Official Samsung LNXXB630 Owners Thread - Page 3

Will be interesting to see what you come up with on your calibration settings. I have changed mine a bit and will post up soon since I find myself tweaking a little everyday.

That would be great if you could post them. It shipped this morning ... so expect it nlt end of next week. I have a great room with a west wall of light coming in. The matt screen was a must. I have a LN52a650 at work and had a year experience to know enough that the ucp would never work in my house. Look forward to your calibrations.

Still awaiting Samsung LN52B630, but just wondering if those with Cable (COMCAST) can use their Samsung remote or they use Comcast's remote for the cable?

OK guys and gals, if you now have a B630, how about some pics. Would like to see pics of the ToC Red including the tongue (going to be the toughest part of the sell to my wife). Would also like to see some pics that show picture change with viewing angle. Start with a screen shot (lots of color and detail is best; no graphics or cartoons) head on and move to a side in about 15 degree increments. If there isn't any change up to 45 degrees, that makes the B630 average to above average for LCDs. Forget those factory viewing angle specs, they mean nothing in the real world. Last year's A650 was average and the A950 was way below average on viewing angle. The B750 I saw yesterday is above average on viewing angle.

Anybody get a chance to compare the PQ of B630 to an A630 or A650? Would love to read some comments on this comparison. The A650 had one of the best PQs of last year's crop of LCD HDTVs, but the reflectivity of the screen made it a no go for me. This year's B750 is the best PQ I've ever seen, but the reflectivity of screen is as bad as last year's A650 (checked out the B650 and B750 yesterday at UE) making it a no go again for me. The B650 is as reflective as the rest and the PQ isn't as good as the A650, blacks are blueish grey from an angle.

So now I'm looking at the matte screen offerings. The Sonys are out because they are way over-priced for what you are getting. Saw a 52Z5100 yesterday at UE next to a B650 and the Sony's PQ was dull with colors washed out, but blacks were better than the B650. Even got the sales rep to agree the $3K Sony's PQ looked like crap next to the $2K Samsung B650. Haven't been able to see any B630s anywhere and the UE sales rep said he didn't even think UE was going to carry them this year.

It broke my heart to come to the conclusion, after a lot of testing in my family room, that the beautiful (looks and PQ) B750 just won't work in my house and my wife isn't going to allow me to get heavy, no light, drapes installed on all the windows, just so I can watch my HDTV. So I'm hoping the B630 may be a reasonably priced alternative. What say you?

Also, regarding PIP, one of you owners please carefully read the manual and see if the PIP inputs can be the on-board ATSC tuner and say the HDMI input from a DBS HDTV receiver. PIP last year was a joke and will be totally non-functional in June of this year.

Hi B630 owners, a friend owns an A650 and it is quite impressive. However, my viewing room has a wall of windows plus a skylight, which bounces reflections of my white appliances onto the screen of my old CRT. Therefore a matte screen is a must. Was disappointed with last year's A630 model, however I have seen a B630 at a local store and it appears noticeably better than last year's model. Samsung also makes a B610 (Costco, Sam's Club) with gray TOC and minus the chin. Am wondering if anyone has compared the picture quality between the B630 and B610. I'm not interested in widget or other internet like features. Just want a great picture on a matte screen. Thanks.

Just curious what about the A630 you were disappointed in.

tk, I never viewed an A630 in a home environment, but in stores to my eyes the picture appeared washed out compared to other matte sets. Whites seemed more like light beige in comparison to the other sets, and text both moving and fixed appeared blurry and washed out. Admittedly I never played with the settings. Plus I'd prefer four rather than three hdmi ports.

Ok, thanks for the info. Still trying to decide between the A and B 52630.

CEB, it sounds like you have a discerning eye. For me, one of the top factors in deciding between the A and B 52630 is viewing angle. If you (or anyone), gets a chance to compare them, I'd really appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks!

As best I remember, the A630 was just a matte screen version of the A650, which means it has an average for LCDs viewing angle. I'm interested in hearing/seeing from B630 owners what the viewing angle on that unit is. Also interested to hear more about the B610. I didn't realize that Samsung was making two matte screen 600 Series TVs this year.

Forget the B610. I did some research and it really isn't anywhere near the B630 in hardware. While you avoid the red tongue, you get a far inferior TV for not that much less money. So the B 630 is apparently the top end Samsung with a matte screen. Too bad. I'd really be interested in a B730 that copied everything from the top rated B750 except the Ultra Clear screen and gave us a matte screen to us in rooms with natural light.

I agree completely. I had come to the same conclusion and scratched the 610 off my list.

I'm still following the price fluctuations on the 52A630; today it's up to 1809 on Amazon. If it ever gets down to 1500 (like Fry's sold them out at), that will be a big enough price difference for me to decide on the A.

Meanwhile, I still find it strange that Samsung does not have the 52B630 listed yet, and so few places have it in stock. Wondering if there are some issues to work out or just slow production or . . . ?

Delivered about two hours ago. I'm still in the calibration mode while I'm watching the NBA playoffs. Connected via HDMI 2 (not 1 cuz it says DVI) via Comcast HD box. So far so good. My calibration settings are close to those previously quoted here. Off angle looks great, but this is my first HDTV so I don't have much to compare it to. I'm sure I'll be tweaking like all the new owners. With ABT prices I idn't even consider the B610. And, the 650 was out of the question cuz of glare. With an e-manual, a lot of this is "learn as you go" ... but it's fun. Everyone is right about the speakers ... not great, but fortunately I have a surround system. Any updates on calibration would be great. Oh, not that a lot of people use this ... but I figured out the only way to get CC is thru my cable box ... a hassle, but do-able.

When I called Samsung tech support for Optical Cable question, the tech said he had all the manuals, etc. to answer any of my questions on the B630. Maybe they want to sell out of the A630 before advertising the B630 series. Don't know, but Samsung tech says no issues so far and I have no issues other than "operator error" for the menu items.

@Jake40:

Good to see you got your TV...I don't see how anyone could wait that long for a tv that cost so much. I would be wondering if it was lost or more worried that it would be DOA or damaged. I guess you have more patience than me. I need it right away...

Anyways, how are you coming along with the settings? I don't know what I did, but I had some of the previous settings on the last page not even set. I think what happened was I had found two settings and had mixed them...it looked awful. The faces were washed out. So I set them to what I had posted before (with a few little tweaks) and it looks much better now. Here they are (These are for my cable TV as well as my DVD player):


Hope those help...Again, I found those on the A630 thread. They may not be correct for our B630 models. But they look good to me. I still think reds are blown out and over-saturated. Also, why don't they put a setting for custom color temperature range between approximately 4,000K and 8,000K like the digital SLR cameras? It would be so much easier to set the proper color temperature. Like on my D-SLR, it is mostly set to 6500K. I just think the current settings are too limiting IMHO.

Can you check something for me? If you have an ethernet cable hooked up for the RSS/weather feed stuff. Can you check zip codes 33634 and 33558 to see if they work for you? It worked the first day I got the tv for me and hasn't since. In fact, none of the zip codes around a 50 mile radius work. I have emailed USA Today and they are looking in to the issue. Thanks!

Hey guys I got a 46B630 from Vanns last week and wanted to share my impressions so far.

The contrast and PQ is at least as good if not better than the A650. Obviously the specs say so too but in viewing the matte screen still gets inky blacks and rich colors. My living room has a lot of light and windows so the matte was a must for me and it was well worth the wait. With the screen off I can see a very blurry reflection of the windows but once it is on, you dont notice reflections so much thankfully.

As far as off angle viewing, I'm extremely impressed. I can be off the limit of what I would want to watch the tv - maybe 60 degrees off - and I still dont notice a huge washout of contrast. Sure it isnt quite as inky black as straight on but even from 60 degrees off the contrast looks better than an LCD tv from 2 years ago dead on. Basically, if you're off to the side, you're not going to even realize that the color looks slightly washed out unless you move around the room intentionally trying to see if there is a difference.

Thankfully, standard def looks pretty decent to me with regular cable and of course Blu Ray looks awesome as usual.

If you have a room with reflections and dont want to stare outside while you're trying to watch TV, this set is great.

A local store (American) just got the 52B630 in yesterday, so I was finally able to look at one. I currently have a 4661 (about 2 years old, matte screen, only 10 or 20k CR, but unless I'm comparing it, I still like the pic).

Impressions:

1. The matte/anti-glare on the 4661 is much better than the new 630. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best (can't see any trace of light on the screen), the 4661 is about an 8. Yes, I can still see some "blobs" of light on the screen (several large windows) when it's turned off, but very vague; don't see any reflections in any kind of scene when TV is on. The 52B630 is about a 4. I can see much more reflection, but in comparison to the ultra-clear screens on either side of it in the store, it is definitely better. I think I'll be able to live with it (and if I decide the glare will require blackout curtains on the windows, then I'm going up to the 55" LED model; WOW, what a picture, 3 or 5 MILLION CR, and very thin too).

2. Color and CR: I can't believe anyone would be disappointed. Very nice. Much better than my 4661. I suppose if you put it next to one of the new LED models, and you can't live without the absolute top of the line, and money is no object . . . .

3. Viewing angle: I hit the still button on my 4661 and took a good look at blacks, whites, and colors, from R to L, and top to bottom, before I went to the store. The picture on mine is fine way off axis, but at 20-30 degrees, blacks and colors lose a lot, washing out. The store was closing and the guy couldn't figure out how to take a still pic (is there one on the B630?), so it was difficult to tell, but it sure looked a lot better off axis than my 4661.

Unless the bottom falls out of the price on the A630 in the next couple of weeks, I'm leaning more and more toward the B. I still think it's strange Sammy has not listed it on their site . . . .

Thanks for this, i was curious what they are like in person. [IMG]http://www.entertainment-place.info/smile/img/2464/*************************[/IMG]

I'll look at your settings. I'm going back & forth. First Standard looks good with your settings, then I choose Dynamic for the "Pop" in the picture which looks good as well. I could see why this is subjective. I'll try your new
settings to check them out as well.

Put in both zips & they both work: Got both - Tampa & Lutz (where ever that is). Samsung has a tech line you can also call with questions on this HDTV.

For effective viewing angle evaluation, stand about 6 to 8 feet directly in front of the set with bright, colorful video (no cartoons) on the screen. Then move to one side or the other in slow sideways steps maintaining the same radius from the set. The angle at which you first notice a color shift (loses some of the color saturation) and/or even a slight reduction in contrast is the limit of the effective viewing angle. Beyond that, viewers aren't seeing the same PQ as someone sitting directly in front of the TV. About 45 degrees is Good to Very Good performance on viewing angle

Try the test I described above and post your results. Since I haven't seen one of the B630s in a store yet, I can't make my own viewing angle measurements yet.

I am staying away from Dynamic, it just adds in too much contrast and you can't turn off the dynamic settings since they are grayed out.

I wonder what is wrong with the infolink on my tv then. Those two zips don't work and none of them do for 50 miles around me. Hmmm, I may just have to call Samsung.

I just got an absolutely INCREDIBLE deal on this TV. I'm finally in for one!!!!

I have been watching TV's for two years and ended up with a ln52a750 last year for my father... I was going to get another but I ended up getting the LN52B630 (matte screen YAY!!!) for myself.

I cant wait to see how this baby is, 1-2 weeks till it arrives.

Anyone able to enlighten us on how the PIP works? Can I PIP two HDMI ports?

Yep ... My son & I both think that Dynamic kicks butt ... but that may change the more we watch. I saw your setting on "judder" and "blur" are both on "7". When I did that, I saw some motion issues with people walking, like the set was trying to process the picture like it was a sporting event. When I turned both the Judder & Blur down to "4" it disappeared. Don't know if others have this same issue when NOT watching a sporting event.

I'm waiting to get the LN46B630.
The B630/B640/B650 manual can be found here

i have the ln52b610, and while i have no performance complaints, the question of value is beginning to bother me. i restricted my range of choices to costco because i had a $500 amex rebate there. i was very tempted to get the sharp aquos 52" e77u for $600 less than the b610, but a lack of reviews and sharp's recent quality control issues scared me off. in retrospect though, $600 is a huge difference between two tvs that spec out almost the same. it's not like sharp is a westinghouse or olevia.

the pricing for the b610 is bizarre. compared to the b630 it has no infolink, no wide color enhancer 3, no pip, no usb movie playback, a loss of one usb port,and no ethernet port, man, i'm getting upset just typing this list out.

the only benefit the b610 has is costco's 2-year warranty extension. i don't get it, costco usually has very good prices.

funny thing is, the checkout clerk forgot to process the amex rebate first time through, so she just gave me cash after the transaction. maybe i should return the b610 and buy a b630 somewhere else. :P

For some odd reason my zips have started working for me today. I'm not complaining...But maybe you knocked something loose in the internet world when you tested those to make the feed available to me...haha!

I may have to get some pictures up of this beast to show the red TOC (not as bad as I thought it would be when I saw first saw in the store before buying), and off angle viewing.

I'll try to post some pics this weekend. Busy week but enjoying nba playoffs. If you don't have it hooked up to 5.1 Dolby, you're missing half the fun ... trust me on that since the speakers are pretty weak.

Since I only buy TVs every 10 years, the few extra bucks between getting the B630 & B610 was a no-brainer. I would have gone to the B750 if it had a matt screen, but I'm totally satisfied right now with the B630.

So, I definitely want a 52" and I want the Samsung x630 series because of the matte screen. So, the new "B" series is $267 more. Is it worth the premium? I'm leaning towards "no." The contrast difference is double, but does that make that big of a difference? My budget is $1,500, so both of these are over that, but the b630 is getting way over my budget.

It will make a difference when watching a movie with some darkly lit scenes.

Mine just arrived, it's in CT and I have to transport it back to NY I'm really worried...
Going to check up on best ways to transport now....

From what I can tell I should be fine as long as I leave it standing up. I still have the box and materials so this should be easy.