Samsung LA32B650 32 inch vs Sony W5500 32inch

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Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#36340 23-Jun-2009 11:20

I am looking for a good 32” full HD LCD.
The two models that I am looking at are the Samsung LA32B650 and the Sony W5500, both 32inch.

I know that both models have USB, built in freeview, both are 100hz and full HD.
Picture quality I am unsure about because I have not been able to view them side by side.
But in my opinion both are exceptionally good. Is there anybody that can give an expert opinion?
New to this whole LCD thing, I have been told that Full HD and at least 100Hz is important,
other than that I don’t know much more than my current Sony CRT 72cm.

smarsden

118 posts

Master Geek

#227691 23-Jun-2009 13:56

Hi BraaiGuy,

I was in exactly your position a few weeks ago, and ended up getting the Sony W5500 32", and I must say that I'm delighted with it. The FreeviewHD picture quality is stunning. I haven't got Blu-ray yet, but if FreeviewHD's anything to go by, it'll obviously be excellent too.

JB Hi-Fi Albany (although I see from your footer you're in Wellington) had both available for a side-by-side comparison, and there's not much in it, in my view. However, one of the most significant differences is how reflective each screen is. The Samsung has a very reflective glass-like screen, which of course means on dark/black pictures, you'll see yourself/surroundings in it, whereas the Sony has a matt screen with very little reflection of surroundings (there's fuzzy/blurred reflection in extreme daylight, but nothing that closing the blinds won't fix!). For me this was the deciding factor, as we have a lamp directly opposite the TV - behind the main viewing position - and in our previous CRT this was always visible and used to drive me mad. (A lot of the time therefore the lamp was off, which granted gives a better viewing experience, but at least we don't have to turn it off now!).

My only gripe with the Sony is that the more you go off-centre viewing angle wise, the lighter and more washed-out the colours become - although the picture is still viewable. I've recalibrated the image settings to compensate for this, as the defaults are way too high anyway, so for our seating options it's more acceptable now (the blacks stay a very dark grey, rather than going light grey when off-axis). However if you had a really extreme side-view this might be an issue for you. The Samsung seems to retain the colours a bit better from extreme angles, but then that could have easily just been down to the store settings, and as said above the reflective screen went against it for me - after all, you don't buy a TV to look at it from the side, and none of our main seats are at that extreme an angle that it's a real issue anyway.

Although I've not used the Samsung's menu system, so can't comment on that, the Sony has a very comprehensive system with their XMB (Cross Media Bar), and is highly customisable. There does seem to be a bit of a delay when changing Freeview channels too, and I haven't actually seen the Freeview channel switching speed on other TV's, so don't know if this is normal - although my gut feeling is that it is while it's decoding the signal - it's only a couple of seconds though (the wife's the only one to complain!!).

Connection wise both seem to be pretty much the same, although the Sony does have an S-Video socket too, whereas the Samsung doesn't. The Sony's power usage rating is lower too - 99W vs 130W, if this is important to you?

Again though, the picture quality on the Sony is really really good when given a high def signal, and it does a more than acceptable job upscaling SD in my view too.

Having said all of that, I don't think you'd really be disappointed with either, but my main tips would be to be aware of the reflection levels of the screens, and check the colour saturation levels from an angle in store if you can to see what it will look like from your home seating positions, if any are substantially to the side of the TV. Either of these issues could ultimately determine how much you enjoy your TV once you've bought it - and when you're spending $2000+ you want to enjoy it!

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Simon.

P.S. I actually ended up getting mine from Noel Leeming, as it was cheaper and they had a cabinet I liked too.

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#227925 24-Jun-2009 12:30

smarsden: Hi BraaiGuy,

I was in exactly your position a few weeks ago, and ended up getting the Sony W5500 32", and I must say that I'm delighted with it. The FreeviewHD picture quality is stunning. I haven't got Blu-ray yet, but if FreeviewHD's anything to go by, it'll obviously be excellent too.

JB Hi-Fi Albany (although I see from your footer you're in Wellington) had both available for a side-by-side comparison, and there's not much in it, in my view. However, one of the most significant differences is how reflective each screen is. The Samsung has a very reflective glass-like screen, which of course means on dark/black pictures, you'll see yourself/surroundings in it, whereas the Sony has a matt screen with very little reflection of surroundings (there's fuzzy/blurred reflection in extreme daylight, but nothing that closing the blinds won't fix!). For me this was the deciding factor, as we have a lamp directly opposite the TV - behind the main viewing position - and in our previous CRT this was always visible and used to drive me mad. (A lot of the time therefore the lamp was off, which granted gives a better viewing experience, but at least we don't have to turn it off now!).

My only gripe with the Sony is that the more you go off-centre viewing angle wise, the lighter and more washed-out the colours become - although the picture is still viewable. I've recalibrated the image settings to compensate for this, as the defaults are way too high anyway, so for our seating options it's more acceptable now (the blacks stay a very dark grey, rather than going light grey when off-axis). However if you had a really extreme side-view this might be an issue for you. The Samsung seems to retain the colours a bit better from extreme angles, but then that could have easily just been down to the store settings, and as said above the reflective screen went against it for me - after all, you don't buy a TV to look at it from the side, and none of our main seats are at that extreme an angle that it's a real issue anyway.

Although I've not used the Samsung's menu system, so can't comment on that, the Sony has a very comprehensive system with their XMB (Cross Media Bar), and is highly customisable. There does seem to be a bit of a delay when changing Freeview channels too, and I haven't actually seen the Freeview channel switching speed on other TV's, so don't know if this is normal - although my gut feeling is that it is while it's decoding the signal - it's only a couple of seconds though (the wife's the only one to complain!!).

Connection wise both seem to be pretty much the same, although the Sony does have an S-Video socket too, whereas the Samsung doesn't. The Sony's power usage rating is lower too - 99W vs 130W, if this is important to you?

Again though, the picture quality on the Sony is really really good when given a high def signal, and it does a more than acceptable job upscaling SD in my view too.

Having said all of that, I don't think you'd really be disappointed with either, but my main tips would be to be aware of the reflection levels of the screens, and check the colour saturation levels from an angle in store if you can to see what it will look like from your home seating positions, if any are substantially to the side of the TV. Either of these issues could ultimately determine how much you enjoy your TV once you've bought it - and when you're spending $2000+ you want to enjoy it!

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Simon.

P.S. I actually ended up getting mine from Noel Leeming, as it was cheaper and they had a cabinet I liked too.

Hey Simon, Thanks for your response. I actually made up my mind before your post and went and ordered the Sony yesterday from DSE. I should receive it before the weekend. The more expensive price tag of the Samsung just did not do it for me. Glare was also a problem I noticed. I like all the features on the Sony.

I don’t have the tv yet so have not been able to play around with it. But what do you mean about the upscaling of SD? Does the tv do this automatically? If so I was not aware of this feature and was thinking of getting some sort of upscalling dvd player. We have sky HD so we wont be needing to do any upscalling there, but what about my current dvd player. Its not HD and it just uses a standard yellow rca cable.

smarsden

118 posts

Master Geek

#227945 24-Jun-2009 13:11

BraaiGuy:

Hey Simon, Thanks for your response. I actually made up my mind before your post and went and ordered the Sony yesterday from DSE. I should receive it before the weekend. The more expensive price tag of the Samsung just did not do it for me. Glare was also a problem I noticed. I like all the features on the Sony.

I don’t have the tv yet so have not been able to play around with it. But what do you mean about the upscaling of SD? Does the tv do this automatically? If so I was not aware of this feature and was thinking of getting some sort of upscalling dvd player. We have sky HD so we wont be needing to do any upscalling there, but what about my current dvd player. Its not HD and it just uses a standard yellow rca cable.

What I mean by the upscaling of SD, is that if the TV didn't upscale, and a non-upscaling DVD player sends a 576 line signal to the TV, then the TV would display a letterbox image with 252 black lines at the top and bottom of the 1080 line screen with the picture in the middle. To get around this, all TVs have a scaler built in, so that when receiving a 576 picture they scale up to 1080 themselves to display full height. There's really no need to buy a DVD player that is advertised specifcally as 'upscaling', as the TV will do it anyway.

It's all a bit of a marketing ploy in my opinion, but it should be noted that some TVs scale better than others, and in fact it's possible that the scaler in the DVD player might be better than in the TV (although usually not). Most scaling DVD players should have the ability to turn the scaler off if you want to, so that you can test and use the best scaler you've got - the TV if that's better than the DVD player, or vice versa. As I say though, a scaling DVD player really isn't a necessary purchase.

What I would recommend though, is that you change the connection you're using from the yellow RCA (composite) cable. This is the lowest quality signal available. The minimum I'd recommend is that you use S-Video (4-pin), and plug into the socket into the back of the TV - this is what I'm using (from my non-upscaling DVD player). The best though is component (the three red, green and blue sockets), which will give a massive improvement in picture quality, and plug these into either of the two component inputs on the back of the TV. The only reason I'm not using this for my TV is because I'm using it into my projector. Images are far more defined with component. This will be a cheaper upgrade than getting an upscaling DVD player too.

Anyway, enjoy your new TV when it arrives! I'm sure you will!!