Dilemma LE40A686 vs LE40B650-T2 (£80 difference)

reddwarf2002

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I currently have the Samsung LE40A686 which I bought from John Lweis for £720. There is a minor problem with picture tear/v-sync (although I could live with it) and JL have agreed to refund the full amount.

My dilemma now do I take the refund and buy the LE40B650 which I could possibly get a pricematch for about £800. Is the B650 worth the £80 extra?

Appreciate all the comments.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I would regard picture quality to be the most important factor. How much better is the B650? unfortunately it is difficult to judge picture quality from the poor showroom conditions.
 
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The B650 has slightly improved black levels, and I'm sure there are some processing and colour improvements in there too. Whether it's £80 worth of difference I'm not sure as I've not seen the two next to each other, but the B650 is one of the best LCDs in the price bracket. You'd struggle to find an A686 now as well
 
FYI

John Lewis Bluewater had 6 of the A686 left last night. Did have 7 but I bought one for £599 :D
 
FYI

John Lewis Bluewater had 6 of the A686 left last night. Did have 7 but I bought one for £599 :D

Thats well good. Any idea if they have it at any other stores? or if they can transfer between stores.
 
Thanks Monarch08.

My other query is regarding the panel on the 40B650. From reading the posts it appears as though mostly Samsung are not using their own panel. All the 40A686 does have a Samsung panel.

Does anyone know what the difference is between the Samsung, AU and CN panels? Is it noticeable to the naked eye?
 
Don't Samsung use an SVPA panel in the B650? There is a difference between the AUO and SVPA panels, it's pretty much entirely in contrast, the latter being the better, the AUO panelled TVs don't have as accurate greyscale either (in the Sonys). I would expect the 40B650 to use an SVPA panel though as the only reason AUO panels are used in the 37" models is that they don't produce 37" SVPA panels at the Sony/Samsung factory
 
Don't Samsung use an SVPA panel in the B650? There is a difference between the AUO and SVPA panels, it's pretty much entirely in contrast, the latter being the better, the AUO panelled TVs don't have as accurate greyscale either (in the Sonys). I would expect the 40B650 to use an SVPA panel though as the only reason AUO panels are used in the 37" models is that they don't produce 37" SVPA panels at the Sony/Samsung factory

Apparently, Samsung have reduced their factory production due to the financial climate and therefore are having to source panels from other manufacturers (presumably cheaper than their own panel manufacturing cost otherwise doesn't make sense).

I'm pretty sure the 40" has AUO and CN panels too. I'm going to have to troll through the B650 thread again just to be 100%!
 
I would be interested to hear if they did because HD TV test measured the black levels on the 40B650 to be 0.04cd/m2, very similar to the 40" Sonys, the 37" Sony (using an AUO panel) can hardly reach 0.09cd/m2
 

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