Trying to decide on my first TV - Samsung UE40EH5000 vs 40L1333B

jcs88

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Hi guys,

New here! Girlfriend and I are looking to buy a TV for the new flat. I've not bought a TV since before they were flat, just watched everything on my PC monitor.

We were pretty much set on the Samsung UE40EH5000, but then saw the LG 42LS3400 at a great price (Buy LG 42LS3400 42 Inch Full HD Freeview Direct-lit LED TV at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Televisions.). It AMAZINGLY has no headphone out and I have a good pair of speakers waiting to plug into the TV so sadly that one is out. I'm looking at the Toshiba 40L1333B now, which is the same price and seems to boast an IPS panel. I can't find any other huge differences between the two, apart from Freeview/HD. The Toshiba seems to have weaker speakers but as I said we will be plugging in an external pair into the headphone out.

I don't have many requirements, but:
- Would like to watch videos from USB; MKV/h.264 if possible
- No gaming, but watching lots of HD content (movies/documentaries)
- Would like to at some point plug in my computer and use the TV as a 1080p monitor (not game breaking, just an added extra that would be nice!)

Since I know nothing about TV's and I can't find ANY reviews for the Toshiba, could anyone here give some advice? I guess I'm looking for best picture quality/motion handling first, then the 'extra' stuff after.

Many, many thanks! :facepalm:
 
Hi,

I've just started a returns process with Amazon for my Samsung UE32EH5000, so you may want to hold off the UE40. My model (and probably yours too) has an annoying and non-user adjustable feature called "Dynamic Backlighting". This "feature" is not disclosed in the manual and, in the words of Samsung's tech advisor:
The backlight is adjusted automatically by the TV based on the average brightness of the video signal from the broadcast or other source.
This means that you'll frequently see the whole screen become dimmer or brighter according to the scene, and I found it annoying as Heck. For example, watching any TV programme or movie with frequent dark scenes (Law & Order: UK; Rec/Rec2) will cause the backlight to be constantly adjusting, and it's very distracting. It also causes problems when calibrating.
This may or may not be a problem for you, but I'm avoiding Samsung HDTVs entirely now…

As for LG: I purchased two LGs for a relative and find them both excellent, especially because they include built-in test patterns for calibration. I was able to set up the greyscale on both the LGs I bought to near-perfection. If the model you're looking at also has these same functions, it's a win.
 
Thanks for your reply.

As I said the LG has no headphone out, so no external speakers. Barmy and counts it out.

Looks like we will get the Toshiba - unfortunately I just called to confirm that it's edge-lit, rather than backlit. Hope it will be ok....
 
The LG does have SCART, however, and you can easily buy a SCART to RCA Phono output adapter - I have several myself. They're cheap as chips and you can buy them most places.
 
Hi. With regards to the dynamic dimming on the above EH5000 I also has it on my Panasonic L32e5b so I think it might just be a curse throughout LED TV's in general and not just one manufacturer. I also had the EH5000 40" and I have to say I was very surprised at how good DVD's looked through my Xbox. The dark scenes in Prometheus and Super 8 were absolutely terrific so I suppose a bluray would be even better! The TV doesn't however seem to handle CGI particularly well. When the Balrog approaches the bridge in LOTR for instance the image is far from convincing. Also in Hellboy 2 with the swarm of 'toothfairies' the image was very badly pixelated. I don't know if this is what you call motion blur? Anyway, its not something that occurs a lot. Playing games on Xbox was terrific. Fifa no blur and LOTR War in the North very enjoyable too. SD was hit and miss depending on the quality of broadcast. I was a bit surprised at the lack of detail on HD but that might just be improper calibration on my part.
The other thing that I noticed was how difficult it was to get a convincing green when watching football/rugby.
Samsung have quite strong colours and the pitch looked a very strange sort of green!
Just so that you know Richer Sounds currently has the Samsung ES5500 on sale for £429 with a free 5 year guarantee.
 
Been looking at the Samsung UE32EH5000 and I'd not heard of that Dynamic Backlighting issue until now 80s, cheers for mentioning it.

What i can say though jcs88 is i went and looked at the UE32EH5000 yesterday and it seemed pretty nice to me for £250 (obviously 40" is more). And to answer one of your questions if you're still looking at the EH5000 is I tried a 2.3gb 720p mkv x264 version of Match of the Day and it played it fine.
 
Went ahead and got the Toshiba - it only came out a few weeks ago.

Edge lit, quite bad lightbleeding, but picture seems great (I know very little but it's very bright/lots of colour config options, great contrast). Watched Life of Pi in 1080p off a USB stick and it looked incredible.

Unfortunately on the second day it's developed a fault on the usb ports and no longer players them.......Toshiba were pretty uninterested and told me to take it back to Argos. Will have to do that tonight (another two hour slog on the bus).

Let's hope the next one is better....
 
Went ahead and got the Toshiba - it only came out a few weeks ago.

Edge lit, quite bad lightbleeding, but picture seems great (I know very little but it's very bright/lots of colour config options, great contrast). Watched Life of Pi in 1080p off a USB stick and it looked incredible.

Unfortunately on the second day it's developed a fault on the usb ports and no longer players them.......Toshiba were pretty uninterested and told me to take it back to Argos. Will have to do that tonight (another two hour slog on the bus).

Let's hope the next one is better....

Sony TVs have never had the visible dimming backlight.
 
Thats a bummer. I know my little review on the EH5000 wasn't exactly glowing but the more I think about it the more I kind of miss it! I only took it back cos it was too big. Maybe consider exchanging the Toshiba for the Samsung? If you check the review on Amazon for the Eh5000 the number of 5 star votes is insane. Also, not sure what your budget is but if you can get a refund why not have a look at the new Panasonic L39e6b which has just come out for £699. It looks stunning and has just been highly recommended at this website;

Panasonic TX-L42E6B review - TV - Trusted Reviews
 
Thats a bummer. I know my little review on the EH5000 wasn't exactly glowing but the more I think about it the more I kind of miss it! I only took it back cos it was too big. Maybe consider exchanging the Toshiba for the Samsung? If you check the review on Amazon for the Eh5000 the number of 5 star votes is insane. Also, not sure what your budget is but if you can get a refund why not have a look at the new Panasonic L39e6b which has just come out for £699. It looks stunning and has just been highly recommended at this website;

Panasonic TX-L42E6B review - TV - Trusted Reviews

Panasonic will never have the contrast of the Samsung, so it's only really good in brightly lit rooms, unless you're happy for blacks to look grey.
 
I think normally you would be right! But Panasonic have fitted the E6B with a VA panel instead of the usual IPS. All of the reviews so far have stated that the black levels are very good. Contrast is also supposed to be top notch.
In the review above the final verdict basically stated that last years Panasonic LED's weren't quite up to muster whereas the E6B represents a giant leap forward for the brand.
 
I think normally you would be right! But Panasonic have fitted the E6B with a VA panel instead of the usual IPS. All of the reviews so far have stated that the black levels are very good. Contrast is also supposed to be top notch.
In the review above the final verdict basically stated that last years Panasonic LED's weren't quite up to muster whereas the E6B represents a giant leap forward for the brand.

Are you sure it's a VA, because I dont believe there's such a thing as a 42" VA panel - most likely to be LG IPS. However, I'd love to be proven wrong.

As a general rule:

IPS comes in these sizes... 32", 37", 42", 47", 50"
PVA in these... 32", 40", 46", 55"
 
Are you sure it's a VA, because I dont believe there's such a thing as a 42" VA panel - most likely to be LG IPS. However, I'd love to be proven wrong.

As a general rule:

IPS comes in these sizes... 32", 37", 42", 47", 50"
PVA in these... 32", 40", 46", 55"

I wouldn't put my life on it but all of the reviews of the L42E6B that I have read explicitly state that it has an MVA panel;
"The MVA LCD panel deployed on the Panasonic TX-L42E6B has really done wonders for its black-level performance."
I'd say that is fairly definitive!
Someone on AVForums did point out that the 32E6 has an IPS panel but I can't verify this.
 
Probably a bit late to the party.
We purchased the samsung UE40EH5000 from amazon in december 2012.
First tv had big white/grey blotches on the screen. Returned for a replacement.
The second tv worked for 5months before it developed a white grey line running just off centre down one side.
Again Returned for a replacement.
The third tv suffered badly from a blue halo around skin and lights. Picture break up and ghosting/smearing in dark scenes. Sent back next day for a refund.
Playback from usb is also limited. As it struggles with powered usb hard drives.
But works fine from a usb stick.
We based our purchase on reviews of the tv and also the 500 or so people saying how good this model was on amazon.
Whats the odds we got 3 dud tv's or that this tv is not really that good.
 

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