Official Samsung LNxxA550 (Series 5) Owners Thread NO PRICE TALK! - Page 58

I have no idea if this is what Samsung really did on the 550. I would like to think they didn't. They did however change the panel and processor on the 4665 series, so who is to say they haven't done the same thing on this set. I am not a conspiracy theorist, however I am not gullable enough to believe that CE manufacturers are always honest in the way they do business. Yes it's true panels are getting cheaper to manufacturer, but it's also true Samsung took some shortcuts and left some small features off their newer models that were on previous ones in order to cut retail price and maintain profit margins. I too am deciding if I want to get this 550 set or pay the extra and step up to the 650. As much as I want all the latest bells and whistles, I am not sure there worth the extra premium being charged for them right now. As much as I dread doing business with Amazon they have a really great deal on the 46" 550 right now. I wonder with the economy in a tailspin right now if it may only get better though? Less than 1500 for this set is quite a good bargain. I was all set to grab the Toshiba XF550 at cost from my mother in laws work but after seeing it, let's just say I'll be buying one of the Samsung's.

Unless absolutly necessary.. never use the yellow video!!! What kind of DVD player you you have? If it has S-video use that, or if it has red/green/blue connectors use that for the best picture. You also have to make sure you go into the dvd player's settings and tell it you have a widescreen TV, that should help with the bars a little.

Thank you! I actually ordered component cables from monoprice and they are on the way! The yellow video should be out in a few days, haha

Thanks for the note on the settings as well I'll check it out, much appreciated!

A similar problem led to the dvd player settings, set the dvd player to widescreen, 16x9, not 4:3.

oops, already addressed. Anyway, people should know always set everything to 16x9 or widescreen, and for pete's sake stop getting 4:3 dvd's as well!

Well I got it set to 16:9 and that solved the black bar issue nicely! I was also wondering about another option on my DVD player, it basically asked whether to 'interlace' or 'p-scan' and I think that since the a550 has 1080p, I should put it on p-scan? I dunno really though, it didn't seem to make a big difference on Finding Nemo that I noticed anyway so I switched it back to interlace.

for the love of god leave it at p-scan (progressive scan), the p in 480p or 1080p means progressive, even if you can't see the difference just leave it on progressive scan so we all don't need to hit ourselves on the forehead knowing your not even using progressive.

P Scan stands for Progressive Scan. Always use this instead of Interlaced thus 1080i (interlaced) is inferior to 1080p (progressive).

I went to BB yesterday to check out the LN40A550 in person and I am sold. I'm happy that this set is the one I got. I would have upgraded to the 46A650 but had limited budget. There was a couple there checking out the 650 and was about to buy it when I showed them the Amazon price that will save them more than 700. They quickly backed out, thanked me and went out the store. I had a smile in my face with a thought that i helped someone and I owned the salesperson.

Anyways, funny story. I went to the Magnolia Home Theater section of BB and asked if they have a TOSLINK switcher. The dumb salesperson asked "What is a TOSLINK?" I said "Oh, nevermind. I was just wondering if you have it." Geez, I don't know if he is qualified to be running the high-end entertainment section of BB. Oh well. BB is a joke anyways.

Haha, ok that's what I thought. It was just on pause and I wasn't looking too closely! Just wanted to prove how out of the loop I am. I'm learning slowly though, a week ago I didn't even know one thing about HDTV's.

We are here to help remember??? lol...

well, I seem to not be able to capture the effect of the clouding bars as I have tried to describe them. My wife even had a difficult time noticing them, although I do. Either way, some have asked for a grey pic, and let me know what you think. To me, this does not seem right, but I never tested this before so I do not really know what to look for, other than the obvious darker areas that look like bands.

Peanut - i've owned 3 sharps so i now how bad uneven screens can be. I'm sorry but i don't see anything wrong with your panel. No lcd is going to 100% even from every viewing angle, yours looks good to me.

Progressive is superior to Interlaced for a displayed image.

However, all LCD TV's are natively progressive. This means that if they receive an interlaced signal, they must deinterlace it. The result is progressive display, regardless of what the original signal was.

Switching a DVD player between progressive and interlaced will not impact picture quality on you LCD TV.

Also, for some TV's an interlaced signal is better because it makes it easier for the set to do a reverse pulldown. (This is not the case for the 550, though.)

http://www.hometheatermag.com/gearworks/1106gear/

I am very very close on pulling the trigger on a 46A550. Almost picked up a S&D 5687S with the stand for under $ 1,400, but debated about the size and within 2 days it was gone. Yesterday, I went to HH Gregg with my wife to look at TVs (they are having a S&D/Outlet sale)... and saw the 46A550. I had been thinking about it, since it is the new model... but was not seriously interested since, I thought, I would be going with a bigger screen. However, after one look.. both my wife and I were sold.

Any rate - I have a question regarding stands. At this moment, I am looking to not wall mount it. Does anyone have recommendations regarding stands for this size LCD? I've been thinking about the Sanus PFFP2B since it has mounting brackets plus shelfs; but I am not crazy about the price. I've got a Onkyo 805... so the shelf would need to (hopefully) support that.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks,

Jeff

OT I realize - but can you share which computer desk this is? I will probably be looking for one soon (not for the A550 ... )

I agree. I don't see anything wrong here. Are you sure you just don't want to see something wrong? A lot of people do it here. They go looking for something that isn't there but think it is anyway. There is a name for this effect but I don't remember what it is.

Justin

I'm not a fan of the "stands with the mount" I find the shelves on them not very good, and you may as well mount the TV. Go to Bestbuy.com they have good pics of TV stands.

Another happy LN46A550 owner here. Picked it up from Best Buy using a 12% off coupon they sent us bringing the price down to Amazon levels.

Funny thing is, to bigjsd's point, the set's price tag at BB was $200 more than online BB and the guy who rung us up was shocked that it was already $200 AND this was the last set they had, and only 1 out of 3 for a good portion of northern NJ.

Anyway, this TV is gorgeous. Outsider's setting made the picture better and Rye's setting made the sound totally 180°. Well done! Here's what I've tested and my thoughts:

HD content on Cablevision (HDMI): Anywhere from good to drop dead gorgeous. Sports were jaw dropping. Anything else HD was hit or miss. NBCHD for Law & Order was pretty good, but some commercials were marginal while some were crisp and sharp.

SD content on Cablevision (HDMI): Is what it is. Looked fine.

Blu Ray DVDs on PS3 (HDMI): Stunning. Watched Paprika (animated) and I Am Legend. Both looked amazing. It's a good thing Netflix offers BRs!

Normal DVDs on PS3 (HDMI): Upconversion by the PS3 was top notch. Watched Beowulf and My Name Is Earl Season 2. Quality was way above SD content on cable and looked (from my untrained, noobish eye) very clear and sharp

PS3 Games (HDMI): Only loaded up GT Prologue Demo. Looked great, but I didn't really sit down with it that much.

Xbox 360 (VGA): I didn't apply outsider's settings to VGA so the colors looked washed out but the picture was sharp. Only tooted around the dashboard real quick. Couldn't figure out how to get the VGA cable audio to work, do I need to use an adaptor for the jack next to the VGA port?

Overall, very pleased with this TV. The opinions posted in this thread were invaluable in making my decision, thanks all!

Those look fine to me, about what mine looks like. For comparison check out a couple picks of the Sharp I returned. And these pics don't even show the worst of it. I deleted the worst pics after I returned the TV to try to erase all memory of that set.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post13506725

Friday night I pulled the trigger and joined the club with all you other A550 owners! I got the 46A550. As a matter of fact I left the store with the 46A550 and the Bose 321 GS stereo system...got a good deal on the two and didn't want to pass it up.

The tv setup was easy and straight forward. So far I have no complaints with the set. Hi-Def channels are stunning. Standard Def channels look really good too. When I sit in my recliner I'm 7 1/2ft from the set and when I'm on the sofa I'm 9 1/2ft away....either location the picture looks fantastic.

Before hooking up the Bose, I listened to the tv's speakers and I have to admit I'd have to rate it about a 2 or 2 1/2 on a scale from 1-5 (5 being the best). I went over to the Official LNXXA550 Calibration/Settings Thread and tried the audio settings used in Post #2. I have to admit those settings did seem to help out a lot.....I'd say the audio at this point would rate about a 3 or 3 1/2. I then hooked up the Bose and naturally they blew away the tv speakers.

The 46A550 and the Bose gave me exactly what I was looking for....Simplicity and easy set up....Great Picture and Sound.....Don't break the bank with the purchase. I'm happy, the wife is happy and the kids are happy.

If you're on the fence in getting this tv, don't be. Hop on off and go down to your local store and pick one up.

Hmmm, alright then, if that is normal. I was more concerned with what you guys cant see anyway, the horizontal bands of clouding, which I cannot document anyway. Cool, I am at rest again.

hey man, i put some VGA settings in the official settings thread that you might like and which get rid of the washed out look. theyre not entirely finished but they're better than default.

also the VGA adaptor comes with an audio adaptor to plug it into 1/8th jacks

looks something like this

http://www.vgmusic.com/faq/gallery/a...CA-m_8thHP.jpg

drb

Congrats on the TV purchase. I've got my xbox hooked up via HDMI and it looked fantastic with the same settings. I hope you got a REALLY good deal on the Bose system, they usually charge you way more than they should. I am getting my TV professionally calibrated on Monday, so I will post the settings as soon as I can.

Hehehehe, yeah I hear ya about the price of Bose stuff. Yeah, it was a really good. The setup is in my family room and the 321 set blends in nicely. I thought of going the 5.1system route but didn't feel like deal with trying to set up extra speakers. I'm pleased with the 321's....they really help wake up the A550!!

Not that bad. I know what you are talking about and it does have very very very very minor banding. Not enough to bother with unless you see it with motion scenes. Try Call of duty 4 and pan around a sky background. I have two 46A550 now and one has it much more than the other. Meaning, one has none and one has about the same as yours. Overall I think your good.

Weren't the professional calibrations supposed to be up today?? Just wondering as I'm salivating for some good settings. Thanks!

So when the tv is in entertainment game mode, which has seemed to help alot on COD4 with trails and ghosting, you cannot mess with audio settings? It makes them horrible...

I'm getting the calibration done tomorrow (Monday) night... Be patient I will post them ASAP.

thanks in advance crispy

Yes THANK YOU crispy. I've really been looking forward to some great settings.

Is he actually going to let you know what he does in the service menus or just in the standard menus??