Samsung LN46A750

Formats (10.0)
The Samsung LN46A750 supports all modern video formats including 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i. This means it will be able to handle anything from standard definition content all the way up to the highest quality high definition content. It also supports 3:2 pulldown, which provides a fill like look for appropriately encoded content. It also support 24p, for content that is playing back at 24 frames per second, which is the standard for cinema and will preserve the film look. Photo Playback (6.5)
The Samsung LN46A750 can play back photos that are on a mass storage device connected to the TV via the USB port using Samsung's Wiselink feature. Entering the photo interface you are greeted by a set of three thumbnails at a time with a timeline for the current sort setting below these and an indicator for controls at the bottom of the screen. To the left of the timeline you'll find a menu where you can choose to sort photos by one of the following options: Timeline, Monthly, Preference, Folder, Composition and Color. We found that changing the sort options did not make a big difference for our test photos, in fact some of them were just plain confusing, for example what does it mean to sort by Composition?

You can switch from photo to photo using left/right on the D-Pad or rotating the dial built into the D-Pad. Pressing the center select key will start a slideshow with the first photo the one currently selected. You can also select multiple photos for deletion using the yellow button on the remote or favorite photos using the green button. Pressing the Tools button will give you a menu where you can do things like rotate and delete the currently selected photo(s).

Once in a slide show you can press the Info button to view information about the current photo and show the control map. Pressing the Tools menu in a slide show will display a menu where you can access slide show options like the speed of the slide show and the ability to play music stored on the USB device during the slideshow. You can also rotate, zoom and access picture settings form this menu.

We didn't find the photo interface on the Samsung LN46A750 to be very intuitive. Yes, it provides a lot more features than many other picture viewers on TVs, but it's also somewhat difficult to navigate. In particular we wish there was a way to simply view a photo full screen without necessarily entering the slide show mode.

Video Playback (4.5)
The Samsung LN46A750 can also play back video stored on a connected USB device using the Wiselink feature. When you connect a device the TV will prompt you to enter the Wiselink interface. Alternatively you can Wiselink menu at any time by hitting the dedicated button on the remote control. The main interface gives you the option to view photos, listen to music or view movies. Selecting this last option will give you a strip of thumbnails for all of the supported videos on the USB device. The interface gives you several sorting options but isn't particularly intuitive to use, you'll want to pull out the manual for this one.

The Samsung LN46A750 only supports Mpeg-4 encoded videos, including those encoded in H264. We found, however, that this support is very touchy. We tried several different Mpeg-4 videos encoded at different bitrates and sizes and found that only one of the videos we tested was able to play back without problems. Others wouldn't play back at all or would play back with serious problems in the video. As such we are only awarding half the points we would normally award for Mpeg-4 support. No other form of videos are supported.

The Samsung LN46A750 can play Mp3 music files found on connected USB devices using the Wiselink interface. The interface is the same as that found for photos and video, you get a line of thumbnails with a timeline below and the option to sort by various options like Genre, Mood, Artist or Title. Press in on the D-Pad to play back the currently selected item. Playlists are not supported. The interface is a bit more intuitive with music simply because the sort options make more sense here than they did in the Photo interface.

Streaming Playback (1.0)
The Samsung LN46A750 supports Samsung's proprietary Infolink service, which allows you to connect the TV to the internet using an Ethernet cable and then access a selection of Samsung services including Weather and News. The content offered is limited and you can't access other online services like Youtube or Hulu, but we will award a point in this section because there is some streaming video content available. DVR (0.0)
The Samsung LN46A750 does not have a built in DVR for recording television content. This is a shame as the presence of a USB port means you could theoretically plug in a hard drive to use for storage in conjunction with a built in DVR.