Samsung PS50Q97HD review

Performance
Easily the best thing about this television is that it works some magic on Freeview. On such a large screen we would expect digital TV to look decidedly rubbish, but that's not the case with this screen.

While the images were nowhere near HD quality, they were far from shabby, looking crisp with plenty of detail. Watching the Chelsea Flower Show coverage on BBC One proved that the TV does a pretty good job with colour reproduction, too.

High definition was even better, with nice, sharp images and natural-looking motion. The TV's built-in movie mode does a good job of smoothing out the jerkiness associated with film, but it does so in such a way that the look of the film isn't altered too much -- a nice overall balance.

On the rear are two HDMI ports, however unfortunately they're only HDMI 1.3

The picture isn't without fault, though -- we noticed that there was a lot of dot noise, which are tiny speckles over the picture. When there is black on screen they are especially noticeable. This problem did spoil the overall quality slightly, although it was only really obvious close up. From greater distances it reduces the black level slightly, but not to disastrous levels.

Sound quality was pretty good. During the scene in Serenity where we first see the ship being piloted, we could pick out the speech that happens off camera. This is a good sign as on some flat-panel televisions this is drowned out by sound effects.

There are several sound modes, so there is likely to be a setting that allows you to get the best out of the programme you are watching. There are also manual controls too, which should enable you to get a sound balance that suits you.

Conclusion
If you're looking for a massive TV, this is a good option at a sensible price. We've seen better pictures on plasmas from Pioneer and Panasonic, but they cost a lot more.

The impact of such a large screen outweighs many of the problems, but we'd still prefer it if Samsung reduced the screen noise -- it does diminish the overall picture quality.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Kate Macefield