Strengths:Bright, colorful, sharp picture; Tons of connectivity; Unintrusive design; excellent video processing; not-too expensive.
Weaknesses:On-board speakers leave a little room for improvement, totally useable but nothing to brag about
Posted Jun 2, 2007 - I've been shopping for a wide screen HDTV for about 4 YEARS at this point. To my eyes, just about every model on the market before 2006 had serious image problems related to the technology of the day. I won't bore you with all the technical shortfalls of projection tv's (LCD or DLP), plasma, or earlier LCD direct view, but I've tried them all and returned them all.
The new Samsung model has finally crossed a threshold and entered the realm of acceptability. The image is bright enough to use in a room that has a full wall of palladium windows during the day and is easily dialed-down for less brightness when the sun goes down. Color and contrast are both excellent as well and the set has enough adjust ability to allow it to be adjusted for a neutral (calibrated) image or tweaked for personal preference without killing the image.
The full 1080x1920 pixel count is a must have feature for me. Yes, I know that most cable / satellite feeds are only low-def 480i and don't take advantage of the full capability of the panel, BUT this does eliminate the screen-door effect (the effect where you can see the individual pixels and the lines separating them). This has been the biggest turn off for me with all of the plasma sets out there even the highly rated Pioneer (not the new 1080 unit). With the 1080x1920 this set has, the image looks solid and has no screen-door issues.
Take a look at the specs if you have unusual connectivity plans, but this set has all of the connector options for just about everyone. The latest HDMI 1.3 for all the cutting edge stuff to be released right down to to simple RF-coax for antique VCr’s (and of course everything in between (component, s-video, comp-video, vga/dvi/hdmi computer input, usb)
Yea, so what about the image? Its excellent! I receive both off-the-air network channels and standard Time-Warner cable. High def (either 720p or 1080i) look amazing on this set. The NASCAR race FOX broadcast yesterday was so sharp it was just like being there. Regular low-def channels are also very good. To me this is also a key feature since most of what I watch is standard cable 480i. I would say the standard def looks just as good on this new set as it does on my old trusty 31" Mitsubishi tube. This is a feature that most of last years models could not get quite rite. Yes the image is now bigger so the imperfections are more obvious, but at the 40" size its not an issue at normal viewing distance. So, yes standard TV looks fine. I connected a USB card reader and viewed some digital photos; wow, amazing detail. I have not connected a PC yet but based on the USB-photos, this set should really make at outstanding monitor.
I don't know what video processor is being used, but it is excellent. I have not seen any macro-blocking of any sort on fast action or anywhere else either. I think the NASCAR race was proof that this set can handle fast motion without the artifacts that previous model have suffered from.
The 4061 has the matte-screen and gives a lower contrast ratio than the smooth-glossy screen of the 4065. If you have a dark room with no windows the 4065 may be the way to go. But for just about everyone else who has windows, lights, and any reflection issues the 4061 is a better choice. Even so the contrast ration on the 4061 is very good. It produces a nice black not a mucky grey as previous models did.
Some discussion on the AVS forums has indicated some units have "flashlight" and "cloud" effects. I'm pretty picky and I will say my set either has none of these effects or the AVS folks have gone off the deep-end looking for flaws.
The only somewhat less than top-notch feature is the sound quality. Don't misunderstand, its very good and compares to any average TV speaker sound. But don't expect full, rich, dynamic audio with strong bass. For that you will need to add a sound package. A lot of the time I just don't feel like turning on all the audio equipment just to watch normal TV; the built in audio is more than adequate for that.
I haven't even begun to tweak this set or add the other video inputs ...... Its a keeper.
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