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| Brand: Samsung
Category: CE
Buy New: Too low to display
New (15)
Avg. Customer Rating:  266 reviews
Media: Electronics
Batteries Included: Yes
Display Size: 46
Shipping Weight (lbs): 60.8
Dimensions (in): 44.4 x 11 x 30.2
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: LN-46A550
Model: LN-46A550
UPC: 036725228184
EAN: 0036725228184
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great most of the time. May 20, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This TV has one of the best pictures I've ever seen when viewing Blu-ray movies of day light scenes, but when it's dark, the shadows don't look right. They're too dark and the color is distorted. It's not horrible; it just looks fake like the old colorization of black and white movies.
Also on certain scenes of intense movement it is blurry like most LCD's are that don't have the 120 Hz.
That's the negative. Overall, I really like this TV. Even Analog stations look pretty good at a distance of more than ten feet. Any closer they look a little grainy. But at a distance it still looks really good.
Maybe if I set the TV up differently the shadow color problem could be corrected, but I have tried many settings (and there are many settings) to adjust and haven't improved it yet. If you watch a lot of movies with dark scenes you might be annoyed.
 Fantastic TV With Fantastic Options July 1, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was replacing my old Sony 42A10 Grand Wega Rear Projection LCD. That's an older set and the black levels were notoriously bad. After some calibration, I was able to get a decent picture out of it. Apparantly this line had been lemons though, as optical engine after optical engine being replaced had failed. Time for a new TV.
I was honestly going to go for a Panasonic Plasma originally. Plasmas are known for great contrast levels. I've seen 30,000:1 for some plasma contrast levels, but LCD's are catching up and Samsung this year brings out an affordable set that's below the popular $2000 budget, and makes it a breeze to use.
Out of the box the color levels aren't bad at all. Grey scale is actually not too far off from being accurate with the 'movie mode' setting, which takes off most artificial effects to the picture which would really make colors pop un-naturally and crush darker shades of black so you lose some minor detail. Of course, I did a calibration for this set based on some calibrations done in the AVSForum online and this set at that point blew me away even more. Samsungs over months and months of figuring out what I should buy between plasma or LCD, or what brand even, have come out on top in picture quality and color reproduction.
So there's the praise on the picture, but we all know that if you're serious about an HDTV you need to consider everything else. The 5ms response time is nice and works just fine with time sensitive games... forget wasting your money on the more expensive sets that give you 4ms response time. Hundreds of dollars for this and a 50,000:1 contrast ratio alone aren't worth it. This TV doesn't have 120hz but there's really nothing to say negative about any kind of motion blur, this set holds up extremely well with very very little or no blur at all.
How about the ease of use? The menus are very easy to navigate. I mentioned I did some calibrating, which usually means you have to go into a service menu that has to be accessed by punching a secret code in a remote. Then, you're staring at menus that you have no idea what anything means, so if you change the wrong values, you could potentially turn your TV into a large paperweight. Don't like the new service menu settings, and forgot to write down what the old ones were? Well, you're screwed. Especially since service menu tinkering voids your warranty!
Not so with this set, and this is my favorite part of the TV's settings since I love to tweak my set:
All of the color and white balance options are accessible via the normal user menu. Change your color mode to custom, and you can change all of your gains and off-sets... and if you don't like what you've done or if you messed up... there's a option in each color menu that says 'Reset'. Tell me that's not convenient. If you never wanted to shell out $200-$400 for a professional calibration, and you've always been a little weary of tweaking your service menu... fear no more.
The only downside to this set, is that the speakers sound pretty bad. Most people like myself, already have a surround sound system so this may not be a deal breaker... but the options for the sound can be calibrated to sound decent enough as long as you're patient.
Last but not least, Samsung has given us a much larger viewing angle for this LCD than we'd get with normal LCD panels. Samsung is ahead of the game with LCD's and if you're thinking about LCD (which I did because I game a lot and didn't want to even risk image retention with plasma), Samsung is the way to go. When Sony is using Samsung parts now-a-days, you know that's gotta mean good things, right? Great contrast, good black levels, good viewing angle, lots of HDMI and component inputs, can't ask for much more than that.
LN46A550 (46inch LCD w/ Anti Glare) July 12, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'm not typically one to review Item's here on Amazon. However I felt I would be doing Samsung an injustice not to review this amazing TV. After watching the market and learning about my needs as a consumer for the last year plus I decided to purchase this TV from Amazon. I choose Amazon because of there rock bottom pricing. If you figure in taxes and shipping (delivery) charges from your local electronic shop Amazon has them beat hands down.
Pros:
-The SDTV looks great, this was a huge fear for me going from a 32" JVC to the Samsung and I was surprised how great it looks. We sit 6' from the TV and do not suffer from screen door effects, etc.
-Anti-Glare: Most TV's we looked at were ultra reflective and made the picture near impossible to see in normal daylight situations.
-Sound: after reading the reviews here on Amazon I was really concerned that this near perfect TV would sound like a tin can. And to be honest when I first received it did. However after following the recommendations found in the reviews on this TV and the AVSForums I found it more than suitable in audio quality.
-Picture: I have limited knowledge about what is considered "good" but the picture is amazing to me. No screen door effect, the colors are perfect and no issue with blurring.
-Delivery: The white glove service is great I was scheduled for a delivery 2 weeks after purchase. I received it a short 4 days later. My TV was shipped out of PA and I live in MA.
Cons:
-The aspect ratio of the TV for normal SDTV defaults to 16:9, which leaves large blank borders and doesn't use the full screen of the TV. Although you can use the wide fit option under the settings when switching between HDTV and SDTV you have to change back and forth between "wide fit" and the native 16:9. Also when the TV auto adjusts between interlace and progressive you get a green screen for a second that frankly freaked me out the first time it happened.
-I haven't found any others yet with maybe the exception of the lack of 120hz option known as "future proofing". My take on the 120hz thing is its not developed enough to be worth the price difference. Almost every TV including the Samsung's that I have looked at with that feature on had issues with blurring the picture, more specifically during sports games. Many posts state to just turn the 120hz feature off. Leaving them with a xx" TV at 60hz i.e. my TV.
Summary:
Overall I highly recommend this TV for the reasons above and because it is a consumer reports best buy in its class 40-46" TV's. The Anti-Glare is huge for me because I watch it in the living room and have five windows that give us daytime light. The delivery service Amazon uses is efficient and will remove the packaging should you want them to. We held onto our packaging to make sure its the TV we wanted and just threw it away the other day. Finally there is more than enough support for this TV both from Samsung in the form of Customer Service and it's Firmware updates via free USB flash-drive and the AVSForums. Combine all the above with Amazons 30day return/price protection policy and it's win/win.
 lack of warranty service October 15, 2008
6 out of 12 found this review helpful
Bought 46" LCD TV from amazon.com, the LN46A550 on October 3rd. Since delivery never had good picture with Time Warner Cable. Called and emailed Samsung and apparently based on what I told them, they labeled the cause of the problem as "damage" (?). I explained to them that based on my impression the cable input knob is slightly loose. According to them, damage is not covered under their warranty and refuse to replace or repair TV or even check the TV.
I will never buy another Samsung Electronics America Inc. product again!
Phenomenal value! April 22, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
My situation - upgrading from a 37" 720p HDTV; low light room; mostly a movie watcher and HD programs on Nat Geo and the like.
Review notes:
Television - as the title says, this is a fantastic buy. The picture quality (PQ) is excellent - I went for the 46" version as it was just going to work in my space (post assessment is that my choice was spot on).
- Good number of HDMI connections for all your various equipment.
- The sound is so so, but with some adjustments of the built-in EQ it makes TV watching fine - you need a audio system for the full experience anyway.
- Picture - what can I say, it is astounding. The other thing that blows me away about this set is the vast number of adjustments available to the user. From color, white balance, black levels, gamma, on and on... consider something like: Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics [Blu-ray] to at least get some basic settings for yourself if you don't want to go thru the expense to do a full ISF calibration.
Is it perfect - no, what TV is? I had some ghosting under certain conditions but changing some of the many settings seems to have made that go away. I get a little blurring under VERY fast motion but nothing so that it catches my attention all the time.
I could go on and on... but I'll cut right to it. One caveat - If you are getting something under 37" - seriously think about whether 1080p is important, you'll need to be really close to get the full experience and is it worth the money to you? If you're getting a bigger set, especially 40 or larger and fixed on LCD technology vs plasma - BUY NOW and ENJOY!
Amazon experience
While the review is really on the TV, wanted to comment on this as well. I've never ordered a item quite this pricey online, so I was somewhat hesitant. My experience was excellent. No tax, no shipping, white glove delivery that sets up the TV for you (assuming you've prepared the space) and waits while you run a series of tests to make sure everything is ok - great stuff!
To that end, think about getting something like TVBlink to quickly test your set upon delivery to look for problems like pixel issues, banding, clouding, etc. That way you could expose major issues immediately and refuse the set if you needed to.
Also, I continued to watch the price on Amazon (I purchased from Amazon specifically) and sure enough the price dropped within 30 days of my purchase and I called in and within a couple days I had a credit for the price difference!
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