Samsung LN-T2642H user reviews

Pros Great HD screen. I've had it for 3 years and no troubles. Lots of external outputs/input choices.

Cons Needs better speakers.

Summary Well designed and reliable product.

Pros Picture Quilty

Cons No 1080p, Only 2 HDMI pors

Summary Although there is no 1080p, this is perfect for a bedroom, which is why i perched it.

Pros Good HD colors; Fair SD colors; Good Sound. Good nav menu from remote

Cons Decent darks in HD; Poor darks and mediums in SD. Impossible nav menu from TV

Summary I am rating this a 5.
** It's a 7 or 8 if you are a gamer.
** It's a 5 if you are a regular movie/TV person. The HD shows look really good, but I think the SD quality was sub-par for a TV in this price range.

I just purchased the Samsung LNT2642H and will be returning it. However, I don't think this is a bad TV - it simply won't meet my needs and wrote this review bc I am sure there are others out there who may be in a similar situation.

I bought this LCD for my home office, where the TV sits about 4 feet away from me. (I have a 3-year old 20" LCD now, but it doesn't support HD.) For a TV that costs $750, my expectations were rather high and after spending several weeks researching AND going to the store to look at the TV in person, I thought the Samsung was the perfect fit (*over the equivalent Sony, Sharp, and Panasonic models).

Unfortunately, after bringing the TV home, I was disappointed.

(Test movies: The Rock, Night at the Museum, V for Vendetta, Airforce One, Jericho, AFL football, Women's College Basketball.)

The Good:
I have to first state that the HD images are superb - even from 4-6 feet. Connected through an HDMI cable, I tested several movies as well as "live" content from my cable box.

The colors and detail were very good and the sound was very good, even for on-board speakers. The textures in people's clothing and faces are definitely what I would expect from a high-end HD TV.

The "graphics" were usually very, very good - and by graphics, I mean the "digitally drawn" or "cartoon" (non-movie) like graphics that appear in your TV guide listing and on nearly all commercials. I was very impressed with the crispness and colors of the graphics.

The remote and menu systems are intuitive.


The Bad
The menu system is very difficult to navigate from the TV - use the remote and you will be fine. It took a LOT of tweaking to get the color, saturation, brightness, and backlight "right" - but after fiddling with it for quite some time, the movies were looking pristine.

I am _extremely_ picky about image quality, so I am basing all of my conclusions based on the "Mark I" eyeball test. After adjustments, the color renditions are good, but I never could get the blacks to look "right."

A good test movie is The Rock and V for Vendetta. Viewing in Standard Def (SD), I was very disappointed. Even with the HDMI cable, there was some serious pixellation and gradiant problems in the darker areas, particularly if the scene involved movement. (Watch the opening scene where the trucks are driving into the compound or any of the scenes under Alcatraz.)

I know this is to be expected in LCDs, but come'on. (If this is what it looks like in an $800 TV, the lower end models must really be bad.)

When viewed in Hi-Def, the pixellation and gradient problems pretty much went away, but I still noticed some problems.

When viewing some AFL football in SD, the picture was semi-ok. In HD, the picture was better, but still not great. I noticed a good deal of pixellation around the players as they ran down the field (especially if the camera was moving opposite of the direction they were running).

The Ugly
As I mentioned before, after adjustments, I did achieve a nice balance of color. However, getting there was a major PITA.

I messed with the menu for at least an hour, making subtle adjustments before I settled with something acceptable. In all honesty, even after the adjustments, the dark and middle-grey portions in SD formats were just plain bad. In the HD format, it was better, but still wasn't acceptable to me. I noticed a great deal of pixellation around the logo icons that TV stations are using.

Conclusion
I think this would be a great TV for a gamer. I also think that this would be perfect for someone sitting >6 feet from the TV where your eyes won't notice screen flicker and pixellations problems. When I tested at >6 feet, I couldn't notice, and like I said, I am picky!

Since this didn't work out for me, I am going to try out the Sony 26" Sony KDL-46S3000 and may wait for the new Sony 26" that was announced at CES in January 2008. I may also test the new Panasonic 26" bc I have seen some good reviews of it.

Pros Easy to set-up. The finish looks nice and the sound quality is decent. The input area on the back allows for a good selection of input formats.

Cons That nice finish attracts fingerprints and shows dust easily. I haven't been able to get my laptop to display on the TV,

Summary The television is really nice for the price. The problems that I've had in getting my computer to display on the TV may be more with my computer than the TV. The TV comes with instructions to register online with Samsung, that allows for an account with the company. I liked the JR.com site that I ordered from. The TV arrived on the exact day it was supposed to, in perfect condition.