Tour & Design
The front of the Samsung LN46C550 is roughly the same as last year's design; we can say that before Samsung even shows off the final product (we saw the CES 2010 floor model, which may not represent the final product when it ships). How do we know this? The days of major advancements in cold cathode fluorescent light (CCFL) LCD is drawing to a close. From here on out, we'll expect gradual price drops and minor advancements in technology or, most likely, design.
The front is mostly a shiny, deep black, petering out to a clear acrylic at the edges. At the bottom of the front-right corner, you'll find a series of touch-sensitive controls.
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Back**
Samsung guarded the back of TV's at CES with an eagle eye. We could sneak a look from the corner, but there was nothing to see. The jack pack had been covered with a perfectly molded piece of plastic that only allowed the HDMI cable to sneak through. What lies behind the plastic? Only Samsung knows.
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Sides**
The sides Samsung LN46C550 are not quite finished yet, at least not in time for CES. It seems unlikely that the final products will be completely stripped of ports on the side. Don't look for onboard controls, however. They're on the front, designed as touch-sensitive areas rather than hard, plastic buttons.
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Stand/Mount**
The base, at least on the model shown on the CES show floor, is made of transparent acrylic in the neck, and black with a red tinge on the bottom. It's thick, but elegant enough that it doesn't look bulky.
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Aesthetics**
The model on the show floor features the red Touch of Color design that Samsung debuted in 2009. Not everyone in our editorial office appreciate this look, as a giant, red-tinged rectangle may not fit your living room's aesthetic. You might be better off if you can find models with the grey Touch of Color, or better yet no Touch of Color. Be sure to see this TV in person before you buy it.
Performance Features
Display Size & Technology
The Samsung LN46C550 is a 46-inch 1080p CCFL-backlit LCD television, and the technology driving it has not really changed since last year. All the time and money has since been shifted to developing better LED-backlit LCDs, which can achieve much thinner frames. You can expect the prices on 2010 and 2011 models to continue dropping slowly until they become completely commoditized goods.
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Formats & Resolution**
The Samsung LN46C550 is a native 1080p television.
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Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio**
Samsung made a vaguish reference to improved black level performance on its C550 series of TVs, but was unable to elaborate on how exactly this was achieved. We're hoping that it's not something as ham-handed as a more aggressive auto-dimming feature. On previous reviews, we noticed that auto-dimming—which dims the whole screen when a shot is particularly dark—has the effect of killing details in shadows.
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Color**
There was no mention of color performance improvements on the Samsung LN46C550.
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Motion & Refresh Rate**
The Samsung LN46C550 is stuck with a 60hz refresh rate. The C650 series has an upgraded 120Hz, and the C750 series has a 240Hz refresh. Of course, refresh rate still has a merely speculative improvement on image quality. We've heard arguments from experts on both sides, and have yet to see any major improvements in performance with our own eyes.
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Viewing Angle**
The viewing angle on the previous Samsung CCFL LCDs was about 25-30 degrees. We expect this to be about the same.
Connectivity & Media
Audio & Video Ports
The ports on the Samsung LN46C550 were not visible, as Samsung had deviously hidden them behind pieces of carefully molded plastic. In fact, we can't even tell if there will be ports on the side, but it seems likely. The frames are certainly wide enough to support them. Previous models have 3-4 HDMI ports and plenty of component and composite AV ports.
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Media & Other Connectivity**
The Samsung LN46C550, along with the rest of the C550 series, will have a LAN port for streaming internet features, which will connect to Samsung's much improved internet@TV collection of content providers. Our review of the 2009 Samsung TVs with internet@TV slammed the service for a severely limited pool of content and a cripplingly slow interface.
Also, it's expected that the newly announced Samsung App Store will be available for the C550s, though the CES booth staff could not definitely confirm this. The App Store is expected to offer programming, games, and features that can be transported between Samsung-branded TVs, mobile devices, and media players. Because nobody has seen a working version of this software yet, we can't be sure how useful or easy this will actually be.
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Placement**
The ports are likely to be spread out between a large jack pack on the rear, and a smaller one on the side. Unfortunately, we can't be sure of this yet, as the models on the CES show floor were not full-production samples. And the TV's that Samsung did have out on display had their jack lacks completely covered in plastic shells.
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Audio**
The audio performance does not seem to have improved since last year, at least according to responses from Samsung staff. The Samsung LN46C550 features two downward-firing speakers.
Controls, Menu & Remote
Remote
The remote controls for the 2010 Samsung TVs were not available for viewing on the CES show floor, except for the amazing touch screen remote for the flagship C9000 series TVs. However, most of the remote controls we've seen on 2009 Samsung TVs were very good, combining balance, smart button layout, and clear labeling.
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Controls**
On the lower right corner of the Samsung LN46C550's face, there are a series of touch-sensitive areas for buttons: Source, Menu, Volume, Channel up/down, and Power. These are not hard plastic buttons that will give you any tactile feedback, and they have a nasty habbit of collecting fingerprints in a hard-to-ignore spot.
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Menu**
The menus for the Samsung LN46C550, or any of the 2010 Samsungs, were not ready for CES. We're not expecting any radical changes from last year, though. The 2009 Samsungs had one of the better menu systems.
Conclusion
Series Comparison
C550 Series
There are four TVs likely to appear in this series, though the final product sizes and SKUs have not been confirmed by Samsung. A mid-level series, the C550s feature basic performance specs, with the bonus of a LAN internet port.
Meet the tester
David Kender oversees content at Reviewed as the Editor in Chief. He served as managing editor and editor in chief of Reviewed's ancestor, CamcorderInfo.com, helping to grow the company from a tiny staff to one of the most influential online review resources. In his time at Reviewed, David has helped to launch over 100 product categories and written too many articles to count.
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