is a case of poor planning by the developer, and I seriously doubt you will see something like that again any time soon. Even with GRAW though, nothing important for the game was lost at all, it was just some pointless green border that was placed around the HUD to "look cool". What it did instead was point out the obvious fact of life currently that TVs have overscan. I still ama amazed every time I see that game being played on a TV. It's like they did 100% of their design and testing on LCD monitors... no rear projections, no CRTs, no plasmas, no LCD TVs even.

Unreal.

ok can someone confirm that they used the vga cable of the xbox 360 on the 4095d?

Its funny, I didnt even know how much my tv overscanned (mits 48) until i saw GRAW on my new 4095... I have not tried a vga cable yet but I know tomorrow you can get 1080p through component on xbox 360 after their update! granted its the xbox doing the upscaling but wont wmv files from media center look good through it!!

Has anyone trying hooking up the LN-S4095D to there cable provider without a cable box to see if it picks up the HD cannels that are not encrypted?

mopar01 will your display accept 1080p over VGA... I thought there wasn't a current display but the XBR2 that accepts 1080p over VGA?????

EDIT: Just saw he mentioned component.

NYFOOTBALLGIANTS attached is from the manual. From that, it seem to except 1080p.

Thats great. Can anyone confirm that this set correctly deinterlaces 1080i? I am almost completely sold on the *95 but I am somewhat concerned about the processor as the Sammy LCD's havent faired well in testing. I see that CNET said the *96 passed their test for deinterlacing.

Can handle any resolution your video card can throw at it I think. I did a test at the weekend and hooked my PC up via VGA. My PC is 1280x1024 and on the 4696 this was 'stretched' to fit the screen so not great. I simply switched to 1920x1080 and looked great. I just ordered DVI-HDMI cable as I heard it will let you connect via HDMI so long as you can deal with a bit of overscan (or eliminate it using nvidia cards).
My 4695 only handles a few resolutions that my laptops throws at it via VGA. A page in the manual confirms this. The next step down from 1920x1080 is 1280x1024.

Yes the tv handles 1920x1080 fine through vga. As far as the manual goes it says 1080p is supported on component, HDMI and VGA inputs. I do not have a component dongle so I cant test that with the computer but I should be able to test with the new xbox 360 update today.!!

After much deliberation, reading, and viewing I purchased a 4696D. It should come in next week and I cannot wait! Thanks to everyone who has posted their settings. That will give me a good basepoint. I plan on getting this professionally calibrated but I'm not exactly sure when with Xmas around the corner. When I do and before that as I get my own settings I will post everything!

mopar01 - Where did you see the Xbox360 is updating the dashboard today? I've not read anything about it other than an "autumn update".

Hi after many weeks (read: 3 months of going to electronics stores every day for like 3 hours per day) and reading many reviews i finally purchased the 4095d model at bestbuy.

I was connecting it yesterday and the thing is i dont know about televisions and HDMI. I am assuming the price restrictions are based on mSRP of the tvs only so let me elaborate.

I was at the store and i wanted to buy a HD reciever so i could use the HD compatibility. The reciever was like 100 dollars, and then the guy suggest that i get a HDMI cable that costs 150 dollars? Is this normal?

Where is a good place to get HDMI cables for lower prices?

Here are my basic questions:

1. How much should a decent HDMI cable for HD reciever cost
2. How much should a decent hdmi cable for a Upconvert DVD player cost


My other questions are about two toher topics:

1. I have a mini- hi-fi system (2 speakers , an amplifier and 2 speakers that are connected to the amplifier, Phillips Model #FW-C798.) that im trying to connect to my television. At bestbuy the gentlemen told me to get a component audio cable. I installed this cable and only one (right) speaker is playing sound out of it. Do i need to change the settings on the tv to get it to play correctly? What do i need to do if thats not it?

2. If i have an xbox360 and i put it into the HD component slot (whatever cord it is that comes with the premium version) and then i name the input as xbox 360, and then while i have xbox 360 on, i change the picture settings , will it save it to that input? (if this question is not clear, what i mean is for the little holes where the xbox cord goes into will those settings be saved to it, so that i wont have to readjust the picture every time i turn the xbox 360 off.)


Thanks for your help on these issues as i am somewhat inexperienced.

Also since this is a review thread:

So far i like my screen. I watched SD and it seemed pretty good compared to my old CRT TV. Not as good but better than i expected. I also played The Island dvd and it was beautiful graphics even using a PS2 DVD player with standard PS2 cables. I also liked the Zoom2 feature but i saw that it downgraded the picture. I cant wait to get a new dvd upconvert player and get a hdmi cable to go along with it. Overall in the 12 hours that i have had the TV i give it 2 thumbs up (disclaimer: please do not use this to determine what you are going to buy simply because i am a newbie to this kind of TV.)

Thanks for your help

Although they are expensive I personally prefer the AudioQuest HDMI cables as I'm a you get what you pay for person. I have a 6 foot AudioQuest HDMI-X cable and love it.

Since it's a digital cable though you'll read about the debate that it doesn't matter on the kind of cable you get. With that said just make sure whatever you end up buying has good shielding. That'd be my only recommendation.

ok can someone confirm that they used the vga cable of the xbox 360 on the 4095d?

I am aware of only one cable that comes with the Xbox 360. It has a switch on the top of the plug where it plugs into the Xbox 360 that switches between HD and VGA. And it works fine with my 4696.

so the vga cable has a switch on it?

I am almost ready to buy the 4095 or 4695 from Best Buy or Amazon... the problem now is I'm trying to decide still between 40" or 46".

I'm just trying to justify the 22% increase in price for only 13% increase in screen size... of the 4695 from the 4095 (roughly $600 difference)


Oh yea, last night I shoddily put together with pieces of paper what the TV's would somewhat look like in my room. I kinda feel the 46" was a little too big for my viewing distance. Then I kinda thought the 40" was "okay" ...not "perfect". Damn it, why didn't Samsung make a 42" and called it a 4295? That would've been perfect I think. The pictures are the actual viewing distance for me.

Now the issue is, I know people say the bigger your screen, the crappier your SD channels will look and also the closer you are to a bigger screen, there is more likelyhood I'll see the pixels and lines which will degrade my viewing experience.

Check out the pics guys and let me know what you guys think. Yes, the LCD will be on top of this shelf. Unfortunately, I tried my best to hold up the paper but it is sorta hanging off the shelf.

hey...i was considering this set before i got the sony 46" lcd from costco.

my viewing distance is approx. 6-6.5 and i think it's great!...i think a 52" would even work since it is full HD..you can sit closer w/o losing detail...i read some article somewhere about viewing distance and tv resolution.

I am almost ready to buy the 4095 or 4695 from Best Buy or Amazon... the problem now is I'm trying to decide still between 40" or 46".

I'm just trying to justify the 22% increase in price for only 13% increase in screen size... of the 4695 from the 4095 (roughly $600 difference)


Oh yea, last night I shoddily put together with pieces of paper what the TV's would somewhat look like in my room. I kinda feel the 46" was a little too big for my viewing distance. Then I kinda thought the 40" was "okay" ...not "perfect". Damn it, why didn't Samsung make a 42" and called it a 4295? That would've been perfect I think. The pictures are the actual viewing distance for me.

Now the issue is, I know people say the bigger your screen, the crappier your SD channels will look and also the closer you are to a bigger screen, there is more likelyhood I'll see the pixels and lines which will degrade my viewing experience.

Check out the pics guys and let me know what you guys think. Yes, the LCD will be on top of this shelf. Unfortunately, I tried my best to hold up the paper but it is sorta hanging off the shelf.

Your calculations are way off for a 16:9 panel the size difference is actually 33% larger not 13%. Per this calculator:

http://www.cavecreations.com/tv2.cgi

I view a 45" Sharp from 8.5' and it's too small and going either 52/57" soon.

To prove a 40" is a weenie TV for HT use tell us how many DLP's and SXRD's are in the 40" range? ZERO! Because they are being sold as HT Size panels and the only reason they have that 40" is to satisfy pocketbooks not HT immersion. The same principle holds for Flat Panels the difference is the higher costs and an SXRD at 40" would be sort of who cares viewing but at 60/70" it becomes WOW! Go Bigger as these have the same 1080P the SXRD does and the DLP 1080P's - 1080P craves bigger and so should buyers! Just my opinion having owned both from 8.5' and you must be using a 4:3 calculator to just your viewing distance as that is way off - 1080P can be handled at my distance in the 60-70" size with the fill factor it provides. :D

Your calculations are way off for a 16:9 panel the size difference is actually 33% larger not 13%. Per this calculator:

http://www.cavecreations.com/tv2.cgi

I view a 45" Sharp from 8.5' and it's too small and going either 52/57" soon.

To prove a 40" is a weenie TV for HT use tell us how many DLP's and SXRD's are in the 40" range? ZERO! Because they are being sold as HT Size panels and the only reason they have that 40" is to satisfy pocketbooks not HT immersion. The same principle holds for Flat Panels the difference is the higher costs and an SXRD at 40" would be sort of who cares viewing but at 60/70" it becomes WOW! Go Bigger as these have the same 1080P the SXRD does and the DLP 1080P's - 1080P craves bigger and so should buyers! Just my opinion having owned both from 8.5' and you must be using a 4:3 calculator to just your viewing distance as that is way off - 1080P can be handled at my distance in the 60-70" size with the fill factor it provides. :D


thank you for that calculator. it is so useful for me. I can now compare differences even with my pos 20" sony 4:3 tv.

4095- has anyone plugged their computer to it.... if so, how is the picture?

Since the 360 only supports games over component at 1080p. HDDVD will only output 1080p over VGA. So the Sammys and the XBR2 are the only TV's that would be able to get 1080p over VGA? What is the max the HDDVD will support over component. If it's 1080i then everyone is fine but I don't believe this will be the case.

4095- has anyone plugged their computer to it.... if so, how is the picture?
It looks great via VGA with my MacBook Pro running OSX or ThinkPad T41 running Windows XP - no overscan, good color, sharp.

There is overscan with DVI. With the MacBook Pro running Windows XP and ATI's Control Center, overscan via DVI can be reduced and the image still looks excellent. With the same setup and VGA, I had to use PowerStrip to get the correct timings .

Anybody considering the LNS4695 or 4095 should also check its direct competitor the JVC LT-46FH97 or LT-46FN97 or 40FH/FN97 (Same just cosmetics and minor external additions). The Sharp LC-42D62U uses Sharps old panel (poor of axis viewing angles), whereas their 46" and 52" uses their 8th generation panel. The JVC uses current Samsung lcd panels (LTA460HS-L02) for the 46". Do the math put them side by side, i love the LNSXX95 series but i bought the Jvc 46FH97. Why the Jvc? Well SD looks incredible and HD just bonkus. Try and point out "block noise" if you can on this set , i dare you and it dont matter how weak the signal is.

Anybody considering the LNS4695 or 4095 should also check its direct competitor the JVC LT-46FH97 or LT-46FN97 or 40FH/FN97 (Same just cosmetics and minor external additions). The Sharp LC-42D62U uses Sharps old panel (poor of axis viewing angles), whereas their 46" and 52" uses their 8th generation panel. The JVC uses current Samsung lcd panels (LTA460HS-L02) for the 46". Do the math put them side by side, i love the LNSXX95 series but i bought the Jvc 46FH97. Why the Jvc? Well SD looks incredible and HD just bonkus. Try and point out "block noise" if you can on this set , i dare you and it dont matter how weak the signal is.

I am almost positive that the JVCs do not accept a 1080p signal.

I got my dvi/hdmi cable today so I thought I'd try to hook up my pc to the Samsung 4095. I usually use a Viewsonic VA720 17" LCD monitor connected to the vga out on my ATI 9550 video card. I plugged into the DVI out and plugged the hdmi end into the 4095. I got a diplay but the quality is very poor. At 1920 x 1080 30mHz interlaced I could see some stuff but the task bar was off the bottom of the screen. So I need to download some drivers somewhere or am I better off getting a VGA cable and connecting that way?

I have a 4095....I'm using a SA Cable Box . Plan to use a DVI to HDMI cable to the 4095 (no HDMI output on cable box).
I though I could use a Digital Coax audio output from my cable box to the 4095, but found out there is no input for a digital coax audio cable on the 4095.
In order to achieve the best sound quality I assume I will have to use a pair of RCA audio cables. Is this correct or is there an adapter that would allow me to use the digital coax cable from cable box and covert at the 4095 into two RCA's and would this give me as good or better sound??
Thanks

I got my dvi/hdmi cable today so I thought I'd try to hook up my pc to the Samsung 4095. I usually use a Viewsonic VA720 17" LCD monitor connected to the vga out on my ATI 9550 video card. I plugged into the DVI out and plugged the hdmi end into the 4095. I got a diplay but the quality is very poor. At 1920 x 1080 30mHz interlaced I could see some stuff but the task bar was off the bottom of the screen. So I need to download some drivers somewhere or am I better off getting a VGA cable and connecting that way?


Just to be clear - the picture through DVI is supposed to be better than VGA right? I check out VGA and it was OK (1:1 too) but opted to buy DVI cable. I'll try it out at the weekend. I have nvdia card I heard that is best for PC to HDTV.

Digital coax or optical should go from your cable/sat box into a stereo reciever to give you 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound. If you don't have that you have to use the rca cables...though I don't own this tv (yet :-) )

For those of you who own a 4095 or 4695, could you guys tell me or do you guys remember at all if it is possible to check to see if the panel can be turned on without having to fully remove it from the box?


I'm just wondering, because I might buy onilne and seeing how there's no return policy, I would like to open up the box (lifting the cover), then pull the power cable out..run the extension into my house's power plug..then turn on the TV. If it turns on...then I'll accept and sign for the delivery. however, if it doesn't (then it has a problem), then I can refuse delivery.

But I just want to make sure that once I lift up the top-cover of the box, can I then easily hook up and power-on the unit even though it is still sitting in the styroroam?

thanks

I took delivery of my LN-S4095D 2 days ago. My initial experience echos what most of you have seen, great PQ. My input sources are OTA, xbox 360, SD E* via TiVo, and MCE PC with HD tuners. I have not done anything with the xbox other then verify that the 1080i output via component input looks exceptional on the 4095. The SD picture is better than I expected.

I have experimented a little with calibration. I am by no means done with that, but my current settings are:

Custom
Contrast: 90 (seems high, but works for me)
Brightness: 39
Sharpness: 0
Color: 36
Tint: G51/R49
Tone: Normal
Energy Saving: Low
DNIe: off

As for the PC, I followed the instructions in the manual, connected it to the VGA port and set the video card to output 1920x1080. It works, but faces were very red, sort of "tomato" like, when I watch TV. Unfortunately there is no way that I can find to adjust the color on the VGA input. I tried from the PC end to no avail. I'm wondering if the cable may be the problem, I'll try a different one when I get a chance.

In the interim, I've connected the PC via HDMI using a DVI-to-HDMI cable. In the Nvidia tools, I compensated for the overscan. The result was PQ equal to the other input sources. The picture is slightly underscanned, but not enough to bother me.

Overall a very good product.

4095- has anyone plugged their computer to it.... if so, how is the picture?


I've done it and it looks fine. It seems like you really wanna know how the xx95D does with VGA with the 360. I hate to tell you but it doesn't work. Maybe when the 1080p update comes around, it'll work. Until then, you have to use component. Well, at least I can't get i to work with the VGA cable.

I took delivery of my LN-S4095D 2 days ago. My initial experience echos what most of you have seen, great PQ. My input sources are OTA, xbox 360, SD E* via TiVo, and MCE PC with HD tuners. I have not done anything with the xbox other then verify that the 1080i output via component input looks exceptional on the 4095. The SD picture is better than I expected.

I have experimented a little with calibration. I am by no means done with that, but my current settings are:

Custom
Contrast: 90 (seems high, but works for me)
Brightness: 39
Sharpness: 0
Color: 36
Tint: G51/R49
Tone: Normal
Energy Saving: Low
DNIe: off

As for the PC, I followed the instructions in the manual, connected it to the VGA port and set the video card to output 1920x1080. It works, but faces were very red, sort of "tomato" like, when I watch TV. Unfortunately there is no way that I can find to adjust the color on the VGA input. I tried from the PC end to no avail. I'm wondering if the cable may be the problem, I'll try a different one when I get a chance.

In the interim, I've connected the PC via HDMI using a DVI-to-HDMI cable. In the Nvidia tools, I compensated for the overscan. The result was PQ equal to the other input sources. The picture is slightly underscanned, but not enough to bother me.

Overall a very good product.


Great news, thanks! - So why would you want to go back to VGA?

For those of you who own a 4095 or 4695, could you guys tell me or do you guys remember at all if it is possible to check to see if the panel can be turned on without having to fully remove it from the box?


I'm just wondering, because I might buy onilne and seeing how there's no return policy, I would like to open up the box (lifting the cover), then pull the power cable out..run the extension into my house's power plug..then turn on the TV. If it turns on...then I'll accept and sign for the delivery. however, if it doesn't (then it has a problem), then I can refuse delivery.

But I just want to make sure that once I lift up the top-cover of the box, can I then easily hook up and power-on the unit even though it is still sitting in the styroroam?

thanks

That's exactly what I did when I received my 4095D from an online vendor. The UPS delivery man was completely fine with standing there until I verified that the set was not DOA because he was just as interested as I was. However, the driver informed me that even if it there was something wrong, that he couldn't accept the set for return on the spot. All he could do was sign as a witness that the set was visibly damaged as a likely result of shipping. I would have to arrange for return shipment separately and get an RMA. Fortunately, everything worked fine right out of the box.

I have a 4095....I'm using a SA Cable Box . Plan to use a DVI to HDMI cable to the 4095 (no HDMI output on cable box).
I though I could use a Digital Coax audio output from my cable box to the 4095, but found out there is no input for a digital coax audio cable on the 4095.
In order to achieve the best sound quality I assume I will have to use a pair of RCA audio cables. Is this correct or is there an adapter that would allow me to use the digital coax cable from cable box and covert at the 4095 into two RCA's and would this give me as good or better sound??
Thanks

I concur that standard RCA audio cabling will have to suffice. However, I would not be concerned about the sound quality since the built-in speakers on the TV are the weak link and will not benefit significantly from your efforts to go digital. Save your efforts and money for setting up a separate audio amplifier and speaker system. Go digital coax from your cable box and DVD player to the audio amplifier. Evidently you are using an older SA Cable box. My cable company actually doesn't charge that much more for a HD-DVR box that has HDMI as well as optical TOSLink and RCA audio outputs.

Hi, all and sorry for this outdated question.

What are the differences between 4695 and 4696? Any cosmetic differences? As far as I know, they are 1. 4696 has built-in HD tuner but 4695 does not, 2. 4696 has cable card but 4695 does not. and 3. 4695 is lot cheaper than 4696.

Any more differences between these two?

Thanks.

Brian

What are the differences between 4695 and 4696? Any cosmetic differences? As far as I know, they are 1. 4696 has built-in HD tuner but 4695 does not, 2. 4696 has cable card but 4695 does not. and 3. 4695 is lot cheaper than 4696.

Any more differences between these two?

A quick look at the spec sheets shows that they each have a built-in HD (ATSC) tuner, but only 4096 has cable card.

http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/LCDTV/files/lns4096_final.pdf
http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/LCDTV/files/lns4095_final.pdf

Great news, thanks! - So why would you want to go back to VGA?


Good point.

Ultimately HDMI is the way to go since it works. I'd like to narrow down which component isn't working well, be it the VGA input of the TV, my video card, or the cable. Just curious, I guess. :)

Just got the 4695 last night. I look forward to discussing this great set.

~Josh

Can this a PC be connected with a DVI to HDMI cable? I have a Nvidia 6600GT video card. If so how will it good or should I connect via another cable?

I bought a 50' DVI-HDMI cable (from bluejeans) and just connected my PC to 4696D. I have an nVidia 7800GT card. 1980x1080 looks great but there is a little bit of the desktop which is chopped off due to the overscan. However, using the nVidia tools you are able to select "underscan" to resize the desktop such that it all fits on. I think you end up with 1800x980 or something - but it looks just the same really. Very good quality.
Now I can use my PC to play HD movies and games, etc and watch through my 46" TV!

Differences:

- As noted, the 4096 has a Cable Card slot.

- The 4096 also has a USB port on the side, which they sometimes call Wiselink. (The 4095 has S Video there instead.) The idea apparently is to allow you to plug in a thumbdrive with jpgs or mp3, and view/play from there. Since this is the owner's thread, it might be interesting if anyone has tried it.

- And the 4096 has two Firewire ports on the back - D-Net, they call it. "D-Net refers to a home network consisting of devices supporting Set-Top Boxes). D-Net (IEEE1394) interface is capable of supporting various high- signal routing, Digital Video (DV) editing, home networking."

- Interestingly, the 4095 has a second service port that the 4096 doesn't, which makes me wonder if there's some undisclosed functionality there.

You can read the details by looking at the spec sheets and manuals which are downloadable at the Samsung site (http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/lcdtv/index.asp)

For those who haven't bought yet - there's a couple other threads with a lot more of this type discussion, comparisons to other models, etc. Better to look / post there.

Samsung LN-S4696D/LN-S4096D (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=657002)

OFFICIAL SAMSUNG LN-S26",32",40",46" thread(QUESTIONS,Calibration, ETC.) (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=661538)

I have said it before but there seems to be a lot of question on VGA input...

The VGA input for this TV appears to bypass much (if not all) of the image processing. This is why you can't turn the color saturation and tint. I suppose if you hook up with a decent video card you can adjust those things from there but not from the TV.

This is why you should stick to component for Xbox 360 and just skip VGA. I tried VGA Xbox 360 and it just could not be adjusted to look as nice as component. But, yes there is no overscan with VGA and it does pixel for pixel 1080P but without the full video processing, its just not as good.

On the other hand, if you have a high end graphics card on you PC you may get very good results with VGA but I have not tried it. I think being able to adjust the gamma setting will help quite a bit for the VGA input from a PC. The Xbox 360 just does not allow any gamma ajustments and I get the feeling its just a bit off.

Besides, the component with the 360 look great anyway and with the fall update I think this TV will be able to do 1080P over component even though I doubt it will make any diffrence. The 1080i get turned into 1080P by the TV just fine and the games are only 720P. So I think its mostly hype and people are fooling themselfs if they think that 1080P is that bid a deal. In a number of years when "sources" are true 1080P it might make a diffrence but not in the short term. And don't talk about the PS3 since, from what I am hearing, the native 1080P games lack detail and have frame rate issues. Some of the games there were talking 1080P a few moths ago are back to 720P. I am sure a few games will pull it off but most won't have it and even the ones that do will look almost identicle in 1080i.

Just got the 4695 last night. I look forward to discussing this great set.

~Josh

Awesome..! I should be picking up mine tomorrow night. When I bought it they were out of stock in my area... can't wait... my wife is right now ordering the furniture for it.. we just finished our family room after months of hard work now we'll see the fruit of the efforts :)

Could you please post some pics and/or impressions?

Thanks in advance...

Did ANYONE here buy their set (any model) from Amazon?

If so, how was your experience with the shipping?

I am contemplating about ordering with amazon but I want to hear some experiences first.

I'm particularly intersted in the 4695D

I bought a 50' DVI-HDMI cable (from bluejeans) and just connected my PC to 4696D. I have an nVidia 7800GT card. 1980x1080 looks great but there is a little bit of the desktop which is chopped off due to the overscan. However, using the nVidia tools you are able to select "underscan" to resize the desktop such that it all fits on. I think you end up with 1800x980 or something - but it looks just the same really. Very good quality.
Now I can use my PC to play HD movies and games, etc and watch through my 46" TV!

With a DVI-HDMI cable and nVidia 6600GT card, I'm getting 1768x992 after using the Nvidia tools. A bit of black around the edges, which I really don't notice when watching TV. The PQ is great on my 4095D.

With a DVI-HDMI cable and nVidia 6600GT card, I'm getting 1768x992 after using the Nvidia tools. A bit of black around the edges, which I really don't notice when watching TV. The PQ is great on my 4095D.

Download the latest Nvidia drivers (http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_91.47.html) and you will be able to fill the entire screen at 1808x1004 with no black edges on your 4095.

I bought a 50' DVI-HDMI cable (from bluejeans) and just connected my PC to 4696D. I have an nVidia 7800GT card. 1980x1080 looks great but there is a little bit of the desktop which is chopped off due to the overscan. However, using the nVidia tools you are able to select "underscan" to resize the desktop such that it all fits on. I think you end up with 1800x980 or something - but it looks just the same really. Very good quality.
Now I can use my PC to play HD movies and games, etc and watch through my 46" TV!


How do you get HD movies on your PC? I am a member of newsgroup and pretty good with that kind of stuff, just new to the world of HD movies.

Looks like I am deciding between one of the LCDs in this thread that will mainly be used for PC and console gaming, will I be dissapointed in my choice?

Also, could someone be so kind and send me a private message who is willing to help me? I have a question on places to buy televisions from.

Did ANYONE here buy their set (any model) from Amazon?

If so, how was your experience with the shipping?

I am contemplating about ordering with amazon but I want to hear some experiences first.

I'm particularly intersted in the 4695D

Got mine through Amazon via a JR Music World. No problems at all and I'm very happy with my purchase.

For those of you who own a 4095 or 4695, could you guys tell me or do you guys remember at all if it is possible to check to see if the panel can be turned on without having to fully remove it from the box?

I'm pretty sure the packaging covers the power connector. The thing is you should be able to take the whole set out and power it up no problem, and if there is a problem put it back in the box. The packaging was fairly simple.

Download the latest Nvidia drivers (http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_91.47.html) and you will be able to fill the entire screen at 1808x1004 with no black edges on your 4095.
Thanks for the info. I was able to get 1808x1004 with my current drivers, I just hadn't put the time into until this morning.

FWIW, I'm running the PC with these settings:

Standard
Contrast: 80
Brightness: 52
Sharpness: 0
Color: 32
Tint: G50/R50
Tone: Cool1
Energy Saving: Low
DNIe: off

These work better for the PC than settings I posted earlier for the OTA.

I owned the 4695D for about 14 hours...when I got it home from CC and unboxed it, the bottom of the panel was covered in this brownish dirt like substance...cleaned it off and set it up...BEAUTIFUL pic but it just bothered the hell out of me so today I returned it to CC. They were dismayed and happily exchanged it though this time I bought the Sony 46xbr2. I was surprised to see that there was another 200 off this set so the difference was only 360 bucks!

Happy Camper right now.... :)

I am a 4695D owner, is the "clicking" noise at startup common for this set or LCD's in general. It happens for the first 30 seconds or so.

clicking is common.

What Samsung lcd panel does the LNS4695 or LNS4095 use? Is it the LTA460HS-LH1 or LTA460HS-L02? I guess the 95 & 96 series use the same panel?

I'm pretty sure the packaging covers the power connector. The thing is you should be able to take the whole set out and power it up no problem, and if there is a problem put it back in the box. The packaging was fairly simple.

The tee-shirt they cover it with actually wraps around the bottom. So you need to lift the TV if you want to remove the protective cover without tearing it to shreds.

What I am also waiting for is the fact that Black Friday is coming up within a month. Sales are definitely going to slump a bit at B&M locatoins.

Black Friday is also two days after my birthday. So that works out too. I can feel justified for a purchase like this.

I'm glad in a way I don't have a wife yet..... but I have a gf...she is also not too happy about my purchase =]

I notice that most if not all of the owners here dial sharpness down to 0. I have my sharpness set at 70. Could someone explain to me what exactly sharpness does and why it's best to dial it down? I thought the "sharpness" setting made the picture sharper or more clear. I hope I'm making sense. Maybe I can make this great picture better if I follow your calibration techniques.

Belated Update:

Samsung sent out a guy who replaced the motherboard. It fixed it fine. He told me that if it recurred, he would authorize a replacement and they would pick up the old one.

I was happy with Samsung's response, the tech tghey sent out, and the solution. And, by the way, the ppciture is great. I haven't tweaked anything yet but when I do I'll post info.

Looks like I am deciding between one of the LCDs in this thread that will mainly be used for PC and console gaming, will I be dissapointed in my choice?

Also, could someone be so kind and send me a private message who is willing to help me? I have a question on places to buy televisions from.
answer pretty please

I took delivery of my LN-S4095D 2 days ago. My initial experience echos what most of you have seen, great PQ. My input sources are OTA, xbox 360, SD E* via TiVo, and MCE PC with HD tuners. I have not done anything with the xbox other then verify that the 1080i output via component input looks exceptional on the 4095. The SD picture is better than I expected.

I have experimented a little with calibration. I am by no means done with that, but my current settings are:

Custom
Contrast: 90 (seems high, but works for me)
Brightness: 39
Sharpness: 0
Color: 36
Tint: G51/R49
Tone: Normal
Energy Saving: Low
DNIe: off

As for the PC, I followed the instructions in the manual, connected it to the VGA port and set the video card to output 1920x1080. It works, but faces were very red, sort of "tomato" like, when I watch TV. Unfortunately there is no way that I can find to adjust the color on the VGA input. I tried from the PC end to no avail. I'm wondering if the cable may be the problem, I'll try a different one when I get a chance.

In the interim, I've connected the PC via HDMI using a DVI-to-HDMI cable. In the Nvidia tools, I compensated for the overscan. The result was PQ equal to the other input sources. The picture is slightly underscanned, but not enough to bother me.

Overall a very good product.
Buddy of mine recently purchased 4095D and PQ is very Good out of box. Tried to play around with picture and settings and was wondering what other owners currently have for their settings. TV's source is D***** HR20. Mostly used for HD and SD viewing, no games or PC usage. Any help would be appreciated.

Buddy of mine recently purchased 4095D and PQ is very Good out of box. Tried to play around with picture and settings and was wondering what other owners currently have for their settings. TV's source is D***** HR20. Mostly used for HD and SD viewing, no games or PC usage. Any help would be appreciated.
Out of the box, it is very good. As a result of reading this and other Samsung LCD thread, I immediatelt turned off the DNIe. I might try it later. I'm still experimenting. My primary TV source is OTA for HD and E* for SD (s-video). Sometime this week I'm going to use the DVE calibration disc to see what value I come up with. I'll post the results.

Anyone try DVE or AVIA calibration yet?

I notice that most if not all of the owners here dial sharpness down to 0. I have my sharpness set at 70. Could someone explain to me what exactly sharpness does and why it's best to dial it down? I thought the "sharpness" setting made the picture sharper or more clear. I hope I'm making sense. Maybe I can make this great picture better if I follow your calibration techniques.
A couple years ago, when I got my first HDTV, I watched the DVE calibration disc. They explained that sharpness was invented to compensate for a deficiency/limitation in early analog color TV technology. Essentially it adds edges to better define items on the screen. (Maybe someone else can explain it better.) Their assertion was that sharpness isn't needed for HD. Not sure of all the technical details. I think the picture looks more natural without sharpness. Obviously, it's a personal preference issue.