Samsung LN40B500 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV, Black User Review
I wanted a HDTV during black Friday, so I got out the ads on Thursday and began looking. I looked over many of the televisions, but I always seem to fall for Samsung or Vizio when it comes to LCD or LED HDTV’s. This occasion was no exception. Now, some of the Sony Bravia’s are beautiful too, but they tend to be a little expensive because of the name. Nonetheless, I found myself liking the 0 deal that was available at Walmart with this model, so I made the final decision this TV.
I haven’t had much “first hand” experience with Plasma televisions, but of what I did experience, I liked Panasonic and Pioneer the most. However, plasmas are good for dark rooms, but there really aren’t that many people (as far as I know) who have very dark living (tv) rooms and no windows. So, I tend to go with LCD. Here we go w/ specs:
FORMAT:
This model has the current 1.3b hdmi format, and so do almost all hdtvs, but there really isn’t much of a difference between the a and b format (my opinion).
LIGHTING:
This TV is a CCFL display, which is understandable for the price, because LED-lit TV’s tend to be more expensive. Basically, CCFL is fluorescent lighting, so you have bar-like lights behind the LCD crystals to light them up, whereas LED would have lots of little lights spread all across the back of the TV (local dimming) unless it’s edge-lit (leds only on the edges of the tv to make the tv thinner). This television is plenty bright enough after I had a look at the picture.
PICTURE QUALITY:
The quality of the picture, after I adjusted it, is fantastic! I believe it’s also because it’s a Samsung. But, you MUST adjust it in order for it not to look pretty “run of the mill”. All HDTV’s are like this, and no matter how many thousands you pull out of your pocket, if you don’t adjust the picture, your tv probably won’t look as good as it could. The default settings always seem to make the tv too bright, and the sharpness is usually up too high. But, that’s what you see when you go to the store to get one. The tvs are all set to look “bright” and “vivid” so that it sells. Now, I’m not a professional when it comes to adjusting picture quality, but I do know what I need to do to make it look good on the eyes. This tv refreshes at 60 times a sec. (60hz refresh rate), and for some, that is a good thing. If you start getting tvs at up to 180hz and 260hz, it begins to look a bit like “plastic” or “fake” to me, so 60hz is fine.
1080p….highest picture quality available right now, but you can’t really experience it until the cable providers decide to make the switch from 720p to 1080p, or if you’ve got a blu-ray player.
ADJUSTING THE PICTURE:
I did lots of research online, but just couldn’t find any forums that have had the pros set this tv yet. I finally decided that the best one to go with was the LN40B530. But, I still wasn’t happy. The picture looked too dark to me. Although, I do have a living room that tends to get pretty bright when the drapes are pulled back, so I decided to do the adjusting myself. I did the settings based on 720p quality, so it may look somewhat different to you if you do it while watching something in 1080i or p. Nevertheless, you can try the settings I found and made and choose which one you like the most or tweak it to how you like. Here are the 2 sets of settings for your convenience.
MINE:
Mode: Standard
Backlight: 8
Contrast: 80
Brightness: 49
Sharpness: 50 or lower (find what
you like)
Color: 50
Tint: G51/R49
Black tone: off
Dyn Contr: Medium
Gamma: 0
Color Space: Native
White Balance: Default
Flesh Tone: 0
Edge Enhancement: On
Color Tone: Normal
Size: 16:9
Digital NR: Off
LN40B530 (set by pros)
Mode: Movie
Backlight: 4
Contrast: 100
Brightness: 37
Sharpness: 0
Color: 46
Tint: G51/R49
Black Tone: off
Dyn Contr: off
Gamma: -3
Color Space: Auto
White Balance: Default
Flesh Tone: 0
Edge Enhancement: off
Color Tone: Normal
Size: 16:9
Digital NR: off
-If you do have settings that you think are better, let me know.
CONVENIENCE:
There are buttons on the right side of the TV, which is fine, and works for me. The lettering for what each button does is not extremely easy to see, but it’s not a big deal. The ports are all behind the TV, and on the right side, so it’s better that it’s not in the middle, but it’s still somewhat inconvenient for me because I hang my TV’s on the wall, and I have to feel around to find a port. However, what really frustrates me is the lack of HDMI ports. You get 2. 1st of all, you already have one taken up for cable. Then, you have a dvd player, all of your gaming consoles, and anything else you’d like to hook in. It’s not just this tv I’m frustrated with, it’s most tv’s. Why can’t they add more HDMI ports? I guess I should go out an buy a switcher. Other ports include a cable out, optical cable output for audio, a VGA port, Audio line in, and your typical composite and component connections (red, white, yellow, blue, green, etc.). Overall, the tv is pretty convenient aside from things I mentioned.
Overall, I was very happy with this choice on a tv, and I would recommend this to anyone that is on a budget and looking for a great tv. I give this TV 5 Stars.
