Customer Reviews

Samsung LN46C630 46-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV (Black)

5 star:		(160)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

The picture on this TV was stunning right out of the box. After a few minor adjustments it was as close to perfect as I could imagine. It came with the SQ01 panel and it would be hard to differentiate the color depth and quality from some of the plasma sets I looked at. The TV is in a very bright room and the matte screen cuts out glare with no picture degradation. The viewing angle is very good, though we are never more than 25 to 30 degrees off center. The picture is very stable from channel to channel with no change in the back lighting that I can see, and the standard definition picture is almost HD quality when using the 16:9 picture format. It has separate settings for processing speed and anti-judder for motion blur when using the Custom view mode, unlike the majority of sets that combine both settings into one. I watch a lot of sports and really don't notice motion blur at 60hz so its certainly not an issue at 120hz. I'm not a gamer, so for my viewing habits I see no need to spend more for a 240hz option. The sound is very good for normal TV viewing. It can be connected to a home network and I have also hooked it up to my laptop using the VGA connection to watch Netflix and even that produces an acceptable SD picture. There are multiple picture settings you can use to suit just about any programming source, including watching at 120hz without the "soap opera" effect that some people find so annoying. There are 4 HDMI and 2 USB connections, plus one for headphones. There is no S video so you may need cables to hook up older external equipment. UVerse is the programming source.

One thing about settings. The first evening the picture suddenly got much darker and even though I would reset the brightness, it would get dark again once I left the menu. I spoke with Samsung and they had no idea why this was happening. It turns out this set automatically adjusts the picture to your room brightness in the Standard viewing mode, which is the factory default. You can change this in the Eco portion of the picture menu to never go below a certain brightness level or you can turn it off completely. This is not an issue when using any other viewing mode.

The last time I bought a LCD I continued to look around in case I found something better. That will not be the case this time as I am completely satisfied. Pilot shipping through Amazon was great. They delivered on time, set up the TV and swivel stand, and had everything working in 5-10 minutes.

Added note on Warranty: If you purchase an item with your Amazon Visa, or pretty much any credit card from a major bank, it extends the manufacturer's warranty 100% over the original duration (one year to two, etc.) at no cost. Amazon verified this but check with your bank if you use a non-Amazon card.

I first ordered this set in early August and I really wanted to like this television. It is easy to set up, it has a good remote, and the built-in speakers are acceptable. At first glance, the picture is very good (once taken out of "torch mode" and the "soap opera effect" has been minimized by turning off (or minimizing) the Auto Motion Plus feature. The backlit remote is nice, but not *all* of the buttons are lit. I'm not sure why, and there were times when I needed the unlit ones. And, being unfamiliar with the remote, had to turn on/up the room lights to see what I was doing. But, the main problem I encountered with this set was the color uniformity.

After having watched for a week and having some time to get past my initial awe at how good this set seemed to be, I noticed a flaw in the left side of the picture. When panning a football field, I saw that the left 6" or so of the screen was lighter than the rest. And when viewing scenes that had a lot of red in them, the left 6" of the screen was significantly lighter than the rest of the screen. Note that I was sitting about 8' away, dead center -- off-axis viewing was not the issue.

I tried to ignore it, but finally created some solid color slides and viewed them using the television's built-in slide-show feature. What I found was that the left side was significantly lighter than the rest of the screen. It wasn't very noticeable on blue slides, but was very prominent on red and green slides, though bright reds & greens were less of an issue. I kept the TV second week, trying to get past it, but the problem was distracting when watching football. And, when watching interviews with "America's Got Talent" judges, their skin tone and the red backdrop was frequently discolored (interviews were usually framed with the face on the left side of the screen).

I asked Amazon for a replacement, which they sent without a problem and at their expense (as was the return shipping). The replacement set I received was better. But, again about a week after having the set, I noticed the same problem (though not as pronounced). Again, I tried to get past it -- not only did I not want to deal with a return, but didn't want to deal with researching a replacement make and model.

Just when I thought I could live with it, I noticed a 2" (approx.) vertical stripe on the left side of the screen. The stripe was a section of panel that was brighter than the rest of the panel. It had hard edges, indicating to me that it was a panel problem. During most shows I didn't notice it; but, it was very prominent during a few dark scenes of Up, Star Trek, and a few others.

Again, I loaded the color slides I had made, which revealed light leakage (or clouding, whatever it's called), similar to the first set. It also revealed the stripe in quite a few of the slides. Considering the price of this television, I called Amazon and asked to return it. I was offered a replacement, which I considered, but ultimately decided to return it and get something else (Panasonic TC-P46G25).

For those wondering, labels on both sets (and the boxes they came in) indicated an AA02 panel.

Summary:
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PROS:
- adequate sound quality from built-in speakers
- decent remote
- picture mode button on remote (Vivid, movie, etc)
- Sleep button on remote
- backlit remote
- back of television has a kensington lock slot
- non-glare screen is very good in rooms with a lot of windows & ambient light

CONS:
- not all buttons on remote are backlit
- default Auto Motion Plus (AMP) setting results in a horrible "soap opera" effect
- color/picture uniformity

Notes about the "Amazon experience":
- I had no problems with the local delivery company, which was CEVA for me
- Amazon paid all shipping costs, both ways
- Amazon did not give me any hassle at any time

Firstly, it's important to point out that I was shopping strictly for a high quality 1080p display. I have a home theater with external speakers and an advanced learning remote so the TV's audio quality and stock remote played an insignificant role in my decision to purchase this model. Now then, the LN46C630 was the best 46" 1080p display I could find that had all the features I was looking for. My criteria were for a model with 120hz, an adequate amount of HDMI inputs (4), a pc input, largely tweakable picture controls, excellent black levels, an absence of motion blur, and a cost of under $1000. This TV possesses all of those things, and beat out the competition of similar LG and Sony models because of what I deemed to be the cleanest, most well defined image, along with superior black levels. The only thing I felt lacking on this TV was the screen texture which is more prone to glare. Though, because my room is quite dark that was of no real concern either, but could be to others with more ambient light in there viewing room.

Here are a couple features I learned about only after I had the set that may be useful in making a decision.:

-The TV has Eco Sensor which will automatically adjust the brightness of the TV based on the ambient light of the room. No worries, this CAN easily be turned off, and is definitely something to be aware of.

-In the Advanced settings menu there are 2 expert patterns that you can use to dial in your picture settings. One is a contrast / brightness pattern, the other a color pattern.

-If you'll be using the TV's speakers there is volume equalization which adjusts the volume automatically as you switch channel to channel.

-You can stream media to this TV through your wired LAN or from an external USB storage device. if you want to do wireless, you'll need Samsung's optional wireless adapter.

-The stock remote has a very narrow IR stream. You'll want to point it not at the center of the screen as most people do, but at the bottom right corner. It works fantastic once you learn to do that.

Some other important notes I'd mention to those that purchase this model:

-At default levels the contrast is maxed out to 100 for every input. I and many others refer to this as "torch mode". That setting will shorten the life of your TV immensely and it needs to be adjusted first thing for each input. While properly calibrating your TV is more than I care to get into here (and pointless since every display is different as well as every input), a setting of 50 contrast and 50 brightness is good place to start for those that don't have any other means of calibrating it more precisely. I also lowered the back light from a default 14 to 10.

-Under the picture options there is a setting called Auto Motion Plus. This is what controls motion blur. Familiarize yourself with the effects of this control. If you are like me it's going be disturbing to have this control on "Standard' to view bluray movies because it removes the natural blur of the camera moving and panning which to me is an annoyance. I use the "Clear" mode or just turn it off for movies.

-Also the effects of the sharpness control only add noise to your image, use the sharpness control very judiciously. I have mine all the way down to a setting of 9.

All in all this is a fantastic set for the price. The very minor issues it has are far outweighed by the price, the amazing picture quality, and the tremendous control you have over adjusting the image to your liking.

I have been using this TV for over a month now and everything is good about it so far.

The only thing that I would have loved in this TV was to have the Samsung Internet@TV feature, where I could directly watch You Tube videos, Netflix etc, but this TV does not have this feature, unlike some other high-end Samsung HDTVs. That was dissapointing. I wish I had spend a couple of hundered dollars more and got a model with Internet@TV feature.

But, you can still hook up this TV to your wireless router at home and stream videos and pictures from your PC/Laptop wirelessly.

I am planning to buy the Samsung Blue-Ray 5.1 channel home theatre system with the Internet@TV feature, and that would take care of everything that is lacking in this TV that I would like to have.

If you are not looking for advanced features, but a very good reliable TV with great picture quality, this is a very good buy for the money.

Gamers, see the bottom of this review!

We have been shopping for a TV for a while and at first we were going to go with the Vizio LCD that is 47" and 120hz, but the picture quality on the Samsung was just too good. The Vizio looked washed out and sad compared to it, so we decided to go with the Samsung 46" LCD. We ended up with the wrong TV (not through Amazon). We were given the LED version and decided that we would just keep it, even though it cost more.
Well, we ended up returning the LED and getting the original Samsung LCD that we wanted. In our opinion the LED is not worth the extra money. The only thing I liked better was that the TV itself was a slim design, but the difference was negligible.
We went to Wal-Mart and Best Buy before deciding to return the TV and carefully studied the differences between the Samsung LED and the Saumsung LCD and I understand that there is a lot of personal preference involved here, I preferred the picture on the LCD. As soon as I got the LCD home I knew we had made the right choice. Some people prefer the LED; to me it was actually too bright and I didn't notice a substantial change in quality. If any change, to be honest. The only difference I noticed was in the brightness.
If you are the type of person who needs to have the latest and greatest thing, the LED will probably be what you want, but if you want a good TV that looks nice and will probably save you a few dollars, go with the LCD. And I would recommend avoiding trying to save money by going with the 60hz LED over the 120hz LCD. The only time I would recommend a 60hz is for straight gaming. See below.

To my fellow gamers out there! I hooked my Xbox360 via HDMI cable to this TV as soon as I got it unpacked and the quality is amazing. I played several games to test it out for about two hours and never noticed any any problems and I was really looking for one. If I had had even the slightest hick-up I would be writing about it.
If you are going to be using your TV for gaming only, go ahead and save some money by getting the 60hz, either LED or LCD. 60hz is ideal for gaming and, in fact, when you put your TV in "gaming" mode it's just going down from 120hz to 60hz. This TV, from what I have noticed, actually somehow puts itself in gaming mode when you turn on the Xbox. I have noticed that everytime I switch it to Xbox the screen says something about switching to 60hz.
If you are going to be watching TV or DVDs and playing games, I would strongly suggest that you invest in a 120hz, but if you will only be gaming 60 is great.

I've had this LCD HDTV for roughly 2 weeks, and all I can really say is WOW!!!
For the price of a little over $900.00 and the terms of 2 years to pay it off with no interest by using the Amazon store card it was a "NO BRAINER". I've been looking in store and on-line for over 2 years, LCD, LED, Refurbished, Consumer Reports, etc... By reading the reports and reviews from different web-sites and from personal viewing in store the Samsung seemed (to me any-ways) to out shine the others. The picture is just breath taking out of the box. With the different viewing modes and the 120 Hz auto-motion watching a HD Television program or especially a Blue ray video is quite amazing. Yes... I've read in other reviews the speakers don't sound as good as my 20 year old Color Console did... but I didn't buy it for the speakers.... Yes the remote is a little difficult at first, but once it's set I use the Cable Box remote controller more than anything. I really did get a kick out of being able to plug in my External Hard Drive into the USB Port on the back of the set, having the set automatically find the drive then display the directory of movies that I have downloaded from Netflix on it, and then with the push of a button play them.... Well I think I have a very good base to start with, next comes a external sound set up, and then an internet ready Blue ray player. I bought the Square Trade 3 year policy with it, what ever you do buy a policy with any set you are planing to buy. With the 1 year Samsung warranty, the Amazon return policy, and the Square Trade coverage I think I have all the bases covered... For the price and the performance I don't think you can go wrong with this one... I'll add to this review later on if anything should come up.

*********************************************************** 5-03-2011

Well he I am 1 year after my purchase...

The HDTV is still going strong... at least 4 to 5 hours a day, and I was just exclaiming too my Mrs. while watching the Royal Wedding on BBC America in HD what a breathtaking picture this set still has, I feel that the display is as good today as it was a year ago when it came out of the box. Yep I added an external sound system to it, and a desktop computer also. It now has theater quality sound and HD video streaming when I want, and can I surf my Facebook page from my Lazy-Boy when I wish using my wireless hand held keyboard.

Just one thing to say..... I hope you will be as happy with your set as I have been with mine.

And as I said before if anything should come up I will post here.

This was my first expierence with high definition television. I decided to get a Samsung after doing a lot of homework. The set has a lot of features and the picture quality is outstanding. I really like that you can control your picture settings for each input (cable box, dvd, video games). I connected a Playstaion and Wii using component cables and put the tv in game mode - wow! I also have an upconverting dvd player connected thru hdmi cable and some scenes look almost three dimensional. The matte screen is great for cutting down on glare. I am an avid sports fan now enjoying high def cable and the trumotion 120hz really helps for the fast movements on the screen. I was cautious about making such a large purchase over the internet but Amazon was great and the delivery through CEVA was decent. Delivery was within 3 working days and they helped me unbox and check that the tv worked properly. I would highly recommend this set for anyone looking for an affordable 46" LCD tv packed with great features and an awesome picture at a great price.

I picked this TV up this weekend and all I can say is WOW. Set up was easy. A little note to those who think they received the wrong stand, the stand slides into a slot on the bottom of the TV. It took my girlfriend pointing this out while I kept trying to rest the TV on the stand and making the holes line up. The first thing we did was put in a BD movie and the contrast and clarity was everything you could want in a HD TV (outside of a LED). The room it is set up in is kind of bright but the picture quality was barely affected. Once the room was dark everything was ultra vivid. Highly recommend this one.

While watching The Pacific on HBO High-Def over DirecTV, I found the picture to be very choppy. Once I turned off "Auto Motion Plus 120Hz" and just set it to 60Hz, the picture was much smoother.

Here are my picture settings, which I am very happy with (I have a very dark room):

Mode: Natural
Backlit: 15
Contrast: 75
Brightness: 50
Sharpness: 33
Color: 60
Tint: G50/R50

Picture Options ->
Colortone: Normal
Digital Noise Filter: Off
MPEG Noise Filter: Off

Hope this helps you!

[This is an update to my original review: As of 9-1-2010 there is an update on Samsung's website that helps with the volume going up and down which was very annoying.] I kept waiting for the price of last year's model to go down but I didn't have much luck with that. In the mean time I starting reading that the Samsung 2010 models were about to hit the market. When I saw that the price was lower than last year's model, I decided to buy. I haven't been disappointed since then.
I read many great reviews about last year's model (LN46B630) which helped in my decision. That, combined with a lower price, a better contrast ratio (120000:1 vs. 80000:1), and the 2010's picture displaying 100% of the NTSC Color Standard, helped to seal the deal. My only regret is that the remote control was/is difficult for me to learn.
I received my new tv 10 days after I placed my order, which was not bad considering I got free shipping. Also, the delivery men bought the tv into my living room, took it out of the box, put the stand on for me, and placed the tv where I wanted it.
I knew I had an excellent tv when I watched "The Ten Commandments" on broadcast tv. I saw colors that I had NEVER seen before in this film, and I've seen this movie many times.
Great job Amazon and Samsung! Happy Viewing.