Samsung LA46A750R1M (46-inch LCD)

By Philip Wong, CNET Asia
Feb 13, 2009

The Samsung Series 7, 8 and 9 HDTVs are truly in a league of their own. Like most Korean consumer electronic products, they are absolutely stunning with eye-catching aesthetics. Their new connected TV functions also set them apart from the competition, enabling entertainment hub-like capabilities ranging from network multimedia streaming to downloading live RSS feeds.

As the most affordable lineup among the trio, the LA46A750 offers the best bang for your buck with a superb blend of fine design, features and performance. Here's why we think it deserves an Editors' Choice.

Design

If you have an appetite for exquisite design and are seeking a flashy display to impress your guests with, Samsung's crystal design with a touch of color styling is once such TV. Its sensuous combination of a thin glossy bezel and inconspicuous red-tinted borders make the LA46A750R1M a ravishing display. That is not all. For garnishing, there're touch-sensitive TV controls with red backlighting and a matching, albeit fixed, glass tabletop stand that can be substituted for a wall bracket. To maintain a clean picturesque front, the bezel features invisible bottom-firing speakers and dual subwoofers lined along the rear.

The placements of its auxiliary A/V jacks are well-conceived as well, within easy reach from the left yet concealed from praying eyes. The Samsung's built-in ports include an HDMI input for HD camcorders, USB to accept storage devices or the bundled Samsung Wi-Fi dongle, and a headphone jack. The chassis' all-rounded mirror finish and modest 98mm depth also mean it is attractive from the side and back but is twice as prone to dust and scratches too. Lastly, unsightly cords can be neatly bundled and routed using an adjustable tie for simple and effective cable management.

Samsung has brought the LA46A750R1M's remote one step closer to perfection with upgraded motion-sensing backlighting. This complements a dedicated backlit key and automatically turns on button illumination at a touch of the controller. Another addition is a scroll wheel for smoother navigation that also doubles as a five-way directional pad. While we've always favored an individual key for each input, Samsung is offering a TV and a smart video button that reprioritize connected jacks on the onscreen menu for easier selection. Furthermore, there's a suite of shortcuts to cover all the media solution functions.

Things were pretty much in order when we checked out its software menu. It's not as sleek as Sony's XrossMediaBar interface, but the tweaking options are aplenty to get the panel properly dialed in. You'll have access to all the basic video settings, including brightness and contrast, plus multilevel advanced variations covering backlight adjustment, white balance, 100Hz MotionPlus, etc. Nonetheless, our biggest gripe here is its limited picture modes (Dynamic, Movie and Standard), though there're three additional A/V entertainment modes preconfigured for sports, movies and games for hassle-free one-button tuning.

Tags: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., TV, entertainment, scroll wheel, cable

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