Samsung UN55D7000

Pros: 1) 2D Quality: amazing deep blacks, crystal clear picture, no blurring or artifacts during fast motion scenes.
2) 3D Quality: limited cross-talk, bright, clear picture, smooth
3) Design: beautiful barely there bezel, super slim, and ultra light

Cons: 1) Clouding/light leak
2) Not quite a work station

Summary: We have owned this TV for about 3 solid months and watch a lot of movies, DirecTV, streaming (both in-home via PS3/XBox piped through windows Media Center and/or direct), Blu-ray (again, PS3) and video games from the two aforementioned consoles. Overall we are very pleased.

I'm a bit of a video snob and could easily see spending more to get a more uniform, professional picture ... but you know what? It simply looks great. When the screen goes black, yes, there is bleeding at the edges. Who cares? There are some shows that look a little unnatural, as if they are videotaped rather than filmed. I'm sure this could be improved upon but I just haven't put the time into calibrating it any further (we did go through some basic steps with a calibration Blu-ray, but nothing super fancy). It's my living room, and admission is free. The picture pops in all sorts of lighting situations and the reflective glare is not bad at all. The 3D features work well, and with the newer 3D glasses provide a very compelling experience. I'm sure there is a bit more tweaking we could do to improve the image, but honestly just haven't gotten around to it. Still, it's enough that nearly everyone who has visited with us for movies and whatnot has remarked on the overall impressive picture, and a couple of friends have even gone out to buy similar Samsung models (ours is the UN55D7000LFXZA).

Physically, the unit is very thin compared to the competition in this price range, and the thin bezel completes its overall graceful design. The Cylon base star swivel base in the box is just gravy.

The remote is very unique, but unreliable (our Harmony universal remote, as with many other devices, does a much better job at getting the infrared signal to the TV than the TV's native remote does). The keyboard is fairly tricky to use, and frankly many of the apps we have downloaded don't recognize its input (which, rather frustratingly, requires text be entered via arrow and select keys instead of the Qwerty keyboard). There is an optical sensor in the middle of the mouse keys that should allow us to easily manipulate the mouse cursor on the screen, but this has been a frustrating experience as well, meaning we rarely actually "surf" anything that way. Also, due to its pie-shaped side profile design, the remote is a bit unwieldy compared to those with a more ergonomic design.

The sound is more than adequate, though we typically (as many probably do) listen to the sound via surround through our receiver. The built in apps work well. The set currently offers the newer version of the NetFlix app that lets you search for titles not already in your queue (very handy). We have used other apps as well and there seem to be regular updates to the firmware and market.

Some of the drawbacks, though minor, have included no ability to watch Amazon VOD (which, arguably, will probably become more of an issue as Netflix's "per view" pre-paid streaming contracts keep expiring) with apparently no plans to change this, and a somewhat cluttered 1.0 feel to the "Smart TV" interface (or whatever it's called) ... we even reconfigured this once to nest things in newly created folders--it was quite a chore, and in the end the whole interface kept locking up so we had to a hard reset to get it to work again.

Toll-free technical support has been fairly lackluster, delivering a feeling that you are reaching the typical non-Samsung customer service center, outsourced from some phone farm somewhere (though it does seem domestically based) where the "technicians" know how to read their screens, but do not really have commanding knowledge of the product or its function, deliver a very "scripty" sort of experience, and are probably trained very little and not well paid to hone their craft. The 3d glasses advertising "Prescription Ready" for these sets are a bit oversold--they are quite comfortable, and the effect works well, but they are not prescription ready ophthalmic frames in the sense that any optometrist can just slap optometric lenses ground to your prescription in--they must be taken to a specially-equipped optometrist that deals with the exclusive Hoya-branded product.

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Overall, I feel I got a good value for this set and do not think it was a bad investment or a decision I should not have made.