Great Picture, But Bring Your Own Speakers
Written: Sep 09 '09
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Pros: Great picture, offers one of every input you can imagine, nice design.
Cons: Mediocre speakers, a switcher is needed for certain inputs (for multiple devices).
The Bottom Line: While the sound could be better, the picture quality that the Samsung 4-Series offers is pretty great for the price.
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| Shaunpm60's Full Review: Samsung LN19A450 19 in. HDTV TV |
Earlier this year, I decided that I finally wanted to get a high-definition television. Seeing how I have HD service from my cable company, on top of having two high-definition game consoles, I wanted to have a set that took advantage of what my set-top box and systems had to offer. So, right around when I filed for my tax return, I went on a search for what TV I wanted, and I didn't want to spend too much. I could have gone with a generic brand (like Target's Trutech brand, or an Emerson), but I actually wanted a TV that would last longer than a month (the user reviews for the Emerson televisions are far from flattering). Sony's televisions seemed to be on the high end of the spectrum, and didn't seem to offer as good of a contrast ratio as some other sets I looked at. Being in a few retail stores, the two brands that always stuck out to me were Vizio and Samsung, as they always seemed to have the best picture out of the other brands available. So, after a lot of researching, I settled on this Samsung set (the LN19A450, or the "4" Series), as the contrast ratio was really great (up to 10,000:1 dynamic), and offered every input you could imagine. Sure, the price was a bit more than a Vizio set, but the quality of the television is pretty great, and I don't have to worry so much about this TV dropping dead within a couple of months.
The television is pretty basic in design. It's all black with a glossy frame, so it's something you might want to keep your fingers away from. Unlike the previous model, the power button (as well as other functions) are on the side panel, rather than on the face of the television. This simplifies the look even more, and distracts the viewing less without the glowing circle under the picture of the television. The television takes up very little space, since it's only a couple of inches deep, which I suppose is the norm for LCD televisions these days. All of the inputs can be found on the backside of the television, and like I mentioned earlier, it has practically every input you could need. There is a cable/antenna input, a RCA style input, a S-Video input, a composite RGB input, a DVI input, a VGA input, a coaxial input, and a HDMI input. There is basically one of each input on the set, which is nice, except if you're like me, you may have more than one type of input. In fact, I have three devices (a cable box, an Xbox 360 and a PS2) that use the composite input. That meant having to buy a switch that can take in four devices instead of one. If you have multiple HDMI devices, this is an even pricier situation, since HDMI switchers run much more than composite ones. Many televisions include at least two HDMI inputs, and I'm surprised that Samsung didn't include a spare input. Then again, I suppose there's only so much you can offer on a 19 inch television. There are audio outputs as well, either for standard stereo wires or an optical cable for Dolby Digital sound.
The picture is probably the most important part of the set, and this is where the television doesn't disappoint. I mostly wanted to get an HD television to get a better picture for my Xbox 360 and PS3 games. For that use, it displays the games very well with no blurring and very rich color. But the biggest difference was just watching HD television or movies. Going from a standard analog set to this television was a pretty big jump, and this TV does display a nice clean picture that takes advantage of the HD signal. This television features a resolution of up to 1080i, but I found in some cases (like the Xbox 360) that it's better to keep the resolution at 720p. It just seemed like the 1080i signal was a little blurrier than the 720p resolution. There are four picture size options to choose from, so instead of watching a standard definition show in the 4:3 format with borders, you can zoom in the picture to fill the screen. Sure, you'll lose details from the top and bottom, but if you don't feel like looking at a show or movie in a box, you can just zoom it in.
Overall, the picture of the set is nice, but there is one little problem with the display, and that's the level of brightness. The presets all seemed too dark for me, and I had to crank the brightness and contrast up pretty high just to get the picture the way I wanted it. Maybe it's due to the Energy Star feature/compliance, but the darker the set was, the duller the color looked. I'm not even sure why companies include presets on their devices, because I have yet to find a preset that I was satisfied with.
The audio output is something else. I can understand that due to the size of the TV, that the speakers may not be too big. Not only are they too small, they just don't sound too great. The last TV I had (which was a 20 inch Insignia) had better sound than this Samsung set, but the size of that TV was also larger. If all you're going to to is watch TV on this set, then perhaps you won't be bothered by the sound performance. But if you use the set for gaming, you're probably going to want to hook the digital output to a home theater unit, or at least find some decent stereo speakers used for computers. The sound output is just not very loud (and if the volume is too high, the sound becomes distorted), and even though they are stereo speakers, just don't sound very rich.
In the end, I'm pretty satisfied with my television. I wish I could have gotten a bit of a larger size, as this set ended up being a bit smaller than I imagined, but then that would have cost me more. The picture, after being done fine tuning the brightness and contrast options, looks great, and can keep up with anything I use with it. While it's great that there are inputs for practically anything you can imagine, it would have been nice if there were more composite and HDMI inputs, because as it remains, buying a switcher is required if you have more than one device that has a specific input. Also, it's a bit odd that there isn't any inputs on the side, say for a camcorder. Then there's the on-board sound option, which is just underwhelming. I know that the TV is not that large, but I'm sure a little more effort could have been used in the speakers. To get better sound, you have to use the output(s) to a home theater or stand alone speakers. But the picture was the most important aspect for me, and at least on that level, this set more than succeeds.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 319.90
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Epinions.com ID:
Shaunpm60
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Member: Shaun McCracken
Location: California
Reviews written: 214
Trusted by: 14 members
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