First Looks: Samsung SyncMaster SA950 3D Monitor – 3D Becomes Sexy

First Looks: Samsung SyncMaster SA950 3D Monitor – 3D Becomes Sexy

From CES 2011 And Beyond

Sometime in January, the website www.samsungtomorrow.com shared with the world some interesting photos of a futuristic product from Samsung slated to appear in CES 2011. The product in focus was a 27-inch 3D display. Seven months later, the product hit our shores in the form of the Samsung SyncMaster SA950 3D monitor, which was launched together with the LC23A750 Central Station and the LT23A350 Multifunction Monitor. Fortunately, the folks at Samsung sent us this thing of beauty (model LS27A950D) for a personal look-over.

Hi There, Sexy

The SA950 is an eccentric looker that comes with an assymetrical, unibody form factor, which is the prime attribute of the monitor. It has a 27-inch, glossy, thin-bezel LED panel that seamlessly attaches to a solid base. Like the display’s back panel, the base sports a brushed metal finish that adds to the monitor’s sophisticated outline. The joint between the panel’s neck and the base is an obscured hinge that allows you to tilt the monitor in a backward manner. In spite of the massive display size and metallic body, the SA950 is light and easy to setup.

Samsung has ensured that the SA950 is seamless in every aspect and that includes the monitor’s control panel. The control panel is composed of touch-sensitive, backlit icons near the lower right hand corner of the display. With just a slight dab of a finger on the icons, the monitor’s trouble-free, responsive menu quickly comes up. The menu’s highlight is the option which allows you to turn a 2D content into a 3D type on the fly. There is no option to change audio settings as the monitor doesn’t have a built-in speaker system, though it is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack found at the back of the base. Other options for connectivity include an HDMI and a DisplayPort, along with the legacy DVI connector.

Almost A TV

If there was an issue that might affect your viewing experience on the SA950, it could be the glossy display. Sensibly, it is prone to ambient glare. We noticed also minute patches of backlight bleeding and these are randomly distributed along the sides. Nevertheless, these did not affect the monitor’s overall picture quality in any way. As a matter of fact, the SA950 was able to virtually show every gradation of black and white on the DisplayMate application. Images were sharp and colors were vibrant, whether they are static (on DisplayMate) or moving (on HD movies).

Samsung bundles the SA950 with one pair of battery-operated active shutter 3D eyeglasses. Thinking if those glasses bundled with a Samsung 3D TV would work on the 3D monitor? No, they would not, as the monitor employs a different 3D technology, just as what a Samsung representative told us during the launch. Features that were once limited to Samsung HDTVs such as 3D HyperReal Engine and Real 120Hz speed are present on the SA950 as well.

Final Thoughts

In actual application, the SA950 is one of those monitors that you wouldn’t want to treat simply as it is. Given its avant-garde design and 3D capability, we felt that the SA950 does not deserve to stay in the cold corner of your work desk. Instead, this beauty is worthy of a luxurious space in your living room both as an urbane, sexy decor and as an innovative display offering that can virtually replace your LCD TV.

In the Philippines, the Samsung SyncMaster SA950 3D monitor is priced at PhP 31,990. For more information on the features and specifications of the SA950, visit www.samsung.com/sg.