Samsung LE32C650 32-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 100Hz Motion Plus Allshare Internet LCD TV with Freeview HD

The Samsung LE32C650 32-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 100Hz Motion Plus Allshare Internet LCD TV with Freeview HD is one fantastic bit of kit!

I purchased this item a month ago in June 2010 and have not been let down yet.

(+)

good resolution
touch sensitive controls for volume, channel, etc on front of screen
high quality finish
excellent connectivity (ample HDMI ports)
easy to set up with an internet connection through a router (not sure about trying to set up with a direct connection)
I have a Dell studio XPS 8100 connected to the display using the dedicated HDMI/DVI port which gives the best resolution great for Blu-Ray!
Internet TV function now includes BBCiplayer which means that you can watch selected programs in HD (however this requires a bit of updating first)
good range of volume
Tv is very energy efficient
colour and picture quality is very sharp
remote can control any Samsung device with All-share (dvd player, etc... )
includes cable tidy and remote batteries
display features an optical out port for connection to my surround sound system.
menus look and feel tidy
PiP function is also handy, but is a little difficult to find in the menus.
Tv is very thin
remote has good sized buttons and feels comfortable to hold
Very good price on amazon, expect to pay an extra £100-£150 on the high street (i purchased direct from amazon instead of using marketplace)

(-)

remote feels cheap but not enough to spoil the experience
built in speakers dont sound too great at high volume (i would recommend connecting to a good external amplifier and speakers)
because the screen is large some standard def programs do look distorted when some of pictures edges are not clearly defined (but this is to be expected with any full HD TV)
connecting to an xbox360 through a component cable is great for films but some games including MW2 seem to give problems with high screen refresh rates (i hope this will be solved by using an HDMI cable with the new xbox out in July 2010, my current work around involves reducing the xbox's picture setting so that fast/action games are playable)

I have spent the last 12 months searching for a suitable flat screen TV to replace my Toshiba CRT TV. The problem has been that not one TV that I've viewed in retailers (and I've viewed hundreds) has been able to match the standard definition picture of my CRT... until now. Whilst I do have Sky HD, I needed a TV which was capable of producing a great SD picture, as like many people I have hundreds of VHS cassettes and DVDs (and also dozens of Sky channels which are still broadcast in SD). The SD picture produced by the Samsung LE32C650 is superb. In some instances, it is approaching HD quality. Needless to say that in HD mode, the picture is stunning - beautifully crisp and clear. Add to this a myriad of options to tailor the picture to your taste in terms of contrast, brightness, colour and motion handling, and you have in my opinion the best flat screen 32inch TV on the market for an unbelievably low price. The Samsung even beats the current flagship TVs of Philips and Panasonic which cost in the region of £1000.
Don't be fooled into thinking LED is necessary. Apart from offering a slimmer TV (and the Samsung is hardly chunky at 7.5cm at its deepest point), it adds no other benefit. In fact, I had an edge-lit LED costing over £1000 which I ended up returning as the LEDs caused uneven lighting of the picture and the sound was incredibly poor. As the C650 has a deeper cabinet than an LED TV, it has allowed Samsung to incorporate more substantial speakers which produce a much better sound than any other flat screen TV I've tested.
The online capabilities of the TV are also very good and are constantly being expanded. BBC iPlayer looks absolutely stunning.
The only drawback of the C650 is that the factory settings are not the best so you will need to spend some time callibrating the TV to get the best out of it. Just by using the THX Optimizer found on dozens of DVDs (the Star Wars movies for instance) you can get a much more natural picture. Also, having messed about with the Motionplus settings for about the first 2 weeks trying to find the optimum setting, I finally found it - switch it off! There is no blurring or judder with it off - in fact it was Motionplus which was causing judder (strange)!
I thoroughly recommend buying the Samsung LE32C650. It is a hidden gem as there have been hardly any reviews of it in the AV press. In fact I only came across it when I had gone to a showroom to look at another rival manufacturers TV which cost twice as much, and which the Samsung knocked spots off. I came home and ordered it from Amazon as it was £110 cheaper than the lowest high street price. Buy it now!!!

This is my first LCD and it shows none of the flaws of other people's LCD I've seen. The black is completely black, I've not seen any streaking/smearing or noise problems at all.
Mine is located in a smallish room and the sound is very good, despite there not being any visible speakers! I had to turn the bass down slightly and we normally have it at sound level 12 (it goes up to 100).
There are a huge amount of picture settings(40 or so). Some of the defaults can make the picture slightly garish or look like its been shot on a camcorder. I personally found the colour, black level and contrast too strong initially: a few tweaks later and the picture looks fantastic. (Is that a first, an LCD that can be too black?)
The internet connectivity is a bit of a gimmick at the moment. The only current video services are YouTube and LoveFilm subscription streaming. BBC iPlayer is expected in the next few weeks. If they add some more services (especially video downloads) it might be worthwhile. (There are various other things like Facebook, Google Maps, News & Weather and some games, but I'm not interested in those).
The Freeview HD tuner is great, I thought I might be out of range of the current low power Crystal Palace HD service (30 miles west) but I received all channels with no problems.
The media player is very good and seems to handle nearly any format you can throw at it.