Just picked up the Samsung LN32A540 from Costco. I had several questions about this set which I never could find answers to in this forum and doing web searches so decided to post some info on this HDTV set.
NATIVE RESOLUTION
First of all, the LN32A540 (at least the one Costco sells) is not a 1080p set as some folks have asked about. Samsung has put out information that says the LN32A540 is a 1080p set, which has confused many, including me. The box clearly states that it is a quote: "High Definition 1366 x 768 Resolution" set. (This was pointed out in another thread also.)
AUDIO OUTPUT
One specification that I was never able to find anywhere on the web was whether this set has RCA audio outputs to feed an external audio amplifier. Yes it does! This was important to us since some have said that the native audio is not the best and also since I have our bedroom wired with a RCA audio cable from the TV to a stereo receiver on our bedside table. We have speakers on both sides of the bed and also use headphones from the receiver for nighttime viewing. To listen using the audio output only, just lower the TV volume to zero. Adjusting the TV volume does not affect the audio out volume. ----- There's also an optical audio output (on the back). And for folks who don't have an external amplifier, there's a headphone jack (on the side).
SD TV QUALITY
Standard definition TV quality is very important to us since my wife does almost all of her TV viewing in the bedroom, and 80% of what she watches is SD 4:3 cable broadcasts. My wife says the SD picture quality of this Samsung set is way better than the 4:3 LCD set it's replacing and the Toshiba 20" CRT set facing our kitchen counter where we eat. I agree. My evaluation is that 4:3 SD broadcasts look best in the 4:3 setting with the black bars on the sides. Second is in the zoom-1 mode which cuts off the top and bottom of the 4:3 picture but fills the screen on both sides. In zoom-1 mode, the picture can be moved up or down to suit the viewer. Third is the 16:9 mode which retains the height but stretches the sides to fill the screen. All three SD viewing modes have surpassed my expectations for a LCD wide screen set after reading many threads saying that one has to accept lower quality SD viewing on HDTV sets. As a measure of comparison, almost all of my TV viewing is on the aforementioned kitchen CRT TV and on a 32" Sony WEGA CRT TV set in our living room. ----- My initial settings for the best SD quality on the LN32A540 is standard mode with backlight, brightness, contrast, color and tint adjustments to suit our tastes. It should be noted that I can see noise in analog broadcasts at viewing distances less than 7 feet. At 7' the noise is barely or not noticeable. Our viewing distance is 10'. Very nice SD quality!
NON-SD PICTURE QUALITY
The picture quality of non-SD video is superb. I think this is true of most, if not all current LCD HDTV sets. But we like this Samsung picture quality a lot.
VIEWING ANGLE
This set has really excellent viewing angles. The specifications say 178 degrees. At Costco, there was a Vizio 1080p set next to the demo model of this set. The Vizio is also rated at 178 degree viewing angle by its manufacturer (to the best of my research). I walked way to the side and this Samsung set retained its brightness while the Vizio set got darker. In fairness, this was probably more than 178 degrees offset but it did show how well this Samsung set holds its brightness at wide viewing angles. This might be the thing that tipped this Samsung in my buying decision over the 1080p Vizio. Straight on, they looked very close, though I gave the nod to the Samsung in this department also.
INPUTS AND OUTPUTS
BACK:
HDMI, In-1 and In-2
-- DVI In shares HDMI In-2 connector plus has RCA audio in connectors.
Component RGB In-1 (AV-1), and In-2 (AV-2) (both include RCA audio in jacks)
-- Composite video and audio input - (shares connectors with component AV-1 input jacks.
PC video in (VGA) and audio in (1/8" mini phone jack).
Digital audio out (optical).
Audio out (RCA left & right) connectors.
Service connectors
SIDE:
HDMI, In-3
Composite video and stereo audio inputs. (RCA connectors).
-- Svideo input (use in place of composite video above).
Headphone output (1/8" mini phone jack).
REMOTE CONTROL
I won't describe every button on the remote control. Only some significant buttons for our usage.
VOLUME & CHANNEL
FAV. CH
P.SIZE - Controls the 16:9, zoom-1, zoom-2 and 4:3 display presentations.
CC - Controls the caption decoder. (I have not tried this yet but easy access to caption display is important to me.)
SOURCE - Selects the inputs that things are connected to. Ignores unconnected inputs.
MENU - Displays onscreen menu.
There are many other buttons that I have not had time to investigate yet.
Skylark
NATIVE RESOLUTION
First of all, the LN32A540 (at least the one Costco sells) is not a 1080p set as some folks have asked about. Samsung has put out information that says the LN32A540 is a 1080p set, which has confused many, including me. The box clearly states that it is a quote: "High Definition 1366 x 768 Resolution" set. (This was pointed out in another thread also.)
AUDIO OUTPUT
One specification that I was never able to find anywhere on the web was whether this set has RCA audio outputs to feed an external audio amplifier. Yes it does! This was important to us since some have said that the native audio is not the best and also since I have our bedroom wired with a RCA audio cable from the TV to a stereo receiver on our bedside table. We have speakers on both sides of the bed and also use headphones from the receiver for nighttime viewing. To listen using the audio output only, just lower the TV volume to zero. Adjusting the TV volume does not affect the audio out volume. ----- There's also an optical audio output (on the back). And for folks who don't have an external amplifier, there's a headphone jack (on the side).
SD TV QUALITY
Standard definition TV quality is very important to us since my wife does almost all of her TV viewing in the bedroom, and 80% of what she watches is SD 4:3 cable broadcasts. My wife says the SD picture quality of this Samsung set is way better than the 4:3 LCD set it's replacing and the Toshiba 20" CRT set facing our kitchen counter where we eat. I agree. My evaluation is that 4:3 SD broadcasts look best in the 4:3 setting with the black bars on the sides. Second is in the zoom-1 mode which cuts off the top and bottom of the 4:3 picture but fills the screen on both sides. In zoom-1 mode, the picture can be moved up or down to suit the viewer. Third is the 16:9 mode which retains the height but stretches the sides to fill the screen. All three SD viewing modes have surpassed my expectations for a LCD wide screen set after reading many threads saying that one has to accept lower quality SD viewing on HDTV sets. As a measure of comparison, almost all of my TV viewing is on the aforementioned kitchen CRT TV and on a 32" Sony WEGA CRT TV set in our living room. ----- My initial settings for the best SD quality on the LN32A540 is standard mode with backlight, brightness, contrast, color and tint adjustments to suit our tastes. It should be noted that I can see noise in analog broadcasts at viewing distances less than 7 feet. At 7' the noise is barely or not noticeable. Our viewing distance is 10'. Very nice SD quality!
NON-SD PICTURE QUALITY
The picture quality of non-SD video is superb. I think this is true of most, if not all current LCD HDTV sets. But we like this Samsung picture quality a lot.
VIEWING ANGLE
This set has really excellent viewing angles. The specifications say 178 degrees. At Costco, there was a Vizio 1080p set next to the demo model of this set. The Vizio is also rated at 178 degree viewing angle by its manufacturer (to the best of my research). I walked way to the side and this Samsung set retained its brightness while the Vizio set got darker. In fairness, this was probably more than 178 degrees offset but it did show how well this Samsung set holds its brightness at wide viewing angles. This might be the thing that tipped this Samsung in my buying decision over the 1080p Vizio. Straight on, they looked very close, though I gave the nod to the Samsung in this department also.
INPUTS AND OUTPUTS
BACK:
HDMI, In-1 and In-2
-- DVI In shares HDMI In-2 connector plus has RCA audio in connectors.
Component RGB In-1 (AV-1), and In-2 (AV-2) (both include RCA audio in jacks)
-- Composite video and audio input - (shares connectors with component AV-1 input jacks.
PC video in (VGA) and audio in (1/8" mini phone jack).
Digital audio out (optical).
Audio out (RCA left & right) connectors.
Service connectors
SIDE:
HDMI, In-3
Composite video and stereo audio inputs. (RCA connectors).
-- Svideo input (use in place of composite video above).
Headphone output (1/8" mini phone jack).
REMOTE CONTROL
I won't describe every button on the remote control. Only some significant buttons for our usage.
VOLUME & CHANNEL
FAV. CH
P.SIZE - Controls the 16:9, zoom-1, zoom-2 and 4:3 display presentations.
CC - Controls the caption decoder. (I have not tried this yet but easy access to caption display is important to me.)
SOURCE - Selects the inputs that things are connected to. Ignores unconnected inputs.
MENU - Displays onscreen menu.
There are many other buttons that I have not had time to investigate yet.
Skylark