Samsung LN52B630 52-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV Review
I have been researching and holding out for a new TV upgrade over the past 2 years. Samsung was one of the very few manufacturers that offered the matte non-glare screens, which is necessary in our sunlight-filled living room. But I was always waiting for the right price. So when I was about to get the LN52A630, I heard about the new B series being released in 2009. So I had to wait for it with 120Hz of refresh and an upgrade from a dynamic contrast ratio of 40,000:1 to 80,000:1. Plus the look and shape of the B series seemed so much nicer to me than the A series. So Amazon had offered a free Sony blu-ray player with the purchase of certain Samsung models (including the LN52B630), and that was my cue to finally place my order on 7/4/09.
We started to switch channels to see how it looked. The picture is truly amazing. The default settings really do make movies look like a soap opera, which is really weird and fascinating at the same time. It does take some time to find the right settings for your environment and input type. It’s great that once the settings are adjusted for a certain input it keeps the settings. There are so many different settings as well, which allow for a lot of flexibility to adjust for a certain device input. For cable we have the TV set on natural and AMP on clear. HD cable is great and standard cable is pretty good on a huge LCD screen. XBOX is on game mode and looks wonderful. My husband was dying to try Call of Duty on it and was totally blown away by the colors and picture on the screen. When it was time to check out the blu-ray, we played Baraka (which I totally recommend to appreciate the 1080p experience). It was unreal! The picture was stunning and the detail was unbelievable. It was like we were there in person.
Even though we have our B630 hooked to our surround sound receiver, I tested the sound from the TV. It’s not bad and the volume is pretty decent, actually pretty loud even at half way.