Samsung LT-P8W
Samsung LT-P8W
David Carnoy Executive Editor / Reviews
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Kobo e-books and audiobooks.
Expertise Headphones, Bluetooth speakers, mobile accessories, Apple, Sony, Bose, e-readers, Amazon, glasses, ski gear, iPhone cases, gaming accessories, sports tech, portable audio, interviews, audiophile gear, PC speakers Credentials
- Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
When it hits stores in August, Samsung's LTP468W will carry the title--fleetingly anyway--of the "largest flat-panel LCD TV." This 46-inch model carries a list price of $9,999 and boasts a pixel count of 1,920x1,080, enabling it to display every detail of the highest-resolution HDTV broadcasts.
Upside: With all those pixels, you can sit right up close to the screen and bask in the glory of full-fledged HDTV. No plasma has nearly this high of a native resolution, and LCDs have other advantages over plasmas (check out our comparison). The set also features an HDTV tuner, picture-in-picture, built-in JBL speakers, two component-video connections, and both DVI and the new digital audio/video connector, HDMI. It weighs a little less than 100 pounds.
Downside: You can get a 46-inch plasma for half the price. Although we haven't reviewed this TV yet in person, LCDs haven't performed as well as plasmas in our tests, especially in terms of home-theater picture quality.
Outlook: Consumers with deep pockets who prefer LCDs to plasmas have been waiting for larger screen sets like this one and Sharp's 45-inch Aquos LC-45GX6U. Though still expensive, this Samsung will be a little cheaper than the Sharp initially, but it's unclear from our cursory examination which holds the performance edge. We look forward to testing both in CNET Labs when they're released.
Upside: With all those pixels, you can sit right up close to the screen and bask in the glory of full-fledged HDTV. No plasma has nearly this high of a native resolution, and LCDs have other advantages over plasmas (check out our comparison). The set also features an HDTV tuner, picture-in-picture, built-in JBL speakers, two component-video connections, and both DVI and the new digital audio/video connector, HDMI. It weighs a little less than 100 pounds.
Downside: You can get a 46-inch plasma for half the price. Although we haven't reviewed this TV yet in person, LCDs haven't performed as well as plasmas in our tests, especially in terms of home-theater picture quality.
Outlook: Consumers with deep pockets who prefer LCDs to plasmas have been waiting for larger screen sets like this one and Sharp's 45-inch Aquos LC-45GX6U. Though still expensive, this Samsung will be a little cheaper than the Sharp initially, but it's unclear from our cursory examination which holds the performance edge. We look forward to testing both in CNET Labs when they're released.