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

This thing is like a piece of iron.... but its a machine made of chips and plastic I think

Update. We also purchased a Blue Ray player which, when playing a BR or DVD has a very good image. At least with BR, we didn't see any pixelization with fast cuts or significant motion so it appears I may have given this TV a bum rap.

We use Optimum's IO cable and I even paid for a service call only to be told that this was how the stations broadcast. I agree with some of the comments here that the problem appears to be caused by the signal quaility from my cable co. I have to question the whole value of HDTV if the cable companies are unable or unwilling to provide the data volume needed for maintaining a high quality picture. May of the so called HDTV stations look worse in some ways the our older analog set showed normal stations because, while not as sharp, we didn't get pixelization.

That said, if the image doesn't move a lot and it is one of the better stations (they seem to vary as to the quality based on station and to some extent program being broadcast) then the image can be breathtaking.

Finally, there is one thing that is the TV's fault. That is, you can't enable closed captioning when using HDMI cable to connect to your cable box. This seems really bogus. I don't need CC but my Mom is partially deaf so we like to turn it on when she visits.

Oh well... live and learn! :-)

------------------------
We recently purchased one of these. I confess I don't have a lot of experience with HDTV. This is the first HD set we've purchased.

We are very disappointed.

The picture quality suffers from a number of issues. The main problem is that any motion leads to pixalization. You see this manifest itself in various ways. Any time a scene changes or a cut in made, parts of the picture becomes pixilated for around 1/2 second before it recovers. This might be tolerable but certain shows, music videos, etc. that involve lots of short cuts becomes fairly unwatchable. Certainly NOT as good as a normal CRT TV even though it is hi-def. Watching sports is painful at best. Some types of images seem to really cause problems. For example, if the image has fog or is of water or involves moving lights then it becomes particularly noticeable. We do have HD programming and so this is not an issue with the signal.

In additional to the pixalization, the picture at times suffers from bleeding (movement leaves a smudge or track behind.) We also get this weird effect where parts of the image seem to move independently of other parts. For example, if a person is wearing glasses, the glasses seem to bounce slightly up or down or side to side by small but noticeable amounts. I'm not sure what would cause this, perhaps some aspect of digital compression?

I feel let down by the reviews here on Amazon. The problems we experience are not subtle so I'm mystified as to why the reviews are so overwhelmingly positive. Buyer beware!

If I could return it I would.

I bought this item the second day it was on sale. Price at that time was ~$1890. Next day the price dropped to $1848 PLUS the free TIVO. I wrote Amazon, asking for the price reduction, and was informed that I didn't actually buy it from Amazon, but from 6ave Electronics, so they wouldn't do the reduction. I wrote 6ave and never got a response.

The TV is great .. audio is weak, but OK .. I use a AV so it's no big deal. Picture is outstanding .. a friend gave me his Monster Calibration DVD, and it helped tweak the set a bit.

All-in-all, very satisfied with the item, not so much with Amazon this time.

hdtv ln52a550 THE SOUND IS NOT GOOD. IT SOUNDS LIKE A CHEAP RADIO. I TRIED ALL THE SOUND ADJUSTMENTS BUT IT MAKES LITTLE DIFFERENCE. NO MATTER IF YOU PUT IT ON MUSIC,GAMES ,NORMAL OR ANY OF THE OTHERS IT STILL DOES NOT SOUND LIKE YOU EXPECT A HDTV TO SOUND. I ALSO ADJUSTED THE FREQUENCES AND THAT WAS OF NO HELP

[ Updated review after about four months ]

I'm neither a videophile nor an audiophile, so my review is necessarily limited. I also don't watch broadcast TV, so I'm only using it as a monitor and speakers for a Blu-Ray player, Wii, PlayStation 2, and a computer. Most components are routed through a Harman-Kardon AVR247 and thence via HDMI to the TV. The computer is attached directly via a VGA connector.

The TV basically plugged in, turned on, and works fine. Not a lot to say there. The picture looks fine, certainly competitive with anything in its class.

A few complaints:

- The first time I tried to use my Harmony remote to power up the system, it crashed the TV. Black screen, wouldn't respond to any controls. Had to unplug it. This has happened perhaps three times.

- Initially, my receiver was out for service, so I was using the TV as a switcher and using its speakers. It didn't seem to accept the idea of an input with no video, so I couldn't play music from my Squeezebox.

- It has discrete codes to select its various inputs, which is what you want if you're using a high-end remote like the Harmony. However, when it's selected to the VGA input, if the computer is off the monitor goes into a power-saving mode. When in the power-saving mode, only a few commands will wake it up - not including the discrete input select commands, and not including the discrete power commands. Oops. (Worked around this by having the Harmony send the "input select" command first to wake it up.)

- The main connectors come straight out the back. That seems obvious, but when you're talking about an HDMI connector with associated not-very-flexible cable, there's not enough space for a close-to-the-wall mounting. You'd either have to dig a hole in the wall or add a right-angle connector. Some competitors have their "back" connectors pointed to the side, both making them easier to get to and avoiding clearance problems for the connectors.

- In PC mode the PC didn't automatically detect that the monitor could do 1080p (1920x1080); the best it thought was available was 720p. However, the PC video driver allowed me to specify my own parameters and I was able to set it to 1080p.

- It takes over ten seconds to power up. That's an eternity when you're waiting for it to power up so that the remote can set it to the right input.