Samsung 32" LE32R41BD, is it really the best lcd?

[gatty-jr-jr]

Hi (1st post) , Iam considering upgrading my 32" sony 100hz for a 32" lcd, but which one?

My stock supplier, Micro P have a good range of 32" lcd availble inc. samsung 41BD for £699 ex vat.

Is it really one of the best lcd's for the cost? i dont really want to spend over £900 as i have looked at the hitachi, sony and phillips of same spec as samsung but they seem to be around £200 more.

I will be using the lcd as a tv, pc monitor and maybe with xbox 360.

To get the best picture quality from pc does it have to be connected via hdmi port with a dvi to hdmi cable? or is the dsub connection good enough?

So which would be the bestbuy for under £900? and would i benefit from upgrading?

Any advise would be much appreciated, cheers.

 

[ainat]

Hi there, I've just made an upgrade from a 32" CRT to 32" LCD also! After a lot of reading through magazines, forums and what not I decided that Sammy LE32R41BD is the one that suits my purpose the most. IMHO the picture quality is excellent provided that you use the right connections and most importantly good sources! Many people are not happy with the PQ of this set, but then again others have nothing but praised for this model. So the best option is to go and see one for yourself and make sure the demo is on the kind of equipment you're planning to use for.

PQ aside, I'm sure you've already heard of the many possible problems of tv. The first being the tearing issue. That's what stopped me from buying it at first, but then it got sorted out (have a look at the tearing thread). I sorted the problem out as soon as my tv arrived and it only took a few minutes.

Other the tearing issue a couple of people received a faulty set (picture processing fault etc..), but they all got replacements now I think? But I'd have thought that it's a rare case...... as a lot of people are happy with this set.

I think for this price you can't really go wrong. The quality via VGA is awesome! However I don't think the HDMI support PC input on this set? But As someone has mention in this forum before, the quality between DVI and DSUB is very minimal, hard to notice. You'd have to look real close to notice it (or so I heard). But the VGA input on this set is very good to say the least!

I don't know about using it as a PC monitor though as you'd have to sit pretty close to the screen. Initially that's what I wanted to do as well, but now I'm not sure if I can rearrange all the furniture and other sound system etc to accommodate this (to sit in front of the tv), and believe me 32"tv is quite big when you're right next to it!

As far as the benefits of upgrading goes, it's only worth it if you'll be using HD source for the future, after all this is a HD ready set and that's what it intended for. If you'll be using it standard sourced then may be it's best to stick with your CRT for the time being, or may be get the 26" version to test things out and that can go to the kitchen, bedroom when you upgrade to the bigger one in the future.

There goes my two cent hope I was of some help in making your decision whether buying or not.

 

[David Mackenzie]

No, it's definitely not the best LCD, but it's very good value for money.

 

[gatty-jr-jr]

Thanks for advice and info ainat.
Just got back from comet and currys to check out picture quality, they had a lg hd demo running in comet and it looked good on the samsung, but as per usual in currys they had a tv analogue signal running which doesn't show anything..

Hi Lyris, what would you say is the 'best' lcd is at the mo?

thanks again.

 

[David Mackenzie]

I really shouldn`t give an answer because I haven`t been looking too much into new LCDs lately. I postponed my LCD upgrade until next year, so I`m sticking with my old 2004 LCD for now. The Panasonic and Sony LCDs seem to be very highly rated around here though.

 

[bonc]

No, it's definitely not the best LCD, but it's very good value for money.

You couldn't help yourself, TSK!

LOL

 

[David Mackenzie]

Hey come on, I was nice!

As much as I had a bad experience with that TV, the more LCDs we see from big manufacturers at bargain prices and the more people that are happy with them, the better.

 

[ctf7]

why buy the R41 when the M61 is out very soon?

 

[Moogle]

why buy the R41 when the M61 is out very soon?

Because it's going to cost a lot more and there isn't that big of a difference between them.

 

[chriszzzzzz]

Sorry but this set is w o n d e r f u l l. Without giving a long post....I have found no flaws in my set all pic quality is fantastic.....

 

[thelurch]

Sorry but this set is w o n d e r f u l l. Without giving a long post....I have found no flaws in my set all pic quality is fantastic.....

ditto