Samsung LN52A650 52 in. HDTV TV

I'm one of those geek types who has to research research research before buying a sourdough bagel, so you can only imagine what went into my buying this amazing TV. Over on the avsforum.com this Samsung is very highly regarded, preferred slightly over the Sony 120hz LCD equivalent. The main argument seemed to be about the glare from the shiny Samsung screen vs the matted Sony. Shiny = reflection, matted = less vibrant picture. But almost everyone who had compared the two side by side (people actually buy two TVs and then return one! I know!) sided with the Samsung as the much better picture with much darker blacks (the contrast ratio of this TV is much higher than the current competition).

I considered the 750 model also, but was a little concerned about the so called 'halo' effect where people had complained about light leaking from the screen, through the frame and making little light patterns on the outer edge of the frame. I never actually saw this in the store, and it apparently depends on how dark your room is and how bright the scene on the TV, but as the only other meaningful feature of the 750 was the built in subwoofer (which I didn't need as I play sound through my awesome Denon 889 amp), I decided to stick with the 650. The 9 series is incredible, but way too expensive for me, the 8 series is thin but doesn't seem to have a better picture than the 6/7 series.

So, we got the TV home, got it set up, and spent the next few days saying OMG, this thing is HUGE. We had been used to our 32" tube for so long, this TV seemed to take up the whole room. It's two weeks later now and oh how naive we were; we now look at it and say, yes it's huge, but huger would be even better! The moral of this part of the story is there's no such thing as too big when it comes to TV.

Now, about that glossy screen issue. I was worried about the shiny because my living room is fairly well lit, with lights that reflect on the TV screen, but in reality I never see any reflection unless I try really hard to gaze through the screen (like you would with those 3D puzzle pictures). What we do see is the most incredible picture; bright, stunningly sharp, stunning clarity, stunning color, stunning blacks. Did I mention STUNNING?

One setting we changed early on was to turn off the 'auto motion plus 120hz', although setting it to 'low' is also tolerable. I know it seems counter-intuitive to turn off a 'feature', but it doesn't seem to need it. Don't confuse this with the 120hz of the TV panel, that is always on, it's part of the TV. The motion feature is supposed to remove the jerkiness of fast action (like sports and action films), but what it also does is make the so called 'soap opera effect' where everything looks like it was filmed with a hand held camera doing close ups; it really does make everything look like you are watching a soap or a documentary. The 120hz of the TV handles the motion so well on its own, I don't think you'll be needing this motion feature much.

I could nitpick about not being able to rename digital channels (yet oddly it lets you rename analog channels), or the really poor PIP implementation, or the twitchy dial on the remote (I use an awesome Harmony 880 so don't need the TV's remote), but really there is nothing not to love about this TV. HD channels are unbelievable, digital channels are great, and even lowly analog looks pretty good. Other than the 9 series, I think this is THE best LCD TV currently available. If you've been putting off your purchase for 5 years like I did waiting for the latest technology and low prices, it's time to give in, just do it, right now! You can thank me later.

UPDATE 10/29/08: We had originally paid $2,100 at Best Buy (their normal price $2,700) after getting a price match with Circuit City a couple of weeks ago.  Wandering through Fry's yesterday we saw this TV on sale "in store only" for $1899!  The sale ended yesterday (but is probably a good indication of future lower prices), so we rushed over to Best Buy expecting a heavy confrontation, but instead got the 110% price match in an astoundingly fast, easy, helpful, and friendly transaction at the customer service desk.  A huge thumbs up for Best Buy integrity.