CHEAP Samsung LN52B550 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color

This reviews contains the stuff I would have wanted to know before paying for a TV of this size.

I recently upgraded to a Samsung LN52B550 1080i 60Hz HDTV from a 32 inch Samsung 720p HDTV. I liked the old Samsung set but it is kinda small by today’s standards. The picture on this TV is awesome. At first the 52″ screen looked too big for the room but now after viewing several movies, its perfect. (My distance from the set in the room where I use it varies from 10ft to 13ft away.) Definitely not too big – I see new details in movies that I never saw before and the big screen experience really makes watching your old favorite DVDs like they are brand new movies. (Do get a DVD player that upscales the DVDs to 1080i resolution – they are just to cheap not to get the clarity that gives you… better yet get a Blue-Ray since prices have come way down)

The TV arrives in a large carton. Putting the stand on it is easy. The TV is not so heavy but it is big and therefore cumbersome to move. It will take two people to lift it up the stairs and onto the table surface or whatever where you will set it down. I did not wall mount it but if you want to do so you could purchase a mount for probably 0 bucks. Hooking the TV up is a breeze if you use HDMI cables – probably buy two six footers – and probably buy them on the web for the best price because they are overpriced in most stores.

If you have a receiver, use HDMI cables to run the sound of this TV through it. The TV sound is nothing special but running it through your receiver it sounds great. There are other options like RCA cables, Composite video connections etc. but HDMI is just so easy because it carries the picture and the sound and retains the best possible picture resolution and sound sampling rates without having to worry if you could be doing better by hooking it up differently. It does have the ability to hook up to your computer but I did not try that yet.

My question when purchasing this unit as opposed to some other model, was whether the 60Hz screen refresh was good enough in light of all the talk about 120Hz and even 240Hz speeds. The higher Hz is supposed to help keep the blurring down in fast motion scenes – and I am sure it would – but it comes at a hefty price (0). Here is my rationale: Consider that the movies themselves are blurred in fast moving scenes. Don’t understand what I mean? Watch a movie then pause it during an action scene. When paused, you are seeing a single frame. It is blurred because the camera took the photo that way – not because your screen refresh rate can’t keep up with it. Try the same thing with a Pixar movie (which is NOT created with a camera). The illustrators deliberately motion-blur frames to get life-like action results. Maybe the 120 or 240Hz makes more difference with sports, but with football games the picture is stunningly crystal clear and I have never noticed any blurring. So anyway, I opted not to pay that extra price and accepted this TV’s 60Hz speed.

The contrast ratio is another thing that is much greater on more expensive sets but the end result is just not worth paying extra for. Perhaps an exception could be made for gamers, where effects are often for the gaming experience rather than realism. However those extreme contrast and computer created lighting effects do not have a realistic look. If movie makers were to use them in production, they would look weird. So, do you need a TV with a really high contrast ratio (where the blacks are really blackest)? I did not see that as worthwhile.

I liked the sets I looked at with LCD backlighting because of the consistent brightness even into the corners, but you are not likely to notice that difference with typical viewing of movies. The manufacturers are really proud of the LCD backlighting feature, but the extra price you pay for the LCD backlight is extreme – very low bang for the buck. This set does not have LCD backlighting – just the standard florescent.

Feature-wise, this model has all the typical menu based settings, channel guides and source options, so really no big pluses or minuses in that department. Like all LCDs, the screen has a matte finish so the reflections from windows or lamps in the room are not very noticeable. (Plasma screens can have a lot of glare so I prefer LCD unless the TV is in a room with no windows.)

This is not a new TV design by any means, but it is at the best price point if you want to upgrade to a really nice TV and don’t care about bragging to your friends about the latest and greatest techie stuff you got.

By the way, I don’t have cable! (If I like a movie I buy it or rent it & I don’t care about the shows…) So, this TV is hooked up to the same roof mounted antenna I have had for 20 years and the picture is great. Just use the shielded coaxial cable you can get at Lowes or Home Depot. I understand there are Hi-Def antennas out there but I have not needed to try one.

Bottom line: the 52″ size seems big at first but is really good for the average living room – worth the cost difference from a 46″. The 60Hz refresh, 6 millisecond response time; 70,000:1 contrast ratio and standard backlighting are all sufficient for really great 1080i resolution viewing of DVD or Blu-Ray media.

I purchased this unit for 19 in December of 2009 & I am very pleased. If I had it to do over again now after having it for several weeks & seeing the after Christmas specials, I would still get the same one.

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Samsung LN52B550 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color Feature

• 52-inch LCD HDTV with full HD 1080p resolution for the sharpest picture possible and red Touch of Color design
• 70,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 6ms response time, Wide Color Enhancer 2 for more vivid colors
• Game mode speeds up image processing response; side-mounted USB port for displaying JPEG/MPEG files and listening to MP3 audio
• Inputs: 4 HDMI-CEC, 2 component, 1 composite, 1 PC, 1 USB, 1 optical digital audio output
• Includes removable stand; measures 49.5 x 33.6 x 12 inches with stand