Samsung LE40A786 'smart LED' 40in LCD TV
Multiple LEDs make for a plasma-style picture
Review When flatscreen TVs first arrived, they were expensive and had picture quality considerably inferior to traditional CRT screens. But they meant that large screens were a possibility without taking up acres of real estate in the living room. And although picture quality wasn't so good, the TVs looked great with the picture off. Better, often.
Samsung's LE40A786: clever LED backlight and blue edging
Now that image quality is so much improved, prices have come down and - oh yes - they don't make CRT TVs in any significant numbers any more, flatscreen makers have continued to make sure their tellis look good with no picture showing. So Samsung introduced its popular "Rose Black" styling, with a hint of red glowing through the gloss frame from certain angles and in strong light.
This model, part of Samsung's 7 series of LCDs, goes for a new hue, "Ocean Black", so it's blue that gleams at you. It's subtle but effective, only really leaping out on sunny days and disappearing pleasingly in dimmer rooms. This frame edge is the finishing touch on a stylish TV. The frame isn't as narrow as some of the latest models, but the clear plastic around the Ocean Black sets it off well.
But of course you'll want to switch it on too, and there's a touch-sensitive button on the front of the frame to help you. Touch gently on the frame and the red standby light flicks into a column of blue lights and - just so you don't miss it - a little tune plays. Hmm.
Touch-sensitive controls
Once it's on, Samsung has crammed a lot of technology into this baby, including full 1080p HD, a 100Hz frame refresh rate and LED backlighting. But instead of one blanket covering of light from a strip bulb, this TV uses a number of LED arrays which are individually adjustable. So when there are dark areas on screen, the TV turns off the relevant arrays to deliver deeper blacks and greater contrast levels than is possible with regular LCD.
COMMENTS
Monitors.
A mid range/hi-end HD graphics card and a 1080p monitor blows this it out of the water -with alot of change left over! Maybe not as big a screen but the picture quality completely makes up for that.
@Glenn
Im actually after one of these beauties in the 46" size...where did you get yours from and would you recommend it...
Got to replace my 2 and half year old Samsung Plasma...proper workhorse!
Plasma beating blacks with no burn-in risks....its a no brainer!
True, a Plasma may not run 550w all the time, but neither do the low voltage LED's on the back of the set, after all when the picture is mostly black thats because 0w is going to the LEDs in that section giving a true black, not the almost blacks on most Plasmas. What I do know is when ever I go near the new LED LCD the heat given out is a fraction of what the Plasma used to pump out. Probably due to its normal operational power usage of 240w, half of the 550w you mentioned.
I'm not denying a Kuro is a good TV, I've watched films on my friends 1yr old 50" Kuro (what he has in his "cinema room" becuase he doesn't want to ruin his £1200 TV by watching Sky with all its pesky logos), but I know that the plain-bow effect is still visible on that TV, even at its lowest light levels it will still chomp on almost the full 240w the LEDs pump out on an all white screen, and the best bit is an actual measured everyday non-dynamic contrast ratio of at least 500,000:1 (measured by users on AVForums with correct diagnostic equipment) and ZERO chance of burn-in at those levels. Current Plasmas can come close without ghosting being a risk, their not only in the same league, its not even the same sport. My plams, even with pixel orbiting on, would burn a channel logo / sports score in if you watched the same thing for more than an hour - leaving a slightly blurry but still burned in image - never a risk anymore!
Me, I'll watch my LED LCD over a Kuro and day of the week. Its just less fussy for normal TV watching and amazing for films, an amazing all-rounder.
@Scott McKenzie
For someone who seems to know a lot, you know little about the power consumptions of plasmas.
Pssst, I'll give you a clue. They don't run full tit (550w) all the time - power consumption varies with the amount of light in the image. Of course working out the AVERAGE power consumption is just toooo hard for anyone, so it's easier (but very misleading) to quote the MAX power consumption.
The (now old) argument was that on average a plasma isn't that much more consumptive than an LCD (which is running at max all the time). However these new generation ones that turn their backlights off take the game back to LCD.
Me, I'd have the top end Kuro ANY day of the week.
Better than a plasma - I've just switched
I bought the 46" version of this TV 2 weeks ago, sold my crappy 50" Plasma that had image retention problems from day 1, was less than a year old, and let me tell you, LED LCD beats it hand down!
Everybody who's been round my house since I got the TV remarks on how much better the picture is, and that's just standard upscalled cable on Virgin V+ box. Even my wifes friends who know pretty much nothing about technology are amazed at the picture.
The blacks are so much better, it uses less power, pumps out less heat, and oh, I can leave this with a static image on screen or play a game for hours on end and it won't burn in. Plasma's are more trouble than they're worth - will never buy one again after viewing this set.
Set it to SmartLED mode and 100Hz mode to low and sport becomes very watchable, then turn 100Hz off for 1080p/24hz movies then it trounces any Plasma I've watched for black levels and image detail (if you take the time to calibrate - AVForums has some great guides on this).
If you can, sell you're Fred Flintstone Plasma and get one of these: no screen retention, plasma beating blacks (0 cmd blacks - what Plasma can get near?), no Plain-bow effect. Its win-win-win!
