Splendid TV, Long Review – Samsung LN52A750 52-Inch 1080p DLNA LCD HDTV with RED Touch of Color

Pros:
- HD Picture Quality: As I say below, this is my first LCD TV, but I’ve seen many in my years and the PQ is excellent, especially considering the price. The blacks look great, the colors pop, and once I played with the picture settings, it looked even better
- SD Picture Quality: For a 52″ LCD the standard definition picture is very good. While obviously not as good a CRT or a non-HD-LCD, it still is excellent.
- No issues (at least on mine) with clouding, mura, banding, pillaring, etc
- Viewing angle is excellent
- Look of the bezel
- Glossy screen isn’t as reflective as my old CRT
- Lots of picture adjustments
- General connectivity (DNLA, Wiselink, Infolink, etc)

Cons:

- Only one HDMI input that does anything by switching it to PC
- Remote and more importantly the remote UI is poorly conceived. Example: No button for changing AMP settings, and getting to PIP is convoluted.
- A lot of the picture adjustments are limited to certain input types and/or modes
- Bezel is very easy to scratch
- DNLA limits on codecs allowed
- No wireless DNLA
- Auto energy-saving setting needs a little work

Potential benefits/concerns, but not necessarily a pro or a con, IMO:

- Lag

It’s been discussed a lot in this thread. It will bother some, others won’t notice it, and depending on the settings, lag can be extremely minimized. At the end it’s up to the owner.

- Halo

Basically in a dark room a little light emits from the edges of the bezel creating a ‘halo’ over the TV. Some like it, some really dislike it, some don’t even notice it. Decide for yourself. It is rare that I watch anything in pitch black, but when I have it hasn’t bothered me. There is a solution for those that do have an issue with it but like the TV otherwise.

- Touch of Color (TOC)

The red bezel. I like it, my wife likes it and to both us we don’t notice it that much. Again to each their own. The biggest thing with the bezel is how easily it’s surface can get scratched, even with a soft microfiber cloth.

- Short Summary

I really enjoy the TV and everything it offers. The picture quality positive easily outweighs any (and all) of the negatives the TV has, by itself.

Slightly longer review

Preface:

This is my first LCD screen. I’ve waited 2 years to buy one, mainly because I never saw a TV I liked. . . . Saw a review on the 650 and knew the 750 was out. Went to the local store and saw the 750 and really liked it. I waited a few weeks, maybe a month, and finally took the plunge of buying a TV via Amazon.

Ordering and delivery:

Simple.

The order was delayed a few days from the original estimated ship date of the 22nd of May – the day I ordered it – to the 27th, because of some random reason.

TV shipped on the 4th. Amazon’s system had the TV reaching the local CEVA warehouse on the 5th, but Amazon’s system was incorrect. I used CEVA’s system and they were right on with their estimate.

CEVA came to the house, unboxed the TV, placed it on my stand, let me hook up my computer via a DVI>HDMI cable to see if I had any dead pixels and/or glaring issues. None. They left. Very courteous.

Aesthetics:

One of the reasons I bought the 750 over the 650 is because the bezel. I like the squared off bezel of this better then the rounded one of the 650. It wasn’t a big difference, but the price difference of the two models when I got the 750 was negligible.

The downside of the TOC is how easily the bezel can get scratched. The TV has been in my possession for about 3 weeks and it already has 2 scratches on it from just getting wiped down. The bezel seems to collect dust rather quickly, while the screen does not.

Before I bought the TV I had heard how most LCDs have a reflective screen to bring out add more pop, but the reflectiveness was a distraction. I already was coming from a CRT which was pretty reflective, which I didn’t like at all. To my surprise the LN52A750 is less reflective then my CRT and doesn’t distract from my viewing, even during the day.

The ‘halo’ is only visible when it is dark and at 10 feet from the TV, my eyes don’t see it when I’m watching TV. Some might not like it, but I don’t think it is an issue. Go to a store and check it out yourself to see if you like it or not.

The Nuts and Bolts:

- Picture Quality

Wow! In one word.

The picture quality is pretty great. Out of the box the TV’s settings were pretty good, but once I played with the settings, it was even better.

I don’t have a bluray or hi-def DVD player, just an older progressive scan player (not even one of those upconverting ones). But DVDs on that player look great. One day I’ll get a bluray player and I’ll be even happier.

Comcast HD looks wonderful, with basketball games really showing what the TV does. No TBE (triple ball effect) at all.

The standard def, is very good too. Not CRT quality, but better then what I’ve seen out of most, if not all LCDs.

The TV has a lot of picture options that one can play with. There are certain limitations, as Samsung has limited what can be changed on certain inputs/modes, but hopefully that will be corrected in future FW updates. But the abundance of settings options should allow the TV to be set to appease anyone’s eyes.

- On-screen menu and remote UI

The remote is lacking in a lot of ways. Not in the design itself, but the lack of being able to 1-touch things like Auto Motion Plus, Picture-in-Picture, brightness, etc without going into the menus, sometimes delving much deeper into a menu than would make sense.

The menus themselves are fine and easily navigable, but it just takes too many steps to get to certain pieces that should be easier to switch quickly.

Also there is a lack of being able to program certain buttons on the remote (namely the colored buttons) based on what the user needs. In this day and age you would figure having at least a few programmable buttons would be commonplace.

- Connects

The four HDMI’s are nice. What isn’t nice that they all seem to act a tad differently from one another. For example labeling HDMI4 (the one on the side) as a PC does nothing and it seems to act a bit slower to begin with. But HDMI2, when labeled PC, completely eliminates process, hence lag (at least in my tests).

The TV handles the switching fine, but the lack of being able to do the same thing to any of the HDMI’s is a mistake.

This might have more to do with the Movie Mafia – MPAA – but not allowing 5.1 out via optical seems wrong and a tad limiting.

- Sound

To tell you truth, except for my first turn on and off of the TV, I haven’t listened to the internal speakers as everything is going through my receiver, so I can’t say much about it.

- As a computer monitor, streaming, etc

I haven’t tried DNLA yet, as I need to get a wireless bridge, but I have hooked up my laptop to the TV numerous times.

Initially I had hooked it up to HDMI4 and the results were okay. I had trouble playing certain files through that port (namely quicktime ones). But I moved the input to HDMI2 labeled it PC and everything played on the TV just fine. I even removed the PC label and everything played just fine and I had no sound lag either.

If being used just as a monitor, text is clear and legible even from 10 feet away. From up close the text is smooth too.

- Uniformity

First thing I did was test for dead pixels and any obvious defects when CEVA dropped the TV off. Nothing seemed to stand out.

I then tried a lot of different files, movies, etc and nothing wrong stood out again.

And then I ran TVBlink.com’s DVD and only one minor thing stood out, but I think it was source related more then anything else. On the Color Antialiasing test, the circles are to be smooth. Two of my circles (purple and blue) had rolling hills, not steps. It changed when I used my computer’s DVD instead of the standalone one.

Nothing else really stood out.

No pillaring, no clouding/mura, no flashlights, etc. I’m sure there are some irregularities some might notice, but my wife, a few friends, and I haven’t seen anything so that is good enough.

- Gaming/Lag

I only have the Wii. And I’ve noticed no discernible lag when playing games on it in any mode (Game mode, Standard mode, etc) all played the same for me.

I had run tests out of curiosity’s sake more then for any other reasons. Yes, there is lag on this TV, but it is highly dependent on your settings and what you can live with and can’t live with.

There was 0ms lag when I labeled HDMI2 to PC (8 tests – 8 @ 0ms). Game mode gave me a lag of 20ms to 30ms (9 tests – 3 @ 20ms, 6 @ 30ms). Extremely acceptable numbers for an LCD TV of this magnitude and standard mode’s lag with AMP at low was generally clocked between 50ms and 70ms (8 tests 4 @ 50ms, 2 @ 60ms, 2 @ 70ms). A little higher.

The outcomes are based solely on my tests, on my TV, using my equipment. Others might have varying results.

- Audio/Lag

I have not encountered audio lag. As mentioned I have only used the TV speakers once or twice. Sound was in sync then. The rest of the time all sound is run through my receiver and the sync is perfect then too.

I do have my standard cable input into the TV with RCA audio out to the receiver and there is no audio lag there either.

- Halo

Well it’s there, but not a concern on my part. I barely notice it, and when I do it’s because I am looking for it.

- Power on input delay

This actually hadn’t been in my mind until someone else brought it to my attention. If you are switching inputs from the TV Off status, it takes a little bit – actually 13000ms from the time the TV turns on and the input is switched to the appropriate one. Not sure why, but it can be a mild annoyance.

Final Thoughts

I really love the TV. I haven’t hesitated to recommend this TV to anyone I know and one person did buy it and they are extremely happy with their purchase.

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