Quote:
Originally Posted by
robusto400 
First impressions:
* I do have one out of box first impression that is a little concerning. The set is certainly reflective. Much more than my previous matte screen Sammy. Fortunately I have it mounted recessed into a large wall entertainment center and it is blocked from lighting on the sides so it isn't too bad. Switched off it almost has a "mirror" reflection though. I don't think this will be an issue for me as I have added dimmer overhead lights but I can see I possible issue for someone that has the unit out in a highly lit area.
I finally got to see an LN52B750 live today at Ultimate Electronics. The reflectivity was almost shocking to me. I had viewed the A650 last year and I was looking for a little screen anti-glare improvement. I don't think there is any. My wife was with me as this was going to be my chance to sell her on this HDTV. While both of us were dazzled by the PQ, her reaction to the reflectivity just about killed the deal and my reaction, though concealed, was concern about being stuck with this "black mirror" for the next 5 to 10 years in my family room.
She got on about liking matte screens so much that the sales associate told her that the only higher end HDTVs to rival Samsung's PQ that had a matte screen were Sonys. He showed us a just set up Sony 52Z5100 (~$550 more than the B750). Yes it had a matte screen and no there weren't any reflections or glare, but the PQ, even compared to a B650 Sammy about 3 feet away, was inferior to the Sammy's. The Sony just looked dull and lacked color saturation and picture sharpness/clarity. Now some may say this is more natural, but I say it didn't look any better than LCD HDTVs of 2 or 3 years ago. Got my wife and the sales associate to agree that the Sony wasn't as sharp or color saturated as the nearby B650 or a "closeout" Toshiba below it (the Toshiba's colors were way off, but they were deeper and the picture was sharper). To its credit, the Z5100 had better blacks than either the B650, which really looked blue gray along the whole black bars top and bottom, or the B750, which had a blueish-gray tinge along the black bars when viewed from a sharp angle.
When we got home we did a test with a large glass covered painted picture in front of our current family room HDTV to evaluate expected reflections in our viewing environment (good suggestion by the UE sales associate). By closing shades on key windows we were able to minimize available light sources for the glass or the B750 to reflect, but it was far from ideal and the picture glass wasn't anywhere near as shiny as the B750's screen. I got the wife to say go buy it if you want to, but I'm hesitant now because the reflections bother me also and 5 to 10 years is a long time to live with a TV that annoys you, to say nothing of the abuse I'll get from the wife for years if the B750 turns out to be an eye sore in our family room.
UE had the B750 set up where is could only show BD and their only BD video was Top Gun. Looked stunning, like the actors were in the room with you. They had the AMP on Standard and the video looked life-like. I really like that video tape look as opposed to the grainy look of movies in the theaters. But, I'd really like to see the PQ with a DBS HD feed or better yet, an OTA DTV feed of a live sporting event. I'd really like to see if "real life" looks like "real life" on the B750.
BTW, the UE sales associate claimed that Sony did the motion correction better with their MotionFlow than did Samsung with AMP. He also claimed that Sony's 240 Hz processing was a true 240 Hz as opposed to Samsung just doing a doubling of their 120 Hz signal to get 240 Hz, whatever that was supposed to mean. I hadn't heard anything about these issues before and the Sonys were just arriving in store.
On a related note, they didn't have any B630s or B610s (or whatever the matte screen B650 will be designated this year) and didn't have any information as to when any would arrive.
So now I'm torn. The B750 does seem to have the best or one of the best PQs of 2009 LCD HDTVs, but the screen reflectivity may be problematic. Haven't seen a B630/B610, but if they are a lesser version of the B650, I probably won't be satisfied with the PQ as the B650 really didn't seem as good as the outgoing A650. The supposed Sony competitor fell way short and the next one up (52XBR9) is almost $1K more than the current going rate for the B750, which is way too much money just to get a matte screen with great PQ.
I just may have to skip the current Big River promotion and wait to see what else comes along.
and would not be delivering the set until tomorrow, May12. Shortly after my call to A, suddenly the tracking showed a location of Herndon, VA (even though I spoke to the driver who was still in PA). In fact, I learned that Pilot WILL NOT be making the delivery, but some company named Sims.
