Samsung LE32R74BDX 32in HDTV-Ready Television Review

Setup/Installation
After sitting and staring in awe for a good ten minutes we plugged it into the mains and got our hands on the extensive remote control. The set-up process took about five minutes as the TV does it all for you. It tunes the channels using the auto-programming setting on the menu. We were very impressed by how hassle-free it was. When the menu first popped up we were disappointed that they were central but they are slightly opaque, allowing you to see the picture.

Features
Like all good TVs, the LE32R74BD has a very clever image engine, Samsung has provided the Digital Natural Image Engine alongside a 10-bit processor. It boasts a 1366x768 resolution and a 5000:1 image contrast ratio which offers an impressive show. We like the 178 degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles making it perfect if you do opt to wall mount it away from the kids. Connections are good, it has a two scarts, only one is RGB-enabled though, alongside a component connection, HDMI and a HDCP. The LE32R74BD is great as it's Sky HD compatible, and to please the majority of people, it has PC input too. It has in-built FreeView and picture-in-picture (p.i.p) for those nights when you can't be bothered arguing over who watches Eastenders and who watches the footy. Our favourite feature was the game mode which improves the colour quality, it worked perfectly with the Xbox 360.

Performance
Unfortunately the LE32R74BD fails to perform as well as it looks. The FreeView performance was definitely the best compared to watching standard material and a DVD. To put it through its paces we decided on Oceans Eleven - it wasn't good. Even on a top-of-the-range Panasonic DVD player, the motion pictures were blurred, this didn't surprise us though if the still pictures were anything to go by. We even did a bit of eye-rubbing to see if we were mistaken by human error (no such look Samsung!). If you walk back ten paces it does improve but who wants to sit that far away? The menu gives you a large handful of strange colour enhancing options, which we wouldn't advise you use as they only made the rather tanned George Clooney look like E.T when he was on his way out. Colours on the normal setting are very vibrant, no problems there at all. Sound quality is respectable, lots of bass in action scenes and dialogue was clear with all sources.

What's In The Box?
remote control, power cord, stand screws, swivel stand, cleaning cloth, TV, instructions

Overall Opinion
For an entry-level HDTV the Samsung LE32R74BDX is putting on an average show. It's selling point is the in-built freeview but if you have a sky -dish already installed I would advise you shop around the other entry level HDTVs brands like Panasonic, LG and Sony Bravia 2nd Generation to get a better deal.