Okay, so I bit on the Best Buy Samsung UN55EH6001 they had for $799. Seems like a great TV, my wife says the movies look fantastic (she's more of a I don't care it's HD type of person so...) but it just seems off.

Now I'm not that big into HD and all that as far as being a "must have best possible picture" fanboy or whatnot. If I was, I'd buy a more expensive TV obviously.

I just want the best bang for my buck.

A search of the TV at various forums reveals that it's not the greatest because of the panel (apparently I have a China panel, not sure if that makes a difference) and the fact it was a scaled down Black Friday version. That and CNET gave it a 3 out of 5 stars review, calling it a TV with a mediocre picture.

It's not a Smart TV which isn't that big a deal considering that stuff is on PS3/Xbox and some Blu-Ray players anyway. No Wi-Fi, no 3D, and only 2 HDMI ports.

Now I can go and return it and pay an extra $150 for the 6030 which has 3D and supposedly a better screen, but not sure if it's worth it. I feel like 3D is cool but gimmicky, and I only own maybe five 3D movies (Avengers, Lion King, Tangled, Christmas Carol, and Nightmare Before Christmas) so it seems it might be a waste.

My question is should I get the upgraded Samsung? Should I get another TV similarly priced? Should I suck it up and stick with this one?

if you and your wife are not that big into HD and you seem kinda meh about it all, why not just stick with it and don't go through the hassle?

sounds like you have a very good tv with good picture and you don't need all the bells and whistles. if it were me, since i am into the whole HD thing and like to have most bang i would go for best out there, whether it be a Sony something or other great tv (i don't mind paying more for best), but you sound like if you stick with it you won't notice the lack of and be very happy ultimately.

No, I love HD to the point where watching standard definition makes my head hurt

Is Sony the best there is?

I'm definitely not needing the best out there, just not wanting to think "hey, for that $800-$900 you spent, you could have got this Vizio or this Sharp that is so much better" or whatever.

For future reference though, where does one go to find settings to calibrate a TV?

Oh and I'm assuming LED is better than plasma? I hated the way plasma screens reflected light, and I heard they kick up a lot of heat, and it's already 100 degrees here every summer outside, I don't want it to be hot inside

That, and I heard they have to be moved a certain way and video games can cause burn in easily.

No, Sony isnt the best.

I personally would not buy an LED. Love my plasma. Dealing with light from outside can be an issue. I find that the heat given off by them is not an issue, even during hot summers.

My sister has a Panny plasma and has played many hours of Call of Duty. I've inspected her set and there isn't any burn-in present. Image retention is an issue on mine (2010 Panasonic plasma), but it does go away. I had the CNN logo retained for a little while, but it wasn't noticeable while watching programming. I had to turn off the input to see it. It has since gone away. Many people use the terms burn-in and retention interchangeably.

I'm pretty sure most manufacturers have burn-in and retention countermeasures built into their sets. Panasonic does, but it doesn't work in 1x1 pixel mapping mode.

If light will be hitting the set often, then, unfortunately, plasma probably won't work for you.

Yeah that was my main concern with plasma. I think I'd see light reflecting constantly on it.

- Since the UN55EH6001 is a 120Hz set, find the option to turn off "frame creation" or whatever Samsung calls that mode. It's evil and worthless.
- Turn off any Digital Noise Reduction (ie: DNR) option as well.
- download the AVS HD 709 calibration disc. You can burn it to a DVD formatted to appear as a Blu-ray (assuming you have a Blu-ray player...) Watch the "how to" video on there then go through the basic calibration options (Brightness, Contrast, etc.). Make sure you do it during "normal" viewing conditions. I suggest doing a "daytime" calibration and a "night time" calibration, but only if you don't think it looks right in both conditions.
- If you have a Blu-ray player, see if it can be set to 24Hz mode. That'll exhibit the best results on a 120Hz TV.

Are you, by chance, a Best Buy RewardZone Premier Silver member? If so, Best Buy will do an ISF calibration in your home once a year on your TV for free.

Yes, frame interpolation should be turned off. When I was walking the dog a few weeks ago, I noticed someone watching a movie on a set with frame interpolation enabled. I sighed heavily.
Good suggestions.

I'll look into that. Thanks.

No, I usually buy at Amazon but I think I'll start buying at Best Buy.

I don't recall seeing that option. Where is it in the menu?

Samsung calls it 'auto motion plus' - which you want to set to OFF - usually can be accessed in the picture settings of the menu.

Yeah I'm pretty sure mine has always been off.

Don't be so sure. TV manufacturer's are absolutly in LOVE with this stupid feature so they usually ship with it on. Then you have to manually turn it off for every input. That might be a big reason you said the set seems 'off' in your original post.

I've seen some calibration posts on many different forums. It seems everyone has a different idea what looks the best

I used professional calibrator D-Nice's settings (Google 'em) with color slides running for 120 hours when I first got my Panasonic 3-D ST30 65" this spring, and it looks eye-poppingly good. All of those pre-set factory options are horrible and should be turned off.

You've obviously done your research for this, so my advice is this. Disregard every review you've read for this TV. Now ask yourself, do you like the tv (the picture, the features, the way it's set up in your home)? If yes, keep it. If no, return it. I sold A/V for 5 years, and one of the hardest things for people to understand is that when they get the TV home, it's not going to be sitting next to five other sets for you to analyze and scrutinize to see which one looks the best.

If you do decide to keep it, there are some great suggestions in this thread as far as calibration and settings. I'm not sure if you've ventured over to AVSForum.com, but there's usually a thread for tv models which will contain settings for proper calibration.