New Samsung 'R7' series

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  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    Samsung 26" LCD iDTV. Price: £674 from 247AV.

    I’ve had a couple of days to play with it, so here are my initial thoughts. Please bear in mind that I’m comparing this LCD TV with my 3-year old Sony KD-28DX50 CRT iDTV, and my extensive experience with LCD PC monitors.

    The first thing that hits you is the size: the 28” CRT and the 26” LCD have the same screen size, but the Samsung ‘hides’ in my lounge whereas the Sony dominated it! The casing is a gloss black with a subtle silver V-shaped port for the speakers at the bottom. Personally I prefer this to the very distinctive triangular speakers of the previous Samsung range. The remote control is long, thin and black, with a thick rear end. All the useful buttons seem to be right at the bottom (EPG, picture and sound modes), so it’s a bit hard to hold the remote and press them.

    OK, plug it in. The Samsung does a ‘plug and play’ install and sets all the analogue and digital channels. The picture: amazingly bright, high contrast and vivid (almost day-glo) colours. I’m planning to watch Freeview a lot of the time, and the SD digital quality is as least as good as my old Sony, which was very good. The four pre-defined picture modes: Dynamic, Standard, Movie and Custom make a noticeable difference. Dynamic is very bright, super high contrast and highly coloured, so it shows off what the LCD is capable of. I quickly started fiddling with the other modes to try to ‘tone it down’ a bit, back to my old CRT levels.

    So, the big question: is LCD better or worse than CRT? I’d have to answer: it’s “different”. Colours look different, in the same way that pictures from a mid-range digital camera look different to those taken by a film camera. The way contrast is handled is different. I can see why people who move from CRTs might find this a shock and say their old CRTs are “better”. It’s just different, and no-one likes sudden changes – we all like to stick to our old ways. Maybe because I’ve spent a lot of time watching videos and DVDs on my PC’s LCD monitor it’s not an issue with me.

    What about the other contentious issues with LCD: blacks and motion blur. To test black levels I sat and watched a few episodes of ‘Lost’, which must be the greatest challenge as most of it happens in the dark! Blacks looked… well, black! Yes, there is some residual light from the backlight but nothing bad. My Sony CRT (which may not be typical) had faint purple banding on dark pictures anyway, so this is no worse. I’m pleasantly surprised by the ‘black’ performance.

    Motion blur? I watched a bit of football last night and it didn’t seem a problem to me. I sometimes wonder if what people are seeing is in fact a result of the digital encoding of the signal: particularly with Freeview, which is a lower bandwidth than Sky digital. The effect is best seen on the lower bandwidth Freeview channels like E4 (which is worse than E4+1). Their purple backgrounds can look terrible as the encoder/decoder tries to make sense of all the subtle colour shades. Anyway, to summarise, the LCD didn’t seem much different to CRT.

    Sound: The sound is thinner than my CRT with much less bass. I’m sure this has something to do with the CRT being a solid frame weighing 50kg and the LCD being a thin plastic frame weighing 10kg! The physics does not allow the LCD to move as much air. The speakers in the Samsung 26” are rated at 2x5W whereas the 32” and larger are 2x10W. Having said that the virtual Dolby works much better than my old Sony, and the Samsung has four sound modes to distinguish between music, voice and movies as well and ‘standard’ and ‘custom’.

    Picture in Picture (PIP) fans who want to watch Freeview will be disappointed: there is no PIP option when watching DTV. It works with analogue and any other external source (including PC), but no way will it work in any combination with the digital tuner. In general, you get the feeling that the software was not designed with DVB in mind, as it leans toward the analogue functions first. However as said above DVB looks great.

    What I really wanted this LCD for was as a screen for my Media PC, which is going to be acting as a PVR and playing DVDs. The first shock was that I had to connect the PC using VGA D-sub and not DVI. The manual says you cannot use DVI for a PC source unless it specifically uses an HD mode such as 720p, 1080i etc. I guess some new PCs (such as the latest Sony VGX series) can do this, but most can’t. Anyway I connected the PC via VGA and I was greeted by a great picture. The LCD reports a 1360 x 768 resolution through the graphics cards, and I can live with just losing 3 pixels each side of the screen (and I know you can tweak this in software). Having a 26” monitor is great, and it played some HD avi’s really well, but I want to download some more HD stuff when I get the time.

    So a summary (for now): Good points: Great sharp and colourful picture. Nice quality Freeview tuner. PC connectivity works OK, albeit via VGA. Looks great in your room!
    Bad points: Sound a bit thin. Unfriendly remote. Limits on PIP use with Freeview.

    I’ll post some photos of the screen when I can find somewhere to host them and link to them.

    Any regrets? I only wish I had bought a 32” instead to get the same positive experience – only bigger!
  • Blake ConnollyBlake Connolly Posts: 9,509
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    Cheers for the review Stig, had a look in PC World at the 40" they had on display there and it does indeed look lovely.

    Got a feeling that black gloss finish will be covered in fingerprints before long, though..!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3
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    I've been following this thread from the start. I recently bought the LE26R41BD from Costco for £587.48 (incl. VAT) and was very pleased with it.. great features, picture and a 3 year guarantee!

    I went back the following week only to find that they had the LE26R74BDX/XEU for the same price. After reading the messages on this forum I decided to exchange the R41 with the R74 which I am very happy with so far. It is missing a few features like the 'my colour' settings but it's thinner, lighter and has (in my opinion) a much better remote than the R41.

    My question is this: Play.com have a R7 which has a smaller silver 'v' at the bottom of the case and the power button on the black plastic. The model I bought has a slightly bigger 'v' with the power button on the silver part of the TV..

    Both have the identical model number etc. but which one is the proper UK spec? :confused:

    I could post links for the two versions if it would make it clearer.

    Cheers!
  • dpmarshalldpmarshall Posts: 572
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    Can anyone help me? I can't seem to find or figure out the difference between the R74 and R73 series - in particular the 40" models.

    Thanks
    Dave
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    dpmarshall wrote:
    Can anyone help me? I can't seem to find or figure out the difference between the R74 and R73 series - in particular the 40" models.

    Thanks
    Dave

    R71B = Blue (bottom) + Black (casing)
    R72B = Silver + Black
    R73BD = Blue + Black + DVB - T tuner
    R74BD = Silver + Black + DVB - T tuner
    R71W = White

    [Shamelessly pulled from AVForums.com]
  • dpmarshalldpmarshall Posts: 572
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    Stig wrote:
    R73BD = Blue + Black + DVB - T tuner
    R74BD = Silver + Black + DVB - T tuner

    Ah-ha! No wonder I couldn't see any differences on the spec sheet. :)

    LE40R74BD for me then.

    Dave
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    jvinc wrote:
    Play.com have a R7 which has a smaller silver 'v' at the bottom of the case and the power button on the black plastic. The model I bought has a slightly bigger 'v' with the power button on the silver part of the TV..

    Both have the identical model number etc. but which one is the proper UK spec? :confused:
    The picture of the LE26R74BDX on Play.com is wrong, and shows one of the other models (R73?).

    The design is the same as the LE32R74BDX which has the power button on the silver speaker port, for which Play have got the right picture.
  • scoobiesnacksscoobiesnacks Posts: 3,055
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    Has anyone seen a white coloured one for sale in the UK? I want one for the bedroom
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3
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    Cheers for that Stig! Now when is Samsung going to release the UK details on their site? There are so many conflicting specs for the R7 (3/4) models on their sites around the world.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3
    Forum Member
    Just had a look at Samsung's UK website.. they have now got the UK specs for the R7 range. Finally, the 71/2/3/4 specs are being made available. Guess I spoke too soon!
  • late8late8 Posts: 7,175
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    Great report. I think the R7 is for me too. Cant wait for the pictures. (lets you see how other people have set there screen)
    I think the 10bit processing on the new range makes the colours a lot better, however i'm concerned about how the quality of freeview looks, its obviously going to be worse than a CRT, but is it a real noticeable difference?
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    jvinc wrote:
    Just had a look at Samsung's UK website.. they have now got the UK specs for the R7 range. Finally, the 71/2/3/4 specs are being made available. Guess I spoke too soon!
    The link is here.

    They have information on the R71, R72, R73 and R74 series!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13
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    Hi,

    Firstly let me say a big thanks to all involved in this thread.
    I was on the verge of purchasing the 41BD (26") but after
    finding this thread I have changed my mind and it looks like
    I am going for the 74.

    I have a couple of questions.

    Primarily the 74 is going to be used for my Xbox 360, I have
    a lead that has a digital audio connector, and will I be able
    to use this on the 74. Secondly I am going to use the 360's
    ability to connect to a XP Media Centre PC and stream
    movies etc, has anyone used their 360 as an XP Media Centre Extender?

    I have read elsewhere that 26" LCD TV's are the best size
    for picture sharpness etc... After that you start to loose
    picture quality, is this true?

    One again many thanks, especially to Stig for a great review!

    MBS
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    MBS wrote:
    360, I have
    a lead that has a digital audio connector, and will I be able
    to use this on the 74.
    The R74 has a digital audio out, not in. The speakers aren't so brilliant you would choose to play all your audio through them.
    Secondly I am going to use the 360's ability to connect to a XP Media Centre PC and stream movies etc, has anyone used their 360 as an XP Media Centre Extender?
    Yes, I've done this (but not on the Samsung) and it works great.
    I have read elsewhere that 26" LCD TVs are the best size for picture sharpness etc... After that you start to loose picture quality, is this true?
    All the Samsungs have the same resolution (1366x768) whatever the size, so you could say that the smaller the screen the sharper the image. However, in reality you wouldn't notice this. Get a screen which suits your room and your budget.
  • sicknote10sicknote10 Posts: 4,497
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    picked my 32" R73 up today :D looks gorgeous :D

    SD pictures via sky+ are watchable as long as your the correct distance away from the tv

    plugged my old xbox with HD component leads into it and played some 720p xvids, they look excellent (but my poor internet connection from now on downloading them! :( )
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    sicknote10 wrote:
    picked my 32" R73 up today :D looks gorgeous :D
    Does it have a blue stripe? ;)
  • sicknote10sicknote10 Posts: 4,497
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    its more black than blue, and isnt shiny/glossy like the photos on samsungs website :D
  • sicknote10sicknote10 Posts: 4,497
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    poor photo i took earlier on my mobile:

    http://www.sicknote.org.uk/upload/files/samsung-le32r73bd.jpg
  • louise1966louise1966 Posts: 4,012
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    Has anyone seen a white coloured one for sale in the UK? I want one for the bedroom


    Apparently, this one is aimed at those who want a full sized LCD TV in the kitchen, but you could put it in any room you wish!

    I'm gonna have one for the kitchen, and the 32" for the lounge.
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    I've not uploaded my photos yet, but someone else has taken some nice ones that you can see here (for a while at least).
  • late8late8 Posts: 7,175
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    Stig wrote:
    I've not uploaded my photos yet, but someone else has taken some nice ones that you can see here (for a while at least).
    The pictures look quite impressive. Looks like the TV handles DVD very well. SD Television looks ok too, better than a thought. I think the 26" is the one for me (although the pictures are the 32" 5000:1 )
  • sicknote10sicknote10 Posts: 4,497
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    i'll take some high quality photos of mine later, for those who want to buy the r73 from dixons/currys (think i saw a code somewhere that took £250 of the price, if only i had known about it last week!)
  • sicknote10sicknote10 Posts: 4,497
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    taken a quick one here: http://www.sicknote.org.uk/upload/files/newtv-xboxmediacenter.jpg

    then noticed the flash was making the blue stripe show up :p will take some more tomorrow and try and get it to look like how it does to my eye


    out of interest, anyone hooked their's up to a AV Receiver/Home Cinema system? thinking of buying one next week and would love some recommendations to ones that work well with this tv :) thanks!
  • shades8438shades8438 Posts: 563
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    hi,
    I guest no one hear has had both the R4 and R7 series LCD screens.

    And is there they much an impovment?

    As the spec sheets don't look that much diffrent excpt for the spec sheet for the R7 series has the response times like 8ms while the R4 spec sheet does not and what is the R4 serise response time anyway?

    thanks for the help and for the information I own a R4 series 26 inch freeview that I got about sept last year.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 51
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    I've been thinking of getting the LE26R41B and reading this thread made me go and check the new 74 series. Page 5 of the pdf manual states; 'Do not attempt to connect the HDMI/DVI connector to a PC or Laptop Graphics Card. This seems to be related to the TV's 'compatible video output modes' 480i/p, 576i/p, 720p,1080i. Ok, so Samsung says, HDMI 'allows the transmission of high definition digital video data and multiple channels of digital audio (5.1). I'm ok so far.
    I know DVI only sends video, and there are 3 different types of DVI connections (DVI-A for analogue, DVI-D for digital and DVI-I for both. But most graphic cards are probably like my Sapphire ATI 9550 with a DVI-I connector for integrated analogue and digital video output. Its supposed to be HDCP compliant too, so I can't understand why you can only connect your HDMI/DVI cable to STBs, DVDs, or game consoles. If say, you wanted to play some of the Microsoft HD clips at 720p, to test getting HD from your PC, would it work then, which I assume is what Stig's (very helpful) review was referring to, or is it completely no go ? (Anyone else tested this?) Are all LCD TVs with only a HDMI connector like this or just Samsung?
    (There's an LG 26LX2R with HDMI and seperate DVI-i connectors). While I'm ok with connecting the PC through VGA, it will mean only analogue from the PC to TV. There must be others who'd like to use their HDTV as a HD monitor as well, and I'm under the impression that with other manufacturers, like the LG, you can? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
    Thanks for any feedback.
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