By Philip Wong, CNET Asia
09/06/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/tvs/0,39037585,43361276p,00.htm

The Samsung Series 650 falls right in the middle of the pack for 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 premium 750, it does edge out the 610 with an onboard motion-tuned 100Hz engine. Aside from the unique cut-out of the LG Scarlet and see-through design of the new Bravias, these Samsungs 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.

Design

The LA46A650A1RXXS (LA46A650) is Samsung's latest attempt in aesthetics-driven HDTVs. Possibly its finest design to date, the set oozes style and charms with a mix of familiar sleek bezel and new Crystal Design with a touch of color. From a distance, the TV exhibits 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 the unavoidable caveat of stains and dust woes, Samsung has done a rather fine job in component layout. 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're choices of either a standard or optional motorized bracket.

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.

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 such as saturation to advanced A/V equivalents. Most notable is the backlighting adjustment to optimize shadow details and white balance ideal for indepth SpyderTV Pro calibration. There are also various post-processing options to tailor, among them, 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.

Features

On the surface, the Series 6 is a textbook example of a top-notch performer. Besides sporting a full-HD resolution, it's also on the forefront with its bullish 50,000:1 dynamic contrast for current LCDs. Balancing up the impressive specifications is a blazing-fast 4ms response time, plus a class-leading 178-degree viewing angle. As tantalizing as the fancy figures sound, the underlying Ultra Clear Panel has a glossy rather than matt screen coating. Though Samsung claims it has low reflection property, we did pick up mild plasma TV-like glare during testing. This was particularly visible under mid to strong room ambient lighting.

Together with the new Crystal Design, 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 color and motion optimization. The subsystem goes hand-in-hand with the latter which strengthens primary colors for richer hues and contrast. Making a comeback and exclusive for the higher-end models is its first-gen 100Hz Motion Plus frame rate-doubling system. This was a controversial motion enhancement that debuted in its F8-series and subsequently tuned to minimize nasty "haloing" artifacts.

To handle onboard 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 thumbdrives, 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 5 x 3 thumbnails with companion resolution and file details. You could even program a slideshow using multiple soundtracks of your choice or zoom and rotate a fullscreen photo, too.

Another strong feature of this panel is its delectable selection of A/V ports. For starters, it is one of the rare gems in Asia to brandish four mouth-watering HDMI 1.3 (one side, three rear) inputs. These have much-belated official 1080p24 support for native film 24-frame processing, plus its proprietary Anynet+ one-remote multi-device control. Those using legacy equipment such as the original Xbox 360 will also be delighted with its video-centric 1080p50/60 (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.

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 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 clean grain-free background and almost negligible dot crawl and mosquito noise (fuzzy patches around the contour).

It was another round of gutsy performance from this sleek Korean concoction for 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 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 smooth clarity.

Going native HD 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 managed to partially clean up the haloing artifacts introduced by 100Hz Motion Plus in a panning clip of Bond and the terrorist bomber on a crane. Now, before you dismiss this configurable judder-suppression function altogether, it does work brilliantly for videos and animation such as Pixar's Cars.

Another evidence of Motion Plus' infancy was strobe-like artifacts picked up in HD-HQV's film resolution loss test. This, however, was far from a show-stopper judging from the pristine video resolution loss pattern equivalent 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 actions were fluid through HDMI and component-video from our PS3 and Xbox 360, coupled with stunning eye candy graphics courtesy of the 1080p-encoded Ridge Racer 7 and Need for Speed: Carbon.

To test drive its PC input, we supplied a 1080p feed from an HP laptop. As expected, text turned out sharp, thanks to its pixel-to-pixel mapping. False contouring was non-existent on our color-banding test pattern, too, recreated convincingly in subtle shades. Multimedia-wise, 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.

It was a double whammy when we came to its 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 S$6,999 46-incher. Taking everything into consideration, we felt the LA46A650A1RXXS somehow lacks a unique X-factor (design can be very personal) and it didn't help that the lower-end 610 is going for S$1,000 less.