Home > Consumer Reviews > Samsung LN52A550 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

I have had my TV for nearly a month now and I love it. I am coming from a 27" CRT TV, so of course, I'm going to be impressed. However, here are a few things I would like to pass along to those of you in the market for a new flat panel TV:

* LCD versus Plasma:
If you are having a hard time deciding between LCD and plasma, LCD has nearly caught up with plasma in terms of being the better flat panel TV. You still pay a bit more for a comprable LCD though. If you are hooking up a PC to your TV, will be pausing live TV, or anything else that keeps the picture still for a while, definitely consider an LCD as plasmas still have their problems with ghosting. I was in a Circuit City recently and looked at a new plasma TV with all the "anti burn-in" technologies built in. After accidently leaving an image on the screen for 4 hours, there was obvious "burn-in" on the screen.

* Screen Size:
I originally started looking at 42" TVs, but realized that the picture quality is so good on HDTVs that you can buy a much larger TV even if your seating distance is only a few feet away. So, I limited my search to the 46" - 52" range. Another factor to consider is whether or not you want to spend extra for a 1080p set or settle for 720p. Most experts will say that you can't notice the difference between the two in a set smaller than 50". So, you may want to save the money and go with 720p. Also, I was worried if my TV would look too "big" in my family room, but trust me, it looks great. I'm so used to the screen size now that anything smaller just doesn't look as nice anymore.

* HD and SD Channel Quality
The HD channels look fantastic. I have an HD package with Dish Network and all of the HD channels are incredibly clear. The SD channels are certainly bearable, but a big step down from watching SD channels on my 27" CRT TV (in terms of picture clarity).

* PIP
This feature will not work for most people as you must have an analog signal. Those of you with digital cable or satellite TV will not be able to use it. For everyone else, it seems like it would be ok.

* Sound
I didn't have as big of a complaint as everyone else did. I could hear everything loud and clear. I will soon be hooking it up to a home theatre system to improve the sound, but as for basic TV speakers, they seemed ok to me.

* Price
If you are considering a TV purchase, buying from Amazon is a must. They typically have the lowest price (much lower than big box stores) and you don't have to pay S/H or taxes. The customer service was excellent any time I contacted them with regards to receiving a price adjustment. The delivery service was good too.

* Picture Settings
Most people will complain about the "Dynamic" mode of the TV saying that this is what the big box electronic stores use to make the picture look brighter, sharper, etc. This is true, but keep in mind that if you want to use the DNIe (Samsung's picture enhancing engine), you will need to use "Dynamic". I'm still figuring out if DNIe is worth having on, but what I did was set my "Dynamic" settings to be very similar to the "Standard" settings. This way the screen isn't so bright. As for the rest of the picture quality settings, I left most of them the same except for a few minor adjustments for my personal liking.

* No Auto-Motion
This was definitely a struggle for me. Do I buy a 46" 6 series to get Auto-Motion or a 52" 5 series? I've seen fast moving action scenes in both sports and movies and you can at times pick up some jutter (especially when the background is also moving). If you are really picky, consider getting Auto-Motion (which you can set to off, low, etc), but for most people the 5 series with out Auto-Motion is fine. I don't really notice anything most of the time unless I am really looking for it.

* Bonus
Since you've taken the time to read my long review, here is a little bonus. After you buy this TV (or any Samsung), register it online and they will give you an additional 3 free months of product warranty.

Happy Shopping!

From the AVS Forums. These sound settings will bring your sound to life.

"Official LNXXA550 Calibration/Settings Thread"

A lot of people have used these audio settings and reported dramatic improvements:

Mode: Custom
SRS TruSurround XT: On
Auto Volume: On
TV Speaker: On

(# of clicks):
Balance: 0
100Hz: 8 clicks right
300Hz: 8 left
1kHz: 4 left
3kHz: 3 right
10kHz: 5 right

Turn it up and enjoy the ride. . .Great Pic and more than adequate basic sound!

A while ago I got a Philips 52PFL7422 LCD from Costco. I couldn't get the Philips to look right, even after adjustments using DVE, so decided to return it and get a different brand / model.

After some research and in-store comparisons, I decided to get the Samsung LN 52A550. I checked Amazon and the price was less than I paid for the Philips, and I trusted Amazon, being a satisfied customer of theirs for years.

From the start the Samsung was MUCH better than my previous set. It had none of the issues I had with the Philips. I was surprised how well the colors and black levels looked before I did any tweaking. Wanting to get the best picture I could, I set all the enhancements off and used DVE (Digital Video Essentials) to fine-tune the set. The result was a great picture, not overblown like store displays, but not dim or washed out either.

To summarize, here is my opinion of the pros and cons of this set.

Pros:
1. Great contrast - adjusted backlight, contrast and brightness so the blacks look great and whites are not blown out. A really nice, not-too-bright, natural looking image.
2. Great Color temperature and Tint
3. Menus are well organized and VERY comprehensive - many advanced adjustments are available without entering special service menus.
4. USB photo and music interface was nice and menus were comprehensive.
5. Clean-looking frame and pedestal.
6. Noise Reduction and Dynamic Contrast modes, when needed, offer subtle enhancements without degrading the image.
7. Great HD quality from Blu-Ray/PS3. Games and Blu-Rays look fantastic. Even older non-HD DVD's look very good.
8. Great HD and Good SD quality from Cable Box (after adjusting the factory default contrast down to mid-60's, sharpness down to around 0, edge enhancement off).
9. Good quality from Wii and Playstation 2 - contrast, etc. settings similar to Cable Box. The games looked surprisingly good even though they are 480i or 480p. Be sure to not ovewrdrive contrast or sharpness. Use backlight to brighten if necessary.
10. HP Laptop (with NVidia graphics) connected via HDMI looked great. TV displayed various resolutions properly without chopping off the top or sides.
11. Low glare screen. Not as matte as some others, but definitely not high gloss like other Samsung LCD's. This was a must-have for me due to the bright room where the TV is installed.
12. Very good off-center viewing angles. - MUCH better than my previous LCD set.
13. Remote has good-sized buttons and a backlight.

Cons:
1. Sound is hollow unless you perform some adjustments (see AVS Forums for suggested settings). Not really a factor for me since I connect up to an external stereo system anyway.

Didn't Try:
1. VGA/PC Video input.
2. Digital sound outputs.
3. Composite video input.

All-in-all I am very happy with the purchase and with Amazon shipping and customer service.

I researched the daylights out of HDTVs every day for a month before finally buying the LN52A550. Among other TVs, I had previously eyed the Samsung LNT5265F (last year's model), but was turned off by the glare of the shiny screen on that and other Samsung LCDs (looked at them at Best Buy and they WERE excessively shiny). Also, the 8ms pixel response time of those models was a bit slow for sports, with noticeable motion blur. But then the LN52A550 was put out, which has a matte screen and 5ms response time, and at $2,054, I was sold. (The price beat Best Buy's by $450 and that was before another $200 in sales tax.)

I've had the TV almost three weeks now. This TV has phenomenal picture, color, and contrast. Fast response time is great for sports and movies. I have a Sony 1080i upconverting DVD player and movies look great. HDTV signals (Comcast cable with 1080i) look absolutely stunning. There are tons of settings for picture adjustments; the menus are very easy to navigate. I would've liked a few more zoom and aspect ratio adjustments for the 1080 modes, but what's there is adequate.

For me, one high-priority selling point on the Samsung LCDs is the contrast ratio/black levels, and I have to say I was very impressed with this one's. My father has a 52" Vizio LCD and the black levels (more like dark gray) are not even in the same ballpark as this model's. Very dark shade of black. Almost as dark as on my Sharp CRT.

As other reviewers have noted, the sound is pretty weak, but that was absolutely zero factor in my decision because I use a Dolby Digital surround receiver and haven't used the speakers on any TV in my living room for a decade. I can't say how the sound of this model compares to other TVs; I'll just say that if you own a $2,000 TV, you should own an audio receiver and decent speakers.

As some might be, I was a little nervous to online-order a 52" TV (for fear of dreaded dead pixels and having to ship it back, mainly), but everything went great. The delivery took six days from when I ordered to when it arrived. The delivery guys unpacked it, moved it where I wanted it and let me hook it up and turn it on to make sure everything was working. Also, under Amazon's 30-day price guarantee, I've gotten refunds totaling $165 because the price went down to $1,889 since I ordered. Amazon refunded the difference no questions asked. Great service, great TV, great experience all around.

I have no complaints about the television, but about the Samsung company itself. People who purchase from Samsung need to read this review to know the nightmare that may be in store for you should something go wrong with your new television. I would STRONGLY urge anyone who purchases a product from Samsung to make sure you purchase the extra in-store warranty that guarantees immediate exchange at the store you purchase it from in case anything goes wrong. That way, if the tv breaks, you don't have to deal with Samsung Customer Service and can simply get it exchanged at the store you purchased it from. We purchased the 2007 model of this t.v. on December 23rd, 2007 and it broke within a month of us buying it. The LN52 A550 is the model t.v. that they will be replacing it with after 8 months, yes, you read that right, 8 MONTHS of wrangling with Samsung Customer Service department. We paid for a $2,000 television and got to actually watch it with enjoyment for about a month before these awful lines started spreading like a virus all over the screen. Samsung literally has the absolute worst customer service department I've ever worked with. I am not alone in this, other folks have had the exact same horrible experience as me (see the forums on Samsung). They make great products, but they do not back up those products with quality support. They will miscommunicate, not call you back, be rude to you when you call them, drop the ball and never move forward on your case until you practically make it a full time job in your spare time to call them. I've had to call them close to 20 times in the last 3 months. Today when I called, I found out that they had closed me case and listed my television as FIXED when it was broken beyond repair and we were supposed to already be in the review process for a new television. I'm not exaggerating about how bad this service is, so please, save yourself the time and aggravation and spring for the extra hundred or so bucks, just in case. You will save yourself the cost of having to go to the doctor for high blood pressure meds after attempting to deal with Samsung's Customer Torture Department. To top it off, our warranty on the replacement t.v. ends on the same day as our old, broken tv. They won't extend it, even though it was all their fault that we had to wait so long for a new televison. Buyer beware, is all I'm saying. Good luck to everyone.