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Samsung LN52A550 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

Samsung LN52A550 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV


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Brand: Samsung
Category: CE

Buy New: See price in cart



Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 69 reviews
Sales Rank: 121

Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Batteries Included: Yes
Display Size: 52
Shipping Weight (lbs): 59.3
Dimensions (in): 49.9 x 4.3 x 31.1
Warranty: 1 year warranty

MPN: LN-52A550
Model: LN-52A550
UPC: 036725228191
EAN: 0036725228191
ASIN: B001415EMI

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Features:
  • Full HD 1080p Resolution
  • Wide Color Enhancer
  • 3 HDMI Inputs
  • USB 2.0
  • HDMI-CDC

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Why settle for anything less than top-of-the-line picture quality? With the Samsung LN52A550 high-definition TV you get the total package: a 52" wide screen with 1080p HD resolution, crystal-clear sound, and advanced features like wide color enhancer that are guaranteed to give you the full high-definition experience.

Amazon.com Product Description--March 24, 2008
Samsung's 550 Series is a perfect way to step up to Full HD 1080p resolution. A fast 5 ms response rate produces smooth-motion scenes for sports and action movies, and a dynamic contrast ratio of 30,000:1 makes for deep blacks and crisp lines (15,000:1 in 32-inch and 37-inch models). Superb connectivity and networking with a USB port and 3 HDMI 1.3 ports with Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) means these HDTVs play well with all of your other electronics. Easily enjoy MPEG and JPEG files stored on external devices by connecting through the side-mounted USB 2.0, turn your LCD into a full-scale home viewing gallery, or connect your MP3 player for a dynamic audio experience.

lifestyleKey Features

  • New -- 30,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio: up from 15,000:1 on 2007 models (15,000 on 32-inch and 37-inch models) (Learn more)
  • New -- Fast 5ms response time: down from 8ms on 2007 models thanks to a new high-speed liquid crystal
  • Full 1080p HD (Learn more)
  • 178-degree viewing angle from all four axes with Super Patterned Vertical Alignment (Learn more)
  • 3 HDMI 1.3 ports: Simplay compliant (Learn more)
  • USB 2.0 port: connect devices directly to your HDTV--view JPEG photos or MPEG movies or easily listen to your MP3 player through your HDTV's audio system or your home theater system
  • DNIe Digital Natural Image Engine improves the picture by enhancing the contrast, detail, and white balance (Learn more)
  • Hidden speakers with SRS TruSurround XT audio (Learn more)
  • Wide Color Enhancer technology and Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) offer a wider color range (Learn more)
  • Picture-in-Picture (PIP) enables convenient simultaneous viewing of TV programs and video or PC sources
  • V-Chip system allows blocking of rated TV and movie programs determined by the parent to contain objectionable content.
  • Trilingual on-screen displays in English, Spanish or French.
  • Variable sleep timer to turn the TV off in varying time intervals.
  • Auto wall mount compatible: 3-dimensional operation via TV's remote control; no external IR receiver required.
  • Swivel stand included
  • 1 year parts and 1 year labor warranty (90 days parts and labor for commercial use), with in-home service, backed by Samsung toll-free support

Step Up Features

  • Series 6: 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, AutoMotion Plus 120Hz image interpolation for smoother motion, 4ms response time, Transparent and Opaque Color (TOC) bezel, Clear Panel, Ethernet port with Infolink free RSS feeds, 4 HDMI 1.3 ports, Sports and Game modes, Compatible with Samsung's Home Digital Media Adapter for playback and navigation of Internet and stored PC multimedia
  • Series 7: Internal flash memory (1GB) with pre-loaded interactive content such as cooking recipes, children's entertainment, HD artwork and more, Integrated woofer for an enhanced audio experience, DLNA-Compatible: for better interoperability with electronics, computers and mobile devices from many different manufacturers
What size TV should you get?


Learn More

Full HD 1080P

full HD 1080P Full HD, or 1080p, contains 1.5 times more scanning lines than conventional HD TVs. More scanning lines mean more pixels, more details and a better picture. The new Samsung LCD TV with resolution that is approximately 2 times greater than conventional HDTVs, creating the most perfect picture imaginable.

Samsung's 1080p panel uses a new high-speed liquid crystal to cut response time to 4ms. The fast response time, coupled with Samsung's Auto Motion Plus 120Hz motion blur reduction technology dramatically reduces motion blur and judder.
1080p

30,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio/500 nit Brightness

25,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio 30,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio will give you a picture better than you ever thought possible, with whiter whites, blacker blacks and a nearly infinite subtlety of gradations in between. As two of the most important determining factors in overall picture quality, contrast and brightness levels achieve new heights in this latest generation LCD panel. Samsung's new LCD TV's give the most stunning realistic picture quality ever.

Digital Natural Image Engine

DNIe image DNIe The Samsung Digital Natural Image engine. This exclusive Samsung technology dramatically improves the picture by enhancing the contrast, detail, white balance and reduces.
dnie chart

Wide Color Enhancer/Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp

The NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) has established the color standards all TVs in America try to meet. And typical LCD TVs only meet about 72% of this standard. Samsung LCD HDTVs use Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp back lights to give you 92% coverage of the NTSC standard, ensuring truer, more breathlessly vivid colors.

Samsung's exclusive Wide Color Enhancer technology delivers more brilliant colors, even in bright areas of the picture where blues and greens are washed out on conventional screens. The system displays wider color reproduction, showing you truer colors - the fresh green of spring foliage, the intense blue of the summer sky.
wide color enhancer wide color enhancer wide color enhancer wide color enhancer

Connectivity

wiselink
To make the Series 6 a true entertainment hub for any home, Samsung has incorporated advanced HD connectivity and networking capabilities that expand the HDTV's functionality. A wide variety of multimedia devices can be connected to the set through any one of the four Simplay compliant HDMI 1.3 inputs (including one on the side), and the handy HDMI-CEC feature lets you control all your CEC-enabled peripherals using just one remote.

Connect HD digital devices like disc players, game consoles, and satellite dish components into the 2 rear connections and use the side-mounted input for cameras, camcorders, and laptops. HDMI is the best performing interface for displaying an HD source on an HDTV.

Once connected, users can easily access device menus and manage and display content through the newly redesigned Wheel Key Remote control and the HDTV's sophisticated content management interface.

All Connections
  • 3 HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) version 1.3: (2 rear/1 side)
  • Component video: 2 rear (Y, Pb, Pr)
  • Composite inputs: 1 rear (shared with component) / 1 side
  • S-Video: 1 side
  • PC input: 1 rear
  • Wiselink (USB 2.0)
  • RF antenna inputs
  • Headphone jack: side

Super Patterned Vertical Alignment

wide angle
Samsung's Super Patterned Vertical Alignment (SPVA) panel provides a 178-degree viewing angle from all four axes

Audio Features

TruSurround is a patented SRS technology that solves the problem of playing 5.1 multichannel content over two speakers. TruSurround delivers a compelling, virtual surround sound experience through any two-speaker playback system, including internal television speakers and headphones. It is fully compatible with all multichannel formats up to 5.1 channels. High-quality virtual surround sound can be experienced with just the two hidden, downward-firing side-mounted 2.2-channel dome speakers built into the TV.

SRS TruSurround XT technology delivers an amazing, simulated 3D effect with clear dialog and powerful bass.

TruSurround XT audio also adds three audio enhancement technologies to produce an amazingly immersive sound experience.
  • Dialog Clarity brings movie dialog into Focus during the playback of any surround-encoded material to make speech much clearer and crisper.
  • TruBass creates incredible deep rich bass allowing a person to perceive significantly deeper, richer low bass tones that are far beyond the physical low frequency capabilities of the speaker itself.
  • The SRS WOW feature widens the sound stage by processing standard two-channel stereo material as well as multi-channel encoded material for a dramatic improvement in the playback of any stereo audio over a two-speaker system.
Stereo broadcast reception is offered for MTS and SAP with 181-channel capacity. A sound leveler keeps audio volume consistent during channel changing.

Which Size HDTV is Right for My Room?

HDTV Size chart
With standard-definition TVs, the rule used to be that viewers would feel comfortable watching a set from a distance of 3 to 6 times the screen size in inches. With HDTV, the resolution is so much better that you can sit closer to a larger TV without noticing the pixels. So with HDTVs, the rule tends to be you can sit anywhere from 1.5 to 3 times the screen size (in inches) for the best experience.
If you know the size of the room you have already, where you want to sit, and where your new HDTV should go once you get it, you can figure out the size HDTV you should get.
  • Minimum size = Viewing distance/3
  • Maximum size=Viewing distance/1.5
  • Series 5 1080p LCD HDTVs are available in 32-inch, 37-inch, 40-inch, 46-inch, and 52-inch models
  • Series 6 1080p LCD HDTVs are available in 19-inch, 22-inch, 32-inch, 40-inch, 46-inch, and 52-inch models
  • Series 7 1080p LCD HDTVs are available in 40-inch, 46-inch, and 52-inch models



Customer Reviews:   Read 64 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars Sweet HDTV For The Money   August 6, 2008
shy (somewhere in Utah)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I've been lusting after a HDTV for years and after getting some money back after closing the construction loan on my new house, I decided it was time to get one. After throughly researching 50+ inch LCD TVs in my price range, an older discontinued 52inch Toshiba REGZA was the only one that really appealed to me. But when it arrived three weeks late and damaged, I decided against having a replacement TV shipped to me (which would likely be shipped and delivered by the same morons who broke this one) and asked for a refund. I went back to researching TVs and eventually decided on the Samsung from amazon. The specs were better than the majority of others I'd looked at and it was $172 cheaper than the REGZA I was returning. Plus, it came with amazon's white glove service, which I would have gladly paid more for after what I went through trying to get the REGZA delivered and returned.

The guys from Eagle called me the day before they arrived to set up a time to deliver and then arrived 15 minutes earlier than expected on the delivery day. They unpacked the TV and asked where I was going to put it. I explained that my dad and I were in the process of repairing one of the legs on the TV stand when they arrived or I'd have had them put it on the stand, so they set it up on the floor. I looked over the TV while one of the guys put the batteries in the remote so they could make sure it worked. The TV came on so we knew the remote and the TV worked. I've read good and bad things about Eagle's delivery service in other reviews, but I have nothing but good things to say about them. They were very professional and I wouldn't hesitate recommending them to others based on this experience.

I've heard the original Xbox doesn't look as good on a big HDTV like this, but I have to disagree based on my experience. I've been playing Dead Or Alive 3 and the gameplay looks and sounds great. I knew there was a game mode, but hadn't read the manual enough to find out how to get there, so I just played in standard mode. My Wii was still connected to my 26-inch Vizio LCD at the time, but I didn't feel like disconnecting it and setting it up on the Samsung, so I decided to see how it looked with movies.

I had an old Cyberhome DVD player I'd been given after installing a new DVD player over the weekend, so I borrowed some RCA cables and set it up... I'm in the process of moving so the majority my A/V cables and equipment are in boxes, at my old residence, or in use at the new house. Again, I've heard regular DVDs don't look very good on a big HDTV like this, but I have to disagree based on this experience. I popped in The Matrix and skipped to the "I Know Kung Fu" scene. It played beautifully, apart from a few skips which had to be the player because it was brand-new-just-opened DVD. It was during this scene that I switched between the various modes and noted that game mode was a bit brighter than the standard and cinema modes. After the Neo/Morpheus fight ended, I ejected the disc and put in a Philips DVD cleaner disc to run the cleaning program, knowing the DVD player lens probably hadn't been cleaned forever. Once it was cleaned, I popped The Matrix back in and selected the "Lobby Shootout" scene... one of my favorite movie scenes to test how well the display can process and render the scene because of all the bullets and debris flying around. I got chills watching the action unfold onscreen and thinking if it looked this good with just the standard RCA cables, just imagine how awesome it'll look with an HDMI connection on an upconverting DVD player (which will arrive any day now), Xbox 360 Elite (which I'll probably buy this weekend now that I have a nice big HDTV to play it on), and eventually Blu-Ray. I continued watching and when the sentinels start attacking the ship, there is a close-up of the sentinels that looked better than I remember it looking. Have watched a few other movies since its arrived and they've all looked really good. One movie didn't look quite as good as the others, but it was cheap B-movie where the production values weren't much to begin with. Movies on the upconverting DVD player look awesome, especially movies with high production values and movies from the major studios.

Finally had a chance to test the Wii on the TV over the weekend and it was sweet. The biggest problem was figuring out where to put the sensor bar for the best control. Played House of The Dead 2 and 3 Returns and a pinball game my roommates gave me for my birthday. The colors and flashing lights on the pinball game were bright and colorful while the bigger screen made the different environments in HOTD feel more expansive. Bought a 360 Elite for the TV and games looks sweet as well.

I haven't messed with the colors, hue, contrast, and other settings, but so far, the flesh tones and colors look great right out of the box. The various picture modes are fun to play with depending on what you're in the mood for. Full-frame DVDs fill the screen while widescreen DVDs have the usual top and bottom bars, but you can use the 16:9 zoom mode to have it fill the screen. I love widescreen movies, but its been fun to watch widescreen movies in 16:9 zoom mode.

HD and SD channels look great, though obviously HD channels look better than SD channels, but SD is still watchable.

Right now, I'm inclined to give it 5 stars. I bought it mainly for video games and movies, both of which look and sound great.



5 out of 5 stars Samsung 550 series HDTV   August 5, 2008
Wine Lover (Napa Valley)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

My recent purchase of a Samsung 550 series LCD TV has been a fantastic buy. I debated on purchasing the 550 series or one of Samsung's 600 series. After viewing both TV's side by side I could not distinguish the difference. I viewed fast action scenes and could not detect any edge blurring. The 550 performs fantastic in my room that has a great deal of sunlight. Amazon is the only way to go. They had great pricing, very professional delivery, and the TV showed up at my house in half the time they promised it would. I'm very pleased with the product.


4 out of 5 stars Good so far (3 days)   July 31, 2008
Jordan Brown (Granada Hills, CA USA)
0 out of 4 found this review helpful

I'm neither a videophile nor an audiophile, so my review is necessarily limited. I also don't watch broadcast TV, so I'm only using it as a monitor and speakers for a Samsung BD-P1400 Blu-Ray player (HDMI), Wii (component), PS/2 (composite), a computer (VGA).

The TV basically plugged in, turned on, and works fine. Not a lot to say there. The picture looks fine, certainly competitive with anything in its class.

A few complaints:

- The first time I tried to use my Harmony remote to power up the system, it crashed the TV. Black screen, wouldn't respond to any controls. Had to unplug it. Hasn't happened again.

- My receiver is out for service, so I'm using the TV as a switcher and using its speakers. It didn't seem to accept the idea of an input with no video, so I can't play music from my Squeezebox.



5 out of 5 stars The best TV I've ever purchased.   July 30, 2008
K. Cook (S. Texas)
Holy crap, this TV rocks! I had reservations about ordering via amazon, but the delivery was awesome. the TV is flawless and they have even credited back 116.00 since the price dropped to 17xx.xx after I purchased it. I saved over 600.00 buying from Amazon instead of locally.
Check out AVSForum for picture and sound settings.



5 out of 5 stars Nice TV   July 28, 2008
M. Lietzke
I have nothing to add about the TV that already hasn't been written by another reviewer. It's a great TV.

I will write a little bit about the delivery though, I ordered my TV from amazon on 7/20 and I got the call from CEVA on 7/28 to schedule delivery. They would only offer a delivery window of 10-2 on Tuesday or Thursday, and I am not able to sit around at home for 4 hours in the middle of a workday. So I asked about picking the TV up at their warehouse, and they are extremely flexible about that. I was told to show up anytime between 8am and 7pm. The warehouse is just a couple miles from me so that's what I did and it worked out great. The dock attendant unboxed the TV to show me that it was undamaged, then helped me load it into my vehicle and off I went. For me, this was far more convenient than me having to wait around to accept the delivery at home.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase from amazon.