Network health
Media playback support from USB is good. The TV had no problems playing a test selection of AVIs, MOVs and MKV wrapped video content. Subtitle compatibility is also offered. However, as we’ve seen on other Samsung TVs, network streaming is less reliable. The UE40D6530 prefers you to stream content from a PC, and dislikes negotiating Nas devices. I tried it with an LG, Iomega and Xiva Musicm8, and in all cases the TV failed to recognize my MKVs. A smoother image
Slim pickings
Samsung has done a grand job managing the uniformity of the UE40D6530’s edge-lit LED backlight, and the set delivers a very satisfying black level. Colour vibrancy, a longstanding brand trait, is impressive – new this year is the Wide Colour Enhancer Plus algorithm, which probably helps.
Advanced settings menu
However, what really impressed me about this screen’s performance is the extremely low level of noise in its pictures. Night sky Blu-ray test footage which often reveals luminance fizz, looked clean and naturalistic. The set’s Digital Noise Filter and MPEG Noise filter were both left to Auto during the audition.
Due to the slimline form factor, break out connectors are needed for most of the interfacing
Overall, the image clarity is high. The native motion resolution of this ‘Ultra Clear Panel’ is a relatively high 875 lines. To lift this further, Samsung offers optional Motion Plus picture processing. It comes in several flavours: Clear, Standard, Smooth and Custom. When any are engaged, motion resolution climbs to a full 1080 lines.
Next page: Seeing double
COMMENTS
Low Score
80% is not a low score. You've been conditioned by years of high marking in the media.
If you use a rating system of 0-100% then surely an average product should get 50%? It utterly devalues the scoring system to suggest anything above 75% should be for anything other than exceptional products.
You can't just go around throwing around high scores with abandon otherwise when you do come across a truly great screen what do you do?
It's like GCSE's. They got so devalued that they had to start giving A Star marks because the threshold to get A's was too low but they couldn't hurt the poor little darlings feelings.
LCD
This *is* an LCD TV. It merely has led backlighting, and not even RGB LEDs...
3D seems to be crap
Seems that 3D gets the thumbs down for most TVs these days, which is fair given that the price of the TV appears to double with a feature that's nothing more than a gimmick right now. A slightly older 40" Samsung 1080p with most of the same features would cost no more than $800 (about 500 quid), and probably a lot less if you wait for a decent sale. If you went for LCD rather than LED then you could get a 46" version for that same $800, but you'd also probably be missing most of the internet features too.
Reg Prices and real prices
...are often unrelated, even the Reg often admits the "value on the street" is lower than the RRP they normally quote, sometimes to the tune of a few hundred quid (or one Helen Wood session in alternate Reg units)
