Samsung - 26" 720p Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD HDTV

This was the first LCD TV that i had ever purchased. Actually my parents bought me the 22'' LG on Black Friday but I saved up the rest of my Christmas money to upgrade to a bigger size. It all boiled down, especially when I saw the Westinghouse that was a 32'' for only $499. I also compared this model to a comparable 26'' from Sony which was very similar in price. However, I read the reviews and did a little research and discovered that it would be a much better TV (referring to the Samsung). I can honestly say that I have never been happier! Since I am a college student, I was unsure if the 26'' would be a large enough size for my bedroom in my apartment and it looks and fits great! From setup, which took roughly 15 minutes, it actually picked up a few HD channels that were being broadcast over the air, which was a major plus for me, since I haven't been able to order the HD programming from Comcast yet since I am not yet back at school. But the HD channels were extremely clear and the regular channels were okay. They can be fixed quite a bit if you tweak the settings a little though, so they weren't so bad, especially if you are further away from the LCD. The sound on this LCD was also very good, which did take me by surprise speaking since most LCD's have horrible sound. The TrueSurround does actually work (not a gimmick like it seems). I plugged my Xbox 360 into it through the HD VGA adapter that I have and it looks so good! The colors are great, not overly saturated like I have seen on many LCD's, but not washed out either. I popped in Kill Bill to see how it would stand up with a lot of the major issues that seem to plague many LCD's. There was very little blur on the action scenes, the sound was astounding, the shadows had great detail; overall, it was very pleasing. Even on a regular DVD as it was! As I also stated, there is a delay when you turn on the TV (about 10 seconds) but it really not that troublesome, it takes some getting used to but, its really not anything that should stray someone away. All in all, this was a great buy in my opinion, and I would definately recommend this LCD to anyone looking in this range!

I had bought a 20 inch LCD TV from Best Buy about 5 years ago when they were expensive. The TV served its purpose and it was time for an upgrade. I have seen Samsung TVs at many stores and was always impressed by the picture quality. I was comtemplating between a Sony and a Samsung and had talked with my nephew who installs home theatre systems for a living. He said Samsung was superior all the way down to the electronic components. I bought this TV and did not have HD at the time and the picture was awesome. I soon upgraded my satellite service to HD and I was amazed with the difference. The colors are vivid and alive and the sound is second to none. Even without the home theatre system on the surround sound is great. This is a perfect TV for my bedroom and I really enjoy it. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great TV at a great price.

The picture is beautiful. The set-up is complicated. First the channel search is very slow and long lasting with these new LCD and plasma TVs in general. With this one it took almost 45 minutes. After the search was completed, I still couldn't get a picture. There was a message about not being able to get the signal. There is nothing in the voluminous instruction manual about this situation. I had to call the customer service help line to find out what to do. For some reason with this Samsung, after the channel search, a descrambling process is required. This took about 30 minutes. Also, there was a complication in my use of the DVD player with this TV. I have to first input the DVD mode BEFORE turning my DVD player on. Nowhere in the instructions are these quirks explained. Also, for whatever reason, Samsung has decided to name the "input" button as the "source" button. Why this now? Furthermore the instructions aren't as clear about this. There is some vague wording that describes the function of the "source" button. Instead of a paragraph like, "How to use a DVD player with this TV, " the manual was written in such vague technical terms so as to leave the reader uncertain. The instruction manual is thick, but only because there are instructions in several languages. So far all other viewing aspects of this TV have been good. I think that Samsung should try to simplify the set up procedures, and write a clear manual using terms that non-technical customers will more readily understand. Also, HDTV has added some complications to TV use. There are a lot of decimal fraction split off channels from the regular analog channel that makes for slow going when channel surfing.

Ok, so it's not a 42" plasma. Although if your intentions are to use this TV for a guest room, your PC or for gaming, it's a great buy. You do not under any circumstances want to use this unit as your main (everyone gather around and eat popcorn) tv. Use the extra money you'll be getting this holiday season from the folks and purchase a 1080 from Sony, LG or Samsung. So you'll be spending an extra $300 but trust me it's worth it and ALWAYS purchase the extended warantee with LCD's. If you watch this TV using HD you will be amazed at the sharpness of the picture. Non HD channels look terrible but then again I'm very picky when it comes to picture quality. The sound quality is great and the setup was a snap. Unfortunately my HDMI ports which if using give an even clearer picture are not working but a technician is on his way. I'm also using this Samsung as my PC monitor. I just love having a 26" screen for that...the picture quality is great and the text is very easy to read..no blurriness at all. In conclusion (hehe) I would recommend this LCD if you have a ton of HD channels to watch. My cable service only offers about 15 at this time which stinks but will get better by the new year. If you have patience they are passing a law by the year 2009 when all channels will support HD. (High Definition). Have a great new year!!!

My wife and I have two Samsung TV's. One plasma TV in our den and this TV in the bedroom. The picture quality for this TV is very solid, close to the quality of the plasma which we paid a lot more for. Must have the HDMI cables and if possible the Gold cables for hooking up to DVD/VCR player. The TruSound feature on the TV makes the audio outstanding! The quality of the picture is good, but not excellent. As a primary TV, the 720p is great for DVD's, but live broadcasts are slightly better than ordinary SDTV/DTV. Now, with the HD boxes that come with cable/sat...it is a different game! The picture and sound come alive. Try watching your favorite show on an HD channel, nothing like it! On Samsung TV's, the major concern are navigating the menu. You see five basic choices such as picture, source, audio, signal, etc. But in each choice they are several menus to figure how to set. If you get the professional installers to set up this TV, ask lots of questions! This TV can be setup to produce solid picture if you have the right accessories hooked up(see above) and if you can customize the TV. I recommend this TV as a great second TV in the house, but as a primary TV look for higher resolution.

This Samsung LNT2642H is without question the best 26" widescreen flat-panel LCD HDTV. Now product info say 720p but this TV go up to a 1080i which is awesome for this size of a 26" HDTV. Because if you have a Playstation 3 or an Xbox 360 Elite with the HMDI connection and put these systems on the 1080i format watch out here because the picture quality is awesome. Let say you want to watch a rented movie from the Xbox 360 marketplace you can watch it on the high-definition mode or the standard mode you are in for a shock of you life with the picture detail, & the now the best part on your Playstation 3 Blu-Ray & your Xbox 360 HD-DVD the picture is amazing!!!! Ok if you are one of the early Xbox 360 owner with the Component Video Input like me, it still give you the same awesome picture from this 26" LCD HDTV. Also this HDTV has a PC Input to let you connect your computer to experience high-resolution too.

Bought this a week ago (after finding out the only 32" one left was a display!) and love it! I went through set up and flipped through channels to get picture color set up, and found I had a football game on in HD. I was shocked at how real it looked. The sounds produced were amazing! I got every little bit of action out of the game. Picture quality takes some time to set up, but once its set WOW! The start up "chime" makes me laugh, since it sounds like a video game (I know I can turn it off, but I like it). It does have a delay when you turn it on, not sure if something has to power up first, but other LCD's I have used start right up. It isnt much of a complaint or anything, but some people may get bothered by it thinking its not turned on. I will be testing the xbox on it and try out the pc input, but I dont think I will have any complaints.

This product was a great purchase that I made. I bought it at a Best Buy store in Long Island City where the staff was also very helpful. I originally had purchased a LG tv but returned it because I was not happy with it. I was very happy to find this Samsung, which was sleek, sexy, provides GREAT sound, great picture, vivid colors and the HD is incredible. If you are looking for a TV in this price range or size range, buy this one, no doubt. The sound is great and having the speakers on both sides helps balance the sound. This tv has a component output and two other inputs for gaming. The gaming is incredible and especially brings out the colors of this tv. The tv is very user friendly and easy to adjust in terms of settings. A great product. Thank you Samsung and Best Buy.