[we177c]

Having studied this forum and other sources of information I finally bought a Samsung to replace my 12 yr old CRT. As this forum is so useful, I thought I would help other people by writing up my amateur review of the new telly which I have owned for nearly 2 weeks now.

1) Use - just normal SD viewing through Sky and Freeview plus the occasional DVD.

2) Price - I didn't pay the cheapest price because I wanted to buy from a shop. I could have paid £600 on the net but paid £700 from Richer Sounds locally. They gave good advice and good selection for comparison so I was happy to pay a "fair" price.

3) Settings - I have just left it with factory settings although I have fiddled with the 100hz - see below.

4) Picture - absolutely fantastic. The upscaling is top quality and looks so much better than normal SD to my untrained eye. The first programme watched was Miss Marple on Sunday night and I found myself so mesmerised by the detail, colour and clarity of the picture that I forgot to follow the story! The picture is really sharp and smooth when in motion. There are no artefacts or anything like that floating about. I have never seen Scooby Doo look so crisp and fresh in 40 years of watching - it really is amazing and Daphne looks even more fantastic than normal.

5) 100hz - After experimenting I have left this ON. It has no detrimental effect on most viewing and seems to make the image that bit more "3D" somehow. The only exception was the DVD of "The Dambusters" in b&w which looked strange - too sharp and almost cartoon-like in the contrast level so I switched it off for that and it reverted to looking like it has always looked but just that bit sharper.

6) Sound - perfectly adequate but I am no expert in this area. It is certainly not tinny or rattly or anything.

7) Inferior Panel? - can't say there's any evidence of that at all. If I wasn't aware of this topic there would be absolutely nothing to make me worry about the performance of the panel. So what if it is made by somebody else? I used to have a Saab with a Vauxhall engine in it and it went absolutely brilliantly so why worry?

8) Build Quality - seems well put together and nicely styled with a glass base and pleasant curves.

9) Size - with hindsight I wished I had got the 40 inch one but I was frightened of getting something too big for the room. However, it is certainly true that these LCD screens shrink away into the corner and I could easily have got the bigger size. This seems to be a common thing that people say and I would certainly agree with it.

10) Summary - I am very happy with the new telly. It is far better than I expected and has transformed my tv watching in a massive way. However, I strongly suspect that any of the top brands would have been equally good for a basic user like me. At the end of the day I think I worried too much before I bought and over-analysed the options. All these new tellys are fantastic and miles better than the mountains of old CRTs people are chucking away down the local dump. So my advice is this - don't stress out about the choice, just plumb for something reasonable and I am sure it will knock your socks off. Remember, a tv is just a means to an end rather than an end in itself.

[Bibby_83]

Hi,
Thanks for the review, some good points there - it sounds like quite an impressive LCD TV.