General Forum

Re: Samsung LED TV

gk31ax — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:44:02 GMT

I agree with most posts on here....

Amazing picture especially when viewing HD on Sky, I'm blown away...

Sound is awful!!

However, my parents have the 40" version and when combined with B&W's Panorama Sound Bar and beautiful glass stand, it more than rivals any B&O at the moment in my opinion for half the price of a BV10 with the exception of having 3 remotes to control the thing. So I'm looking at a logitech solution for them, unless a BEO 5 would work which I doubt as I believe you need at least 1 B&O component.

The Panorama is a stunning bit of kit in my opinion, although the remote is lousy!

We were there over Christmas..... made me cry to come back and look at just how much of the room my Avant takes up!!

Re: Samsung LED TV

ajames — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:38:12 GMT

I went on holiday earlier this year and the cottage had a 32" samsumg lcd - the sound was so bad that we couldn't watch it properly until we plugged in a bose sound dock - picture was very good though. Guess you get used to the sound from B&O TV and nothing else compares.

Re: Samsung LED TV

dilznik — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:00:08 GMT

Samsung speakers have always been terrible. All consumer TV speakers are terrible. I plugged a pair of BL4000s into the Toshiba LCD I use to have, just right into the RCAs, and had good success. But they'd pop when changing the channel sometimes. I assume it's because that Toshiba was a raging piece of junk.

Now I have a Samsung and the sound is still terrible. The BL4000 will be overkill. Ahhhh, but the Samsungs all have optical outputs so you can plug it into your system or, in my case, a Bose Cinemate II. Problem solved.

I haven't had surround sound in a couple of years. I just really can't be bothered with the cables and mess.

Re: Samsung LED TV

MGBGTV8 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:23:11 GMT

Good point made earlier on home cinema systems they can sound fab for quite a reasonable price

what set ups do members have eg 5.1, 3.1 or 2ch stereo

anyone have beolab 5 or 9 in 2 channel stereo

Re: Samsung LED TV

TerryM — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:37:43 GMT

Apparently,Samsung decided not to release their local dimming LED TVs in the UK in 2009.

Their edge lit panels apparently exhibit some problems with screen/backlight uniformity giving rise to backlight bleed,and clouding.

Re: Samsung LED TV

TerryM — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:29:24 GMT

Amonst the popular brands,one should not overlook Philips who still provide good audio in their TVs.

A more realistic comparison with B & O would be Loewe.

Given the trend towards ever thinner LCD TVs,I would have thought NXT speakers would be a solution.

Re: Samsung LED TV

macjonny1 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:07:02 GMT

Tournedos,

You are right that all of these flat screens have terrible sound. This TV is so thin though I don't even know how it would EVER even have that possible but who knows B&O could probably find a way with the technology.

For me, I do have two remotes but if I did have a newer BS3 that did all of my video switching I would only need the TV remote to turn it on. Luckily for me the TV does have an optical audio out.

I was laughing and your comment about remotes, because I went over to my parents house the other day (they are older around 70 and 75) and they had 3 remotes sitting on the table in front of them for their TV, VCR, and Receiver, one of which was a "universal" one but the still needed 3!

Re: Samsung LED TV

tournedos — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:22:06 GMT

kokomo:

Did you also point out the option to connect high quality amp/speakers to the Samsung and vastly improve the sound? And all for a fraction of the cost of B&O. Just in the interests of fairness I mean!

Many people connect their TVs to surround sound systems and the TV's speakers are switched off. My son for example has his large Panasonic plasma connected to a Jamo surround system and the sound is awsome.

But just as many (and I would bet many more) people don't, as they don't see (hear) any problem. They are just too excited after gotten rid of their old cube TV to notice that they need to struggle to even make sense of what the news anchor is saying. The sound in just about every flat TV excluding Beovisions and a few high end models is abysmal. And the manufacturers know it and will not do anything about it - all the buyers of the lower end TVs care is price per inch. Therefore it is totally pointless to compare or even talk about the sound of these TVs. There is a tiny cheap D class audio amp that relies on the flat 1.5" inch driver to filter it and shoot what is left to the rear wall of your book case.

The biggest problem is that the manufacturers don't even try to make it easier to improve the situation. Sure you can buy a home theather system (which I guess is part of the motivation for the useless TV audio) but how convenient will it be? In most cases you're left with two remotes and operating the systems separately, or buying and configuring a universal remote you'll never be able to teach your wife to use.

What one could hope for would be at least:

a volume controlled pre out from the TV - missing from almost every one of them! So not a chance of using a non-remote controlled external amp
perhaps a trigger output or a switched AC outlet for an external amp
how about even connectors for external passive speakers? Granted, then the TV would need to have a real amplifier, costing perhaps tens of dollars...

Now, in the case of a Beovision, a bad sound would be totally untolerable - rather omit internal speakers completely - and they seem to still realize that. One has to wonder though if there is still some invention to be made that could've improved the sound in BV10.

Re: Samsung LED TV

Kokomo — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:14:59 GMT

bandoboy:

We gave a customer £500 trade-in for his 3 week old Samsung LED!

Not a bad picture but sound was awful and we actually ran it next to our B&O sets for a few weeks to showcase just how bad the connectivity and sound was!

People were amazed how poor the sound was of the Samsung.

Did you also point out the option to connect high quality amp/speakers to the Samsung and vastly improve the sound? And all for a fraction of the cost of B&O. Just in the interests of fairness I mean!

Many people connect their TVs to surround sound systems and the TV's speakers are switched off. My son for example has his large Panasonic plasma connected to a Jamo surround system and the sound is awsome.

Re: Samsung LED TV

akoro — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:31:15 GMT

My experience of the Samsung LED-TV (6000 series I think) is bad. Luckily it's not mine :) Here's why:

1. The sound, it's just awful

2. Picture seems first quite good, it's bright and has good contrast. But after a while I started to notice, that colors are way of in dark scenes - somehow the dark black areas turns into red. It's really disturbing after you start to notice it.

Re: Samsung LED TV

Daniel — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:52:26 GMT

Hungedu:

I just can't fit the 55 inch version in my room, or my windows will be blocked by parts of the TV screen. I paid a lot of money for the view through those windows!

Place a camera outside the window and connect it to the TV.

Re: Samsung LED TV

Puncher — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:08:33 GMT

You could, of course, buy a Samsung TV (even a 46" version) and a used pair of BL9's or even a pair of 8000 fronts and 6000 rears to sort out the sound issue.......................... just a thought!

Re: Samsung LED TV

macjonny1 — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:14:27 GMT

I have the 55" 7000 series LED and the picture is stunning. Also, it is wafer thin, almost as thin as my macbook pro. We are talking 2 inches here. I have it mounted on two bolts and a wire system that Samsung makes that makes it hang like a picture.

I wanted to wait for the LED technology as the energy usage is much less and the ability to make the panels super thin.

I'm not using the built in speakers. They point backward so I plan to eventually get a beolab 7 series center speaker.

Don't compare this to anything B&O sound wise because it is no good in that department.

I'm waiting on my Beosystem 1 to get that hooked up to it for surround, which I will be using mainly for audio (not video) switching.

Re: Samsung LED TV

Peter — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:19:18 GMT

TerryM:

Peter :

Only in the BV10 and 7-55! On the whole, the picture quality seems rather good but the sound is usually the let down. I know I have been critical of the BV10 sound but it is still quite a way ahead of 'normal' TVs.

Are the 55" panels the same?

B & O state for theirs 'direct type LED backlight,local dimming',whereas I understood Samsung's panel was edge lit LED,and no local dimming.

Samsung do two sorts - the extra thin edge lit as seen in the BV10, and the back lit version, with adaptive lighting, as seen in the BV7-55. Reading my first answer, it is not completely clear - Samsung sets I have heard have very poor sound compared to any Beovision. The sound from a BV10 is good, just not quite as good as I would like.

Re: Samsung LED TV

Hungedu — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:07:09 GMT

I thought the Samsung LED televisions looked fabulous when I saw them early this year at the Las Vegas CES show. Much better than the CCFL backlit counterparts. It's a pity that the BV7-40 still doesn't sport this new technology. I'm trying to be patient. I just can't fit the 55 inch version in my room, or my windows will be blocked by parts of the TV screen. I paid a lot of money for the view through those windows!