Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

Now I could sit here and talk your ear off about all the technical mumbo jumbo this t.v. got going on but odds are that 1. you don't understand it and 2. you don't really care. All you want to know is how it works, how it looks, is it dependable, and is it worth it. and the answers are easily, amazing, like wind in a hurricane, and duh.

This is not my first HDTV. It's my first 1080p t.v., and thanks to it I know now how much of an idiot I was 3 years earlier when I didn't wait for a 1080p. I've gone through sooooo maaaaany countless problems with my RCA DLP (if you have any knowledge of t.v's and their dependencies based on models i'd have to ask you to kindly shut up at the moment because I've figured out the mistake that I've made, thank you,) that I was actually skeptical about the way this Samsung looked in the store compared to how it was going to look in my bedroom. Well I bit the $1,100 big one and went for it and my god if I wasn't a couch potato before lord help me now.

This t.v. paired with the Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-Ray player I purchased with it (and also reviewed which you can read on my profile,) make one of the best teams since peanut butter and jelly. They compliment and communicate with eachother to a degree beyond my expectations. And the liquid crystal goodness doesn't stop there either. If it's available pick up an HD receiver from your cable provider(if it's not, switch providers because wow, you know it's 2008 right?) and the programs broadcasted in HD will also have you wondering why you bought that outdated RCA in the first place.. I mean.. nevermind.

With such a clear and brilliant picture when going in full 1080p it's hard to say anything bad about this t.v., which is why I can't right now. Sure the sound may not be up to par with the standards of the picture but if you have a small 2 speaker sound system laying around somewhere then it's a breeze to hook it up. It's what I did and I haven't thought twice about it. But if you're going to put this screen as the main attraction in your living room (which it can totally handle) then I would go for a nice surround sound system(which I've also reviewed.) It's the least you could do, trust me, when you see this t.v in action you'll understand. (Heck, when you see this t.v. in all it's glory you'd probably want to bring it flowers on a weekly basis.)

So go ahead splurge on yourself and get it. You can't go wrong with the quality for it's price. Until then I'll be watching enough of it for the both of us.

My parents bought the Samsung LN40A550, which has good reviews in consumer reports. This TV has only 1 tuner, so picture in picture (PIP) requires another source. In the manual it does states: You can view Analog TV broadcasts on the PIP screen (sub-picture) when the main picture is from an external device connected to HDMI 1,HDMI/DVI 2, HDMI 3, Component1, 2 or PC.

So if you are expecting to use an external device, which is composite video (the yellow video RCA jack on a VCR) to supply a 2nd TV tuner source you will still not be able to do picture in picture.

When I got my Samsung 50" DLP years ago it had dual tuners and PIP was a simple PIP button on the remote. However the current Samsung LCD and DLPs along with many other tvs appear to have this limiting ability to perform PIP. Even if you do have the required source (componet/HDMI/PC) the process to active the PIP is not just a PIP button click on the remote. Other than the PIP issues the Samsung LN40A550 is a fine tv.

I've owned a 1080p samsung television (LNS4041) for approximately 2 years now. After fifteen months of operation the thing went on the fritz (turn it on and purple and green vertical lines appear with a black background - no pic.). Samsung claims I'm a few days outside my warranty and won't back up the product. I've called to have it repaired and it will cost $130 just to have somebody look at it. I'm thinking about smashing it into tiny bits an posting the video on YouTube. Overall, I'm very disappointed in samsung and regret the purchase. If you must have this television, buy the extended warranty. As for me, I'm getting my next lcd at Wal-Mart - perhaps a sanyo.

awsome tv. i have owned for about a month awsome picture, i love it all!!!!

shipping was fast, it was awsome, i love this tv.


the only thing is if its in a small room it will make the room hot quick...

I did a lot of research before settling on the Samsung LN40A550. Samsung is one of the top brands, and the only thing that worried me about this TV was the possibility that not being a 120hz machine would leave sports and action movies unwatchable.

I found a website called tweaktv that offers picture calibration settings, and these made a huge difference on the picture quality out of the box. Changing the sharpness down to 2 and setting the mode to "Movie" make for a huge improvement in picture quality. Jaggy text went away, and the picture got a lot cleaner. I used the tv for a week without HD, because I didn't have time to go get the box. Picture quality was OK with regular cable and component cables. Better than the old regular tv it replaced, and dvds played with S-Video from a standard DVD player looked crisp and good.

Today I finally got the HD box from my cable company, hooked up with HD cables. HD broadcasts are just stunning on this tv (keep in mind that when time you change input sources, the first time using that new source all the settings are back to the defaults. Each new input source will need the picture settings messed with the first time. HD looked pretty bad on the default settings until that sharpness got turned down)... Non HDTV channels look ok, but no better with the HDMI connection, and maybe slightly worse in a few cases.

ANYHOW, heres the skinny. Loving this TV. The menu's all make sense and are easy to navigate. The remote is also intuitive and easy to use( it is NOT a universal remote, btw). Sound is pretty good. Connecting to it is easy, and all the connections are well labeled and easy to use. It looks good, and seems much bigger in my living room than in the showrooms. We see a lot less glare on the screen when the sun comes in the window as well.

And, the thing that worried me- almost no problem with motion blurring. Sports and action movies are all very watchable on HD (somewhat less so on the regular cable). There is a slight amount of blurring during extremely fast action, but its not distracting at all.I was scared that this would be the dealbreaker, but like everything else on this tv, it exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend this tv! If you find a good price on it, buy it without fear.