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By Philip Wong, CNET Asia
Apr 30, 2007

Though most guys will chant non-stop on the importance of performance over design, there is no doubt about the rising popularity of this once forgotten consideration. The stylish Bordeaux R7 is a fine example of this evolving trend. Launched last year, it's a regular entry in our "most popular" chart even till today, despite stiff competition from newer cutting-edge offerings. Now that its Plus successor is hitting the shelves, it's about time the R7 got its long-belated retirement.

Design
Just when we thought Samsung was done churning out aesthetically pleasant flat panels, it has yet again proven its leadership by refining the Bordeaux range to a whole new level. Sporting more curves and a sleek 107mm chassis, the Bordeaux Plus presents an all-round glossy finish with the now iconic wine glass-inspired pedestal stand. New on the plate is a configurable soft blue lighting and an embossed touch-sensitive TV control panel, the latter is another first for a non-boutique brand name and a truly unique proposition for mid-range panels.

	An HDMI port to go with your HD videocams. (click for more information)

There is also hardly anything to nitpick against the layout of the various controls and sockets. To maintain a clutter-free front without compromising usability, the left-mounted A/V inputs are housed within a recessed panel, within easy reach and concealed from the eye. The same applies to the aforementioned TV controls. These are seamlessly integrated within the bezel and almost invisible from far, save the red power indicator which somewhat doubles as a beacon to their location. Fixed and motorized wall-mounting options are also available, starting from S$100 (US$70.28) extra.

Extending the same black theme is the ergonomic remote, brimming with buttons of all shapes and sizes. These conform to the standard layout featured on all its electronics products and offer a nice tactile feel plus adequate spacing. The remote also excels in versatility, featuring multi-device/multi-brand programmability (DVD player, VCR, cable and set-top boxes), plus backlit buttons for volume and channel adjustments in the dark. That's on top of four dedicated keys for basic playback controls, though you will have to settle with a single toggle button for video switching.

Unlike Samsung's past panels, the Bordeaux Plus is a totally different beast altogether when it comes to the software menu. Gone are the skin-deep configurations, now replaced with a comprehensive selection that, we are sure, will please the technophiles. We counted no less than 50 settings covering different aspects of operations from video to audio and power to the new HDMI-CEC function. In fact, we were pleasantly surprised by the presence of grayscale gains and offsets settings--a match made in heaven for advanced SpyderTV Pro calibration.

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