Give your TV a new home from IKEA
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 39 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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3 out of 9 people found this review helpful
2.5 stars
"The wrong TV for non-HD buyers"
Pros: Easy set-up, swivel stand, decent blacks, good custom controls
Cons: Bad non-HD picture, tinny sound quality
Summary: Based on the CNET reviews and the encouragement of the salesman at Circuit City, I purchased this television to replace a Sony 37"Trinitron Wega. Boy was that a mistake.
My biggest concern, oddly enough, was amount of space that the TV would take up in our living room. The Sony had a fabulous picture, but it was an eyesore and too big and cumbersome to keep. But when I got the slick, thin Samsung home and plugged it in, the picture quality was, hands down, noticeably worse than the old Sony. Then I read that cathode ray tube televisions *still* have a better picture than LCD and Plasma TV's, at least when you're viewing non-HD. What an understatement.
I was mistakenly told by the salesman that Sony, Samsung, and LG tv's all had a feature that improved the picture of non-HD shows. What he didn't tell me was that that feature isn't available unless you have an HD receiver *and* you're watching a non-HD channel. Good grief. Which meant that, to make the picture quality on this TV even passable, I had to shell out $100 for an HD box from my satellite tv company plus be prepared to pay $10 more per month for hd reception. What a scam.
Bottom line: unless you're planning to upgrade to HD everything (which means the HD box), be prepared for a really sub-par picture and sound. Very unimpressed with this tv, and very surprised at the high rating it has received on this site.
- 5 replies to this review
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Dear Malibru, I agree with the other reply about disallowing bashing. I thought your comments were very good and they helped me greatly towards a decision to buy a SONY instead. Your experience was great information. You did me a nice favor. I wanted my new 32 inch LCD for the master bedroom and like you, I did not want to rent another cable box or HD service. I don't know why, but my new SONY gives me a great picture without the box, a slightly lower resolution of up to 9,000:1, perhpaps? In fact, the set receives 15 HD channels without the box! What a nice plus. Don't ask me how or why, it just does. So, thank you for your time to post your experience. It helped me make the right buying decision.
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Your problem with this television stems from the fact that you didn't do the appropriate research prior to purchasing. HDTVs require a high definition source in order to produce the desired image. You would've run into this problem regardless of what television you chose to buy (even a 52" $3000 feature-heavy set would not have fared better).
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You made a purchase based on the opinion of a Circuit City Salesman?
Your post indicate that you are an intelligent person.
What were you thinking? -
It never ceases to amaze me how CNET users respond to posted opinions. Malibru, I disagree with your opinion, but you are certainly entitled to it, and people should respect that. This Samsung TV does a much better job displaying standard definition programming than my Sony KDL52XBR2 that is in my family room. In my Sony review, I mentioned that SD programming looked better on my old non-HD Ultravision projection TV, so I understand how you feel. Don't get me wrong, I love my Sony too; I'm just saying that the SD picture quality on this Samsung is much better than on the Sony. Maybe your signal quality isn't that great to start with and it is more noticeable on the Samsung that is capable of displaying more lines of resolution? I wish CNET had a policy against opinion bashing. I sometimes feel like I am in a room full of kids when I read these things.
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I've had this TV for over a month now and I love it! By far the greatest picture quality in the small-screen category! Just because the salesman gave you the wrong information doesn't mean that this is a bad TV. People who do their research and know what they are buying find this the best 32" TV available right now.
Samsung LN32A450:
