It has been a while since we reviewed a large LCD, especially one from a big S: Samsung, Sony or Sharp. Just when we were thoughtful over this last week, Samsung called to inform us about the release of its LA46F81B LCD TV – which boasts the second-largest screen size in the company’s new F8 series. Sweet.

Design and Features

The product is black all from side to side, and has that touch of gloss that makes Samsung LCDs look, well, shiny. The finish is much better than older models; this one looks finer and more up market. The stand is rectangular for the most part, with a slight bulge on its side tossed in as a design improvement.

The bezel is slim and sexy, while the ease on the front panel is also a positive. The rear panel is bare, with only the connection ports, situated below the central axis. They face outwards, so there’s no need to bend over. The two sides have seamless glass strips, slightly tapering towards the front, again most probably a design factor.

There are no physical buttons anywhere on the front or back of the unit; it’s the left bottom corner that has touch-sensitive symbol buttons, for volume plus/minus etc. Nice. Even the main power switch is a touch-sensitive job located below the Samsung logo on the front.

The connections include an ‘all you can connect’ buffet comprising 3 HDMI INS, one of them along with audio-in for DVI connections. One of the HDMIs is on the side, along with a USB input for MP3 and JPEGs. Component, S video and VGA inputs are there as well.

Samsung has this irksome habit of making a hue and cry over its Dynamic Contrast ratios. Others do it too, but not as much as Samsung. I for one don’t care about the dynamic rating; the native reading is what I want to know, but as part of my job I will state it: 25000:1. It’s full HD, so 1080 lines of pixels make up the screen.

Performance

We fired the chain up with the PS3 and played some HD videos consisting of trailers and other material, plus a Blu-ray montage disc. Then came Burnout Paradise. I forgot that I was reviewing the piece, though that’s another story.

I think I’ll have to eat humble pie, as the contrast is actually very good, though not the best I’ve seen. Even brilliance was high on formality. Samsung has their DNIe stuff which I turned on, it did affect the image quality, though did not totally eliminate slight noise and judder that came out.

These were in acceptable limits, except for some scenes in games which caught my eye through and through, especially in fast scenes. Colour was nice and warm, well balanced – even the heavy reds. The reason I’m being picky in my evaluation is due to the price…

Samsung’s flagship F8 costs Rs 2, 00,000. Is it worth it? Not at this price. The picture is very good, no doubt, but if not the company chops Rs 20,000 off and brings it in the region of the high-end Bravias, I wouldn’t undertaking to say this LCD is value for money. If you’re in the temper to splurge, nothing should stop you from going for it.

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