Pros: Very good picture quality Lots of picture controls Easy to wall mount
Cons: Poor sound Some cosmetic issues Slow channel changing
The Bottom Line: Very competitive display in it's price category. Lots of features and controls, and very good image quality. Most issues are minor and typical for it's class.
daleb's Full Review: Samsung LN32B530 32 in. HDTV TV
I purchased this model at Costco when they had a 1 week $50 price reduction. I compared several models from Panasonic, Samsung, Vizio, and Toshiba. I felt for the size, overall picture quality, and feature set, it offered the most. We needed a new TV for our bedroom, a flat screen that could be wall mounted. We have a 50" plasma in our main entertainment room, where we do most critical program and movie watching. So the size was not too important. And our normal viewing distance from the bed (about 7') made this size while not optimal, still adequate. It takes up little room and has a very nice picture for the couple of hours we watch it most late evenings.
Following some careful setup, I was very pleased with the SD (standard definition) performance. An area where many HDTV displays, in particular LCD, tend to fall off. B&W viewing is also quite good. There is decent contrast, and a good deal of brightness can be dialed in if needed. I used the Avia Home Theater calibration disk to get the best adjustment possible. I did find the backlight setting is very useful for day vs. night time viewing. We view it mostly in a very dim or dark room and I leave the backlight setting at '3'. For occasional daytime viewing I move it up to '7' or '8'. These settings seem to provide just the right amount of overall picture brightness for the respective conditions. For the best viewing at night, I do recommend some soft backlight or low room illumination. This makes the picture more pleasing and also lessens any eye fatigue. This is generally true for all TV viewing.
I have a Panasonic Blue Ray player connected to the display. The overall HD presentation is very impressive. As is most HD content from our Dish satellite broadcasts and local HD programming.
There is some delay in switching channels before it locks in. It is probably only an issue to those who frequently jump between channels. It is something worth checking out when shopping various TVs, if you fall into that category.
There are numerous controls available for both color space and white balance. These are really intended for a professional calibration. I believe such a calibration would be of limited value in a display of this size and for it's intended purpose. But the option is always there who plan to use this as their primary display in a small room. You can adjust white balance and color space, using various patterns with Avia (and other) calibration disks. For the most part, there is little improvement to expect without professional insturmentation.
Cosemetically, it is a nice design, with a glossy frame and a clear plastic border at the very bottom of the frame, which has a subtle red trim on the very edge. This serves to direct some sound from the bottom mounted speakers. There is some waviness in a couple of areas of the glossy trim, suggesting either the assembly of the frame to the panel was slightly stressed, or the plastic was simply not totally flat to start with. It was hardly a deal breaker, but does show some deficit in build quality.
Sound is just barely adequate. Considering the small speaker size, if you plan to use a small display in a good size master bedroom, or as a primary small home theater display, I highly recommend investing in either a sound bar or a small multi-speaker sound system.
Step up to the power of Full HD on a 32 LCD screen, with Samsungs LN32B530. The amazing 1080p resolution with Wide Color Enhancer renders the most cri...More at Vanns.com
Step up to the power of full HD on a 32-inch LCD screen, with Samsung s LN32B530. The amazing 1080p resolution - the highest available - with Wide Col...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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