Samsung LN40A450C 40-inch 720p LCD HDTV
Samsung LN40A450C
I bought this TV as a replacement for my 37″ Sony Trinitron that I bought in 1999. Alot has changed in the last nine years, such as my expectation that a TV would last longer than nine years…. So I had to buy a flat screen because it appears that tube TVs aren’t manufactured anymore.
I don’t have a HDTV signal from the my satellite dish, so I can’t comment on the quality of the picture using an HDTV signal. I do have a DVD player and DVDs look really nice.
There are a few annoyances with using this Samsung. Compared to my old Sony, the remote control is almost symmetrical along the short axis, resulting in it being difficult to tell which end to point to the TV without having to look at it closely. Also, I could point my Sony remote anywhere near the TV and it worked; not so with the Samsung.
Since the TV is wider than a conventional tube TV, one needs to vary the picture mode–4×3, 16×9, Zoom1 and Zoom2–based on the video source. Zoom1 appears to be for watching shows such as ‘House’, ‘ER’, etc. that broadcast in non-HD letterbox. It cuts off the top and bottom a little, though, so one needs to move the picture up or down (usually up) to center the picture. I am not sure what good Zoom2 is, because it zooms in even more than Zoom1, resulting in a picture with all four sides cropped. Unfortunately, one cannot adjust the amount of zoom. The picture is a little soft as a result, but for me, TV is just TV, so I don’t care.
What does irritate me is that the TV doesn’t remember the zoom adjustments when I change picture mode or turn off the TV. Also, it doesn’t remember that I always want the closed captions ON. It always turns them off when the TV is turned off. To turn them on, I need to turn the captions on, then off, then on again every time I turn on the set. Very annoying.
The captions are presented in a goofy manner as well; there’s too much kerning (letters are too far apart) within words.
The sleep timer presents its messages in “Engrish.” Setting the sleep timer results in the following message: “The sleep timer is set to work in 30 minutes.” (including an extra space between ‘30′ and ‘minutes’.) The messages makes more sense if it read, “The TV will turn off in 30 minutes.” Turning off the sleep timer yields an equally goofy message, “The sleep timer has been released.” (”The sleeper timer is off.” is less awkward.)
Reviewed By : Silverwoodchuck 47 : Sep 28, 2008
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