Samsung LN52B750 Review

Samsung LN52B750

Design Rating: 81/100
Features Rating: 80/100
Performance Rating: 79/100
Overall Rating: 80/100

LN52B750 is a great LCD TV from Samsung’s 2009 line-up and as it is a high-end LCD TV it can not lack features like: Auto Motion Plus240Hz - 240Hz refresh rate, Medi@2.0 - Internet@TV that allows users to experience customizable widgets from partners like Flickr, Yahoo, YouTube and others, 1080p FULL high definition resolution and with 150,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio this LCD TV delivers deep black levels.

Specifications
Diagonal size: 52 inch;
Resolution: 1920 x 1080;
Response time:2ms;
Contrast:150,000:1;
Refresh rate:240Hz;

Note: We have made an in-depth review on the 52-inch Samsung LN52B750 , but this evaluation also applies on the 46-inch Samsung LN46B750 and the 40-inch Samsung LN40B750.They all have identical features and specifications.

Pros:

• Amazing black levels and detail in dark areas; better then edge-lit models from Samsung;
• Very good overall picture quality;
• Good connectivity : four HDMI and one PC input;
• Excellent dejudder processing
• Five-stars features including Yahoo Widgets ,built-in content and network streaming

Cons:

• It doesn’t have S-Video inputs
• The advantages of 240Hz pretty hard to detect.
• The price, which is a bit expensive, though we consider that this LCD TV worth’s the money
• The screen it’s shiny and in bright rooms reflections will appear

We are about to review what we think to be one of the best 2009 LCD TV that uses a conventional backlight and this is Samsung LN52B750.The biggest improvement of this LCD TV opposed to the 2008 model is the 240Hz technology and we expect Samsung to raise the bar when it comes to video processing. Compared with the top models edge-lit LED-based LCD displays from this brand, this HDTV outperforms them in many areas like black level performance and picture quality but is not quite as good as last year LCD TVs that use local dimming like Sony XBR8 series. You can’t say that this HDTV it’s perfect, best plasma displays still surpass (not by much) this model when it comes to overall image quality but if you are looking for a LCD TV and you want one of the best, then Samsung LN52B750 really, and we mean really, needs to be taken in consideration.

LN52B750 Design

TOC(touch of color)

There is a lot of debate on this term. There are people how like this feature and people how dislike it but we can’t say much about it because, in our opinion, it’s more about personal preferences. Opposed to other models from Samsung, with this model the Touch of Color isn’t so obvious. You can see a tint of translucent blue that appears on the bottom edge of the LCD TV and bellow the logo. When you look at this set you see the translucent tint of blue light and surrounding it you will notice see-through plastic that frames the glossy black edges. We still prefer more narrow-bezel models like Sony XBR9 series but as we said before it’s more about personal preferences.

Transparent stalk

The structure that maintains the 3.1 inch deep LN52B750 is made of three things:a slick, tasteful stand with a glass base and a transparent stalk. The last one give’s you the impression that the panel is floating. We consider this a very nice design feature from Samsung. Beside from being nice, the transparent stalk is also useful allowing the panel to swivel.

The menu

The system menu from Samsung is considered to be one of the best in the business. Is the same as the one found on the 2008 models, the only difference is the color: icy-blue. This looks like a completion to the blue touch of color found along the bottom edge of the frame. The menu isn’t just “good looking” is also helpful and easy to understand. The text is big and set on transparent backgrounds and on the bottom of the screen there’s explanatory text for a short description of every menu selection.

Remote control

What we like most at this remote control are the buttons. They are easily differentiated by size and shape that makes, let’s say, chancing programs or adjusting the volume much easier when you are not looking at the remote control. We couldn’t find many differences from the 2008 model except for a projection that keeps the clicker stable. We are pleased to say that Samsung got rid of the annoying rotating scroll wheel. Another great thing found on this remote control is the “Tools” button that allows easy and quick access to picture-in-picture controls, sleep timer, pictures and sound modes.

Features

240Hz

240Hz processing is the major upgrade made to this model compared with LNB650 series. This feature is actually twice as fast as the 120Hz technology found on most 2009 models. In essence this feature gets rid of motion blur so the viewer can enjoy fast moving scenes and fast sports. With faster refresh rate you get better motion resolution, although this improvement isn’t noticeable for most of the viewers. Auto Motion Plus dejudder processing is also found on this LCD TV, and what makes it even great is the possibility to tweak blur reduction and judder.

Interactive features

Yahoo widgets: This new feature from Samsung is found on the high-end LCD TVs including LN52B750.Is very user friendly and places widgets in to a bar found on the bottom of the screen. This model comes with widgets for sports, news, whether, Flickr Photos and of course products from Yahoo like sports, poker and others. We expect more and more widgets to appear in the near future.
Built-in content: this model as well as the previous model LNA750 series has built-in content that include a section for children’s with games, stories and others, recipes section, fitness section etc.
Stream videos, photos and music: you can stream them from DLNA-certified devices via the network connection and from the USB ports connecting an Mp3 player or other devices.
Picture tweaks: one thing we really like at this LCD TV is the capability to tweak a lot of controls and we decided to mention a few: four adjustable picture modes, three levels of noise reduction with an automatic setting, five color temperature presets, 2:3 pull-down, a black tone control for shadows details, a white balance control for tweaking the grayscale from four aspect ratio including Screen Fit which lets this HDTV scale 1080i and 1080p sources directly to the panel’s pixels without overscan. To save more money on your electric bill LN52B750 has three power-saver modes.

Connectivity

In this section Samsung LN52B750 has all that it needs for a high-end LCD TV: four HDMI ports, three on the back and one on the side panel, two component video inputs, one VGA input, one RF input, an Ethernet port and an optical digital audio output but it lacks S-video inputs which is a little frustrating.

Performance

Deep blacks

This is where this LCD TV really excels compared to other models on the market. It’s even better then the LED based TVs from this brand like UNB7000 series. This HDTV is significantly better almost as good as best plasmas displays. We have only words of praise in this area as Samsung really raises the bar with this product.

Accurate colors

We wouldn’t say this is one of the best LCD TVs on the market if it wouldn’t perform very well in this area. This high-end model from Samsung has very accurate colors, the primary and secondary colors are nearly perfect. Also this HDTV delivers solid color saturation. Not as good as plasma TVs but this model comes very close to them.

Good video processing

As we said before in this guide the effects of the 240Hz refresh rate aren’t noticeable for most of the viewers but in tests the blurring reduction it’s noticeable. What makes Samsung LN52B750 better than others 120Hz or 240Hz models is that it has the capability to manual custom blur reduction and judder reduction. With this feature Samsung LN52B750 is getting closer to Panasonic plasmas. Again, this LCD TV outperformers the majority of HDTVs on the market, except for best plasmas TVs.

For dark scenes try with a small amount of light

To get the most out of this LCD TV you should try to dim the lights or make sure that the source of light is positioned behind the HDTV. Samsung uses a glossy screen that reflects the light. In bright scenes this reflections from the glossy screen aren’t so bad, but during darker scenes they prove distracting.

SD Content

As we expected from a top rated LCD TV like Samsung LN52B750, standard definition content looks very good. The video processing and filtering system of this model does a very good job eliminating noise. You can’t expect miracles with SD content but with this HDTV you will get the most possible out of it.

PC

You can connect a PC to this LCD TV through the four HDMI ports or via VGA input. The LCD TV, connected through HDMI port, delivers excellent performance resolving every line of a 1,920×1,080 image. Connected via VGA input the picture looks softer and the resolution isn’t quite full but still a very good image.

Compared to other TVs

Samsung LN52B750 vs Sony KDL-52XBR9

When it comes to design the Samsung LN52B750 is more futuristic with the translucent touch of color and the glossy screen but we still prefer narrow-bezel TVs like the Sony KDL-52XBR9.The model from Samsung outperforms(not buy much) the Sony model in the overall depth of black ,the color accuracy and color saturation. Also the screen is more uniform across its surface although it did seem to lose black-level depth a bit faster than the XBR9.Overall we will say that Samsung LN52B750 is the winner but as we said before - not by much-.

Samsung LN52B750 vs Samsung UN46B7000

This is a battle between two technologies from the same brand. Conventional backlight vs edge-lit LED-based LCD. LN52B750 outperforms UN46B7000 when it comes to black-level performance and picture uniformity. The screen is more uniform across its surface and UN46B7000 losses black-level depth a little faster. In the design section the edge-lit LED-based LCD wins, having slick styling and a 1.2-inch thick panel.

Samsung LN52B750 vs Plasma TVs

We can’t really compare a LCD TV to a technology. But what we can tell you is that Samsung LN52B750 comes very close to best plasmas overall: image quality and depth of black. Also best plasma delivers better accurate color then the Samsung’s model. We expect high-end LCD TVs to outperform Plasma TVs in the near future.

The bottom line

The bottom line is that Samsung LN52B750 is the best conventional backlight we ever tested but doesn’t beat best plasmas picture quality nor the LED-backlit LCD TVs like Samsung A950 and Sony XBR8 .