46 SAMSUNG LE46A786 1,600 APPROX www.samsung.co.uk
The bezels blue tint is less obtrusive than its red-fused rivals
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Giant leap for LCD
Samsung nally introduces the Series 7 range of LCD TVs to the UK, and the next generation of its LED backlighting too. Rik Henderson is agog
etting to the summit of a mountain can be hard. Staying there while others are taking pot shots at you can be much harder. Stallone in Cliffhanger. Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me. Samsung. With the Korean giant also now the global giant, other atpanel manufacturers are playing catch up, and black-suited henchmen are bearing arms, teeth and credit crunch vouchers to try to steal its crown. However, to date, theyve failed. Samsungs aggressive pricing is matched by the resilience of its R&D departments to enforce premium quality, and the upshot is some of the best atpanel TVs on the market for some of the best prices. The LE46A786, from the companys Series 7 range of LCDs, is one such telly. At just over 1,500 for a 46in TV, it already represents an attractive proposition, but considering that you get an Ultra Clear Panel 100Hz screen with LED backlighting for your wodge, its a steal. And it looks great too, especially as its the rst Sammy TV with a Crystal Design surround that isnt spattered with red. This one has a blue tint haloing the fascia, and I prefer this colour. Im convinced its better than the red when it comes to everyday movie-viewing for the simple reason that its less distracting. Of course, I havent lived with either screen for weeks on end, so it may be
Product: 46in Series 7 LCD TV with LED backlighting and WISELINK Pro technology Position: Not quite as feature-laden as its Series 8 and 9 stablemates, but still higher-end than most rival panels Peers: Sony KDL46W4000; Philips 47PFL9703D; Panasonic TH-46PZ85B
a case that you get used to both of them over time just to say that I think Id rather spend the time getting to know the blue than the red.

Black magic

To be honest, though, as much a talking point the Lethal Bezel (one of mine for the Samsung marketing department) may be, its a mere sideshow to the 786s main story. Quite simply put, this LCD TV has the best blacks Ive seen for the technology yet. Theyre so impressive that it could comfortably eat at the same table as a Gen 9 Pioneer Kuro plasma. More amazingly, as our Tech Labs tests conrm, this specic TV even offers a contrast ratio thats around ve times higher than the aforementioned plasma. Staggering. Its down to the LED backlighting. Rather than use the strip lighting system found on most other LCD panels, the backlight on the 786 is made up of 640 individual LED bulbs, that can be switched on and off when needed. If the picture in a specic zone is bright, the LEDs are on; dark, they switch off completely. Of course, as theres only 640 of them to illuminate over two million pixels, theres still some light bleed during normal viewing, so it cant exactly match the Kuros precision, but then there is that contrast ratio. Manufacturers claims of 2,000,000:1 aside, the real world contrast ratio gure of 223,864:1
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48 REVIEWS

Specifications
HD Ready: YES up to 1080p, with 24fps Progressive scan: YES PAL and NTSC Digital TV tuner: YES plus CI slot for Setanta Sports Scart: YES two (one RGB) Component video: YES one set of inputs HDMI/DVI: YES four v1.3 HDMI PC input: YES one VGA input Sound: SRS TruSurround XT (2x 10W) Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Brightness (claimed): 500cd/m2 Contrast ratio (claimed): 2,000,000:1, with dynamic contrast Dimensions (off stand): 1,172(w) x 712(h) x 98(d)mm Dimensions (on stand): 1,172(w) x 712(h) x 300(d)mm Weight (on stand): 29kg Other features: 100Hz Motion Plus; Smart LED lighting; Ultra Clear Panel; Anynet+; WISELINK Pro; USB 2.0 port; optical digital audio output

Tech Labs

(after calibration) is still incredible. I cant remember seeing such results come from the testing procedure before. In future, an OLED panel will almost denitely be close, but manufacturers are devising ways to run content directly on the screen without the aid of a separate player, usually using an USB stick, but Samsung has gone one better. As well as offering a tastily tarted-up menu system that plays MP3s and JPEGs (including slideshows), this TV can play DivX, XviD and even HD video les (H.264). Considering you can t around ve hours of compressed video on a 2GB USB memory stick, youll use this feature more often than youd expect. I could go on the remotes quite nice, and the built-in speakers are perfectly adequate but this TVs prowess ultimately comes back to the picture quality, and those blacks. Bar one nitpick never, I repeat, never use the optional edge enhancement feature for any hi-def content, it ends up looking articial, with more halos than a stained-glass window the images on the 46A786 are extraordinary. Standard-def DVDs look amazing, with a sense of depth only exceptional black level response can offer. Freeview transmissions are less impressive (a caveat of digital terrestrial TV itself) but at least they hold colour, and text scrolls maintain integrity. However, its with HD that this telly sings like a chorister. A 1080p24 Blu-ray release pings on this screen. Its like an Armani mini-dress on Sienna Miller, the t is just so right. I think Ive seen the future of LCD televisions. And I like it

Crystal Ball: Is this LED-lit Samsung the future of LCD TVs?
current plasma TVs cant quite match LCDs in one specic area, brightness.
While the LED backlight switches completely off for a black screen, the bulbs can also shine much brighter than a gas-lled pixel the upshot being extreme contrast levels. Whether itll make that much of a difference during average viewing is debatable. Still, its nice to know that the screen is so capable. Another image-related feature to be found on this Samsung is the companys proprietary 100Hz Motion Plus processing. Its worth mentioning for a couple of reasons as, a) the technology is vastly improved today over former iterations, which often added more problems than they solved, and b) this is the rst instance Ive seen where 100Hz processing is offered in varying grades. You can chose to switch it off completely (best for games and HD movies), or have it on low, medium or high levels. I found medium to be the best setting, especially for sports, but I advise giving each a whirl until youre comfortable with the results. The panel comes with several presets anyway, and theyll do a lot of the hard work for you. Another noteworthy feature is WISELINK Pro. Almost all
With this Samsung, our contrast measurements were almost off the scale compared to the average for LCD sets. Colour temp needed a good deal of adjustment, though. It initially measured very hot at 9,842K (Point A), but considerable tweaking of R/G/B settings achieved an excellent 6,505K. Before calibration Colour temperature: 9,842K RGB: 87/100/138 Luminance: 68.95fL Contrast ratio: 234,080:1 After calibration Colour temperature: 6,505K (warm) RGB: 100/100/100 Luminance: 68.3fL Contrast ratio: 223,864:1

VERDICT

Samsung LE46A786 1,600 Approx Price check: www.techradar.com/472031 Highs: Outstanding black level response; incredible contrast ratio; 100Hz processing Lows: Optional edge enhancement mode creates artefacts Performance: Design: Features:

Overall:

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