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Throw in the excellent picture, and I'm on cloud nine. 1.9" at it's thickest point. After one day of enjoying it, I say that while I'm impressed with the clarity of the 120Hz feature, my wife and I keep the setting set to "low", which introduces a higher framerate, but not so high as to be actively distracting.
This makes wall mounting especially attractive. For us, the "camcorder-like" feeling of the full 120Hz is best for sports, as opposed to movies/tv.Bottom line: The Samsung LCD's are amazing to begin with, and the "8" series, given it's thin frame, adds some extra style. My wife and I bought this bad boy last week from Amazon, and it arrived in 4 days flat with their great delivery service.
The 850 is special because it's super thin. We decided to hang it up on our masonry fireplace. We chose a Sanus tilting mount for the job, which was surprisingly easy to attach to the masonry.
Keep that in mind when your comparing this model to all the others, including the 9 (950/960) series which has a superior LED lighting engine, but is considerably thicker than the 8 (850/860).
When TV turned on, remote stops working. New LN46A850 creates conflict with remote to cable receiver. No fix to be found.
Of course you can put your movies on a thumb drive just get an 8 gig for the movie files. What sets this set apart from many others is the USB input. I previously had a 30 in tube HDTV. This TV does it all and with style. I've put my pictures on a thumb drive, plugged it in and wow.
My pictures have never looked better and I'll never look at a 4x6 print again.I have yet to hook up my PC to the TV through the wiselink, but that's next where I'll be able to browse and play all of my movie files. I have my basic cable running through the S Video input since I don't have any HDMI outputs from my cable box. I just got this TV set up and going last weekend and after tweaking all of the settings, this is truly the best TV I've ever owned. HD is awesome and standard definition is excellent. The screen is very good at holding down room reflections and I am not bothered by the reflective trim.
The 850 equals all the best qualities of the CRT and has dozens of tweaks to zero in on the best picture for each type of input.I'm getting my HD signal over the air with a UHF antenna. This is a great LCD and only a plasma or LED model at twice the price would beat it.
I have an expensive MONSTER cord attached to the cable box - the picture is so detail but makes me crazy - feels like 3d with no glasses. I didn't like that because it should have been free - for the price I paid on the TV. It was the best choice for me. The TV is huge - size is incredible and I can see features on people I didn't want to see. Anyway, when my TV was delivered they bought in the 550 and didn't even realize it; I had to point it out to the guy and he had to run and get me my LN46A850 TV. I had two major issues, first the price and then the size. I waited until it was the price I wanted - $2299 (on sale).
I taught it would be heavier but it's not. It's beautiful. I went to Union Square 14th (NY); the service was about the same. I would definitely recommend this TV to everyone. I LOVE IT. Sound is great. I finally purchased the Samsung LN46A850 after a year plus of research and searching. The next step was deciding between the Samsung 6 and 7 series.
I didn't want to spend more than $3K and I needed something that could fit on my old stand. Next, I went to the 5th avenue store (NY) but the service was awful or should I say there was no service. It's very thin and slender, with a gorgeous red haze around the border. However, I decided to ignore the customer service and get my TV. I love the swivel stand so I can turn my TV to get behind it or to the side panel. I decided to wait because I just wasn't ready and the price was not worth the size & features.
It has some games on it but they are not complete. You can watch your favorite shows in different modes - cinema, sport, regular etc. The border is narrow so the red haze doesn't show that much. I decided to get it at Circuit City since I was uncomfortable getting my TV sent via "white glove" delivery and it wasn't a store I could visit if I had a problem. They suggest you go online to get the full game however you have to pay.
Some features I like are the swivel stand, the headphone, subwoofer/ 10w speakers, the 4hdmi port, slim 1.9" depth and thin LCD with build-in-tuner, auto motion plus 120hz, ultra clear panel, 4ms response time, many plug in components etc., mpeg & jpeg files access and mp3 player on the TV. There are so many features on this TV; I suggest reading about it and then comparing it if you are not sure. I visited the Circuit City store next to my house (Brooklyn/junction) but it was a new store and they didn't have it. When series 8 came out I jumped to see it; it had all the features I wanted, updated plus the swivel stand. If you call Samsung to ask - they don't know). However, he did give me a 10% discount on the accessories he advised to buy. I'm also partial to the color around the bezel. There are tons of playable options to get the picture the way you want it.
He tried to complacent me and said he would deduct the $20 from the price of the TV - he did not. For the details on the TV check http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do.group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype=lcdtv&model_cd=LN46A850S1FXZA or PDF format http://www.samsung.com/us/system/consumer/product/2008/07/22/ln46a850s1fxza/ln46a850_spec.pdf.I cannot find an official review on this TV yet - CNET & ZDNET have reviewed the 56" so I guess it could be the same. When I told him I didn't need it, he told me it was the only service offered by the store. Now I have my TV on my old stand; it fits. I still can't get internet service on it or watch my DVD - that's because I have not connected the rest of the cords; will do so soon.
I had narrowed the search at first between a Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Vizio and Panasonic. After haggling with the salesman to make sure I got my TV at the online price, he suggested I get some pricey accessories and hook me into paying the hefty $79.99 delivery charge. I decided to go with Samsung because of the structure of the TV, the features offered and the research (it relate that it was a top of the line brand). The manager and salesman there are not reliable and they tried to pressure me into getting things I didn't need. At first I was interested in a 40" which was cheaper and then the 46" that was featured more in the store.
They both had features I liked; series 7 has almost the same features as series 8 (I note that series 7 does not have a swivel stand. I'm giving it a 4 1/2 because I'm still playing with the features.
Since the power cord and patch cords project out the back, I tried to accomodate that by using a recessed AV mounting plate. Position carefully a recessed AV plate (I just couldn't leave an open hole behind the sets for the cords). In the end, I was able to get the TV to sit just 1" from the wall. Watch the location of your studs, since the mounting plate and the AV panel will, most likely, span several studs. Routing 2 HMDI, component, SVHS, and audio cords behind the set was also a challenge. For those who are wanting to take this on, get the shortest AV cables you can find, and ones with the least amount of meat near the jack so that the cords bend freely (the more you pay, the more room the cable requires). Perhaps most people will use the included stand, and set it on top of a console that is 18"-20" deep, so the thinness is more wow factor (the 950 LED is actually thicker).
I had some challenges.There are wall mount brackets that are 1/2" thick (they don't provide tilting adjustment). But when wall mounting, chosen to balance the height between seated and standing (centerline above floor 55"), thin was an important factor in my install. The side of the TV will be visible in the normal traffic flow through the house, so I wanted to get this mounted as cleanly and closely as possible so it wasn't going to shout "I have a wall HDTV" the second someone walked in the house. Patch cords with 90 degree cords would have been great, but I couldn't find them.The end result is the face of the bezel is a respectable 2.9" from the wall, about the same depth as a quality picture frame.
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