Samsung Series 9 Owners - Observations, Comments and Advice - Page 7

It sure looks like it. Although, it may just be an error.

They were both listed at MSRP yesterday.

My 55a950 was delivered yesterday and so far it's been great. The only bad thing about it is there's some flashlighting/clouding in the upper left corner. Even with smart LED on I can still see it a bit when watching letterboxed movies for instance. Honestly it's a bit disappointing.

WOW! I'm glad you told me, I was about to drive 30 minutes to the nearest Magnolia (I think it is stupid that other BBs can't order Magnolia products, but that is for a whole different thread)! That is really disappointing because I have the 12% off coupon and they are offering the 36 months financing this week... Wow way to lose a customer BB! Maybe I'll get it from a forum sponsor or just wait even longer... ugh. At least maybe I'll be able to see the new Sharp LED sets before I purchase...

This is a bit disappointing. I assumed, wrongly, that the LED BL would essentially cure flashlights and clouds and other backlight bleeding issues.

I agree and have more pictures of it, took them last night.
I will try and post a bit later.

Blacks are crazy black.

Off angle is probably like other LCDs, blacks get a bit grey, colors get washed out, but in a narrow room, it isn't impacting anyone sitting on couches. Just if you sat on the floor...

I having a problem with the TV setting my Comcast DVR to default settings everytime it turns on. This is VERY Strange and might be a combination of the Denon 3808 and the TV (both are new). Only reason I didn't think it was Denon was because I can turn the Denon on and off and cable box would stay at 'strech' for 4:3 override. But if I turn off and on the TV, BAM! back to 'none' for 4:3 override, even changing from 1080i to 720p gets reset.

This is going to be a pain in the...

Anyone else have A950 with comcast DVR they could test?
I will route the cable directly to the TV as a final test...

Oh, I found the pics...here:

Off angle viewing to show what happens to blacks:
image 2420
***edit: That IS straight on, no idea what that is picture of. I'll try again. LOL***


Straight on look:
image 2421
***edit: notice upper right corner, that happens with 'Play' icon in lower left a lot as well. Is that blooming?***

Test on black:
image 2435

Now the good news.

Check out the blacks. Can you see the black bars?

I love the purple with the exhaust...



Don't forget...the camera is still not doing justice.
This might be the reason I keep it!

Hopefully, others won't confuse it with the "purple haze"!

whoa, whats with the first two pics? did you disable LED smartlighting? cuz it sure looks like the LEDs weren't shut off making it look the same as a static CCFL BL.

More of the good stuff.
This is the 'Wow' factor I was looking for...
Oh, pics are using 'cinema' e.mode with a Canon Point and Shoot 8MP on a tripod in a dark room last night.

I am not sure how to get camera detail better, but imagine this with the purest of detail...that is what it looks like in real life.

I think so, but I might have turned it back on 'Smart LED' I think is what it is called because it made things much better overall.

Oh...wait I have some e.mode comparison shots... I have to find them before my wife figures out where I'm hiding in the basement to post these

Please let me know if you can tell the difference. It was very clear in person, but after picture and then downsizing...not sure what will come of it. I gotta go...she is on to me...

'I'm just taking the trash out Honey!!!!'
LOL

I found the smart LED comparison and the requested Cars blimp and fireworks I took.
Image 2441 and 2442 for Smart LED Demo. I think on is better, yes/no/maybe or I'm just trying to find a reason to love the tv?


Well, at this point she is mad...so I should just post them and deal with it.

Here ya go!

Again, this was all done last night with LN44A950 on the wall. Dark room. Canon 8MP P&S on tripod. It was tilted but was because it was late, I was tired and couldn't find proper tripod/camera mount, so I used what I had on hand... I haven't moved up to Canon XTi yet, but I need to focus on my cable box issue...unless someone can fix that fore me???

WOW! That first picture is awesome!!! I just ordered mine, getting here Sept 25 (living on the east coast sucks some times) Thanks for posting all these great pictures and your impressions, it really helps in making a decision.

More on comparison of e.modes.

First one is with Slumpey's recommended settings (not sure which thread).

I thought Slumpey's and cinema e.mode were very very close...

Second page of manual warns of burn in, is this true of LCD???
I am now worried about 4:3 content not stretched and PC, etc....
Is this standard disclaimer? I'm a plasma owner (many many) and this is first big LCD (have a 26" TV and monitors as well) and I thought that was the point...not to worry about it...

Anyway, enjoy the pics...hope they look OK!

FYI, I just called one of the local Magnolias and they will as of right now still sell for MSRP and honor the coupon, might not last very long though...

Thanks! This is a good start. Now if you can only set it to 1920x1080. I would also like to see how the gray/blue/fuscia color scheme on AVS looks up close.

Nice pictures djap. Yes I agree the pics do not do the TV justice. I think I should be taking pics at a higher resolution then dumb them down to post. That might help. The picture below I just snapped to send to a co-worker. The source is SD Direct TV over S-video to my up scaling AVR to the TV by HDMI. Certainly not an HD signal but from 14 feet away looks pretty good.

- Flashlighting... I don't see any signs of flashlighting. On the cal disc there is a full screen 100% black signal and it is as if the TV were turned off. You may have the back light set high. I noticed when I first played the BD source it switched into Cinema mode and set the backlight ot 10. That is way too high. I have mine set at 7.
- My setting are: Standard Mode, backlight 7, Contrast 70, Brightness 46, Color 47, black adjust off, dyn contrast off, color space native, edge enhan on, color tone normal, digital NR low, smart LED on, AMP (see below). These setting are not the result of some fancy ISF calibration since that kind of adjustment is beyond my ability. I just used the cal disc to make some minor adjustments.
- AMP. I noticed that when I watch my DirectTV SD if I set AMP on High is sharpens up the picture noticeably and I don't get the soap opera effect much at all. This was surprising but nice. AMP is set on high in the pic below. On some sources AMP on high will give you the soap opera effect. Sometimes it is creepy, sometimes not. It is very source dependent. I wish they had a shortcut on the remote to set AMP. Generally Low or Med is best, but I'm really liking High on the SD Tivo.
- Calibration disc... for BD or HD DVD players is here...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496 download the appropriate version and burn it to a DVD. I used the AVCHD version and it played well on my Sony S350, but some players do not support this format. You can also by the blue THX glasses here http://www.thx.com/home/dvd/blueGlasses.html which are used to set the color levels. That is how I got to "47" on the color setting.
- Glare. I really was worried that glare would be a problem. I spent a lot of time looking at the 6/750 and 630 screens. It could be the lighting at BB exaggerates the glare on the 6/750 because I don't see the 950 screen as glossy as those. I thought the 6/7/950 all had the same screen treatment so maybe it is the difference in what I'm seeing at home vice what I see at BB with their insane lighting. Don't get me wrong, it is a glossy screen, but it doesn't seem as deeply glossy as the 6/750. Once the TV is on you can't really see any reflections on a normal picture. On a screen with credits and lots of pure blacks, if you go looking for reflections you can find them, but if you are looking at the image you will not notice them. I'm really sensitive to glare since in worse case situations it can cause headaches. But now that the set is in the house I'm not worried about it anymore. I do have the ability to control the light coming from the windows behind me so obviously that helps, but it is fairly bright in the room right not and it is not a problem.
- Off-Axis Viewing. There is some drop off in blacks on off axis viewing. I think this is due to blooming I see on very dark images (like the contrast pattern) off-axis. When viewing a picture it shows up as a reduction in the black levels. It is not a problem for our viewing position. For me it is hardly noticeable unless I am so far off axis that I wouldn't normally watch at that angle anyway. But your situation and opinion will vary so if you are concerned about this check it out in a store. I might take some pics at off axis angles and post them later.

Overall I think this set rocks. The blacks are awesome and deeper than any other set I can remember seeing in the last few years. It has enough bells and whistles that it is fairly future proof for the next 4-5 years at least. I'm sure eventually it will be so outdated I will want to upgrade, but my last set lasted me 13 years. The pace of TV advancement is so rapid today I doubt this set will last me that long. But I'm sure I can get many enjoyable years out of it. This one is a keeper.

That is the problem, I can't set the on-board graphics card to that resolution. Best I can do is 1280 x 800 and for some reason the set didn't like that. I didn't fool around with it much, I just went with the next lower setting and use it before my crappy battery died. You'll have to find someone with an HTPC and a much better graphics card to get that setting. Or.. you can send me one and I'll do it for you

Anyone try any gaming with the 950?

Awesome pics, djap2! Thanks!

Next time try drafting long posts in Word and then pasting over - avoids this problem.

I am not familiar with the "Pirates" Bluray, but it looks on first glance as if there is a lot of black detail being crushed here in the shdowy areas - anyone familiar with this movie care to comment?

Great question, I would think the issue might be more in the pics being the source of the problem. The detail in hair on Pirates is insane. But I don't see it in the pics...

SpeedRacerII: Great posts! Thanks. I will try your settings and see what becomes of it.
Also, nice placement of the TV (and cabinet)...looks great.

Does Buzz Jr. count?

My sons plays Burnout Paradise, but I think you might be talking about First Person Shooting games?

Any A950 owners have menu lag?
I can't figure out what makes it happen, but it is the same as a computer having 98% cpu utilization.
Select Menu on remote and then try to navigate....sometimes it is responsive, other times...can't get through two or three buttons. Tools does the same thing.

Now that is frustrating and I can't imagine it is anything but the TV...

I set my brightness back to 50. Even though this is higher than the cal disc suggests, it is more pleasing to my eye.

I had the builder expand that little niche as much as possible as the house was being built 5 years ago. They had it much smaller and with shelves. I knew someday I was going to put an HDTV in there and wanted every inch I could get. Well it paid off. I'm limited in the size of the TV I can fit in there but 55" is more than enough for me.... for now I guess anyway! I still have to move my eyes to see all the screen. The cabinet is a Bush stand I got from Racks and Stands and I modified it with some cooling fans and extra feet to hold a heavy set. It was as wide as I could go and still fit. Turns out this TV is fairly light and that was not needed.

You make me feel sane!

I bought an XL Wall mount rated at 250lbs. - for tv that weighs 80lbs. LOL

I haven't bothered cleaning up all wires...because I have same issue : I can fit a 58" with 1" on each side to spare. But I do like the blacks of this one.
I was going to try settings, but I have to figure out what is causing menu lag. Sometimes it is immediate response....other times I can't wait long enough after I push a button.

does anyone have pics of any ps3 or 360 games on this tv?

thanks.

yeah i'd love to see burnout paradise on the 950.