Samsung LN32A450

The Samsung LN32A450 is an entry-level HDTV, available for as little as $600 we're sure that many first-time HDTV buyers will give it a hard look. As an entry-level HDTV there are some drawbacks, the 720p resolution is not as high as 1080p HDTVs. Although it is capable of displaying 1080p and 1080i content, this is necessarily downsampled to fit on the lower resolution display. Thankfully the Samsung LN32A450 seemed to handle this downsampling well enough, so even though you won't get the full effect of your Blu-Ray movies on the Samsung LN32A450, you'll still be able to watch them without trouble.

Despite some other additional drawbacks like the lack of a memory card reader or USB port, the Samsung LN32A450 did rather well in many of our tests, significantly better than the JVC LT-32P679, the only other 32-inch 720p HDTV we've reviewed to date. The Samsung LN32A450 impressed us with good black level and peak brightness, producing an above average contrast ratio. This means that blacks on the television will be deep and whites will be plenty bright. We were also happy with color accuracy, so unlike the JVC you don't lose detail when you get particularly bright colors. We were perhaps most impressed by how well the Samsung LN32A450's whites and blacks held up across intensities or when they only take up a part of the display. We also like that its an attractive, if unassuming, television.

That's not to say that the Samsung LN32A450 performed well in all of our tests, you have to expect to see some compromises in performance on an entry-level HDTV like this and the LN32A450 certainly had some. Perhaps the most obvious to many will be the less than impressive handling of motion. Here you see the lack of a 120Hz refresh rate seen on higher end televisions as our motion tests revealed problems like blurring and trailing artifacts. We also found the viewing angle to be very limited and the color gamut was slightly off.

The question is, of course, are you getting enough bang for your buck here? We'd say yes. The reality is that any television at this price point is going to bring some tradeoffs along. The obvious ones here are a smaller size, lower resolution and less than impressive handling of motion. Frankly none of these surprise us much, and in our minds it is more than offset by the Samsung LN32A450's pluses like solid blacks and whites and accurate colors. No, its not the perfect HDTV, but it's a good bit better than some other HDTVs in its class that we've looked at. Could you do better? Sure, but be prepared to pay twice as much or more. For $600 you're getting a lot of pluses and not too many negatives with the Samsung LN32A450.