My wife and I spent a lot of time checking out reviews on the web, as well as viewing many different models & makes of HDTV's before finally deciding on the Samsunt LN37A550. Right from first view my wife fell in love with the picture: to her it just seemed brighter and clearer than all the rest. After much comparison to the competition I would have to say I agree with her. The picture is very bright and clear.

As far as 1080p vs. 720p some are of the opinion that you can't tell the difference with this screen size. I personally COULD tell the difference: even if it is primarily at close range. Well, every little bit helps so 1080p was the way to go for me, but is Samsung really any better than the rest?

Perhaps not better than some, exactly, but it had the right combination of picture quality, features, and price that seemed to set it apart. I initially bought a Sony (can I mention other brands?) M-series because I was able to get over $450 dollars off the store's regular price. Not a bad deal by any stretch of the imagination, but when I got it home I hated it and had to return it. Its SD performance was execrable, there was just no other word for it (all right, maybe "wretched" could be used as well): Very noisy and highly posterized (a slight level of these attributes was even visible from some HD sources). Of course, many reviews say that ALL HDTVs have poor SD quality, but the Samsung is actually very good in this respect. And since my cable company's HD offerings are a bit light right now, this was important to me. Of course, you can't squeeze blood from a turnip, and there is no mistaking SD for HD, but it is still eminently watchable on the Samsung.

A couple of other pros that I appreciate on this unit are: loads of picture setting options (but to me the picture is great even right out of the box), a USB input for viewing pics from my digital camera and/or listening to mp3s (but why would you want to with that lousy sound? - more on this in a moment), and 3 (count-em) HDMI ports, one conveniently side-mounted for easy access, which in concert with the swivel base makes quick work of plugging in my HD camcorder.

So have we stumbled upon HDTV Nirvana here? Not exactly. As many have pointed out, the sound quality is somewhat sub-par, and even serious tweaking of the equalizer settings can't improve it to any great degree when using the built-in speakers. Not a deal-breaker for me, I could always listen through a stereo if I want to. A nitpicky little annoyance is the glossy base, which attracts (and shows) dust like nobody's business: we'll live with it. The important stuff is well-implemented as far as I am concerned. Unless you have a very low tolerance for anything less than super-high fidelity sound, I can't imagine you'll be disappointed with this unit.
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