| Product: |
Samsung LE-40A656 |
| Date: |
28/10/09 (14 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Fantastic build, brilliant appearance, top quality picture and audio, great connectivity
Disadvantages: Lack of buttons on the TV itself, annoying to change inputs
This is the TV with which Samsung really began to compete on quality with the likes of Sony and Panasonic. For its price and quality this TV was an easy choice to become the centre of my home cinema set-up and it hasnt failed to live up. This TV is also frequently reviewed as being better and cheaper than its Sony and Panasonic rivals and it easily lives up to its promise.
Appearance: Wonderfully crisp edges on the well sized/proportioned frame. Before buying I was concerned with the red tint within the frame itself as I felt it may have conflicted with my entirely black home cinema set-up. I am glad to say that it in fact compliments the entire set-up as it is subtle and creates an aura of quality about the product.
Build Quality: Having previously owned a samsung LCD I was impressed to see that once again they had upped the quality. With is glass like frame tinted with rose red and its seemingly glass fronted, gloss LCD panel the quality is better or at least equal to any other rival TV. The stand once fitted is solid and the TV moved very little. Unlike some TV's it also allowes you to twist the TV whilst on its stand to change the viewing angle. Its specifications allow all the connections you could ever want or need and this TV boasts one of the best freeview receivers I have seen on a TV providing crisp, bright and clear images on all freeview channels. The TV also sports a few incredibly handy connections on the side of set allowing for easy connection of extra devices (say a friend brings around a HDMI device). My one concern was that there are no buttons to turn off, change volume and change channel on the TV set. Whilst I have a remote there has been times when it seems to have vanished of the face of the earth and I am left unable to change the channel or even turn off (frustratingly). The remote is well designed and using a button you can light them up for watching scary movies in the dark.
Picture Quality: Both standard and high definition are shown in incredible detail. Images are crisp, sharp and bright and blacks are deep and incredibly dark (made possible by its incredible contrast ratio). Easily one of the best LCD's out there, though still not quite as good as Plasmas on contrast.
Sound Quality: As with most TV's the sound quality will never match stand alone speakers. However by comparison to other TV's the sound quality on this TV is fantastic and this TV is easily one of the best for auido quality.
Overall: One of the best TV's out there. With many advantages and very few disadvantages I would recommend this TV to anyone. The only flaws I can think of is the lack of buttons on the TV and the fact that in order to change which device is inputting you have to scroll through a few channels (something Sony fixed with its interface). However for this TV's price it wins outright against all its competitors and will remain at the heart of my setup until OLED TV's become the norm.
Summary: The best TV Samsung have made to date and easily one of the best on the market
| Processing/Quality: |
|
 |
| Reliability: |
|
 |
| Ease of use: |
|
 |
| Installation: |
|
 |
| Sound quality: |
|
 |
| Features: |
|
 |
|
|