Samsung LE40F71B review

If you want Picture in Picture, the LE40F71B works very well indeed. It's possible to have any input displaying in the secondary window, something that isn't possible on some of the other televisions we've seen.

Two HDMIs, two Scarts and component out are the highlights at the rear

Performance
The lack of Freeview receiver is a big downer -- we can't work out why Samsung hasn't put one in. To see what standard-def pictures look like, we hooked up our Freeview receiver via Scart. It doesn't do too bad a job, although we have seen televisions disguise digital artefacts better than this one does.

Colour looked accurate and the brightness level is good, too, although blacks weren't always as deep as we would have liked. The colour and brightness controls can easily be tweaked to get the most out of the screen.

We are very pleased to see that the television will allow PC input resolutions right up to 1,920x1,080 pixels. We've seen other televisions that support 1080p, but that won't allow a connected computer to output at the full resolution. This results in stretched PC images, which is far from ideal if you're using a media centre.

The strongest area for this television is high-definition material. Watching Superman Returns at 1080p from a Toshiba HD-XE1 was truly stunning, especially the scene where Superman proves he's faster than a speeding bullet. Popping on Happy Gilmore was a genuinely exciting experience. The colour on this film makes it a good test disc -- the Samsung did itself proud. We were also impressed by the sharpness of the picture.

Sound quality was passable -- the hidden speakers aren't really large enough to produce any real bass, but dialogue is easy to understand. If you watch a lot of movies, or want good surround for online gaming, you'll want to add a proper surround-sound setup.

Conclusion
If you want hi-def on the cheap, Samsung's LE40F71B is a good choice. With support for 1080p, it's future-proofed in the most important respect. It's the ideal companion for a games console, however the lack of a Freeview tuner is unforgivable, and there are better televisions at standard-def out there. Ultimately, it can't hold a candle to the Sony Bravia KDL-40W2000, but it is slightly cheaper.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Kate Macefield