Samsung Electronics UN49M5300A 49-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2017 Model)

edit: I had my computer connected to it with HDMI which worked fine for years with an old Toshiba tv. With this tv, the sound would just drop out randomly. I bought a sound bar, that I didnt want, to fix the sound--so I could connect through the sound card. Also, I pick the tv up, by the bottom, and the left side of the casing has pulled away from the screen. It now has a constant strip of bright blue showing there. Picture looks good but the sound not working and bright blue are annoying. Mine came with the pictured stand. Maybe theyre including it now.

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This tv has good picture and has several picture settings, with ‘movie’ being closet to the old tv picture. The others are too bright and computer like. It also has all the apps such as Netflix, amazon prime etc pre-downloaded so you don’t need additional hardware to stream video. It further allows you to download other apps since it can be hooked up to WiFi. As a result, this means the tv is now silimilar to the computer whereby what you watch can now probably be tracked by Samsung as well. The most annoying thing about this tv is that it seems to be run on software controlled by Samsung, since every now and then you get a ‘software being updated ‘ message on screen. Because of this, the software seems to have compatibility issues with the service provider so every now and then it gets stuck ( like a computer) whether or not you are streaming or watching your regular tv. It also has sound issues whereby the sound disappears while your watching, so you have to switch channels and back again for the sound to come back. Or, unplug the whole tv to reconnect it back to your WiFi or cable box. This problem occurs enough to be totally annoying. At least 2-3 times a week, and the sound problem every other 1/2 hr. The customer service however is easy to get through with minimal wait , even if the response is to shut down/ hstartbup the tv as a solution. Personally, these TVs are getting ‘unnecessarily sophisticated with these smart functions which don’t work most of the time. Wish they gave option of purchasing the old style TVs.

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This has a very nice picture once toned down a bit from the overly saturated default settings a bit. It works great on over-the-air signals receiving even distant stations well. I was very disappointed that it lacks any wired audio output. The specs stated it had a headphone jack, it does not. Samsung appears to have cheapened out later versions by omitting the headphone jack. The speakers that are built in to this TV are horrible sound like tin cans on a string. Since the only audio output is optical, I had to buy a Prozar D/A to connect it to my stereo. You have to change the output mode to PCM from Dolby surround to make it work. In optical output mode the audio output level can not be controlled with the remote and I must use the remote for my stereo. This is poor design. There is a great remote control app on my iPhone MyTifi which allows my to access functions, like an on air program guide, that are not available with the included remote. Samsung also has an app called Smartview that allows you to view content from your iPhone on the TV, unfortunately that app does not work well and is close to useless. Do not loose the remote for this TV. The only controls on the TV are an On-Off switch. All other functionality requires the remote. To get it to work with remote control apps it must be attached to a local network that that is shared by the device with the remote app. This mut be set up using the accompanying IR remote before the remote app can work.

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