Samsung Or Sony

[pradski]

Kams/Pandian,

I agree with your decision. I was thinking of pan PLASMA 42 PV 8 or 80.

I heard about it the forum and saw them. Then came to 40 " LCD sam. These look ugly with our transmission in india, which are good with CRT's. 32" LCD they look acceptable

Till we get HD broadcast we can stick to get a 32 and run for couple of years.
Then can go for bigger and better if this is our first flat panel. It should be cheaper and with higher sophistication.

Shiva prasad

 

[Kapz]

After a long delay, I got my Samsung 610 40" yesterday and thought would write a small review to help others make up their mind.

1. Pciture Quality: Needless to say, in HD content, picture quality of even 720P is very impressive. This was done by taking HDMI output from laptop. DVD output from Pioneer DV 525 on component video with progressive scan is although not comparable even with 720p, but for someone who has not watched HD content in its full glory, picture quality is more than good. As far SD content is concerned, Dish TV through composite video is definitely not something to cheer about. In earlier posts I had read about inability to read ticker tapes or fast moving pictures like a WRC rally in any sports channel. Frankly, I have not experienced any such problem. Watching from a distance of between 10-12 feet, picture looks almost like a CRT, although with lack of detail that you associate with a CRT. No artifacts though when viewed from this distance. Go closer and you can see the TV trying to keep up with change of motion.

Verdict: If you want DVD/HD content, this LCD will fulfill your needs more than you can ask for. As far as standard cable feed is connected, you can probably wait for DTH to go HD. By then Samsung series 8 should be available which is nothing but a series 6 with network connectivity thrown in.

2. Audio Quality: I had a Sansui 2907 earlier which had a good balanced audio output. The sound from 610 although loud enough, is not rich. If you are watching a saas-bahu serial, I reckon you do not require much of richness as you require richness in what those women are wearing . Watching DVD's I reckon will be done through a AVR so that that part is well looked after.

Verdict: I would give it a 7 out of 10 for audio.

3. Tweaking: The menu is choke-a-block with tweaking option you can have for back light and color. The person who came to fit the TV recommended inbuilt "dynamic" setting which I found very strenuous for eyes. With lots of tweaking, i am now using standard settings which look quite OK in all light conditions.

Verdict: A full 10 ot of 10 for tweaking options.

4. Sales Service: I had to wait for close to 3 weeks for getting the panel. I guess this was partly due to Samsung concentrating on North India markets due to Diwali. I confirmed from all Samsung sealers all over Kochi to cross check. Once I bought the panel, the technician followed me home and setup the whole thing in a jiffy as per my requirements. So I do not have any issues with sales service. After sales service is another bridge and I hope do not have to cross it.

That sums up what I had to say after using the set for two days. Will keep updating on as required basis.

 

[Dushie]

Kapz , congrats on your purchase , your description was very informative and detailed, i am sure we will get plenty of update from you on the performance and feedback of your lcd once you play around with it in the coming weeks ..

 

[psychotropic]

hey kapz, welcome to the samsung family

 

[moserw]

Don't be too surprised if the panels of both Sony and Samsung come from the same source. They have a joint venture company called S-LCD Corporation based in South Korea that makes the LCD panels for both companies. Cheeky guys, no?

Regarding dependability, factories to make panels are extremely expensive. The investment is close to 2 billion dollars. Does not really matter where they are manufactured. The quality of production will be very highly controlled, irrespective of the geographical location. For example, Hyundai cars will the same whether manufactured in Korea or India. Actually Hyundai models manufactured in India (i10) are used in Europe.

The LCD panels have a life span of about 50,000 hours before they start deteriorating, if at all. That is about 17 years if you use the panel for 8 hours every day of the year.

Samsung is a world leader in LCD TVs. They cannot afford to use 'inferior' components. Actually I would not be surprised if they use better parts than their Japanese brethren !!

You can buy and enjoy either model without any worry. If you cannot make out any difference in auditioning, then budget (after hard bargaining), payment mode, warranty, dealer support, local service support, etc., must be considered to decide.

Cheers

Hi,

Not to be a wet blanket or throw in my spanner in the works here...

Its not true that Hyundai cars made in India will be the same as made in Korea. Actually this is very true for Toyota Motor Co. They have higher quality control standars for their US models compared to other countries and this is one of the reasons why they are so successful in dethroning even GM in the US and becoming world No. 1. I read a brief (made by my boss who is a gold medallist from IIM) where it stated that the gap when a door closes is the narrowest in the US models than compared to the same model in other countries. In fact Toyota addressed many such issues and worked on improving quality to such an extent for their US/North American models that even GM could not compete with them.

The same can be said for CD/DVD media too. Moser Baer is the company that manufactures CD/DVD media for HP and even has their own branded label selling in the market. However, despite both products/media coming from the same company and the same source, the quality of HP CD/DVD is so much better than the CD/DVD of Moser Baer themselves. I can personally attest to this.

In the case of Coca Cola too I can personally verify that the Coke I have had in the US, Singapore and Dubai tastes absolutely way better than the Coke that is available in India (which is fertilizer treated???).

The same should stand true for Samsung, Sony and other companies too. Its our fallacy to think that we get the best. In fact most crap is dumped into 3rd world countries than anywhere else and yes India is still considered a developing, but 3rd world country by most. A company like Mitsubishi came to India with Lancer which it stopped producing and manufacturing in many countries, but we Indians lapped up this "discontinued" model when it came initially. Ditto for the old Honda City model. This only shows what plans/intent Mitsubishi has/had for India. Thankfully Honda is now selling newer models in India.

To state my 2 paise quote. I have had very bad experiences with Korean products, but Japanese products have worked for years on end without any problems whatsoever.

Coming back to TVs... I have checked all brands and all makes, LCDs/Plasma's of all sizes (and shapes???). From my personal experience (personal and IMHO so no offense meant to anyone) the Panasonic PV8 rocked way better than any Samsung or LG period. Sony does hold its own against the Panasonic, but at nearly 2-3 times the cost in some models. Only dither is that the Panasonic PV8 is not Full HD, but even here after extensive testing/viewing and also concurred by most "experts" there is absolutely very little difference between HD Ready and Full HD at least in the content we have available with us today.

Hopefully I have not stepped on anybody's toes...

 

[Teja]

But i have yet to see a single Full HD TV that has a internal scaling engine for 1080p, where it can take a lower resolution picture and scale it to 1080p. You think if a TV has a scaling engine for a 1080p, the manufacturer will not shout from the roof top?

LCDs can only display at their native resolution, there is no other way. If you are seeing a picture the completely fills all the 1920x1080 pixels of an LCD panel, then it means that the picture is of that resolution. So every LCD TV should be capable of up-sizing and down-sizing the input signal to its native resolution. Note that I am not using scaling - changing resolution through scaling generally implies an intelligent process that uses logic to remain true to the original picture, while by up or down sizing I mean a very rudimentary logic to extra- or inter-polate the missing pixels to fill the screen size.

You can easily test this. On my Samsung LCD, under Picture Options there is an item called "Size". In it there is an option called "Just Scan" - this is usually called 1:1 pixel mapping in computer monitors. What it does is it disables the up/down sizing logic and displays only the actual pixels. So if you feed a 720p signal in "just scan" mode, then the picture will not fill the screen and you will see a black border around the picture.

Or connect the LCD to a PC/Laptop through the VGA (PC) terminal and change the resolution and see how the display changes.

Cheers.

 

[MPM]

Any comments?? Has nobody noticed this in the Indian Samsung?

I don't remember but I think these are from Amazon comments.

"Be Wary of Panel Manufacturer" - Samsung LN46A550 user review and rating - CNET Reviews

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"Be Wary of Panel Manufacturer"

by dumblineman on August 20, 2008

Pros: Price/Performance
Features and Ease-of-Use

Cons: Colors
Viewing Angles
Summary: Be very careful when buying one of the a550 LCDs. Samsung notoriously uses different manufacturers for its panels, resulting in extreme variations of quality. "S" Panels are great, made by Samsung, and they conveniently land into the hands of early adopters and reviewers. Other panels, "A" and "C", are quite inconsistent in terms of quality. Mine, an "A" panel, was horrible. The colors were not the least bit vivid, even after many attempts at calibration. Contrast was good, but only when viewing the LCD at dead center. When viewing the screen even slightly off-angle, the contrast worsened significantly, and the image itself washed out. I was extremely dissatisfied with this LCD, eventually exchanging it for a Panasonic 46PZ85U, which I ABSOLUTELY love.

You may be lucky and get an "S" panel, but be wary of this game that Samsung plays.

Thank you for submitting your feedback!

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reply by: mengley on December 4, 2008

After a recent trip to a local electronics retailer, I can vouch for the existence of and sub-par quality of the A and C panels. The store had both the A450 and A550 models with S, A, and C panels on the shelf; from A650 on up, there were only S panels. The picture quality of the A450 with an S panel was clearly superior to another A450 with a C panel as well as that of the A550 with an A panel, although the pricier model should obviously have the superior picture. The panel manufacturer is designated in two places on the back of the panel. On the side where the connections are, there is a sticker showing the model#, serial#, and version#. The first letter of the version# will be an S, A, or C, and it corresponds to an identical letter about 1/8" tall which can be found in the middle of the panel in the top right corner of another info sticker, set apart from the rest of the text. There is no version# printed on the box, and thus no way of knowing without opening it. Buyer beware!

 

[MPM]

Link to the reviews:

"Be Wary of Panel Manufacturer" - Samsung LN46A550 user review and rating - CNET Reviews