Given that Samsung has now become the UK's number one Television brand without sacrificing a hard-won reputation for innovation, it's fair to say that the arrival on our test benches from the first Television from a new Samsung range feels like some kind of 'event'.
So it momentarily feels a bit disappointing to discover that the very first set we've been sent from Samsung's latest telly range is actually only a mid-range model,
rather than something 'statementy' and flagship-waving.
The LE40B651 is one of a number of Samsung models featuring the “touch of colour” style. In this case, a red tinge highlights the edges from the glossy black/transparent acrylic frame, and I must say that, to these eyes, it looks fairly nice: not quite around the considerably a lot more costly but similar Sony X-Series displays, but nice all the same.
The gloss doesn't stop with the bezel, though: this LCD Tv features Samsung's “Ultra Clear Panel” coating, meaning the whole point looks particularly vibrant and glossy. It's clear that some anti-reflective process has been used, but it's nevertheless going to shine greater than a matte panel, therefore this Tv is best kept out of brighter environments.
The remote manage fits nicely in your hand, as well, causing all of the buttons are well placed, accessible, and much better yet, can be lit up by an optional backlight. The remote control is user friendly, partly thanks to its large buttons which are simple to spot; 1t is also backlit. Again, the remote continues Samsung's love affair with gloss black, which, given being able to pick up scratches and fingerprints, has to be one from the strangest style decisions I've seen lately.
As we'd expect, the LE40B651's mid-range nature is reflected in some of its picture processing, as well - particularly a good a 100Hz engine and frame interpolation program for improving motion reproduction. It's very flexible with its set-up, too.
The best thing of all about the LE40B651 although, is that provided you're careful with its settings, it can produce really outstanding 1mage quality. Colours, for instance, are extraordinarily rich and bright yet also really natural, especially with HD.
It produces black levels, as well, that are in a various league to those of most LCD TVs; deep, rich and credible. Also, HD pictures are superbly sharp and crisp, and this crispness remains mostly intact when things get moving.
Occasionally the 100Hz program creates a flickery processing artefact, but these moments could be minimised by careful tweaking of the 100Hz engine using the ample tools provided.
The remote manage is large and cluttered but the onscreen interface is coherent. Connectivity is respectable: four HDMI inputs and two USB ports. One of these can be used with Samsung's £50 optional wireless 'dongle' if you're unable to plug in an Ethernet cable.
The Television also has about 200MB of storage for preloaded content including pictures and miscellaneous information, which is often added to via USB. Beauty of the Samsung may be the 1mage quality – after a bit of tweaking. You get the level of control over judder and blur reduction that's missed on the Philips and Panasonic, which overcook the image when the processing is unleashed.
Samsung's term for net tellies is Internet Tv, available in many of its newer sets. It's a well laid out system, mostly populated with Yahoo! widgets for webmail, news and other 1nfo. A better fit for Tv browsing is the Flickr photo-sharing website and a Twitter application.
It stores one Twitter account but switching users signifies typing logins from scratch. Writing Twitter updates, even those under the 140-character limit, is slow, owing to the sluggish onscreen keyboard; mobile phone style via number keys would be better. For this reason Twitter on Television is fine for passive following rather than participation but you won't access web links in messages.
Finally, using the B651 with a PC shouldn't be a 1ssue if you use a HDMI cable carrying a video signal at 1920 x 1080 pixels. The display won't half any resizing or cropping. The input lag is close to 40 ms, which is a rather reasonable value for a Television.
