From the Manufacturer
LN40B500 Give the gift of HD excitement and stunning picture quality – with the Samsung LN40B500. A large 40″ LCD screen lets you enjoy big, bold image detail with Full HD 1080p resolution. An amazing 40,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio offers the purest whites and deepest black tones. Every sound comes alive with SRS TruSurround HD audio. And two HDMI inputs make it easy to hook up all your peripherals such as Blu-ray Disc players and Home Theater systems. Features Overview 40,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (Learn more) Full HD 1080p resolution Fast 6 ms response time: minimizes blurring of fast motion in sports programs (Learn more) SRS TruSurround HD: creates an immersive, feature-rich surround sound…
Buy Samsung LN40B500 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV, Black at Amazon
Picked this up in a “pre”-black friday sale. I returned a Samsung Plasma and exchanged it for this LCD LN40B500. I originally bought a Samsung plasma because the salesman sold me on the “better contrast, blacks, and refresh rates of plasmas.” Yeah whatever, got it home and absolutely hated the picture quality compared to my previous 720P Samsung LCD. When I saw this TV in a pre-black friday ad for $597 decided to give it a try. Boy am I glad I did. The picture is absolutely amazing. I have watched many types of programs on it so far; movies, cartoons, sports, standard def, high def 1080i, upconverting DVD. All have been more than satisfying and select 1080i channels on FIOS have been absolutely breathtaking visually. Even though this is a 60 HZ model, I’m noticing no motion blur even in sporting events (this can be quite annoying in some “budget” LCD models) No worries, this set can easily handle quick pans and motion without even a hiccup, at least to my untrained eyes. (120 HZ models definitely look different, but to my eyes, different in a bad kind of artificial appearing way). The audio is more than adequate for a reasonably sized room, with a little tweaking of the audio settings I have been watching TV without even firing up the Home Theater Receiver quite often. The picture quality is absolutely stellar, I do recommend getting into the Picture Adjustment Menu though and adjusting the “cell lighting” to setting 5 or 6, as this is more than enough to light the screen, and substantially improves the image and contrast. At this price point, they have cut back on the inputs (2 HDMI) and no inputs on the side, but that wasn’t a deal breaker for me, I ran my FIOS through HDMI 1, DVD HDMI 2, and Wii through Component. Hopefully Christmas will bring a BluRay player to see what the 1080P will do on this set. I can’t imagine the picture looking any better than it already does. The cost to value ratio on this set is out of the ballpark. (Paid twice this much for a 32 inch 720P Samsung 3 years ago). As long as your cool with the limitted number of inputs and a 40 inch screen size, I wouldn’t pass up this deal!
I’m not trying to do a full review but I just wanted to post some info that was important to me or things I could not find anyplace else.
Just some background before the review… I bought a Samsung 46inch “LN26A650″ (6 series) this summer. The only real spec difference between that and the current shipping 46inch 6 series model is the advertised contrat ratio. Also the 6 series used the same actual LCD panel as the series 7 so the picture quality is the same. With this said I should be able to give a good comparision between this unit and the upper middle of the Samsung units.
The primary reason for my purchase is to put a TV / Monitor in my home office to retire a 24inch LCD monitor. I know 40 inches is overkill for me but I wanted to try it and see if I could live with size difference of the panel and quality difference between my existing 6 series and this new 5 series.
THE LIGHT REVIEW
Build and outside looks are nice
Menu / Controls / Remote look the same between models.
Unit is real light at around 39 pounds
Takes the standard 200×200 Vesa mount (for wall mounting)
1-PC Monitor, 1-Component, 2 - HDMI inputs along with the standard SD connections
Warrantee - 1 year parts / labor
Blue Ray (side by side test using same Blue Ray player, cable and movie)
Sadly there is a noticeable difference. My older 6 series has better color, better contrast, less pixilation and less blur with action than this 5 series unit.
PC - Monitor
Adain a noticeable difference in picture quality between the 2 sets. Its about on par with the differences in Blue Ray not horrible by any means its just the same.
TV - Have not hooked this up yet but I suspect with non sports over the air, cable, sat HD viewing this unit will SHINE. I’m not sure how sports will look because that may bring in some of the same problems I had witht he blue ray movie.
Conclusion
* If you looking for a name brand, nice aesthetically looking unit for a low price this should be a good unit for you.
* If this is for a second or 3rd room and not the primary viewed TV this may also be fine for you.
* If you’re a previous owner of a better flat panel or you have high expectation of picture quality for a bargain price then you may be disappointed. Its not a bad deal by any means but I think you are getting close to what you pay for.
I hope this helps you choose.