Samsung UN32C4000

Motion Performance

Motion Smoothness (5.75)

The Samsung UN32C4000 didn’t have particularly crisp movement, even with the MotionFlow feature enabled. When images panned around the screen, many fine details were lost. Eyes turned into dark ovals, noses disappeared, and mouths smudged into red streaks. With the MotionFlow disabled, the effects are even worse.

Motion Artifacting (8.00)

Although movement on the TV was pretty blurry, we really didn’t see much motion artifacting at all. Solid blocks of color trailed shadows behind them, and fine patterns looked a bit jittery, but that was about it. More on how we test motion performance.

3:2 Pulldown & 24fps (6.50)

The TV handles 3:2 pulldown about as well as any other lower-end HDTV: not particularly. Fine patterns will flash as they move around the screen. Turning the CineMotion mode to Auto1 or 2 will help reduce the more obnoxious flashes, but it won’t eliminate the effect entirely. One of our tests uses a slow pan over an empty football stadium, since the backs of the seats create a pattern. In the clip, we saw a very noticeable crawling effect on the seat backs. It looked like someone had overlaid a group of concentric circles that warped over the area as the camera panned. More on how we test 3:2 pulldown and 24fps.

Resolution Scaling (6.27)

For this test we check and see how the TV handles non-native content. Unless all you’re doing is watching DVDs, the UN32C4000 is going to be upscaling or downscaling content in some capacity. Unfortunately, the UN32C4000 doesn’t handle 1080i or 1080p that well, so you might run into issues with broadcast HD or Blu-ray playback. More on how we test resolution scaling.

480p

The TV really didn’t have a problem with 480p (standard definition) content. There was a 2% overscan, which was odd for the format, but the TV didn’t suffer from any other issues.

1080i

The TV had some real issues here. We saw significant Moire interference, which means the TV can’t render specific fine patterns, leading to artifacting. Typically Moire interference creates larger, simpler patterns over what’s supposed to be displayed; in the case of the UN32C4000, we saw no such consistency. Random portions of the original image would be replace with some sort of artifact pattern, such as a rolling gradient, large crosshatch, or diagonal stripes. We also saw issues with plain black text against a white scree. There were thick, vertical bands where the text alternated between looking thin and looking bold.

1080p

We saw all the 1080i issues in 1080p as well.

Other Models in the Series
For more information on other models in this series, check our Series Comparison Page.
Samsung UN19C4000 19 in.	Samsung UN22C4000 22 in.	Samsung UN26C4000 26 in.