So I'm on the verge of buying a new TV for the living room that gets a lot of light. This rules out plasma because of the glare. I don't really want to shell out for an LED just yet, maybe in a couple of years. So I've come down to this - the Samsung - 55" Class / 1080p / 120Hz / LCD HDTV

Thing is, there is a model # built just for Best Buy - LN55B640



And then the one sold everywhere - LN55B650T1F.



The big difference is 80,000:1 vs. 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. But I read dynamic contrast ratio is a horse shit number and should be ignored. I compared the two in store and they both looked nice. I actually like the Best Buy model more because it doesn't have that gay Samsung styling with a point at the bottom and red trim.

Can anyone offer some insight? I'm hesitant thinking of how they cheapened up the internal parts to save that $200.

That was exactly my first impression as well! And the contrast ratio is a horseshit number, that is correct. Anything else though, I have no good input for.

input still appreciated, thanks!

A lil plus to the BB model is the reward zone points. Should be good for at least a cable.

I was just going to say the same thing as nun...the contrast ratio might as well say 1:100000000000.

The refresh rate is one of the more important thing to look for, unless you don't care about ghosting.

good to know, didn't realize there was such a thing.


as for the refresh rate, it's the same.

I have the 40" A model of the 650 (The B model simply has less plastic but the same screen).

The 6XX series form sammy is one of the best, after that the 7XX has a few more widgets to it. The 5XX simply lacks a USB port or an Ethernet port for the widgets.

The second digit is simply for features/ specialty orders for stores (BBY, Sam's CLub, Costco, etc.) Don't worry, this is normal. You'd think they would simply tell the stores to shove it to streamline costs, but they don;t.

A friend of mine had her Best Buy model delivered today $1599 or so for the thing, it's the 640 also. Aside from the funky contrast looking at them on the wall it actually looked better. May have just been tuned differently. That's the one I said she got the mount half price and a couple $100 cards on.

And do get the reward zone card, the points on that would be worth a bit. And, that almost puts you to a silver card next year. Right now the points are about 2% cash back. With silver it's about 3-4%. Still, either way it's better than nothing and the points card is free now instead of being $10 a year like when they started (it was free back then depending on how much you spent)

Yup 2%, 250points=$5, 1 point per dollar. $1600, so that's $30.

Good info, thanks everyone!

Interesting, got this on the wall there tonight:


The stand actually came installed, we of course had to take it off since we wall mounted it.

The pics there are from Backyardigans. What source? A plain WD harddrive that I'd ripped the vobs to. I hadn't noticed, but this model has 2 USB2.0 ports, one is for flash only but the second supports hard drives and can playback media. The only wires currently to the TV are the power cord (which is MUCH too short unless you use the stand) and the USB cable going down to a 1TB WD drive.

We put it on the wall with a Sanus Systems VMSA-S VisionMount Full Motion Virtual Axis Wall Mount (black, not silver)


The mount was pretty good actually and it helps that her walls were lumpy, unlike mine. You could stand back and actually see where the studs are on her wall

I like the USB HardDrive port. Although the TV also has PC in (standard DB15) and several HDMIs, just connecting a HD and playing is cool.