For an excellent and well priced plasma screen tv you could do a lot worse than this mid-range Samsung TV. It looks a great deal higher spec than its cheap price might lead you to believe, and at only 57mm thick, it sits lightly and stylishly on your wall. Because it is such good value there have been some sacrifices. Consequently the resolution is only 768 x 1365 and you cannot receive internet content through it as you can with many other tv’s. It does feature a Freeview HD tuner however and an excellent Electronic Program Guide which nicely combined the Freeview picture-in-picture in the top left corner of the screen with a well laid out table of all the channels just below it. On average terrestrial programs the Freeview tuner does a really good job. Apart from the occasional bit of missing detail the D945 deals well with colours and blacks and gives out a vibrant yet controlled image with very little excess noise.
Where it really excels is when used in conjunction with a good DVD player. There is very little to give between this set and some of its more expensive rivals, even within Samsung’s own range of tv’s. The picture is insightful and the colors are again vibrant – it falls down slightly in detail over the more expensive sets, but you it has an excellent portrayal of dark blacks and vivid whites that more than makes up for this and is significantly better than some of the pricier models.
Throw in a Blu Ray and the image really starts to sing. Watching Tron on Blu Ray highlighted the tv’s excellent black depth. Edge definition and detail and belied its budget price. It struggles a little with 3D although you would not expect anything different at this price – it is probably only going to be used for 3D very occasionally anyway.
A wonderful tv at a great price and excellent value for money.
