Samsung UE40D5520 40-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 100Hz LED SMART Internet TV with Freeview HD - Charcoal Black

I spent a year or more researching flat screen TV's, that includes visiting stores to check out the latest releases & friends who had just purchased as well as endless online articles & reviews.
I wanted to get the best my budget would allow.
I finally decided on LED technology as not only was the picture bright and clear, it also used hardly any power.

Out of all the LED TV's Samsung seemed to be streets ahead of the competition.
I finally decided on the UE37C6530 series 6, it had everything, in-depth picture tweaking, internet access (albeit via Samsung Apps) and the ability to link wirelessly with other equipment. I bided my time waiting for the price to drop knowing that the new series 6D was just around the corner.

Then to my amazement Samsung released this years series 5D, it had all the features of the previous series 6 and then some. On checking with Samsung the panel and supporting technology actually surpassed the series 6. It was also cheaper, so with no hesitation I purchased this model.

Setting up the TV is a breeze. The build quality of the set and stand is superb and went together in seconds!

Picture:
The initial picture was excellent but still slightly too vivid for my living room.
The picture menu settings are easy to access & follow and after an hour or so fine tuning I can honestly say I have the best picture I have ever seen on a TV.
The detail and clarity is phenomenal. I only have it connected via RF so I get the normal SDTV and 4 HD channels. The up-scaling technology used on the standard SD channels is nothing short of a miracle. There are virtually no artifacts whatsoever, even on the poorest reception.
The HD channels as expected are breath taking.
The difference between SD & HD on this model is very slight, I just don't know how Samsung have done it.
There is no judder and virtually no motion blur (I say virtually because on one of the poorest channels I did notice just a tinge of blur on high speed action...but I can safely say that was the broadcast quality and not the TV - on everything else it's SO smooth)
Clearly Samsungs new 'CMR' technology works!
The depth of field in the picture has to be seen to be believed, you really do feel like you're there.
The colour perfomance is truly remarkable and the depth of the black unbeatable.
The picture is undoubtedly the best I have seen on any 37inch LED screen.

Sound:
This is where you see the most complaints about Samsung the `tinny' sound. What people confuse with `tinny' is actually just a sound system that has been tuned far too bright.
The top end causes sibilance so `s' type sounds can be quite piercing.
Fortunately Samsung include a basic graphic EQ section within the sound menu. I quickly raised the bottom end and took the top two bands right down and achieved an excellent near studio quality sound. Even with the volume right up the speakers stood their ground, no distortion or loss of depth in a TV barely 3cm deep Samsung have clearly worked some serious magic here!
The `surround sound' feature is also excellent adding even more depth especially to movies.

External:
I hooked up a cheap DVD player and the results where outstanding. I then tried various formats via USB, not one hiccup and the quality simply blew me away.
I've yet to purchase a Bluray player but I've no doubt that the results will be excellent.
You can also have completely separate picture settings for each EXT input and the TV will remember them...awesome!

Internet:
I have only connected via the wired LAN so far (I was hesitant to purchase the separate Wifi dongle until I had judged internet content) but I was able to access various apps, also Google, Facebook, ect; BBCiplayer was incredible, the quality was excellent.
This model doesn't feature the full blown web browser as I first thought, that feature is currently only available on series 6 up but it may be available via a later update, including a 4OD app and other promised apps (but i'm not going to hold my breath!)
Some of the features are gimmicky others very useful but all free from glitches.
As this TV has the ability to access various PC's and other wireless devices in the home I will be purchasing the Wifi dongle.

Cons:
There are only two things that niggled me, the first is that when changing channel it takes 3 seconds to load. This is certainly no slower than many other TV's on the market but I feel it's worth a mention. Also for some reason the `Teletext' doesn't always work (I tested this on 2 sets) I have no idea why and as it's not a feature I use it doesn't bother me.

Finally:
With the correct `ECO' settings which are especially useful at night in a darkened room the TV uses a mere 34 watts, on full blast with all settings on max it uses just 90 watts, so it's kind to the planet as well as your pocket. This is a big plus for me.

There are no downsides to this set, spend a little time tweaking those settings and you'll have the perfect picture & sound. The picture quality is simply mind blowing. The sound is excellent and the `Smart' features take this set into a league of its own. To my mind there is nothing currently on the market in this price range that matches this set for features, performance, build and quality. It Truly is superb!

Yes this is a long review but i feel this TV deserves it and if you're anything like me then you want to know as much as poss before you part with your cash.

I'm willing to share my settings just drop me a message.

A fantastic TV at a fantastic price don't hesitate just buy it, you'll have no regrets!

i always do way too much research before buying anything technology related, and this TV is no exception. Having spent 3 hours trying every 3D configuration there is (LG cinema vision, panasonic, samsung and sony shutter glasses) 3D really is not ready for prime time yet, there are too many compromises and expense in all but the LG case. as soon as i realised that 3d really wasnt something i needed, i then began to hunt out the best 40 or 42" set i could. Its remarkable how much cheaper non 3D sets are at the moment. The other big requirement was connectivity, and this set really doesnt let down in this area.

So whats good, the picture is amazing, seriously amazing, watching Coast on BBC HD demonstrates just how good the upscaling is on this set, its easily comparable with any native 1080p Blu Ray disc and utterly jaw dropping, as impressive is the performance with SD content (Normal non hd-tv) lets face it, a lot of viewing will be done using this resolution and again, the processing is outstanding, no smearing or pixelation, even with lots of action going on. Next up connectivity, this set offers most of the samsung smart tv features, it DOES NOT support timeshift - pause and replay live tv OR and sort of recording television, definitely a nice to have but not a deal breaker. It does an excellent job of playing content from USB hard drive (although you may need a long usb cable or somewhere to prop your drive due to the location of the connection) playing back videos from the drive is excellent, although DivX support is limited, mkv files play great bizarrely it plays everything my PS3 wont play, so im quite happy.

the biggest moment of surprise (having watched iplayer on a wii and ps3 for the last couple of years) is the iplayer app, at first look it seems a bit low res (the interface) but playback, as long as your internet connection can take it, is stunning, im not sure how they do it, but it seems flash has been taken out of the equation, my kids wanted to watch chuggington and when i queue it up and watched i stood there speechless for a while, outstanding quality.

all in all im very happy with the set, one word of warning, Edge lit LED tv screens are renowned for clouding (smudged patches on very bright scenes) this is fact of life on an LED set at the moment, my set is no different on bright white scenes there is a very slight smudged darker patch on the screen but you have to look hard to see it. It doesnt bother me at all and in some cases will settle with use. if this sort of thing bothers you then maybe look or something other than LED. Other than that i am a very happy customer i make this essential purchase if it fits your requirements (e.g. smart TV but no 3D)

I'm no expert, but I do like to watch a good movie of an evening and I like to do it without breaking the bank. I looked at different reviews for different TVs for quite a while before replacing my well-loved, but now long-in-the tooth Hitachi 42' plasma, bought about 6 years ago. I took delivery of our new Samsung UE46D5520 and although it has only been a few days since I ripped the box open and set it up, all I can say is that I am blown away by the quality of build, the sheer stunning look of the thing and the fabulous colour, contrast and vibrance of the display.

I work at a Mac all day and I have the largest brightest Mac LCD monitor you can get, so although I don't know much about TVs, I guess I think I know what a good picture should look like, and the Samsung does not disappoint. The Samsung is just beautiful. I know that there are bigger TVs (a lot bigger) but for my room the ultra thin ultra flat TV is truly a cinema experience... better even if I'm being honset. And so thin. At 2.7cm... yes that's right... 27mm, it almost looks as if it is too thin to support its own weight. Not that it is heavy, it is incredibly lightweight and I can easily see this being mounted on the wall with just about any suitable bracket. In fact I hope I am not going out on too much of a limb, when I say that this TV is almost a science fiction experience in itself, and that's before you have even turned it on, with the ultra black screen, almost darker than the Stanley Kubrick's 2001 monolith. I have pared it with a mid priced Sony Blu-ray and surround system and so for more or less £1000 in total I have what I think is a brilliant set up. My advice is, forget 3D, that technology is not really market ready yet, save the 3D experience for the cinema where it is almost nearly there, it'll give you headaches anyway, go instead for this, bargain of the century and you will never look back.