Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Review
A great TV for a really reasonable price. We couldn't be happier with the picture quality, ease of use, and simple set-up. This is a bedroom TV that sits perpendicular to a large, 3-paned glass slide and opposite two very large windows and yet the picture has no glare in full Florida sun. Our only complaint is that the TV's speakers produce very poor sound quality. We remedied that problem by hooking the TV to a small Onkyo receiver with Bose speakers and the sound is now terrific. We waited 7 months to write a review to see what problems might develop and there have been absolutely none. A great set for the money with an outstanding picture.
Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Feature
- Full HD 1080p Resolution
- Wide Color Enhancer
- 3 HDMI Inputs
- USB 2.0 Connectivity
- HDMI-CDC Compatible
Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Overview
Experience the next generation of HD television in all its glory The SAMSUNG LN40A550 has an incredible 30,000:1 contrast ratio that delivers the sharpest, most realistic picture quality you've ever seen. Full 1080p HD resolution offers amazing image detail, all on a 40-inch screen. Enjoy crystal-clear, lifelike HD sound, with SRS TruSurround XT. Want to get more entertainment out of your TV than movies and shows? With the Wiselink USB connection, you can easily and quickly hook up your MP3 player or digital camera and entertain family and friends with a photo slideshow set to music. SAMSUNG LN40A550 makes your high-definition dreams a reality. It's advanced HD entertainment, only from Samsung.
Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Specifications
Samsung's 550 Series is a perfect way to step up to Full HD 1080presolution. A fast 5 ms response rate produces smooth-motion scenes for sports and action movies, and a dynamic contrast ratio of 30,000:1 makes for deep blacks and crisp lines (15,000:1 in 32-inch and 37-inch models). Superb connectivity and networking with a USB port and 3 HDMI 1.3 ports with Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) means these HDTVs play well with all of your other electronics. With our Wiselink® USB connection, you can easily and quickly hook up your MP3 player or digital camera and entertain family and friends with a photo slideshow set to music.
Key Features
- New -- 30,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio: up from 15,000:1 on 2007 models (15,000 on 32-inch and 37-inch models) (Learn more)
- New -- Fast 5ms response time: down from 8ms on 2007 models thanks to a new high-speed liquid crystal
- Full 1080p HD (Learn more)
- 178-degree viewing angle from all four axes with Super Patterned Vertical Alignment (Learn more)
- 3 HDMI 1.3 ports: Simplay compliant (Learn more)
- USB 2.0 port: connect devices directly to your your MP3 player or digital camera and entertain family and friends with a photo slideshow set to music.
- DNIe Digital Natural Image Engine improves the picture by enhancing the contrast, detail, and white balance (Learn more)
- Hidden speakers with SRS TruSurround XT audio (Learn more)
- Wide Color Enhancer technology and Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) offer a wider color range (Learn more)
- Picture-in-Picture (PIP) enables convenient simultaneous viewing of TV programs and video or PC sources
- V-Chip system allows blocking of rated TV and movie programs determined by the parent to contain objectionable content.
- Trilingual on-screen displays in English, Spanish or French.
- Variable sleep timer to turn the TV off in varying time intervals.
- Auto wall mount compatible: 3-dimensional operation via TV’s remote control; no external IR receiver required.
- Swivel stand included
- 1 year parts and 1 year labor warranty (90 days parts and labor for commercial use), with in-home service, backed by Samsung toll-free support
Step Up Features
- Series 6: 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, AutoMotion Plus 120Hz image interpolation for smoother motion, 4ms response time, Transparent and Opaque Color (TOC) bezel, Clear Panel, Ethernet port with Infolink free RSS feeds, 4 HDMI 1.3 ports, Sports and Game modes, Compatible with Samsung's Home Digital Media Adapter for playback and navigation of Internet and stored PC multimedia
- Series 7: Internal flash memory (1GB) with pre-loaded interactive content such as cooking recipes, children's entertainment, HD artwork and more, Integrated woofer for an enhanced audio experience, DLNA-Compatible: for better interoperability with electronics, computers and mobile devices from many different manufacturers
- Series 8: super-slim 1.9-inch thick profile
What size TV should you get?
Learn More
Full HD 1080P
 | Full HD, or 1080p, contains 1.5 times more scanning lines than conventional HD TVs. More scanning lines mean more pixels, more details and a better picture. The new Samsung LCD TV with resolution that is approximately 2 times greater than conventional HDTVs, creating the most perfect picture imaginable.
Samsung’s 1080p panel uses a new high-speed liquid crystal to cut response time to 4ms. The fast response time, coupled with Samsung’s Auto Motion Plus 120Hz motion blur reduction technology dramatically reduces motion blur and judder.
| 
|
30,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio/500 nit Brightness
 | 30,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio will give you a picture better than you ever thought possible, with whiter whites, blacker blacks and a nearly infinite subtlety of gradations in between. As two of the most important determining factors in overall picture quality, contrast and brightness levels achieve new heights in this latest generation LCD panel. Samsung’s new LCD TV’s give the most stunning realistic picture quality ever.
|
 | DNIe The Samsung Digital Natural Image engine. This exclusive Samsung technology dramatically improves the picture by enhancing the contrast, detail, white balance and reduces.
| 
|
The NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) has established the color standards all TVs in America try to meet. And typical LCD TVs only meet about 72% of this standard. Samsung LCD HDTVs use Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp back lights to give you 92% coverage of the NTSC standard, ensuring truer, more breathlessly vivid colors.
Samsung’s exclusive Wide Color Enhancer technology delivers more brilliant colors, even in bright areas of the picture where blues and greens are washed out on conventional screens. The system displays wider color reproduction, showing you truer colors – the fresh green of spring foliage, the intense blue of the summer sky. |
 |  |  |  |
| To make the Series 6 a true entertainment hub for any home, Samsung has incorporated advanced HD connectivity and networking capabilities that expand the HDTV’s functionality. A wide variety of multimedia devices can be connected to the set through any one of the four Simplay compliant HDMI 1.3 inputs (including one on the side), and the handy HDMI-CEC feature lets you control all your CEC-enabled peripherals using just one remote.
Connect HD digital devices like disc players, game consoles, and satellite dish components into the 2 rear connections and use the side-mounted input for cameras, camcorders, and laptops. HDMI is the best performing interface for displaying an HD source on an HDTV.
Once connected, users can easily access device menus and manage and display content through the newly redesigned Wheel Key Remote control and the HDTV’s sophisticated content management interface.
All Connections
- 3 HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) version 1.3: (2 rear/1 side)
- Component video: 2 rear (Y, Pb, Pr)
- Composite inputs: 1 rear (shared with component) / 1 side
- S-Video: 1 side
- PC input: 1 rear
- Wiselink (USB 2.0)
- RF antenna inputs
- Headphone jack: side
|
| Samsung’s Super Patterned Vertical Alignment (SPVA) panel provides a 178-degree viewing angle from all four axes |
TruSurround is a patented SRS technology that solves the problem of playing 5.1 multichannel content over two speakers. TruSurround delivers a compelling, virtual surround sound experience through any two-speaker playback system, including internal television speakers and headphones. It is fully compatible with all multichannel formats up to 5.1 channels. High-quality virtual surround sound can be experienced with just the two hidden, downward-firing side-mounted 2.2-channel dome speakers built into the TV.
SRS TruSurround XT technology delivers an amazing, simulated 3D effect with clear dialog and powerful bass.
TruSurround XT audio also adds three audio enhancement technologies to produce an amazingly immersive sound experience.
- Dialog Clarity brings movie dialog into Focus during the playback of any surround-encoded material to make speech much clearer and crisper.
- TruBass creates incredible deep rich bass allowing a person to perceive significantly deeper, richer low bass tones that are far beyond the physical low frequency capabilities of the speaker itself.
- The SRS WOW feature widens the sound stage by processing standard two-channel stereo material as well as multi-channel encoded material for a dramatic improvement in the playback of any stereo audio over a two-speaker system.
Stereo broadcast reception is offered for MTS and SAP with 181-channel capacity. A sound leveler keeps audio volume consistent during channel changing.
| With standard-definition TVs, the rule used to be that viewers would feel comfortable watching a set from a distance of 3 to 6 times the screen size in inches. With HDTV, the resolution is so much better that you can sit closer to a larger TV without noticing the pixels. So with HDTVs, the rule tends to be you can sit anywhere from 1.5 to 3 times the screen size (in inches) for the best experience. If you know the size of the room you have already, where you want to sit, and where your new HDTV should go once you get it, you can figure out the size HDTV you should get. - Minimum size = Viewing distance/3
- Maximum size=Viewing distance/1.5
|
Related Products
Customer Reviews
The auto shut-off issue is real and I lived through it - M. Laird - nyc
As an owner of a Samsung 52750 I am quite torn. We love the tv and we choose it because of the quality of the image and features (the sound quality, sizes, and the swivel base are really nice), and ultimately for the price point. But we did live through the hell that is the 'auto shut-off' issue you will find mentioned by several reviewers here and on other sites.. and it is real. And like others have said, it started for us by just turning off once every few days and coming back up, then it got more frequent over a couple months, to a point where it wouldn't come up all the way again at all.. it would just cycle through restarting over, and over and over. Samsung support was good in expediting the fix to a local repair rep, but then we got put in a queue of about a week or more for them to get out and repair it. What's worse is it took them 5 (!) trips to our house to finally replace the right part that fully corrected it. So that means we lived without a normal functioning tv for nearly 2 months, said and done. Fortunately, we've been pretty much issue-free for about 10 months now, but it has shut off a couple times and has not seemed to continued. But we do live on the edge of our seats with this and the warranty is up, so knock on wood, we hope it's behind us. And although really do love the tv, I can't say I'd recommend taking the risk. We also know 3 friends of friends that had the same issue, so it is very real.
Great Picture, But has inherent power supply board design issue - Elrox - Phoenix AZ
I bought this around 1 year before and I can tell you that the image quality and aesthetic appeal are great.
But the downside is that this TV has a very basic design issue with its power supply. The electrolytic capacitors used in the power supply are low voltage rated and will eventually blow up(if you are unlucky). The symptoms are clicking sound when powered up, delay in powering up.. And the TV will not power up after a few days. As far as I know, this is a common problem in most of their models released during this time and is a very basic issue which they should have recalled and replaced the faulty capacitors.
As a solution, you can replace the capacitors very easily if you are good with handling a soldering iron. I replaced them and it is working good. But I would think that most of the customers would not want to go through the trouble of opening it up and repairing.
But other than that, this TV is great and I really love watching movies. I have a hometheatre as the sound does not match with the picture performance of the TV (that is understandable and I dont think of it as a minus).
It's Not Worth the Savings; Get the Sony - Gia - Virginia
This TV was great for one year. Last week, one month after the warranty ran out, it started to turn itself off for a few seconds, randomly, in the middle of a TV show or while playing a DVD. The screen goes black, but the audio stays on through our soundbar (which we had to purchase because the sound from the TV itself is practically unintelligible.) Samsung, apparently, is known for its terrible customer service and was true to its reputation, having no interest in a TV which is out of warranty. After doing some research online, we found hundreds (maybe thousands, literally) of complaints about this (and other) Samsung models, all of which have this exact problem that kicks in after a year or so. The consensus seems to be that the capacitors Samsung uses are known to go bad, but Samsung does not admit a problem. Our blackouts have been going on for a week or so, but from everything I've read, they will become longer and more frequent, until finally the TV won't go on at all. Some people have fixed their TVs with capacitors bought for a few dollars from Radio Shack, but this requires opening up the back and having soldering skills, not something I'm about to attempt. There's even a YouTube video on how to do it. Of further interest: there is a law firm that is currently investigating filing a class action lawsuit against Samsung, based on consumer complaints, and one can sign up on line. All this information is available by Googling "Samsung blackout problems". I certainly wish I'd known this before spending close to 00 on this TV in December 2008, and I based my purchase on the hundreds of great reviews I found on Amazon.
AWESOME TV!!!!!!! - Timothy L. Shelton -
I've had this TV for over 2 years and it's still amazing!!! value, value, value. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat when I need a new TV for game room, keeping room, etc.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Mar 22, 2010 10:23:55
