The Samsung Series 650 falls right in the middle of the pack with its Crystal Design HDTVs, sharing near-identical styling among all three models and differentiated mainly in terms of features. While it lacks the advanced networking of the 100Hz engine. Aside from the unique cut-out of the LG Scarlet and see-through design of the new Bravias, these Samsung TVs are about the flashiest flat panels out in the market. Do they have the inner beauty to melt our hearts, too? Let's find out.
A tint of red adds aesthetic appeal.
Design
The LA46A650 is Samsung's latest attempt at an aesthetics-driven HDTV. Possibly its finest design to date, the set oozes style and charm with a mix of a familiarly sleek bezel and the new Crystal Design finish. From a distance, the Crystal touches lend the TV an alluring tint of red at different viewing angles. The feminine hue is most prominent near the thin LCD frame edges, tastefully contrasted by transparent borders. It has inherited many of its predecessors' classy traits, too. These range from a rear piano finish and soothing rounded corners to the touch-sensitive control and svelte wine-glass swivel stand.
Aside from creating an unavoidable caveat of stains and dust woes, Samsung has done a rather fine job elsewhere — particularly in component layout. On the side, HDMI and USB are well-concealed yet easily accessible on the left. The touch controls, unfortunately unlit again, are embedded on the front lower-right chassis. The new down-firing speakers lined along its bottom are, however, something we're not sure about. This rather unconventional arrangement helps trim bulk, but possibly compromises directional sound clarity. If you're looking at wall-mounting the panel, there are choices of either a standard or optional motorised bracket.
This magic wand glows in orange and has HDMI and TV direct selection buttons.
We could not find any major fault with the pretty and functional remote wand. Fashion-minded users will love its matching hues and sexy curves, while its extensive backlight is a much-welcomed addition. You could set the orange illumination to activate at the press of any button or switched off to conserve battery life. Furthermore, two independent shortcuts are now available to facilitate HDMI source and TV broadcast switching. This is in addition to an "assisted" toggle button that filters A/V feeds to connected inputs. On the whole, this responsive and ergonomic remote controller is easily the best in its class.
Features
On paper, the Series 6 is a textbook example of a top-notch performer. Besides sporting a full-HD resolution, it's also on the technology forefront with its bullish 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Balancing up the impressive specifications are a blazing-fast 4ms response time and a class-leading 178-degree viewing angle. As tantalising as the fancy figures sound, the underlying Ultra Clear Panel has a glossy rather than matte screen coating. Though Samsung claims it has low reflectivity, we did pick up mild plasma TV-like glare during testing. This was particularly visible under mid to strong ambient lighting.
To complement the screens top-end specification, Samsung has rolled out two refined video-processing technologies: DNIe Pro and Wide Color Enhancer 2. Its core image processor, the Digital Natural Image engine Pro, is said to deliver advanced colour and motion optimisation. These technologies combine to strengthen primary colours for richer hues and improve contrast. Returning to the higher-end models is Samsung's first-gen 100Hz Motion Plus frame rate-doubling system. This was a controversial motion enhancement featured in the F8-series, but it has been subsequently tuned to minimise nasty "haloing" artefacts.
Side USB for WiseLink MP3 and JPEG playback.
To handle on-board JPEG and MP3 playback, the LA46A650 has a value-added WiseLink function. Implemented via a high-speed USB port, the system is compatible with the inexpensive thumb drives, portable media players, digital cameras, etc. Two independent user interfaces are provided for easy navigation. It's a simple matter of select and play or compiling a playlist via check boxes for music, while images are presented in 5x3 thumbnails with companion resolution and file details. You could even program a slideshow using multiple soundtracks of your choice or zoom and rotate a full-screen photo, too.
Another strong feature of this panel is its delectable selection of A/V ports. For starters, it is a rare gem brandishing four HDMI 1.3 (one side, three rear) inputs. These have much-belated official 1080p/24 support for native film 24-frame processing, plus Samsung's proprietary Anynet+ one-remote multi-device control. Those using legacy equipment such as the original Xbox 360 will also be delighted with its PAL/NTSC analog compatibility. This is primarily catered for by a pair of component-video and a PC socket all lined up neatly on the rear.
Rounding up the LA46A650's brilliant design is its intuitive and well-structured software menu. Almost every crucial setting is available for tweaking, including fundamental parameters like saturation levels. Most notable is the LCD backlighting adjustment which can optimise shadow details and white balance — ideal for in-depth calibration. There are also various post-processing options to tailor, including the level of 100Hz Motion Plus judder suppression and edge enhancement. If you prefer to rely on its factory presets, there are three picture and three entertainment A/V modes.
Who needs an A/V receiver if you've four HDMIs like on this Samsung.
Performance
For the review proper, we had the Samsung HDTV extensively dialed in via our trusty SpyderTV Pro, driven by a PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Pioneer DV-S969AVi DVD player using Monster cables. We were able to pick up hints of clouding, which are a telltale sign for uneven backlighting, though we cannot rule out the possibility of a batch issue or an isolated case. Putting aside this minor hiccup, we were able to garner some pretty solid TV broadcast pictures. While they may not be as sharp as the Sony Bravia X, these have a clean, grain-free background and almost negligible dot crawl and mosquito noise (fuzzy patches of noise).
It was gutsy performance from this sleek Korean during our synthetic Avia test patterns. The challenging grayscale tracking was handled rather well with the last two shades of black marginally segmented. Same for the color-decoding assessment which was reproduced in a near-perfect balance of red, green and blue. The LA46A650 also did a fine job of minimizing DVD-upscaling jaggies when we put it through HQV's waving American flag test track. These positive observations were more or less verified during the dark ninja assault scene in Blade 2 where shadow details stood out with a good deal of clarity.
Native HD material brought the panel into overdrive mode with pixel-perfect sharpness and pleasant vibrancy. Colors were natural and accurate, which was an added plus for flesh tone realism in Casino Royale's opening Madagascar chase footage. That said, Samsung has only partially addressed the haloing tendencies of 100Hz Motion Plus, with a panning shot of Bond and the terrorist bomber on the crane demonstrating there is still some work to do on this technology. However, before you dismiss this functionality altogether, it does work brilliantly for videos and animation such as Pixar's Cars.
Further evidence of Motion Plus' infancy took the form of strobe-like artefacts during HD-HQV's film resolution loss test. This, however, was far from a show-stopper given the set's pristine video resolution loss performance and relatively effective noise reduction (you've to turn off Edge Enhancement first). If you're an avid gamer, this TV should have little problem living up to your expectations. Onscreen action was fluid via both PS3 and Xbox 360, capably displaying the stunning eye candy of the 1080p-encoded Ridge Racer 7 and Need for Speed: Carbon.
A shot of our senior writer Damian Koh's "cute" tiger played back on the Samsung.
To test drive its PC input, we supplied a 1080p feed from an HP laptop. As expected, text turned out sharp, thanks to the 650's pixel-to-pixel mapping. False contouring was non-existent on our color-banding test pattern, which was convincingly recreated in subtle shades. In terms of multimedia, WiseLink managed to recognize everything we threw at it — from thumbdrives to a Panasonic Lumix camera. Onboard JPEG playback of our 8-megapixel sample shots showed up with plenty of details, clocking 7 seconds of loading time on average. MP3s, on the other hand, were expressive, ideal for jazz, vocal and pop.
Yet Samsung scored a double whammy when it came to the radical audio subsystem. First of all, with directional sounds channeled anywhere but to your ears, stereo imaging naturally collapsed. Then there was the subwoofer omission which strained the speakers — causing distortion when SRS TruSurround was activated. On the brighter side, the mids, highs and loudness were adequate to cater for most programs.
There's a fair mix of hits and misses for this AU$3849 46-incher. Taking everything into consideration, we felt the LA46A650 somehow lacked that unique X-factor — design can be very personal — and the cheaper 610 may offer a slightly better deal.
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