First off, this is in my opinion the best TV you can buy for the money right now if you want to access Netflix and other streaming services while enjoying superb picture quality. Unlike other people that have stated that SmartTV needs a LOT of improvement, I was quite impressed with the ease of use as well as functionality of this feature. If you have a slow wireless network, do not blame the TV for not being able to deliever. I have a Lynkisys N router and Comcast as my internet service provider. There are 3 computers using this router (1 hard-wired), Xbox360 (hard-wired), printer, Vonage telephone, Blu-Ray player, Kindle Fire HD, iPod, and and iPhone and now this TV. I have yet to encounter any buffering or low resolution issues using Netflix through SmartTV app. All of the shows load up promptly and the app is yet to crash.
SmartTV feature therefore gets a 10/10 in my book. Granted, entering info to search for something is somewhat annoying, but the shows you watch show up on the front page, so you do not have to look for them each time you log in. Same goes for the login info, once it is entered, it is there for good (until you reset the TV). Amazon Instant Video worked well, but I did have it hang up twice; however, I had Instant Video hang up on my laptop numerous times during the playback, so it is not the TV's fault.
Picture quality is a 10/10. You can tweak all sorts of settings to get the picture the way you like it. For me, only minor adjustments had to be made, one of them being turning off the MotionPlus feature. Setting it to "Clear" seemed to do the same as turning it off. The contrast ratio on this TV is outstanding black colors are black and white colors are vivid and bright.
So, you might ask why I gave this TV only 4 stars. Well, after about 2 days of use, the TV developed "clouds" or other known as backlight bleeding. I can see about 7 of these clouds whenever a dark scene is unfolding or whenever there is a pause in a TV show where there was supposed to be a commercial break. The weird thing about these "clouds" is that they are not present when TV is just powered on. It takes about 15-20 minuters for these "clouds" to develop. They also go away once the TV is turned off for about 20 minutes and turned back on, but they do come back again. My guess is that this issue somehow relates to temperature of the TV or the screen. This is not a minor backlight bleeding you might experience with non-plasma TVs and is easily visible with even well lit room. (See product pictures)
I have contacted Samsung and they will be sending a tech to my home to look into this issue. If all fails, I am still in the return window with Amazon. So the review score will go up or down depending on whether or not this issue will get fixed.
Other than that, a capable SmartTV with outstanding picture quality under $1,000 is a no brainer buy it, you will love it. Just be aware of the issues that may come up. So far, Samsung has been easy to deal with. Will update as this progresses.
UPDATE: Samsung had a tech call me to get a better idea of the defect. After talking to him and the tech trying really hard to pitch me the idea that the defect is nothing but a software glitch, I knew where this was going. He talked to Samsung "engineering" team and after looking at the pictures I've provided them said that the TV is within specs and that the pictures are subpar at best. They also advised me to take more pictures of live scenes with the room lit up. Now, why would they want me to do that? Simple, my camera would not be able to catch the backlight bleed and thus confirming again that the TV is running "within the specs". Amazon is great on the other hand, processed my request for the exchange promptly and the new TV should be arriving by the end of the week. Always be prepared to deal with issues like this. I would suggest registering on video or TV forums and asking around. I was disappointed with Samsung with the way they deal with these issues.
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