I’m going to start a series where I review a consumer product from time to time that I have had either a bad or good experience with. The posts will be under the simple category, “Reviews”.

Today’s product is the Samsung LCD Flat-Panel family of Televisions.

What I own:

I have the 40″ Samsung LN-T4042H 720p model LCD Flat-Panel Television. Samsung has dozens of current LCD models out there with varying different styles. I am assuming that they stay consistent in quality, given that I have friends with the 26″ model, 42″ model, and 32″ model.

What I love about this TV:

• It has 3 HDMI inputs. Most TV’s have 2 HDMI inputs. This allows me to hook up my Xbox 360, DVD player, and Cable Box via HDMI. It’s a beautiful thing.
• I love the look of this TV. It has a slick, glossy border around the outer edge, and it’s very thin. It fits perfect in the corner of our apartment.
• Amazing clarity on HD channels. Even though this is the 720p model, and all newer models are 1080p, you can’t complain about the crispness and clarity of the picture. The colors are vibrant and the contrast ratio makes blacks look like true blacks and whites look like true whites.

Things I don’t like about the Samsung:

• The controller is a little weird. It’s very long, and it’s tough to configure it to control all of the devices in my entertainment center.
• The TV only has a 1 year limited warranty. I would rather have a 3 year limited warranty for something that I use every day. I’m just hoping that it lasts a while.

The bottom line: I think Samsung is the second best flat-panel television on the market. I still think that the Sony Bravia has the best overall picture, but Samsung sometimes offers a better value with other smaller features that some people look for. I am very satisfied with the purchase, and I got a great deal, because the 720p models were being liquidated at the time. But, I can’t even tell the difference from 1080p to 720p since my previous TV was a 19″ CRT TV.