Samsung Series 5 40" + Speakers or Series 6 40" TV?

[Imrahn]

Hi guys, this is my first post and am in a dilemma.

Was thinking of getting a 40" LCD for connecting the following components:
1)PC-mainly gaming and FHD rip movie playback.
2)PS3
3)X360
and
4)BIG TV(in the order of preference).

I ahve a max budget of 75k and had zeroed in on the Samsung Series 6 40incher(LA40B650) for around 72k but in that case i will be empty pocketed and will have to wait another month+ to acquire money for a speaker system(most prolly Logitech Z5500 since budget for the same is sub 20k ).

Now, if i go for a Series 5 40incher(LA40B550) for 55k, i will have the money left for the speakers as well.

The dilemma here is that I DO NOT WANNA COMPROMISE ON PQ.If the Series 6 warrants a good amount of improvement over Series 5 wrt PQ, i can definitely wait to get the speakers after a month or two.but unfortunately, apart from the addition of "100Hz display"(which i think inhibits gaming), i am not getting the info i need about the PQ difference between the 2 models.

So, plz help me find an answer and get some much needed sleep

Regards

Imrahn

 

[ANP !!!]

I don't think there will be much difference the PQ, apart from the contrast levels (100,000:1 vs 70,000:1) and looks, mostly it will be a 5% difference, which wont be noticeable at all. The 6 Series has 2 USB ports vs 1 USB ports, rest everything is same on both the LCDs.

If you are still not convinced then, I advice you to go to the local mall and demo them both side by side, you can ask them to put both the LCDs side by side and you can get the best idea about the PQ differences.

 

[Reds4ever]

Hi guys, this is my first post and am in a dilemma.

Was thinking of getting a 40" LCD for connecting the following components:
1)PC-mainly gaming and FHD rip movie playback.
2)PS3
3)X360
and
4)BIG TV(in the order of preference).

I ahve a max budget of 75k and had zeroed in on the Samsung Series 6 40incher(LA40B650) for around 72k but in that case i will be empty pocketed and will have to wait another month+ to acquire money for a speaker system(most prolly Logitech Z5500 since budget for the same is sub 20k ).

Now, if i go for a Series 5 40incher(LA40B550) for 55k, i will have the money left for the speakers as well.

The dilemma here is that I DO NOT WANNA COMPROMISE ON PQ.If the Series 6 warrants a good amount of improvement over Series 5 wrt PQ, i can definitely wait to get the speakers after a month or two.but unfortunately, apart from the addition of "100Hz display"(which i think inhibits gaming), i am not getting the info i need about the PQ difference between the 2 models.

So, plz help me find an answer and get some much needed sleep

Regards

Imrahn

I don't personally own either of these two sets but one would expect that if gaming is ur primary objective, u'd be better off with the B550.. as u'd rightly pointed out, the 100 Hz processing causes significant lag..

check out these two links if u haven't already.. the first one, in particular, is great..

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1133892
Samsung B550 vs B650 - AVForums.com

 

[Imrahn]

Thanx both of u .....but boy oh boy, to add to the confusion, the local Sonyt Center quoted 64k for a Sony 40W550 and 74k for a 46V series.

So,. whats the better choice of the lot now, Samsung or Sony?

 

[Reds4ever]

Thanx both of u .....but boy oh boy, to add to the confusion, the local Sonyt Center quoted 64k for a Sony 40W550 and 74k for a 46V series.

So,. whats the better choice of the lot now, Samsung or Sony?

Those do look good offers and I can very well understand ur confusion..

While you mull over these options, do keep a track of what happens in CES in a few days.. as you own a ps3, you might want to look at the 3D Tv option as well if it's going to be released this year and if the pricing is reasonable.. both Sony and Panasonic are pushing this hard..

 

[Gfreeman]

Thanx both of u .....but boy oh boy, to add to the confusion, the local Sonyt Center quoted 64k for a Sony 40W550 and 74k for a 46V series.

So,. whats the better choice of the lot now, Samsung or Sony?

I am afraid the W550 is also almost as laggy as the B750 and B650. I haven't seen many lag measurements being made on the V550 but i am assuming it might in the league of the B550 given the lack of the 100hz

 

[adder]

I am afraid the W550 is also almost as laggy as the B750 and B650. I haven't seen many lag measurements being made on the V550 but i am assuming it might in the league of the B550 given the lack of the 100hz

well in game mode its disabled,the BE3 fairs a bit better in input lag compared to the samsung.

 

[Gfreeman]

While you mull over these options, do keep a track of what happens in CES in a few days.. as you own a ps3, you might want to look at the 3D Tv option as well if it's going to be released this year and if the pricing is reasonable.. both Sony and Panasonic are pushing this hard..

Pansonic have confirmed the release of a 50 inch 3DTV and a 3D blu ray player for 2010(yet to see if it would hit Indian shores). Panny bosses have indicated that have been targeting volume which means they might not be uber expensive. Again CES might not give any price indications until an official launch.

And personally 2010 might not be right time to just jump into a 3DTV. Lack of content being the biggest problem . Hollywood may be the only factor initially driving 3DTVs next year. Sky would only be beaming 3D signals starting from 2010 into UK homes. So what do we expect in a country which is yet to see full HD broadcast come to the masses. Maybe TV broadcasters would directly skip to 3D broadcasting?? Hmmm. Not sure. But it would be nice to wait and watch the coming days/months starting off with the CES .

 

[Gfreeman]

well in game mode its disabled,the BE3 fairs a bit better in input lag compared to the samsung.

Sorry, which one are you referring to? W550 vis a vis the B750 B650 or the B550 vs V550.
The HDTV UK tests show similar values for the W550 and the B650. Around 17ms-33ms for the Sony and around 17ms to 34 ms for the B650 with game mode engaged(in reference to the F96).So even a 1ms or 2ms diff on the higher value in game mode will not make any difference real world.


Having said that its far from acceptable with game mode disabled than the Sony(84ms or more compared to around 50ms)
V550 vs B550-Maybe yes, but as I do not have a quantifiable no, I am not sure. Again if the diff in values was around 1-2 ms it should b difficult to discern real world. Though the feel depends on individuals i remember this one game,Killzone 2, that a lot of gamers were complaining to be really heavy on today's 100 and 200hz TVs from Sony and Samsung

 

[adder]

Sorry, which one are you referring to? W550 vis a vis the B750 B650 or the B550 vs V550.
The HDTV UK tests show similar values for the W550 and the B650. Around 17ms-33ms for the Sony and around 17ms to 34 ms for the B650 with game mode engaged(in reference to the F96).So even a 1ms or 2ms diff on the higher value in game mode will not make any difference real world.


Having said that its far from acceptable with game mode disabled than the Sony(84ms or more compared to around 50ms)
V550 vs B550-Maybe yes, but as I do not have a quantifiable no, I am not sure. Again if the diff in values was around 1-2 ms it should b difficult to discern real world. Though the feel depends on individuals i remember this one game,Killzone 2, that a lot of gamers were complaining to be really heavy on today's 100 and 200hz TVs from Sony and Samsung

well in order for one to notice the effect of input lag anything higher then 30ms can be a issue and yes 1 or 2ms won't make a difference when comparing.

also samsung may have updated their image processing chip to the newer chelsea versions.so onc can't say for sure whether the B550A vs B650A reviews in HDTVUK hold true,since the B550A was a more recent test.
again in the samsung it also depends on what panel they use,if its the SPVA based u may find the input lag higher compared to AMVA/SMVA based panels.

 

[Imrahn]

Thanx all.....i really wanna go for the Samsung 40B650 but its rather limited stock and the 64k price tag for the 40W550 is tempting me too much to jump to the Sony side,especially since i couldn't get a Sammy to demo.