 Wish I had bought this one... |
| Review Date: September 6, 2007 |
| Reviewer: RC, |
I researched the 81 and 71 series for as long as they had been announced (~ 6 months, since CES show). I got all hopped up about the "100k" contrast ratio on the 81 series due completely to the new "LED" backlighting. Well, at AVS forums, one guy bought both, and concluded that it only mattered when the screen was totally black (like the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen when watching a wide screen formatted movie, or a fade scene), and then only a little. The general conclusion seemed to point to the 71 series being the sleeper hit so far this year (dunno about the xbr5, but some reports put this one right with it), and that the 81 series wasn't worth the extra grand or more.
Too late for me, because I rushed into BB to pay up front for an 81 series tv as soon as the store had the sku in their system (4 weeks before they even showed up). Yeah, I got to use a 12% off good customer coupon, but in the end I could have had a 52" 71 series instead of a 46" 81 series (especially seeing how heavily discounted they are now on Amazon). The anti-motion options in the 81 are only available in "movie" mode, and are buried in the menus, and only has an on/off option, versus the 71's easy to navigate 3 level options for the anti-motion feature.
The reviews point to the colors and picture appearing just about the same between the 2 tv's when the screen or a large portion of it wasn't all black. Other than that....get this one. It is worth the premium over the 61 or 65 series. As long as you can live with a glossy / semi-glossy screen (versus the xbr4/5's matte screens), you won't be sorry. As for me, I'm wondering if I should bite the bullet and be one of those turkeys who uses the 30 day guarantee to return the TV and get a 71 series...it is a lot of money not to be totally satisfied with the purchase. Best of luck. |
One Word - AWESOME !!!
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| Review Date: October 10, 2007 |
| Reviewer: T. Meerloo, San Diego, CA |
I have literally waited years for an HDTV with all the right specs (120Hz, 1080p, high contrast, 3 HDMI (1.3) inputs, x.v.Color, etc.), but finally it's here, and the long wait has been well worth it. It is simply awesome.
I was very tempted with the Sony XBR4, but this one beats the Sony hands down on looks, contrast, clarity and especially price! The many features it has and the specifications it supports are probably hard to find in terms of signal input (such as hi-definition programming or discs that are available now), but I wanted to be relatively future-ready. Both the screen and the edge around it are highly reflective, so if this would bother you, or you have light coming from behind you as you are watching, this one may be too shiny for its own good. I was initially worried about the reflection, and I don't quite understand why the bezel around the screen itself has to be so shiny as well (maybe to match?). Having said that; the "glossy" screen makes this LCD TV look like a high-end plasma screen, and it is probably going to compete with the best plasma's out there. The contrast is simply incredible, and the light output was so bright that I had to tone down the brightness setting, and increase the energy saving mode.
And this is exactly where personal preference comes in. You may see this screen in a store where it is cranked way up for certain settings, and you may not like the contrast, brightness, or color. There are - of course - ample settings to play with and it is quite possible to "dial in" what you like best. So don't be disappointed in the store, and don't give up on this Samsung just yet - give it another chance by trying one out at home. Just as you need to select the proper viewing size, so that everything looks normal and not too stretched or squeezed, the color, contrast and saturation settings need to reflect a normal picture. And then there are settings (like the x.v.Color) that will do injustice to the image, if the input signal does not utilize this color-space.
There is a now (in-)famous blue Samsung light on the bottom of the screen that can be set to be on when the TV is on, or on when the TV is off, or always on, or always off. Using an HDMI connection, turning the TV off also turns our connected receiver off, and vice versa. You can name each input on the TV with a specific name-tag, such as DVD, game, and so on. The few "bad" things that I have noticed are blurry contours of fast-moving subjects (when you look close) or occasional slow frames / jumpy picture for a short time. These may be due to processing by the TV, may be due to incorrect settings, may occur already in the players or may actually be in the (compressed) signals itself. These problems have occurred watching blu-ray movies using a Sony PS3, and DVDs on the PS3 or on a Pioneer DVD player. Not a super big problem, but it is something I keep noticing and worrying about. Our one & only PS3 game so far looks fantastic, and I haven't noticed any movement issues while playing that. I was also very worried that standard DVD's and our home-made picture DVD's would look relatively bad, but they are still OK to watch and they look absolutely fantastic on this new TV as compared to our old one. With the TV set to 1080p, I do not see a clear difference in a DVD signal put out as 480p compared to the same DVD signal up-converted to 1080p by a pioneer DVD player or the PS3. If anything I would say the PS3 looks better. There is definitely a tremendous difference when you look at something on DVD (up-converted to 1080p) and then look at the exact same footage on a blu-ray disc (both played on the PS3). There is so much more detail that it puts a lot of the blogs and discussions (about seeing a real difference with 1080p or not - on a 40 inch screen) to shame. See the 2 images of Planet Earth footage I have also posted. The pictures were taken from about 9 feet away, using a tripod. The DVD was set to up-convert to 1080p. TV settings were exactly the same for both images.
We're not using the sound of the TV itself, so I cannot comment on that at all.
Pros: 3 HDMI (1.3) inputs, super clear panel, INCREDIBLE clarity and color; a great system with lots of hi-tech specifications.
Cons (all relatively minor):
Highly reflective screen (although this makes the picture quality awesome!).
Highly reflective edge. When the TV is off, the reflective screen is bad enough, but with the shiny edge it can look really bad.
No "name tag" for HD-DVD player or Blu-ray player in the menu list to assign to HDMI input (very minor point - I agree - and may be fixed by future updates?).
In short - look no further. This is the one you want.
This is a review of the Samsung 4071F.
The following products have also been mentioned and are also available from Amazon:
Sony Playstation 3 (PS3)
Planet Earth |
Nice But.
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| Review Date: November 11, 2007 |
| Reviewer: T. J., Kirkland, WA United States |
I did a month of research before buying this HDTV. I just received it yesterday. I rate it a 4.5 out of 5. I'm not disappointed. The number of ways to connect other components to it is incredible.. 3 HDMI, 2 Component, a VGA and even a USB input. It even has 2 coaxial style inputs for cable TV AND off air antenna. The picture quality is nice but there is some pixilation on fast action even with the 120Hz refresh rate (but better than a 60Hz LNT4061) . There is no perfect picture HDTV yet; at least that is true to the discerning eye. Analog TV still rules for fast moving action scenes and will be for years to come even after the analog broadcasts are shut down in 2009. I'm really a picky sort of person though and even with that, I think this TV is superior to the Sony, Toshiba, or Sharp. It all depends on what your particular eye sees so buy the TV that you find pleasing to your eye. For me, the other contenders were the Sharp Aquos R-Series 42" 120Hz (LC-42RX1W) and the Toshiba REGZA 42" 120Hz (42LX177). I really don't think I would have done wrong if I bought either of those either. I just happen to like the looks of the Samsung picture and the cabinet style the best. The Sony Bravio was nice too but I saw two at different stores that had LCD flaws so I decided not even to risk it (both had a line through the screen starting at the left side and then fading to the right that was only visible on certain TV pictures; it was as clear as can be at times and was very annoying)..
A few things worth noting about this Samsung. These are negatives but don't think that means I don't like this TV, it's just that it has so many positives, it's much easier just to list the negatives and I think these issues are worth mentioning:
1) Remote control needs to be pointed at the TV or it will not work. This surprised me as I thought all TVs (other than the no-name brands) had excellent remote control functionality. It will control other things like your cable box and such but I haven't checked that feature to see if the remote works better with other equipment. I verified this poor remote sensitivity at the store later and found that it's not just my unit. You have to aim it at the TV for the remote to work. This compared to my older Sony which I can point in the opposite direction and it will still work. Don't get me wrong, I've had worse in earlier AV equipment, it's just not up to par with modern AV equipment as far as sensitivity.
2) Only one tuner. For the picture-in-picture, it is only analog, not digital. That is, you need a second source for PIP and even when you have a second soruce, if you dicide to have the second source on the main screen and use the Samsung tuner as the PIP, it will only work with Analog TV (not HD or Digital). ALSO, you have to navigate through a menu to turn on the PIP each time, i.e., it's not just a click on the remote (like it is with the Sony). Not much thought was put into the Samsung PIP feature at all.
I will mention one outstanding feature that I think deserves it above all others since it's not a topic commonly discussed. It has a fabulous ATSC tuner. I have another HDTV that I installed in my motorhome two months ago. It's a smaller (15") Toshiba. It also is a 2007 model. I thought it had much better digital over-air reception than my older ATSC tuners but this Samsung even blows that away. The digital over-air reception has no freeze frames at all (so far) and I now get all networks in digital over-air here at home (Kirkland, WA). This compared to an older ATSC set-top box I have that would only pick up steady reception on a clear day with no wind and did not get all the network digital channels. I live amongst huge trees. Digital TV off-air is something I thought I'd never be able to receive reliably. With this TV, I get it, and get it reliably. It's windy today too and still not a blip on the TV like I would have with my other ATSC tuners. With that said, I have no idea how good the other ATSC TV- tuners are of the TVs I've listed as contenders in this same class. They may be just as good but they certainly can't be better at least from my perspective.
Edit 11-15-07
Now after having much more time to view this TV, I've seen many imperfections in the picture. I found that there is an annoying attribute with certain screen scenes that I can only explain as a triple shadow effect when the 120Hz motion is active. I was able to reproduce this at a scene of a movie over and over again by rewinding then playing again with and without 120Hz active. Before I was able to confirm this I thought it was the HD input but now I am positive it is the TV only when 120Hz is active but less so in the "Low" setting. I highly recommend that other owners confirm this issue. It is illusive and to some it may not be a bothersome problem. The best type of scene to clearly see this issue is a scene when a book is being open focused on the text of the page.For a fine example, watch Casanova HD; half way through the movie there is a Scene when Casanova is going through someone else's notebook while the other person is in the other room. Watch when scene pans to the front of the book and he opens it. As he opens it, there is a triple shadow of all the text in the notebook. If 120Hz is turned off, the shadow is gone and it's a perfect picture during this same scene. This happens in a lot of other instances of any HD video, but more subtle. I would now rate this HDTV a 3. It certainly does not deserve a 5. I cannot change the 5 star rating in this edit feature so I'll leave it as is.
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Great Value - Great Picture
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| Review Date: November 20, 2007 |
| Reviewer: G. Troutman, Winston-Salem, NC USA |
UPDATE: January 11, 2010
Just a few weeks past two years of ownership and just in time to increase my spending for Christmas 09 - my Samsung stops working. No picture, no sound, just a clicking from the circuit board that NEVER STOPS; had to unplug the unit to silence it. Sudden stoppage, too, with perhaps 3 seconds of warning via frazzled picture before the end.
Sumsung's consumer web site and hot line personnel weren't of much use for the repair since I didn't buy the extended warranty. They both directed me to a repair facility 2 hours away which refused to travel to my town to work on it and discouraged carry-ins. If you don't have a warranty and you're not living in a top 50 metro area you're going to have to use local talent to fix one of these.
The good news is that a local repair shop sent a tech out who fixed the TV in less than an hour. The problem: capacitor failure. According to the tech, most LCD and many plasma TVs were built with what his company considers substandard capacitors. When they replace them his company uses higher quality parts than OEM and he assured me they rarely had recalls for "cap" problems on the same TVs. Six capacitors and some soldering later, I'm back in business.
The BETTER news is that even after two years of developments in TV technology, I STILL receive raves on the picture and sound quality of this TV. Even the repair tech was impressed and he sees all brands and types in his work!
OK, so it cost me $275 for in-house repair. I'm not happy about that - but I'm still happy with the viewing experience from this TV, and I still haven't seen anything in the stores that make me want to dump it for something better.
Samsung LNT4071F 40" 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV
After waiting for years for that elusive HDTV with the most compelling mix of features, quality and price - here it is, at last! Some of the other reviewers pointed out a number of flaws with this unit, from the shiny screen and case to the ditzy remote to the 120Hz hijinks, etc. They're absolutely right, I admit: it's not perfect. But if you wait for the perfect set you'll spend many more months searching for it - months that you could have spent enjoying yourself watching THIS unit.
The picture quality is better than many plasma sets I've seen in friends' homes and in store displays. The contrast level is incredible for an LCD, displaying shadows that look like shadows, while still retaining the details in the dark areas. The range of video controls gives you quite a depth of control over the picture quality, and the unit even remembers the last video setting for each input, separately, so that you don't have to readjust when you change from cable to DVD to air antenna to PC to satellite to USB, etc. down the list of more inputs than most people will have reason to use. The unit has excellent audio for a TV, especially after you take time to tweak the many available sound options. The screen even physically swivels 20 degrees in either direction for optimum placement!
I've had mine for two weeks, and I'm still amazed at the quality of the total package: picture, sound, connectivity options, menu setup, physical appearance. I've spent several hours, yes, tweaking the video settings to my personal preference, but the Samsung setup menu is easy to follow and provides a huge number of options as I noted earlier.
And that's what I believe to be the source of many of the complaints - people are used to the mature technology of analog TV, with everything standardized to a comfort level of bland conformity and very forgiving of all but the most extreme signal errors. Digital TV's high res displays showcase the flaws from all the odd inputs and off kilter signals that were masked on analog sets. Until all input sources provide a consistent, high quality video signal calibrated for digital displays, the better digital sets will have to offer many adjustment possibilities, and digital set owners will have to frequently interact with their sets to adjust out those flaws. You have to work for that great picture!
Maybe a few years after the 2009 move to all digital is complete most content providers will take more effort to deliver an industry standard, consistent and quality signal. Until then, buy this set and have one of the best pictures you can finagle from an LCD. |
The Best TV I've Ever Had
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| Review Date: November 11, 2007 |
| Reviewer: David W. Chace, Seattle, WA USA |
I saw one of these at an electronics store and was impressed with how far the technology had come, as I'd been visiting the store and looking at the latest 40" 1080p Samsung LCDs for over a year. This was the third model they put in that display slot in the time I had been keeping track.
The TV was for my bedroom so I had been thinking a smaller 37" model would be more suitable, but I had never actually seen a 37" 1080p TV in a store. As it turned out 40" was just about right, although a little bit wider than I would have hoped due to the built in speakers. Maybe my eyesight isn't what it used to be, but sitting about six feet from this set I find that a 40" diagonal isn't too big.
When I first saw this model at the store, and read about its new 120Hz refresh, I knew it was finally time to stop window shopping and buy my first 1080p television. So I went online and found it at Amazon for about $500 less than what the store was charging, and I ordered.
One of the first things that impressed me about the set was how well it handled regular low-definition television broadcasts. Looking closely at the screen I've never see any of those squarish scaling artifacts that I've sometimes seen with other LCD TVs displaying an image at less than the native resolution. So when I watch regular low-def TV channels I see only the image that was intended, and I see it as clearly as possible.
Where this set really shines, however, is at 1080p, so shortly after buying it I got myself a Playstation 3, an HDMI cable, and a couple of blu-ray disks. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and the BBC documentary Galapagos both look fantastic in 1080p. This is beyond what was possible with any television I've ever owned before, including the 1366x768 Sony LCD I bought just a few years ago.
The audio on this TV is perfectly good as far as my ears can tell, but I'm more of a visually oriented person, so I can imagine that some people might want to pair it with a set of 5.1 speakers for the ultimate high-definition theater.
The remote is fine, and probably has more functions than I'll ever use. Basically I just programmed the TV and customized its display mode when I first set it up, and I don't expect to mess with it too much in the future. I find the favorite channel button useful for quickly returning to the channel that allows me to watch using my VCR and its tuner after channel surfing.
The picture size button lets me choose zoom and aspect ratio. I rarely have to touch this button as I keep it on 4:3 for regular TV and 16:9 when watching blu-rays or DVDs through the HDMI. Occasionally a TV channel will show a program letter-boxed and then I sometimes zoom the picture to fill the screen, but that's the only time I've used it thus far. I've seen other TVs that have a mode that expands a 4:3 picture to fill a 16:9 screen by stretching the edges of the picture so that the center does not become distorted. I haven't found anything that fancy on this model, but I'm perfectly happy with the 4:3 mode for regular TV.
As far as the 120Hz refresh that sold me on this product? As far as I can tell it does exactly what it's supposed to and makes movement real smooth. But I figure the human eye can barely distinguish events that occur within 1/60th of a second, so I imagine that the visual difference between a 60Hz refresh and a 120Hz refresh is actually fairly subtle.
To sum up, this is by far the best and most capable television I've ever had. I suspect that just about anyone who wants to watch either regular or high-definition content will be satisfied with it. |
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