Samsung LN46A750 LCD HDTV Review - Controls & Menus

The tabbed interface of the Samsung LN46A750's menu system is relatively simple at the top level, but once you start diving into sub-menus you'll find that it gets a bit more complicated. The manual is a book, and it doesn't have an index, an oversight we found annoying.

Ease of Use (6.0)
The Samsung LN46A750's menu system is a tabbed interface, with icons on the left that you move up and down using the D-Pad's up/down or the scroll wheel. Each item brings up a menu with options for that section, from top to bottom the top-level menus are Picture, Sound, Channel, Setup, Input and Application. When each item is selected press right to enter the menu system for that section. You can then move up and down the options in the same manner as the top level menus using the D-Pad's directions or the scroll wheel.

A typical tabbed interface with top-level items listed on the left.

We found that at the top level the menu system is fairly intuitive and easy to use, but once you start getting into the sub-menus there are inconsistencies in the interface that make it a bit less intuitive. Some options can be changed within the menu system moving left/right to adjust the setting, some bring up a small pop-up menu with options and others bring up a whole new menu interface that is detached from the top-level interface. This can create some confusion about where in the menu system you are actually at. Probably not a big deal for those who don't delve into the deeper levels of the menus on their TV, but anyone who does will likely find it a bit frustrating.

The tools menu offers quick access to important features.

In addition to the standard menu system there's also a Tools Menu available on the Samsung LN46A750 that is supposed to give you quick access to commonly used features. Press the Tools button on the remote to bring up this menu where you can adjust Picture Mode, Sound Mode, Sleep Timer and PIP.

Picture Controls (6.0)
The Picture controls on the Samsung LN46A750 are all found in the Picture menu, as you would expect. At the top level are adjustments for various straightforward items including the Mode, which allows you to adjus between Dynamic, Standard and Movie modes, Backlight, Contrast, Brightness, Sharpness and Tint. There are also two more advanced menu options here: Detailed Settings and Picture Options. Finally there's an option to reset all of the picture options to factory default.

There are three picture modes available.

The Detailed Settings menu gives you access to more advanced picture controls. Here you will be able to acess Black Adjust, Dynamic Contrast, Gamma, Color Space, White Balance Flesh Tone, Edge Enhancement and xvYCC. Even more advanced settings can be found in the Picture Options menu.

Detailed picture settings.

Here you will find the ability to adjust Color Tone, Size, Digital NR, DNIe (Digital Natural Image engine), HDMI Black Level, Film Mode, Blue Only Mode and Auto Motion Plus 120Hz. Confused about what these settings do? Check out our Performance: Viewing Effects section to see which ones actually make a difference and which are just filler.

Advanced features are found in the Picture Options menu.

Audio Controls (5.0)
All of your audio controls are found in the Sound menu of the Samsung LN46A750. Your first option in this menu is Mode, which allows you to choose from various presets for sound or use your own custom preset. You can set these custom settings in the second menu item, the Equalizer. Once you make those adjustments you can just choose the Custom option from the Mode menu to get those sound settings. You can also reset the equalizer to factory defaults if you don't like the adjustments you've made.

The Samsung LN46A750 has an equalizer, a feature many TVs lack.

The Sound menu is also where you can turn the Samsung LN46A750's simulated surround sound system, called TruSurround XT on or off. See our Audio section for our opinion of how effective this setting is. The next option in the menu is your preferred language, which should be self-explanatory, and then the Multi-Channel Sound track option, where you can choose between Mono, Steore and SAP settings.

The main sound menu

Automatic volume control will attempt to automatically adjust the sound level to compensate for differences between broadcasts. You can also turn the TV speakers on or off and make adjustments to how sound is handled when using PIP. Finally you can reset all the sound options to factory default if you wish.

Other Controls (5.0)
In addition to the picture and audio settings there are four additional top level menus available on the Samsung LN46A750. The Channel menu allows you to add and remove channels, as well as setting favorite channels and a reservation system for automatically switching to a channel at a specific time.

The setup menu is where you find escoteric features like language.

The Setup menu gives you access to a grab bag of options including Language, Time, V-Chip settings for parental controls, Captions and Energy options. This is also where you setup the behavior of the PIP (Picture in Picture) interface.

Wiselink, Anynet and other proprietary Samsung technologies can be found  in the Application menu.

The Input menu is where you pick the input that is being used. The Application menu gives you access to a couple of extras, including the Wiselink feature that allows you to view music, photo and video content on a mass storage device attached via USB, the Anynet+ option, which allows you to control other Samsung devices and the InfoLink feature, which allows you to access some Samsung approved internet content if you plug an ethernet cable into the TV. See our Formats & Media section for more information on the Wiselink and Infolink features.

Manual (5.0)
The Samsung LN46A750's manual is a book, The size of a magazine with hundreds of pages it's definitely not light reading. Not only is it huge, but it's also dense, with smaller screen photos for the menu than we would have liked. What annoyed us the most, however, is the lack of an index. With something this huge you really need to have an index to facilitate moving around.