If you are going to play something like Tekken 6 on the Xbox 360, you’re going to want the right equipment for the job. You’ll want a comfortable chair. You’ll want a good set of speakers. And you’ll want a huge honking television like the Samsung LN55B650-T1F LCD TV.
Also known a little more simply as the Samsung Series 6 650, this is a 55-inch LCD HDTV with all the usual features that you’d expect from a higher-end television. At this size, nothing short of full 1080p HD will do and that’s exactly what you get here. How does it stack up? Let’s find out.
Features at a Glance
On the surface, this Samsung HDTV looks like any number of other televisions that have come off the Samsung factory line. You get the familiar thin profile, clear glass-like stand, and Auto Motion Plus 120 Hz technology for minimal motion blur.
Running our way through the official spec sheet, we find that the 55-inch LCD Panel comes boasting a 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, DLNA technology, Anynet+ support, ENERGYSTAR compliance, 4ms response time, 178-degree viewing angles, and a pair of downward-firing 15W speakers.
I’ll get to the input and output options in just a moment, but let’s just say that you probably won’t have any trouble finding the right jack for your various equipment. Need room for a HD media device or Blu-ray player? Samsung has you covered.
To go along with the standard features, the Samsung LN55B650 also boasts the Medi@2.0 full connectivity suite, a content library with embedded entertainment, Internet@TV with widget technology, and a USB 2.0 movie player.
Not surprisingly, this Samsung HDTV features the company’s trademark “Touch of Color” design, similar to the Samsung LN52A630 that we reviewed last year. At first glance, you may think that this is a regular glossy black chassis, but closer inspection will reveal a rose red hue in the bezel. The red is really obvious when I took a picture with flash, but much more subtle under regular circumstances.
A Familiar Remote Control
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to toy around with a relatively recent Samsung HDTV, you’ll see that the remote control is pretty standard across the Series 6 lineup. It’s certainly a step up from the Series 3 TVs from Samsung.
The keys are clearly laid out with the digits near the top, volume and channel buttons below, main menu controls below that, color-coded quick access keys, and media player buttons. I did find that the response time on the remote was on the slow side, though. This was particularly pronounced when switching inputs or playing the embedded game.
On the plus side, I do appreciate the illuminated button feature. The orange on/off button near the top is not to turn the television on and off. It’s to turn on the lighting for the remote itself. You get a soft orange glow, making it easy to adjust things when you have the room dimmed for movie-watching or game-playing.
Every Port and Jack You Want
While you will certainly be using the access panel on the back of the television for most of your connections, it is nice to see a healthy assortment of ports along the right side (when facing the TV) too. This way, anything that isn’t going to be all that permanent can still get hooked up without having to rip the unit off the wall or climb in behind your entertainment center.
Along the right side, you’ll find a pair of USB ports, a single HDMI port, and a set of inputs for RCA audio and composite video. There’s no component access here, but the three other options are more than enough for most temporary connections. The USB port is particularly handy, because this is where you’d insert USB flash drive for the integrated media player function.
Moseying around to the rear, you’ll find that the panel with all the ports is actually located off to the side rather than smack in the middle. It’s on the left side (when facing the back of the TV), so it’s not that far away from the side access panel.
Once again, you get a reasonably healthy complement of ports and jacks. Along the top are three HDMI ports (in addition to the one on the side), the PC input (VGA) with a stereo mini jack for audio, and a digital (optical) audio out. One of the HDMI ports can be used for DVI instead, but you’ll need to provide your own adapter.
Moving our way down, you get two component video inputs (one of which can be used for composite), stereo audio-in and out ports, the antenna port for your cable TV, and the LAN port off to the side for network functions. All in all, I don’t have any complaints regarding connectivity.
Video Quality from Different Sources
As you can probably suspect, the video quality that you are able to extract from a television is dependent on many more factors than just the television itself. What’s the quality of the source material? What kind of device are you using? What kind of cable are you using? The list goes on and on.
To give the Samsung LN55B650T1F a proper run for its money, I tried a myriad of different devices. Watching cable TV straight out of the wall was acceptable, I suppose, but I’m sure you can figure that the 480i resolution stretched over a 55-inch canvas leaves a lot to be desired.
Using the Asus O! Play HD Media Player with an HDMI cable was a vast improvement, of course. The colors were rich and vibrant and I was very happy with the viewing angles as well. The dynamic contrast was well within the acceptable range, though the blacks weren’t quite as dark as I would have hoped.
No Noticeable Motion Blur in Gaming?
If you were to ask someone a few years ago, they would tell you that LCD HDTVs suffered from motion blur and that you could really only overcome this by going with plasma instead. The gap between the two has been greatly reduced and Samsung takes it half a notch further with 120Hz Auto Motion Plus. This “intelligently estimates the action, then creates and inserts an extra frame between frames to create a much shaper viewing experience.” To put this to the test, I tried my hand a few video games on my Xbox 360. I played NHL 10, Tekken 6, and Guitar Hero World Tour.
In terms of the action on the screen, I found the movement to be fluid and with no real noticeable motion blur. I did encounter an issue with Guitar Hero, though, when the vocal track started to get “chopped up.” I can’t say for certain whether this is a product of the TV, but I did not have this problem with my smaller 32-inch Samsung Series 3 LCD.
The Built-In USB HD Media Player
An interesting feature that seems to be making its way onto several HDTVs today is the inclusion of a built-in media player. This is meant to give you the ability to play videos, listen to music, and see photos that you have stored on a USB flash drive or an external hard drive. Ideally, this would mean that you don’t have to invest in something like the Seagate FreeAgent Theater or Apple TV for this purpose.
The Samsung Series 6 650 LCD HDTV comes with this exact functionality. As soon as you plug a drive into the previously mentioned USB port on the side, a dialog box pops up asking if you’d like to enter media player mode. After choosing the type of content you’d like to enjoy, you are taken to a file selection screen.
If you’re navigating through content that you have procured through the Internet, the “Basic View” is the easiest way to get through your folders. If you are looking at pictures and videos that you shot with your own camera, the timeline can be useful, since it sorts your digital memories chronologically. The user interface is reasonably attractive and easy to understand.
And that is how the media player is supposed to work. In theory. Unfortunately, in reality, the file format support is nowhere near where it should be. Several of the files that I had no trouble playing on something like the Western Digital WDTV failed to read on this integrated player. Sticking to the most vanilla of codecs will leave you with decent support, but extend anywhere beyond this and you’ll be left with a message telling you that you have “not supported video data.”
Extending this expanded functionality further, you can try your hand at some rudimentary “Content Library” features like a cheesy match-three casual game. With an Ethernet connection, you can take advantage of some online services too, like YouTube and Flickr.
Closing Thoughts
Priced at about $2500, the Samsung LN55B650 probably isn’t going to be the cheapest thing you’ll buy this year, but you are getting quite a bit for this price. There’s nothing quite like catching Monday Night Football in glorious HD on a massive 55-inch TV. The 120Hz Auto Motion Plus will ensure that you see no blur as Adrian Peterson busts through another tackle on his way to the end zone.
I was quite pleased with the vibrant screen image and the inclusion of an integrated media player, though it’s a shame that the file support isn’t up to snuff. The online capabilities are a nice addition too, opening up some alternative entertainment options. The execution isn’t quite there, but it’s nice to have.
Overall, the Samsung LN55B650 seriously delivers the picture quality that you desire, while tossing in a few extras that you may not find elsewhere at this price point.
Pros
- Great picture quality all around
- Integrated USB-based media player
- Four HDMI inputs in total
- 120Hz Auto Motion Plus
- Stunning design complements any home decor
Cons
- Sound quality could be better
- Media player file format support needs improvement
- Content Library functions feel tacked on
- Picture-in-Picture needs work
Overall Rating: 8.0/10.0
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Samsung LN55B650T1F 55-Inch LCD HDTV Photo Gallery
