» Samsung LN-S5296D 52 inch LCD 1080p HDTV Review

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Editor's HDTV Pick

HP 47 inch MediaSmart 1080p LCD HDTV "Out of the box" digital media platform. Enjoy videos, pictures and music from home network + digital media delivered over your broadband Internet connection + 3 x HDMI

According to the NPD Group’s retail tracking service, Samsung captured the number one market share position for digital televisions in the United States in 2006. It’s also the only manufacturer to produce all four major digital television technologies; LCD, Microdisplay, Plasma, and Flat Tube.

The Samsung LN-S5296D is a 52 inch, 1080p format (1920(H) x 1080(V) pixels) LCD TV. It has a slim, black bezel, hidden bottom speakers and is suitable for wall mounting. It’s swivel stand allows +/-15° of movement providing set-up flexibility. The wide viewing angle of 178º(H) / 178º(V) combines to make it even easier.

The LN-S5296D comes with a built-in digital ATSC tuner - so a separate set-top box is not required. The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) sets the sensitivity specification for digital television and is the result of a collaboration of broadcasters, consumer electronics manufacturers, semiconductor manufacturers and other ATSC member’s recommendations. The LN-S5296D LCD TV is also digital cable ready with a DCR tuner and a CableCARD slot. CableCARD means that one can connect the TV directly to you cable signal without a separate cable box.

Color, contrast ratio and resolution are important elements of picture quality. The Samsung LN-S5296D LCD television scores well in all three areas.

Contrast Ratio

Samsungs LN-S5296D display is based on its S-PVA (super patterned vertical alignment) technology which delivers a static contrast ratio of 1,200:1. (S-PVA also provides the very wide 179 degree viewing angles.) The LN-S5296D has a dynamic contrast ratio of 6000:1 whereby contrast levels are adjusted on a scene by scene basis. The 6000:1 contrast ratio is roughly in line with the 7,000:1 ratio achieved by the Sony BRAVIA LCD TV range and ahead of Panasonic and JVC having 3000:1 and 1,000:1 ratios respectively. Samsung don’t state if they use the more conservative ANSI test or the Full On/Full Off for contrast ratio measurement but, the contrast ratios are satisfactory in either case.

CCFL Backlight

To achieve a wider color gamut for more natural colors, Samsung, like most manufacturers, uses a CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) backlight. Most manufacturers use CCFL technology as for a comparatively low price it has a 50,000 hour average lifetime, reasonably low power consumption, high brightness efficiency and good color uniformity.

The main emerging challenger to CCFL is Light-Emitting-Diode (LED) technology which offers better power consumption, a even wider color gamut, and a mercury-free source of light (CCFLs use a small amount of mercury). CCFL manufacturers have narrowed the color gamut gap but, LEDs can provide 100+% of the NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) color standard compared to 92% coverage in the case of the LN-S5296. Only higher costs and heat-generation issues seem to be holding back greater LED backlight adoption..

1080p High Definition

The Samsung LN-S5296D LCD television’s 1080p format has the highest resolution of the six Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) formats for digital broadcasting considered to be HD. 1080p has twelve times the level of detail provided by conventional standard definition TV.

Many consumers are choosing 1080p not just for the stunning viewing experience when viewing high definition programming but, to future proof themselves against the rapidly improving television specifications. Unfortunately for them, the news is that a higher resolution format, 1440p, has already popped its head above the consumer electronics horizon. It is already part of the new HDMI 1.3 specification and will probably enter the general public’s consciousness sometime in 2009.

As well as greater image detail, high definition formats also have a couple of other advantages:

1. there is greater scope to provide image shading and
2. the pixels for larger screens do not become obtrusively large requiring an unacceptably large viewing distance.

The second advantage is the reason why manufacturers, who are constantly pushing display sizes upward, are also calling for even higher resolution formats to be added to standards.

Video Processing

Conversion of all incoming video signals to the native resolution of a particular display requires the incorporation of a video-processing chip. A secondary but, equally important, task of the video processor is the enhancement of images to remove any artifacts which may have come from resolution conversion or video transmission. As a consequence of its vital role, the video processing chip can have a dramatic effect on picture quality. It is even more important with larger displays as they will naturally magnify and image defects which may be present in lower resolution video sources. The Samsung LCDs have a 10bit video processor in line with most other manufacturers. The best way to judge performance is to view the television displaying a range of different format video sources.

Sound

The Samsung LN-S5296D has SRS Lab’s patented SRS TruSurround XT surround sound technology. TruSurround XT is a multi-channel virtualization technology which aims to produce a surround sound effect using only two speakers. It will handle up to seven (6.1) audio channels.

TruSurround XT combines three patented sound processing techniques from SRS Labs:

• Dialog Clarity: Improves intelligibility of dialog
• TruSurround: TruSurround creates multichannel signals in a way that takes advantage of the human hearing system and create a surround sound field. It carries Dolby certification.
• TruBass: TruBass enhances bass performance utilizing proprietary psychoacoustic techniques. Perception of fundamental low frequency tones is restored by dynamically augmenting harmonics.

TruSurround will produce a two channel stereo output from mono, stereo, or multichannel input signals. It is compatible with signals that been decoded by a Dolby Pro Logic or Pro Logic II decoder and signals that have been encoded to stereo with a matrix encoder (e.g. SRS Circle Surround or Dolby Pro Logic).

For more information on the equipment supplied by SRS Labs can be found on their web site.

Response Time

The response time for the LN-S5296D is quoted as 8ms which falls in line with those quoted for Sony and Panasonic LCD televisions. However, the Sharp AQUOS leads the pack with a fast 4ms response time.

However, one must be careful comparing display response times as there are different ways reporting and measuring them. The most common methods are “rise-and-fall” and “gray-to-gray”. The display industry association, VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association), has a technical specification for rise-and-fall but, not for gray-to-gray. Rise-and-fall is the time taken for a pixel to change from black to white (rise) and back to black again (fall) while gray-to-gray is the time to change from one shade of gray to another. There are numerous arguments abounding about which is more relevant to assessing a displays performance and for the moment it is simply worth being aware that like is being compared with like.

Useful Functionalities

The Samsung LN-S5296D has a number of useful features including:

• Picture-in-Picture (PIP): for simultaneous viewing
• Clock on/off timer: set the time for your TV to start and shut down
• V-Chip System: allows parents to block objectionable content
• Multi-lingual on-screen displays: English, Spanish and French
• Variable sleep timer: turns your TV off after a set time
• Auto volume leveler: keeps the same audio volume across channel changes

Connections

The LN-S5296D has a good range of connections including two HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface), PC (RGB) input and USB1.1. A full connection list is provided in the specification at the end of this review.

Samsung provides mounting holes at the back of its LCD TVs which are based on VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) standards.

Warranty

Samsungs LCD, high definition televisions are backed by with a fairly standard 12 month warranty.

Comparison Samsung LN-S5296D LCD TV vs

Other LCD, 1080p high definition TVs produced by Samsung include the 46 inch LN-S4696D, 40 inch LN-S4096D, 32 inch LN-S3296D and 57 inch LN-S5797D.

Larger name brand competitors with the Samsung LCD TV range include Sharp’s AQUOS range and Sony’s BRAVIA range.

Further Reading

Ptek has recently reviewed similar size LCD televisions including the Sony Bravia XBR 52 Inch KDL-52XBR2 LCD HDTV and the Sharp AQUOS 57 inch 1080p LC-57D90U LCD TV .

Presentation Technology Reviews recently looked at newcomer NuVision’s 47 inch 1080p LCD television.

Specification Samsung LN-5296D LCD TV