Performance
What is most remarkable about this set is its Movie mode. This is a picture preset designed to help you get the best out of your films. Unlike some other picture enhancement modes we've seen, it really works -- watching Serenity with this mode almost completely eliminates film grain from the picture and smoothes the judder normally associated with the conversion process from film to video.
A quick bounce on the basketball courts of NBA Homecourt showed us how good the Xbox 360 can look in game mode at 1080p, with motion blur kept to a minimum. We noticed that the screen did look a little soft, especially when we were in the Xbox dashboard, but that didn't affect gameplay at all.
Black levels on the LE46 are some of the best we've seen on an LCD. This seems to be partially assisted by the plastic screen that covers the LCD, which although does create reflections, also helps deepen the black levels. Pumping up the backlight increases the detail in the picture, but also washes the screen out slightly, making blacks appear grey.
The key to getting the best performance out of this set is to tweak every setting until you have a setup you are happy with. This will take time and patience but the default setup is a long way from ideal, and you'll end up with a fantastic picture if you put some work in. There is even an online guide to help you set the panel up for the best picture quality.
While we did like the picture on the LE46M87, we felt that it was a little soft at times. Adjusting the sharpness can help but it can also cause problems with the outline of onscreen objects, giving them an unnatural halo effect.
The biggest disappointment on the LE46 was the weak sound from the built-in speaker system. Even with the sound well up past halfway, we still had trouble hearing what was going on. There was limited bass too, which is annoying for film viewing. You could argue that people who buy a 46-inch TV should have a separate 5.1 amplifier, but for this kind of cash we'd hope for better quality when you can't be bothered to power on that amp.
Upscaled DVD quality was very good -- we hooked up our Toshiba HD-E1 and used our now regular test disc, The Big Lebowski, which is ideal because it has a broad range of different scenes and lighting conditions. We were very happy with the TV's performance -- film grain, which is usually a problem on DVD, was mostly eliminated by the screen's Movie mode.
Freeview performance on the LE46 was pretty good, too. Obviously the picture was a lot softer than on high definition, but colour was good, and the TV did a fairly good job of minimising the picture degradation caused by MPEG compression. Watching Neighbours and The Weakest Link didn't hold any nasty surprises -- the picture looked reasonably natural.
Conclusion
Samsung continues to create superb televisions for very sensible prices. We think the LE46 is a fantastic looking television, but we also understand that the piano-black finish isn't to everyone's taste.
We are concerned that the TV requires so much tweaking to get the picture looking great -- we would prefer it if Samsung set the TV up for more typical home use rather than for a branch of Currys.
If, however, you are keen to get your hands dirty and don't mind tweaking the settings, you'll love the LE46M87. With some careful adjustment this is a high-quality screen capable of producing some great quality images.
Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Kate Macefield
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Sleepy Mary 22 October 2008
Good: Excellent dark levels, bright screen, easy to use menu system, multifunctional with other samsung hardware
Bad: difficult to get the screen settings right, confusing remote, Poor sound from tv speakers
Comment: Excellent tv for all use with full 1080p for viewing HD and PS3/Xbox 360. Great with Blu ray movies, however the various colour options, i.e. entertainment mode can leave the screen darker than you would expect.
As always with a samsung sound is an issue, however with a decent surrround sound system this is not a problem.
Connectivity is good with 3 HDMI sockets, pc connection and IR link for connecting stereo equipment.
All in all a great tv and well reccommended.
Hawkeye 31 December 2007
Good: Picture is excellent. Needs a little adjustment to get it right but what TV dosent?
Bad: The sound quality is quiet poor. Speakers facing back into a wall cause too much reverberation.
Comment: Quiet honestly, I took it out of the package and mounted it on the table, plugged in my surround sound via optical, my Toshiba HDDVD via HDMI cable and connected in my Sky-box. Done a little adjusting of the picture (I left the picture mode in movie) and hey presto. I really don't see what all the adjustment concerns are all about. At least its easily adjustable. More than I can say for some of the other LCD's I looked at.
HDDVD's provide super on screen quality and with the 5.1 surround sound, I couldnt ask for more. DVD's also came through the screen via the HDDVD player in exceptionally good quality. Overall I'm seriously happy. However, if I didnt have a quality surround sound system or a HDDVD player, I don't think I'd be so happy.
And by the way, when all that was done, I had a look at the manual but it wasnt that much help. TV was easy to set up.
P.S. I am an ex Sony fan. Now all I have left is my VAIO Laptop and my surround sound system. For the money, Samsung is much better value. The wife even bought a Samsung fridge freezer.....
Ray Forde 24 June 2007
Good: It looks good switched off
Bad: It looks bad switched on
Comment: I've just purchased the 37" version of this TV, & I regret it.
The price for 1080p was excellent, and delivery of bright pictures is excellent, but when more demanding pictures are transmitted, this TV is awful.
It arrives with all the Samsung 'magic tricks' buttons switched on, which is why the original picture is awful, and all the reviews state an hour of tweaking is required. Switching all their toys off should have been done at the factory (they don't improve the picture, they ruin it).
In daylight it delivers a picture as washed out as a clapped out Rear-Projection TV.
After hours of adjustments, the picture in a dark room can become very good.
However, feed it a dvd with any amount of movement, and it fails like a tricycle in a Formula 1 race (I played Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, for the amazing cinematography; but the scenes in the dark produce a totally black screen. If you boost the brightness it decides that the 'blacks' are psychadelic purple, and as for the fast moving fight scenes... they'd be comical if it wasn't for all the money I'd spent. The moving bodies leave such a vapour trail they're almost a total blur. You really need to see it to realise had bad it is).
Samsung advertise these TVs as having amazing black, and that would be great, but only if it's combined with amazing whites (I dont want to stare at a totally black rectangle for night scenes! My previous Sony CRT TV used to show me what was happening in these scenes, the Samsung doesn't). Their idea of 'amazing black' is to turn any shade other than illuminated by bright sunshine, into a blackness.
As for Freeview, it delivers what I can only describe as a 'picture hiccup' every minute or so (a picture freeze, and jump-back, for a split second). You know it's coming, so you can't ignore it.
The remote control is the most ridiculous I've ever seen!!! 8 inches long, with many buttons too small to press, on the very bottom edge (so it's a 2-hand job to operate it).
You also do not have the option to reorganise/renumber the stations (unless you first create them as 'favourites'... why? I want to reorganise all my stations, so I can change channel using the numerical buttons, not by going into different folders & scrolling through).
The Movie Mode (to reduce juddery images) should be renamed The Button That Does Nothing Of Any Use At All (which at least is different to the other Samsung Magic Features, as they totally ruin the picture altogether).
The expert reviews have been mixed for this set (although they all agree about the poor set up from delivery).
This is my first HD tv, so my opinions aren't compared to other LCD TVs (unlike the expert reviews, and this TV may compare favourably to others), but for Joe Public, who's excited about their first HDTV, this TV will turn that excitement to disappointment very quickly.
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