Gorgeous TV

I've only had this TV for about 2 weeks now, but am very impressed by what I've seen so far. The picture I get from my HD cable box is phenomenal. It's like looking through a window. I wanted to upgrade before the Olympics so we could watch our favorite events in HD. But, I'd find myself watching the stranger sporting events, not because I cared about them, but just because I was awed by my TV. I even watched a soccer match, for crying out loud - all the while nudging my wife going, "Can you believe how clearly you can see the spectators sitting on the track behind the net?"

Anyway, enough with the gushing.

PACKAGING
The TV comes in a well designed box, you stand it on the bottom, pop out the 2 plastic plugs in the side and lift the top off. Walla, the TV is sitting there with the stand attached. Pull off the plastic and set it on the stand. No laying it on the side and dragging required.

SETUP
The TV has plenty of I/O for whatever you need, all clearly labeled and accessible. The details are readily available elsewhere. Hook up was a breeze.

OPERATION
1. You can easily adjust from 16:9, to 4:3, to Wide fit by using a pop up Tools menu on the remote.

2. I've been very happy with the preset modes. It has 3 presets, MOVIE, STANDARD, DYNAMIC. I find I like Standard. In Movie mode the colors are a little duller and the screen is darker. In Dynamic, it is BRIGHT!!. If you want to go off and do your own meddling with bright, color, contrast, etc. You can do it if you want to, but it's really not necessary

3. The famous (infamous) 120 Hz feature. I blow hot and cold on this one. For things recorded on my DVR in digital (but not HD), I prefer to turn it down or off. For live sporting events in HD, the high setting is fine. I can't even put into words what it is that bothers me (when it does). It just makes things seem a little unreal? fake? But, it's much less of an issue in HD. Fortunately, you can adjust in intensity or turn it completely off.

4. The "Glare" from the shiny screen and cabinet. An absolute non issue. I have this TV upstairs in a room with a large picture window. Even with the blinds open and the sun shining on the carpet between me and the TV, I don't see anything that bothers me (and I'm very picky about reflections). But, if you have a bright lamp that's placed in juusst the wrong spot relative to where you sit - you can get reflected glare off the TV edge casing that can be annoying. Move the lamp, turn it off, scoot over 6 inches or just ignore it. It's really only a problem because I'm paying attention to it.

5. The infamous light leaking into the clear edges around the TV casing. Yes, it does this. In a dark room, you can see little bitty thin strips of light at the top and bottom of the TV. It's hard to describe, but imagine if you covered the top and bottom edges of your TV screen with with 3 inch wide black tape, but left a quarter of an inch uncovered between the tape and the frame. It gives you the impression that there is picture out beyond what you see. It's very hard to believe Samsung didn't catch and do something to correct this. It bugged me at first, but I'm used to it now and rarely notice it. I remember going to the store and specifically looking for this as I'd read about it in other review. In a Box store lit up by metal halides - you ain't gonna see it. Try to find this TV setup in a dark area. It's really a personal thing whether or not you can live with it. For me, the quality of the TV is worth this minor annoyance. It may not be for you.

6. The picture. Amazing, absolutely beautiful. I looked at other LCD's and plasma's, but this one beat them all for me- hands down. What's more, you'll get that same statement from every body who's owned and reviewed one. I've not seen one negative thing said about this picture.

7. The remote. Mine is not backlit, I thought they were supposed to be, but mine is not, which is tedious. The thumbwheel is pretty much what people say, slow to respond -but the edges work just like a D pad Up/Down, Left/Right. That works find for me. I don't need to roll it around. One nice feature is a button for source select. You don't have to go into TV menus to change from Cable to DVD to game system. Just poke the button and scroll through your options.

8. The "extras". I haven't used the internet or computer connectivety features, as my son bought me a box that connects to my Wireless network and allows us to tie in directly to Netflicks. The "added content" like the exercise program, recipes, kids game are all underwhelming. One thing that is impressive is the art Gallery. Imagine seeing some of the worlds greatest paintings rendered perfectly on glass, and then backlit. Really beautiful. I haven't watched it that long, so I don't know how many pictures are in there. One bothersome thing though is that it has it's own music accompaniment to the slide show and once your into the slide show, you can't use TV controls to mute or lower the volume - at least I wasn't able to. You could probably mute it before you went into that menu -I haven't tried that yet. I really didn't buy the 750 over the 650 for these extras anyway. I bought it because one review said the 750 switches channels 50% faster than the 650. That's worth an extra $100 for me all by itself. I hate pushing buttons and waiting 5 seconds for the channel to change. This TV does not do that. It changes very quickly.

9. "The Touch of Red". Another non issue. Unless the area where your TV sits is brightly light (which ain't likely) you really don't see it.

10. Sound. Entirely OK, nothing special. It's fine if you don't have a separate surround system. I use a separate receiver and speakers. You can turn the TV speakers off.

CLOSING COMMENTS

I'm extremely pleased with this TV. I've had no buyers remorse whatsoever - which is rare for me and electronics. I highly recommend it despite it's quirks