Interested in a JUMBO PC Monitor?
Written: Aug 16 '06 (Updated Aug 18 '06)
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Pros: GREAT PC monitor! Great HDTV monitor. Attractive piano black finish.
Cons: Picture in Picture function is weak.
Standard Def TV stinks.
The Bottom Line: GREAT TV to use as a PC monitor. Crisp and clear in fast paced FPS games.
Outstanding HDTV as well.
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| thetaxiguy's Full Review: Samsung LN-S3251D 32 in. HDTV LCD Television |
Let me start by saying that primarily I wanted a 32 inch Flat Panel TV mainly for a Huge PC monitor and secondly for a HDTV.
I spent weeks researching tv's and staring at them side by side at the local Best Buy stores. The Westinghouse tv's were cheap and of decent quality but as it sat beside the Samsung it was just clearly outmatched. I'm sure in a stand alone environment most TV's look good. But when doing a side by side picture comparison, NOTHING looked as good as the Samsung. I was VERY interested in the Samsung LNS3241d and was ready to pull the trigger, at my buddys Wholesale warehouse, but they were out of them.
So the LNS3251D, that they DID have in stock, caught my eye. For only $100 more I got a better contrast ratio (4000:1), a beautiful piano black finish, and a optimized "game mode". Game mode is designed to speed up tv's response time, and optimize the picture and sound for video game play. Apparently for what I wanted (a PC monitor) this is the tv that I should have been looking at all along anyway. So I bought it. $1159 plus tax. ($1261.07 total)
AS I hooked it up for the first time I warned my wife that Standard TV signals look crappy on HD tv's. So I told her not to be dissapointed at first. In that aspect I was correct. If you buy this for primarily watching standard tv you are wasting your money. Its not horrible but its not as clear as a TV that was designed for a standard signal.
So After we saw regular TV (and it sucked) I was still trying to justify my $1200+ to my wife. So I pulled out a cheap APEX DVD player and popped in one of my daughters Baby Einstein videos. (Make all the fun you want, its all I had at the time) So we got to see a DVD but it was only hooked up via RCA cables. It was MUCH better then Standard TV but still left room for a little improvement. Here is where we start to separate regular folks from picky people. My wife thought it looked good, but something inside me told me it could be much better.
In the back of my mind, I knew that S-video would have been a better choice or component cables would have been an even better choice of cables between my DVD player and the TV but I did not have that option at the time. I was pretty sure different cables would sharpen up the picture.
I started to get a tad bit worried that my PC signal was not going to be near the quality I wanted for playing games.(primarily First person shooter games)
So I Started the process of hooking up the new tv as a PC monitor via the VGA Port. POW!!! That baby came to life. As Windows booted I was like a kid on Christmas Morning. It was as clear and crisp an immage as I could have ever hoped for. Absolutely UNBELIEVABLE Picture coming out of my PC. I fired up a Game (BF2) and jumped right in. It was a perfect picture for playing games. I was scared that maybe the game would be a little to fast and that I would see some trailing or ghosting of images as I walked and ran along. Nope, Nada, None. It was GREAT!
Part of me wanted to wait for 1080p technology to drop in price. For those that don't know, 1080p is another High Definition Standard that displays 1080 lines of Horizontal resolution instead of the 720 of todays high definition. (regular tv is 480 lines) To tell you the truth in a 32 inch tv the extra lines of 1080 would have been wasted. 720 lines is Plenty for a TV of this size to have a crisp clear immage.
The negative things:
In all my research, the only negative things I have seen about these TVs on the net is that some people do not like the remote. I don't get it. I think the remote is fine.
Some poeple complain about the Picture in Picture. This is because you have to source your pictures from two different sources. Meaning, the TV only has one tuner so it can only give you one feed. The other feed has to come from a DVD player, a VCR, a cable box, or a video game system. You cant just hook up to one single cable and tune two channels off of it. This is a non issue for me as well but I do understand what people are complaining about here. AS is, the PIP is more trouble to use then its worth.
Overall:
I am still learning about this tv. I will update this as I know more. I was just So excited and relieved after seeing how it turned out as a great PC monitor I wanted to let other people know incase they wanted to use it for the same reason. I read a ton of reviews on line but most review it as a TV. PC Monitor seekers.... THIS IS IT! This is the one you want. Enjoy!
Ok guys, I had a little more time to play with it.
Here some of the bells and whistles and details.
This TV has a built in HD tuner so you can pull the local high Def channels for free. There is even a built in Signal strenght meter so that you can tune the channels to thier strongest signal.
Picture can be displayed 4 ways.
4:3 ratio ( that's standard Square TV) it leaves two boxes of wasted screen on each side of the picture,
Zoomed to 16:9 meaning it Chopps off the top and bottom of the broadcast to fill your wide screen. (the only benefit of this is that nothing is stretched) the downfall is that you lose the top and bottom of your picture.
Regular 16:9 This is what you use to fill the whole screen with picture and not chop any of the picture. This is probably the most commonly used display. If content is broadcast in 16:9 or High Def then this fills the screen perfectly. However if something like standard TV is broadcast in 4:3 then the image is stretched to fill the screen. This can cause minor distortion and slightly fat faces etc...
The fourth is anothe mode that cuts off the screen, I'm still not exactly sure how it works or its purpose.
If you care to take the time Channels can be labled with titles. So that instead of seeing that you are on channel 3 it will say CBS.
TV has many different inputs. HDMI, Component, S-video, Regular RCA cables and PC (VGA).
The HDMIs are only version 1.0 and apparently some DVD players are already being made with 1.2. This kind of sucks but is not affecting me as I do not yet use HDMI.
There is only one Component input and many people are not to crazy about that.
In this department the only thing that upsets me is there is no DVI input.
AS I mention earlier the TV has a great Contrast Ratio (4000:1) this is the best I have seen in LCD tv. And not by a little. BY A LAND SLIDE. The Sonys are only at (1600:1).
And it comes CRANKED to the max from the factory. I almost had to turn down the contrast a little to maxamize my picture quality.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $1160 tax
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Epinions.com ID:
thetaxiguy
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Reviews written: 33
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