Samsung LN40A650 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV with RED Touch of Color Get it now!

First, this is an excellent TV and my review focuses on a few points missing from the other reviews that would have been helpful to know when I was "shopping" for a new TV - not that these would have prevented me from buying the Samsung.

Second, I own 2 older Panasonic plasmas which were/are considered the best flat panels before LCD's hit the market; so my review is based on features I felt were missing with the Samsung that the Panasonics have.

If you intend to mount this unit on the wall and do-it-yourself these missing features will make the job harder:
- you'll need to uninstall the table stand BEFORE mounting to the wall.
- no lift handles
- the input jacks are located on the back vs the bottom, so you must hook up the cables before mounting as opposed to simply plugging in after the TV is mounted. This is a big deal as you will need two people to lift and hold the unit up while someone else plugs in the cables. (Note, there are a few input jacks on the side but if you have several components to hook -up and/or want a clean look after set-up you will still have to deal with the rear jacks)

However, if you intend to use the table top stand your good to go. The stand is excellent.

Usability flaws:
Unlike the Panasonics, you must cycle through the inputs via the remote vs. pressing a dedicated button for "each input" on the remote. So to switch from a DVD to video game input you have to cycle through the menu and hit enter vs a one step/direct input change. This is a big nuisance for me as I regularly switch between different components.

The follwoing is an issue with any 42+" 1080p TV when the viewing distance is within 12', not just the Samsung:

- Non HD signals or HD signals of TV shows/movies >10 years old will appear very fuzzy. At first I was very disappointed with the picture for these situations but I discovered that setting non-HD signals to the 4:3 format and setting the picture mode to "cinematic" made for a more appealing picture. Now, some people can't stand the black bars in 4:3 mode but that's never been an annoyance for me.

Overall, this is an excellent TV that I highly recommend.
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