Samsung LN55C630 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV (Black)

Review by Tyler Farnsworth for Samsung LN55C630 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV (Black)
Rating:
I spent hours researching and looking at TVs in the store before buying this 55″ monster. I actually returned a plasma I had purchased in order to get this TV and I am very glad I did. This TV will require some playing around in the menu settings and the settings of your input source (HD TV cable box and PS3 for me). Once dialed in though, it shines. The previous reviewers are telling the truth about the glossy screen, it will rainbow on you with heavy light coming in from windows or anything else that’s bright and pointed at the TV, however if you plan on putting it in a dark room like I did, its extremely nice. I could have gotten the smaller 46″ version with the matte screen to eliminate this rainbow glare but this glossy screen gives deeper blacks if used in the right conditions and that is exactly what I wanted. The only down side to this TV besides the reflective screen is the input lag. It’s not as great as some other LCD’s out there but to be honest I’d rather have this slighter higher input lag while gaming than give up all the other qualities this TV brings to the table. You are going to be hard pressed to find an LCD out right now that does everything as well as this TV, but with better lag. So as long as you’re ok with ~50-80 ms input lag in game mode, a screen that is really meant for a darker room, and can take the time to dial in all the settings, this TV is will make you one happy camper.

Review by Capo for Samsung LN55C630 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV (Black)
Rating:
Wow, this TV is beautiful. The color, contrast, and brightness is amazing.

Pros:

* Color saturation is just right.

* Darks are very dark for non-full-frame LED

* Price – Amazing for a 55″

* Feature set is awesome considering the price

* Fully transparent glass makes the picture look that much more amazing, especially in the dark.

Cons:

* Fully transparent glass is glossy and can produce lots of glare if you have windows in a bad location. The screen has an ambient light sensor so I just turned up the brightness and at night during movies it automatically dims for the dark conditions

* The viewing angle is perfect for +/- 15 degrees… outside of that, the darks grey out… it’s really not that big a deal though

* It’s not free?

Notes:

* You MUST tweak the settings on this TV such as the auto-dimming feature. By default, it is set to a backlight level of 0 (zero)!!! I turned it up to 8 and it is super bright while the darks are very dark.

* If you’re like me, then you hate the 120/240 hertz smooth motion that is built into TVs, including this one. The first thing I did was turn it OFF. It looks unnatural IMO.

Overall, this is an amazing TV well worth the money. I would suggest it to anyone as long as they realize that the screen is glossy because that could be the biggest issue with the TV. I also got the warranty because my last Samsung died after a year and a half (the warranties are only 1 year).

Review by D. Derenzo for Samsung LN55C630 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV (Black)
Rating:
I’ve had the TV for a little over a month. The screen is extremely glossy, reflective and has rainbows. (See pics). Black levels are decent, but a little muddy when in a darkened room. I’ve messed around with most of the settings and just can’t get the blacks to show good detail. There is a very tiny flashlight effect in the two lower corners, but barely noticeable. Colors are good, but inconsistent when watching cable so it’s probably not the TV’s fault. I see occasional lip sync issues, but again I’ve only seen this watching cable and it’s not all the time, so I don’t think it’s the TV. Off angle picture definitely degrades.

During the day, or with any lights on, the TV is barely watchable due to reflections. I get rainbows if a light is on and faces the TV. The only time I get good viewing is at night with almost all the lights off. If you have any lights on they have to be very low and not face the TV. It’s not just the screen that’s glossy, its also the frame. It seems like Samsung designs TVs that look better when they are turned off than when viewing. Samsung used to claim on its website for 2010 models that the TV had a special coating that “virtually eliminates glare and reflections”. This is a total lie and false advertising. I wonder if they were afraid of getting sued because it seems they have removed it.

I turned the Auto motion plus off because some shows would “jerk” like it was skipping frames. This feature is also false advertising. I haven’t seen any advantage to having this turned on and I have viewed sports, movies, concerts, blu-rays, etc. There is no headphone jack at all. If you want to use headphones there is a 3.5mm line out, but you will not be able to adjust the volume. I had to hook up a stereo receiver to the TV just to be able to use headphones. The one area this TV excels in my opinion in that there is almost zero motion blur which I am sensitive to.

I compared all the 55 inch models over the past 3 years (expect Vizio TruLED. Couldn’t find one anywhere) and was never happy with any of them. Plasmas are too hot, burn in, etc. LED inconsistent backlight, expensive. Strange bezels (TOC red?). The picture on this TV is 99% as good as the Samsung LEDs. Who cares about thinness? I don’t look at it from the side.

So why didn’t I return it? I just can’t find anything I like. All Samsung 55 inchers are glossy now. I looked at non glossy Sony and LG. I don’t like the Sony bezel and I see more grain/motion blur on Sony’s than Samsung. LGs look nice, but the picture doesn’t seem to pop, black levels look worse and I see a little more motion blur than Samsungs. The LG 8500 model has the glossy screen as does the new high end Sonys. Maybe LG 55LD650, 55LE5400/5500 would have been a better way to go but the prices fluctuate and I didn’t feel like going through the hassle of returning, getting a new TV and risking not being happy with that one and starting all over again. I am just tired of looking. My solution is to get a 40 or 46 inch version of this TV for my bedroom to watch during the day, because those models are non glossy and watch the big one only at night. If anyone knows of any type of large black screen I can place behind my couch to block reflections it would be greatly appreciated.

Here are my current settings. If anyone has calibration suggestions, let me know:

Mode: Standard

Backlight: 14

Contrast ratio: 100

Brightness: 45

Sharpness: 50

Color: 52

Tint: G50/R50

Advanced settings:

Black tone: Off

Dynamic contrast: Low

Shadow: 0

Gamma: 0

RBG only mode: Off

Color space: Native

White balance: Factory setting

Flesh tone: 0

Edge enhancement: On

Picture options:

Color tone: Normal

Size: 16x 9

Noise Filter: Auto

MPEG noise filter: Auto

HDMI back level: Low

Film mode: Auto 2

Auto motion Plus 120 Hz: Off

The following is not directly related to the TV, but to those just jumping into HDTV:

I’ve had several HDTVs over the years and always returned them. At first there was a lack of HD content. Now that’s fixed, except cable TV still hasn’t gotten their act together. You’ll be watching a show in HD, then the commercials in SD. Sometimes they just stretch SD and distort the picture. Sometimes the HD channels have terrible HD quality.

It drives me nuts that movies are in all different aspect ratios that create bars on the top, bottom and sides that transform your TV into a much smaller set. You will have bars on the top and bottom with 1:85, 2:20, 2:35 and 2:40. You will have bars on the side watching remastered classics like Gone with the Wind in 1:33. Also bars on the sides with IMAX content. Can you tell I hate widescreen? Panavision is a gimmick that movie theaters came up with when people started getting TVs in their homes to attract them to the movies again. Does not translate well in the home. Especially 2:40. James Cameron is the only director that will admit this and is why he insisted that Avatar blu-rays be in 16:9 to fit the whole screen. A much more satisfying and immersive viewing experience than watching an “anamorphic” 2:40 widescreen “sliver”. I wish they would include two versions on the disk. Original widescreen format and 16×9 full screen version.

Also, blu-rays having 4 and 5 disks just to watch one movie, like Blade Runner? Director cut, extended cut, etc. Just drives the price of the DVD up.

Review by John Seidner for Samsung LN55C630 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV (Black)
Rating:
Initially I found this TV while shopping around at Wal-Mart. The Samsung model was setup next to comparable Sony and LG TV’s of the same size. In my opinion the picture on the Samsung was noticeably better than either of the competitors. I noticed the richer colors and better contrast, so I was sold on the Samsung model. Rather than buying from Wal-Mart I went online to find the best price, and pulled the trigger.

Design 9/10

The TV has a simple but very nice looking design. I like the fact that the chassis surrounding the TV’s picture is smaller than most. The stand was pretty easy to put together and the clear part of the stand looks very nice, plus it swivels.

The touch sensitive buttons for power, source, channel, and volume at the bottom right are nice but it’s easy to press them when cleaning the TV (not a big deal though).

Picture 8/10

This TV has a beautiful picture, but I personally recommend some small adjustments.

This is a personal preference, but I found skin tones to be a bit too red. A quick adjustment to tint and some of the other advanced color settings and I was happy.

The Auto Motion Plus 120Hz feature will need adjustment. Out of the box it’s just set too high and results in jerky, unnatural looking motions. You can turn it off completely to resolve the issue. However I recommend setting it to Custom, and then adjusting it to your liking. Problem solved.

The real problem with this TV is the highly reflective screen which is not for everyone. Fortunately, my living room does not have a lot of windows or natural light so this is not a problem for me. I would not recommend this TV for people with heavily lit rooms or a lot of windows. The reflections will just be too distracting. This TV is better suited for a theater room type setting.

Like the previous reviewer mentioned, rainbow effects are present, but I have not found them to be noticeable much at all. I only see them when the TV is off, or if the screen is completely black. Again, I think this just depends on how much light you’ve got in your room.

The viewing angle is not great, I would call it average. Colors do wash out when watching at an angle, several feet from the front center of the TV.

Once more, I don’t think this TV is for everyone because of the reflective screen. After some quick picture setting adjustments this TV has an absolutely amazing picture. The black levels, contrast, and amount of detail is amazing when watching HD movies and TV shows. Sometimes when I am watching a blu-ray movie I feel like I am there!

Sound NA/10

I can’t comment much on the sound of the TV. I had it hooked up to surround sound within 5 minutes of getting it out of the box. If you are going to get a TV this big, go get a surround sound system!!!

Overall 8/10

I would give this TV a 9/10 if it weren’t for the reflective screen. It’s a simple but great looking TV. The picture is amazing if you take the time to adjust it to your liking. I don’t think the rainbow effects or reflections should scare you away unless you’ve got a lot of natural and artificial light.

Review by Thursday Next for Samsung LN55C630 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV (Black)
Rating:
Whenever I am going to spend a lot of money on something (and sometimes, even when I will be spending very little on something), I like to do as much research as possible. I look at Consumer Reports, read as many reviews as possible, and ask around. While doing that, I found this television here.

I initially came across this TV because my husband and I wanted a big screen, and this one was on sale at Best Buy at the time. It came highly recommended by the gentleman at the store, and by most reviews I found online agreed. In the store, there seemed to be some skipping in the picture – parts where the movie or show seemed to speed up for a second and then slow to regular speed – that made me nervous. I was so annoyed by it in the store, that I almost went with a smaller TV by Samsung until I learned that the “skipping” can sometimes be caused by your connection speed. I was HUGELY relieved to get our TV, hook it up, and find that everything was fine, no skipping at all.

The picture quality is extremely good. Even compared with an LED LCD (the latest HD craze), there wasn’t that much of a difference, at least not enough to pay the hundreds more for an LED LCD. Compared with others, I liked Samsung the best, and if you’re going to go for a bigger TV, I think the 55″ is perfect. I would have been happy with the 46″, but my husband wanted bigger, and we compromised on this one. In the end, it turned out to be just right. Had we gone bigger, say to a 57″ or 60″, that would have been too big, but I think a little bit smaller would have been fine, if needed.

The only problem we have had is when my husband plays video games that are really dark. HD’s in general have a harder time rendering black colors, but we found an easy fix is to adjust the brightness in the game, and then the picture is perfect again.

Overall, you can’t beat the price on Amazon. Even with this exact same TV being on sale at Best Buy, it was still at least $400 cheaper on Amazon. Adding sales tax, delivery charges and all that, it was almost $650 cheaper than Best Buy.

If you are looking for a really good, somewhat larger, high-quality HD at an extremely good price, I would definitely recommend that you buy this one.