Samsung Series 9 Owners - Observations, Comments and Advice - Page 73

Hi. I think AVS frowns on price talk but I was watching prices like a hawk for more than a month between BB, Futureshop, Visions,and Soundsaround. BB didn't budge off list price on this set until Boxing Day. Then they dropped it by only 300.00. Futureshop didnt drop at all from the same list price as BB. Visions put this set on sale at approx. 500.00 off about 1 week before Christmas. I was tempted but waited and for Boxing Day they dropped it another 200. Soundsaround never advertised this set the whole time I was watching but upon going there in person on Boxing day I found they were about 200 more than Visions. BTW when I bought my set at Visions they only had two in stock at that particular store and they both had "A" as their ninth digit in serial number. Gotta run now--I'm moving tonight.

I had one of the original sets that came with the old hardware and firmware 1001.3 and when i had that tv exchanged for the updated version it came with the new board and new firmware 1002.5. The set that I got today had even a more updated firmware of 1003.0 !

I would have to disagree, which obviously emphasizes the fact that everyone has different taste.
I went to look at the a950 almost 100% sold on this TV, till I saw a 5020fd Kuro Plasma. It was the nicest picture I've seen. Both were connected to a bluray player. 950 showing Batman Begins and the Kuro showing some demo disc, but the 950 crushed blacks (In my opinion) and although one of the best LCD's, still didn't match the Kuro. Now, this is coming from someone who never even considered plasma, ever, but the kuro is that nice.
But I would take either TV to be honest.
And I ended up getting the Kuro for 2400 w free delivery, so it was a no brainer.
Now that I think of it though, maybe the store had a unit that was before the new board for implemented.

Did you by any chance update the firmware? It sounds like the problem some 750 owner's have had after installing the latest firmware from samsung web site. Or may be 950 you got was set up incorrectly at the factory...

The unit was like this straight out of the box.

My last post explains what I have learned about this problem so far:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=#post15407352

Why would you set the refresh rate so low?

Refresh rate for TV is 120Hz. The INPUT from player is 24 which evenly divides into 120. This allows the 950 to make four copies. This is perfect for displaying films (shot at this speed).

Three quick questions:

1) Several 750 owners have complained about their TV bevels giving a lighting "halo" effect in dark rooms. This "halo" effect can be seen here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attac...6&d=1230037963

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...4#post14871294

A few 850/860 owners saw this as well.

I know the 950 is new and in looking at the 950 bevel I cannot determine if the 950 bevel design would be susceptible to this "halo" effect as well.

Anyone with the 950 seen the "halo" effect?

2) I know the 950 should be used with external speakers but my wife will watch TV using the 950's internal speakers. The 750, 850 and 950 specs say the TV's have downfiring speakers with integrated woofer.

I have read that the 750 internal speakers are "OK" whereas the 850's are subpar (due to the thinness of the 850).

Any 950 owner care to comment on the 950 internal speaker quality?

3) Now that some 750 owners have had their TV's for a while there seems to be an issue with some peeling occuring at the intersection of the TV panel and the bevel. I have seen this on a BestBuy display model as well. Amazon discusses this in more detail here:

http://www.amazon.com/COLOR-SEPARATI...sin=B0014175OI

I am wondering if the 950 may be prone to this as well or is the panel/bevel design totally different?

Thanks, John

From the media player software I can understand but I was under the impression he was setting the screen properties to 24hz. Wouldn't that make everything else on the PC display worse?

The 950 does not have the Halo issues like the 750's. For one the bezel is black and flat from edge to edge. IIRC the 750's bezel is curved and may be the cause of the Halo issue.

Like many others have stated in this thread.......the bezel disappears when watching in a dark room because the black levels are so dark. Not even the black bars are distinguishable from the bezel.

>> I went to look at the a950 almost 100% sold on this TV, till I saw a 5020fd Kuro Plasma. It was the nicest picture I've seen. Both were connected to a bluray player. 950 showing Batman Begins and the Kuro showing some demo disc, but the 950 crushed blacks (In my opinion) and although one of the best LCD's, still didn't match the Kuro. Now, this is coming from someone who never even considered plasma, ever, but the kuro is that nice. <<

As much as I'd like to believe that an in-store side-by-side comparison is a meaningful evaluative method, it's not. For a comparison to have validity it's absolutely essential that both sets are properly set-up (and ideally calibrated). The sets in the stores are often completely out of whack in terms of their adjustments.

In this case both sets have received very high marks from professional reviewers who have carefully evaluated them after making calibration adjustments, and while viewing identical source materials in the proper environment. Therefore you'll be OK choosing either set, but I certainly wouldn't rely on the in-store comparison to come up with any 'which is better' judgments.

I am ready to order a 46" 950, but Amazon has not had one for about week and a half. Amazon.com lists it but says ships from Vanns. Any advice on ordering from Vanns?

Follow up to my 950 Best Buy story. Purchased one 2 weeks ago with the stipulation that it would be a Oct-Dec build and no dead pixels. The manager guaranteed it was a December build.

Turns out it was a Sept build with the old firmware and board. Notice the black "blobs" and demanded a replacement. The replacement showed today with a December build (Mexico). The black blobbing is gone, no dead pixels and the PQ is at least as good as the original. No spotlighting or blooming either.

I'm blown away by the picture. Less video noise than the Samsung plasma and Pioneers I have owned. Blacks and detail are terrific. For those that claim all LCDs are in torch mode, it's easy to set everything up in Movie mode and lower the backlighting and get all the detail and great blacks you want. I could have bought another Elite but wouldn't trade the 950 for a Kuro.

Amazon has never sold the A950 sets itself. Only the 3rd party vendors. I've been waiting for this to change, myself.

Just got my Samsung 55 A950 today.

As soon as I connected it with my HTPC, I found there is white clouding at right side of the screen. (See the attached pic)


What is this problem called ??

Should I exchange a new set ??

^^ I still can't believe a $5K MSRP TV is allowed to be sold to a consumer with such problems. LCD backlight uniformity needs to be addressed. sigh.

Now, Whenever I watch movie, I always see that Bright Clouding there on my 55A950....

That should not be there. Return that puppy for another until you get a good one.

First it’s great to see AVS finally clean up the non-LCD postings here as they state in the rules:
"This area is ONLY for the chat on LCD Flat Panel displays. It is to be used to chat about the display type and not to use to attack it as compared to other displays. LCD CHAT ONLY."
Members are able to express their observations in a relaxed, sane atmosphere. Now we are able to read that LED based LCD displays scale just fine in both dark rooms to bright rooms. It’s their awesome dynamic range or 1MEG contrast ratio. Your posts have great credibility as you are able to simultaneously compare the two display types in the home environment and without bias. Unsurprisingly, the results are the same as at the store
Samsung's leadership is first rate, as they will be introducing a new line of groundbreaking LED LCD displays at the CES. Great news! 52" LCd's are gone and replaced by 55" displays. Great news again. Other improvements such as 240Hz processing should make for even higher fidelity motion processing with less artifacts.
As most of you remember, I refused a 950 at delivery as it too was from the initial "early production run". This substandard batch is still being sold as of late December. The 950 will, without a doubt be deeply discounted once the 2009 LED line is out.
Logically then, its best to wait for the new series which will be marketed to the average Amazon/Best Buy consumer. I expect to pay ~$3K for the top-of-the-line 240Hz 55" Samsung LED this March or April.

However I will keep an open mind and seriously consider the new high performance Panasonic NeoPDP's too. It's going to be an exciting Spring here at AVS. Can you buy one of these too?

In all fairness, that is a legitimate question. I'm entertaining the idea of getting a 46" 950 for the bedroom and I'm not planning on cluttering up the room with extra speakers. Just a nice clean wall mounted 950. However, the bad mambo jambo (Elite 141) is nicely set up (receiver, speakers and all) in the living room. But given how close we are to CES 2009, I think I'm going to wait and see what Panasonic (NeoPDP) and Samsung are going to offer in the not so distant future.

I ordered the LN46A950 from Vanns December 2 and it had the number "9" in the ninth digit of the serial number (indicating possible older model with faulty circuit board). I refused shipment and Vanns credited my charge card minus $50 for return shipping. Service rep at Vanns was polite and understanding. Prior to ordering the TV, I requested a newer model but was told there was no way to guarantee this. Salesman said that all these TV's were received recently, so they should be newer builds.

About a week later I ordered the same TV from Crutchfield and got the same results. Crutchfield credited my charge card and did not bill me for return shipping. After that I checked two local Best Buy stores and they both had the TV with the older serial number.

I'm going to wait now until the price drops and I can find someplace that guarantees a newer model.

a "9" in the serial number can be fine, it is the firmware that is the key. If it has firmware 1002.5 or greater you are fine.

Get it from Cleveland Plasma. Chris has the newer models.

I ordered my 46" in Dec. 19 from Vann and received it on Dec. 29. The model was built in November, firmware = 1002.5
The tv arrived in good condition. Some minor damage to the outside box and the foam inside, but you do you expect when the Fedex delivered the tv that stop 6 different designations before it arrive at my place. Anyway, there's no scatch to the tv what so ever.

I have visited three different Best Buy in my area and all of the 950 model were built in August. They were showing "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" and I noticed the tv had some black crushes. To find out for myself if this new version I had didn't have any black crushes, I watched the same movies(Iron Man, Dark Knight), there was no black crushes and the shadow details are clearly visible. I took my 2 years old xbr3 next to my this new tv and compared the picture. Watching MPEG 4, 1080i signal from Dish Network, the old xbr is not as bright and the color is not accurate as the 950. No matter how much I tweak the xbr, it can never get the same picture.

Of course, just like all other tv, this one is not perfect either...it had halo effect at the top of the tv. From what I experienced, it happened to a very few channels and only in standard local channel with 480i signal but not HD. I'm not too concern about it because I mainly watch 720p and 1080i.

I also had a rough time removing of the tv stand. You have to completely remove the 4 scews from the back, but you can't get your hands on the screws because it's position deep inside the back cover. I had to flip the tv on it's back and shake it vigorously until the all the screws fall out(thank god there's gravity!). Never had this kind of problem before with any other LCDs. However, this tv is light consider for being a 46", and mounted on the wall was easier than my old xbr.

I was not sure if I had ever seen amazon listing it as 'sold by amazon' but I thought it was saying that before xmas. I must be mistaken. I was just looking at the price at the time and trying to decide if I want a Kuro or a 950. I decided 950 but kind of nervous ordering right now with all the talk about early versions still being shipped.

Thanks for the info Keybored. I think some folks were talking about calling the seller and asking what models are being shipped. May be I'll call Vanns on Monday and ask if they can guarantee it will be the latest model they are shipping. If I call what should I ask, firmware version/serial number or both?

So the firmware can fix the 'blooming' problem without change to the hardware? I mean what if you load 1002.5 on a set that has an older firmware (assuming 1002.5 is available).

Here is all you need to ask: do you have a set with the 9th digit either A (Oct), B (Nov) or C (Dec). Then you are good.

If it's an 8 (Aug) or 9 (Sept) you will have the pre-fix model and old firmware.

Vanns, Onecall, and Crutchfield would not give me serial numbers when I asked last month. All sales reps said they were unable to do so. I realize that a 9 may be fine, but why chance it? It's easier to return an unopened box. I will try Cleveland Plasma, but am hesitant about their restocking fee. With my luck, I'll get another 9, or maybe a -9, or a 9 squared. Sigh...