Another Great TV From Samsung (Samsung LE-37A616)

Member Name: johnny040676

Product:	Samsung LE-37A616
Date:	02/12/08 (231 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good To Look At, Excellent Picture, PC In, Excellent Sound, Freeview

Disadvantages: None To Complain About Really

We recently decided it was time to replace the old 14" portable TV in the bedroom. We have two LCD TV's downstairs, but quite often watch the one in the bedroom either just before we go to sleep or while getting dressed in the morning or getting ready to go out somewhere, so it made sense to replace the 14" for something a bit more up to date.

What To Choose In Such A Big Market

This was left entirely up to me as my wife does not understand the finer points of television buying, she just wants to be able to switch it on and watch stuff!!

I definately wanted an LCD, as I don't like the idea of gradually losing picture quality untill it goes completely leading to expensive re-gassing, a problem I have heard of with Plasmas, also you cannot hang plasmas over coal fires, not a problem for us in the bedroom but was for the two we had bought previously for downstairs.

We have a Phillips and a Samsung downstairs, and whilst both are very good televisions, the Samsung is far far better than the Philips and actually a lot better than a lot of our friends televisions in my opinion and so for this reason I decided the new one would be a Samsung.

And then to size!! The area in the bedroom where the TV would be going would just about fit a 37", a real shame really as I have found the best priced LCD TV's seem to be the 42", but this would be too big, so I would have to settle for a slightly smaller (and dearer) one.

First Impressions

When I first saw the Samsung LE37A616, I liked the fact that the frame was quite square and was in a glossy black finnish. It also ticked my main boxes, in that it was 1080 full HD, it had built in freeview and it had a pc input. The picture seemed to be very good also.

Features

As already mentioned above it has full 1080 HD, built in freeview and a pc input, which were the main three things on my wish list as well as good looks! But all the other features are listed below:

Additional Features

UI: Smart
1080 24p Real Movie
Down Firing
HDMI Version: 1.3
Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC)
Cloning Support
Eco Flower

Video

HD Ready 1080p
IDTV
Resolutuion 1920x1080
Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 15000:1
Widw Colour Enhancer 2
100Hz Motion Plus
Backlight C C F L
DNle Pro
Movie Plus

Audio

Sound Output (RMS) 10W x 2
Speaker: A2/NiCAM
Sound Effect System: SRS Trusound XT

Features

Sleep Timer
Clock & On/Off Timer
Teletext (TTXT): TTX Level 2.5
Auto Channel Search
Picture-In-Picture: 1 Tuner
OSD Language: EU 22EA
Auto Volume Leveller
Entertainment Mode

Input And Output (Side)

1 Headphone
1 S-Video
1 Composite AV
1 HDMI
Wiselink (JPEG)

Input And Output (Back)

1 RF Input
1 Component (Y/Pb/Pr)
2 Scart
2 HDMI
1 PC Input
1 Video Monitor Out
1 Optical Sound Out

Where To Get One From?

When I decided this was the TV for us, went home and had a look on the internet for it to compare prives. In Currys It was up for £649.99, which I thought was ok really, plus they had one in stock so I could have taken it home the same day.

However I found the exact same TV on Play.com for only £599.99 with free delivery. Added to this I could log into Play.com through one of my casback sites and get 0.5% cashback, not a lot but another £3 in my pocket rather than theirs, so I ordered it and sat back to wait for it to be delivered.

So What's It Actually Like?

The Samsung arrived 3 days after ordering, which I was quite happy with. I unwrapped it and found it to be just as good looking as I remembered. Set-up was extremely simple just plug it all in and hit auto tune, and wait for it scan through and find all the channels it could. There where quite a few in the end as it has the built in freeview, and once it had found everything it could, I settled down to watch something on it.

The picture is truly amazing, very sharp and detailed, the colours also seem a lot better than on my Phillips and also a bit better than my other (much older) Samsung. The sound is not dissapointing either, although this is not as good as my Philips which has a built in sub-woofer and makes the sound brilliant, I would reccomend looking out for one of these, if you are looking for a new TV and will not have surround sound. I think eventually we will end up getting a DVD player for this new TV with a built it 2:1 sound system, although like I say it is good enough and it is only a bedroom TV at the end of the day.

I have had a Playstation 2 playing through the Samsung and an Xbox 360 and the results where very good. the picture, as when you are watching TV, is excellent and scrolls smoothly and effitiently, also the sound is as good. I have also had a computer running through it and this is also very clear, having used it to surf the internet and watch online movie clips etc..

Also through a games console we have watched a couple of DVD's through the TV which were as good as everything else.

Wall Mounting

Originally we had the TV on its stand on top of some drawers, however we were getting a bit of sound 'rattle' coming through them so I decided to get a wall bracket for it.

I found one on ebay for just under £40.00 and fixed it to the bedroom wall, it is a pull out and angle bracket meaning you can have it flush against the wall or up to 27" away from the wall and can tilt the television up and down as well as angle it left or right. This was a great investment and one I would reccomend to anyone, not only can you have the Tv at almost any viewing angle, but you can also have it flush to the wall (well 4" away) and to me this is what this television was made for, it really looks like a work of art hanging on your wall.

Other Televisions In The Series

The Samsung LE37A616 comes from the 6 Series which also includes a 19", a 22" and a 32" version if you want a smaller one and if bigger is better there is also a 40" and a 46" version from the same range, however I think the specification might vary on some of these different sized models.

Conclusion

All in all to conclude on this television I would have to say I am very happy with it. The picture is really really good, the sound might not be the best but this is easily fixed with a surround sound system which are not expensive these days and most come with built in DVD player so are well worth having. The overall look of the television is excellent and it is very easy to set up and to use. It is also very good for gaming with games consoles, offering excellent picture and smoth seamless scrolling. Would I reccomend this television? YES!!

Thanks For Reading, Also On Ciao

Summary: Highly reccomended to anyone

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