Customer Reviews

Samsung LNT4661F 46-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(252)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(46)

 

 

I don't usually write Amazon reviews, but in researching LCD TVs, I found the reviews so helpful that I felt compelled to contribute. If you are searching for a high-quality LCD TV, look no further: it doesn't get any better than Samsung. I work in IT, and every fellow geek whom I surveyed recommended a Samsung LCD or DLP. Since DLP won't fit in the space available in our bungalow's living room, we went with LCD.

Review after review on Amazon and CNet rank the LNT4661F and the LNT4555F as best in class. After looking at the sets side by side with LG, Sharp, and Sony models in local stores, the Samsung's superiority became apparent. I quickly eliminated other brands from consideration and focused on the Samsung LNT4661F vs. LNT4665F. If you're in a quandry over which is best, here's what I found:

1) The LNT4665F does has a marginally better picture and contrast ratio than the LNT4661F. I reviewed the sets side by side and noticed the biggest difference during very dark scenes. The LNT4665F handles those slightly better than the LNT4661, but the LNT4661 still looked better than any other LCD nearby.

2) The shiny screen on the LNT4665 will DEFINITELY create glare issues in any room where you cannot control direct or ambient light. The set I looked at in Circuit City had no problems with glare, but it was located in a home-theater type viewing room. The set at Best Buy was in an area facing windows and overhead light, and the glare was very noticeable. As my living room gets light from a ceiling fixture, two lamps, and three windows, I feel that I made the right choice in going with the LNT4661F given its matte screen.

3) Eagle Global Logistics was a PAIN regarding delivery. Were shipping not free, I would have been REALLY ticked. Basically, they would only deliver the set on Tuesdays or Thursdays, which is hard to accommodate if you work full-time and those are your busiest days of the week. I went to the warehouse to pick up the unit and found the warehouse staff to be professional. The packaging was compact considering the size of the item, and it fit easily into a friend's Ford Escape.

4) You can't beat the LNT4661F for the price. Circuit City and Best Buy were both around $800 more than Amazon when sales tax was factored in. Interestingly, both Circuit City and Best Buy were charging $2495 for the LNT4665F and $2595 for the LNT4661F, despite the LNT4665F being the "lower" model.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with this purchase. The TV looks AWESOME, and we've had tons of fun watching colorful movies like Finding Nemo, PBS in hi-def, Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings movies, etc. BUY THIS TV: YOU WON'T BE SORRY!

I think my title about sums it up. I was initially going to purchase a Samsung LN-S4695D because the price had dropped so low, but then I saw this set. After doing some comparison research I decided that the extra $130 was well worth it for this set.

I was a little apprehensive about purchasing a TV online, but the process was extremely smooth. Eagle White Glove service gets perfect marks in my book. The TV was ordered on a Thursday night and arrived the following Wednesday. They helped me up the stairs with the TV, took it out of the box and plugged it in to make sure it worked properly.

Now on to the TV, some people have mentioned poor audio quality, but really, I don't think it's bad at all, but I always use my surround sound so its a moot point for me.

Enough about the speakers though, it's the picture that really makes this set shine. It looked great right out of the box, maybe a little bright, but after turning down the back light and making a few other settings it looks fantastic. I have COX cable using an HD DVR over an inexpensive HDMI cable (Cables Unlimited 6FT HDmi Cable). Picture quality is amazing!!! Be sure to set your HD box to just output 1080i and let the TV do the rest. The 'Just Scan' setting on the tv gives you 1:1 pixel mapping. I also have an x-box 360 plugged in via VGA, which also looks fantastic. The most pleasant surprise for me though was the amazing quality of SD channels. I had a 26" LCD that was several years old and the difference between the two is immediately noticeable. The Samsung does a great job with SD and an amazing job with HD.

This is just my initial impressions after using the set for a week. So far, I'm very pleased though.

Amazon Experience:

Ordered the TV on amazon using free shipping (total was 2k) and of course I was kind of worried because they use this Eagle EGL company to deliver the item, but they were prompt to call me within a few days (3 to be exact) and scheduled a drop off time...so to sum up delivery I received the item a 5 days after the purchase, which is almost 3 times faster then the estimated two weeks amazon gave me. Happy Service from Amazon and EGL =D

LCD Experience:

The TV out of the box has great style and the casing does not illuminate as much light as many proclaim (and considerably less then her bigger sister the 65f). And also out of the box the settings were pretty but a little too pedestrian for me with too high of backlight and brightness settings and not to mention over saturated...so I lowered some options and tweaked with the backlighting a bit to find the sweet spot for my 1 bedroom apartment...and in all honesty, unless you live in an extremely sunny living room/bedroom then the backlight should only really need to be at 1 or 2...plus it saves energy (less on the bill), it gives you the best black levels (you don't want your blacks gray) and not to mention a longer life on the LCD =D -- Oh and btw the LCD's black levels are the best (very rich) I have seen on the market (not including Plasmas/CRTs), and I have seen quite a few in real world settings...of course next to her older sister 65f which has a slightly better contrast ratio and brighter image, BUT it also illuminates the smallest of lighting that is reflecting/refracting within the room.

The only issues I had with the TV is that it is not nearly as sharp as the SONY KDL or XBR series and it tends to favor greens and reds with a strange hue of blue...also the sharpness setting can go way too high for the viewer's own good, you start to see noise and interfence, YES even with digital signals (it has to do with the power signal)...but you can punch the sharpness up and turn on Digital NR (noise reduction) to medium or high if you experience any noise/interference. Also one last gripe; which isn't really that bad and can be ignored easily, some 1080i sources ghost some of the faster moving images...

Pros:

*AMAZING Blacks PERIOD
*Great Colors (for the most part)
*Sexy as hell
*Very Clean and Clear image (though not as clear as Sony KDL or XBR)
*1080p through component

Cons:

*Sometimes frequency interference will show itself
*Blues are strange
*1080i sources show up with quite a fair amount of ghosting (trails left behind moving images)

Hope this review helps =) -- long live Samsung (i love sony too, but this TV has better value and 1080p through component ^_^

Saman K.

I searched the web for weeks looking al all LCD TV options. User reviews, vender reviews, you know, the whole salami. I decided on the Samsung LNT4661F because of the highly rated results I found. The 4665 has a 15,000 to one contrast ratio, but some reviewers complained of the glossy screen. For me, I wanted a glare free screen, hence the decision on the 4661. A 10,000 to one contrast ratio seemed to be more than the average that some sets are offering. The Sony I looked at only had 7000 to one.
Ok, so I planned to purchase my tv from Amazon on Saturday, June 2nd. Only thing was it was being sold thru Electronics Expo. Who? So I Googled them, saw excellent reviews for them, gave them a shot, and put the order in. By the following Tuesday, June 5th, I called Electronics Expo and was promptly given a tracking number thru Eagle Global Logistics. (EGL).
The Samsung had been shipped Monday the 4th, and dang, I was feeling good. Eagle was to have it in Orlando by Friday, June 8th and delivery was to be set up to my door here in Lakeland Monday, the 11th. And so it was. I called EagleGL Monday morning (today), and it was scheduled to be delivered between 12 and 5 pm. I get a knock on my door at 1:15, sign for it, hook it up, and OMG! The colors are frikkin awesome. I have a Philips 5982 upscaling DVD player with HDMI hookup directly to the TV. It's like looking at my DVDs for the first time. Nemo and Ice Age have colors you havent seen yet. You will be entranced and enraptured with this TV.
Many thanks to Amazon, Electronics Expo, and EGL for first class service.

I am here to assist folks that are doing the same diligent research that I have done the last 8 months for my first HDTV.

Amazon purchase/Delivery: Aces for both here. Amazon had, by far, the best price on the entire internet, when you factored in the free shipping. Plus, no taxes saved me a bundle. Eagle Delivery also earns Aces here. They made an appointment and showed up right on time, unboxed the TV for me, and allowed me to look it over before signing the shipping invoice. I am totally impressed with the whole purchase at this point. Thanks Amazon, you never disappoint.

Now, the TV: I did a lot of research both in and out or the brick and mortar stores and all of the info out on the internet. I was impressed with the picture, price and user reviews on the Samsung LNT-4661F and pulled the trigger. I bought this model over the 4665F because of concerns of glare. I think the matte finish on the 4661F screen is excellent as there is no glare whatsoever. Also, the shiny surface surrounding the screen is not noticed at all. This TV, powered up and performed flawlessly right out of the box. It also had the latest board (p7) and the latest firmware 1029/1009. I have to say I am thoroughly satisfied with my purchase and the delivery. Thanks Amazon and Jeff Bezos!!!!

I'll start off by saying the 4661F has a very good picture. No complaints there.

The problem I had is when the volume is turned up, the down firing speakers cause the TV's plastic cabinet to buzz. I did a little research on some Audio/Video forums, and found there were other owners of this particular TV who were experiencing the same problem.

I ended up fixing the problem myself by taking off the rear panel of the TV set. I then intalled small rubber O-rings in the screw holes between the front and rear panels.

Excellent TV so far. No drop out on HDMI yet and i'm using the Neusat HD free 2 air SAT only show up to 1080i. No Blueray nor HDDVD player yet :(, but will save money for those. But with 1080i, I already amazed by the its color and brighness display quality. Regular local channels using the little HD antenna @ radioshack 4 $30 show amazing picture too (KCAL9, KTLA5, ABC7...). I've never thought local free channels would look this great before buying this TV.

Awesome picture quality. I plug the SD card USB reader into the USB port to view the pictures I took with my Canon SD800 IS and the picture just beautiful. It also plays mp3 file(s) if you have it on the memory card as background music while displaying the slideshow. So forget those 7-10" digital picture frames, this one does the same thing in much much bigger size.

PC input great too, very sharp and clear just like a regular monitor. Resolution of 1920x1080 give really really huge space to work with although I would prefer allowance of 1280x768 to make all the display, fonts... bigger so I can surf the web at 10 feet away instead of having to move closer to the TV everytime I'm surfing the web.

Overall, very happy with this TV. My wife loves it too, making this buying another win win for me :)

The free delivery service from Amazon was excellent. My only complaint was that they delivered ONE WEEK EARLY! So - I'd suggest being flexible on the arrival date. Before deciding on Samsung, I investigated the warranty service offered in my area since a previous purchase of a Toshiba from Amazon turned into a disaster when I was unable to get Toshiba service at my rural location. That's not a problem with Samsung.

I've had the TV up and running for just 24 hours and it took me about 6 hours in total to get it integrated into my existing system. That's NOT a job for a non-technical person so if that describes YOU, you may want to enlist a technical friend to get everything working properly. I won't waste time describing the wonderful picture from this TV. My only HD source at this time is over the air and the picture is as good as anything I've seen. Here are the pros, cons and tips I have so far:

Pros:

1. The non-reflective screen completely eliminates the problem of reflections from lights, windows. Unless you typically view the TV in total darkness, that's a huge plus.

2. Amazon's sale price saved me $500 over the best price from big-box and local appliance stores.

3. The fast response LCD has shown no ghosting so far on action scenes.

4. The audio section is very good and you can tailor the response with a menu-based equalizer that works pretty well.

5. You can update the firmware in the TV via a thumb drive and I assume that you will download the software from a website. Haven't researched that yet, but it's a nice feature.

Cons:

1. This is rather minor, but why are all the large screen manufacturers going with the gloss black frame around the picture? There's not much reflection from it, but it should be flat black.

2. When switching input sources (satellite, DVD, TV, etc.), it takes several seconds for each switch. That should be nearly instantaneous.

3. My biggest complaint: If you feed the audio output to an external amplifier instead of using the internal speakers, you lose the ability to control the volume with the TV's remote control. The audio out to the external system is a fixed level and you have to control the volume then with the remote for the external amplifier.

4. There are a zillion options on the menu screens, and they are pretty well documented although there's not much guidance on why you might want to alter some of the adjustments. Often, menu selections are greyed out with no explanation as to why. Example: I still can't get picture in picture to work (greyed out on menu) even when having the related options set correctly.

5. I would have liked one more S-Video connector on the rear panel - there's only one.

Tips:

1. If you have any other devices that you want to control from the remote, forget about the supplied remote and buy a "learning" remote, such as the Sony RM-VL900. They're around $60 and you'll then be able to control all your devices from a single remote. The above mentioned volume control problem is easily solved this way. The Samsung remote does not provide codes for audio gear, nor my Oppo DVD player but the learning remote handles these easily.

2. You may find it necessary to use the connectors on the left side of the screen as there's only one S-Video connector on the rear panel. That works fine, but you then have cables sticking out the side of the TV in plain view.

*** Update on warranty. Developed an intermittent loss of picture 30 days before warranty ran out. Technicians found nothing. I called Samsung, they extended the warranty 3 months! Failed again after that 3 months - I called Samsung again and they AGAIN extended the warranty. This time, the technician replaced the power supply and that fixed it. Samsung wins my future business by doing the right thing!

I did tons of research for almost two years waiting for the technology to mature and for the prices to reasonably come down. Well the wait is over and I have the Samsung LNT4661F in my living room and it is awesome!! The HD is amazing and the blacks are just the way I like them, beautifully deep but not crushed!

I did consider the LNT4665F but the glossy screen and overall glossiness was just too annoying. The blacks were way to crushed as well!

I was going to buy a Sony, Sharp, Mitsubishi or Olevia but the Sony had the clouding problems (Check AVS Forum. Their 2007 line seems to have the same issues too based on advanced reviews), the Sharps had banding issues, which my friend who bought one experienced (AVS also had tons of reviewers reporting banding issues). The Mitsubishi's were just to expensive...If I were to spent that much I would have a buy a Sony instead. And the Olevia was also out of my budget...also I wanted the 47 inch but the TV weighed a ton. I love the PQ on the Sharp and Sony but the problems were too much not to ignore, especially when you are paying Two grand or more for a TV. Samsung seemed to have solved their cloudiness problems and their 2007 line seemed to have worked out most of the problems associated with LCD HDTV's like viewing angles and rich blacks. Well overall I felt I made the right choice!!! Because my picture is spectacular with no banding and no clouds!

I wanted the Sharp's faster response time but I've noticed no issues concerning ghosting while watching sports or playing video games.

The speakers are great too! I know some people had problems with the sound but they sound great to me!! I do have the TV connected to a surround sound system...but that is for DVD movies and games. The TV speakers are great for regular TV viewing! It's nice not to have to turn on so many components to get great sound!

Overall my experience has been great with this TV! The HD PQ is awesome and the SD viewing isn't bad either! If you're looking for a great HDTV without breaking the bank, seriously consider this TV!

Oh and Amazon was great. TV delivered setup and they took the box away! It did take a week (and that was a long week) but was worth the wait. It did give me time to set up the entire entertainment system. Amazon even refunded me the difference after the price dropped!! Only two days later!! Also the 30 day return policy with no questions asked and no restocking fee is awesome!! And they come and take the TV away for you!! Take take that Best Buy and Circuit City!!!

After window shopping for a reasonably priced HD display, it did not take long at all to zero-in on the Samsung 4661F. It easily stood out among a wall of higher name brands like Sony, Sharp, and Pioneer and was nearly half the price of a comparable Sony Bravia. My previous television was a Samsung 25" CRT that I owned for 15 years but was hardly a determinant in going with the choice of brand again for an LCD display. The simple fact is, the Samsung LCDs just looked that much better.

I was mainly attracted to the 4661F primarily for its non-glare screen. I did a side-by-side comparison in the store at Best Buy, in full daylight, against the Samsung LNT4665F 46" 1080p LCD HDTV, the next model up, and what turned me off from the 4665 was the reflective glare on the glossy screen that looked like you were staring directly into an opaque mirror in blacks. The non-glare screen on the 4661F is perfect for watching movies and naturally lends itself to an authentic film projected look. The 4665 may boast a higher contrast ratio than the 4661F (15000:1 vs. 10000:1) but unless you have bionic vision, are not really going to discern a noticeable difference in contrast blacks. Contrast levels can easily be adjusted in the setup menus with presets for Dynamic, Standard and Movie modes or levels can be adjusted manually as desired and saved as programmable user presets. The cold cathode backlight can also be adjusted for overall brightness. The other feature I like with the 4661F is the round power button below the face of the screen that has a spiffy initialization chime. The newer Samsung models have an annoying blue LED glow on the front panel that I find distracting but was told could be disabled.

Setting it up was a piece of cake. I had it out of the box and mounted to the wall above the fireplace in minutes with a Sanus VMPL50B Universal Flat Panel TV Wall Mount Bracket, Black that screws into the back of the display easily and safely. No need to pay extra for costly installation. In no time at all I was christening my 4661F with my Blade Runner (Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition) [Blu-ray] in astonishing 1080p hi-def glory. The picture quality is sharp, vibrant, and crystal clear. I'll never have to leave the house to see a movie again.

The Samsung 4661F was the easiest choice of buying a television I have ever made and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. If you're thinking about making the transition to HD, you can't go wrong with the Samsung 4661F. The choice is as clear as the picture.