Excellent picture on DVDs, Excellent on-screen menu system, Excellent remote control, built-in Dolby Pro-Logic decoder

Only one component video input, Scan-Velocity Modulation (turning this off improved the line-doubler's performance greatly!)

I had the unit for just over six months now. I was pretty happy with it for a while until just this past weekend, when I finally figured out how to get in to the service mode to turn off the annoying SVM (scan-velocity modulation) "feature". Now, I am extremely happy with this sub-$2k unit which is 16:9 and is STDV capable.

Frankly, a 1080i image rendered as 480p on this EDTV is just as good, if not better than a 1080i on a projection screen.

The color balance is more neutral, IMHO, than the Sony units, but not quite as neutral as the best Panasonic or Toshiba. The reds seems a little too Magenta than red.

Where this TV excels is for DVD viewing. Thanks to the built-in line doubler, movies from a 480i DVD players look so good (after turning off SVM) that I have wonder if 480p DVD players are even worth it.

With the built-in Dolby Pro-Logic (Dolby 2.0) decoder, just add a decent center channel and couple of surrounds speakers and you got instant HT!

The TV also has very good built-in analogue tuner section as well.

Superb value.

Similar Products Used:

None

Excellent DVD picture after tweaking.

Needs a lot of tweaking. Not as much information out in the Internet like Sony TV's.

Have been meaning to get a widescreen digital TV for a while, I have researched and looked at 34" and 30" offerings from Panasonic, Philips and Toshiba before running across Samsung. Unlike the most people, I actually had some confidence in Samsung TV since I knew that Samsung enjoyed a decent reputation in the computer monitor industry.

Toshiba's geometry is out of whack. What's the point of having a flat screen if the image is curved (distorted)?

Philips could not be had at a discount. There is no way I am paying full MSRP.

Panasonic had the best picture IMHO. But at twice the price as Samsung for extra 4 inches, it did not seem like a deal. Besides, my main purpose was for DVD viewing. Even though 480P is the highest resolution offered by this EDTV set, 480P is also the best resolution you can get out of DVD's on these HDTV-ready sets as well. So I wasn't getting any better resolution by getting HDTV-ready rather than EDTV for my purpose.

I was a bit weary of getting a large item like a TV via mail order or Internet. Luckily, my local Bryn Mawr Stereo agreed to match the reputable Internet dealer price (in this case, J and R). So they knocked off additional $300 off their $1999 price. The MSRP is actually $2199.

Fresh out of the box, it actually had pretty decent geometry; straight lines were actually straight albeit with slight tilt. There was way too much red. And the colors (especially red) were smearing something fierce during LD playback.

First thing I did was access the service menu and turn off what I think is the velocity modulation (VML). Strangely, the scale went from 0 to 255, unlike Sony which is 0 or 1 (on or off). The result was no more smearing of colors (especially reds). Then I popped in the AVIA and did the video calibration. There still is a serious red push. Calibrating the colors according to AVIA still gives overly saturated, almost cartoony, colors. Setting the color level to about half of what AVIA says it should be gave a very, very good picture.

The line doubler has trouble with certain LD's and VHS tapes. For example, "The Last of the Mohicans" on VHS gave me a motion sickness while "The Terminator" on VHS was very good, better than some LD's in fact. I don't think its line doubler has 3:2 pulldown but neither does Toshiba nor Panasonic.

Overall, it's a very good performer but it could be better. But for the price, it is a superb. My DVD's have never looked better.

Similar Products Used:

First Digital TV