Quote:
Originally Posted by BoilerJim /forum/post/20790841
With LED/LCDs, it's a crap shoot.
I was reading all the new "D" Samsung reviews yesterday on ConsumerReports.org and every LED-LCD had significant issues of one kind or another. The plasmas and conventional LCDs fared much better on the whole. My LN32D550 was rated better all around than any of the LED-LCDs made by Samsung in terms of PQ and sound quality. Of course they don't test every model, but they did test the D8000 LED-LCD, the D6400 LED-LCD, and the D5500 LED-LCD.
My TV (LN32D550):
"Highs
Excellent high-definition and standard-definition picture quality. For high definition, it did an excellent job displaying the finest detail in high-definition content while for standard-definition, detail was very good, just shy of the best sets. Color accuracy was excellent. Contrast was good, typical for most models we've tested. Brightness level was good, suitable for most rooms. Very good black levels - deep, just shy of the best sets. Excellent, smooth reproduction of scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset. Movies that were originally shot on film and converted to video, appeared free of any jagged edges -- "jaggies" -- in scenes with motion, due to the effective film-mode operation (3:2 pulldown). Video clips with motion detail appeared free of any visible "jaggies" due to the effective de-interlacing operation. Very good sound, better than most models we've tested.
Lows
Has a limited viewing angle -- though picture quality looked fine head-on, we saw some deterioration in color, contrast, or brightness from off-angle, as with most LCDs. Touch-sensitive console buttons are low contrast, making them difficult to find."
The UN40D5500
"Highs
• Top-notch color
• Illuminated buttons on remote
Lows
• Standard-def quality not as good as on other LCDs
• Viewing angle narrower than on some LCDs
Detailed test results
High-definition picture quality were very good. With high-definition content, the TV did a very good job displaying fine detail. Color accuracy was excellent, so colors looked very natural and life-like. Contrast--the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites--was decent, so images showed some depth and dimension. In this respect, the TV was similar to most of the models we test. The brightness level was good, making it a suitable choice for most rooms. The TV had deep black levels, just shy of the best sets.
In scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, the TV did an excellent job producing a smooth transition without coarse distinct bands. There were no "jaggies" (jagged edges on objects), which keen-eyed viewers might notice on other TVs when watching movies originally shot on film and converted to video, or in video clips with motion detail.
Sound was good, fine for typical TV programming, but won't reproduce the full range of movie soundtracks and music. All buttons on the remote are backlit so they're easy to see in the dark. The set displays the program's signal type when you push an info button on the remote. The display panel has a super-slim profile of 1.5 inches.
There were some issues with this set. Standard-definition picture quality, though good, was below that of most other sets. It did an okay job displaying detail in standard-def images, but not as good as on the better TVs. Active noise reduction processing that cannot be turned off tends to smooth skin texture and minimizes film grain, reducing image fidelity. Slightly uneven brightness effect created cloudy areas in very dark scenes. But you can see optimal picture quality only if your viewing position is close to the center of the screen. If you watch the TV from an angle--say, in a chair off to the side of the room--the picture dims or washes out or colors change. Touch-sensitive console buttons are low contrast and hard to read. Though sound was generally decent, we noticed slight distortion."
The UN46D6400:
"Highs
Very good high-definition and standard-definition picture quality. It did an excellent job displaying the finest detail in high-definition content. For high definition, color accuracy was excellent. For standard-definition, color accuracy was very good. Contrast was good, typical for most models we've tested. Brightness level was good, suitable for most rooms. Very good, smooth reproduction of scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset. Movies that were originally shot on film and converted to video appeared free of any jagged edges -- "jaggies" -- in scenes with motion, due to the effective film-mode operation (3:2 pulldown). Video clips with motion detail appeared free of any visible "jaggies" due to the effective de-interlacing operation. In 3D mode, images were satisfyingly bright. Has Samsung's Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology that doubles the TV's frame rate -- we found it minimized motion blur to the point that it was barely noticeable, even in our more demanding tests. Sound was good, fine for typical TV programming, but won't reproduce the full range of movie soundtracks and music. The remote control is excellent. Console buttons are rear facing but when touched bring up labels on TV screen. The display panel has a super-slim profile of 1.25 inches.
Lows
In 3D mode, images showed significant loss of vertical image detail, much less than expected 1080p performance -- we saw strong stairstep jaggies along the edges of image content. Ghosting levels were only good for 3D mode, but better than prior Samsung 3D LCD TVs we've tested. For regular programs in non 3D mode, color was improved but not optimized after we fine-tuned the individual red/green/blue color controls in the advanced menu, a more complex process. Dark scenes, in particular, were slightly lacking in contrast. Has a narrow viewing angle -- significant deterioration in color, contrast or brightness when viewed off-angle. Screen is more reflective than on many LCD sets, which can be annoying in bright lighting."
The UN55D8000:
"Highs
• "960Hz" technology effectively reduced motion blur
• 3D performance was better than on most LCDs, with less ghosting
• Innovative remote with QWERTY keyboard
• Internet services and Wi-Fi
• Super-slim profile of 1.25 inches with exceptionally thin bezel around screen
Lows
• Uneven brightness and fair black levels
• Loss of image texture
• Viewing angle was narrow
Detailed test results
Overall, picture quality was very good for both high-definition and standard-definition content. In 3D mode, images showed effective depth with minimal ghosting on our 3D test patterns and on a wide variety of 3D program content, a new benchmark for LCDs that use active glasses. 3D images were also on the brighter side, which is a plus. It uses Samsung's Auto Motion Plus technology that combines a 240Hz refresh rate with a scanning (flashing) backlight to create a 960Hz-like effect -- we found it minimized motion blur to the point that it was barely noticeable, even in our more demanding tests.
This TV was very good at displaying fine details in high-definition content. Color accuracy was very good, so colors generally looked natural and lifelike. Contrast -- the difference between the blackest blacks and whitest whites -- was good, so images had depth and dimension. In this respect, the TV was similar to most of the models we've tested. Brightness level was good, suitable for most rooms.
In scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, the TV did a very good job producing a smooth transition without any coarseness or visible banding. Movies that were originally shot on film and converted to video appeared free of any jagged edges -- "jaggies" -- in scenes with motion, due to the effective film-mode operation (3:2 pulldown). Video clips with motion detail appeared free of any visible "jaggies" due to the effective de-interlacing operation.
Sound was good, adequate for typical TV programming, but won't reproduce the full range of movie soundtracks and music. The innovative remote provides traditional TV controls on one side, and a QWERTY keyboard on the flip side. The TV console's side-facing control buttons, when touched, displays labels on the TV screen for easy navigation. The TV's unusually thin bezel saves space and might allow you to fit a larger screen into a given area.
This TV did have issues, however. Though picture quality was judged very good, it was not without flaws. Notable non-uniformity of brightness from the LCD created large illuminated areas of the screen from the backlight that were most visible on dark scenes, but noticeable in some brighter scenes as well. Activating the local dimming feature helped but did not eliminate its visibility. As a result, black levels were only fair.
A noise reduction feature was continuously active and could not be turned off. While effective, this also reduced subtle image texture, and eliminated natural film grain from film content, reducing image fidelity.
Turning on the Auto Motion Plus feature effectively reduced motion blur, but it also created a brightness flickering effect that was visible on some dark scenes. We saw it mostly on the black bars of letterboxed movie. We turned the feature off.
The set has a narrow viewing angle -- we saw significant deterioration in color, contrast or brightness when viewing the screen off-angle. The remote was a bit heavier than most, and while its wedge shape makes using the QWERTY keyboard easy, it might feel awkward for some when used for regular TV control."
Based on this (and assuming that the same reviews apply across the available screen sizes for each model), the D550 LCD outperforms its more expensive LED-LCD counterparts in terms of overall picture quality and sound quality. The higher end sets might have more features and be slimmer in terms of bezel width and panel thickness, but they don't produce a better picture (actually worse in some areas as noted above).
