Customer Reviews

Samsung UN32C5000 32-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LED HDTV (Black)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Okay first off let me say that I think Samsung does make some of THE best TVs out there. But this isn't one of them. I have been looking for a high quality TV to play games on and for movies for a while now. I got an e-mail from Amazon stating that the new 2010 models from Samsung were now available. I thought great timing since I just got some back-pay owed to me. I wanted a 32" TV since the room this was going into is not very big. I looked around the internet but there were no reviews yet, just the manufacture description. So I took the gamble and bought this one. I received the TV three days ago, and have been bummed since. Okay for the review. First impressions: Beautiful TV, I really like the styling and glossy finish. I actually laughed at how skinny the box was. Set up was not hard at all and they provide cable management to hide the cables from the back. THEN I turned it on. QUICK NOTE* It states that it "absorbs ambient light and virtually eliminates reflections", I say BS! It has the worse amount of reflection on any TV I have ever seen. My computer monitor sits on the opposite wall (about 14' away) and I can easily read text from it. When trying to watch the news, I couldn't see half the screen because of the reflection, it is that bad. If you know anything about HDTV, then you know that the Black Level is the number one factor in picture depth and quality. The black on this set is not black, though you'll probably only achieve that on a plasma, here it is a semi dark grey even after adjustment. Again disappointing since I saw a deeper black on their own 32" 360 series at Walmart that was about $500 cheaper too. Now for the biggest complaint, yes there's more, it is the amount of back-light bleed. The top corners have a grey fan shaped bleed that extend about 5" inwards, in the middle on the left half of the screen there are four large bleed throughs about 7" square each, and a 6" bleed in the middle of the right half of the screen. These bleed throughs or clouding is visible even in bright images. It makes the image wavy like. Also of note for you gamers out there, the Game Mode is ONLY available with HDMI. I have the older XBOX 360 so I use the Component cables which means no Game Mode for me. I also have the 360's PC VGA cable, but again no Game Mode and you with those you cannot adjust sharpness, color, or black level. I did find another review here on Amazon for the 55" model, same series, and it looks to have the same problems. As you can probably already guess, I will be returning this.

***Updated 3/24 -- Okay I decided to change the ranking from 2 stars to 4 stars in that I have since calmed down and knowing that it was just a bad panel. So for anyone interested in this set, please take the review with a grain of salt (I also decided to leave it up, instead of deleting it). Overlooking the bad panel part, here is a few impressions of the set. For one, it is a beautiful set, very dark and glossy. Though just know that the screen is very glossy, black mirror like, but in a light-controlled room it shouldn't be a problem. I didn't get a chance to view any blu-rays on this so I don't know its potential. I did watch a DVD through an XBOX 360 (Kung Fu Panda) using component cables and it looked fantastic, honestly the best I've seen it. Didn't get a chance to go online with XBOX Live, but I didn't see any lag in the games I did play. I also didn't get to calibrate the set (since I was returning it), but out of the box, colors were good, blacks were not ink black still, but fairly dark with good shadow detail. I also found that this IS edge-lit, but all of the literature kept saying LED Backlighting, If I known that I wouldn't have bought it since I personally don't really like edge-lit displays since they typically have uniformity issues and flash-lighting (looks like spot lights from the edges), though not all edge-lit displays have this. Hopefully If you decide to give it a try, you will get a better panel.

I was at first torn between this Samsung, which is nice and thin but only 60 hertz, and other thicker sets in the same price range which are 120 hertz. I'm glad we decided on this thin Samsung. It is gorgeous, and for us the beauty of the TV set outweighs any subtle improvement in motion scenes obtained by 120 hertz.

I agree with previous reviewers that the screen is glossy, and you can see reflections under certain lighting conditions when the scene is dark. But this doesn't change the fact that the picture is beautiful. If we are trying to watch TV in the daytime, we sometimes have to pull the shades to avoid seeing the reflection of our windows on the TV screen. If you are worried about this, I suggest testing the area where the TV will be by placing a mirror there. Sit where you normally sit to watch TV and see if there is a reflection of a bright light source such as windows in the mirror. If so, you will probably have to eliminate the light in order to watch the TV without distraction. I'm not convinced other new TVs are much better on the reflection issue.

I don't agree that the screen causes motion sickness. Perhaps that reviewer had selected a setting that we didn't. In general, we left all enhancement settings off.

I am using the TV as a monitor for a recent model Mac Mini. In addition, we have a Playstation 3. Our receiver is old and does not accept HDMI, so we are using the Samsung TV to switch between HDMI sources, and using the optical out on the TV to get the sound to the receiver. This setup works great, and the TV makes a terrific computer monitor. However, make sure you turn off the Samsung TV's edge enhancement feature if using this as a computer monitor. Edge enhancement makes computer text and graphics look exceptionally bad, and it was a relief to discover that turning this feature off fixes the problem.

When we're watching news, the TV's speakers are great. When we watch a movie, we switch on the receiver for better sound.

It took a while to sort out how to get HDMI output from the mac mini. We first tried the Monoprice Mini Displayport Male and USB Male Audio to HDMI Female Converting Adapter, but the TV gave an error message and did not show a picture. We returned the Monoprice Mini Display Port and purchased the more expensive Kanex iAdapt 51 Mini DisplayPort to HDMI with 5.1 Channel Digital Audio, which works great but required rebooting the mac in order to get the correct resolution.

We don't use the Samsung's built-in tuner, so I can't review that. We watch using EyeTV for the Mac.

The user interface of the TV is easy to use. The remote is thoughtfully laid out, but the touch sensitive controls on the front of the TV are hard to operate because you have to get your face right next to them to see where to touch. On the other hand, the fact that you can't see these controls makes the TV more beautiful.

I wish Samsung had allowed users to program completely custom names for the sources. As it is, you can select from a preprogrammed group with names like "PC," "Game," etc. (I wanted "Mac Mini" and "Playstation 3"). Also, it would be nice to disable source inputs that you are not using, so that the TV will only switch between sources you are hooked up to. A feature like this would make it easier for guests and grandparents to operate the TV with minimal hassle.

I agree with another reviewer that the screw holes for the wall bracket are not the same as for most TVs, and if you want to use a full-motion mount you will have to spend some time finding the right screws at the hardware store. In our case, our wall mount had 100mm screw spacing, and the TV has 200mm screw spacing, so we purchased the LCD Adapter Plate. We purchased four M8 x 25 bolts with 1.25 pitch at our hardware store, plus four thick washers. We had to drill out the holes on the LCD Adapter Plate to accept the M8 size bolts (it was set up for M6), which was easy to do with a cordless drill and the right bit. We also used the four gray spacer sleeves that came with the TV, which prevented the Adapter Plate from blocking one of the TV's cooling vents. This setup took some work, but it looks and works great. It would have been nice if Samsung had either standardized the mounting holes or provided the necessary adapter hardware in the box.

After reading reviews all over the net, I still went ahead and purchased 2 of these. I use them as computer monitors fyi. Yes there is some glare but not near as bad as what other people have experienced. I've got them in a bright open room near a couple windows too. Everything is crisp, bright and beautiful. Text is clear and movies are gorgeous. Maybe I'm not a visual snob but I found that the sets didn't need much adjustment to get to where I like. There are plenty of connections for my needs and the ambient light sensor is a nice touch. Only issue I've found are the light sensor gets a little twitchy in the morning as the sun comes up and the evening when it goes down. They go from bright to dim as the ambient light settles. Overall I would highly recommend this tv to anyone!

Previous reviewers pretty much cover it: elegant physical packaging, very slim and easy to setup. I use only HDMI, so I cannot comment on setup with older connection types.

The good: with a bright, colorful image, the video quality is unbelievable. They aren't kidding when they advertise 3,000,000:1 contrast ration. It's a 32" display, so I haven't been bothered by the refresh rate - I personally haven't noticed any motion blur, even when playing PS3 games - Game Mode on or off. Simple to customize and integrates well with my Logitech Harmony remote (note: don't setup like a default Samsung TV - use the individual commands to access inputs from the menu of options).

The bad: the LCD / side-lit LED bleed took some getting used to. I played with the settings quite a bit to eliminate the fan-out of light from the corners - Movie mode works great - but it's very difficult to get a completely black background. I almost returned the unit, but after tweaking the settings, decided to keep it. To be honest, part of the reason I kept the TV was I saw someone else's new Vizio LCD unit; I quietly noticed right away how much more I liked the picture on the Samsung LED.

This is a great TV, but 4 stars because of the light bleed. However, I would definitely recommend this set to others.

I purchased this tv back in September and have yet to watch it. There was a problem with the screen right from the start. There was a big discolouration about the size of a large grapefuit. I had to send it back to Samsung for repairs. When they sent it back the screen had been fixed but the back panel of the tv was all dented and the glass frame was cracked and I was missing screws for the stand. So I had to send it back again to Samsung. It is still there as they are waiting for parts to arrive(any where from 7-14 days I was told). I wish they would just send me a new tv so I could actually watch what I paid for in September! I was told Samsung's warranty states that they must try to fix it before they will replace it! Too bad for the customer. Although they have been polite to talk to, I am starting to get a little frustrated and will likely never buy another product from them.

First off, I'd like to note that I used a 360 and PC with the TV.

Currently, it's the best-looking HDTV we have in the house. I've never seen my 360 games look or play this good. There is almost ZERO input lag when gaming. Colors are vivid, blacks are the darkest I've ever seen, and everything just kind of pops. I haven't tested the sound, although several reviews note the built-in speakers are terrible.

I don't use built-in speakers, so that wasn't an issue. If you're looking for a cheap THX sound experience, go for Klipsch 2.1 Computer speakers. The sound is as good as many home theater sound setups.

I haven't tested it with my PS3 yet but may update it with more info on that later. For those interested, here are the calibration settings I used which I found online:

Movie
Backlight: 7
Contrast: 95
Brightness: 45
Sharpness: 0
Color: 50
Tint G/R: 50/50

Black Tone: Off
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Shadow Detail: -2
Gamma: -1
Color Space: Auto
Flesh Tone: 0
Edge Enhancement: Off
Motion Plus: Off

Color Tone: Warm2
Screen Size: Screen Fit
Digital Noise Filter: Off
MPEG Noise Filter: Off
HDMI Black Level: Low

R-Offset: 25
G-Offset: 24
B-Offset: 25
R-Gain: 25
G-Gain: 23
B-Gain:24

If you're playing in a dimly lit room though, turn up the backlight setting.

This is my second Samsung HDTV. I have 55 inch and it's the Cats Pajamas so I when I needed a smaller screen, I went with Samsung again. This tv has an incredible picture. I must say that for an LCD screen, the off angle viewing is superb. The picture is still quite clear from the side, with hardly any noticeable dimming or fading. Maybe it's due to being LED lit.

I'm not a fan of 60hz tv's, but this one seems to do well. I use the "movie" mode (definitely gives the smoothest picture) and leave the edge enhancement off. Using these settings, the tv seems to work very well for fast motion scenes and live sports action. Not really any cons to this tv except that in order to connect it to your wireless router, you need to buy Samsung's wireless adapter separately. You can't use a generic one. Otherwise, no complaints.

Wow - what a great TV. Everything about this TV is awesome functionally and it is beautiful aesthetically.

A couple of minor things to mention;

1.) I hate the way they built the connections on the left side of the TV so close to the edge. They at least could have had them facing down where there may be more room. USB and Wireless devices aren't too bad but HDMI and any other cable sticks out the side. I ruined an HDMI cable trying to get it to bend enough to not show. Bad design.

2.) It does have some flashlighting if you know what I mean. There are definite bright spots throughout the screen in all black scenes. I have two other Samsung TV's (both of them are LCD, this one is LED) and they have some flashlighting too. Seems to be inherit in all LCD\LED screens - some more than others and you never know how bad your's will be until you get it and use it.

All in all I would buy this TV again since the picture is outstanding and the features and functions are wonderful but it could have been just that much better without the issues above. 4 Stars due to the issues above - otherwise a great TV.

I have this and im sure im getting another for my pc. one bad thing look at the tv standing or sitting to the side and the picture gets lighter. My mom's 32 LCD sony does is to. I was watching a tv show and on the show there was a hdtv in the backround it also looked like the screen was getting bright i think most of the hd tv's do this. this tv is the best i have seen and its built really well. heavy base, and the tv sits on a solid chunk of clear plastic, its built like a tank and has a very good picture better with dvd and even better on an hd channel, nice. from 1 to 10 i give it a 9

Product was great packaged very loose. No directions and I purcased the refurbashed model becouse it stated it had a one year in home warrenty I would like this in some type of writing they sent no pappers with it and hope amazon would look into this so i feel like i get what i am told as I love shopping on amazon hope for feedback thank you I provided my number....