Fabulous Picture, even better when professionally tuned, but DLNA disappoints
Pros:
Spectacular picture quality; can be tuned without entering service setup
Cons:
Works only with Samsung DLNA software and no others; DLNA is wired only
The Bottom Line:
I highly recommend the Samsung LN52A750 for its top-quality picture in a stunning design, but not if you want functional DLNA.
|
|
Overall Rating:
|
 |
|
Author's Review
One can not overestimate the WOW factor of the Samsung LN52A750 52 inch 1080p DLNA LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color. In the LN52A750 Samsung has given the world brilliant picture quality and stunning style in a unit that anyone would be proud to make the centerpiece of their living room or entertainment palace.
Right out of the box the picture is impressive, although the factory settings are too bright and overly saturated. This is to be expected, however, as virtually all manufacturers tune their sets to stand out in store displays. After fine-tuning my set using Digital Video Essentials, I now have a virtually perfect picture. It was a tedious and time-consuming process, however, so my recommendation to the patience-impaired would be to hire someone locally to do the work using the latest test equipment. For most people it would be well worth the cost (est. $50 -$75) after shelling out a couple of G's for a state-of-the-art LCD television.
Before purchasing this set, I was somewhat concerned about the red cast of the "Touch of Color" bezel. I shouldn't have been. It's really quite subtle, almost unnoticeable, but gives just a hint of color interest to what otherwise would be a black monolith when the unit is powered off. And when it's turned on, well, let's just say that no one will be looking at the edges of the set!
I must give credit also to the tuner in this baby. While I generally watch HDTV (clear QAM) fed by my cable provider, I also get 26 strong, clean digital over-the-air channels (NTSC) using a medium-range boom antenna that I stashed out of sight in my attic back in the days of analog television. The transmitters for some of those stations are over 50 miles away, and my antenna is stationary (no rotor)!
My only real gripe about the normal television functionality is that the set has only one F connector (antenna) input. In order to have access to both cable QAM and over-the-air NTSC signals, I had to install an A/B switch (remote-controlled, which I bought from a popular neighborhood radio store) and then to skip the automatic channel scan in favor of tuning the cable and OTA stations separately).
If I were rating this set on the normal television features alone, I'd give it five starts (or more, if it were possible). However, there are a few flaws in this set. It is advertised as being DLNA-ready, and it is - sort of. The bad news is that it is currently compatible ONLY with the Samsung DLNA server software packaged with the set, which has rudimentary functionality at best. And it works over wired Ethernet only; forget about any kind of wireless setup. The RSS InfoLink does work over wireless, but the content is marginally useful. Meanwhile, the interactive content that is preloaded into the on-bard memory isn't anything to write home about, and the promise of being able to acquire more on line is yet to be fulfilled.
Despite those few disappointments, some of which I hope will be resolved someday, I am still in love with this set after three months. In my opinion, the picture quality exceeds that of some more expensive, higher end sets, and I can honestly recommend the entire series 7 line from Samsung to just about anyone looking for a great-looking, top-performing LCD.
