[cynical2]

Sonnie wrote:

First observations...

Absolutely no problems with ambient lighting or even bright lighting for that matter, at least not for me. One thing I like is our old Toshy reflected light off the screen, the Sammy does not.

Off axis viewing at 45 degrees is fine... but any more than that I start to see issues. The edge seat on our couch/sofa is probably at 35 degrees and I wouldn't want to sit there for a movie. It's not unbearable, but about half the screen starts to dim.

Out of the box it was set on Dynamic, which while the wife seems to like it, is a bit much. Things are just way over exaggerated. I set it to Movie and Warm1 and all seems fairly well. I personally don't think it needs any color calibration, but I plan to check it as soon as I get a chance to connect a DVD player. Right now all of my observations are with Dish Networks SD and HD content.

I will say there appears to be some improvement on SD, but it is still what I consider lacking. SD on satellite has never looked that good to me. Some channels are better than others, but on a big screen, the flaws are more evident.

HD looks stunning in most instances. There is much more depth and clarity to the image on the Sammy over the old Toshy. Football games are awesome... even more 3-D like.

Blacks look fine to me, but I may not know what I'm looking at. They don't look washed out to me and shadow detail appears good.

On some HD programs I notice some fuzziness or graininess or something... I'm not really sure exactly what it would be called. It is not noticeable all the time, but occasionally it looks like a fuzzy or grainy motion outline around objects... the smaller the object the worse it appears. It's not what I call ghosting. I don't recall seeing this on the Toshy. The contrast may be set too high... maybe AVIA will tell me more on this.

The sound is horrible... about the worst I've experienced in a display. The Toshy is much better. I did just order a cheap receiver and speaker system, so hopefully that will no longer be an issue pretty soon.

This is definitely an improvement over the Toshy, but not what I would call leaps better... at least not yet. Some minor calibration may take it there. It takes up a whole lot less room, which is nice.

Sonnie, thanks for your first impressions. I look forward to hearing an update as you "break it in".

Jim