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Samsung LN-T2653H

Thu, Jan 10, 2008

Filed in HDTV

Samsung LN-T2653H Review:

Samsung LN-T2653H 26-inch flat-panel LCD HDTV is an updated successor the super popular 2006 model LNS2651D. Compared to the previous year’s model this one offers an updated cosmetic design, a better contrast ratio at 5000:1, hidden speakers, side A/V inputs, and 2 HDMI connections. The Samsung Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe) Video Enhancer refines all analog NTSC and wideband video inputs for an overall improvement in picture quality. DNIe improves contrast, white level, picture detail and incorporates digital noise reduction to improve lower quality video inputs. The 3D Y/C digital comb filter constantly analyzes the three dimensions of picture height, picture width, and picture changes-over-time to dramatically reduce edge image artifacts while improving transition detail.

High-quality virtual surround sound can be experienced with just the speakers built into the TV. Samsung LN-T2653H’s SRS TruSurround XT technology delivers an amazing, simulated 3D effect with clear dialog and powerful bass through hidden side speakers. TruSurround XT audio adds three audio enhancement technologies to produce an amazingly immersive sound experience.

I’m a very picky electronics consumer. I spent a lot of time researching HDTV trying to find the best value and features in a television for our bedroom. Picture quality, technical specs, and motion handling were all very important considerations. The Samsung LN-T2653H 26″ LCD HDTV has exceeded all of my expectations.

1. HDTV - The picture quality with HDTV signals is astounding. No big surprise here. Samsung is known for great picture quality and this display does not disappoint. Its unfortunate there are so many variations (720p, 1080i, etc) but this is not the fault of Samsung LN-T2653H or Samsung. It just means - as with most of these TV’s - you are constantly adjusting the screen size to fill the screen or putting up with bars. Thankfully, Samsung LN-T2653H has a picture size button on the remote so you can quickly toggle between settings.
Samsung LN-T2653H has a QAM tuner, which is the standard being used by cable companies for digital cable signals. During the auto channel search, the TV found all of the unscrambled HDTV channels being passed by the cable company. I’m not a digital cable subscriber, but our cable company, like many pass many HDTV channels ‘in the clear’ through the cable - even though most won’t tell you this and don’t advertise it. This means if you can decode HDTV channels with a tuner (which this TV can) you can get the local channels (but not the subscription channels like ESPN, HDNET, FSN HD, etc) for no additional cost. You might be pleasantly surprised when you do a auto channel search and you find some local HDTV channels being sent by your cable company. With the QAM tuner, Samsung LN-T2653H can actually find and work with the digital cable. However, the cable company scrambles the subscription digital channels and while this TV could display them (if they weren’t scrambled), most cable companies will still require you to get their set top box. But at least with the QAM tuner you can get the ‘in the clear’ HDTV channels the cable company is probably passing to you.
Since Samsung LN-T2653H has a second RF input (the Amazon summary says only one but it is incorrect - see the Samsung website or the pictures for confirmation), you can also use the second RF (air) input to get your local HD channels if available in your area. Samsung LN-T2653H has a built in ATSC tuner, so it can decode over the air HDTV signals - but you still need an antenna to pick them up. I live in a city and can get several OTA (over the air) HDTV stations with my attached Terk HDTVi antenna. However, since the cable company is sending the signals through the cable as well, I don’t have to use it unless the cable is out. The second RF input is nice to have and a disappearing option on many HDTVs. If you have cable, you may want to wait to see if the Samsung LN-T2653H finds ‘in the clear’ HDTV locals being passed by your cable company before buying an antenna - you may not even need one. Of course, if you are going to subscribe to digital cable with a HDTV package, you really don’t need the antenna.
The great thing about the ‘in the clear’ signals from the cable company is that they are strong and don’t require you to move an antenna around to get different channels. If you upgrade to digital cable with a HDTV package, you can get the subscription based HDTV channels in addition to the free locals.
The Samsung LN-T2653H has a built in digital signal meter, which will display a bar showing how strong your digital signal is. This is useful if you have an over the air antenna for HD and you are trying to find the best reception. Bring up the meter while on a digital (HD) channel and adjust the antenna to find the strongest signal. Remember you might have to move the antenna to get different stations depending on your orientation to various towers. Again, if your cable company sends ‘in the clear’ locals or you have the HD package with digital cable, this isn’t an issue.
With those stations, moving the antenna makes no difference because the HD signal is coming from the RF (coax) from the cable signal and its strength remains constant.
2. Standard definition/cable signals - Since most channels are still standard definition, how a TV displays them is vitally important. Its not good enough to be great with HDTV if the standard picture is horrible. Samsung LN-T2653H does a very good job with standard/cable signals in my opinion. Many HDTV sets do a crummy job with analog signals. Samsung LN-T2653H does some ‘upconversion’ and cleaning up of the image. The result is that our standard cable channels look quite nice. Of course the quality really varies depending on what your starting with, but I have to say the standard signal without question looks nicer on Samsung LN-T2653H than on the old tube TV.
3. Style and Size - For those who care about this, this is a really sleek looking TV. Its got a glossy jet black (”Grand Piano”) finish. Its also very light (20 pounds). This thing is lighter than the 19″ tube TV it replaced.
4. The ‘hiss’ problem - Many reviewers have noted a hiss problem. I’m sensitive to this, my old TV had a hum/hiss that drove me crazy. It had a flaky tuner which was causing it. Our Samsung LCD panel is making no noise at all. It was manufactured May 2007. We’ve had no problems with this, even with the backlight turned all the way up.
5. Motion handling/blur/response time - The ‘lag’ time ‘refreshing’ the display has been historically the achilles heel of LCD TV. Samsung LN-T2653H quotes a fast response time (8 ms). While this number is important, you have to be careful because various manufacturers use different measures and the number they provide isn’t nearly as important as what you actually see. On older LCD TVs and even some newer LCD panels that quote faster response times, the display suffers from a blurring/distorting when the images are moving quickly - for example sports and fast action. On ‘no name’ LCD panels, I noticed they really struggled to keep up with faster action sequences - EVEN IF they claimed a fast response time. I watch a lot of hockey and the blurring on some of the panels during the action was unacceptable. I’ve watched some football, baseball, and other fast moving action on Samsung LN-T2653H and it suffers very little from blurring. I put in a few of my NHL DVDs and they looked fine as well. While I can’t say its 100% perfect, it is VERY good and isn’t really an issue.
6. Picture control - Samsung LN-T2653H has countless picture control options so you can adjust the picture how you like it. Its very flexible.
Make sure to go through the manual and try out the countless settings you can tweak - picture mode (dynamic, movie, natural), white balance, noise reduction, etc. The picture can change quite significantly depending on these settings and go with what you like. How you set it up is a pretty individual taste thing. I tried to use some signals from TV and DVD that had ‘known’ color patterns I could use as a baseline to get things tweaked how I liked it.
7. Input/outputs - Samsung LN-T2653H has various inputs and outputs ranging from composite A/V all the way up to DVI for high def sources, so its very flexible. I have a progressive scan DVD player connected via component cables and the picture is awesome.
8. Value for the money - With this price, you’ll be hard pressed to find a comparable TV with the quality and features at this price point. If you want an affordable way to dabble into HDTV or a nice TV for your bedroom, this is a great choice.
9. Sound - The small speakers actually do a surprisingly good job. Of course if you want serious sound, you need to connect to a good receiver. In our bedroom this isn’t an issue, and the built in speakers coupled with its virtual surround modes do a fine job.
10. Changing channels - Switching channels is very fast with Samsung LN-T2653H. Many of these digital televisions do it slowly. This is one of the faster ones I’ve tried. This is nice, because the lag time on many of the televisions is annoying. It sounds so mundane, but little things such as this can make all the difference. The Samsung LN-T2653H also has a ‘Favorite channels’ button on the remote. You can flag any number of channels as ‘favorites’. Then, by pressing the “Fav Ch” button on the remote, you can jump from one favorite to another, skipping over the rest of the channels. This is nice if you get annoyed flipping through countless stations you rarely watch.

The only cons I would point out are pretty minor:
1. TV takes a handful of seconds to turn on. This isn’t that uncommon with these types of TV’s, it probably takes 5-10 seconds.
2. Zoom mode overstretches some HD signals when not connected via DVI. When you use the picture mode toggle button on the remote, depending on the input format (720, 1080, etc) the zoom mode can overstretch the picture and parts of the picture are cut off. The Samsung LN-T2653H has a ‘just scan’ feature but this only fully works with DVI input signals. The result is that if you wish to have the picture always fill the screen (no bars) you have to switch the picture zoom mode from one channel to another depending on its starting signal input and resolution. Kind of annoying, but until (if ever) we get one standard HD signal and resolution, this is the way it is.

All in all, this is a very impressive TV and an incredible value at the price point its offered at by Amazon. In addition, Samsung has a great reputation in this area and Consumer Reports recently noted Samsung as one of the best LCD TV manufacturers. Great buy.

—– By Greg A. Neitzert