The summer months are normally dreadful for television. The terrestrial channels seem to serve up hour after hour of unwatchable guff and even if you have a Freeview box you have to settle for the occasional half decent film that you’ve already seen 37 times, or repeats of mildly amusing current affairs based comedy shows, now made redundant by the fact that it really is “old news”. Okay, so there have been huge innovations in your pay monthly digital provider of choice and there can be no doubt that technology and content availability are moving forward into the 21st century at a healthy pace, but, you really are limited to the choices that your providers give you. Here at Explorer Towers, we firmly believe it is only a matter of time before your TV and internet are combined in holy matrimony and give birth to a product which can offer you genuine choice of content you want to see, when you want to see it (“telenet”, anyone? Quick, get it trademarked!).
FEATURES?
Samsung have made the first tentative steps towards such technology with their rather wonderful LE 40B650. Apps are all the rage today and this baby has them in spades. Plug in with a standard Ethernet cable and Hey Presto! You’re presented with Yahoo’s Widget platform enabling you to click on a number of widgets which currently include news, Britain’s favourite subject (the weather) and for the less serious of you Youtube and Flickr. If you prefer to go wireless, Samsung will chuck you a dongle with all drivers included for 50 quid. The Content Library holds plenty of pre-loaded material, including screen savers, games, recipes (Jamie Oliver approved, no doubt), fitness advice and stories and songs for the kids, all of which can be deleted or added to via one of two USB ports. Use the other to download music, photos or DivX video files in Media Play from an external source.
IN THE PICTURE?
Multimedia malarkey aside, what you really want to know is; whats the picture like? The LE 40b650 boasts “true HD” – 1920×1080 pixel resolution and has to be said, packs a mighty punch for picture quality that really does belie its price. As you may have seen before, black or very dark colours seem to have a rather muddy look to them, almost as if they’ve been painted on and in certain shots makes people onscreen look as if they’re suffering from some kind of strange fungal complaint from the tropics. But utilizing Samsung’s Crystal FHD Engine which is now standard for all its LCD TV’s, the picture has a wonderfully rich tone and colour, even when viewing in Standard Def. You see, when it comes to defining definition, the blacker it is, the better it is. Very similar to how I rate my music. LCD TV’s have previously suffered from slightly nausea inducing movement lag – but no more! The 100Hz Motion Plus system means that you no longer suffer when watching the footie, especially after a few pints. If you’re still wondering whether to take the plunge maybe this will swing it for you – Samsung have spent over a billion dollars on researching and developing a tiny little chip which upscales your DVD’s. The end result is as fine a picture you will get from DVD so far. For those of you out there that enjoy a good fiddle, you’ll be pleased to hear the LE 40b650 has a host of settings options so you can fine tune your picture to your hearts content.
INS AND OUTS?
Much as you would expect, Samsung provide you with all the ports you require: 4 HDMI’s, VGA, Ethernet, headphones, audio, 2 scarts, 2 USB’s, Common Interface and composite. All are well labeled for those new to the “big TV game”!
PICTURE QUALITY
Oozes style and its sleek look impresses. Lovely rounded bottom. Maybe slightly chunky for those of you who prefer micro-thin. Personally I don’t – give me Monica Belluci over Keira Knightly any day of the week.
CONCLUSION
Fantastic picture quality with rich contrast and tone in Standard or High Definition. The internet capabilities bode well for the future and the TV is a stylish example of contemporary units. Speaker quality leaves a bit to be desired and the widgets and internet content are limited at present. A little blurring and lagging from the more intense games means that console gamers could be turning the air blue more than once.
Til next time
RSS
E-Mail
Tweets
1 Comments
tell you what buddy thats a flying start. an enjoyable read and still informative to boot. congrats.
Dont be afraid to bad mouth products. I think the intro paragerpah is really good but could have a better lead into the product for which you are about to review.
eg “The summer months are normally dreadful for television. The terrestial ……anyone? Quick, get it trademarked!).” So is the SAMSUNG LE 40B650 LCD TV the TV that steps up to the mark… or will be another wanna be model..
ok so my ending is not up oto the scratch that your might be, but thats why you do th writing and I dont, but you get my drift.
Keep it up squire.