Official Samsung LNxxA650 Owner's Thread - Page 597

LED backlit LCD's are already here. Look at the 950 model.

I should have said "c) Should I wait for the affordable, fully debugged, LED backlit LCDs to appear ?"

The A950 is a bit expensive for my wallet and it seems to have a few glitches yet.

I realize this is the A650 owner's thread, but maybe someone here has the LN52A650, along with the Logitech Harmony One remote control.

If you use the Harmony One, to turn on the TV, how does it know whether to look at the STB, or at the Oppo DVD player that i have? In other words, how does it know which input to choose on the TV.

And if i want to change inputs on the TV, how is this done with the Harmony One.

If someone wants to PM me with the info, that would be greatly appreciated.

I would appreciate doing it that way, because then maybe i could ask you other questions, without cluttering the A650 thread.

Thank you very much.

Every TV has flaws, and every future TV will have flaws. You want the plasma motion of the Panasonic, you'll have to trade away the 650's color accuracy and proper 24Hz handling.

I think the LED-backlit 81F is a great way to go - kind of wish I'd gone with that one, but it was $400 more at the time (a month ago). Not an option in 52" though I guess.

As to your section A, you cannot go wrong with either a plasma or a LCD. Both are great in various environments, with plasmas being slightly better in a totally dark environment and LCD's being slightly better in a semi-lighted to bright environment.
As to your section C, there is always going to be something better. Why not enjoy life now rather than second guessing yourself every 6 months. I just purchased a LN52A650 from Amazon 2 weeks ago and am totally astounded at the beauty. I almost went with the Panasonic 50pz800u, but in the end the 8% bigger screen, brightness, and energy savings (I'm green) tilted me towards this LCD and I have no regrets.

Hi, although we watch blue-ray and HD channels, we still watch a lot of channels that are still SD. How does the 650/750 handle SD? I currently have 300lb 40" Sony Wega that I am looking to replace.

Thanks

I've heard some people complain about SD viewing and so I was pleasantly surprised when 1) Consumer Reports rated this month the Samsung LN52A650 excellent with SD and 2) when I got the TV last week and connected my Direc TV HD receiver to it and not only did the HD channels look stunning but the SD ones were great as well. I also "upconverted" from a 36" Sony Vega with deep blacks and honestly the HD picture and Blu Ray on the Samsung are better.

Monoprice sells Wii cables for a good price. I saw them last night. I wish that I had bought them but the cheap cables that I bought are pretty good.

Our scores on Mario Kart went up when we moved to the Sammy 46" from our old 32" lcd. MK is difficult when split into multiple screens because your vision is limited. On the bigger tv the game is much easier.

There's definite difference between the SD and HD sources, but there are differences between different SD channels as well.

To me, I think SD channels through my digital cable is watchable, but nothing to write home about.

I just visited an electronics retailer that had the LN52A650, LN52A850, Pioneer Kuro 5020 and the Panasonic 50PZ800 set up side by side with a good source. I almost fell over that a retailer would actually do this ! (I've had bad experiences lately... )

Anyway... the '650 rocks, especially for the price. I'll be getting one in the very near future.

Sorry to hear that you guys have that problem. I must be one of the fortunate ones, then, because, like I said, mine has just about gone away. Of course, I only noticed that it was gone about a week ago, so who knows what could happen. It could come back, or it could get worse. I'm hoping it stays the way it is now, which is nearly nonexistent.

Whatever occurs, I think we can all agree that Samsung needs to improve their quality control, and I say this as someone who has owned/owns two Samsung DLPS, and two Samsung LCD flat panels, including this LN52A650.

Doh! Thanks! I guess I didn't look in the bag that the manual came in.

Finally put up the TV yesterday. I was impressed with the pic (in movie mode - but will tweak when I get time), however the sound was flat.

What setting do you all recommend?

Does anybody know what the REAL difference is between the sammy pn63a650 and the pn63a760? Is the 63a760 worth the additional $800?
Thanks!

Are those plasma models?

I think you're in the wrong thread. Aren't those plasma models? This is an LCD thread.

I've had my 650 one week now and love it overall but have found audio somewhat lacking, especially since CR gave it an excellent audio rating

Adjusting the equalizer to the settings shown in post 984 seems to help a lot IMHO.

If you really want good audio, hook it up to a stereo receiver with at least 2 bookshelf full range speakers.
If you want really good sound, get a good AVR, and a 5.1 speaker setup.
I've never heard a TV speaker system that sounds good.

Oh, and CR only rates the audio compared to other TV's. Interstingly they rate the 650 audio better than the 750, which has a sub woofer.
I would not take much stock in CR's audio reviews, they rate Bose as "excellent"!!

I have a pretty decent 5.1 set up already, but only use it when we watch movies. Use the tv speakers for regular tv viewing. I had upgraded from an HD tube which sounded pretty decent.

Yep, plasma. Wrong thread. Ty.

I found a LN52A750 for the same price as a '650. Think I should go for it ?

Thanks for the quick response. When I press the Green MENU button on my remote, I don't get a menu choice called SETTINGS. I can't seem to find the MELODY choice anywhere. It's really frustrating!! Any other advice....anyone?

He didn't say Settings, he said Setup. It is exactly where Phousley said it is. If you still don't understand then look on page 60 of the manual.

RTFB

Well, I'll post this appropriately in the "official LNA650 Owner's Thread" - I'm officially returning my A630 to exchange for the A650. The blacks are just terrible...its to the point where I'm watching everything with the HDMI black level set to "low", the black adjust set to "high", and I've toned down the brightness and backlight to unreasonably dim levels (considering the main reason I prefer LCD over plasma is the brightness--this is making a statement!). Currently have brightness at 35, and backlight at 4, and as I said, all the options to add depth and enhance blacks, dialed up....just ain't workin out.

Without the black adjust features dialed up, all the blacks look grey (this coming from a lifetime LCD owner who's never even had a plasma!), OR you have to lose alot of brightness and "pop" to make them black. And even with the black enhancement features, all they really do is make dark colors all one shade of black. Sooooooooo, I'm hoping the clear glass panel technology in the 650 solves my problem....my tv is in a pretty bright room, so I thought the glare would be killer, but its not worth the PQ sacrifice. And some people say 10k in contrast ratio doesnt make a difference.....well, I'll weigh in after my exchange on Monday.

don't get me wrong....the 630 is freakin awesome! but I think their main reason in releasing the 630 was for ppl that didn't want the glare of the glass panel. But I have a feeling that making that change in front panels makes the 630 a totally different experience than the 650...I'm ashamed to admit, I actually went with the 630 b/c of a great price match, so the difference was almost $500 between 630-650....and I figured how different can they be? The answer is quite different.


FYI - I haven't had it calibrated--anyone think that would help before i return it?

No doubt it will help. Check out the calibration thread as several very reputable professional calibrater's go there often. If you can get "umr" he worked on my 650 and got the blacks very deep looking.

I bought the A650 last night at Sears for a really good price (IMO); The picture was just amazing hooked up to Blu-ray and I personally really like the red bezel look. I gave Sony, Panny and Pio and solid look but I am not a Plasma fan and the reflections would be too much in a family room with skylights.
This will be my third Sammy and I bought the others after spending hours reading opinions on this forum which is an amazing informational tool.
The only reservation I have is trying to find a stand that will effectively fit in a corner replacing a 36" CRT.
I did see the 750 and a couple of 800 and 900 series on display and they are very nice but as someone here recently said, there will always be something better and in this economy, this TV fits me fine.

Hi folks.

Sorry to bother you, but I just got this TV about a month ago and it is becoming clear to me that I should connect it to my iMac. I'm thinking about getting Netflix and ripping movies and streaming them to the TV. That's the primary application.

I need help in determining how to connect the iMac to the TV.

I talked to Apple and they tell me that I need a mini-DVI adapter. I can convert it to VGA and then send VGA all the way to the TV or I can connect to DVI and from there, to HDMI and run the HDMI all the way to the TV. The former proposal involves one adapter and the latter two adapters. This does not include audio, and I am confused about that as well.

1) video. What do you think I should do? Is it even an option to use HDMI and separately connect the audio and somehow get them to sync as an input? Or should I just go with VGA and use that input on the TV, along with the audio input it has next to it (on the rear)?

2) audio. I presume that I need to use the headphones jack as the sound output on the Mac, since there isn't any other audio out. Maybe there is a USB option that people have tinkered with. Any thoughts?

But then how do I connect the stereo cable from the Mac to the TV? The input on the rear of the TV next to the VGA input looks like a stereo cable input, but I cannot tell. Will somebody kindly explain to me what type of cable I need to use to connect stereo output of the Mac to the audio input next to the VGA port on the rear of the TV?

Finally, assuming some of you know about this stuff (and are kindly willing to help me-), where do you think I should go to buy the cables at the most reasonable place, cost-wise (maintaining quality, of course).

Apple sells the mini-DVI-to-DVI or mini-DVI-to-VGA adapters at reasonable prices for me because I get an educational discount, so maybe I should buy from them. But I will take your advice if you know of a better option.

I really want to go ahead with this project, but I need some expert help here. I hope somebody or some people here will chime in with their experience and knowledge and give me some pointers.

Thanks so much for your help!

Brad

HI, Yes I am going crazy in choosing between the Samsung 650, Pioneer 5020 or panny 800U.

I have heard in more than a few posts that the 650 gives some people headaches because of the 3d affect.

Any help in choosing would be helpful. And yes, since I am in a 650 forum, some responses will be biased.

Thanks

If you don't like the 3d or most people call it "soap opera' affect, then just turn off the AMP (or set it to low).