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Samsung 46B6000 46inch LED TV


Date
: 01/14/10 – 04:37:02 AM

Author
:

Category
: TV

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer
: Samsung

When it comes to TVs, thin is in. The thinner a manufacturer can make a TV, the more expensive it will be to the consumer. Samsung enters the LED TV with the Series 6 and it's the thinnest they have, measuring a mere 29.9mm!

Thin is one key feature going for the UN46B6000, the LED backlit screen is expected to provide vivid details while drawing less power than your standard LCD TV. However, quality comes at a cost and for a 46′ TV this will make your wallet feeling a little flat too. Will the power saving LED backlight pay off?

Page 2 : Package and Contents

The 46B6000 is packaged in a regular cardboard box with a large poster stuck to the side advertising the LED TV status. There's no picture of the TV but a few features are printed on the side of the box. While the package is large, it is not tall or very wide. It's recommended that two people handle the package but I had no issues carrying the TV inside the house myself and setting it up on my makeshift stand.

Opening up the package, the individual components can be removed. The screen and base are protected by a foam lined plastic bag. There is also a protective plastic film that needs to be peeled off to reveal the glossy finish. The accessories include four mounting screws, wire clips, remote control with batteries, network cable and registration manuals.

Page 3 : Features & Specifications

A list of features and specifications can be found on Samsung's website but to save you some time everything is replicated below for your convenience.

Features

Specifications

Page 4 : Assembly & Remote Control

The 46B6000 is just over a meter wide and weighs less than 30 lbs so it is quite easy to manage on your own. Once the panel is lifted from its supports inside the retail box, it gets slotted into the base. You will know when it is in place when you hear a little click. At this stage, the TV will stand on its own, but for extra stability it is in your best interest that you screw in the four included bolts.

The base the TV clips into allows a generous amount of swivel, about 30 degrees, so you can place the TV in the corner and angle it towards your favourite seat.

Just so you get an idea of how thin this TV really is, check out these two pictures. The LED TV Series 6 is less than 1.25′ thick.

The back of the TV is where all the inputs and outputs are located. Unlike older TVs where cables are connected perpendicular to the screen, the 46B6000 has connections parallel to maintain the thin profile if you were mounting the TV to a wall.

Along the bottom of the IO panel we have LAN, Antenna or Cable In, Audio/Video input via component and composite cables and PC In via VGA. Running up the side of the TV we have a 2.5mm stereo audio in for the PC/DVI connection, four HDMI connections, an optical digital audio out, 2 USB connections, a 2.5mm stereo audio out and finally the EX-Link.

Hooking everything up gets a bit messy and we can clearly see that I have little to no cable management skills.

The overall look of the TV is simple and clean. Samsung continues to use a Touch of Colour around the bezel. The red trim adds a sense of style and helps differentiate it from the competition.

Moving onto the remote control, the shape fits my hand nicely. The sloped design rests nicely and the remote is not awkward to hold. However, I do think there should be some changes to where the buttons are positioned. For me, I like to key in some random channel and if I don't like what is on I will either key in another channel or start to channel surf with the channel up and down buttons. Individually these tasks can be performed well. The enter button is not too far from the keypad and it is easy to slide my thumb down from the keypad to the enter button. However, if I want to then start using the channel up/down buttons I need to move my entire hand down the remote to reach those two keys. I think it would have been better to flank the enter button with the channel and volume up/down keys instead of the navigation keys. Alternatively, it would have been ever better if the navigation keys can have double duty and act as the volume and channel up/down buttons when watching TV.

The light button gives a nice orange glow to help you use your remote at night. It isn't eye straining but I wouldn't suggest leaving it turned on as it will burn through your AAA batteries a lot faster and you'll be left without a remote until you get new batteries. If you are stuck in this situation, you can manually control the TV with the discretely hidden touch sensitive buttons. The power button is located directly under the Samsung logo and the TV control keys are at the bottom right edge.

Page 5 : TV Menu and Features

The TV menu is identical to the other Samsung TVs manufactured in 2009. The first page covers the picture and allows you to switch between 4 preset modes or adjust to your heart's content to create a balanced picture profile you like. The second page covers your sound features. The Samsung UN46B6000 utilizes two 10W speakers located on the back panel. The third option allows you to change between Air or Cable channel sources. The Setup page covers your basic configuration settings: Language, Time, Game Mode, BD Wise, Network Type, V-Chip. The Input page lets you view your sources and modify the default names. The second last page gives you access to additional applications: Media Play lets you listen to music, watch video or view pictures from any connect USB storage device, Anynet+ allows the one Samsung remote to control other Samsung devices connected by HDMI and InfoLink uses the Internet to gather and display information on the screen while you use the TV. The last page is the Support menu where you can run the self diagnosis, upgrade the software or get additional help through the guide or by contacting Samsung.

I personally enjoyed the Media Play application. The moment you plug in a USB device it will ask you whether or not you would like to run the Media Play software, you may say no because you can also upgrade the TVs firmware with a USB drive. The four options for Media Play are view photos, play music, watch a movie or go through the setup configuration. In all the years that I've used Samsung TVs and ran Media Play there has never been a need for me to use the Setup feature.

The LED TV Series 6 is a great machine to share pictures from your last trip on the big screen. The colors are vivid and pop off the screen. One thing I have noticed is that the blues are more apparent than the other colors. It seems to pop up just a bit more than the rest. Nevertheless, pictures look great.

Media Play had no problems playing MP3s. The true power of the picture viewer and MP3 player is when you use them together to play a photo album with music in the background.

The movie player was a feature recently added and one many people will thank Samsung for. If every TV had a movie player I would never need to burn another DVD. I could copy whatever show I downloaded onto my USB drive, stick it into the USB port on the TV and run the movie player application inside Media Play. This would not only reduce the number of DVDs I buy but also get rid of my DVD player! The Media Play movie player supports a number of common formats including AVI (DiVX, XviD, H264), ASF, WMV, MP4 and MPG.

The InfoLink feature utilizes your LAN connection to collect news, weather and stock information from Yahoo. This real-time information is perfect for the multitasker. However, running all four applications on the 46′ screen doesn't leave a lot of real estate for whatever you're actually watching.

The first thing you need to do with the weather is make sure you have the proper city selected. The weather can be real time or the five day forecast and be pulled.

The news appears to be international and can be viewed as headlines or in detail.

The stock ticker appears to only be the US… hopefully this can be changed to poll international markets.

It's time to fire up the TV and see how she performs.

Page 6 : Display Performance

To thoroughly test the UN46B6000, I sat myself in front of the TV for hours upon hours with various inputs: cable TV, digital OTA, Blu-ray via HDMI and PC via HDMI. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. When considering a purchase of this magnitude, it's absolutely imperative that you judge all reviews with a grain of salt. There's really no way for you to tell whether or not the TV is worth your investment by a few pictures. Do yourself a favour and visit your local brick and mortar store and stand in front of the TV for twenty minutes. Find the remote and play with the settings. If you can't do that or would like to narrow your choices, let me show you a handful of pictures and videos of the TV in action!

I'll start with the viewing angle. There is no claim as to what the viewing angle for the LED TV Series 6 and while it doesn't appear to be 178 degrees, the average household need not worry. I would guess the angle is closer to the 150/160 range. I was still able to get good contrast at obtuse angles but the picture does tend to fade together.

Here are some pictures of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen:

Watching random HDTV over-the-air:

Something to consider when viewing HDTV is that it may not be formatted for widescreen. If that's the case the correct aspect ratio needs to be applied or faces will look skewed. The options include: Wide Fit, 4:3 and 16:9.

It wouldn't be out of the question to use the 46′ TV as a permanent monitor replacement; the 1080p resolution is definitely good enough for that. The LED backlight makes it pretty easy to read text of any color.

Page 7 : Display Performance – Videos

Pictures are nice but videos are better. In this page I'll share with you four videos of the UN46B6000 in action captured with my Samsung HMX-20C high definition 1080p digital camcorder. YouTube only allows us to host high definition videos in 720p, so I've made the original files available for download. They average just under 30MB.

These four videos were taken record with the TV display mode set on Standard, Dynamic, Movie and Natural. The clip is from Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen, approximately 1 hour into the movie.

Standard download original file here.

Dynamic download original file here.

Movie download original file here.

Natural download original file here.

Page 8 : Power Consumption

Power consumption is certainly something I consider when purchasing any new consumer electronics. The last thing I really want is to purchase a TV that continually drains my wallet with a power guzzling 600W usage. The advancements of technology have allowed us to enjoy the benefits of high definition pictures without expensive monthly bills. To test the power draw on the UN46B6000, I will consider the case of the TV being powered off to monitor the phantom load and watching basic cable TV.

To answer our very first question, by removing the CCFLs the 46B6000 draws less than 100W when watching TV. This is an amazing reduction from previous models which means while you pay more upfront, you will be saving over the life of the TV.

Page 9 : Conclusion

As 2009 year ended, the excitement of last year's new TVs will fizzle as CES is bound to make us drool with what is new. Generally, that means now is a great time to pick up last year's model at reduced prices.

The LED TV Series 6 is a LED backlit TV with a standard LCD display, as opposed to CCFL backlit LCD TVs. The 46B6000 is a stunning TV. For the most part, colors are more vivid and the picture is more uniform, especially in black scenes. Even though the UN46B6000 doesn't have the best viewing angle and costs much more than a CCFL backlit LCD TV, you're spending money on a power conscious TV that delivers a phenomenal picture you can brag about.

• Advantages
  
  
• Phenomenal picture quality
• LED Backlight significantly reduces power consumption
• Stunning in the living room

• Disadvantages
  
  
• Mediocre viewing angle
• Still waiting for complete LED display and not just LED backlit

I'd like to thank Samsung Canada for making this review possible.