Samsung LN-R328W

Summary: I purchased the Samsung 32 inch widescreen LDC HDTV monitor from Circuit City about 3 weeks ago and have been using it daily. Overall I am very satisfied with the purchase. I use it to watch Television and DVDs, and play Xbox on. Here’s the quick version of who I think this TV is good for: this HDTV is a good choice for someone who wants to watch regular and High definition televisions, DVDs, and/or play Xbox. It is best watched from about 3 – 7 feet away from the screen. Good for when one or two people want to watch. Its built-in speakers are rather weak, so you really need to supplement it with a sound system. This is a good choice for viewers concerned more with crisper/sharper images than with overall size of the picture. I live in an apartment, so this was great for me. Also, I previously owned a larger HDTV and found that I prefer playing games on this 32 inch HDTV. Larger televisions can stretch the game’s image out and actually make it look worse. This 32 inch is really good for someone who plays games by themselves.

This system is not ideal for anyone who wants to sit farther than 7 feet away. It is not the best choice for a main family TV because you have to sit closer and the viewing angle is not as good as a larger TV or a plasma TV. (My parents have a Plasma and the viewing angle on their TV is better than my LDC.) You really need to be in front or at a slight angle to view it. Looking at a 45 degree angle or more will cause some eye strain and doesn’t look right. It is not a good choice if you want to do a lot of split-screen multiplayer gaming because the split images would be too small.

May I offer a small piece of advice? Picture quality is only as good as the source you plug into your TV. I cannot stress this enough. HDTV’s have a certain native resolution (a fixed resolution), this Samsung HDTV having 760 vertical lines approximately. If the source coming into you HDTV is at a lower resolution than the HDTV, the HDTV will “up-convert” the picture to the HDTV’s native resolution. Thus, regular television shows that are broadcast at lower resolutions (like 400-something vertical lines), will be shown on your TV with at 760 vertical lines (the native resolution of the TV). This may make the image better or worse (because the HDTV can “magnify” the picture’s imperfections). So, what is my advice? If you’re gonna get an HDTV, make sure you also get a High Definition cable box. And get a DVD player that can display images at higher resolutions (often times called “progressive scan DVD players) like 720p or 1080i. If you cannot afford these input devices, then you are wasting you money buying an HDTV in the first place.

I spent hours researching, and focused on the lineup of the 32 inch HDTV monitors. I narrowed my choices to four: the Panasonic, the Sony, the Sharp Aquos, and the Samsung. All had positive reviews and had pros and cons to each. At the store, I could not notice a significant difference in picture quality between these 4, and all offer the same native resolution. So, I chose Samsung because I had owned Samsungs previously. The other TV’s seem like fine choices as well. And I know someone who owns the 32” Sharp and he feels the same way. So it seems to me that picture quality is not really the deciding factor here between different brands of 32 inch LDC HDTV’s. In my opinion, your deciding factor should be based more on inputs and function.

For Inputs: all HDTV’s offer a good amount of the old inputs (like Composite inputs, and S-video), so look to the number of high definition (component, DVI-D, or HDMI) inputs to help you decide. HDMI is a pure digital input and seems to be the wave of the future for high definition devices. So, IMO, having an HDTV with HDMI is important. (I think the Sharp HDTV may have two HDMI inputs, but the Samsung has only one.) And having two (or preferably more) component video inputs is very important. Many devices you will plug into your HDTV will use the component plugs, and you don’t want to be stuck with only one component input to your TV. This Samsung HDTV offers 3 inputs for High definition: two component inputs, and one HDMI. I wish it had more, but it seems to be enough for most people. For me, I plug the cable box and Xbox in with component and my DVD player in with HDMI. Plan ahead what devices you want to plug in and what connections you will use.

For features: this Samsung HDTV has good features overall. It makes the TV very user friendly. It allows you to fine-tune all aspects of the picture. This can be tricky. But, it also has several preset modes to pick a good all-around picture for you. The TV also has a brightness sensor and can adjust the picture’s brightness for you dynamically, to match the amount of light in your room. It also has a dynamic contrast setting where the TV will automatically pick what it thinks is the best contrast. You can also save your picture settings to a “Custom” mode, which can be recalled at any time. The TV will remember the last picture ratio that you have it set on (widescreen 16:9, normal 4:3, panorama, or zoomed) for each input and will automatically display that ratio when you turn the TV back on or cycle back to that input. Very handy since I view my Xbox in 4:3 mode but my television in 16:9 mode. Also, when tapping the “Source” button on your remote, the TV will only cycle though the inputs that have plugs in them (except the “Air” input from the coaxle cable jack will always be in the cycle). Please note that the TV’s picture-in-picture feature allows you to watch video from two different SOURCES, not two different television stations. To get picture-in-picture with two different stations, your cable box will need to support that feature.

The overall picture (when using a high definition source) on this Samsung is very crisp and detailed. It takes a while to play around with the picture settings to get what you like. Although I can adjust the brightness, contrast, and color qualities to make the picture look relatively “bright”, I cannot achieve the overall “vibrance” or “brilliance” that my parent’s plasma TV can give. There’s tradeoff here. LCDs can display a higher resolution (more horizontal lines) than plasma, but Plasmas gives a slightly more “brilliant” picture.

Normal TV looks either equal to or slightly better than viewing it on a regular definition television. It will take a bit of getting used to, if you haven’t watched regular television on an LDC. Only the high definition channels and your DVD player will provide dramatically improved images.

The Sound features are just as nice as the picture ones. You can select from different preset sound presentations or use the equalizer to fine tune. The nice feature of this Samsung is that the speakers are along the bottom of the TV and thus don’t add width to the television itself. But this is all a mood point because the internal speakers are rather weak and the sound quality is only mediocre. Internal speakers on all 32 inch HDTVs are gonna be weak. Only the larger HDTVs will have quality internal speakers. You’re really gonna need a sound system to supplement your 32 inch HDTV. And yes, there is an option to turn off the internal speakers if you have a sound system. There is also a sterio output to plug your TV’s sound into a receiver.