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Samsung LN55A950D1F 55-inch LED-backlight LCD A950 HDTV Review
Samsung LN55A950D1F 55-inch LED-backlight LCD A950 HDTV Review - PCSTATS
Samsung's new A950 series of LCD HDTVs has been designed to be the next step in image fidelity for liquid crystal display technology. These home theatre HD TVs use Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) that can selectively illuminate sections of the screen at a time.
 90% Rating:   
Filed under: Home Theatre Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Samsung Sep 22 2009   Max Page  
Home > Reviews > Home Theatre > Samsung LN55A850D1F

Media Inputs and Outputs

The Samsung LN55A950 has got a lot of connections, analog and digital. The inputs are grouped at the back and along one side of the screen where they are easy to reach, although the lack of swiveling stand makes getting to the rear inputs more difficult than it should be.

HDTVs are the hub for peripherals like Bu-ray players, VHS decks, digital cameras/camcorders, game consoles and occasionally pull double duty as computer displays. The hallmark of a good HDTV is a variety of connections that will work with all of your home electronics - old and new.

Inputs on the Samsung LN55A950 55" LCD TV are numerous. You can connect a broad variety of devices (new and legacy) to the screen.

On the back we find (1) coaxial antenna connector, (3) HDMI inputs, two sets of Component Input (Y, Pb, Pr) with L/R audio input, one 15-pin Analog VGA computer monitor cable hook up and associated mini-headphone jack for audio from a PC. There is but one S-video input, which you may as well avoid because s-video has horrible video quality. Finally, we find an additional L/R coaxial audio input associated with one of the HDMI inputs.

Outputs include one optical SP/DIF and one pair of RCA audio outputs. The RJ45 Ethernet LAN port is used to connect the 950-series screen for media stream (Wiselink Pro DLNA) and also to stream news stories, weather and stock information directly to the TV. Ex-link is for an optional motorized wall mount.


On the side panel we find a HDMI, USB, composite (RCA) video and L/R coaxial audio inputs and mini-headphone jack output

On the left hand side of the Samsung 950 is an auxiliary side panel full of commonly used connections. On it we find an HDMI input, a USB port that used for firmware updates or WiseLink Pro, and a legacy inputs for composite video/audio. There is a single 3.5mm stereo headphone jack for private listening.

Altogether that adds up to four HDMI inputs, two component inputs, RCA and S-Video inputs, an ATSC/VHF RF antenna, a VGA input with an additional optical input, as well as LAN and Wiselink Pro USB connections. Unfortunately the LN55A950 lacks a DVI input, which means that most PC owners will need to use either a HDMI or VGA adapter to get the signal from a DVI-based video card onto the HDTV.

Samsung Wiselink Pro and Infolink

The Wiselink content playback system remains the same from the Samsung 850-series. This firmware application has the ability to access media off a USB thumb drive and use the HDTV's built-in hardware decoder to play compressed music, photos and movie files in a number of formats. Wiselink Pro can also connect via ethernet to a media server (any PC with Samsung's PC Share Manager software) to stream content effortlessly. For more information, check out PCSTATS previous article on Wiselink Pro which includes a very handy guide to setting it up in DLNA and USB mode.

The Wiselink Pro menu can be used to access content over a USB mass storage device, like a thumb drive, or in DLNA mode using a network connection, as seen here. The three supported content modes are Photo, Music and Movie, with an additional Setup menu for configuring network and display options.

In Movie mode Wiselink Pro can play AVI, MP4, MPG and VRB/VOB files. The files are displayed as thumbnails in the main movie content menu, and can be organized by folder, title, timelines, and preference.

The Wiselink Pro Music player supports MP3 files only. Songs are automatically parsed for metatags, and can be sorted and filtered according to mood, genre, title, artist and folder. Music can be added to simple playlists for sequential playback.


The Photo menu works with JPEG files only. Photos can be zoomed and rotated using the Option menu, and supports a maximum resolution of 15360x8640. Like the other menus, photos can be filtered by title, folder, date, orientation and colour composition.

PCSTATS' opinion of Wiselink Pro remains positive. The content playback system manages to recreate a lot of the functionality of a home theatre PC, although it lacks some critical file format compatibility for movie playback, and its limited ability to track and skip through movies keeps it being a true replacement for an HTPC. As a built-in feature though, it offers tremendous versatility to the Samsung LN55A950 LCD HDTV.

Infolink and the Content Library

Both the Infolink and the content library remain unchanged from the Samsung 8-series of LCD televisions. The InfoLink service takes advantage of the Samsung LN55A950's ethernet port to stream news stories, stock information and weather directly to the TV.

The content library has a variety of simple applications that are built into 8GB of onboard storage on the LN55A950. These applications include a photo gallery that can show stock photography or scans of classical paintings, a small recipe book which can be useful if the HDTV is places within viewing distance of the kitchen, a couple of games, karaoke songs and storybooks for children and some exercise and massage tips. For more information you can check PCSTATS' Samsung 8-series review.

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Contents of Article: Samsung LN55A850D1F
 Pg 1.  Samsung LN55A950D1F 55-inch LED-backlight LCD A950 HDTV Review
 Pg 2.  Samsung A950 External Design
 Pg 3.  — Media Inputs and Outputs
 Pg 4.  Viewing and Listening Experience
 Pg 5.  Comparing LED and CCFL Backlights Continued

 
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