Samsung UN55C7000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV (Black)

Samsung UN55C7000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV (Black) Review

I spent a lot of time reading on-line reviews of this TV and its little brother the 46 inch model before going to a store. I was mostly interested in the downloadable apps and the picture quality. 3D wasn't a primary concern.
I was very concerned as to how glare would affect the picture as I have a south-facing wall of glass behind the viewer that is a real issue in the winter when the sun is low and we are watching football. I had a second generation plasma that was 8 years old and the glare could be enough to force us to TIVO the games and watch them at night.

Well, we bought the 55 inch model and wow, what a picture. It is significantly better than the plasma that we had before. Individual blades of grass stand out perfectly. When the screen is black, the set is a mirror and the glare is significant, but once a non-black picture comes on, the set is capable of reducing the glare to only a very minor issue. This was really beyond what we had hoped for.

We were pleased to find out that the set automatically detected DVDs in our SONY player and switched to the DVD source when one starts to play. My wife is more than a bit technophobic, so less remote fiddling is good.

The apps/widgets are very nice. You get both the Samsung apps and Yahoo apps, so there is quite a variety.

But, and I do mean a big BUT, these are not the coolest thing on the set. Samsung has included a full implementation of DLNA, I think for the first time this year. What is DLNA and what does it matter? It is a fancy set of intials (Digital Living Network Alliance, if it matters) that are a standard for devices accesing data on other computers.
In my house I have a network device that I store videos and music on for the house. I had a dedicated Media Center computer next to my TV to play movies from this and the TV was essentially a display for the computer. Now, the TV gets the files all by itself and the computer is no longer necessary. Essentially, the TV can show a movie on another computer by itself.
Other sets have been able to have PCs play the movie on them using an early version of DLNA, but now you can use your remote to play movies without messing with the computer. This may sound techy, but it is really nice and my wife loves it. Home movies and stored DVDs can be pulled up with just a couple clicks of the remote.

The DLNA was easy to set up. You can download and run a program from Samsung on a Windows machine or run any other DLNA server program on your mac, LINUX or whatever computer. Then you go to the TV and it automatically finds the computer(s) and shows the files. I have a Netgear NAS and it had its own DLNA program that worked first try.

All in all, this is as good of a TV as I could have hoped for.

Samsung UN55C7000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV (Black) Feature

• Mega Dynamic Contrast
• 4 HDMI (ver 1.4), HDMI-CEC
• Component & PC input
• 2 ConnectShare Movie
• BD Wise

Samsung UN55C7000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV (Black) Overview

Samsung LED HDTVs combine breakthrough picture quality and advanced connectivity options that will keep you entertained 24/7. This UN55C7000 LED HDTV also makes it easy to be green, and will save you some green, by being ENERGY STAR compliant.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 26, 2010 09:58:43