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March 28, 2016
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Robertjm's Reviews

Samsung - 32" Class (31-1/2" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - HDTV

Samsung UN32J5003EFXZA/AFXZA/BFXZA LED HDTV: TV shows and movies are displayed in a wide spectrum of colors and with clear, sharp 1080p resolution. Plus, the screen can be viewed in bright or dark rooms, letting you place it just about anywhere.

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Customer Rating

I'm going to keep it. But, wish I liked it better

on March 28, 2016

Posted by: Robertjm

Verified Purchase:Yes

Overall I'm OK with the purchase. But, there are a few things to consider if you're on the fence, and I might not have bought it if I were still shopping today.

First off is the sound. If you don't really care what it sounds like, you won't be disappointed. But, if you care about sound even a little bit, you're going to be disappointed. I was replacing a 15-yr-old RCA stereo TV, so it had pretty good built-in speakers. The small speakers in the Samsung are substandard quality at best. I bought a Digital-to-Analog converter, and plugged a set of Karmin/Hardin 2.1 computer speakers in which greatly improved the sound.

I had to use the DAC because the only audio output is a Toslink/Digital cable. In this day and age, it's a little surprising they'd leave out analog outputs, or even a headphone jack. But, they did.

But, using external speakers introduces another annoyance. Using external speakers means you lose the ability to control the volume of the TV with the remote!! I suppose if you are using a sound bar, you're going to use the remote from the sound system. But, do I really have to have yet another remote to control something as simple as sound?

I'm running a pair of rabbit ears for broadcast TV, a Google Chromecast, and a Sony Blu-Ray player. By default, Samsung has a bit of an over-scan set up. I was able to turn it off and get the full picture. But, it's somewhat buried in the settings.

Video quality seems to be VERY finicky. There are three modes (Dynamic, Standard and Movie). Dynamic seems to up the contrast and back-lighting considerably. Movie does that too, though to a lesser extent. But, it also seems to introduce a little bit of a yellowish tone so color temperature might be off. I tried playing with the settings. But, gave up when I couldn't get a true white. The Standard setting is what I'm generally running now. Sometimes pictures seem dark, while other times the colors come through amazing. Broadcast stations, which are still sending out a 480i signal, seem to be particularly effected.

I'm still getting used to the flesh tones on full 1080i signals. At times it seems like they're a bit too pink, though white shirt colors are white, so there's not much wiggle room in the adjustment.

The TV's stand is a bit on the funky side. The two sets of legs are about four inches from the outside of the TV, and seem to flex if you put any weight on the TV whatsoever. I don't think they're at the risk of breaking. But, I'm considering putting together a homemade stand using a wall mount because it would be stronger. Unfortunately, you can't flip the legs around so that the legs would point inwards.

There are two HDMI connectors along with connectors for component and composite. HOWEVER, those two share the same connectors, so you can either connect component OR composite connections. But, not both. While this is annoying, it seems to be the standard procedure on 32” TVs these days.

The remote seems too quick to exit the menu and source selection if you don't push the buttons within a short bit of time.

I was able to play videos and view photos off an 8gb thumb drive. But, did have issues when I tried viewing a 5gb .mp4 video off the same drive, which was formatted as FAT32. It should have worked, and I haven't tried a different large file yet to see if it was just an issue with that particular file.

When I was looking for a new TV, it was down to the Vizio E32-C1, Insignia NS-32D420NA-16 and this Samsung. I ended up going with the Samsung because it was on sale for $70 off that weekend, and I've always been pretty impressed with Samsung computer monitors. To be perfectly honest, the difference in picture quality wasn't enough that I would have got the Samsung had it been full price, and if money is a big issue for you, I'd definitely consider the Vizio or Insignia models. I was particularly impressed with the Insignia.

PROS: Easy to set up and picked up just as many broadcast channels as my standard definition RCA did using a simple pair of rabbit ears.

CONS: Anemic sound qualify. Slow to power on. Inability to control external speaker volume with remote, No analog audio output

My Best Buy number: 4128536960

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

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Robertjm's Answers

Samsung - 32" Class (31-1/2" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - HDTV

Headphones

Does this unit have an output for headphones?

Nope

8 years ago

Robertjm

Samsung - 32" Class (31-1/2" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - HDTV

Does it have a direct input for an antenna?

Yes, there is a standard connector which can be used either for cable TV, or for an antenna. I'm using a pair of rabbit ears on mine, and pick up about three dozen stations, or more!!

8 years ago

Robertjm

Samsung - 32" Class (31-1/2" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - HDTV

Will this play DVDs? Can a flash drive or sd card be inserted?

This is not a combo machine, so you'd need to connect an external DVD player to this TV. The TV has component/composite connectors, as well as two HDMI connectors, and a regular cable connector.

As for video, there is a USB connector in the back, which would allow you to connect a regular thumbdrive to the back of the set. There is NO SD card slot though. I don't believe an large external HDD will work.

8 years ago

Robertjm

Samsung - 32" Class (31-1/2" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - HDTV

VCR

Will this TV connect to a VCR? In particular, a GO. VIDEO unit?

Yes. There is a component video cable connectors, which you'd use.

8 years ago

Robertjm

Samsung - 32" Class (31-1/2" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - HDTV

Closed Captioning

Does this have closed captioning, and if so, can you have volume on and closed captioning too?

Yes, and Yes. But, remember that if the source doesn't send close captioning information, there'll be nothing to read. Case in point, some of the streaming stuff from Apple TV and Netflix don't come with closed captioning.

8 years ago

Robertjm

Samsung - 32" Class (31-1/2" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - HDTV

can external speakers be hooked up to this tv

Best answer

Yes. But, there are a couple of things to consider. First off, the only audio output this TV has is the digital/toslink output, so you could run this to a sound bar, or some other device that will accept digital audio.

Not having that, I ended up buying a cheapo $10 Digital-to-Audio converter off EBAY, which allowed me to hook up a set of computer speakers. While not perfect, they improved the sound output considerably. If you go this route make sure you have a set of powered speakers. I don't think there'd be enough juice to drive some dynamic speakers.

8 years ago

Robertjm