Buy From Amazon.com Samsung LN32A450 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
By
Steven V. Viscido (North Carolina) - See all my reviews Pros: Outstanding, crisp HD picture; excllent color contrast; solid response time Cons: Slight pixelation with poor quality SD signal "After doing a huge amount of research, I finally settled on this set. I was actually interested in the slightly lower-priced Toshiba Regza, but every store in my area was out. While shopping around, I noticed that this Samsung in particular seemed to have a top-notch picture. Finally I decided to take the plunge 3 days ago, and I have not been disappointed at all. In the past I have had several issues with LCD TVs, which is why I had been hesitating up to now. I know these issues are on many people's minds, and so I will address each one: . Motion Response ----- First, and most important, is response time with fast motion. I am driven absolutely nuts if the TV can't "hold" the motion (that is, if the image smears, or fractures, when high speed elements are zooming across the screen). The element you are looking for in an LCD monitor that tells you about this is "response time", and you want something 8ms or below. I believe this TV is 6ms (the specs say this on Sammy's website, but several stores have it listed as 8ms). In any case, this TV "holds" the motion of even fast images extremely well. In the store, it held motion best of all comparably priced models, including the Sony Bravias around $1k, and the Sharps around the same price. When I got it home, I tested it out with Star Wars ep. 1 and the battle sequence from Narnia. Both looked outstanding using a regular DVD player with HDMI upconvert to 720p. You will not see ghosting issues with high def images. . Color and contrast ------------ Color fidelity and contrast are also important to me, and LCDs have been known to have issues producing deep blacks and bright whites. This is not a problem for this set. It produces excellent color, and did so right out of the box with the factory pre-sets. I have not had to fiddle with it at all. I did try switching to "Cinema" mode, which has some nice characteristics, but even without that, everything looked amazing. . Standard Def rendition ---------- Another major issue with LCDTVs and monitors is that anything not displayed at the native resolution tends to look blurred or "fractured". I was very concerned about this because I have lots of old DVDs of shows like Seinfeld and the Simpsons, which I know were never broadcast in HD. Also many TV stations have not yet made the switch (though most have). Here the TV was about as good as I have seen, though it is not perfect. The good news is that upconverted SD sources like the Seinfeld DVDs look excellent -- every bit as good as on a regular TV, if not better. The bad news is that your VHS tapes are going to look blurry and pixelated on a set like this. I don't have a lot of VHS tapes left, and so this isn't a huge deal. Regular SD sources with this set vary in quality. For example, the SD version of Animal Planet had a special on the other night that almost looked HD. At the same time, flip channels to CNN, and it looks terrible. I suspect this is the broadcast quality and NOT the set... otherwise all channels would look awful in SD. So when you get a nice SD source being broadcast, it looks fine. . I would highly recommend this set. After connecting my HD cable box today and watching things like CSI:Miami, Vegas, and Miss Congeniality, all in widescreen HD, I can say that I am totally blown away by this set's HD performance. I don't think you'll be able to find a better HD TV set for the price."
Amazon.com
Monday, January 19, 2009
Samsung LN52A650 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color
Buy From Amazon.com Samsung LN52A650 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color Samsung
By
JDC (UT United States) - See all my reviews When I purchased this TV from Amazon.com I had already decided on this Samsung 52" series and was trying to decide between the 650 and the 750. At the time there was a small price difference between the two on Amazon.com. I ended up choosing the 650 because I was placing the TV inside a nook that had limited space. The 650 has a less bulky frame around the LCD screen and therefore it was only 50.2 inches wide as compared to the 750 which is 52" wide. Both screens have the exact same visual display area. Beyond trying to accommodate my limited space, I felt that the smaller frame looked nicer on the TV than the larger frame. The other reason I chose the 650 is that it can swivel on the base, whereas the 750 is fixed on its base. Because I have placed the TV in a nook, this swivel feature has come in very handy as I have had to get behind it from time to time to plug in cords, etc. I have read a lot about screen reflection and was bracing myself for a potentially unpleasant experience during daytime viewing, especially since the room the TV is in has windows all the way across two walls and is full of sunlight daily. I'm happy to report that screen reflection is absolutely no problem. The TV that I was replacing with the Samsung LCD was an older 32" Panasonic Panablack analog TV with the glass screen, which had a lot of reflection. As a point of reference, the Samsung has about 20% of the screen reflection of my old TV (judging from when the TV is off). When the TV is on, the Samsung has about 5% of screen reflection compared with what I used to have with my old TV, which may be due to the incredible brightness of the display. I spent a number of months on this decision and I feel like I hit a home run with this purchase. Samsung has certainly exceeded my expectations with this model and I have been very satisfied with my first experience of buying a TV online from Amazon.com. DEC 20, 2008 UPDATE: I've now owned the TV for more than 6 months. No regrets. The TV has survived well in a family with 5 kids under age 10. It's taken some direct hits to the screen with toys thrown by a 2-year-old but any marks on the screen easily rubbed off. It still looks just like the day I first got it and runs perfectly. I'm very happy with this purchase.
Amazon.com
By
JDC (UT United States) - See all my reviews When I purchased this TV from Amazon.com I had already decided on this Samsung 52" series and was trying to decide between the 650 and the 750. At the time there was a small price difference between the two on Amazon.com. I ended up choosing the 650 because I was placing the TV inside a nook that had limited space. The 650 has a less bulky frame around the LCD screen and therefore it was only 50.2 inches wide as compared to the 750 which is 52" wide. Both screens have the exact same visual display area. Beyond trying to accommodate my limited space, I felt that the smaller frame looked nicer on the TV than the larger frame. The other reason I chose the 650 is that it can swivel on the base, whereas the 750 is fixed on its base. Because I have placed the TV in a nook, this swivel feature has come in very handy as I have had to get behind it from time to time to plug in cords, etc. I have read a lot about screen reflection and was bracing myself for a potentially unpleasant experience during daytime viewing, especially since the room the TV is in has windows all the way across two walls and is full of sunlight daily. I'm happy to report that screen reflection is absolutely no problem. The TV that I was replacing with the Samsung LCD was an older 32" Panasonic Panablack analog TV with the glass screen, which had a lot of reflection. As a point of reference, the Samsung has about 20% of the screen reflection of my old TV (judging from when the TV is off). When the TV is on, the Samsung has about 5% of screen reflection compared with what I used to have with my old TV, which may be due to the incredible brightness of the display. I spent a number of months on this decision and I feel like I hit a home run with this purchase. Samsung has certainly exceeded my expectations with this model and I have been very satisfied with my first experience of buying a TV online from Amazon.com. DEC 20, 2008 UPDATE: I've now owned the TV for more than 6 months. No regrets. The TV has survived well in a family with 5 kids under age 10. It's taken some direct hits to the screen with toys thrown by a 2-year-old but any marks on the screen easily rubbed off. It still looks just like the day I first got it and runs perfectly. I'm very happy with this purchase.
Amazon.com
Renaissance 600 Thread Count 100% Cotton Sateen Sheet Set
Buy From Amazon.com Renaissance 600 Thread Count 100% Cotton Sateen Sheet Set
Good price for great sheets, April 10, 2007
By
E. Schechter
These sheets are smooth and comfortable; however, the fabric is thick and substantial, so if you like your sheets cuddly-soft, maybe you won't care for these. I'm one of those people who can't stand to have wrinkles and folds under my feet, so I've fallen in love with them; the fabric will hold up all week without getting stretched, loose, and tangly. I do wish they had done an extra row of stitching on the elastic of the fitted sheet, but at this price I suppose you can't have everything--and if it becomes necessary, I do have a needle-----somewhere-----I think. I like the café color very much--it's a rich gold, deeper and not as yellow as the golds of yesteryear. The sheets launder well; if you take them out of the dryer promptly and iron just the top hem (Iron an entire sheet? I don't think so.), the whole set looks smooth and inviting. So I'm very pleased. Now if I could just get my husband to let me tuck in the sheets at the bottom of his side of the bed, life would be good.
Amazon.com
Good price for great sheets, April 10, 2007
By
E. Schechter
These sheets are smooth and comfortable; however, the fabric is thick and substantial, so if you like your sheets cuddly-soft, maybe you won't care for these. I'm one of those people who can't stand to have wrinkles and folds under my feet, so I've fallen in love with them; the fabric will hold up all week without getting stretched, loose, and tangly. I do wish they had done an extra row of stitching on the elastic of the fitted sheet, but at this price I suppose you can't have everything--and if it becomes necessary, I do have a needle-----somewhere-----I think. I like the café color very much--it's a rich gold, deeper and not as yellow as the golds of yesteryear. The sheets launder well; if you take them out of the dryer promptly and iron just the top hem (Iron an entire sheet? I don't think so.), the whole set looks smooth and inviting. So I'm very pleased. Now if I could just get my husband to let me tuck in the sheets at the bottom of his side of the bed, life would be good.
Amazon.com
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