ON TEST / 40IN LCD TV

Verdict Approx price 1,500

Samsung LE40N73BD

The LCD TV that promises a whole new colour dimension
BVery good HD pictures, sumptuous design, good connectivity EStandard-def pictures flawed, slightly feeble audio
YOU MAY HAVE noticed that when you watch a TV especially a atscreen you dont get as expansive a colour palette as you see in the real world. Problems with contrast, phosphor limitations and processing combine to restrict the range of hues available to a display. Cue Samsungs LE40N73BD, a clever 40in beastie that uses a new backlight/phosphor combination to produce in excess of a claimed 30 per cent more of the natural colour spectrum than the majority of rival LCD TVs. But will the evidence of our own eyes back up Samsungs impressive claims? First things rst, though: the home for all this supposed technical wizardry is a mighty pretty one thanks to its extraordinarily glossy and elegant black bezel, offset by a beautifully subtle angled transparent wedge along the TVs underside.

The rivals

/ Sony KDL-40V2000
Not as pretty and a touch more expensive, but its HD performance is as good and its standard denition performance better. Reviewed: Issue 309

Features

The funky design isnt just for show, either. The transparent wedge is designed to bounce sound from the speakers up and out. The speakers themselves are cunningly tucked away along the bezels bottom edge, where they dont detract from the sets minimalist chic.

/ Panasonic TH-42PX60

An excellent 42in plasma, now discounted to the same price as the Samsung. Reviewed: Issue 306
058 / What Video & High-Denition TV / Issue 317

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Want to see more big-screen LCDs? See the Buyers Guide p118
The good rst impressions continue with this Samsungs connections. For starters, two HDMIs and a set of component jacks make for a healthy highdenition setup. Also a cut above the norm are three slots capable of taking 10 different multimedia card formats, plus a USB port the point of all these being to show JPEG pictures from digital camera cards and USB storage devices. Theres even a PictBridge output that enables you to print images straight from the TVs screen! Add to all this a D-Sub PC interface, and digital audio output/ CI slot support for a built-in digital tuner, and you really have got pretty much all the key bases covered. On
Our only gripe is that the default picture settings from the factory are ridiculously exaggerated.

Fact le

/ 40in LCD TV / 1,366 x 768 pixels / HD Ready / XWCG backlight system / DNIe picture processing

Picture

The sets images are a classic game of two halves. With HD sources, theyre frequently outstanding. Yet, disappointingly, they can break down badly when showing some standard-denition sources. Starting with the good, HD stuff, it turns out that the XWCG technology really does make a difference, producing outstandingly vibrant hues that do indeed seem to enjoy a greater range than wed normally see. Also pretty impressive are the TVs black levels, which might not quite live up to Samsungs extravagant 6,000:1 contrast ratio claim, but which certainly get deep enough to avoid excessive greying over of dark scenes. They also certainly increase the punch packed /// by the XWCG system. Hi-def pictures also look pin-sharp, containing oodles of the lovely, ne detailing and clarity that makes HD so special. But this HD sharpness ironically emphasises how soft by comparison standard-denition sources can look. Such sources also appear much more prone to motion blur and can sometimes suffer from colours that slip into looking really quite unnatural. Occasionally theyll exhibit more video noise than wed expect if the DNIe processing was really working as wed like it to. Were not saying that all SD pictures look bad; with a really strong, noiseless source, such as the in-studio segments of Sky News, pictures can still look terric. But as soon as the source is anything less than perfect, the problems begin.

/ Time in Lab: 2 days, 2 hours and 30 minutes / Serial No: N/A 994mm 92mm
Hi-def pictures look pin-sharp, containing oodles of lovely, ne detailing and clarity
top of the wider colour palette technology we referred to at the start of this review (dubbed eXtended Wide Colour Gamut (XWCG) technology by its maker), the LE40N73BD sports the brands proprietary Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe) processing. In keeping with most rival picture processing systems, DNIe focuses the bulk of its algorithms on boosting colour saturations and tones, black levels, motion handling, and ne detailing. Also making its presence felt is the 10-bit video processing thats reckoned to contribute to the TVs extravagant claims of 25.6 billion colours; and an automatic backlight system that adjusts the output brightness depending on how bright the set detects a scene to be. Finally, more utilitarian bits and bobs worth a mention include well-presented and full seven-day electronic programme guide (EPG) support for the digital tuner, plus picture-in-picture options.
Playback Test Colour temperature Contrast ratio Luminance Colour Frequency response

Rating 6,600K 665:1 91fL

Lab notes: The Samsungs performance in the lab doesnt quite live up to some of the companys own extravagant specication claims!

Spec check

Screen size and shape: 40in, 16:9 Tuner: Digital and analogue Sound system: SRS TruSurround XT Resolution (pixels): 1,366 x 768 HD Ready:Yes Quoted contrast ratio: 6000:1 with dynamic backlight Quoted brightness: 500cd/m2 Processing: DNIe Screen dimensions: 994(w) x 647(h) x 92(d)mm Weight: 24.3kg / Other features: 7-day EPG support, XWCG backlight system, Game mode; sleep timer; 10-in-3 JPEG card support; SPVA wide viewing angle tech; 10-bit processing, 25.6 billion colours / Sockets: 2 HDMI inputs; 2 Scarts (1 RGB); PC input; headphone jack; Svideo input; composite video input; CI slot; 10-to-3 card reader; RF jack; USB input; PictBridge output; Stereo audio inputs / Contact: www.samsung.co.uk 0870 2420303

Sound

The LE40N73 unfortunately sounds really quite thin and underpowered with a good movie soundtrack a side effect of hiding the speakers, we suspect. On the upside, though, it does at least sound reasonably clear with normal day-to-day TV.

Ease of use

Theres not really much to complain about here. Aside from some of its buttons being a little small, the remote control is as sensibly laid out as it is elegantly designed. And the onscreen menus are generally highly logical in construction and well presented.

Value

Samsung can usually be relied on to be at the forefront of any at TV price war, and for all its aws, the LE40N73 is mighty good value Z
Another Samsung LCD TV that scores highly for its HD efforts, only to let itself down with its standard dention performance
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