Samsung LE-52F96BD Review

52in LCD

Picture
Sound
Features
Usability
Value

Sublime HD pictures tempered by disappointing Freeview performance

HD Ready:

yes

Resolution:

1920 x 1080

Rating:

88%

Reviewed: 01 January 2008

Design

Samsung understands the importance of style and how it has become a major element of the overall flat screen package rather than just an afterthought. The visual impact of the LE-52F96BD may not be the only reason why someone might buy this screen, but to see it in the flesh is to witness an artistic masterpiece. Finished in the glossy piano black, there are not many TV's with the visual impact, build quality and style to match the Samsung LE-52F96BD.

Features

The most interesting aspect of the LE-52F96BD is a revolutionary new form of Backlight 'LED Smart Lighting Technology' which is composed of a series of light emitting diodes (LEDs) rather than the static backlight (a single light source) of previous LCD's.

Screen: 52in 16:9

Tuner: Digital

Sound System: Nicam

Resolution: 1920 x 1080

Contrast Ratio: 500,000:1

Brightness: 450cd/m2

Other Features: DNIe, LED SmartLighting, Active Colour, Movie Plus.

Sockets: 3 HDMI, 2 Scart, S-video, component video, PC input.

It is worth mentioning at this point that an inherent flaw with LCD technology stems from the fact that unlike Plasma it does not generate its own light. As a result, truly deep blacks are difficult to achieve as the 'always on' backlight is prone to light seepage.

LEDs on the LE-52F96 can be selectively turned on or off depending on what the current scene demands. In theory, black levels should see a dramatic improvement with no contamination from a backlight.

Samsungs trusty Digital Natural Image Engine (DNIe) forms the picture processing heart of the LE-52F96. The technology focuses on improving black levels, colour saturations, tone and picture sharpness.

DNIe has four main feature areas, Motion Optimizer, Contrast Enhancer, Detail enhancer and Colour Optimizer, and has a track record of producing impressive results on previous Samsung screens.

The LE-52F96BD is a full HD enabled 1080p screen with a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. This enables the panel to map a 1080i source such as Sky TV exactly, pixel for pixel onto the screen with a potentially far superior picture than an LCD which has to scale 1080i to fit a smaller resolution.

An impressive 3 HDMI inputs (v1.3) are joined by 2 Scarts along with the usual Component, Composite and S-video inputs. There is also a D-sub PC feed along with a USB port for JPEG and MP3 playback.

Performance

The High Definition (HD) performance of the LE-52F96BD illustrates just how effective Samsung's LED Smart Lighting Technology is at producing some of the deepest blacks we have seen on an LCD TV.

Against the improved backdrop of deeper blacks, colours look terrific with a vibrancy that only a few other LCD's can match. As we have come to expect from HD sources, pictures are sharp and accurate, and the colour tones produce wholly realistic results even in the most demanding scenes. The whole HD effect on the LE-52F96 produces what can only be described as a sublime viewing experience.

If the availability of HD was more widespread, the LE-52F96 would certainly be described as one of the best LCD TV's available. Unfortunately, for the majority of us, Standard Definition viewing still constitutes the largest chunk of our TV viewing schedule. Having experienced such an accomplished HD performance for the Samsung, it was a big disappointment to find the SD abilities of this screen wanting.

To be fair to Samsung, most 50in panels struggle with any form of standard definition pictures, but ultimately there are better Plasma and LCD performers than the LE-52F96 in this respect.

SD pictures benefit from the excellent black levels and motion handling abilities, but the Achilles heal of this screen is the amount of video noise from SD sources. Also, the LED backlighting system produces a slight 'halo' effect with bright light surrounded by darker elements.

Conclusion

The Samsung LE-52F96 with its revolutionary backlight technology promised so much and in part delivered with a stunning HD performance. Ultimately however the standard definition performance is just of the pace and unless the LE-52F96 forms the backbone of a dedicated home cinema system it will be hard to live with.