Customer Reviews

Samsung LN40B500 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV, Black

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Picked this up in a "pre"-black friday sale. I returned a Samsung Plasma and exchanged it for this LCD LN40B500. I originally bought a Samsung plasma because the salesman sold me on the "better contrast, blacks, and refresh rates of plasmas." Yeah whatever, got it home and absolutely hated the picture quality compared to my previous 720P Samsung LCD. When I saw this TV in a pre-black friday ad for $597 decided to give it a try. Boy am I glad I did. The picture is absolutely amazing. I have watched many types of programs on it so far; movies, cartoons, sports, standard def, high def 1080i, upconverting DVD. All have been more than satisfying and select 1080i channels on FIOS have been absolutely breathtaking visually. Even though this is a 60 HZ model, I'm noticing no motion blur even in sporting events (this can be quite annoying in some "budget" LCD models) No worries, this set can easily handle quick pans and motion without even a hiccup, at least to my untrained eyes. (120 HZ models definitely look different, but to my eyes, different in a bad kind of artificial appearing way). The audio is more than adequate for a reasonably sized room, with a little tweaking of the audio settings I have been watching TV without even firing up the Home Theater Receiver quite often. The picture quality is absolutely stellar, I do recommend getting into the Picture Adjustment Menu though and adjusting the "cell lighting" to setting 5 or 6, as this is more than enough to light the screen, and substantially improves the image and contrast. At this price point, they have cut back on the inputs (2 HDMI) and no inputs on the side, but that wasn't a deal breaker for me, I ran my FIOS through HDMI 1, DVD HDMI 2, and Wii through Component. Hopefully Christmas will bring a BluRay player to see what the 1080P will do on this set. I can't imagine the picture looking any better than it already does. The cost to value ratio on this set is out of the ballpark. (Paid twice this much for a 32 inch 720P Samsung 3 years ago). As long as your cool with the limitted number of inputs and a 40 inch screen size, I wouldn't pass up this deal!

If you need more than two HDMI inputs, this is not the TV for you. However, it's a fantastic TV for the price. I got mine on black Friday and have barely turned it off ever since I got home.

The Samsung LN40B500 was marketed widely on Black Friday for $599. Several retailers, however, claimed that it was a $899 TV that was being offered at this "special" $599 price, an incredible $300 savings. So, I bought one and brought it home to replace my 32" JVC LCD now destined for the bedroom. When I went to hook it up it was immediately obvious that my various electronic components (games, VCR, DVD player, etc.) that were connected to the JVC would not connect to the Samsung because there simply weren't enough connectors. (a bigger TV should have more connectors, right?) To my surprise, there were fewer connectors on the Samsung than I've ever seen on any LCD TV, especially one claiming to be a $900 set. There is only 1 video connector, and that is shared with the one and only component input. That means that if you are connecting an older set-top box and DVD player, you may be out-of-luck. And, forget it if you want to plug in a camcorder with S-video because there is no S-video input. To be clear, there's only one video input, and that can be either composite (yellow plug) or component (RGB plugs), but not both. Most sets have a couple of A/V inputs and one or two component inputs that are separate. There is no analog audio output, and no headphone jack (especially important for a hearing impaired person who doesn't want to disturb others with loud volume.) With no analog audio output, there was no way to connect my sub-woofer. If you want to connect video games, camcorders, VCRs, set top boxes, speakers, headphones--anything that doesn't have an HDMI plug--then you'll need to purchase an external selector box or home theater audio box that could run you an extra $60 to $500. The two HDMI connectors on the set are just adequate. Many retailers will try to sell you HDMI cables for $30 and up. (I usually buy them online for about $6 and they work just fine.) With no way to connect all of my gear, I just connected my antenna cable and had the TV up and running in no time.

Out of the box, the picture quality of the LN40B500 was terrible. The whites were blown out, and flesh tones had a plastic, artificial appearance. The backlight setting was at max, so I reduced it, and also reduced the brightness. I changed the dynamic contrast setting to minimum, and played around with the noise reduction settings. After 15 minutes, I got the picture looking pretty good. Surprisingly, none of the presets came close to providing this level of picture quality.

The audio from the built in speakers was tolerable but somewhat tinny sounding. Again, with no way to hook up a sub-woofer, you're stuck with this limited audio unless you purchase a more expensive home theater audio system.

The remote control is very well laid out and easy to use.

Samsung doesn't publish the power consumption specification of the LN40B500 on their website, nor is it published in the user manual provided with the set. For the record, my set was listed at 180W (plate on rear) but I suspect that reducing the LCD backlight and brightness levels will lower consumption significantly.

In summary, this is not what I would expect to see priced at $899 or $799 or even $699. At a full retail price of $599 it's competitive with models from Toshiba, Vizio and others that have more features and connectors. But this Black Friday Price not really very special. The TV can produce a good picture if you are willing to make the menu settings. I would recommend this unit if you have basically nothing to hook up except a cable box or Blu-ray player. For only $80 more, I purchased the Samsung LN40B550 which offers all of the connections I need (2 component/composite video, 4 HDMI, audio out, USB). The basic B500 model is now with relatives who don't need the external connections.

In the last three months of this year (2009) I did hours worth of research deciding on which 2 LCD TV's to buy: a 46" for myself that I planned to do all kinds of crazy things with including hooking up my computer via DVI->HDMI, using a roof-mounted antenna for the over-the-air tuner, using with a HTPC, etc; and a 40" for my mom and dad that would simply offer great picture quality.

For myself, I bought the Sony 120hz 46W5150 Bravia Engine 3 1,000,000:1 contrast; and for mom and dad, this TV, ths Samsung 40b500.

The result is that this TV (Samsung) is perfect for mom and dad, and in truth probably would have satisfied me too.

Both are exceptionally vibrant and clear. My Sony TV offers a few shades deeper (almost perfectly pure) black level, but this Samsung is almost there with deep/rich blacks. If you are downgrading from a 120hz TV to the Samsung, you will notice the lack, but if you've only ever had a CRT or 60hz LCD I do not personally believe 120hz justifies a lot more money, but this is personal preference. Speakers are comparable. My Sony offers 8+ inputs including 4 HDMI, this Samsung only has 2 HDMI and 1 component/composite shared.

I could go on an on making technical comparisons, but I think the most helpful info I can share is that, having lived with and loved my Sony W-Series for a few months (a mid to top of the line unit), this Samsung offers 80-90% of the black level, contrast, and beautifully sharp image at about 50% of the price.

The low number of inputs is not an issue if you are aware of it beforehand. I hooked my parents cable box up to the component, their DVD player to the HDMI 1, and the Roku HD player to HDMI 2. If they get a blu-ray player, it will replace the DVD player on HDMI 1.

Here's the deal. We also got this from a black friday special. My prevous TV was an old 25 inch that was on it's last leg. I got the new Samaung and I really like it. Right out of the box it works and looks great. Yes, it only has 2 HDMI inputs but it's not the end of the world. I guess if you own an old TV and you get this then you will be very happy. If you are going from a better TV to this one then maybe you will not be as happy. I have mine in my living room and I sit about 15 feet back from it and it looks great. I am not a tv snob, just a regular guy who likes to watch tv. I did find it interesting that when I am watching in HDMI mode you can not use the closed caption option, not sure if there is a work around for that but overall, I am very happy with the tv.

I'm always amazed at the different responses that people have, and I always read the reviews before I invest in a new item. Sometimes I wonder if we're talking about the same thing. This Samsung is wonderful - but you should understand that it's the first HDTV for me and I didn't bring a lot of expectations to it. Times are tough. I'm retired, and I drive a ten year old car with 150,000 miles on the speedometer - not a Hummer. So you can see where I'm coming from.

I bought this Samsung at a Walmart on Black Saturday at the doorbuster price of $[...]. When I got it home and out of the box it was easy to set up. The picture is *wow*. I don't have HD hooked up but honestly the picture is amazing and I don't think I need HD channels. You might think that too - the picture is that good. Almost spooky real.

As far as the sound, it's good enough for a mid-sized room; although I know for people who need a theater experience this is not the set for you. It is what it is, please read the specs before you buy.

I hooked up my Roku box, the Netflix player with the HDMI cable and I'm set for movies. It's a lot of bang for the buck. Today that says a lot.

I wanted a HDTV during black Friday, so I got out the ads on Thursday and began looking. I looked over many of the televisions, but I always seem to fall for Samsung or Vizio when it comes to LCD or LED HDTV's. This occasion was no exception. Now, some of the Sony Bravia's are beautiful too, but they tend to be a little expensive because of the name. Nonetheless, I found myself liking the $600 deal that was available at Walmart with this model, so I made the final decision this TV.

I haven't had much "first hand" experience with Plasma televisions, but of what I did experience, I liked Panasonic and Pioneer the most. However, plasmas are good for dark rooms, but there really aren't that many people (as far as I know) who have very dark living (tv) rooms and no windows. So, I tend to go with LCD. Here we go w/ specs:

FORMAT:
This model has the current 1.3b hdmi format, and so do almost all hdtvs, but there really isn't much of a difference between the a and b format (my opinion).

LIGHTING:
This TV is a CCFL display, which is understandable for the price, because LED-lit TV's tend to be more expensive. Basically, CCFL is fluorescent lighting, so you have bar-like lights behind the LCD crystals to light them up, whereas LED would have lots of little lights spread all across the back of the TV (local dimming) unless it's edge-lit (leds only on the edges of the tv to make the tv thinner). This television is plenty bright enough after I had a look at the picture.

PICTURE QUALITY:
The quality of the picture, after I adjusted it, is fantastic! I believe it's also because it's a Samsung. But, you MUST adjust it in order for it not to look pretty "run of the mill". All HDTV's are like this, and no matter how many thousands you pull out of your pocket, if you don't adjust the picture, your tv probably won't look as good as it could. The default settings always seem to make the tv too bright, and the sharpness is usually up too high. But, that's what you see when you go to the store to get one. The tvs are all set to look "bright" and "vivid" so that it sells. Now, I'm not a professional when it comes to adjusting picture quality, but I do know what I need to do to make it look good on the eyes. This tv refreshes at 60 times a sec. (60hz refresh rate), and for some, that is a good thing. If you start getting tvs at up to 180hz and 260hz, it begins to look a bit like "plastic" or "fake" to me, so 60hz is fine.

1080p....highest picture quality available right now, but you can't really experience it until the cable providers decide to make the switch from 720p to 1080p, or if you've got a blu-ray player.

ADJUSTING THE PICTURE:
I did lots of research online, but just couldn't find any forums that have had the pros set this tv yet. I finally decided that the best one to go with was the LN40B530. But, I still wasn't happy. The picture looked too dark to me. Although, I do have a living room that tends to get pretty bright when the drapes are pulled back, so I decided to do the adjusting myself. I did the settings based on 720p quality, so it may look somewhat different to you if you do it while watching something in 1080i or p. Nevertheless, you can try the settings I found and made and choose which one you like the most or tweak it to how you like. Here are the 2 sets of settings for your convenience.

MINE:
Mode: Standard
Backlight: 8
Contrast: 80
Brightness: 49
Sharpness: 50 or lower (find what
you like)
Color: 50
Tint: G51/R49
Black tone: off
Dyn Contr: Medium
Gamma: 0
Color Space: Native
White Balance: Default
Flesh Tone: 0
Edge Enhancement: On
Color Tone: Normal
Size: 16:9
Digital NR: Off

LN40B530 (set by pros)
Mode: Movie
Backlight: 4
Contrast: 100
Brightness: 37
Sharpness: 0
Color: 46
Tint: G51/R49
Black Tone: off
Dyn Contr: off
Gamma: -3
Color Space: Auto
White Balance: Default
Flesh Tone: 0
Edge Enhancement: off
Color Tone: Normal
Size: 16:9
Digital NR: off

-If you do have settings that you think are better, let me know.

CONVENIENCE:
There are buttons on the right side of the TV, which is fine, and works for me. The lettering for what each button does is not extremely easy to see, but it's not a big deal. The ports are all behind the TV, and on the right side, so it's better that it's not in the middle, but it's still somewhat inconvenient for me because I hang my TV's on the wall, and I have to feel around to find a port. However, what really frustrates me is the lack of HDMI ports. You get 2. 1st of all, you already have one taken up for cable. Then, you have a dvd player, all of your gaming consoles, and anything else you'd like to hook in. It's not just this tv I'm frustrated with, it's most tv's. Why can't they add more HDMI ports? I guess I should go out an buy a switcher. Other ports include a cable out, optical cable output for audio, a VGA port, Audio line in, and your typical composite and component connections (red, white, yellow, blue, green, etc.). Overall, the tv is pretty convenient aside from things I mentioned.

Overall, I was very happy with this choice on a tv, and I would recommend this to anyone that is on a budget and looking for a great tv. I give this TV 5 Stars.

Picture is great in HD. SD isn't all that great, but I have found this to be true on all LCDs. Some people have complained about it only having 2 HDMI ports, but that is all I need (1 for DVD and 1 for cable). The only draw back on this is the sound. The sound is acceptable, but it's not great. A sound bar or home theater can fix that - but it would be nice if it wasn't necessary. Samsung, like most manufactures, has moved to rear/downward facing speakers and I that that is a mistake as they cause echoing and greatly reduced sound quality. I have an older Sumsang 32" with front facing speakers that sounds much better.

If you are looking for a big name brand LCD at a budget price, this is a good by for the price.

I wanted to wait a bit before writing my review, but I have had my TV for about two weeks so far and I love it greatly! The picture quality is fantastic. I play COD MW2 and it looks superb. I pretty much leave it in game mode all the time, whether I am watching HD video or playing the game.

This is my first HD set but for the price I would give this 5 stars and say this is a must buy anyday of the week.

I bought this in pre-Black friday deal. I was excited at the begining about this, Bcaz of the brand and the price tag on it. Took a risk eventhough there was no reviews. Just based on the brand and the specifications. But I would say it worth for the price. Yes it has only 2 HDMI's as other said. If you want more there are adapters- connecter where you can connect multiple HDMI's. I really like my TV. it's big. It fits with in my sedan.easy to carry. Not heavy but shoud be carefull while carrying. Over all I'm satisfied with the TV.