Perfect picture, dim/shiny LCD screen
920779
I compared with Canon SX110IS, SD780IS, 560 and Nikon S-220, S-230 cameras. The picture quality of P60 is the best. I feel that the scene is deeper and the color tone is more natural. Canon SX110IS and 560 are also good, but the feeling of full depth is better at P60. The image stabilization seems to be better as well compared to Canon SX110 and SD780. This may suggest that the CCD shift method may be better than the lens shift method of Canon at least in this range of camera. Nikon S-220 & 230 were too noisy in particular at the indoor shooting without the flash. Probably, the Nikon S-series may be different line than the P-series. In addition, the wide angle is OK compared to Canon cameras. The view angle of Canon SX110 was not good enough. Considering the price of P60 ($100 at Officemax), P60 seems to be the best one in this range of camera if the size and weight can be accepted.
Cons:
- The LCD screen is too shiny and dim so that it is very difficult to see the scene. In this aspect, Canon SD780 and SX110 are much better. However, this can be compensated by use of the small eye-piece window.
- The flash mode cannot be saved. Every time the power is on, it has to be set again. In this aspect, Pentax camera is unique and well designed even though its picture quality has some color overflow effect.
- It is a little bit bulky and heavy to carry.
- The voltage level of NiMH rechargeable battery does not seem to be recognized as high enough. Only Tenergy brand of NiMH battery could (somewhat) satisfy the expected voltage level of the P60 camera.
527280
Overall, this is a great TV with a great picture and offers a lot of features for the price.  I use this TV for every-day TV, sports (football mostly) and movies.  The picture is bright and contrast is very good.  Viewing angle is not bad, but the colors do tend to wash out a bit after maybe 50-60 degrees off center, especially when displaying a brighter picture.  Football looks great on it and one of the first things I watched a baseball game which was absolutely awesome looking.

I did have to spend a little time to adjust some settings for things I found a bit annoying out of the box.  The "Eco Solution" settings would adjust the picture brightness based on room lighting and would dim the picture way too much with the default settings.  The good news is it provides ample adjustment to limit how much it dims as well as the ability to turn it off completely.  I also had to adjust brightness, contrast, etc. to look good in my environment and to suit my tastes, but that is not uncommon.  The other odd behavior I found was when watching shows with the constant (and annoying, IMHO) camera movement like "Law and Order".  The movement of characters in the show looked very unnatural and almost had a weird 3D effect.  I found that adjusting the Auto Motion Plus to the "Clear" setting improved this quite a bit and I don't notice it any more.  Again they provide a few knobs to turn to adjust this to your preference.

While I didn't buy a TV for internet apps, they are rather cool.  I use Pandora quite a bit and it's great.  The Social TV would probably be pretty cool for those into social networking since you can watch TV and mess around on Facebook at the same time.  I'm not much into this stuff and I still found it to be a nice feature.  The Smart Hub user interface is a bit clunky but gets the job done.  The internet browser is useless without a way to point-and-click.  Entering text for web sites or logging into online services is painful without some type of keyboard.  I downloaded the Samsung Smart TV remote app for my iPod Touch and that works pretty well, but still is quirky at times.

The controls on the front of the TV are absolutely useless.  The controls are on the lower-right front of the TV.  These are not buttons, but are touch sensitive areas in the bezel with no defined borders and the silk-screening is virtually impossible to see with the TV on and without bright lighting in the room.  Keep the remote handy.

Overall, I'd give a 4.5+ star rating for picture quality.  I'd give it a 5 if not for the viewing angle.
I'd give a 3.5 star rating for everything else...mostly needing improvement in user interface.
4119862
I have owned this TV for about a week.  I spent hours researching LCD TV's and then watched them side by side at Best Buy, Costco, and Sam's Club My research showed that LCD's in whole are not able to reproduce blacks like plasma can, but they are now as bright if not brighter than plasma.  This TV's picture can easily be seen in a brightly lit room, no need to close blinds or dim lights.

This TV has great contrast and reproduces blacks as well as any LCD TV I have looked at.  Many of the LCD's I viewed in the store seemed to have washed out color especially in the blacks.

This TV has a great picture in Standard broadcast and has an exceptional picture in high definition.  Many HD TV's do not do well in up resing  a Standard broadcast to fit the high resolution screen.  When comparing LCD HDTV in the stores be sure to look at both HD programs and standard definition broadcast. This TV does a great job with playing a Standard broadcast.

This TV produces one of the best pictures I've seen in an LCD and is almost equal to my 42" Toshiba HD plasma which produces 3D like pictures in HD.

When I was setting up this TV in it's "Installation" program when I ran the auto station search program function a warning came up that it may take 30 minutes to run, to may surprise mine ran 5 minutes or more before it started reporting found stations - at it's conclusion after about 20 minutes it reported it found 261 digital stations and 80 analog stations.  After completing the programming and scanning through my cable service channels I was pleasantly surprised to find that about 10 or more of my stations could be viewed in High Definition without the use of a Cable HD box from my cable provider.

This set has a USB port that can be used for showing JPG images and album slide shows; it also can be used to update the TV's software.  I went to the Philips USA website and downloaded to a USB flash drive new updated software for my TV that included 4 software updates to my TV even though I just bought the set last week.

Pro's to this TV - As good if not the best picture for a LCD TV for both HD and Standard TV. Low power consumption 140 watts, lighter weight than plasma (one person can move and install this TV), does not suffer from burn in as easily as plasma, has an HDTV ATSC tuner that allows me to watch HDTV without the cable company's HD tuner (ComCast is my cable provider and a friend of mine that has this same TV with Insight cable reports also getting HDTV without the cable company tuner), ability to download and update operating software through the USB port and a home computer.

Con's - Only one HDMI port, remote is not universally programmable and only operates Philips products (Don't be mislead because it has selections for DVD/R, CBL, TV, VCR AUX)and the remote is somewhat confusing to use in spite of some color coding to improve ease of use. This TV maybe $100 to $200 more then a price leader TV like Vizio, but the picture quality is well worth the added cost.

Philips claims that - "The Philips dynamic contrast enhancer uses video processing and unique dimming backlight technology. This delivers deep rich black levels with increased detail. The dimming backlight increases the contrast up to 5 times, and at the same time improves the viewing angle." Perhaps this is why the picture seems to me to be so much better than many of the other LCD's.

At the time I wrote this review this TV could be bought for several hundred dollars less from Sam's Club then Amazon, but I would expect Amazon will adjust their pricing as LCD prices continue to fall.
2708299
Overall the TV has been a very good buy for me. It is the perfect size for what I needed it for, the smart functions are nice so I do not have to use my PS3/Wii for netflix. I do wish there was a true internet browswer. The only real flaw I have found is that occassionally the color dims for a few moments and then goes back to original brightness. It doesn't happen often, but I do notice it. Otherwise, good sound and graphics, and you can't beat the cost!
1176273
Great picture! The very slight matte front surface eliminates window reflections I used to suffer from with my old CRT TV. Stand/base allows TV to swivel for best viewing angle although pix is great even at severe viewing angles. I love the "wiselink" USB port on the left edge of the TV- just plug in your digital camera & view a slideshow in HD!
My primary video source is a cable box connected via HDMI. HD channels look stunning and the "analog"/SD channels look better than I expected them to.
The only disappointment so far (and the only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars) is the sound when using the built in speakers. Although the audio EQ menu settings help, it is still subpar. I plugged a cheapie amplified speaker set into the headphone jack & the difference was dramatic.
BTW - the delivery went off without a hitch - they called to set up the delivery date/time, showed up when they were supposed to, unboxed/turned on the TV to make sure it worked OK.
4243970
I'll keep this short, I've been a Samsung display buff since they came out with their first LCD sets back in the early 2000's.  They make a great TV and I'm VERY happy with this model.  I'm not an A/V pro, but I do enjoy watching a quality picture on a decent set!

PROS
* Overall, great picture quality.
* Nice integrated set of features.
* Thin form factor.

CONS
* Speakers are very weak.  Thin TV's, by nature, have weak speakers.  You might need to invest in a third party solution to enjoy audio.

* Wiring harness/clip in the back is cheap adhesive and slips of regularly.  Not a huge deal.
1677644
UPDATE: There is a 3 inch vertical green stripe (from top to bottom on the right end of the screen) that appeared all of a sudden yesterday (3 weeks of moderate usage). The stripe disappeared after I turned the tv off and turned it on after 15-20 minutes. This morning it appeared again. It disappeared after I changed the channel. Not sure what the problem is. Any suggestions? Thanks.

We bought this TV earlier this week from Circuit City. Absolutely amazing picture and sound quality. The Circuit City sales man wanted to sell a lot of accessories like HDMI cables ($90), Home theatre system ($399), surge protector ($190), extended warranty (~$280 for 3 yrs) etc., but we just got the TV. We have connected it to a regular antenna, and the local channels (most of them) are pretty clear and crisp. We also connected it to the DVD player (regular), and the picture quality is just amazing.

Highly recommend it to all those who are searching for a good HDTV at a reasonable price.
2119207
This is for the 37" model.

Bought this because it's got an IPS panel and it's the perfect size for the small room it's in.  I have no interest in 3D or 120/240Hz panels.  (I hate the "soap opera" effect, and this panel doesn't exhibit that.)  Blacks are some of the richest I've seen on an LCD.  Colors are vibrant.  Off-axis viewing is excellent.  Sound is solid for flat-panel speakers.

I docked one star for one reason.  The VGA port does NOT handle Full HD.  If you're going to connect a computer, plan on using HDMI.
1491589
I didn't get this monitor here on Amazon, but I use Amazon's review system extensively, so I thought I'd share some experiences.

The good:
As I said in the title, the picture is spectacular. I have impeccable near vision, and there is absolutely no blurriness to text. Colors are very rich as well.

The 24" display size is perfect for me. With the resolution set at 1440p, I have no problems reading anything, and there's no wasted space on my desk from having an excessively large monitor in my face. I do sit fairly close to my monitor though.

Backlighting is very even and there's no noticeable IPS glow in my monitor, nor are there any bad pixels on my monitor.

The capacitive buttons are very responsive.

I called BenQ's support twice. Both times my call was answered by someone clearly in the U.S. whose native language was English. The first time I called in to get some more information about this monitor before buying it. Someone answered within 15 minutes, but they unfortunately gave me some incorrect information. I asked how long the monitor would take to go to sleep after unplugging the video cable from my laptop. They said it would be nearly instant. However, it actually takes about a minute and a half. I had to get a docking station for my laptop that would keep the connected pin in the video cable active to get around this. Since I sit at my desk without using my computer for periods of time and don't like distractions, I also asked if the power LED is solid or flashing in sleep mode. They told me the LED was solid amber, but come to find out it actually flashes. If you do some Googling, youll find that this is an issue that frustrates many users. I ended up having to place a piece of black electrical tape over the power button. Fortunately the capacitive power button still works even through the electrical tape!

The bad:

The ambient light sensor is useless for evening/night use if you let your monitor sleep. The brightness value isn't saved when the monitor enters sleep mode, so every time the monitor is resumed from sleep, it actually powers back on with maximum brightness in effect, and takes about 10 seconds to recalibrate the brightness to the rooms lighting conditions! The ambient light sensor was the selling point for this monitor for me, and I ended up having to disable it and keep manually adjusting the brightness through the day depending on the light coming in through my office windows. I cant believe this was missed by engineering, especially since they were actually smart enough to have the backlight based on both the user setting and the ambient light sensor combined, when enabled! The second time I called in to tech support, it was regarding this issue. Someone answer within seconds, and was actually the same person that I had emailed regarding this issue, as well as a follow up on the power LED. He was very knowledgeable and did state that the ambient light sensor behavior is the same across all of BenQs monitors, but that he would pass along my comments. I hope they really do take my comments and pass them along. Try getting that type of support from Dell, Asus, Acer, HP, etc. though!

Thick bezel. I don't really mind the thick bezel that much. Its easier to tell where the picture ends on your screen when moving around windows if you have a dark background.

Annoying purple BenQ boot logo every time you power the monitor on (also in full brightness)!

If you have these problems too, be sure to email / call BenQs tech support and report this feedback so they're more likely to get an engineering firmware fix.
3790754
I have the 60-inch version of this tv and it's amazing in both cost and picture.

When I first got the tv, I was a bit underwhelmed as the picture was too dim.

To fix this you can:

1. Turn off ECO mode (set it to "Standard")
2. Turn off CATS feature in the picture settings.
3. Do not use "Standard" picture mode.

When I switched to "Home Theater" mode, the picture came alive! Clear, vibrant colors, everything is crisp and clean.

The only Cons would be that image retention does occur if you leave a bright logo or HUD for long periods of time, but it goes away when viewing other content. I'm not even worried about it. And the Auto Brightness Limiter is a bit annoying: when a screen is almost all white, the whole screen will dim a bit (even with ECO mode off), but 99% of my viewing is not like that so no biggie.
2043397
This was my first HDTV, replacing a nine-year-old Sony Trinitron 27-inch CRT. I had my decision narrowed to the KDS-50A2000, the KDS-60A2000, and the Samsung HL-S5687.

My main search criteria were as follows, in order of importance: picture quality (including 1080p resolution and HDMI input--yes, I've bought into the hype), connectivity, and price. Not among my criteria were cabinet size (i.e. I didn't need a flat panel), sound reproduction, PIP, or cable card.

In the stores, the Samsung looked brighter, with more vibrant color, was bigger than the 50A2000 of course, and cheaper. So I was leaning that way, albeit reluctantly, because I'm somewhat a Sony loyalist. Meanwhile, the Sony 50A2000 was brighter than the 60A2000. I was told that's because the two sizes use the same lamp. The Sony images looked more finely detailed, maybe, or was that my loyalism coloring my perception?

Anyway, when the 50A2000 got down to $1950 on Amazon, free shipping, no sales tax, I went for it.

About my purchasing experience: all was well with Amazon, but the shipper, Eagle Global Logistics, got my name and phone number wrong. Their delivery date window was way too broad and wrong as it turns out. They recovered from their initial mistakes, though, with courtesy and efficiency. The delivery was much sooner than expected. I suggest you contact the shipper as soon as possible to work out details.

I also ordered the Sony DVPNS75H DVD player with the HDMI output.

I am no expert, but I am completely pleased with the sharpness of the image, the blacks, the whites, the color accuracy. It looks fantastic. The DVDs through the HDMI are stunning; I even hooked up my old LaserDisc player and it looks really good.

The set-up and menus are intuitive and easy. I'm getting all my broadcasts through old rabbit ears. Standard definition images are very good. I was happy with many of the TV's default picture settings, but it offers a wealth of adjustment options. There are more connections than I'll need. The TV is quiet, lightweight, and simply, elegantly designed. The speakers' sound is also quite satisfying.

The picture is plenty bright in a normally lit room, vibrant (much better than you tend to see in stores, I think), accurate, with a wide viewing angle. 50 inches is enough for a theatrical thrill. Amazing.

I cannot rightly compare this TV with other products, as this is my first and only HDTV purchase. I also have some quibbles with the HDTV experience in general. But I can conclude that I am totally thrilled with this product so far. Go for it.

January 13, 2007 Addendum: About a month after ordering this TV, I saw that it had gone down in price another $150. I asked Amazon whether reimbursement of the difference were possible. They credited $150 to my Visa with no fuss at all. Amazon, you rock!
4743273
The screen picture is great, the vendor I bought from is great.  There may be a quality problem with the manufacturer, as my screen has a section of lighter colors resembling a scuff that is below the outer screen layer.  It also has a stuck pixel of red.
Considering I swapped this screen for another due to a group of dead pixels, I am resolved that any monitor I get of this brand will have something wrong with it.  The picture is outstanding outside of having to look around the blemishes.
1013160
This TV looks stunning, just got my wall mount and i cannot wait to finally install it. the TV came with back-light set to 20 and it definitely shows the back-light bleeding. i read the reviews and decided to set the backlight to 7 to see if that would fix it. Well, it did, but only to a point. if i turn on a completely black screen, I can clearly see the backlight, so going further into settings, i found that setting HDMI Black levels to LOW pretty much fixed the issue, i still can see just one corner bleeding the light through so i called samsung and arranged a service. it is sad that i cannot use the complete brightness of the screen, but the unit is stunning. make sure that you sit far enough as 1080p resolution makes pixels bigger, comparing to my 46 inch 1080p TV, upclose the image looks very pixelated and unappealing, but sitting about 10 feet away, the quality is GORGEOUS! Great product overall, hope the info helps, I would not mind if i paid 1500 or so, but for a product that is over $2000 flaws are unacceptable! i will see how everything goes after service, but i will most likely keep the unit as it definitely is STUNNING
157647
Purchased as a replacement for an older LCD 17" monitor, this LED unit proved to be a big improvement in picture quality over the old monitor. Hook-up was simple and completed in minutes. I cannot attest to the quality of the built-in speakers, as we use external, powered speakers with a sub-woofer. Judging by the size, they are probably comparable to a small transistor radio, as most of the built in monitor speakers are. They produce sound. Let the quality of same be in the ear of the beholder.
R.E.W.
344345
Pros:  Excellent picture clarity, amazing colors, 120hz works exceptionally well with progressive scan (ie 720p, 1080p)

Cons:  Expensive, backlighting (actually, it's edge lighting on this model) is a little uneven in the corners.  While watching credits at the end of a movie, you can see light and dark patches when the background is supposed to be solid black.  This only occurs with really dark images and is a function of the TV being so thin.

Overall: I've had the TV for several months with no problems.  I'm really happy with this purchase and would make it again.
4869466
What a gorgeous picture..... I would buy it again!  I did get the HDMI cable working (it came with one) temporarily, but when I tried to adjust the screen settings I lost the image and could not get it back.  With HDMI the default settings were not working for Windows 7 so I tried to amend them.  No luck there but I plugged in the VGA cable (also included) and the setup was perfect in default mode with the highest resolution.  Beautiful Color and detail.
1156472
For PC use, this is practically usable out of the box. Using it for an Xbox 360 on the other hand requires a bit of tweaking. However, the picture quality is great. I had a 42" LG LCD 720p tv before and the color was astounding, the blacks were fairly good as well when calibrated accordingly. The 22" monitor has even better picture color...except for blacks. The high contrast ratio washes out the blacks. I had to significantly drop the brightness (below 25) to even get the black to remotely resemble black. That being said, if you jack up the contrast, you can retain the color and deal with the less than stellar blacks. Love the 2ms response time, absolutely no ghosting in any PC or console game I tried. Overall I'd recommend it unless you can find a deal on a similarly sized Samsung Sync Master.

(Side Note: This monitor is 16:10, the Xbox 360 currently doesn't have any resolutions that utilize the 16:10 ratio so your stuck with 16:9 until the fall update which is adding both 1440x900 and 1680x1050)