The Bottom Line: Pay a little more and get an LCD; this particular model CRT does not have the improved picture quality that it should over plasmas or LCDs. It was also unreliable.

I bought this TV at Best Buy a little over three years ago. I chose it over LCD and plasmas since the combined factors of: picture quality; price; and reliability of a CRT were still superior to the other formats at that time.

Well, it was home a week when it completely died. Best Buy sent a tech out, who repaired it (by replacing the the main board) at no charge.

It hasn't died again (yet), but the color quality (especially reds) and the sharpness are rather poor quality. I thought maybe the Best Buy tech did not calibrate things right, so I had it professionally re-calibrated with special computer equipment. Despite precise adjustments, the colors and detail would never improve. This is true of any input to the TV, HD or not.

Recently I read dozens of reviews from owners of the same model who also have had trouble with picture quality (mostly trapezoidal distortion - I haven't had that yet), and high-pitched noises which led to the death of the TV (I'm assuming that's what happened to mine the first week).

I wish I had waited a little longer, and did more research on this particular model. Though I have generally been pleased with Samsung products, this specific model is quite a lemon.