Samsung’s LN46A950 Reviewed (LCD TV)
Reviewed by: David Katzmaier @ Cnet.com
Reviewed on: 09/10/2008
Released on: 09/01/2008
Comprehensive Expert review of Samsung’s LN46A950 LCD
Samsung's LN46A950 LCD TV Reviewed
We’ve mentioned before that when it comes to black-level performance, the most-important factor in home theater image quality, you get what you pay for. Samsung’s 46-inch LN46A950 is just more proof. This flat-panel LCD represents the company’s second generation to offer a backlight based on cutting-edge LED (light-emitting diode) technology, and the picture it produces is impressive enough to rival the best plasmas. With a price like this ($3,499 list), we should hope so. Samsung justifies that price by squeezing just about every available feature into the LN46A950’s flat frame, but at the end of the day, what you’re paying for isn’t interactivity or picture control or extra inputs–it’s the picture. And until something better comes along, which may happen soon with other makers’ first LED displays coming later this year, the Samsung LN46A950 is the most advanced television money can buy.
Design
Unlike many of the models in Samsung’s lineup of myriad LCD HDTVs this year, the flagship A950 series doesn’t make a major design statement. We liked the understated color of the frame, which looks like simple black or extremely dark gray at a normal seating distance. From up close, however, we could discern a subtle pattern that looked like nothing so much as fish scales covering the whole frame. Clear plastic overlays the scales and goes with the sleek glass-and-black base, whose pedestal unfortunately doesn’t swivel.
