Samsung's Series 7000 LED TV Keeps You Connected

The Series 7000 offers Web browsing, an ultrathin design, energy efficiency, and a terrific HD picture, but not without some flaws

By Cliff Edwards

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Ultrathin frame, deep blacks, rich colors, energy-efficient lighting technology

The Bad: Uneven color, noticeable picture "judder"

The Bottom Line: Internet-connected LED TV offers a pleasing viewing experience

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Despite a release date in May, when many consumers were still cutting back on big-ticket purchases, Samsung's new line of televisions has been a big hit. With a stunning 1.1-in. ultrathin design and new energy-efficient technology packed inside to save money on your electricity bill, it's easy to see why.

Landing right in the middle of a three-tier lineup, the Series 7000 is notable for more than energy efficiency. The $3,000 TV comes chock full of goodies, including stunning design, interactivity with the Web, a crystal-clear high-definition picture, and an excellent master remote. But the experience is diminished by a lack of image uniformity and a feature setup that's fraught with legal jargon.

First, the advantages: The most notable addition over previous models is LED, or light-emitting diode, backlighting across the lineup. Replacing fluorescent-tube backlighting typically improves image quality and delivers greater power efficiency by adjusting lighting only in areas of the set required to correctly view the picture on the screen.

Gateway to the Web

Samsung also was the first HD television maker this year to add streaming video and widget software created by Yahoo! (YHOO) that lets users with Internet connections browse Google's (GOOG) YouTube, news, and other sites directly from the set. You click on a Web applet called a widget to gain access to a particular site and use the remote to navigate. LG, Vizio, Sharp, and other rivals are all likely to offer similar services in time for the holiday shopping season.

The Yahoo service will someday be extremely useful to TV watchers because it will eventually become an easy-to-use gateway to thousands of Web sites. Since Samsung adopted the service first, there were not many applications available when I first received the 46-in. set to review. A month or so later, feeds to Twitter, YouTube, and sports sites began to trickle in. Yahoo executives say many more applications will become available by Christmas. (One drawback to the service is initial startup, which includes a lot of legalese to which the user has to agree before gaining access; it's a requirement because of liability worries brought on by the Internet connection. At least rival LG pokes fun at the process and makes it a one-click process vs. the several pages and clicks I needed with the Samsung.)

Another enhancement on Samsung Internet-connected televisions is the Samsung Content Library, which comes preloaded with games, recipes, fitness programs, and a slide show of high-definition art and music that can be played while entertaining guests.

Impressive Range of Inputs

The Series 7000 doesn't stop there, though, in terms of interactivity. Users can stream videos, photos, and music from devices certified as DLNA-compatible, and it has USB ports that let you connect digital music players, digital cameras, and external drives. And users can go online to check for upgrades to the television's firmware, or internal operating system.

As is common these days, Samsung delivers a picture with a native resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 progressive, which is the highest HD-quality image available today. It is capable of displaying "full HD" 1080p technology offered with Blu-ray movies and Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 3. Television shows are upconverted to the set's native resolution through video processing.

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