Samsung UN46D6000 LED LCD HDTV Review

Motion Performance

Motion performance on the Samsung UN46D6000 proved to be quite good. Moving objects, while surrounded by a typical blur and some flicker, did not have much of the stair-stepping pattern which is common in televised motion. This only occurred on the sharpest moving edges, and was not very noticeable when viewing the TV from an appropriate distance. Artifacts beyond the subtle flicker were very minimal. More on how we test motion performance.

3:2 Pulldown & 24fps

Without Film Mode enabled, 24fps sources like Blu-ray look terrible on the Samsung UN46D6000. They flicker erratically, with sections dropping unpredictably out of moving text. However, when the mode is enabled, flicker is reduced almost to nil for moving high-frequency patterns. Footage of a panning stadium showed only minimal, if any, crawl. Two settings are available, Auto1 and Auto2, of which we found Auto1 more effective. More on how we test 3:2 pulldown and 24fps.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution scaling was quite good on the Samsung UN46D6000, which performed admirably in its native 1080p, as well as the less-commonly used 720p and 480p. For all resolutions but 480p, overscan could be totally avoided by setting the Picture Size option to "Screen Fit." More on how we test resolution scaling.

480p

Because the aspect ratio of the 480p format is not 16:9, many TVs have a problem preventing it from overscanning. This was true for the Samsung UN46D6000, for whom about 6% of the picture was cut off, horizontally and vertically. Moiré (Moire) patterns were highly legible, though slightly blurry. Text was legible down to about 10-point, after which it became blurry and harder to read. High-frequency patterns presented no issue.

720p

In 720p, the Samsung UN46D6000 had no trouble with high-frequency patterns, but a few Moiré (Moire) patterns exhibited subtle banding. Text was legible down to about 9-point, but was slightly blurrier than in its native 1080p.

1080p

In its native resolution, the Samsung UN46D6000 showed pixel-by-pixel accuracy in Moiré (Moire) and high-frequency patterns. Additionally, text was legible down to a small, 9-point font. The only error appeared in slightly discolored Moiré (Moire) patterns, which occasionally looked greenish. This is a fairly common problem, even for high-quality TVs.