Customer Reviews

Samsung LN22A650 22-Inch 720p LCD HDTV with RED Touch of Color

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I applaude the first evaluator for his detailed comments. He is accurate in his description and his accolades fully accentuate the quality of this little gem. At 22" and 720p you could not ask for more other than a slightly larger screen at a slightly larger price. When I compare this picture with the same model 40" there is no difference other than the size. I do not know the pixel pitch of either TV; however, the normal sighted viewer cannot tell any difference in picture quality even though the 40" is 1080p vs 720p. This TV makes the perfect companion for working on a computer and viewing the TV next to it. Any TV can be torn to pieces for this reason and that but for the money and size this is going to be hard to beat. One item that I might find fault with is the potential cost imputed in the TV for the Touch of Color. That is a waste of money for me and could be omitted in other models if the cost of the addition is eliminated as well. Unlike the 40", I had little or no problem calibrating this 22" even though the controls almost mirror each other.
My final: enjoy; I am.
added 9-22-08: I neglected to include an important element of this purchase. Amazon sold the TV and I am overwhelmed by their attention to details. Every part of the transaction went perfectly from placing the order on 8-10 and delivery a few days later using free shipping. The same TV at big box is 20% to 25% more and you pay taxes and cost of visiting. Amazon continues to give the best bang for the buck.

We bought this TV for our master bedroom, to replace a 20" Panasonic standard TV. This is our first LCD TV and also our first HDTV, so this is quite an adjustment for us. The first problem we ran into is what to do with the DVR and the cable box since we had those on top of our old TV and there was no good place to put them with the LCD on a stand (on our dresser). This was solved when we found a stand at Staples that wrapped around the cable box and supported the DVR (upon which we have the TV sitting, it is pretty light ...).

We have the TV hooked up with a splitter such that we have a cable from the wall that comes directly in, and another one that comes in via the cable box with S-Video. I was kind of disappointed when I first looked at a regular channel coming in over the S-Video as it really looked no better than the Panasonic. On top of that, putting the TV in WIDE mode to fill the screen distorts the picture slightly.

To my surprise, I discovered that he best signal was actually from the cable coming directly from the wall. In this configuration, similar to another reviewer, I was able to pick up DTV and HD channels too, although it is somewhat difficult to tell what is where since there is no rhyme or reason to the organization of the channels before the cable box sorts it out. Once I made my own list of channels, however, I had a nice assortment of great looking HDTV channels and the picture looks fantastic for these, especially after some tuning (I jacked up the backlight and lowered the brightness and that did it).

I saw a number of reviews of the predecessor of this TV (the 450) that complained about the sound. To me, at least, the sound on this TV is just fine and I like the surround sound.

The TV is very nice looking - I was expecting the screen to be glossy based on what I had read but it is not, it is a matte finish. The frame around the screen (with the touch of color) is very glossy and the red color is very subtle, unlike the photos Amazon is displaying. The controls on the right side of the TV are very hard to see, but I don't expect to use them anyway so I am glad they are not that visible as it would detract from the look of the TV otherwise. The base of the TV is much wider than the one shown in the Amazon picture - I'd say it is about 12 inches wide or so. That is good too though, in my view, as it distributes the weight across a larger area if you want to put it on top of something like a DVR like I did.

The TV seems too take a bit of time to come on, I have not timed it, but maybe 5 seconds or so. One other small quibble is the fact that the stand is not adjustable so you cannot tilt the screen forward or backwards. We have it on a dresser facing our bed, so the angle is just about perfect when we are in bed, so this is not an issue for us, but it could be in other configurations.

As to size, I had trouble deciding between a 19" and 22" version of this TV, since I was replacing the 20" Panasonic. We are probably 10 ft away from the TV when we are looking at it in our bedroom and the 20" Panasonic was just the right size. After measuring screens, I concluded that the 19" version of this TV was the same width screen as my Panasonic, but due to the widescreen aspect ratio, was about 2" shorter top to bottom, so a lot less viewing area. Because of that, I went with the 22" Samsung and I am glad I did. The 19" would have seemed too small compared to what we replaced.

One other point on the Series 6 - I think the higher contrast ratio and resolution of this TV makes a big difference in the picture. If you have a chance, go to Best Buy or another store and look at a series 6 screen (LN22A650 and LN19A650 are both series 6)compared to a 450 TV of the same size. I noticed that the series 6 was much brighter and crisper and had much truer tones on skin, so that, combined with the nice look of the TV, convinced me that it was worth the extra money.

Finally, it makes a very cool noise when it turns on and off! :)

UPDATE 09-25-2008:
I still like this little LCD...BUT the off-angle viewing, mostly from below, is quite bad. I know LCDs are notorious for this, but I have a 32" Sammy LCD that is 2 years old and it doesn't look at all as bad as this one. In other words, I moved this LCD from my office to on top of a tall dresser and I view it from my bed (when laying down), it is a good 4 or 5 feet below the TV and the screen is very dark. Sometimes unwatchable during dark scenes. My fix will be to buy a mount that will allow me to tilt the LCD down. That will fix the problem.
Right and left viewing angles are fine though. Just from below it is horrendous. Just wanted to add that. It's not a deal breaker or anything. Just something to consider. Still a great product from Samusung.

I have had this 720p LCD for about a week now and these are my initial impressions.
Pros:
- Excellent picture via Cox cable HD channels
- SD video is actually pretty good
- computer hook-up via HDMI is impressive (Good second monitor for laptops)
- picture via Panasonic upconverting DVD is superb
Cons:
- only one HDMI and one component connection
Neither:
- Sound is average, but this TV is only 22"
It is for a small bedroom, office, or kitchen. Maybe as a computer monitor or to play PS3/Xbox while watching TV.

Overall I like it for a HDTV in my office and as a second monitor for my Toshiba laptop.
As far as settings, I like "Standard" with the backlight at 8 and cool2. The rest of the settings can be adjusted (contrast, sharpness, color, etc,) but I like the default with only the above changes.

For DVD, I recommend "Movie" mode and warm2(default).

Nice job once again SAMSUNG. Quality product at a fair price.
Oh and I love you Amazon even though I am upset about you getting rid of the POPG.
Please post any questions about this model under comments and I will check back and answer best I can

Samsung LN22A650 22-Inch 720p LCD HDTV with RED Touch of Color Just like the description!! My opinion after doing alot of research before buying,reading editors picks, then buying and using, I give this HIGH End HDTV a AAA+ rating out of a scale of 1-10, I rate it a 8.5, the only cons I have found is the stand it comes with a fixed stand mount, and the tv will not rotate on stand, from side to side or up & down, with the tv on the stand the screen seem to be tilled down a little to much for me to be comfortable at a computer desk. I bought at the link below
http://www.ergospecialist.com/18-radial-arm-p-702.html?osCsid=6be0abea08aa00425da2d19d45d49899. With this LCD Vesa mount 18" arm the lcd will pan in and out up and down to my likeing. The only other con I have found it only has 1 HDMI port, and I had to buy extra a HDMI 4 port switch, to hook up other HDMI components, also I hooked up HDMI port on my Satelite & another to HDMI to DVI on my computer for HD Format on my computer! With this 4 port switch I have endless HDTV via HDMI possible hookups! If it was not for these 2 cons I mentioned above, I would rate this TV a 10 out of 10 rating!

Pros

-great design
- many inputs including hdmi
- touch of color
- qam tuner allows for free hd channels at least for me it did
- can be used as monitor.
- great for a dorm or bedroom just the right size
- mountable
- very good cable management

CONS

- tv is stylish but the remote looks like some poor company made it it does not go well with the tv at all
- no pip
- a little glitchy for me like every so often i need to call support maybe be the tuner has been damaged

I'm very pleased with this TV, Yes, I did take some time setting it up and adjusting the
picture but it was well worth seeing the difference. With out a cable box I was able to
tune many of the HD channels I get on my other cable box feed TV's. I mounted it on
the wall with a mount I already had and I was glad to see everything matched up to the
wall mount! The speakers are on the weak side but plenty loud enough for me, I'm going
to run a line to my Cambridge Sound table Radio to get the full advantage of the sound
but could live with it as-is. I really like the touch sensitive switches on the front of the TV,
Makes for a clean cool looking TV, even when turned off. For $399 you should go for this
one over the 330 or 450, this is the top of the line 22' Samsung as of today.

I just bought the Samsung LN22A650 days ago as a birthday gift to my wife and had a chance to put it through its paces.

The LN22A650 is definitely one of the better LCD HDTVs I've seen in terms of picture quality, possible one of the best 22-inchers. At this size, there shouldn't be any visible difference between 720P and 1080P resolution so the LN22A650's native 720P resolution is just fine.

Most people would be completely wowed by the picture quality. Compared to most NTSC CRT (tube) sets of any size (whether interlaced or progressive scan) this Samsung model handily wins in picture clarity, resolution, and color accuracy.

If you're wondering why I've given 4 stars rather than 5, it is because of my anal retentive nitpicking of its video quality and its mediocre audio quality. If it was possible, I would actually give a 3-and-a-half star rating. Admittedly, my criticism is a bit harsh, given that the set is not intended for extremely critical viewing. In any case, the nitpicking is detailed below.

If you're a hardcore videophile who is accustomed to purchasing equipment that is only available at high-end shops, you may not be totally impressed.

Being an LCD set, this Samsung model is no different than other LCD sets in its inability to reproduce perfect black. This is just an inherent flaw in LCD technology because the ambient internal backlighting will inevitably leak out through the screen. So Plasma, OLED, and CRT will always have an edge here. Of course, if you use to watch a run-of-the-mill tube/CRT tube before HDTVs were introduced then this will not be an issue because most consumer sets had pretty average black level reproduction anyway, rendering a dark gray appearance to black portions of the picture. To its credit, the LN22A650's picture contrast is pretty consistent across a fairly wide horizontal viewing angle (impressive for an LCD TV) but the vertical viewing angle is not too good. The screen has to be a little below face level for consistent picture brightness from top to bottom. Also, whether you're moving your head from side to side or up and down, there is the familiar and unavoidable LCD glistening effect on the screen.

On the other hand, I can't complain at all about the color and tint reproduction. Whether it's the HDTV format's color gamut or the enhanced color gamut circuitry in the set, the color and tint quality appears to be pretty accurate. My guess is that color temperature is pretty close to perfect across all brightness levels. But when I was watching a calibration DVD after I adjusted the LN22A650's settings, the red color was a bit accentuated to enhance flesh tones, pretty typical of most sets employing "red push" circuitry (not accurate but appealing to most viewers).

Resolution was impressive on HD broadcasts. I don't have a BlueRay player so I couldn't view the set using the best source but HD news reports and other HD programming looked highly detailed overall. But since broadcasts are heavily data-compressed, there was some occasional mosquito noise (not the Samsung's fault). Since this set's native resolution is 720P there was a lack of visible scan lines and the picture was nice and solid and pretty film-like.

I wasn't so happy with the picture quality of DVDs and Super VHS on this set. Most viewers would probably blame the source for its lower resolution in this case. But I don't. Although the DVD player was a cheap player that didn't have an HDMI port, I used the component video output. The player does not upconvert from its 480i resolution (which would mean that the TV would have to perform the upconversion to its 720P native resolution) but I still think the picture could have looked crisper. The same goes for the S-VHS recordings. The upside is that the Samsung upconverts the resolution that are usually free of "jaggies" (jagged edges on diagional contours of objects).

The aforementioned criticism stems from my point of reference, my old 32-inch NTSC Proton CRT/tube set (don't remember the model number off-hand). This may seem like an odd comparison and on-paper it is. In terms of specs the Samsung LN22A650 handily blows the Proton away. But in practice, the Proton is better in almost every respect. As usual, Proton's reproduction of black level is in the championship class. When the Proton puts out a full black screen, it actually looks like the TV is off! Color quality and temperature is extremely accurate for an NTSC set even though the color gamut is nowhere near as wide as the HDTV's format. The Samsung wins in this department. The big surprise for me and my wife was the apparent resolution of the Proton compared to the Samsung's. The Samsung set had everything going for it in terms of visible resolution: the smaller screen size should give the impression of greater clarity, especially with its 720P resolution. But this wasn't the case. Although the Proton is an interlaced set and scan lines are clearly visible up to about 6 feet in front of the screen, we didn't see scan lines at all at our regular viewing distance of 10 to 12 feet. Viewing 480i material from our Channel Master HDTV converter box through the Proton looked extremely crisp. We could make out every detail in nearly everything on screen, including links in necklaces, blades of grass, facial pores and strands of hair. DVDs and S-VHS recordings also looked razor-sharp. I know that this was real because the Proton's detail control was already turned almost all the way down, according to the calibration DVD's instructions. Me and my wife agreed that for the most enjoyable viewing we'd have to stick with the Proton set. The fact that the Proton is just a 4:3 set does not deter us from using it for serious viewing either. To me this is living proof that specs do not tell the full story, especially when you are comparing how any HDTV is handling an old analog picture to how a good old analog set is delivering it. This is an issue for viewers who have huge libraries of laserdiscs and VHS (or higher resolution S-VHS) tapes.

As I mentioned earlier, audio quality is mediocre. Although I'm sure Samsung is technically a very capable manufacturer, the company unfortunately decided to compromise audio quality for the sake of a sleek front appearance. Despite the impressive description of the sonic cabapilities on Samsung's website, audio quality is bass-anemic, as expected, for such a small set. No amount of tweaking on the on-screen menu's graphic equalizer or the Samsung set's SRS-settings will improve the sound. If you're wondering why the speakers are not visible in the picture of the set, your eyes are not deceiving you. The speakers are behind the TV's frame aiming at the wall behind it! What you will hear is a small and boxy sound with some slight reverberation caused by the sound reflected from the rear wall. So if you want quality sound reproduction you will need to take advantage of the set's audio output options (optical output, analog output) and route it to a home theater or stereo system.

In any case, I have to say that the Samsung LN22A650 is great for what it is. It is a great, convenient, space-saving set that we also use for the PC because of it's RGB input. And we can just view movies and HD programs on it for convenience. For the price, I can't complain either. I paid a heavily discounted price with free shipping. This is a lot less painful than any Proton's discounted price. My parents paid a bundle for their 31-inch Proton back in '91!

While I would have liked a larger set; I can't have one in our Kitchen, where this TV went. I will say that all the positive reviews of this are 110% correct. If you study the Samsung series 6,7,&8; they only get better as you go up. The reviewer that said people stare at the picture is correct this is unlike any other I have looked at over the last 3 years, incl the Aquos and Bravia. I tracked this set for about 4 months; watching the price fluctuate between $475 and $550.; then it took a GIANT drop about 2 & 1/2 weeks ago to $399.00 This is a tremendous value. As far as the sound goes; for a TV it's better than average; and loud enough. If you want the home Theatre effect; you'll have to add speakers. As far as picture aspect goes; read the Warranty really well. The image MUST fill the entire screen; in order to protect it. In my case, with either HDMI cables or component cables; the TV Picture needs to be set at "just scan" and the cable box is set to 1080i/P stretch. On high definition stations the picture is proportionate; on standard channels; there is a slight widening of the image; IF you look closely. This has nothing to do with the TV model; but all widescreen TVs; and will be that way untill all broadcasts are high Definition....If you buy it you'll be happy!

Bought this for the bedroom. Setup easy. Vertical viewing angle is limited so I had to put some foam under the back of the stand to angle
it down somewhat. The stand for the 19" adjusts, but not the 22".

Picture is good, even on the analog channels. Strong tuner.

Once you set up the channels, you have to put in exactly the channel number on the remote..for example, 4-1, not just 4. I have a larger Samsung that will go to 4-1 when I enter 4.

All else excellent.

After reading all the reviews there is nothing much more than I can say but a few comments. I was aware of the sound problem, but is is fine for viewing in a small room, about 6-10 feet away. I purchased this TV at the end of August. Within 30 days there were three price reductions. Amazon honored them all, which gives me great customer satisfaction. Also, this TV was delivered within three days of ordering. I have cable, and to my surprise there are more channels available than on my other older sets. This set takes up very little space and is great next to my computer.