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OFFICIAL Samsung LN-S4095/4695/4096/4696 Owners Thread - Page 3

post #61 of 4596
9/22/06 at 9:11am
I am considering the 4095 (and the Westinghouse).

Can you tell me if the Samsung 4095 is good on non-hdtv signal such as regular digital cable? I am wondeirng how good the chip is, are there alot of articfacting?

Thanks!
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post #62 of 4596
9/22/06 at 1:57pm
I'd also love to know if the 4095d uses the same panel as the 4096d. Dark scene results/pics?
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post #63 of 4596
9/22/06 at 7:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by starbucks66 View Post

Padrino, could you share with us the model of your 5-year old DVD player? I am also debating whether it worths the money to get an up-convert DVD player.

The price on S4695D just kept falling. I was going to wait for the Sharp D62, but finally pulled trigger on a S4695D at *******, and it is scheduled to arrive tomorrow or Friday. Also purchased 4-year extended warranty, and will have it extended by another year with my Amex card. Have ordered an upgrade to Dish HD, and am looking for a DVD player. Believe it or not, my DVD player does not have component output HD-DVD or Blueray is definitely not in my list, so I am left with 480p or up-convert. I was going to order an Oppo, but have seen quite a few post like yours on up-convert not making much difference.

Thanks much for posting the settings.


Sure, my old player was a Philips DVD Q50. At the time is was rather pricy since it was 480P and had the Faroudja video processor. The picture on it was very good but the player over-heated all the time. I still have it but for now I am just going to wait for HD-DVD for 360 which should be around $250 I believe or just keep waiting for the whole Blu-ray HDDVD thing to settle down a bit.

The bottom line is, if you have a decent DVD player with "Component" into your TV a up-scaling DVD will not buy you that much. The scaler in the TV is pretty good.

If you have a really old s-video or composite DVD player thats a diffrent story or if you are planning to get the very high end DVD player you will probably get a better picture. The way I figure it if you are going to spend that much you might as well get an HD-DVD player.
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post #64 of 4596
9/22/06 at 7:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qwertq View Post

I am considering the 4095 (and the Westinghouse).

Can you tell me if the Samsung 4095 is good on non-hdtv signal such as regular digital cable? I am wondeirng how good the chip is, are there alot of articfacting?

Thanks!

480i SDTV does not look as good as a good Tube TV. However, from what I have read, that is pretty much true of all the large (46 inch and up) HDTVs. Scaling 480i to 1080 will always be problamatic and the large the TV the worse it will look.

If you don't get HDTV with your HDTV you may want to wait or see what your options are for getting HD signals.

I still watch SDTV on mine and its not bad at all. Very wachable. Its just I know my old 32 Tube looked quite a bit better side-by-side. But since HD-DVD is just around the corner and I have HD games to play I was glad to make the jump.
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post #65 of 4596
9/23/06 at 7:10am
thanks for the help.... something to think about as i will be watching mostly broadcast tv and hdtv cable, not too much dvds.

would you reccommend that i wait a bit to get a new tv then?

also not looking for over 46, i want around a 40 inch. do you suppose the scaling would be better on one of those?



Quote:
Originally Posted by Padrino View Post

480i SDTV does not look as good as a good Tube TV. However, from what I have read, that is pretty much true of all the large (46 inch and up) HDTVs. Scaling 480i to 1080 will always be problamatic and the large the TV the worse it will look.

If you don't get HDTV with your HDTV you may want to wait or see what your options are for getting HD signals.

I still watch SDTV on mine and its not bad at all. Very wachable. Its just I know my old 32 Tube looked quite a bit better side-by-side. But since HD-DVD is just around the corner and I have HD games to play I was glad to make the jump.
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post #66 of 4596
9/23/06 at 6:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qwertq View Post

thanks for the help.... something to think about as i will be watching mostly broadcast tv and hdtv cable, not too much dvds.

would you reccommend that i wait a bit to get a new tv then?

also not looking for over 46, i want around a 40 inch. do you suppose the scaling would be better on one of those?

Thats what I have... The 40 inch set. Its simply a trade-off. When you watch SDTV over cable, it will look much the same or a bit worse depending on the quality of your old TV. On the other hand, this TV handles HD very well and things look pretty amazing. I had a top of the line 32 inch Sony and I would say it looked about 10% better for the same size SDTV (its hard to quantify but thats my best guess).

So you give up a few notches of quality on the already inadequate SDTV but you gain with HDTV, HD-DVD, Xbox 360, etc. I would say Standard DVD is around the same quality. The technology is always getting better so you can just keep waiting but at some point you just have to look at what you will be getting and determine if its worth it for you...

For example....

For me...

Xbox 360 ++++ Looks way better and its now wide-screen 40 as apposed to squished down into a 32 tube which makes it equivalent to a 30 inch wide screen. Its about 80% bigger image in total and it look crystal clear.

Standard DVD ++ Bigger and Wide Screen. Image Quality is about the same.

Standard TV - Look a bit worse and only takes up 4:3 of the screen. Still it very watchable and if the show is wide screen you can zoom. Of course when you zoom it makes the picture a bit more fuzzy (by definition). Overall I think the TV does a respectable Job with SDTV. Also the lack of black level in LCD is amplified in this mode due to the lack of detail in the image*

HD-Cable +++ Amazing image quality in wide screen. Pretty much new to me. Once I got this TV I knew I had to try out HD cable.

HD-DVD +++++ I don't have one yet be I will be looking this X-Mas. It looks even better than HDTV or HD movies on HD cable because its not as compressed. Other than 360 games its probably the only thing that comes close to the TVs capability.

====


*The only negative to getting an LCD TV today is the lack of black leve in a dark room. There is a lot of talk about it and it a valid concern. I can't say I am 100% happy with the black level but my eyes were always a bit strained in a pitch black room so I usualy don't watch movies in a very dark room. Also, the issue is much, much less with HD content. So, once again its more of a problem with SDTV than HDTV. It is still an issue overall but with HD its much less of one.

At first I imagined I did watch TV in a very dark room but it turns out that that is only case about 10% of the time. Most often there is ambient light from outside etc. So the problem if good black levels certainly exists but there are ways to make it better and its not like all source matermial is a dark movie. All you need to do is know how to use the PowerSave, brightness, and contrast and you can work around 95% of the issue. If movies are you're prime use and you lake to watch all your TV in a very dark room you should take a look at Plasma but Plasma also has its set of issue you have to be knolegable about.

I do believe in the next year or 2 new LCD TVs that have programmable arrays of LEDs for backlighting are going to trump Plasma. SED is still unproven and may be too expensive but I get the feeling LED array backligts are much more practical and cheaper and may be the next big thing in TV. SED may work out but its going to be way too expensive for the average consumer for a least a few years after its even releases. In some respects I think this may be worth waiting for but I had already waited a few years for LCD to mature and I was not going to wait another year. The LCD/LED TVs may be less than a year out but they will definaly be more expensive. If you feel like you can wait a year than just do that but tech is always improving so you can never avoid the "I just got this thing x months ago and now y comes out and its way better" syndrom



LED Backlight Samsung 40

http://www.gizmag.com/go/6118/

Great short bit on LED TV tech that I agree with...
http://displayblog.wordpress.com/200...sed-40-lcd-tv/
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post #67 of 4596
9/23/06 at 8:11pm
Can anyone tell me what the difference is between these two Samsung LCD's.
I have been trying to review specs at Samsung site and other retail sites and am totally confused.
The S4096D appears to be able to broadcast in 1080P but some sites indicate the S4095D does too but not quite as clear at other sites. The S4096 appears to cost a bit more for some reason. I would like to get 1080P for the future and want to be clear on this.
Appreciate any clarification anyone can provide.
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post #68 of 4596
9/23/06 at 8:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake34 View Post

Can anyone tell me what the difference is between these two Samsung LCD's.

From page 2 of this very thread (did you really look Jake34? ), courtesy of fellow poster kaijo:

The 4X06 has (over the 4X95D):

1)DCR
2)Cable Card
3)active USBport -not only for service(95d back panel-service2-looks like one in the manual)-Wiselink
4)Wiselink software
5)Firewire IEEE- 2
6)DNET software
7)Design -glass speaker reflector on bottom
-4696d- circular stand
- slightly rounder backplate
8)Size- 4696d - + .1 inch depth size
9)Viewable screensize- 4696d has + .1inch width and height
10)extra s video on the side panel for the 4695d
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post #69 of 4596
9/24/06 at 1:13am
Just to clarify, that list was from someone in the other Samsung thread. I probably should have noted that when I first posted it.
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post #70 of 4596
9/24/06 at 3:13am
So the Samsung LN-S4095D is a 1080P Hi Def LCD?? The specs seem unclear on certain sites?
Also, what is DCR?
Sorry for what may seem like naive questions, but I really don't know.
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post #71 of 4596
9/24/06 at 12:00pm
Yes Jake, both the 4X95D and 4X96 Sammy LCD's (40" and 46") are 1080p LCD's that accept a 1080p resolution. People that have tested the 4X95D sets (or have seen them in person like myself) report that the picture, although great-looking, has 2% overscan that's undefeatable and processes the 1080p signal instead of displaying it 1:1 untouched (like the Sharp, Sony, Westy and Mitsubishi 1080p LCD's). Whether this is a big deal or not is entirely up to you. Also its unknown if the 4X96 sets have the overscan since all the proof/eyewitness account of the 2% overscan is from the 4X95D sets. Since both sets share the same glass and circuits (the differences between the two are mostly cosmetic and features not dealing with picture processing, like Cable Card or USB port activation) it's assumed that the 4X96's overscan and don't pass 1080p signals unmolested just like the 4X95D.
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post #72 of 4596
9/26/06 at 12:47am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dad1153 View Post

People that have tested the 4X95D sets (or have seen them in person like myself) report that the picture, although great-looking, has 2% overscan that's undefeatable and processes the 1080p signal instead of displaying it 1:1 untouched (like the Sharp, Sony, Westy and Mitsubishi 1080p LCD's).

My take on the whole overscan issue...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&&#post8515665
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post #73 of 4596
9/26/06 at 1:17am
I thought I'd post the calibration settings that I've been most happy with so far with my 46" LN-S4696D:
Contrast 75
Brightness 36
Sharpness 30
Colour 45
Tint 50/50
Tone normal
Energy Saving: low/medium

[Brightness update] For most movies with letterboxing, using Brightness=28 makes the bars as black as they're going to be (at Energy Saving = medium) - going lower gives no further blackness. However, at this point, there is a small loss of detail, so depending on the scene 28-40 seems to be the sweet spot on my set.

Now, I think absolutely *everyone* here has recommended that DNie be turned off. I can honestly say that I've never really seriously tried DNie out. Until tonight.

Tonight I was watching Star Trek Insurrection, and was playing around with settings (which seems to be my obsession lately! LOL) and discovered I actually liked the DNie processed image better!? I was like, Holy Cr*p!? How can that be ... because everyone here says DNie makes things worse!?

I tried it with a bunch of other recorded HD programs and found that while my preference varied depending on the lighting conditions that prevaled in any given program, more often than not, I liked the DNie version better.

That said, in some programs, the DNie processing made noise more visible and in others introduced a slight "clayface" effect. But not all programs, that's for sure, but from now I'll be turning DNie On as my default and turn it off for a specific show only when I see problems.

So, for my tastes, this sums up my feelings about DNie:
DNie On - 75% of the time excellent picture, 25% of the time strange artifacts
DNie Off - 100% of the time very good picture

So, how's that for contrarian?

One thing I'd also like to add is this: I don't believe DNie processing is the same from one set to another. I previously owned an Samsung LN-S4692D model and it seemed to me that using DNie on that set didn't give the same result as using DNie on this new set. My belief is that "DNie" is simply the marketing name for "whatever the hell image processing we decide to do for any given set." I believe that DNie was the likely cause of some very distracting scene persistance issues on the 4692 that I don't see with the 4696.
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post #74 of 4596
9/26/06 at 6:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZyronEnder View Post

...discovered I actually liked the DNie processed image better!? I was like, Holy Cr*p!? How can that be ... because everyone here says DNie makes things worse!?

I tried it with a bunch of other recorded HD programs and found that while my preference varied depending on the lighting conditions that prevaled in any given program, more often than not, I liked the DNie version better.

That said, in some programs, the DNie processing made noise more visible and in others introduced a slight "clayface" effect. But not all programs, that's for sure, but from now I'll be turning DNie On as my default and turn it off for a specific show only when I see problems.

How would you break your preferences of DNie usage by SD and HD? In other words, did you find yourself turning the DNie on/off more/less during SD? Or viceversa when watching HD stuff/playing videogames/watching HD-DVD or Blue-Ray/etc.? Maybe DNie can make SD look better (or not) and HD look better when its on (or off). Confused? So am I, thanks!
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post #75 of 4596
9/28/06 at 1:24am
I have had my S4695D for 5 days now, and am still looking for a DVD player. I am considering Oppo 970HD, but am concerned by complaints that Samsung LCD does not take pure 480i over HDMI interface, a strong suite of 970HD whose upconvert capability is not as good as 971HD and others since it does not have the touted Fa****** processor. Can any 4x95/96 owner confirm the 480i input over HDMI problem? Even with this limitation, I am still hoping that 970HD can output good quality 480p signal for S4695D to upconvert to 1080p as I believe the upscaler inside S4695D is superior to Oppo. Appreciate if you can share your experience with Oppo and Samsung S4x95/96D.

On another note, my wife and I have been happy with SD signals from Dish receiver displayed on S4695D (HD upgrade was put on hold due to installation issues. Long story) We are sitting about 11-12 ft away from the TV.
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post #76 of 4596
9/28/06 at 6:30pm
Is anyone using the over the air HD tuner in these sets? Samsung is known for having very good HD tuner reception. Does this hold on these sets?

Thanks,
Ron
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post #77 of 4596
9/28/06 at 10:08pm
Hi Ron

I recieved my 4696D three days ago and use an HDMI cable box for Time Warner and rabbit ears for over the air. I am amazed at how well the digital tuner picks up all my local HD stations here in Dayton as well as most of the Cincinnati HD broadcast stations. The HD video is about the same from Cable and over the air. The audio is better from over the air. I have the LNA enabled.

I also installed a Samsung HD960 DVD player today via HDMI 2. I let the player do the upconvert and feed a 1080P signal to the set. Both video and sound are excellent but not as good as a good HD broadcast.

I have the cable people coming out next week to install a cable card. The cable box has trouble at times on power up syncing up with the set over HDMI. The HD960 has no problem on HDMI unless I hit the progressive scan button and get a green screen. I guess with the setting already at 1080P the button confuses the interface.

John
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post #78 of 4596
9/29/06 at 10:51am
John,

Thanks for the info on OTA HD reception. Very useful.

Ron-C
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post #79 of 4596
9/29/06 at 12:12pm
I just called Samsung to ask them why my TV (4695) keeps switching the picture mode I set after 10 to 20 minutes back to Dynamic. The guy tells me that Samsung made the TV that way, he has the notes on his computer stating that when the TV is recieving an HD signal, it will automatically set it back to dynamic because its the best setting for the HD signal. Well I guess Samsung is now deciding what is best for us I guess, lol.

After reading this thread (Thank the heavens for AVSforum!!)....I'm led to believe that Samsung has incompetent people working for them in the customer service tech department. I will try the menu button on the side of the TV and hold for 5 seconds (as stated in this thread) to get it out of shop mode (which is what I saw the last time i pressed the info button on the remote and thought to myself what that could mean). I'm hoping that it will work and rid me of this annoying matter I've been dealing with for the past week. I would of known earlier if I had known about AVSforum earlier!!

PS. I'd also like to state that I'm glad I found this site.....wonderful people here with informative commentary!
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post #80 of 4596
9/29/06 at 1:22pm
Just purchased a 4095 (picking it up next week). I am new to the world of HD, and have a few questions.

It was started above that the TV wont accept 480i through HDMI. If I am connecting my Direct TV HD/TiVo Receiver through HDMI, what does this mean for me? Do I also have to connect it through component to get the SD channels?

Right now I only ave a Playstation 2 for a DVD player (gasp). I believe that it only outputs 480p for DVD playback. Any one know if this is true, and if it is will they look worse then my old CRT? Hey, maybe I can use it as a excuse for the boss to let me get a X-Box 360 (they have a HD DVD add-on coming soon).

Thanks for your help. I'm glad I found this site!
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post #81 of 4596
9/29/06 at 1:26pm
i finally saw the 5296 at BB/Magnolia last...it certainly is bigger than 46! but at MSRP of $5,500 too steep! although i've been waiting for these sets for a while (first 4696 then 5296 when it was announced)...the price is kinda stopping me although i do love the design of this set...now costco has the 46" sony version of the v2500, still 1080p...i might go that route since i wont have to get the extended warranty at costco (prolly another $500 at Bb or CC)...

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post #82 of 4596
9/29/06 at 1:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Y2K View Post

Just purchased a 4095 (picking it up next week). I am new to the world of HD, and have a few questions.

It was started above that the TV wont accept 480i through HDMI. If I am connecting my Direct TV HD/TiVo Receiver through HDMI, what does this mean for me? Do I also have to connect it through component to get the SD channels?

I had at D* HD/Tivo connected via HDMI to a 4696, no problem. Since the HR10-250 doesn't have native pass through capability just set the output to either 720p or 1080i and let the box scale the 480i for you. One thing to mention, the HDMI interface on the HR10-250 does not pass Dolby Digital audio over the able, just PCM audio. That's OK for channels that don't have DD but when you do tune to one the audio will drop out if you have DD enabled in the HR10-250. If you went with component connection then this isn't an issue. Frankly, with the quality of the D* signal, due to overcompression and scaling down the resolution I don't see loosing much if anything by going component until they clean their act up.
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post #83 of 4596
9/29/06 at 7:57pm
It worked!! I pressed the menu button on the right side of the TV and held it for about 5 seconds and it took the TV off shop mode. If you press and hold it again, it will bring your TV back to shop mode. I'm glad I fixed this small problem. Thank you Don S and everyone!! No thanks to you Mr. Samsung tech guy!!
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post #84 of 4596
9/30/06 at 2:18am
Quote:


I thought I'd post the calibration settings that I've been most happy with so far with my 46" LN-S4696D:
Contrast 75
Brightness 36
Sharpness 30
Colour 45
Tint 50/50
Tone normal
Energy Saving: low/medium

These are my settings for HD through my Directv HD-DVR (HR20)
Calibrated using HDNet Test Patterns

Contrast 67
Brightness 50
Sharpness 0
Colour 35
Tint 50/50
Tone normal
Energy Saving: medium

and for DVD
Calibrated using a combination of Avia/DVE/and Get Gray

Contrast 51
Brightness 58
Sharpness 0
Colour 30
Tint 50/50
Tone normal
Energy Saving: medium

At first when I calibrated I was using a much lower brightness setting (around 34-35), but I found that I was really irritated by the crushed blacks I was seeing. After a lot of messing around with different calibration discs (for DVD, and later with the HDNet Test Patterns) I found that I really was losing a lot of shadow detail. Things look a lot better now, but last night I watched a recording of "Heroes" from earlier in the week and noticed crushed blacks again. I rechecked my settings and reran the HDNet Test Pattern but everything was fine. I'm not sure if that particular show just ran darker than usual or what.

ZyronEnder, are you noticing any crushed blacks with your brightness settings so low? I read in another thread that this set couldn't properly display blacks below 30 IRE, could this be the reason for the crushed blacks at lower brightness settings?

I can live with the overscan (I've been living with it in one form or another all my life), but crushed blacks are hard to bear.
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post #85 of 4596
9/30/06 at 4:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by iGrooveLA View Post

i finally saw the 5296 at BB/Magnolia last...it certainly is bigger than 46! but at MSRP of $5,500 too steep!


Does anyone actually pay MSRP? That 5296 can be found for under $4K from an authorized Samsung Dealer unless one is allergic to on-line shopping and saving money or feel their patriotic duty to pay more tax to their local state coffers.

The price may drop a bit more with the new D62 Sharps pricing structure and the fact the large Sharp Panels (57"/65") MSRP will be cut in about in half in price effective tomorrow October 1st when Sharp is scheduled to make that announcement. Oh Fun - Competition brings that price down and we benefit.

"Patience is bitter but it's fruit is Sweet" Mag stores seems to get the jump with Samsung exclusives a few weeks in advance as they did with the LNS5797 which now 3 months later can be had outside Mag for 35% less from an authorized Samsung Dealer. I suspect the same will occur with the 5296 as Sharp D62 pricing will force it to do so.
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post #86 of 4596
9/30/06 at 8:58am
Hi 4696/95 owners - now that you've chosen Samsung over xbr2/3, can you pop over to this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=730256

And discuss what made you choose this set over the sony?

Thanks!
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post #87 of 4596
9/30/06 at 9:29am
Does anyone have the 4095d with the xbox 360 hooked up via VGA?....

for some odd reason, i couldnt get the cable to output HD
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post #88 of 4596
9/30/06 at 9:55am
The price may drop a bit more with the new D62 Sharps pricing structure and the fact the large Sharp Panels (57"/65") MSRP will be cut in about in half in price effective tomorrow October 1st when Sharp is scheduled to make that announcement. Oh Fun - Competition brings that price down and we benefit.

Hey Westa,

Did you mean tomorrow, or monday ?

How will that effect the current Sony 46xbr2/3 msrp? and the soon 52xbr3?

Wanted to thank you also, being that I am not a shopper, I started to read about a certain Big Box store price match policy in regards to Internet pricing, and low and behold they will price match plus 10% of difference if the company also happens to have a brick and morter storefront.

Well a couple of these locations on Long Island told me to stick it where the "SUNSHINE" doesnt hit cause they are not in the local market. Well that particular Titanium seller just happens to have their headquarters on Good Ole Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn NY, all that was left was travel from Long Island to one of those BB(stands for big box) that was in the local market.

Although it is killing me I am reluctantly willing to wait a few more days to see how this all shakes out. I so wanted to stop at Nathans famous today in Coney Island.
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post #89 of 4596
9/30/06 at 10:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Padrino View Post

I have the 4095 and you can change the tint when using HDMI(1080i) input on all the modes. The only time when its restricted is when you use PC/VGA connection. When you use that connection you can not change the color saturation and I believe tint as well is disabled. This was the problem I had with the 360 using VGA. You could not adjust the color settings.

I've had my 4095d since July and an Xbox 360 since Feb. The recent news of the upcoming update to the 360 to allow 1080p upconversion is huge, but with it only working via a VGA connection I wanted to know if the 4095 and xbox 360 vga connection worked. Have you had any issues with this connection?
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post #90 of 4596
9/30/06 at 11:19am
I haven't tried VGA yet but wrt 360 1080p support, I believe that games will be able to use 1080p over component and I think plain DVDs too. It's just the HD-DVD content that can only go 1080p via VGA - and they say that's purely a licensing restriction.
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