Samsung Series 8 LED TV review

If we had one gripe with the Samsung Series 8, it would be that its price is too high and the screen sizes on offer are limited. The Series 8 plasma looks almost as good, is a bit cheaper and offers larger screen sizes. Considered on its own, the Samsung Series 8 is one of the best LED TVs we’ve seen.

The Series 8 is Samsung’s top-tier LED TV, with all the features of lesser TVs like the Series 7 and Series 6 as well as boosts to picture quality and video processing. If you can afford to pay for it it’s an excellent TV with no crippling flaws — the few problems are mainly restricted to the TV’s Web features. However, its Series 8 plasma rival has almost equal picture quality and offers larger screen sizes.

The Series 8 looks just like its Series 8 plasma sibling, apart from a much thinner bezel around its 55in screen. The 5mm thick chromed bezel blends into the space behind the television, so in a dimly-lit room the Series 8’s screen stands out. It’s a very modern-looking TV — times have changed since chunky piano black LCD TVs dominated the market two years ago. The Loewe-esque four-legged stand is a feature we have liked on Samsung’s TVs since 2010, so we’re happy to see the trend continuing here.

At 29.7mm thick the Series 8 is a reasonably slim TV. It’s not as stunning as the Series 9 LED TV from 2010, which was thinner than a pencil, but we think the Series 8 would look great mounted against a wall with Samsung’s thin picture-frame wall mount.

The Samsung Series 8 is bundled with a novel remote control, which has a standard remote control layout on one side and a QWERTY tactile keyboard on the other. The QWERTY keyboard makes entering Web addresses or router passwords much easier than the traditional remote control keypad, and we like its inclusion even though we think it’ll get minimal day-to-day use. We did have some trouble getting used to flipping it over when a text-friendly prompt came up, and we found we had to be within a few metres of the TV to use it.

Just like the Series 8 plasma, the Series 8 LED has four HDMI ports, a couple of USB 2.0 connectors, Ethernet, built-in Wi-Fi, digital audio out, VGA and break-out ports for component and composite video. The TV’s active shutter 3D glasses sync up through an inbuilt infrared transmitter.

We don’t think there’s anything major missing here, but a couple more USB 2.0 ports on the Samsung Series 8 would be nice — then you could attach a USB hard drive permanently to the TV to store a music or movie library.

If you get hung up on what extra features you get with your high-end TV, Samsung’s got you covered. The Series 8 has, by our reckoning, the best Web features of any TV on the market at the moment. Sony’s Internet TV beats out the Samsung setup in the sheer number of video services on offer, though.

The iOS-like grid layout of Samsung’s Smart Hub is easy to navigate, and Samsung’s App Store equivalent lets you pick and choose what services you want your TV to access. Like any marketplace there are bad eggs (Twitter and Facebook are much easier to use on a real PC) and good ones (Google Maps is fun on a big screen, and BigPond Movies on Demand is convenient), but the freedom to add or remove apps is excellent — if this ‘smart TV’ trend continues, we think it’s something all manufacuters should do.

The Series 8 is one of only a few Samsung TVs with a built-in Web browser. Used in conjunction with the QWERTY remote, it’s serviceable enough if you’re too slothful to get up off the couch and go to a computer. It also supports a variety of rich Internet protocols like HTML5 and Flash, so you’re not going to have a gimped browsing experience. Microsoft’s Silverlight protocol is missing but we didn’t find this an issue. At the end of the day, you’re still going to get a better Web browser in a PC.

Samsung’s high-end TVs have always impressed us with their excellent detail and colour, especially the LED models and especially when displaying High Definition content. The Series 8 LED TV continues that trend and takes it slightly further than last year’s Series 7. The changes aren’t mind-blowing, but we didn’t expect them to be considering Samsung was working from such a high quality template.

The Series 8 is the only LED model in Samsung’s 2011 LED TV range to feature local dimming, where the TV’s LED edge-lights can dim individually to control the brightness in different areas of the screen. This theoretically allows deep blacks alongside bright whites and while it doesn’t have the same pin-point lighting accuracy as a plasma TV, the system works well. It’s only a problem when there are small areas of bright white light against a dark background, like rolling movie credits.

After running through Terminator: Salvation and The Dark Knight a few times and adjusting the TV’s settings from the Cinema preset (it’s the best preset, but you can still make it look better by lowering the brightness to suit your room and dropping sharpness slightly), we were consistently impressed with the picture quality and detail that the Samsung Series 8’s 55in panel displayed. It’s the most detailed TV we’ve seen when viewing Full HD video — Blu-rays look excellent.

Standard definition up-scaling of DVD and YouTube and other low resolution content is reasonable, but it’s not as clean or as sharp as the pictures we saw from the Sony BRAVIA HX820. This means that day-to-day digital TV looks marginally better on the Sony than the Samsung.

The one fault we could find with the Samsung Series 8’s picture quality was some bloom in the lower left and right corners of the screen on a black background — patches of extra brightness where the TV’s LED edge-lighting sits. We’ve seen this before on edge-lit LED TVs of all brands and all sizes, so it’s not an issue confined to this particular TV. If you want to avoid it, buy a plasma.

3D viewing is, to our eyes, marginally improved from last year’s TVs. There’s less cross-talk, where each eye sees a slight double-edge on 3D surfaces, and the effect seems to be stronger overall — perhaps a function of Samsung’s newer, lighter, brighter 3D glasses. We played through Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and some ocean documentaries and found the 3D effect to be generally acceptable. We’ve never experienced nausea while watching 3D TV and the Samsung Series 8 didn’t start our stomachs churning.

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Sony BRAVIA Z Series KDL-46Z5100 46-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV Get it now!

I had thought that TVs weren't much different from one to the next, primarily because of the reviews on Amazon. Everybody seems to think just about every flat screen is awesome. But this TV convinced me there are significant differences.

I hear constant arguments about what makes a difference to the viewer. You can read the forum debates until you are blue in the face. But what it comes down to is how the product performs for you, and this product truly shocked me.

The only thing I didn't appreciate is that ads imply it is wireless, and it is only wireless if you buy a wireless adapter. Sony does this with some of their stereo setups as well, saying they are wireless, but after you buy them you find out you have to buy an expensive addition to make them wireless.

Now, for the review, which is rather simplistic. Honestly. like most people, I bought a TV to watch, and I want to feel as though it is a great TV because I have to live with it for years to come.

I bought a Sharp 46" first after I read some great comments on it and there was a door buster deal at Walmart on the TV. I got it for $698. We used it for about two weeks, and I was constantly disappointed with it. Certain aspects of the picture were distracting. A graininess in the background, a blurriness when overlays occurred (like when they flash the station's logo on the screen), and an inability to deal with panning effectively, resulting in a jumpy image.

I would have kept the Sharp, but I got a deal on this TV at Amazon that was quite good. So I bought it, thinking if I didn't like it as much as the Sharp, I could find someone that wanted it. I was blown away. The design is way more beautiful than the Sharp and the picture is shockingly brilliant. Side by side, there is just no comparison. The graininess is only present in large black areas, something inherent to LCD, but there is no blurriness, and panning is perfect. Perhaps that is the quality of the display, perhaps the 240 Hz refresh rate or possibly Sony's algorithm to smooth the picture. All I know is the effect is vastly more pleasant to watch.

The remote is large and plays well with other Sony products. If you have other Sony components, the TV recognizes them which is kind of cool. It is internet capable, providing Netflix and other internet TV features that make it a cut above most other TVs.

The menus are nicely designed and intuitive. Setup is simple, except perhaps finding some well hidden connectors on the side of the TV. It also has an integrated TV Guide. That is also way cool for TV viewing directly from an HDTV Antenna.

My only complaint so far, and I am hoping I find a good solution, is that when it is hooked up to my computer, some stray colors appear. For example, black text can have red mixed in or sometimes blue. This only seems to happen with blacks and was not noticeable at all on the Sharp. I am hoping this is just a driver issue in Windows, because it is using the generic monitor driver.

But honestly, I knew we were hooked on this TV when we realized we were just staring at the commercials rather than fast forwarding past them. The picture is absolutely hypnotic.

This is a brilliant TV and if it is in your price range, you will never regret buying it, at least based on what I have observed. The Sharp was sold off to a friend and I don't miss it a bit.Get more detail about Sony BRAVIA Z Series KDL-46Z5100 46-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV.

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Samsung C9000 Series LED TV Video Reviews

Samsung’s latest series of LED TV has created a lot of buzz amongst the television market and is being most talked and appraised model in the segment. Though the price tag will not make common people happy but though there is plenty of features which are extraordinary and will tempt you to get one. With elegent and ultra slim design, metal finish, touch remote which is excellent, 3D hyper real technology to enhance your experience and on back of these plenty of connectivity features from HDMI to ethernet and USB.

To watch the LED TVs reviews keep reading

There are two cool things in the series- one is LED TV itself and another is Touch remote and below are video reviews of both of them.

Read the full article and reviews of Samsung C9000 LED TVs Reviews

• Samsung 55 inch 9000SR LED TV Review
• Samsung 2233BW LCD Monitors Review
• Samsung HT-BD2 Home Entertainment SYstem with BluRay
• Samsung reveals Yepp T08
• Samsung Tocco F480 comparison to iPhone

Tags: Samsung, samsung led tvs

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 5:50 pmand is filed under Home Entertainment.
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Samsung UE-C6000 Series LED TV Review

Being a part of the 2010 series, the C6000 series LED telly is one of the budget TVs from Samsung. With this series the manufacturer is looking to bring in some touch of premium style into the mid rage television market. It also proves that it has more to it than just a pretty face packing in LED edge lights, DLNA, 100/120 Hz along with some very interesting media streaming capabilities. Keep reading to discover more about this stunning LED television series.

Design:

Yet another beauty from Samsung:

Samsung has been blessed with something like what Midas was blessed with when it comes to designing stunning looking models, and the C6000 is not an exception and stresses the fact that the manufacturer has still got what it takes. It has a piano black finishing with some really translucent edge around its frame. It is this classy inch wide black frame with translucent trim that sets this model apart aesthetically from the crowd. There are some luxurious touch sensitive controls that are hidden below the fascia of the chassis which look every bit classy, thanks to the base’s brushed aluminium effect pedestal finishing that gives a completion to this contemporary look. The C6000 has models of screen sizes 32”, 37”, 40”, 46” and 55”.

Remote Control:

The remote control is not the most logically laid out but at least it feels nice and there’s no annoying lag between pressing a button and the execution of a command.

Slots and connectivity:

Samsung has not chosen to be skimpy with the connectivity options of the C6000 series and just a glance around its back will make you realise how well it has been specified. You will find four of the all important HDMI ports, that is mounted in a row in the left hand side of the display. It also offers a set of component inputs, a mini RGB input to be used with the SCART adaptor that comes with the package and a VGA connector too. You have the option of feeding audio from the on-board Freeview HD tuner to an external audio system using the optical digital optical audio port. For the sake of media playback, Samsung has equipped the C6000 with a couple of USB ports, an Ethernet socket and a headphone jack too, which is often regarded as a bit of luxury now a days.

Set up and Interface:

Setting up of the C6000 LED Television is no big deal and is pretty straightforward. It is a breeze to tune in all of the channels including the high definition services from BBC, ITV and Channel 4 too. The reception is sound and rest assured that you will not experience any signal drop outs. The Electronic Programme Guide of Samsung is one of the best in the market and it obviously knocks spots off Panasonic. It is all bright, breezy and colourful and we love the video thumbnail that is displayed in the top left corner. This layout displays quite a decent amount of programming information at once and makes it a breeze to browse between different programmes and channels.

The menu system of the television too looks very welcoming too, complemented by its colourful icons, although some of the menus do run quite deep. And, as a result, it can take quite a few clicks to get to the more deep advanced picture settings.

Features:

The UE-C6000 range of 2D Full HD LED Panels is not the most affordable model in the market right now. You will get a 32” model of the UE C6000 model for around 800 pounds, and for such money, you can expect more than just a pretty frame, and as with any work of art, it is what is going on inside that really counts. And on that note, Samsung has tried its best to squeeze quite a substantial amount of cutting edge functionality on to the C6000. The main feature of course, is the Freeview HD tuner, closely followed by a wide range of picture and sound enhancement technologies along with some very handy multimedia capabilities. This list stops short of Samsung’s famous Internet TV portal that can be found on the step up series of C6600. Except for Internet and 3D capabilities, the C6000 LED TV is one of the highly specified HD TVs in the consumer market.

Networking:

You will not find it too hard to get the networking features up and running and in case you opt the standard DHCP, all of it is configured automatically. And as soon as the networking system has been set up, you will be able to use the TV’s built in media streaming facilities in order to grab music, images or videos from a system or network attached storage drive. Along with the DivX and Xvid formats, the C6000 also seems to support the MKV files at resolutions of up to 1080p, which contributes superb quality video streaming.

Internet Features: NA

One particular feature in which the C6000 really lets you down big time, though, is when it comes to the Internet widgets. In fact, it turns out this telly does not support any sort of Internet services, whatsoever, in spite of having a dedicated Internet button on the remote control. And, this is absolutely disappointing for a LED TV in this price range. If you wish for the Internet features, you might have to shell out more cash for the Samsung C6600. However, the absence of Internet TV is not a cause of concern as it is not everybody’s cup of tea and in most cases these services are just a waste of space and much useful and better features can be found on the Blu-ray decks like Sony’s BDP-S370, rather than looking for them in TV sets.

Edge LEDs:

As you can expect at this price point, the TV has a 1080p panel which is illuminated through the edge mounted LED lights. Like most LED TVs in the current market, the C6000 offers some exceptionally vivid colours that are so in your face that they will end up practically punching out your eyeballs. The black levels are outstandingly deep for an LCD screen. Having said that, the C6000 tends to add too much of egg to the pudding a little bit, with the reds resulting in slightly orange skin tones. Although black levels are very deep, the C6000 sometimes seems to struggle to tease out shadow detail in darker scenes.

Picture enhancing options:

We were quite surprised to discover that, under the bonnet picture calibration is the name of the game with more picture tweaks than there are barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The basic picture options that you get comprise modes such as, Dynamic, which is the eye smearing bright default showroom setting, Standard, Natural mode that reduces strain to your eyes and the Movie mode for watching in a dark room. And of course, you also get the standard backlight, contrast, brightness, sharpness, colour, and tint controls along with some eco friendly solutions that offer the image with different levels of brightness to match with your environmental disposition.

The logo on the cover reads “Imagine The Possibilities”, and we think that this should actually be taken as a warning to the level of complexity that can be achieved when you lose yourself in the jungle of controls at your disposal. Inside the Advanced settings menu, you will be able to find three kinds of black level adjustment like black tone, dynamic contrast and shadow detail. Here itself, the colours can be altered in myriad ways through menus for Gamma, RGB Only mode, colour space, white balance, flesh tone, and 10 point white balance. Finally, you will also find ON and OFF controls for xvYCC, edge enhancement and LED Motion Plus. The latter feature is quite essential for removal of judder and is also often the cause of haloing on the LED displays. As if that is not satisfying, you also have the Picture Options that allows you to adjust the colour tone, picture size, digital noise filter, MPEG noise filter, HDMI black level, film mode and 100Hz Motion Plus. There are even two so-called Expert patterns, one black and white, one colour, to help you see the results of making each adjustment.

Audio wise, the UE C6000 does not seem to be any better equipped to deliver a decent listening experience than any other thin TV with the ubiquitous 2 x 10W speakers, however it is quite pleasing to see SRS TheaterSound is on board. This offers standard, music, movie, clear voice and amplifies modes, plus there is also an equaliser and SRS TruDialog and TruSurround HD virtual 5.1 over headphones. You can simply plug in a USB flash drive or hard drive to access multi-media files or connect to a home network by using a CAT5 cable or invest in an optional wireless link.

No 3D: Not Yet

While it is true that 3D capability is highly likely to become a standard feature on the large screen tellys, it is quite unlikely to feature on sub 37 inch models for longer than you anticipate as the 200Hz processing requirements cannot be met and however, an immersive 3D experience will be rather lost in the smaller displays anyway. So, no 3D, no big deal.

Performance:

Edge-lit LED screens need an awful lot of processing to deliver images that can compete with the best CCFL-lit LCD and plasmas and Samsung has certainly got a lot of things right.

Video Performance:
HD:
The Samsung UE C6000 is capable of coping up with pretty much any type of picture source from avi and mkv files to 1080/24p Blu-ray. The best part about the C6000 is that, the high definition pictures look razor sharp regardless of whether they are being delivered through the Freeview HD tuner or a Blu-ray disc. The screen does a great job with the HD Sources and the built-in Freeview HD tuner serves some incredible pictures so that the day time shows like the Ellen sparkles with real astounding detail and clarity. Also quite impressive, although not unexpectedly, are the excellent black levels this screen is capable of throwing up. The ink black darkness that the C6000 produces is simply not achievable on an ordinary LED television. The Blu-ray reproduction is on par with the broadcast HD with generally excellent pictures.

SD:
The standard definition performance of the Samsung C6000 is also quite impressive, it does a stellar job of tarting up some of the low quality Freeview channels. The 100Hz motion processing keeps a check on most judder and motion artefacts, but it is actually best left turned off while watching movies, as it tends to make films look rather flat. Using the TV’s basic standard picture mode, the standard def broadcasts and DVDs are fed with as much detail and definition as could be expected but they do sometimes suffer with, shimmering around fast moving figures, which can be really distracting. Yet another glitch is that, despite the innumerable picture tweaks available the colour palette cannot deliver really accurate reds like a good plasma screen can. Another problem of edge-lit screens is that detail is lost in shadowy scenes and it is particularly bad here so that dark objects appear as an amorphous mass. Messing around with the settings does not seem to resolve the problem.

It is pleasing to report that the screen is no slouch when running a JPEG slideshow and is adept at playing multi-media files although AVCHD is not supported. Viewing angles are also excellent with no drop-off in brightness as you move to the side of the screen.

Audio Performance:
With such a slimline chassis of only 30mm thick, and speakers rated at a lowly 10W each, we were actually not expecting the Samsung UE C6000 to produce much in the way of sonic fireworks. Not of course anything like as clear or full as using a separate system but certainly perfectly acceptable for everyday use and superior to many larger screens. The various SRS modes like music, movie, clear voice and TruDialog, and Equalizer settings are well worth experimenting with to find the best soundfield for whatever genre you are listening too. Its audio performance is not half bad, though. The speakers are loud enough to fill a mid-size lounge and there are some very usable effects on-board. ‘Clear Voice’ helps dialogue stand out from background sound and the ‘SRS TheaterSound’ mode does a great decent job of spreading out the stereo image to make audio from the set seem more expansive.

Warranty:

Samsung offers its C6000 (32?, 37?, 40?, 46?, 55?) LED TVs, one year warranty for parts and labour.

Verdict:

The Samsung series C6000 is obviously, a very attractive-looking TV; something like a design statement. Putting the Minor glitches aside, it is quite capable of delivering crispy and dynamic pictures from both standard definition and high definition sources. The blacklevels and colours are excellent too. The standard definition pictures are generally good, especially the higher bandwidth channels on the Freeview tuner and the sound reproduction too is quite decent for an LED TV. The connectivity is quite generous, covering all your AV needs.

However, on the cons side it has the lack of detail in the very dark areas and 100Hz artefacts, even though the latter is not profoundly noticeable on larger displays. Considering the relatively small amount of screen real estate on offer and the lack of Internet features, however, we cannot help feeling its price is slightly on the high end. If you are in search for some LCD or Plasma alternatives, you can look for the really impressive 40” Sony KDL-40EX503 and Panasonic’s TX-P42G20. Yet another option is Panasonic’s TX-L32D28BP which is slightly pricier, but it brings in VieraCast Internet TV to the party.

Samsung UE-C6000 (32?, 37?, 40?, 46?, 55?) LED TV – Technical Specifications

For 32” model: 799 x 521 x 30 mmSRS TruSurround HD & Dolby Digital plus4 x HDMI
2 x USB
1 x Digital Audio (Optical)
1 x PC input (D-sub)
1 x PC Audio Input (Mini Jack)
DVI Audio Input: Common Use for PC Audio Input
1 x Component (Y/Pb/Pr)
1 x composite (AV)
1 x RF input
CI Slot
1 x mini ScartPower Cable
Vesa Wall Mount
Slim Gender Cable Scart / Component / AV IN
Instruction Book
Batteries

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Samsung LCD Tv 6 Series Kopen? Oa LE37C650 & LE 40C650!

samsung le 55c650 review.

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Filed under: lcd television ratings

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Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P42S1 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV, Panasonic TC-P42S1

"Great hdtv for the price", 2010-04-23

Alot of people complain about the picture quality,but if you go to C-NET & use their recommended settings it looks amazing.I absolutely love this tv!

"Plasma TV a great buy.", 2010-04-07

I have had this 42" Panasonic Viera Plasma TV for nearly four month's now; I upgraded from a 21" Panasonic CRT. This is a really great TV at a reasonable price. I chose plasma because they got great reviews and seem to have less issues with backlighting and were a bit cheaper than current generation LED/LCD's. I opted for the S version over the X version because I don't have broadband. We get 20 odd channels over the air with an antenna, PBS which has a lot of HD programming comes in beautifully. We joined Netflix about the same time and have really been enjoying the home theatre experience. My TV room is narrow less than 12' so I made cardboard cutouts while deciding between the 42" and the 46", in hind sight I could have gone with the 46". I was worried a 46" from 7 feet away would be too big or grainy, the fact is you could be 12" away with HD before it starts to pixilate, and the picture is so good, bigger is better once you experience the feel of home theatre. I added the Blu-ray DVD player, have yet to try a Blu-ray disc, but we're ready for them. I already had an Onkyo 7.1 surround sound receiver, added a motley collection of speakers, a pair of old KLH's, some home built rear and recently added a BIC 12" sub woofer, now we can get all the sound effects and deep base we can handle. I used the HDMI connections for the Onkyo, Blu-ray and TV; these are a must to get the HD experience. Needed the composite hook up for a somewhat antiquated VCR, and a digital optical input for the best sound from the Home Theatre Amp. The message here is DON'T FORGET TO ORDER CABLES ALONG WITH THE TV. The sound out of the TV itself is OK, not horrible but far from a surround sound experience. I have never adjusted any of the picture settings, colors are rich and accurate, occasionally a bit dark but this can be adjusted by opting for the theatre experience which enhances the picture abit. Controls and adjustments both on the TV and the Onkyo require studying the manuals and carefully selecting from multi-layer menus. Not always clear what you want or how to get it, since we don't do this everyday, adjustments require revisiting the manual. Once you are happy with what you have great, still need 3 remotes, haven't been successful using any one as a universal though all claim it's possible. Overall a huge upgrade from the old TV, enjoying it!

"Good value, but there are a lot of areas for improvement", 2010-03-17

This review is going to be biased.
Info: I live approx. 6 mi from the TV transmitters in my area.
Previous TV for comparison: JVC D-series 27" CRT w/ Insignia SD tuner box
Other equipment: B&W speakers, Pioneer Elite receiver, Oppo BluRay player
Tech level: High. I read AVSForum, listen to tech podcasts, and program computers for a living.

Also note, this is my first HDTV purchase, and I made some mistakes in the process, so I'll share them with you so that you can perhaps avoid them.

Advantages:
-The fact that you get a performance plasma for a low price means this unit is a great value. You'd be hard pressed to find another plasma that has the performance/price ratio this one does.
-It *is* a plasma. As such, you get spot-on motion resolution (very natural!), wide viewing angles, and good black levels. It produces a very nice, non-fatiguing picture, which many LCDs simply can't compete with, at or above this price point.
-Optical audio output works very well; it can even put out 2-channel audio from HDMI input sources out over optical.
-I thought I would hate the glass face (potentially reflective), but I found that if you don't have lights back where you sit, it actually brings the picture out and makes it look better.

Disadvantages:
-The color performance on this display is so-so. People, in general, tend to look pale and bland (too green), especially with DVD, SDTV material on TV after using a calibration disc. Out of the box it was too yellow. It's kinda boring to look at, perhaps like you're watching a lake with a mild algae infestation. Most of the Panasonic THX plasmas (G10, V10) above this model aren't this bad, so you may want to spend more if you don't like the color on the S1. Note: With truly HD or BluRay material, I've found the color doesn't bother me as much and I'm okay with it. I'm not sure why, maybe its the way the S1 does color conversion. In short, this HDTV cannot provide a picture that's remotely close to reference, even with significant tweaking. It's better than many of it's peers, but it still falls short.
-Calibration controls for this set are few. There is no 11-step gray scale adjustment, or any color management system. Because of this, you really can't fix the color decoding issues without expensive external hardware. Even the service menu controls are limited, which means even an ISF calibrator would be hard pressed to fix these problems.
-No VGA/PC input. Thought I wouldn't care too much about not having this, but discovered that I do. There are so many times where I wish I could hook up my laptop to my TV (streaming video, playing video games, etc) that I wish I had this. YMMV. I could get a VGA to HDMI adapter, but that actually costs more than moving to a 42" G10 with the VGA input.
-The ATSC tuner is very bare-bones. You can't see extended show information, what's coming up next, no guide or anything other than the title of the show from show metadata. The tuner is also not very sensitive, I find I need to tweak the antenna a bit more to keep the station coming in well. (I'm comparing to an Insignia SD tuner box I used previously; LG made it and use a similar ATSC tuner system in their TVs, I believe; much better IMHO).
-After I got it, and had it in the room, I realized that yes, I could have gone 50" and it would have made a big positive difference. If your'e hunting for a TV, you may want to think about getting one size bigger than the size you want.

Conclusion: while this display met my budget requirements, and while it is a pretty good display for the money, if you are kinda picky about picture quality you may be disappointed. I learned, after this purchase, that I should have saved a bit more and gone for a G10/V10, even if I had to mail-order it. I'll make a better decision next time.

"more than surprised", 2010-03-15

I bought the Panasonic after much research & comparison. I was waiting for the earlier issues of plasma TV's to be resolved. I knew that the color was more vibrant than any LCD I had ever seen, but was worried about all the things that would sour my eventual purchase. Price, viewing angle, power consumption, screen burn-in, heat, weight, contrast ratio, ease of operation, etc. As time passed one by one every concern I had about plasma was resolved to a more than acceptable level. The TV has the easiest set-up menu I have ever seen and within 20 minutes of dragging the box in the door I had assigned the TV inputs to my SAT HDMI, my Blu-Ray to another input, my outside antenna to but another, and was watching HDTV. If you are someone who isn't real handy with technical babel I highly recommend this TV. The picture is amazing, and I was very surprised to how well the 'on-board' speakers sound. It was a great deal, super fast delivery to my door by UPS, easy to set-up & use, and has been an absolute joy since I got it. If they had a sixth star I would rate it six out of six!

My son who has been leaning towards the new LED TV's came by to see mine and after about five minutes of being completely blown-away has since ordered a 58" Panasonic plasma for himself. The 2,000,000 -1 contrast ratio really makes a difference in the sharpness & the blacks etc. For fast moving sporting events this plasma is the best I have ever seen & I have been staring at plasmas for five years waiting for all their quirks to be improved. Amazing TV and better than the Samsung that cost a thousand dollars more.

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VIZIO 32-Inch Class XVT Series Full 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, SV320XVT

VIZIO 32-Inch Class XVT Series Full 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, SV320XVT

Yamaha Receiver

VIZIO 32-Inch Class XVT Series Full 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, SV320XVT

This was to be a secondary TV. It shouldn’t dominate the room, so it was exciting to see the “slim-ness” of this Vizio SV320XVT with its small bezel around the screen. It is light, so it can be easily moved and wall mounted.

This Vizio has great picture quality. It’s better than our 3 year old Phillips LCD. It matches the picture quality of our 2 month old 52 inch Sony Bravia. BLU-RAY and TiVo HD (w/ HD CableCARD) are wonderful with rich colors and a sharp picture.

Smooth Motion (120Hz) creates a “Soap Opera Effect” but can be disabled in the setup menu. There are many video settings in the menus, so it really lets you get the picture the way you want.

There is good sound quality. It is not 5.1 surround sound, home theater level. But, you have plenty of options to adjust the audio.

The receiver for my Vizio is a Yamaha HTR-5930SL 5.1-Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver, Silver. It produces amazing sound that really makes watching TV more enjoyable.

This TV is built well. It feels solid, with a slim design. The remote is good and looks attractive. The channel and volume buttons are backlit, which is nice in a dark room. The inputs in the rear are well-configured, with color used for visual cues.

The only issue is the menu system and the button layout on the remote control.

The setup menu is difficult to navigate. Some important settings are buried deep in submenu after submenu.

The input menu has no option to “skip” or “not display” unused inputs. This is an issue when only 2 devices are connected. Yet, you are forced to click through 8 inputs to get to the desired device.

This Vizio SV320XVT is a great TV. It is my first VIZIO product. It is a solid recommendation for anyone looking at a 32-inch LCD HDTV.

VIZIO 32-Inch Class XVT Series Full 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, SV320XVT

Popularity: 31%

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Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-L32S1 32-Inch LCD HDTV 1080p

Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-L32S1 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV front display Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-L32S1 32-Inch LCD HDTV 1080p rear panel


This Panasonic TC-L32S1 is a good quality IPS LCD. It has a superior LCD technology that is generally used in only a few premium sets.


Few TV makers use IPS LCD technology. When they do, it has been reported they swap the technology for inferior, cheaper technology after getting initial positive reviews. From my understanding, this is not an issue for Panasonic models.



You get awesome image quality from a cable box, a PS3 with HDMI cables, and Blu-Ray. When I streamed video over 1080p from my Mac to my PS3, it looked great, too!
This TV has less than a single frame of input lag using progressive sources. It has a good quality de-interlacer. This results in merely a single frame of lag, which makes this one of the best gaming LCDs at ANY price.
Viewing angles, both horizontal and vertical, almost match a CRT or plasma. I didn’t see any color shifting.
Color is saturated and accurate (when calibrated). It is crisp and bright. There is no banding of gradients. I noticed no loss of detail from shadows or highlights. For an affordable television, this is extremely rare.
Black levels are good but not remarkable.


This Panasonic LCD TV is best used with a PC as a media center. Using it as a full-time internet/productivity screen is not as impressive.
You have S-Video, Composite, Component, and 3 HDMI inputs. There are analog and digital audio outputs. It supports a wide variety of VGA input timings.
The SD slot is only setup to playback picture files and do firmware updates. The SD card must be formatted using proprietary Panasonic software that only works with XP and Vista.
1920×1080 can be displayed 1:1, without cutting off the edges. This happens with a PC with a DVI-HDMI cable from other LCD TVs, but not this Panasonic.
VGA input resolution is limited to 1280×1024.
When viewing from a diagonal angle, black turns gray. Watch TV at eye level to see the wide viewing angles.
The speakers seem weaker than comparable TVs.
Outside of cinema mode, the modes produce color changes that are not as good.
“Normal” color gives a slightly bluish temp from the fluorescent backlight. “Warm” looks better.
There is slight image blurring watching sports. You may notice it when players move (running), which causes background images (typically the crowd) to blur. Since I watch the players, not the crowd, it’s not a huge deal.
Bottom line, this Panasonic TC-L32S1 is a wonderful entry level LCD HDTV for the price. If you’re not sure, just go and buy it. More than likely, you’ll be happy with it.
Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-L32S1 1080p 32-Inch LCD HDTV remote Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-L32S1 32-Inch LCD HDTV 1080p side panelPopularity: 25%If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
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Panasonic 32-Inch LCD HDTV VIERA X1 Series TC-L32X1 720p

panasonic viera x1 series tc l32X1 32 inch 720p lcd hdtv display

I just got this Panasonic TC-L32X1 LCD and already love it. There are so many features, benefits, and settings. However, for most, it is all about how user-friendly it is.

I got this TV to upgrade my old one. It was an RCA L26W11. It was a mistake to get that RCA so soon after it was introduced. That TV doesn’t compare to this Panasonic Viera. Yet, it was almost twice the price!

The TV includes…

a standing TV pedestal (it is black and shiny and blends nicely with the TV),a detailed and easy-to-use instruction manual with details on Panasonic’s 1-year warranty,a large, color-coded insert with easy to install instructions,a universal dock which has a ferrite core for the cord,a cleaning kit and a lint-free cloth,a remote control AND batteries that look as nice and as simple to use as the TV,miscellaneous other papers (child safety, product registration), anda small screw set.

You do not get a wall-mounting kit. For a Panasonic-brand wall-hanging kit, the item number is: TY-WK3L2RW. Or, try here for a wall mount.

The picture quality is so crisp, detailed, and lively. I have not seen a better picture than this.

You get a ton of inputs for your components. There are 3 HDMI inputs (2 can be converted to DVI if you need them). My HD DVR box hooked to it and it was very easy.

I have a desktop computer using the PC input with a Panasonic DVD burner. While my equipment is old, it didn’t matter. The Panasonic LCD makes everything so quick and easy to install and use.

TV sound CAN be played while the PC/VGA input is being used. Not only that, it plays the sound from my DVDs. I have my DVD burner on for sound to be carried to the PC. This includes sound from the TV and DVD player.

It’s really nice that you can label each input on the screen and customize it. Panasonic did a great job with an otherwise daunting chore of naming each input.

You get HDMI side inputs with more audio/video inputs. This is great for connecting a camcorder to view something quickly (using the side input).

This is an Energy Star rated LCD TV. So, the TV shuts off automatically when it’s on too long without activity. You can override this, easily, if you want.  

The menu features and set-up features are very nice. Adjust the picture to 4 different sizes (to me, FULL works and looks best in HD and standard definition).

The sound controls work well. I leave sound on 1 (I don’t like very loud noises). Everything is so amazingly clear and full. Other menu features change coloring and lots of other stuff.

Remember, with multiple components, you will want to do these adjustments while inside each specific input. Otherwise, anything not changed simply defaults to manufacturer settings.

The TV’s appearance is so intoxicating. It is almost overpowering in its apperance. Besides the small, little, red indicator light (on the front panel), it’s all black. The TV is incredibly lightweight and super-slender. Yet, the screen size (and image) and sound are huge.

This Panasonic is compatible with your SD memory cards. It includes a detailed section (using the Viera Image Viewer link). The Viera Link lets you listen to your favorite songs on your iPod. That was a real added bonus and a surprise for me.

The Viera Link Connection automatically lets you control any other **compatible** Panasonic components hooked to the TV. There is 1 catch, and it’s big. It only supports “Panasonic HDAVI Control” components using an HDMI cable. My DVD burner (DMR-E20) was made in the Stone Ages. So, the Viera Link does not work for it.

Try watching TV (specifically HD) using the Component input. It was a little confusing for me because I learned you can still get HD through the TV input. But, the picture shows in 480i. Use component for the 720p picture and you’ll be fine.

Once again, the instructional booklet is fantastic. It has pictures, diagrams, detailed information and lots of other useful stuff. It resembles more a computer manual than a TV booklet.

I had to contact Panasonic and received quick and speedy tech support. The representative actually knew what they were talking about! As a longtime (and former) RCA customer, this was a godsend. RCA had non-existent tech support.

If you want a 32-inch LCD HDTV, this Panasonic TC-L32X1 will not disappoint.

Popularity: 84%

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