Introduction
Tour & Design
Front
The LN40B610, like all of Samsungs models for this year, has a design ethic called Touch Of Color, where the clear acrylic bezel has a subtle color embedded within it. The color for this model is gray, and it certainly helps to soften the look of the display, providing a more blended look overall. Other displays from Samsung use the same design, but different colors: the 650 series uses red, for instance.
Back
On the back of the panel are the ports. For information about the ports on the back of the Samsung LN40B610 see our Connectivity section.
Sides
From the side you can see the For information about the ports on the back of the Samsung LN40B610 see our Connectivity section.
Stand/Mount
Samsung has a very unusual design for their mount. The display sits on a clear plastic riser, which is designed to give the impression that it is floating. They even supply a white plastic tube to hide the cables in so they are out of sight when they run behind the stand. Combine this with the clear acrylic on the edge of the bezel, and the design almost looks like it is floating; it certainly looks a lot more attractive than some of the industrial monstrosities that we see. This stand design also means that the screen can easily rotate; by simply pulling one of the edges, you can rotate the screen up to 30 degrees, which is a huge plus when you are trying to plug a cable into the back.
Controls
The touch controls are located on the bottom left corner of the bezel. These blend nicely into the screen, and you won't really notice them unless you need them.
Remote Control
The remote control of the LN40B610 is a large, long remote with big buttons. we found it generally easy and comfortable to use.
In The Box*(0.0)*
The LN40B610 comes with fairly minimal selection of accessories out of the box. You get the manual, the quick start guide, power cable, cleaning cloth, cable holder (which hides the cables behind the stand) and a plate that covers the hole in the bottom of the case if you are wall mounting it. There is no HDMI cable included, or any analog video/audio cables.
Aesthetics*(8.0)*
Like all of this years Samsung models, the LN40B610 is definitely attractive. The clear plastic stand and the touch of color acrylic bezel are a break from the usual black plastic look, and it works. Although it doesn't quite achieve the floating effect that they are aiming for, it definitely has a smart, stylish look that would blend in with most living rooms.
Blacks & Whites
Black Level*(7.79)*
We measured the luminance of the deepest black that the LC40B610 can produce at 0.11 cd/m2, which is a decent black level and is pretty average for most LCDs at this size. This means that blacks on the screen would look pretty good, without the grey haze that you see on some displays with weak blacks. There are some that have deeper blacks though, which can produce a more attractive image.
Peak Brightness*(5.75)*
The peak brightness of the LC40B610 was a a rather bright 401.85 cd/m2, which is definitely bright enough to allow you to see everything on screen in any conditions except direct sunlight. In fact, it may be too bright; we'd probably recommend that you turn down the backlight for most uses.
Contrast*(8.44)*
The ratio between the deepest black and the brightest white is called the contrast ratio. The bigger this number, the wider the range of shades a display can show, so this is a very important factor. We measured the contrast ratio of the LN40B610 as 3653:1, which is an extremely decent range, and is wider than most other TVs of this size.
Tunnel Contrast*(9.91)*
Blacks and whites are on the screen at the same time, so it is important that they can co-exist together in perfect harmony. That's what we test here, by looking at if the blacks remain the same as we show more and more white on the screen. Some displays have a problem with this, because light bouncing around inside the display makes the blacks lighter. That didn't seem to be a big problem with the LN40B610, as we found that the blacks remained pretty constant, even with just a tiny area of white surrounded by black.
White Falloff*(9.76)*
We also look at how consistent the luminance of the whites are; do they drop off as more and more white appears on screen? The answer for this display is no; we found the whites to be extremely consistent, whether it was just a small patch on the screen or a screenful of white. We don't typically see many issues here with LCD screens, though; Plasma HDTVs are the ones that are more likely to have issues here.
Uniformity*(7.25)*
Having a deep black or bright white screen is only useful if the screen is uniformly black or white, as blotches or pale patches can seriously detract from the experience of using a display. The LC40B610 had some minor issues here: on white screens, the corners were slightly paler. There were more issues looking at a black screen; the corners of the screen were a lot brighter than the center, and there was an odd lighter fan pattern on the bottom edge of the screen as well. Both of these were visible on dark scenes in movies.
Greyscale Gamma*(7.86)*
A display has to accurately show the range of shades of grey between black and white, and how well it does this is described by the gamma. This number describes the slope of the curve between black and white. If the gamma is too high, the image will look too bright because it will be all grey. If it is too low, it will look too dark as the grey details get lost in the black. We found that the Gamma of the LN40B610 was about 2.56, which is a touch on the high side. But that's not so high that it is a problem, and with some tweaking, this could be reduced closer to the 2.2 to 2.3 range that we consider ideal.
Resolution Scaling*(7.98)*
The LC40B610 is a 1080p screen, but that doesn't mean it always has the luxury of being able to display this highest resolution HD signal. Instead, it often has to work with lower resolution signals. So, we test how well displays like this one can take this lower resolution signals and scale them to show on the higher resolution screens.
480p*(8.20)*
Devices such as DVD players with HDMI outputs and standard definition cable boxes output a 480p signal, and the LC-40B610 had no major problems scaling this to fit the screen: we found that text and images were sharp, and that the overscan that was applied was about 4%; pretty standard. There was no way to turn this overscan off though, which could be a problem if you are trying to use a computer in this mode, as the menus and options at the edge of the screen will be cropped off.
720p*(6.75)*
Many TV stations use the 720p format for their sports broadcasts, as the progressive nature of the signal makes fast-moving subjects like sports look better. We found a few issues showing a 720p image on this display; complex patterns such as a herringbone jacket or a small chessboard had an annoying interference pattern that rather detracted from the quality of the image. The image was also overscanned by about 3% by default (meaning that about 3% of the image was off the edge of the screen), but this can be removed by switching to Full Screen mode with a single touch of the P.Size button on the remote.
1080i*(9.0)*
1080i signals are what you get from over the air digital TV (DTV) signals, as well as most cable and satellite TV boxes. We had very few problems here; the LN40B610 did an excellent job of displaying these images cleanly and without problems.
Color Accuracy
Color Temperature*(8.05)*
When a HDTV shows white on the screen, the white has a particular color, a property that's measured as something called color temperature. As part of out calibration procedure, we set this color temperature to as close to 6500k as possible (for this display, that was the Warm3 setting, which was about 5500k). But many displays have problems being consistent with whites; as the whites turn to grey and black, the color temperature can shift and the whites get a color cast. That's what we test for here: we look at how consistent the whites are over the range of intensities from the brightest white to nearly black. The LN40B610 did reasonably well here: we saw some shifts in the color temperature, but these remained minor until we got into the very dark grays, where they did jump around a fair bit. However, most of the shifts are minor; on the graph below, anything within the green boundaries won't be noticed by most people.
RGB Curves*(8.03)*
HDTVs create all of the colors on the screen by mixing red green and blue. So, it is important that a good display be capable of representing all of the different levels of these colors accurately. That's what we test here; how well the display can represent subtle changes in the signals it receives on the screen. If this response curve is bumpy, the display won't be able to show subtle color changes. We found that the LN40B610 had pretty smooth response curves, with only a few minor bumps and glitches. However, we did see some problems with peaking, where the curve flattens out at the top. This indicates that, although the incoming signal hasn't reached its maximum, the display has; it can't make the colors any brighter. What this means is that some highlight details in that color (such as a blue sky or a bright red uniform) might be lost, because the display can't show the subtle details that are present in the signal.
To show what this measn in practice, we create these color strips that show how a color gradient would look on the display. One thing to consider; the display that you are reading this on may have its own problems, so if the ideal response (the top one) doesn't look smooth, your screen has a poor response curve.
Color Gamut*(4.15)*
The range of colors that a display can show is called the color gamut. The range of colors that a HDTV signal should contain is defined in a standard called Rec.709, and on a good display, the two should be almost the same. We found that there were some issues here with the LN40B610; although the red and green limits of the gamut were almost spot on, the blue was significantly off. What this means is that while greens and reds will look the way that the director intended, blues will look overly saturated.
For those who like to know the specific details of our tests, the color coordinates of our results and the Rec.709 specification are below.
Motion
Motion Smoothness*(7.13)*
We found in our tests that the LN40B610 did a very decent job of rendering motion overall; the Auto Motion Plus 120Hz processing did an excellent job of making motion smoother without loosing all of the detail. There are a number of different levels of this processing, called Clear, Stadnard, Smooth and Custom, We got the best results with the Standard setting, as this probvided the best balance of smoothing while still preserving the detail of the image. Serious users will welcome the Custom mode, which allows you to set your own preferneces for Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction.
Motion Artifacting*(6.88)*
We did notice a few issues in the motion, though; some dark grey objects had a colored fringe when they moved; a gradual gradient of grey that we used on one of our tests produced a rainbow-like effect that was very disconcerting. It was only very slightly noticeable when watching real world video, though. We also saw a slight fringing effect on some skin tones as well, where objects like faces or bodies moving quickly across the screen were preceded by a slight fringe. Both this and the grey rainbow effect seemed to be more pronounced on objects moving from the left to the right for some reason.
3:2 Pulldown & 24fps*(8.0)*
The LN40B610 has two levels of 3:2 pulldown processing, which it calls Film Mode. Many broadcasters use a process called an inverse telecine to give their movies and Tv shows a more flim-like look, and the display can use a process called a 3:2 pulldown to detect this and recreate the filmic look. The LN40B610 has three options: Off, and Auto1 and Auto 2 mode. Auto1 was the better mode in our tests: it did a better job of detecting this type of signal and smoothing out the resulting image to eliminate dot crawl and other problems. The display also had no problems detecing and showing a true 24 frames per second signal produced by a high-end Blu-ray player.
Viewing Effects
Viewing Angle*(4.5)*
In our viewing angle tests, we look at ho well the contrast ratio of the display holds up as the angle of view increases. We found that the contrast ratio of this display fell by 50% at about 19 degrees off axis, which means that those sitting at wider angles will see a much paler and less attractive image. We did find, however, that colors remained mostly constant at angles; although colors were much daker than from straight on, they didn't shift.
Reflectance*(5.25)*
We found that some reflections on the screen of the LN40B610 were rather annoying; reflections of bright lights had a cross-shaped halo that ran nearly across the entire width of the screen and which was especially visible with dark images on the screen. This means that you will have to be careful when you place the screen to avoid any reflections.
Video Processing*(3.0)*
Samsung usually puts a lot of features that try and improve the quality of the image on their HDTVs, and the LN40B610 is no exception. Here''s what we found when we tested them out.
Of these, the only ones that are worth using are Digital NR if you have a poor signal, Film Mode and Auto Motion Plus. The HDMI black level control made the screen even darker than it already is, which is not a good thing.
Calibration
Calibration
[
](http://www.displaymate.com/)Televisions rarely come out of the box with optimal picture quality. To make sure that we are getting the best possible performance from the LN40B610, we first calibrated it. To do this, we use the calibration procedure in DisplayMate , as well as taking measurements with a CS-200 ChromaMeter.
Below is a chart that outlines the changes we've made. If a setting isn't listed below, we left it at the default settings. Feel free to use these settings as the basis for your own calibration, but remember that these settings aren't optimized for your own personal viewing environment, so your best settings may vary. In particular, we test LCD TVs with the backlight at maximum, which is not an ideal setting if you watch in a dark environment. If you really want the best quality, we recommend you either use DisplayMate or pay a professional to calibrate the TV for you.
We found that the LN40B610 was a little difficult to calibrate. Our initial settings had the HDMI black level at normal, but we then found that we could not get anywhere near a decent level of brightness without the colors starting to clip at the high end, which we always try and avoid. So, we set this to low, which produced a group of settings much closer to the default settings for Movie mode.
Video Modes
The LN40B610 only includes a small selection of picture modes.
One interesting omission here is a specific game mode. PC mode has many of the same functions, but not all of them are the same.
Remote Control
Ergonomics & Durability*(7.20)*
The remote that comes with the LN40B610 is a sizeable device, but that's not always a bad thing; the wedge shape of the remote means it fits well into the hand. The textured plastic back makes for a firm grip, and there is a built-in backlight. This is controlled by a single bright pink button at the top of the remote, which means that it shouldn't be a problem to find the remote, hit that button and then change settings or channel even in a dark room.
The remote also feels very robust. Although it is plastic, it feels tough, and the rounded edges and corners mean that it is unlikely to get broken or cracked from an accidental drop.
Button Layout & Use*(4.85)*
The large, soft plastic coated buttons on the remote may look a little childish, but they are very effective and are comfortable to use. The layout of the buttons is good; it puts the volume, channel and surrounding controls under the thumb. The directional keys are a bit of a stretch, though, and these are needed to use the on-screen menu. Those with smaller ahnds in particualr will find themselves often shifting the remote in the hand to reach the buttons, and the other controls (such as the channe number buttons and the device control buttons at the bottom) will require two hands to reach.
Programming & Flexibility*(1.0)*
There are a number of device control buttons at the bottom of the remote, but these are a little deceptive; they only work with Samsung devices connected over a HDMI cable using Samsung's own AnyNet + system. Many other manfacturers include remotes that can be programmed to work with other manufacturers devices, but this one only works with Samsung devices.
Connectivity
Input Ports*(6.5)*
The LN40B610 is blessed with a good number of input ports. On the side panel there is a HDMI port, a USB port and a single composite analog video and audio input. On the back are the main ports: three HDMI, one VGA and a slew of analog audio and video inputs. This should provide enough connections for most situations, although some users may have more than three devices with HDMI outputs (such as a couple of game consoles, a cable box and a DVD player).
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Output Ports*(2.0)*
There are a smaller number of output ports, but the basics are there. There is a single SPDIF optical audio output for connecting a surround sound speaker system, plus a single set of analog audio outputs for connecting a set of external speakers. There are no video outputs, though, so you can't daisy chain several displays together.
Other Connections*(0.0)*
The LN40B610 does not have the ethernet connections of its more expensive cousin the LN40B650.
Media*(1.0)*
It does have a single USB port on the side panel, though.This allows it to play back media (such as music, videos and photos) from a USB device such as a USB thumb drive or portable hard drive.
Placement*(7.5)*
The input and output ports of the LN40B610 are well placed; the side ports are easy to reach, and the rotating stand makes it much easier to turn the display around and access the ports on the rear of the device. These rear ports are a little deeply recessed, though, so you have to crane your head around the back to read the labels to figure out which port is which.
Audio & Menus
Audio Quality*(6.5)*
The LN40B610 includes two downwards facing 10 watt speakers in the bottom of the display case, and we found that these produced very decent sound, with plenty of volume and a good amount of bass. Higher frequencies were also clear, so voices and special effects came across clearly. In the monster-bashing scene that we use to test audio from the film Cloverfield, we could clearly hear the tinkle of falling bullet casings over the roar of the beast and the rumble of the rockets. Voices were also clear and bright.
Several audio modes are on offer (called Standard, Music, Movie, Clear Vice and Custom) which all change the settings of the 5-band equalizer. The custom mode allows you to create your own settings, but the display does remember if you tweak the settings of any of the presets. The LN40B610 also includes a pseudo-surround sound system called SRS TruSurround HD, but this didn't provide much of a real surround sound feel. Instead, it seemed to just make the bass louder. An Auto Volume feature is also available, which lowers the volume of loud stations or raises the volume of quiet ones, which is a useful feature to have if you are watching a movie but don't want to wake the kids when the explosions happen.
Menu Interface*(7.0)*
The on-screen menu system of the LN40B610 is pretty straightforward and simple to use. The options are divided into 7 categories that are shown on the left (Picture, Sound, Setup, Media, Input and Support). You can move between these with the up and down keys. Move to the left and you are in the list of options in that category. Most of these lists are a single page long, although some lead you to further menus (such as the Advanced Settings option of the picture menu, which contains many of the more complex picture settings).
We did find that the menu was a little laggy. Sometimes it would take a little time to notice that we had selected an option, then quickly jump to catch up.
The way that some of the menus are divided up feels rather arbitrary. Most of the mode complex picture mode options are divided into two separate menus called Advanced Settings and Picture Options in a seemingly arbitrary fashion.
Manual*(6.5)*
The LN40B610 comes with a decent manual that covers all aspects of using the display, although it is rather densely written. Also included is a quick start guide that covers the basics, although again this is a rather dense document that squeezes 4 languages into 2 pages. You can find the Samsung LN40B610's manual online here.
Formats & Media
Formats*(10.5)*
The LN40B610 is a Full HD 1080p screen, so it can handle any signal that a current consumer high defintion device can throw at it, right up the highest quality 1080p signal. It also includes support for the xvYCC extended color gamut, but this has to be supported by the output device to work, and not that many devices support this proprietary extended color gamut at the moment.
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Photo Playback*(4.5)*
The Photo playback feature of the LN40B610 is basic, but adequate for showing off a few holiday snaps. When you insert a USB device with photos on it, you are presented with a list of thumbnails and you can scroll through and select individual files, rather like Apple's CoverFlow system. You can then view the selected files or create a slideshow to play back, complete with transitions between files and background music. You can also sort the files by the creation date or, rather oddly, by color.
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Music Video Playback*(4.5)*
The music features of the LN40B610 are similarly basic: you can select files to play and create a basic playlist, but it is not iTunes: you cannot save playlists, sort music by genre or otherwise organize it. This display does not support playing back videos at all; you can't play back any sort of video from a USB device.
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Streaming Playback*(0.0)*
As there is no network connection on this display, it has no way to play back streaming photos, audio or video from the Internet or a server on your home network.
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Other Media*(0.0)*
There are no other media features on this display.
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Power Consumption
Power Consumption*(8.64)*
The LN40B610 only used a moderate amount of electricity: we found that at our standard brightness setting, it used about 139 watts of power, which translates to a running cost of about $27.21 a year (assuming you watch an average of 5 hours a day). To make this a fairer test, we set the HDTV to whatever backlight level means that a white screen has a brightness of about 200 cd/m2. for the LN40B610, this meant that the backlight was at 7. If we cranked the backight up to the maximum setting of 10, the cost to run it over a year rose to about $37.
These figures are about average for displays of this size; the LN40B610 shouldn't break the bank from the electricity bill.
Vs Sharp LC-40E67UN
Value Comparison Summary
These two HDTVs are pretty identical from the specifications. But the Sharp is considerably cheaper; you can pick it up for about $750, while the Samsung costs over a thousand bucks. However, value is about more than just price, and the Samsung is the better value for money, with significantly better performance, and a wider set of features. So, if your budget can stretch to it, the Samsung is the better pick overall.
Blacks & Whites
The Sharp has a very slight edge when it comes to blacks, but the Samsung is the clear winner when it comes to whites; it has a much brighter screen.
Color Accuracy
The Sharp had a very slight edge in our color temperature test (which looks at the consistency of whites at various different intensities), but the differences were not huge; both had only very slight shifts in the color of the whites. Both also had very smooth RGB curve, but did have some issues in our color gamut test, where we look at the range of colors that the display can represent against the range of colors that a HDTV signal contains.
Motion
Motion is a huge part of the performance of a HDTV, and the Samsung was the clear winner here; we saw much smoother, more detailed and generally attractive motion from the LN-40B610 than from the LC-40E67UN. Both HDTVs had no issue displaying a 24 frames per second signal as well, so they would both work fine with a high-end Blu-ray player.
Viewing Effects
Both HDTVs shared the same curse as most cheap LCD displays; the curse of the poor viewing angle. For both displays, we found that the contrast ratio of the blacks and whites on screen fell below 50% of maximum at less than 20 degrees away from straight on, so those on the end of the couch will see a much dimmer, duller picture than those in the middle.
Connectivity
Both displays are pretty close when it comes to inputs and outputs: they have a similar number of HDMI ports and analog video inputs. The only real difference is that the Samsung includes a USB port, which can be used to play back music and photos from a USB device. Videos are not supported, though.
Vs Sony KDL40S5100
Value Comparison Summary
In terms of price, the Sony is the clear winner here: at around $799, it is much cheaper than the Samsung. But in terms of value for money, the Samsung is the superior display, as it has much better motion performance and a wider set of features.
Blacks & Whites
The Sony has very slightly deeper blacks than the Samsung, but the Samsung is much brighter, which leads to a wider overall contrast ratio. Which is more important depends on what type of lighting you have; if you watch TV during the daytime or with the lights on, brighter whites are more important. If you watch more at night or in a darkened room, deeper blacks can be the more critical factor.
Color Accuracy
Both dispays scored hghly in our tests of colors, with whites that stayed constant across the range of intensities and smooth RGB curves that show that both displays can reproduce subtle differences in colors. Both had some minor issues in our color gamut test, though; the range of colors that they can display is slightly different to the range that a HDTV signal is supposed to contain.
Motion
In our tests on motion, the Samsung was the clear winner: it had much smoother, cleaner motion and did a better job of preserving the fine details that make a rapidly moving image look attractive. Overall, the Samsung is a much better looking display than the Sony.
Viewing Effects
Neither display had a particularly wide viewing angle; the contrast ratio between blacks and whites fell by 50% on both at less than 20 degrees off axis.
Connectivity
There are a few minor differences in the connections between the two displays: the Samsung has more HDMI ports (4 instead of 3), but the Sony has an S-Video port, which is not present on the Samsung. The extra HDMI port could be useful if you have a large number of digital video devices to connect, but the S-Video port cold be useful if you have an older model camcorder that you still use a lot.
Vs Samsung LN40B650
Value Comparison Summary
The LN40B650 is the big brother of the LN40B610, so it's no surprise that the two displays are quite close in terms of performance. But they are not close in terms of price: the LN40B650 costs about $1700, while the LN40B610 costs about $1100. So, the LN40B610 is the better value for money, but the LN40B650 has a wider feature set that might be worth the money if you want these features.
Blacks & Whites
The LN40B650 has a slight edge in our tests of blacks and whites: it had significantly deeper blacks and a wider contrast ratio. But the 610 had slightly brighter whites, which might help if you are watching TV in a brightly lit room or during daytime
Color Accuracy
Both displays scored highly in our tests of clor performance; we found that they both had constant whites and smooth RGB curves, which means that they can accurately show small changes in colors on the screen. Both had some issues with color gamut, though; we found that they both had a problem with inaccurate blues.
Motion
We rated both displays equally in terms of the smoothness of motion: we found that the 120Hz motion processing they both used produced noticeably smoother movement than the 60Hz frequency that most others used. However, we did notice some serious problems on the 650: we found issues with trailing on some objects on the screen and a shutter effect, where striaght lines turned into jagged, broken ones when they moved across the screen at high speed.
Viewing Effects
Neither display impressed us with their viewing angle. We test this by measuring the blacks and whites when viewed from a large number of angles, then calcuating the angle at which the contrast ratio between the blacks and whites drops below 50%. For both the 610 and the 650, this was around 19 degrees, which is not a very wide angle.
Connectivity
Both displays have a decent selection of ports and sockets which should be sufficient for most users to connect the various video devices that they have, both analog and digital.
Other features
Both displays include USB ports that can be used to play back music and view photos on the screen. However, the 650 has a few more media tricks up its sleeve; it cn also play back videos from the USB drive, and can also stream content from the Internet over its ethernet port. What this means is that you can watch YouTube videos, read Twitter posts and even watch Netflix streaming videos on the 650 without having to use a computer or other device.
Conclusion
Series Comparison
The LNXX610 Series
There are 3 models in the LNXX610 series, ranging from the 40-inch model we reviewed to the 52 inch LN52B610. This repersents the lowest cost models in their 6 Series. Samsung also offers some more expensive models that include Internet streamign features in the 650 series.
Meet the tester
Richard Baguley is a veteran writer who has written about technology ranging from Alphabet to Zip file utilities. He has contributed to pretty much every major tech publication, including Amiga Format Magazine, PC World, Wired, CNET, Toms Guide, Forbes, and many others. He lives in the Boston metro area with his wife, dog, and an indeterminate number of cats.
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