Samsung LN46A550 46-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
Samsung LN46A550 46-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
45.9″ screen (measured diagonally) * widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio * high-gloss black finish * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) * built-in QAM cable TV tuner receives unscrambled programs without a set-top box (cable service required) * 1920 x 1080 pixels *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.
Key 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
- Series 8: super-slim 1.9-inch thick profile
What size TV should you get?
Learn More
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. |
 |
30,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio/500 nit Brightness
 |
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 The Samsung Digital Natural Image engine. This exclusive Samsung technology dramatically improves the picture by enhancing the contrast, detail, white balance and reduces. |  |
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. |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
Connectivity
 |
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
|
Super Patterned Vertical Alignment
 |
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?
 |
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.
|
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars great tv
I received this tv as a Samsung extended Warr replacement….I had a 50 in dlp rear proj die after 2 yrs…They sent a repairmen out twice with the wrong part…that took aprox 3.5 weeks…after the 2nd time I started calling their “executive” cust service multiple times…and I mean 15-20 calls before I was able to get results…And they won’t let you talk to anyone higher than Executive Cust service….very poor communication between the cust and the corp..I’m happy they replaced it…but the over 2 months it took was way too long…and I believe if I had not badgered them…I’d still be waiting….they could never tell me why my 50 in could not be fixed and only agreed to replace it because I got very irate with them….otherwise I’d still be waiting for some part that they could not tell me an ETA for…..This is a case of a good product brought down by bad customer service…bottom line is they fulfill the terms of the warr…but at great aggravation to the cust …but at least I did not have to pay for a new tv…and I did take a warr out on the new one…as it’s still cheaper than buying a new tv
5 Stars Amazing TV.
Not much to say really. The vendor Amazon uses to ship this item came into my house unpacked it and plugged it in to make sure everything worked. From then on, the TV has been breath taking. What a picture!
Works flawlessy and all the settings menus are very intuitive.
5 Stars Samsung LN46A550 46 inch LCD HDTV
We love this TV and loved purchasing it from Amazon. The delivery company comes in and sets it up to make sure everything is working correctly…a nice little perk. I shopped around everywhere and this was the cheapest price. Fry’s initially looks cheaper but Amazon has no hidden costs. The price you see is what you get. Other stores add on sales tax, some recycling fee and warranty fees on to their sticker price.
Consumer reports ranked this TV second in its size (the first was another Samsung)
5 Stars Nice Samsung LCD!!
This was the first time that we have ever purchased anything through Amazon and I couldn’t be more happy. We are re-doing our living room into a contemporary style and this absolutely makes the room. Delivery was much faster then what we expected. I placed the order on a Saturday night and we had our TV by Tuesday. The picture on this is wonderful and my boyfriend says it has the best view when it comes to sports. I would recommend this product for anyone that is looking to put a nice touch on any room!!!
4 Stars Great product, shame about delivery…
After a wait that seemed like forever, my LN46A550 finally arrived today! So far I am very happy with the TV. HD cable channels and my PS3 look awesome, the SD cable channels aren’t perfect but it’s really not bad compared to other LCDs I’ve seen out there. Some people may be disappointed with only having 3 HDMI inputs, but if you have more that 3 HDMI devices to use with it then you’ll probably be buying above this price range anyway. The only negative thing I would say about this product is the sound quality. It is very “tinny” and hollow-sounding, but with a little tweaking you can get it from sounding bad to sounding fair. Better keep some money aside for a soundbar or speakers.
As I mentioned before, it seemed like it took forever for the TV to arrive. I was VERY disappointed in the shipping company that Amazon used - Pilot Freight. I ordered the TV on February 28th, and Amazon had an estimated delivery date of March 9th. That day came and went, and I’m not usually that fussy about this kind of thing, but I thought I’d give Pilot a call figuring it would just be another day or two. They informed me that they had received the shipping information from Amazon but not the TV itself. I called Amazon, and they told me the TV was handed over to Pilot on March 3rd - the 1st weekday after I placed the order. They called Pilot directly for me, and was told that Pilot would physically search their warehouse for it. So basically Pilot lost the TV for over a week, and frankly it probably would’ve been a lot longer had I not called. They either recovered it or sent a new one - I was not told either way - but it finally showed up today (the 18th). So it basically took twice as long as estimated.
Then today when it finally arrived, I was expecting the delivery guys to bring it in, unpack it and plug it in to make sure it worked before they left, and take away the empty box - all as advertised as the “white glove service”. White glove service it was not. Only one guy showed up so I had to help unload it from the truck and bring it in - I didn’t have a problem helping and the delivery guy was cool so it was all good, but if I had been a pregnant woman on an old guy then I would’ve been screwed. It also made me concerned from a liability standpoint - If it got damaged during shipping, they could now blame it on me since I handled it during the shipping process. Anyway, we brought it in, I signed the paperwork, and he left. That was it. Didn’t even take it out of the box. It even said on the shipping label “Amazon special - 2 man delivery”. Fortunatly it works fine, which is good because if I had to send it back I would probably have to wait another month to get a replacement.
To be honest, it was free shipping, so I’m not going to get that upset about it, and Amazon’s customer service was great throughout it all, but I definatly won’t be ordering anything else from anywhere that ships through Pilot - incompetant through and through.
All-in-all, this was a great deal on what is probably the best mid-priced TV available (ranked #2 on Consumer Reports for this size range, second only to the LN46A650). I am very happy with the product, just be warned that you get what you pay for with the shipping.
Filed under: Samsung 1080p HDTV Reviews