Samsung UN46B6000 46-Inch 1080p Discount

Jeff Brenman (Miami, FL):I purchased this TV and ended up returning it a week later. The physical TV is gorgeous, but unfortunately it has issues with the screen that I couldn't live with.

During normal viewing (in the store, in a lit room during the day), the picture quality is awesome - it has inky blacks and vibrant colors. The problem has to do with its "screen uniformity", something I didn't even know was a "feature" to consider when I was researching TVs.

This TV has an "edge-lit LED screen", which means the LED lights are along the edges of the screen shining inwards toward the center. Unfortunately, this makes for very uneven lighting across the screen. It's not noticeable during the day, but at night in a dark room watching a dark scene, there were a number of faint glowing streaks coming from the edges of the screen. It was very apparent in the letterboxing (the black bands over and below a widescreen image), in which there were feint cones of light coming from the corners of the screen.

I researched the issue (I searched for the TV's model number and the words "screen uniformity") and it turns out this is an issue all the LEDs have. The review sites offer the technical explanations for it.

I'm by no means a A/V snob, but the problem was almost instantly noticed by me and everyone I had look at the TV.

I returned the TV and instead purchased the Samsung LN46B650 Samsung LN46B650 46-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color. It costs almost $600 less, has just as gorgeous of a picture (I don't notice the contrast ratio difference), and has none of the screen uniformity issues.

Paul Moskowitz (Yorktown, NY):My requirement for a television is quite simple: plug it in to the cable box and have it work the first time; then turn on the sports event of the day, e.g. Mets or Yankees, Jets or Giants, etc. The Samsung 46 inch LED TV does that very well. You plug it in, it works.

This TV does more with less. It weighs only about 40 pounds plus another 10 pounds for the stand. Compare that with the older Samsung 950 model of the same size which weighs 70 pounds. The elegant stand allows for easy rotation. The TV is only a little over one inch thick! Power consumption has been measured by reviewers at about 105 watts. The 950 model comes in at 180 watts.

The picture is great. The contrast ratio, rated at 3,000,000 to 1, exceeds that of older LCD TVs. The black areas are dark and the picture has an almost 3D quality. There are four preset picture options. I chose the "normal" setting. The next higher setting, "standard", makes infield grass look almost dayglow. I do not think that there is a need to have any further adjustment done on the picture. However, there is an automatic dimming of the overall brightness for dark scenes. For instance, when the credits of a movie run against a black background the lettering becomes dimmer. This has no effect on sports, but does effect dark movie scenes.

David Courtney "blixel" (Deltona, FL United States) :The main thing about this Samsung TV is that the picture is unbelievably rich and vibrant! (So much so that it takes a little getting use to.) The clarity is so good that it is actually distracting to me. (Though I'm sure I'll get use to it.) But as an example, I was re-watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and I couldn't stop noticing the lines on the actors' faces, individual blades of grass, creases in fabric, and all sorts of other subtle details long enough to pay attention to the actual movie! OK - so maybe that is more of a general HDTV thing and has less to do with the Samsung TV? I don't know. Again - this is my first HDTV ever.

The Samsung TV is incredibly thin. This was one of the things that really drew my attention to this TV when I was doing my comparative shopping. Flat panel TV's are an order of magnitude thinner than their larger CRT cousins, but this Samsung TV takes the thinness to a whole new level.