HDTV Reviews Blog

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Apogee HDMI 3×1 Mini Switcher v1 3b Full HD 1080p 25m Amplified with External IR Receiver Remote Control

HDMI 3-Port Mini Switch HDTV Digital Video Switcher v1.3b – 25m Amplified w/ External IR Receiver with Remote Control, HDCP: HDMISWM (Gold-Plated, Retail)

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Exactly as advertised
For about $20, my expectations weren’t too high, but this product has done everything the description says it will do. There’s three HDMI inputs on the “front” and one output on the “back” (front and back distinctions are at your discretion). Simply hook up your devices and then connect to your upstream television or other video display device. The box takes care of switching back and forth or you can use the included 3-button remote to manually swap.

It all works perfectly. The device does take about 30 seconds to notice that my Xbox 360 has been shut down, but I don’t know if that’s the fault of the box or if the 360 doesn’t close off the HDMI port until the final moment.

5 Stars Works like a charm!
Very nice unit for a very reasonable price. Does the job as advertised. Small size is handy for those with an aversion to clutter.

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Samsung PN50B560 50 Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

49.9″ screen (measured diagonally) * 1920 x 1080 pixels * 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio * 600Hz Subfield Motion anti-blur technology * FilterBright anti-glare filter *

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars The B560 is an excellent value for the money.
I already knew I wanted Plasma over LCD. So I spent weeks reading reviews and comparing specs of everything from Panasonic G15/G10 & S1 to Samsungs B650, B560, and B550. I came to the conclusion that Samsung has better color accuracy and Panasonic has better black levels. However, Panasonic also has better customer service and a lower percentage of TV’s with issues. There has been numerous reports of the Samsung 2009 B series Plasma’s having a “buzzing” issue. While they scared me a little, I decided that the TV for me was the Samsung PN50B560.

If you are comparing Samsungs, the B560 has the Crystal Full HD Engine with Cinema Smooth, while the B550 does not. The B650 also has Crystal Full HD Engine with Cinema Smooth, but an with an added feature, an ethernet port for using widgets, like weather, sports, stocks, etc… Something I’ve read is very slow and not very impressive. The 650 also has the red touch of color bezel. The 550 and 560 both have charcoal blended in, which I preferred.

I am pleased with the colors and black levels of this TV. I also have a Panasonic 50PX80U and I can’t tell much of a difference. Physically, the TV is also very attractive, much nicer than Panasonic, and the swivel stand is also nice to have.

Defending the common CONS:

Buzz: My TV does not buzz

Speakers: They sound fine, my Panasonic sounds slightly better. But speakers in flat panel TV’s are not going to be impressive, I think people just expect to much out of them.

Glare: Yes, there will be some glare, its a Plasma. However, compared to other Plasma’s I looked at in the store, it’s not a big difference. I didn’t make it a factor.

In summary, if you are on a budget, I recommend the Samsung B560 or B550. If you can spare an extra few hundred more, go with a Panasonic G15 or G10. When it comes down to it, you’ll be happy with any of these choices, unless you are a videophile, you’ll never notice the difference.

5 Stars Far better than we imagined.
We bought this set back in late June 2009, and it’s our first HDTV so I can’t compare firsthand with other models. All I can say is, through HDMI connections it displays everything we feed it much better than I even imagined. I assumed standard-definition content would look grainy but this TV, in combination with a great Panasonic blu-ray player (the DMP-BD60) or even our old Samsung progressive-scan DVD player, somehow shows literally everything in its native mode, or at 720p (PS3 games and 720p TV content). Composite-video feed is as feared, somewhat grainy, so I don’t even use it.

There’s been a lot of buzz about Samsung plasmas being “buzzers.” Fortunately, we have been spared. Also, I’ve read comments about the CinemaSmooth feature (that displays 24p content at 96 Hz) disrupting black levels. We haven’t seen any of that, either, and I use CS 90% of the time (even with DVDS, thanks to the abilities of the Panasonic BD player!).

Having moved up from a 32″ full-screen Wega to this 50″ widescreen plasma, I have a lot more glass that catches lots of ambient glare and reflections from new angles, but it’s not nearly as bad a nuisance as I’d been led to believe, reading the AV forums, and we do use this TV in a fairly bright daytime setting as well as at night when we’re more “serious” about what we watch.

We didn’t break-in our TV and I haven’t had any calibration done, either, but the only image-retention I occasionally see is from those stationary news-channel logos. I have used the built-in anti-IR scrolling feature maybe once a month to remove those, and recall it took about 4-5 minutes in each case. Although calibration is something I have pondered, the intensity and balance of colors produced by this TV seem fine to us; I’ve seen a few of the Samsung and Panasonic demo models at local retailers that were calibrated and thought they weren’t any better than the set now in my living room. Not dissing calibration, just wondering if I’d really notice any improvement.

My review is that of just one owner, and I’m not really versed in the AV lingo or all the features available in the marketplace from different makes/models or technologies.

On a closing note, I am not really a football fan, but the HD game content leaves me drooling over the capabilities of this TV whenever one is showing, and I end up watching the whole game! I’ll have to be more careful in the future with this “feature” because it sometimes prevents me from getting other, more important things done.

5 Stars just what you expect from a samsung plasma (bang for the buck)
notes:

i’ve owned this television for 2 months

usage: 90% tv and 10% video games

#1 thing to remember when you buy a plasma…BREAK IT IN. avoid channels or video games with stationary logos or else you’ll get image retention (not permanent). fyi, typical break in time for a plasma is about 100-200 hours. what i love about this plasma, there’s a build in scrolling black to white screen which helps with break in of the plasma and with image retention. so every night for the past 2 months before i go to sleep, i would set sleep to 30 mins, turn on the picture mode to dynamic (for high contrast and high brightness), and use this screen of scrolling black to white. after about 2 months, image retention is almost non existant. any questions about break-in? go to [...] and look up their plasma break in thread.

picture quality is on par with panasonics in this price range. but if you have the money, go for the panasonic. slightly better picture quality. panasonics also have their break-in period built in. so you don’t have to worry about it.

didn’t test the speakers, since i use a home theatre setup.

glare is a slight problem for me (depends where you put it). my room is small. walls are white. so glare is expected, but it is not a deal breaker.

i have almost no complaints about this television. everything i expected. one complaint but it’s a small one. my set has a little buzz sound coming out of it, but it isn’t loud. my home theatre system easily drowns it out. but if you stand next to the plama, you can hear it.

the plasma is REALLY REALLY heavy. make sure you have a solid spot to mount it on your wall, not just dry wall. don’t go cheap on the mounting bracket!

5 Stars Stunning
We had bought the TV as an upgrade from our 720P 32 inch LCD, and the upgrade has put me at a loss for words.

The picture, clarity, and black levels from this set is the best I have seen after shopping around.

Very fast setup with the Plug and Play feature!

On top of that, aesthetically beautiful.

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25FT 1 3 HDMI TO HDMI CABLE HDTV PS3 XBOX 360 DVD 1080P GOLD AV 25 FT 19 PIN

These are the new High Speed HDMI 1.3 Cables. HMDI 1.3 adds support for “x.v. Color” which is the IEC 61966-2-4 xvYCC color standard or Deep Color, which removes current color space limitations and enables the display of any color viewable by the human eye. These 1.3 High-Speed cables have been tested to perform at speeds up to 340 Mhz/10.2 Gbps which is the highest bandwidth currently available over a single digital link cable and can go beyond a 1080p signals. Version 1.3 Category 2 cables are able to support a higher resolution displays such as WQXGA cinema monitors with a resolution of 2560 x 1600. With version 1.3, HDMI now also supports lossless compressed streams such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

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LG 32LH30 32 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Gloss Black

The LH30 series is an entry-level full 1080p LCD HDTV series featuring invisible speakers that give the LH30 a slim panel design. The LH30 series includes Smart Energy Saving technology for better energy conservation and a USB port for access to digital music and videos without the need for a PC. It’s Full HD in a stylish and economical package.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Making a case for LG; amazing tv.
LG does’nt get enough praise.

Just bought this TV for the sake of it being an IPS panel and for its apparent adjustability (and also 1080p). Plus this tv is so easy to calibrate; the ‘picture wizard’ is extremely helpful.

The amount of menu options is jaw-dropping, as is the style of the set. The LH40 model looks neat with the plastic square along the bottom of the panel, but I like the more minimalist look of the LH30, and I do not like the 120hz or the $100 price jump of the LH40.

I made a comparison to my sony 32M4000 (which I have now given to my father) and there are some interesting differences (many are polar opposites):

-The sound is far superior on the LG.

-Black levels are very close, sony’s is a bit deeper and maintains black colors better at angles.

-The whiteness of whites is slightly better on the sony, but colors and mid tones definitely have more of a ‘punchy’ factor on the LG.

-Color is amazing; rich and saturated; best ive seen on any LCD, period.

-Color does not wash out at all from different angles, only very dark colors and black tend to become discolored (blue or red depending on the angle).

-Of course there are far, far fewer picture options on the sony.

-My sony has a ghosting problem with dark colors, not so on the LG; motion blur and lag is also reduced too.

-OTA HD channels look decent enough, not as sharp as the sony, but the better color makes up for it imo.

What was the main factor that made me get this LG?..its S-IPS panel.

Samsung is an excellent maker of lcds, but I steered clear of them this time, as buying a tv from them is like playing the lottery. They use 3 different panels with differing levels of color and contrast quality; you are not essentially getting what you pay for:

You may get Samsung’s own S-PVA panel, the best quality (if you’re lucky).

An A-MVA panel from Taiwan’s AUO (a notch worse than S-PVA).

Chinese company Chi Mei’s S-MVA panel (worst of the three).

Panasonics IPS Alpha panels are decent, but on some panels dark colors appear far too blue from different angles.

That narrows it down to LG’s S-IPS panel; its color saturation, vividness, and response time are worth the slight sacrifice in contrast and black depth (at least in my opinion).

This tv is not perfect, however; I spotted 3 dead pixels right out of the box (2 bright, 1 dark), right around the middle of the screen. They are practically invisible without being a foot from the screen and looking hard for them, however.

Viewing angles demonstrate some darkening of the picture, but its not too bothersome (swivel stand helps).

No other flaws I can think of at the moment, I recommend this tv!

My calibration settings use color adjustments from cnet.com along with some of my own tweaks, try them out!

Picture menu:

Aspect ratio: Just Size

Energy Saving: Off

Picture Mode: Expert 2

Backlight: 60

Contrast: 88

Brightness: 58

H Sharpness: 60

V Sharpness: 60

Color: 50

Tint: 0

–Expert control menu

Dynamic contrast: Off

Noise reduction: Off

Gamma: Medium

Black level: Low

Real Cinema: On [grayed out]

Color Standard: HD [grayed out]

Color Gamut: Wide

Edge Enhancer: Off

xvYCC: Auto [grayed out]

OPC: Off

Expert Pattern: Off[grayed out]

Color Filter: Off

White balance: Medium

Method: 10 point IRE

Pattern: Outer

IRE: [see below]

Luminance: 137 (100 Luminance only, 90 through 10 are preset)

– 10 point IRE calibration

IRE: [Red, Green, Blue results, respectively, for each IRE point]

100 [-8, 1, -40]

90 [-13, -5, -40]

80 [-20, -12, -40]

70 [-17, -14, -33]

60 [-17, -12, -31]

50 [-17, -13, -26]

40 [-13, -12, -19]

30 [-6, -4, -8]

20 [-6, -4, -10]

10 [2, 3, -1]

Color management system

Red color: 2

Red tint: 0

Green color: -1

Green tint: -7

Blue color: 2

Blue tint: 7

Yellow color: 0

Yellow tint: 1

Cyan color: 0

Cyan tint: 0

Magenta color: 0

Magenta tint: -2

5 Stars Love my HD
Couldn’t be more pleased. Great picture, great sound. Perfect size for smaller family room

5 Stars Excellent Economy HDTV
The LG 32LH30 32-Inch 1080p replaced a 720p 32 inch Samsung which I returned because of erratic sound quality. The LG provides a very clear picture for upscaled DVD movies and over the air digital signals. The speakers provide excellent sound for a small living room although the addition of a home theater system would substantially increase movie enjoyment. Standard definition signals also reproduce a stable clear picture. Colors are very good and the set provides sufficient tools to tweak the picture for personal preference. I have not used it for bluray as yet but HD from satellite is very good. The features of this unit described on the Amazon specifications list accurately describe its features and can be relied upon. I am not a hard core cinema/video buff but I cannot imagine that this unit will not satisfy most viewers who want a well priced midsized flat screen high definition TV. My five stars are based upon what I expect in similarly designed and priced units for a smaller room.

5 Stars Stylish and perfect
First, I am feeling cheated right now, since I paid over [...] for this TV around a few months back. On the other hand, there is a lot of positive things about this TV which I really appreciate.

1. The picture quality is just amazing. It really has a enriched color display and your experience with sports will probably be awesome.

2. The sound quality is not the best I can get, but it is really close to perfection and I would still rate it 5.

3. The body has a rich color and is perfect and is stylish.

4. When viewed from various angles, there is very little depreciation of real output and a few faded spots do appear. On a comparison with other models, this is very minimal. Also, you would be viewing from a good distance, which voids the issue. We also use the swivel when you hook it up for games.

5. I have it connected with DVD players and it is awesome so far. Very satisfied with picture quality.

I kind of wish I have a bigger screen though. I saw this 37″ 1080p [...]which is also glossy black at a local store and is just a [...] extra.

It depends on your viewing distance and how far your sofa is from the television. With 1080p and a deep discount, I would call this a deal!!

5 Stars Now we want to replace our other TV!
Arrived almost before we finished ordering it! Easy to set up (attach base, plug in power and cable) and we were all set. Option to manually or automatically program. We chose the auto. LG is simply great!

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LG 55LH55 55 Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV Gloss Black

LG’s LH55 with TruMotion 240Hz technology uses proprietary scanning technology to virtually eliminate motion blur so you can keep up with the fastest-paced entertainment.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Looks good – HD Picture is great – minor Lip Synch issues
After a bumpy but eventual reciept of the TV, we were happy with the end product. It looks really nice and the picture on HD channels and Blue Ray is incredible. The refresh rate can sometimes not catch up with the action on the TV and you can see some blur of the figure, but that is very infrequent. Non HD channels are pretty grainy depending on the channel and program – part of that is comparing HD to non HD. I am working with LG on the lip synch issue with certain channels where the audio is behind the video – apparently this is common. They are sending me a software update to address the problem…we’ll see if that works. Otherwise the price was right ($1680) and the TV looks great hanging on the wall!

5 Stars Fantastic TV
I have had this TV now for about a week—-everything about it is great—I see no downside to this TV–the dynamic contrast ratio made me choose this bad boy—-out of the box with very little knowledge I was able to set up my surround system with this 55 inch monster—I researched a bunch of TV’s and this by far was the best deal I could find and with the 12months no interest no payment sold me—the unit took about 5 days to arrive but with the white glove service it was out of the box and in my living room within minutes of it arriving at my house—-I can hardly wait for hockey season to start—-

great TV—great Deal—fast and courteous delivery—-

5 Stars Great
The only thing about this set is the remote. Its a basic remote with nothing but the TV’s controls. It should do more. But thats all thats wrong with this set. It is truly Great!

5 Stars GREAT TV… UNBELIEVABLE price!!
I have had the TV now for 3 days and absolutely LOVE it. I paid roughly $100 more for this TV than the 120Hz 52″ that WM and Target offer. IT took roughly 4 days to get here. This IS the best deal I have found for a SUPERB television!

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