Samsung LN-R268W 26-Inch HD-Ready Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD TV
Excellent monitor with no compromises
I spent several weeks researching monitors, both online and by viewing them in local stores. A few things became quickly apparant:    * Most stores demo monitors nowadays in HD mode. This is great if you've already switched to HD, but makes it difficult to judge a monitor's performance on an SVHS signal.  * The offbrand monitors really don't look as good as the name brands. Side by side it was clear that the Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, Samsung looked better than the less familiar brands. This mostly in terms of contrast and color. The name brand monitors looked pretty much identical.</li>  * Many of the high end TV's (Sony, Toshiba) don't have PC input - a critical factor in my choice.  * Many of the high end monitors (such as Viewsonic), don't have the best quality or support on TV signals.    I decided to try the Samsung based on a number of key features:    * Speakers under the monitor saves space (I needed to fit into the space of a 27\\" TV)  * Seemed to emphasize TV features and quality.  * Consumer Reports for other Samsung LCD TV's indicated average standard TV performance (none of the sets they checked rated excellent, only a few above average).  * PC input    Hookup and setup were simple. Like most LCD monitors, it had a slight red bias out of the box, but it was easily adjusted. Samsung's DNIE enhancement is not a gimmick. They have a demo mode that shows you the corrected and uncorrected image. What's most interesting is not that the corrected image is better (you'd expect that) but that the uncorrected image is so familiar - it looks just like the display I saw on the off-brand monitors.    I don't yet have an HD signal, but was able to check a high resolution image using a PC and it looked excellent (as one would expect).    The really pleasant surprise is how good it looked on SVHS input (coming in from a DirectTV box). When using Zoom mode to watch a letterboxed movie, the quality of the image at normal viewing distance is stunning. You have to get up close (within 3-4 feet or so) to begin to see the digital scaling artifacts.    Another pleasant surprise was the effectiveness of the dynamic contrast system. I used the home THX adjustment system included on newer DVD's (like The Incredibles). On my plasma set, it took quite a bit of adjustment to get the brightness and contrast right. On this set, it was dead on right out of the box.     Component video off a DVD player looked as good as my plasma set. The four video modes (wide, panoramic [a smart stretch], zoom and 4:3) worked as expected. I don't have a standard cable connection, but tried out the tuner using a rabbit ear antenna and it looked like what you'd expect from a standard TV - great on strong signals, lousy on weak ones.    One of the results I was hoping for most was delivered in spades - the location of this set has very poor lighting and the TV it is replacing had horrific glare and reflection issues. I no longer notice any obvious glare or reflections (except off the shiny black bezel, which doesn't interfere with my viewing).    In terms of flaws, I haven't found anything significant yet. My only small gripe is that the picture mode setting is not on the main set of buttons on the remote but hidden under a plastic slide. That's a control you use all the time and it should be more prominent.    I also did a fair amount of research on where to purchase the set. There are lower cost places online, but be careful - many of them have terrible customer reviews. Others charge inflated shipping rates - one store wanted $140 to ship the set. At about $25, Amazon was the lowest cost shipper I found. Also, the extended warranty available from Amazon is much less expensive than that available from other vendors. But the final factor that led me to get it through Amazon was the return policy. Almost none of other vendors allow returns of this set. Amazon, if I read their policy correctly, allows return of sets below 27 inches, and this is a 26 inch set.Fortunately, this one's a keeper.