[The News Bot]

Reviewed by David Mackenzie
Couple the LE40B550's potential picture quality with the prices it can now be had for, as well as the media playback features offered thanks to the USB port, and you have a very attractive display for customers on a budget, or for a second room.
Read the full review...

[Steve-k]

I've been waiting for this one! Thanks a LOT, David and the rest of Avforums. This excellent review has made me buy the 40B550.

[Reem]

I have the 40B554, which is the same tv except it has a different, straight, border.

I was wondering if providing us with the exact adjustments you made while calibrating is possible. I know these may be different for each unique panel but I'd still like to see what the result would be on my tv. People who buy 'budget' tv's sure arent going to pay for a calibrating service (at least I wouldnt, otherwise I'd rather spend the money on a higher series model).

Thanks for the review. Guess I made the right choice by going with this tv due to its good price/performance ratio.

[David Mackenzie]

There's very little point for Colour - just use the "Auto" mode which is designed to get close to the correct gamut.

For Greyscale, you can try copying the settings you see in the White Balance screen in the review, but without a meter, you'll have no way of knowing if these "stab in the dark" settings have made it better or worse! Sorry - the only way to know for sure is to pay for the calibration.

I think you're right that most people will go for a higher series model rather than a lower series one plus a calibration - but the latter will almost certainly bring higher quality.

[pixel8]

Thanks again...for your efforts David. I've had this TV for about a week now and i'm still considering a Panny TX42G10...you're review has made me think - better the devil you know???

[David Mackenzie]

The G10 is certainly better in terms of black level, viewing angle, and motion resolution. So that's a very, very strong set of advantages, if you have the money. EDIT: that's the G10 PLASMA, not LCD!

But it's also less accurate... nightmare!

[j0hn]

Seems all the connections are on the back, if installing as flat to the wall as possible with say the worlds slimmest mount, would this screw up connecting stuff? could you include details like this in your review if they are an issue please? thanks

[pixel8]

Was that a question...? Anyway, my tv is mounted to a brickwall fronted by around 2" plaster. The wall mount is around 1cm depth max so i've had to make a trough to accomodate the connections then ragged the wall to run into a central hole...Samsung in their wisdom changed sides i.e my 32 sammy had connections on the left and now the new one has them on the back - Cheers samsung...now i've two holes in my wall!!!

[j0hn]

Originally Posted by pixel8

Was that a question...? Anyway, my tv is mounted to a brickwall fronted by around 2" plaster. The wall mount is around 1cm depth max so i've had to make a trough to accomodate the connections then ragged the wall to run into a central hole...Samsung in their wisdom changed sides i.e my 32 sammy had connections on the left and now the new one has them on the back - Cheers samsung...now i've two holes in my wall!!!

Not really. On some tvs the connections on the side include an HDMI & PC input which means connecting is pretty easy when flush mounting (not everyone will channel out walls). On this samsung the pc input is on the rear so flush mounting seems out unless they some how made it possible.

[davidgale]

Originally Posted by David Mackenzie

The G10 is certainly better in terms of black level, viewing angle, and motion resolution. So that's a very, very strong set of advantages, if you have the money.

But it's also less accurate... nightmare!

but how would you rate it against entry level panasonic plasma, say, p42x10? it will be used in a htpc setup with pc being the only source. i don't care about reception, upscaling, deinterlacing or sound quality. only PQ.
also i'm worried about image retention on plasma. i have read numerous reports about burn-in effect even on modern panny plasmas. this is very important to me due to pc use (static parts of the Windows menus).
currently i own panasonic lcd 32lx70. i find it too small. black scenes are too greyish, motion resolution is poor. looking for some tv set to overcome these limitations.

[Vicarious_Eyes]

Very interesting review, backs up (and adds depth to) much of what some well known publications are saying about this TV.

I'm interested in the 37" model (unless I can persuade her indoors to go 40"!); since I watch a lot of football and motorsport, does this hold up well given the lack of 100Hz? Compared to, say, the Toshiba 37XV635, Sony 37W5500?

[David Mackenzie]

The 37" is likely to use a panel from a different manufacturer, so I strongly suggest you go with the 40". The 37" could perform very differently.

[Vicarious_Eyes]

I have just been reading about panels since you metnioned it, I see Samsung don't manufacture them. Interesting.

So, the 40" - what about performance with sports compared to the afore mentioned models (and equivalent LGs etc)?

[pixel8]

Originally Posted by Vicarious_Eyes

Very interesting review, backs up (and adds depth to) much of what some well known publications are saying about this TV.

I'm interested in the 37" model (unless I can persuade her indoors to go 40"!); since I watch a lot of football and motorsport, does this hold up well given the lack of 100Hz? Compared to, say, the Toshiba 37XV635, Sony 37W5500?

...i've the 40 and not impressed with soccer or fast moving sports - i'm on SD virgin so the source aint fab either but certainly with soccer it's naff...i wouldn't say there's much ghosting - just more generally blurry and lacking definition. e.g. 3 players on the screen look fine but wide pans and angles of the whole pitch are very poor indeed...

[kgor]

A cracking review.....

Hope the 32" version can be reviewed

[io1901]

Originally Posted by pixel8

...i've the 40 and not impressed with soccer or fast moving sports - i'm on SD virgin so the source aint fab either but certainly with soccer it's naff...i wouldn't say there's much ghosting - just more generally blurry and lacking definition. e.g. 3 players on the screen look fine but wide pans and angles of the whole pitch are very poor indeed...

I bought this set last month and I agree that the football on SD from Freeview (especially ITV) is not good but that used to look rubbish on a 32" CRT TV as well.
There is a fantastic difference when seeing the Football on HD (through Bush HD box) on ITV on this TV.
I've been most impressed with this TV so far.

[mebsj]

Originally Posted by Steve-k

I've been waiting for this one! Thanks a LOT, David and the rest of Avforums. This excellent review has made me buy the 40B550.

I've added it to my wish list

[toshthebosh]

I've had this tv for approx 3 weeks.having previously had a panny tx 32pd30.

MY view is that is does'nt have all the bells and whistles of some of it rivals, but what it does have is a really high quality picture. In SD it easily matches my panny and in HD the picture is simply stunning.

The amount of control over picture calibration is fantastic and when finally tweaked the resulting picture is as I said earlier simply stunning.

On the minus side there is a degree of motion blur when watching sport but I seemed to get used to this quite quickly. The onboard sound is very average but as I have a surround sound system this is of no matter.

[TheDoctor]

John Lewis are currently selling the 40 inch version, with 5 year warranty, for £549

Buy Samsung LE40B550A5 LCD HD Ready 1080p Digital Television, 40 Inch online at JohnLewis.com

[n!Cola]

Nice review, have the panel for few weeks, and it is definitely best buy LCD ATM IMO.
And the trick for playing divx and mkv's from USB just nailed it !

[j0hn]

good price. Make the technika at £500 in tesco seem like a bad choice/rubbish value. Good to see these known brands hitting back and reclaiming the market place. Budget super market jobbies had best lower their prices. Though saying that I see technika has gotten on the £30 plus hdmi cable band wagon.

[welshy]

I popped to Currys this afternoon to check out the quality of this TV. They only had the LE37B551 (with the red tint around the borders), I'm presuming this is the same TV, not the size but the model?

I asked them to hook it up to SkyHD for me which they did (very kind of them) and I flicked through the channels. I wanted to see what SD looked like and I was pleasantly suprised. Of course it was not of the quality of the HD channels but better than I expected as this TV was not even calibrated with basic adjustments.

We currently have a 37" Panasonic CRT and the 37B551 was almost as good with SD on some channels but as good on others. Shame they didn't have the 40" version but I'm assuming the panels will be the same apart from size?

What I would like to know is, based on what I saw from the 37B551, can I safely buy the 40B550?

Thanks.

[salsa-king]

I've the 37"

picture is good, but found that watching ITV via BT vison, with Ant&Dec on I'm a Celeb, when in the tree house the picture was very 'large blocky/pixelated' but fine on other camera shots elsewhere.
also get it on some screen shots on CSI Miami etc

anyone else found this???

my ld tv was the 32" samsung from 5years ago, very pleased with that, hence kept with the samsung

[zeebindie]

Are these settings as shown for 'Colour Space' and 'White Balance' the most optimal for calibrating this TV during this review?

[zeebindie]

Originally Posted by n!Cola

Nice review, have the panel for few weeks, and it is definitely best buy LCD ATM IMO.
And the trick for playing divx and mkv's from USB just nailed it !

...can you fill me in on this trick for playin' DivX and MKV-files??

[David Mackenzie]

Originally Posted by zeebindie

Are these settings as shown for 'Colour Space' and 'White Balance' the most optimal for calibrating this TV during this review?

To get the optimal settings, you need to have the TV calibrated. Copying other settings might give you a better picture in some cases, and a worse picture in others.

[Vandaahl]

Originally Posted by David Mackenzie

The G10 is certainly better in terms of black level, viewing angle, and motion resolution. So that's a very, very strong set of advantages, if you have the money.

Are you sure about this, David? In the official G10 review, the reviewer says the blacks of the G10 are poor:

"Black levels on the TX-L37G10 are what I can only call weak. There are a number of issues that no matter what solution I could think off, I just couldn’t get any convincing black levels and detail from the G10."

I'm almost convinced the Samsung LE37B550 is the TV I will buy, but the G10 was also one I considered because the panel is probably better than the 37" one from the Samsung set. Blacks are important to me, so now I'm wondering if the Samsung has poorer blacks than the G10

[David Mackenzie]

Aha, I'm talking about the G10 Plasma! Yes, the G10 LCD's blacks are definitely poorer.

[Vandaahl]

Thanks for clearing that up

Besides this Samsung I've had my eye on the Panasonic Viera TX-P37X10 plasma, which is even cheaper and is supposed to have great picture quality, but it's only 720p. Do you have any experience with that set? I wonder if the lower resolution makes a difference at 37"...

[salsa-king]

there's a 50" 1080hd samsung in Currys this week at £599!!