I received this item as an early Christmas gift in Nov '08, and am extremely happy with it. The picture quality is excellent, buch better than my previous HD TV from TSHBA that was not 1080p. The viewing angle is excellent, the blacks are very black, and the brights are very bright. There is no banding, blooming, distortion, or pixallated edges. Samsung makes a high quality product that is frequently better than many of the higher priced products from their competitors.

I've seen a few reviewers complaining about a few things, here is my input on their issues as someone who is not only an A/V enthusiast for over 20 years, but also an IT technician:

Check for firmware updates, my S@NY BDP-350 Blu-Ray player (purchased in Dec) has had 3 Firmware updates for it so far. One of them solved an HDMI issue.

As with anything else in this world, it is possible to get a bad unit & this is true of ALL manufacturers (even S@NY). Electronics today are all produced by the lowest bidder. You can buy a TV today, and 3 months later I can buy the exact same model, and if we compare the internal parts, there will be differences... whatever chips were cheapest when they placed the parts order are what go into your set, and it is assembled in a factory by human beings being paid peanuts.

Picture quality: The source makes a huge difference. I switched from Cablevision to FiOs & the difference in picture quality is stunning (on both the standard & HD channels). I have not run satellite, so cannot comment on the quality of that source.

Audio quality: For the life of me, I can't determine why someone would be using the internal speakers on this TV. Why you would have an almost 40" TV and not run it through an audio system is beyond me...

Picture blacking out: This has A LOT to do with the HDMI outputs on the cheaply made set-top boxes that are used to receive Satellite/Cable/FiOs. They ALL have HDMI issues, and the issues will cause problems whether the box is turned on or off. Complain to you service provider, not Samsung. If you want to test this, unplug the HDMI running from your box to the TV & run component video at 720p instead (there will not be a discernable difference in picture quality on a TV of this size when running broadcast content). Then power off both the box & TV, and UNPLUG THEM FROM THE WALL as well, as todays equipment will never truly 'power off' (or else your remote couldn't turn it on). Wait 2-3 minutes, then plug the power back in. If your issues go away, then you can be 100% sure it is the set-top box & not your TV causing your woes.

AnyNet+ issues: These are software issues, and HDMI issues. Most likely, the culprit is one of your other devices and not the TV. Check for firmware. Get more detail about Samsung LN37A550 37-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV.