Samsung LN46A750 LCD HDTV Review - Performance: Summary

The Samsung LN46A750 had excellent performance; we saw deep blacks, bright, clean white and strong color. Motion was also good; even with lots of motion on the screen, the LN46A750 produced smooth, clean motion that still preserved the fine details that make a video come alive. The blacks were not quite as deep as a plasma  TV, but they were very close; this display had the deepest blacks of any LCD HDTV that we have tested. Our only real complaint was a slight error in the color gamut, where the colors on the screen were slightly different than the recommended ones. But this was a minor issue; overall, the Samsing LN46A750 had excellent performance and produced sharp, bright and very attractive images.

Calibration
To get the best out of a display, it has to be calibrated, a process that finds the correct settings for the individual display. We use the DisplayMate calibration process to set the display up correctly; the calibrated settings that we use are listed below.

There are a few things to note here: we normally use the custom picture mode, but on this TV, we could only get the 6500K color temperature setting that we test against by using the movie mode. In other modes, the Warm2 setting (which was the closest we could find) was not available. As part of our calibration, we also turn the backlight up to maximum to get the best numbers for peak white. Note that the settings that give the best results for your display or setup will no doubt differ widely from this; we look for the settings that give the most accurate colors with the maximum luminance for whites, but you may find another set of settings more pleasing to the eye. We also only use the controls that are accessible to the customer through the on-screen menus; we don't use the hidden service menus that professional calibrators might access to tweak the settings. If you want to get the best image quality out of your display, we strongly recommend that you use a professional home theater expert who can calibrate your set and advise you of the best settings for your display, the lighting around it and how to get the best performance from your display.

Dot Pattern
We look at the dot pattern of the screen using a microscope. The photo on the right (taken at a 20x setting with a microscope), shows the dot pattern of the display, with the familiar grouping of red, green and blue elements. All of the elements in the display seem to be the same size and have the angled-bar pattern that most LCD screens show. They are in groups of three; one red, green and blue element forms a single pixel. There are 5760 elements horizontally and 1080 vertically, providing a full HD resolution. We saw no evidence of any dead or stuck pixels in close examination of the screen.
The video below shows how the individual elements respond as the display goes from black to white, then to red, green and finally blue.