I was expecting that the enhanced delivery would involve fixing the TV stand but they just pull the TV outside the package and switch it on to show that there is nothing wrong or damaged. I did opt to keep the packaging just in case if I had to return this.
Since this was a big screen both my wife and I took some time to figure out to how to fix the stand. After getting the stand and putting it up on the TV stand it really looked amazingly HUGE!!! After quickly finishing up the smart tv setup (I connected wirelessly) I connected it to an existing blu-ray player and played Avatar. With the default setting, it was good but I could see some clouding around the edges during total dark screens. After some more tweaking, I tried the calibration info provided (Just google for calibrate H7150 - It is the first site lcdtvbuyingguide)
It made a big difference but I again went ahead tweaking and finally calibrated it slightly differently for various sources (cable TV, Blu-ray, PC connection and smart TV). Once I reduced the backlight to somewhere around 11 or 12 all the clouding was gone and it was pitch black!
I found the Standard picture setting to be better (Energy savings) and having it as Warm2 (closer to 5600K).
Reduced the backlight and maximized the contrast (95 or 100). Turned off the rest of options including Auto motion except for cable TV and Blu-ray where I kept it to custom setting with a 3 point for Judder. If you choose any of the Standard, Smooth etc then you will end up with a Big Soap opera effect.
After the above tweaks, the picture is simply awesome and so clear and immersive! No issues with smart TV usage (including editing favorites etc). The only issue is sometimes when you browse using the built-in browser sites that contain embedded videos, the user experience becomes very slow and sometimes a lot of buffering.
With respect to the sound, for a 1/2" LCD thickness the sound isn't too bad. I have an existing onkyo home theatre that I hooked up and it is awesome!
I set the sound to be standard and switched on the DTS dialog for voice clarity and also set the equalizer in a < shape. With this setting, the TV volume is acceptable for general viewing.
So here are the best things I see with this TV:
A) The ultra-clear panel really does a great job (But you do see reflections of lights or windows in the screen)
B) The 1080 HD is very good and local cable channels are coming up with awesome clarity.
C) The smart TV - Netflix setup created an issue initially but after restarting the TV it got resolved (as mentioned in their website for trouble shooting). Infact I had Orange is the new black stream at "1080 Super HD" bitrate (I have FiOS). Youtube app is simply awesome! It actually streams in 1080 and my wife couldn't believe it was actually streaming from youtube.
Vudu again had no issues as I had a few HDX movies that I streamed and everything was looking great!
D) The black level (if calibrated correctly) is comparable with a plasma. Pitch dark black!
E) Youtube pairing - I can search videos on my iPad and just stream it to the TV. Works very nicely.
Iam not a big fan of 3D but I did try a few trailers and was able to see the depth. Even the 2D to 3D conversion looked pretty decent. But as Iam not interested in 3D, so I just watch it in 2D always.
So if you can, go for the bigger screen. You will definitely not be disappointed!
By Anusan
