Official Samsung LNxxA850 Owner's Thread - Page 2

I played with the 650 in the store and could get it to produce artifacts by putting the amp on medium or high. The same holds true for this set. I barely have been able to adjust to it on low and will probably turn it off completely.

And the point is? If you tell me the TV is either a Samsung or a Sony, I'm going to laugh. However, the picture is really out of focus and nothing playing a Blu Ray looks like that.

Here's a copy of my post to your post back in the calibration thread! LOL!

No worries. I don't think you're being critical at all. Believe me, I had a lot of questions especially with regards to Sammy vs Sony. Hopefully I can answer all your questions. I'm on the road right now typing on my iPhone! I was originally planning to buy an XBR4 but found out that they are OOP. I own a 40XBR2. When I discovered the XBR4s were no longer being made, I had to start planning on a different TV.

Ok, that being said, I can assure you that the picture on my 850 is far better than my XBR. the XBR is good - very good - the 850 is noticeably better. The color, black levels, details, etc. are all better. My wife concurs and she could really care less about this stuff.

With regards to the pics I posted, yes they aren't sharp as they could be. I'd blame two things for that. One, I realized that I have 120hz motion set to low. It should be off. That leads into part two for why it probably doesn't look so crisp - I picked a scene in the movie where there is a lot of action and movement. I'll take more pictures of people that aren't running for their lives! LOL! That being said, the frozen pictures weren't razor sharp on the tv when I paused the BR, but when the movie was playing, the image is unbelievably sharp, detailed and defined.

I spent a long time at CC and BB playing with settings and comparing the 650 and a 750 to the Sonys. The Samsungs always won IMHO and, remember, I started out with every intention of buying a Sony.

Here are some (hopefully) better pictures. I can't begin to express how clear, sharp and crisp this picture is when you're standing in front of it. The camera and the cameraman don't even begin to do this justice. The amount of details you can see live are simply amazing. Blows away my XBR2 without a doubt. Any kind of lines in the photos appear only on the photos and aren't remotely visible! I can't stress that enough!

Don't worry about it. I love geeking out about this kind of stuff! LOL! I was just going to check and see if that light could be turned off. I don't know for sure yet, so I'll have to get back and post in just a bit. I actually haven't had time to really enjoy the set yet! I watched a little Transformers last night and then had a list of errands to run today. Just got back and now I'm about to fire up the grill.

Anyhow, during my prep work for the grill, I was able to finally get through to tech/customer support at Samsung regarding the question of the integrated woofer on this TV. I talked to a young woman who had to put me on hold in order to go research the question. Due to the TV being very new on the market, she didn't have a book with that info handy. She came back and told me the TV has SRS Surround (duh!) but no integrated woofer. She further went on to tell me that none of the Samsungs have an integrated woofer. That's when I lost confidence in her answer. Granted, I didn't want to hear that the TV has no integrated woofer, but when she said none of them do, I began to believe that she was just basically a kid in a cubicle reading info off a website or out of a book. I informed her that both the series 7 and series 9 have the integrated woofer and that I found that information on the Samsung website! She looked up the series 9 and confirmed it and postulated that maybe that was the reason why it cost so much more! Silly wabbit! Yeah. . . that's the ticket! Probably has nothing to do with that LED thingymabobber! So take that news with a grain of salt. However, in looking in my product manual (it's as thick as a Bible), I haven't seen mention of it yet. So, I'm going to stick with my guess that it probably doesn't have the integrated woofer.

The 850 comes with a 12 month (not 18 month) warranty. Also, I have confirmed that you can turn off the ToC red light in the front of the TV. Honestly, I haven't noticed it at all when watching TV. Another feature that can be toggled off is the power on/power off music. The TV makes a little chime sound when you turn it on and off. It's actually kinda neat. I don't really mind it, but it's nice to have the option to turn it off. That's one thing I'm really growing to love about the 850 - the level of adjustments that can be made!

No, I haven't purchased the HT equipment to compliment the TV. . . yet! With regards to the sound, I have no problems with this TV at all. It sounds rather thin and maybe even somewhat tinny if it is toggled on standard/regular or whatever they call it. However, when you engage the Surround mode, it really makes a huge difference. The sound, given that I believe it is only coming from two 10W speakers, is surprisingly good. This TV is in a fairly large living room and it has no trouble filling the room with sound. Good amount of range, too. Of course, nothing will ever compare to a great surround system, but this TV will do very well without it, too.

One thing I did enjoy last night was not having to grab for the remote to regulate the sound level during my movie. The steady sound feature or whatever it is called actually works on this unit. That made my wife and I quite happy last night because we usually have to be vigilant about that when we watch TV at night, lest we wake up our son.

Well, I really wish I wouldn't have looked, but I just found one stuck white pixel. It's not even noticeable while watching regular content. I only saw it when I got extremely close to the TV with a totally black screen paused on a DVD. So. . . the moral of this story is be careful what you are looking for. . . you just might find it!

I don't think I'll bother to try to exchange it because it is completely unnoticeable from any viewing distance. Unless, of course, I choose to stand right in front of the TV. Like I'd said before, all LCD panels have some sort of issue. Part of the fun of LCD ownership. . . stuck pixels! My 40XBR2 had a stuck red pixel, but after swapping out five others and finally getting one that was for all intents and purposes free of clouds, I decided to overlook it. It, too, wasn't noticeable unless I was sitting a few feet in front of the TV.

What were you doing when you took that picture!!!!

To be honest, I don't know. It may have been because I was messing around with the settings. Yep. Just took a quick look. I wanted to try some in-focus pics at a default setting and then try a calibrated setting. I'll take some comparison pics using a calibrated setting later.

Ok, so now I'm compelled to take a picture of a Blu Ray to see if I can find one you don't have!

I checked on low and medium for artifacts and it only seems to be noticeable on high. There are not any artifacts on low. It just seems like the camera is on a rail - but only just slightly. I can get used to it, though. I just don't think it's necessary because I've not noticed any blur without it on.

Ok, and now I've found one blue stuck pixel. So that's two on this tv. Again, neither one is noticeable at all when watching the TV. The PS3 black screen can be your enemy! Beware!

Any ideas if these can actually be "unstuck" or is this more of a permanent thing? I've heard about gently rubbing the screen, but that never worked on my XBR's stuck pixel.

Would you guys return it for two pixels? After the XBR ordeal, I don't want to get into that game again. Another consideration for me is the extreme goof the store did with regards to giving me the 850 when I ordered and paid for a 650. If I return it, I'll not be bringing back and 850, but rather the 650. I don't know if I could go "back" to that, as it were. I really like the thin dimensions on this set and the ToC bezel is awesome.

Maybe I can save up the extra money towards the end of the month, return it, give the store the chance to make their corrections, if they want to and either swap it for another 850 free (depending on how the store treats this issue) or pony up the difference and get another new 850 anyways.

After watching more of the Transformers Blu Ray, I am floored by the picture. Even after telling my somewhat OCD wife about the pixel, she said A) don't tell me about those things B) I don't care because this picture is ridiculous!