Samsung LE52F96BD Review

[Vincent]

Please discuss our Samsung LE52F96BD review in this thread.

[shawn]

Really good review - Thanks.

Any chance you could post your calibration settings, as it would save me a bit of time when mine turns up ?

I do have HCFR, DVE and a Spyder 2, but a better starting point is always welcome 

[Geforce]

Great review Vincent and I'm looking forward to checking this model out too when they come to my area.

I'm looking at a 50" or more panel.  At the top of my list is the Pioneer Kuro and then maybe this one but by the time I would be cashed up enough (1st quarter 2008), maybe Samsung would have released a second revision of LED Back Lighting with improvements?

[hyslopc]

Vincent - there is something I don't understand in the review.  You wrote:

The good news is that even with [Movie Plus] disabled, the Samsung LE52F96BD would still perform 2:3 pulldown over HDMI in 1080i correctly, thereby preserving the full resolution of your high-definition material if you haven't already used your playing device to carry out the deinterlacing (i.e. by passing a 1080p signal to your TV).

Why is this relevant at all to you and me, who both live in the EU?  I thought here in PAL-land, it is only 2:2 that matters?  Surely 3:2 with 1080i would only be relevant to someone watching American HDTV, and 3:2 with 480i would only be relevant to someone watching a region 1 (NTSC) DVD?  Really appreciate you clarification, as I am on the verge of buying this set, and need to decide whether I should pay additional money to get a DVD player that can output 1080p/24 (assuming one exists).

[Vowani]

Samsung LE52F96 calibration settings by Vowani

ATTACHED FILES UPDATED NOVEMBER 1, 2007

I calibrated the display settings of my Samsung LE52F96, for each the following sources:
- PC, via HDMI
- DVD-player, via HDMI
- Cable set-top-box, via SCART/RGB
- Internal analog tv-tuner

Below, when you are logged in to this forum, you will find attached an Excel and PDF file with my settings.

You can also download my PDF version here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=93405&d=1193906772

I look forward to F96 calibration settings shared by other users of this fantastic LCD television set.

[Vowani]

Vincent,

could you also publish the settings for the F96 (and F86), just like you did for the Sony X3500?

Thanks!

[Vowani]

The F96 gets very high scores in this review:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/review/2007/12/02/Samsung-LE52F96BD-52in-LED-LCD-TV/p1

[xaje]

I notice that the luminance of this screen is only 450 cd/m² (only 1/8th the brightness of the BrightSide DR37-P) - how does this compare to the Pioneer PDP-508XD?

[Vowani]

I notice that the luminance of this screen is only 450 cd/m² (only 1/8th the brightness of the BrightSide DR37-P) - how does this compare to the Pioneer PDP-508XD?

I do not know how it compares to the Pioneer.

However, the brightness of the F96 can be set so high, that you probably will not like it at the max values.
Most F96 users set brightness around 50% of maximum, and even at that value, the set is still really bright enough in a daylight setting.

[dlionheart]

Thanks for a great review! I will be getting my LE52F96BDX within the next few weeks or so, even though I'm still very unsure of the huge dip in brightness output at only 450 cd/m2 (Samsung's nit) compared to the 550 cd/m2 (nit) of the older M86/M87 models.. this does bother me a little, as well as a few other niggling faults i.e. off-centre/viewing angle and only 96 LED backlights having to illuminate 2 million pixels, but the brightness is the more concerning problem! One thing for sure, if you could somehow post your procedure/settings for achieving the best picture possibility with near-N65 Greyscale, then this would help very much. Thanks Vincent.