Samsung 55" 1080p LED Smart TV w/ Wi-Fi

First, the screen is glossy. Anyone buying this set should know that. If you have a very well lit room, natural or artificial, glare may be an issue. Most people buying this set (including myself) are or should be aware of this. As such, there is no point deduction for the glossy screen. Which by the way renders very beautiful and crisp images. Second, the Samsung UN55F6300 (likely all 6300 class Samsung's) is complex. Essentially you have a computer inside the set, which is able to run an app store, applications, and various functions (including a browser, support for keyboards, mice, etc) which often is associated with a computer of some sort (laptop, tablet, PC). The computer is not very fast, it has a graphical interface, and works well for the functions it provides. Total storage for apps and data seems to be about 1.5 GB, which I'm guessing is something like you'd find in a memory stick. It is fast, and lasts across power cycles, even if unplugged, the memory remains in tact. Associated with your Samsung smart TV will be an account on Samsung, to enable loading, and potentially purchasing apps. Also to register your product for warranty coverage. The set has great Wi-Fi and wired Ethernet capability. Generally I prefer wired, but the wireless features on this set are strong. Applications include Amazon streaming, Amazon cloud player, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, a media player, a plex interface, DLNA, and many other functions. Many news stations (mostly local Fox stations seem to have apps at the Samsung store, this gives news shorts from various larger cities). Special note about the Amazon app, it is the best Smart TV Amazon app I have come across yet. My smart TV's include 2013 and 2012 Panasonic sets, a 2011 LG, and an older 2010 Vizio smart set. The Samsung Amazon app, lets me look at my Amazon watchlist and also lets me see recently viewed content. This makes the Amazon interface on Samsung very friendly, the watchlist functions as a favorites, the recently viewed lets me finish stuff later without having to search for it. There is a sophisticated interface with DirecTV, which while interesting, I elected to ignore. As learning to use Samsung's interpretation of the DirecTV video guide seemed like spending energy for little benefit (other than having a single remote for both, which doesn't really run DirecTV DVR's well). There is an extension cable which connects to the back of the set, and can transmit IR signals to a set top box (satellite, cable or other). Some may find this very useful, others not, though it's nice to have. Set up out of the box, is relatively easy. A large area to place the set face down (I used a bed) and to attach the stand was very easy. 4 screws to attach the base to the mount, and 4 screws to attach the mount to the back of the set. The remote uses 2 AAA batteries which are included (alkaline). On initial set up the set will likely want to run an update after network connectivity is established, this can take a while. I did this as it seemed reasonable, just be prepared to wait a few minutes. The set lets you set up an account at the Samsung Smart Hub store, I advise against this as the password rules at the store (via a web device) are different from the rules on the Samsung web site (the set lets you use 6 letter passwords, the web based Samsung Smart Hub store requires 8 letter or more passwords, and only works with 8 letter or longer passwords). The remote is a bit small, people with large hands may find it a bit difficult at first. After a while, even with large hands it was easy to get used to. It's a bit long, and narrow, buttons are somewhat close together. The remote has a backlight capability, which is helpful in a dark room, though it could be a bit brighter for my taste. Overall, I'm very pleased, the set is thin, light weight, has a great base, fantastic display, and many smart capabilities. If there were one downside it would be the bundled speakers are a bit weak, somewhat weaker than other sets I've used (Vizio, LG, Olivia, and others). The set has many preferences for color, light intensity, and various "eco" features, many forums discuss combinations of settings and features which work well together. **** The above is my review of the set, and is intended for most viewers. A coda is being included for those who use Vizio or Amazon support. When I first connected my set, my network setup was successful, it indicated full Internet connectivity was functioning. It was possible to install firmware updates, the browser worked, I was able to order free apps from the Smart Hub store, and all seemed well. Unfortunately it was not. When attempting to launch any app (except for the browser and Smart Hub apps) the set returned "Network error_code_02). Which is a bit cryptic. I later found this isn't directly a network error, it indicates an app which was purchased and has an icon on my set, hasn't yet been installed. This caused me to try Samsung Tier 1 support. Tier 1 was nice, friendly, and sounded as if she was based in the United States. She basically went through set up several times, tried to assure I was connected to Internet, and was unable to solve my connectivity issue or tell me what error_code_02 was. Later, I called Amazon support, which offers 30 days of support for new TV customers. Amazon support was if anything more enthusiastic about helping me than Samsung, and was slightly more knowledgeable than Samsung tier 1 support, however they were unable to help directly. However Amazon got me in touch with Samsung remote support. Newer Samsung sets, have an ability to allow Samsung representatives to come into your set. An 8 digit code is generated when you enable remote access, you must provide this to Samsung remote support and they can operate your TV remotely as if they were in the room. Note, it appears if you have video, they can see and hear what is in front of the set. Be careful to not have anything you wouldn't want a stranger to see in front of the set. The remote support gentleman from Samsung was the most knowledgeable and helpful about this set. This shouldn't be a surprise. He ran the same set up / initialization Samsung Tier 1 and Amazon support had me do. He had me try wireless, and various access points. He indicated his speed test indicated my TV was connecting to the Smart Hub server at less than 1 megabit per second, which he said was too slow to stream. He eventually thought the problem was related to my router configuration, and suggested opening ports on the router. I'm not a fan of opening my firewall or NAT via fixed rules. My router was an ASUS RT-16 running Tomato USB firmware (a Linux variant). I've never had to open up any ports for any product before, we have tablets, smart phones, Xbox 360's, PS3's, PC's and other smart TV's, IP cameras and other things which have never required ports to be opened and directly routed to the set. In desperation I tried to connect my TV via a router feature called DMZ, and the TV still couldn't connect to the Samsung Smart Hub to install apps. This surprised me, as DMZ (sometimes called demilitarized zone) usually sends all internet traffic not directly handled by the router's NAT to the DMZ device. As such, I was hoping the set would operate as if directly connected to my cable modem. When DMZ failed, a long Cat 6 cable was used to directly connect my Samsung TV to the home cable modem. This cut out all other internet in our home, but gave me a chance to see how the set would work without any router in the way. Surprisingly once my router was out of the way, my Samsung set worked fine. Everything zoomed through. This of course meant there was a problem with my router. Later on a router forum, I discussed this, and it is possible some routers with a feature called stateful packet inspection (abbreviated as SPI), may have issues when some flags are used on packets. The issues cause errors either in SPI or in error checking that can cause good packets to be marked as bad. Bad packets or SPI violative packets are rejected by the router. A trace of the communication was provided on the forum, and it appears my router was rejecting packets from Samsung's Smart Hub server. I tried a different router (TP-LINK TL-WDR3600), running different firmware (DD-WRT) and my Samsung UN55F6300 had no issues with the Smart Hub service, it was able to install, and uninstall, and easily use the Smart Hub function without issue behind my router. Samsung and Amazon were unable to diagnose my router issue, Samsung indicated my speed to their server was under 1 megabit, but it was probably zero bits per second. Samsung left me, saying that eventually the apps would load (neither Samsung or Amazon were able to determine there was an issue with my router, or what it was). This indicates the tools Samsung provides remote support, while strong, can be misleading at times. My belief is Samsung and Amazon are trying, but Internet communication is complex, and it is probably beyond the scope of most normal support folks. In conclusion, my belief, is some people will have network issues caused by router or switch hardware / software that vendors like Samsung will not always be able to resolve. In such cases, the Samsung product itself may not be defective, but customers may not have the ability to determine the nature of a network problem, or to resolve it. I hope this helps someone who has network issues with a smart TV in the future.