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 Our Review
With no embellishments from an over enthusiastic design studio or two tone colour schemes, the LE32A457 allows you to appreciate the uncluttered lines of a simple no frills design. While high end LCD TV's demand to be noticed, the A457's glossy black high quality finish creates a quietly classy presence.
Features
Despite falling into the 'budget' flat panel TV category, Samsung's LE32A457 reveals some surprisingly high end features.
Screen: 32in 16:9
Tuner: Digital
Sound System: Nicam
Resolution: 1366 x 768
Contrast Ratio: 10,000:1
Other Features: DNIe + picture processing, Wide Colour Enhancer 2.
Sockets: 3 HDMI, 2 SCART, S-video, Component Video, Composite Video, PC input.
The LE32A457 features the latest incarnation of Samsung's picture processing technology, DNIe+ (Digital Natural Image engine). With a Motion Optimizer, Contrast Enhancer, Detail enhancer and Colour Optimizer, DNIe + works to improve these four main aspects of the LE40A599's performance. DNIe has a track record of producing impressive results on previous LCD and Plasma offerings from the Korean electronics manufacturer.
Complementing DNIe+ is Samsung's Wide Colour Enhancer 2 which has been designed to deliver more vibrant colours, especially around the edge of panels where they are more likely to appear washed out.
The LE32A457 delivers a claimed contrast ratio of 10,000:1 along with a useful 3 HDMI inputs. With Anynet+ (HDMI CEC) you can control all connected Audio Visual devices from one remote control.
Entertainment mode on the LE32A457 presents the viewer with three picture presets from which to choose, 'Movies', 'Games' and 'Sports', for an optimized viewing environment for these three types of on screen content.
Performance
Testament to the speed at which LCD technology is progressing, black level performance from the LE32A457 would have been class leading as little as six months to a year ago. As such, it can't match the pristine black levels and shadow detailing displayed by the best Plasma or LCD screens but it is not that far off the pace. There is no trace of what the human eye perceives as 'greyness', and for a budget flat panel, the LE32A457 produces subtle detailing in darker areas that few screens in this price category can match.
Excellent black level ability produces a perfect canvass for colour, with the LE32A457 displaying a vibrancy we have come to expect from DNIe processing. This vibrancy does not come at the expense of realism with the LE32A457 producing some of the most natural pictures we have come across. Even tricky areas such as facial tones and complex colour intensive scenes are handled with great subtlety and without the loss of any 'dynamism'.
Having created such a strong initial impression it came as something of a disappointment that the motion handling capabilities of the LE32A457 were a little below par. Freeview pictures suffered noticeably from smearing with some juddering apparent on all but the slowest of camera pans. Things improved considerably with a higher quality Virgin or Sky feed but on faster on screen action the problem became apparent once again - not to the degree where the experience of watching this TV was compromised but noticeable nevertheless.
Take motion handling capability out of the equation and the Standard Definition (SD) performance from the LE32A457 is excellent. With a poorer quality Freeview source, there is an element of on screen interference, but the overall level of sharpness and detail places its performance amongst the best in its class.
While the absence of a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution may relegate the importance of the LE32A457's High Definition (HD) performance, it is nevertheless a competent performer in this respect. It actually produces a surprisingly convincing HD performance with excellent levels of detail and sharpness.
The LE32A457 is about average when it comes to audio performance. Unfortunately for a flat panel TV that means a rather unconvincing acoustic performance with a rather tinny sound coming from the speakers when they are pushed to their limits. With most manufacturers compromising on speakers for the sake of a cleaner design the LE32A457 is not at any great disadvantage when compared to the majority of its competitors.
Conclusion
Surprisingly competent in many areas with some technological wizardry normally reserved for high end Samsung panels, the LE32A457 reveals an Achilles heal in its motion handling abilities. If you are not going to rely on Freeview for your pictures, the excellent value and all round performance still makes this screen worth considering.
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