 Gorgeous picture. Perfect size. |
| Review Date: August 9, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Stephen Bender, Los Angeles, CA |
| Excellent television, picture quality is unsurpassed. Very large, perfect size for a living room. We don't use the built-in speakers, so I cannot comment on them. Don't bother using the included remote, spend a little extra money on a Logitech Harmony. |
Was Good While It Lasted
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| Review Date: June 9, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Onofrio, New England |
Although the LN2A650 is discontinued, there are newer generations of Samsung TV's that still get pretty good ratings. I have no reason to believe that their design and/or build quality is worth your time, money, and piece of mind. Don't be fooled like I was...
I have not owned any other Samsung products and was reluctant to purchase a Samsung TV to begin with, but it came highly rated from reputable consumer and electronics evaluators (i.e. CR, CNET, etc) for picture quality, adjustability, and the like. On October 21, 2008, I was excited to finally be getting rid of my 10 year old 32" tube and decided to go for the then-well regarded LN52A650. I enjoyed it thoroughly with my 7.1 surround sound system, HD cable channels, PS3 games, and Blu-ray discs. Then on May 27, 2010, it began rapidly cycling on/off for no apparent reason.
A little online research reveals that this has not been an isolated problem. After the TV began cycling on/off, I tried various fixes as directed by Samsung (all to no avail): upgraded the firmware, unplugged it for 30 seconds, removed it from the surge protector and plugged directly into wall outlet, etc. They offered to cover the cost of the replacement of the capacitor, but would not cover anything else. (As a side note, the capacitor was not an issue with my TV in particular, but had been an issue with other Samsung TV's.)
Samsung tech support, customer service, and repair people were all very friendly, but that does not make up for the fact that the TV was out of warranty and they weren't inclined to do anything about it. The earliest appointment was two weeks out and the window was an utterly inconvenient seven hours. I took a day off from work, paid $95 for the repair guy to spend no more than 15 minutes with the TV, before I was informed that it needed the LCD panel replaced because of the backlight overloading. The panel with labor would cost nearly a grand and it would take at least a week for the part to ship from California. He emphasized that this LCD replacement panel is "popular" and might be on back order. Even if I were to do the repair there is no guarantee that I wouldn't have the same problem again.
It is sad that the reliability with these TV's has been so bad. The repair guy acknowledged that they do give him a fair amount of job security. He also noted that most people choose to buy a new TV rather than have it fixed. It is even more disappointing that Samsung doesn't stand behind their products more -- there is clearly an issue with many of their TV's (almost seems like they're following the old Toyota play book).
I guess if I had less faith in Samsung from the start, I'd have gotten an extended warranty. I just thought they had better credibility after having done all of my research before the big purchase. Now all I'm left with is a $2,000 paperweight and the solace of knowing that as the "go-to guy" for all things electronics with my family and friends that I can effectively prevent a few others from purchasing Samsung products in the future. |
Amazing unit...I can't believe its only $1k
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| Review Date: May 19, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Kevin Moser, Mt. Pleasant, SC |
Went in with my roommate to get this TV about 2 years ago. At the time it was going for $3600, but we bought it from Circuit City for $2100 before the stores closed. I mounted this puppy on the wall of our apartment and never once had an issue with it. The controller that comes with the unit is crappy, but we used a universal one so that didn't matter. I did a good amount of shopping around and no set came close to consideration compared to this one.
I can tell you right now, this is a steal at just $1k. The gimmicky sellpoints are so mundane now. There has hardly been any noteworthy advances in the television industry in the past two years. Especially to warrant considering a new model upwards of $2k when you would be hard-pressed to notice any clarity difference or quality improvement over this set. 240-hz is just a selling point and hardly makes any difference. And the notion that 3D is going to take over soon is ridiculous. Common consumers were just forced to upgrade their tube TVs to flat panels over the past 5 years. Whoever believes that they would be willing to shell out more big bucks for a 3D-compatible TV is kidding themselves. 3D isn't even on the horizon at the moment.
Anyone looking for a large flat panel with a beautiful picture, great contrast, and reliable construction...do yourself a favor and pick this baby up. Your wallet will thank you. |
Another Samsung Casualty
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| Review Date: April 19, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Dave, Wilmington, Delaware United States |
We bought LN52A650A 52" Samsung LCD TV for Christmas in December of 2008. We have never purchased a Samsung product and were surprised that Consumer Reports rated this TV as number !. We researched this product endlessly and saw little to no negative reviews. We bought the TV from Amazon, had great delivery and set up service and loved the tv until now (which is 16 months later). In February 2010, just after it's warrenty period ended, (during Superbowl!!) we had an episode of the TV turning itself on and off once or twice. We thought it was the DVR. IT stopped and we didn't think too much of it. For the past 3 days (now April, 2010) we can barely keep the TV on because it is constantly powering off and on and, of course, it's now hocky play off time. We had to connect our 3 year old 19" REFURBISHED Magnavox LCD that we use in our kitchen to our living room cable. It has been one of the most reliable tv's we have ever had. Thank you, PHILIPS. So much for high end!
We called Samsung who has set up a repair technician to call us back and will post results after we deal with them. We went on this website tonight to research whether or not anyone else had this problem and are appalled at how many customers have had the same issue and their lack of success dealing with Samsung! Bottom line, DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT. No TV that costs as much as we paid for it should have these problems. |
52 inch
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| Review Date: April 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Eugene W. Gregory IV, annapolis, MD |
| This has been a great bedroom tv so far with no problems (had it for over a year) |
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