Whoah, I really did my research on this one (I always do when I make huge investments into things that I plan on owning for a long time) and I am not disappointed!!! For those that don't know, LED TVs are arguably considered the best class of HDTVs (including LCD and plasma along with all of their variants) and this particular model I feel is really the best in its class (considering all things: quality of picture, pricing, features, and, in my humble opinion, size I really didn't need anything larger than about 40-something inches for my purposes).
I'm going to go on a small side note: Some will argue that plasma has the best picture. However, LEDs have better picture at identical resolutions. I checked this model out on the floor at Best Buy along with two other (42") TVs that I was comparing, an LG LCD and a Panasonic plasma. The sales associate swore by plasma and couldn't even tell the obvious difference in contrast between the 42" and this model (the LED one was obviously better). I'm not going to patronize you on the pros and cons of each class of TV (although I could) but, all things considered, LED really is the best overall. Do your homework if you haven't.
Anyways, I noticed that some people whined about: 1) the sound, 2) the remote, 3) screen glare, 4) light leakage, or 5) whatever dud/lemon of a TV they got. I'm going to address these points with rebuttals in the following bullet points:
-1) In truth the sound is very decent (you're buying a stand-alone HDTV, what did you expect?) and most people may want to purchase a sound bar/system down the road. Plus there are multiple sound options that enhance and isolate individual parts of the sound that matter to you ("Clear Voice" is a good one sometimes).
-2) Hey, it's a REMOTE! Come on, people! Seriously though, the remote is intuitive enough and has some cool features (the menus are very simple and a joy to navigate once you get the hang of everything), like button back-lighting that you can toggle on and off with one glow-in-the-dark button. Plus the buttons have a good feel and good travel to them.
-3) Unless you keep the windows open and they're facing the TV, this is not really a huge issue at all especially when the TV is actually ON!
-4) Here's where I think that I will acknowledge some peoples' pouting and concern; on the upper and lower right and left corner portions of the screen, and even upper-center (where the light is sourced from), I did notice some faint circular light leakage/blooming spots when watching a movie at night. It is minor but they are there. However, this is only noticed when the following conditions are met: you're watching in a super widescreen letterbox-format picture, it's night-time or the house lights are off, and the movie scene is a really dark one. I'm not certain if this is normal of LEDs or not. Either way, it is very minor, can easily be ignored, and is definitely not worth taking my TV back for. I'm already too happy with it as you might guess.
-5) Mine arrived in perfect condition. I recommend a free trial of Amazon Prime. You can get this TV with free standard shipping rates or $4 for overnight shipping in the continental US.
-One last initial worry of mine that I wanted to insert into this review is concerning the bezel/frame style. the outer edge is surrounded with an additional clear edge that contains an even smaller and extremely subtle clear red edge. Aesthetics are an important thing for me so looking at this model in the store was a MUST. However, the red edge along with the clear edge was virtually unnoticeable in the store. When you do look closely and see it you will notice how stylish it all really is. The frame is ultra thin, black gloss, and sits on a mostly-glass base. the shaft of the base mount is clear glass so the TV kind of seems like it's floating. I think that that was what the designers were going for.
Now on to some of the features that previous reviewers didn't touch on... This TV has really got you covered. There are a multitude of sound and video options in a very intuitive menu interface. I haven't utilized any of the Internet-accessing options yet. My main plan was to hook my laptop up to the HDMI port and do a lot with that. But here is where the TV really shines for me: the HDD USB port. If you have a USB flash drive/external hard drive then you can view photos, play music, and even watch movies straight off of it. Playing movies has no slow-down whatsoever. If you somehow acquire Blu-ray disc movie rips or whatever video file type/extension you have, chances are great that it will play them all with no problem. The TV has played almost every movie file type that I've thrown at it. I love the streamlined menu within the videos. You can't ask for anything better in this aspect. And HD videos all look glorious.
Lastly, some people complain about the "soap opera" effect that HDTVs can suffer from. I believe other brands sometimes call this feature "Trumotion", but for this line of TVs Samsung refers to it as "Auto Motion Plus". Thankfully, you have the option to turn this feature off if you'd like or change it to one of five other settings.
Well, I'm not sure what else to say.. I didn't need or want a 3D TV yet... But everyone that has come over to our place sees the screen resolution and picture quality and is always immediately impressed. I highly recommend this TV to anyone. At 40 inches, do yourself a favor and get it for the picture quality and unbeatable price for an LED class TV.
EDIT: The one other draw for LED HDTVs is the extremely small off-chance for "burn in" if you view the same picture constantly without a change in picture. The manual warns something along the lines of being sure not to view the exact same picture for more than 5% of your total viewing time in any given week. Otherwise, it's a small chance (but possible) that you could get burn in on your TV.
(Update as of 6/27/11): The picture quality has always been utterly exceptional and without comparison for this TV. However, I have a very keen eye and will still at times notice the light leaking issue during EXTRA widescreen videos where the light is on the top and bottom borders and is darkest. I think that I am going to continue hanging on to this TV, however, notwithstanding this one issue although I am currently weighing the matter as it compares to the price and timing for this investment for me now. If I do contact Samsung, I would only want this same model again. Videophiles may just want to keep this light leakage issue in mind for their purchase.
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