Samsung LN46D550

The?LN46D550 is one of Samsung's budget-priced HDTVs. This CCFL-backlit LCD?set retails for $899.99 (list), which is a very good price considering its 46-inch size, but be prepared to make sacrifices on picture quality and features to get the bargain.?

Design
In typical Samsung style, this set has a very attractive design with a flat black bezel, and a clear acrylic frame that adds a touch of elegance. The only thing that breaks up the flat black surface of the bezel is a Samsung logo on the bottom edge. A touch-sensitive control panel sits on the lower right corner of the bezel, but it's invisible when the set is powered off. Three HDMI ports and two USB ports can be found on the right edge of the back panel. The remaining component, composite, and PC video inputs, PC audio input, optical and PC audio outputs, and Ethernet port sit facing back on the right side of the back panel.

The LN46D550 offers little to justify connecting it to your home network through the Ethernet port to get the set online. There is DLNA support, so you can load media from networked devices, but you don't get any online services line Netflix, Pandora, or YouTube. This isn't a huge problem for an $900 HDTV, though the 42-inch Insignia NS-42E859A11 ($699.99, 3 stars) manages to offer a huge selection of Web services and apps for a lower price. The two other useful connected features are HDMI-CEC, which lets you control other devices through your remote if they're connected via HDMI, and ConnectShare Movie, Samsung's system to play back movie, music, and photo files from a USB flash drive.

The 9.6-inch remote is simple and functional. The number pad is up top, with the volume and channel rockers, navigation pad, and playback buttons below that. The remote is not backlit, but the power, volume and channel rockers, and navigation pad are distinct enough to find easily when the lights are off. The E-Manual button brings up the LN46D550's built-in help function, a series of slides to aid with tasks like setting up network connections or playing media on a flash drive.

Performance
We test HDTVs using a chromameter and the DisplayMate software, and the LN46D550 showed some good results despite issues with color. After calibrating brightness and contrast, the HDTV reached a very bright peak white level of 276.04 cd/m². Black level was measured at 0.04 cd/m², solid but not excellent, and resulting in a 6,901:1 contrast ratio. Colors, especially blue, tended to look overly cool, even under the Warm1 color setting. A full selection of color temperature settings let you tweak the display to look better, but out of the box the colors aren't particularly accurate.

Picture quality isn't especially great, and the various enhancement features on the HDTV don't do much to help. I watched The Mechanic on Blu-ray and saw only middling shadow details, with Jason Statham's black wool coat fading into solid darkness rather than showing much texture or contours. The film looked overly noisy, and the digital noise reduction settings didn't fix the problem.

For a CCFL display, the LN46D550 is fairly energy efficient. Without any energy saving options, the screen uses an average of 178 watts under normal viewing conditions. With the energy saving setting set to Low, which dims the picture slightly but keeps it watchable, the energy consumption drops to 91 watts. If you turn the mode on, the HDTV uses less power than the CCFL JVC JLC47BC3000 ($949.99, 2.5 stars) and even the LED-backlit Insignia NS-42E859A11, which consume 147 and 125 watts respectively. In contrast, the larger Editors' Choice plasma Samsung PN51D8000 ($2,299.99, 4 stars) consumes 189 watts, just slightly more.

The Samsung LN46D550 is a functional simple HDTV that doesn't have many complex features but offers enough tweaking options to satisfy most casual viewers. The screen itself isn't top-notch, but we don't expect it to be for the price. If you need Web connectivity, the 42-inch Insignia NS-42E859A11 offers much more in the way of features and a marginally better picture for $200 less.

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