Samsung LE40A856 Reviews: Series 8, 40" Screen LCD Full HD 1080p TV

43 Real Customer Reviews - In Summary

+ This television scores high on design. - It scores poorly on sound quality. “Slim looking visual appearance is very pleasing. picture quality/clarity is…” Sukhvinder, Leicester View all 43 real customer reviews

Product Details

Freeview, 3 HDMI ports, 2 Scarts More »

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Real customer reviews

43 verified purchasers have reviewed this product.
90% of people recommend it.

Show scores of…

All purchasers (43)

Design	9.7
Image quality	9.2
Sound quality	6.7
Value for money (at time of purchase)	8.7
Overall rating	8.8

Multi-purpose viewer (9)

Film and documentary lover (8)

High spec fanatic (4)

Sports and games fan (3)

Occasional TV watcher (1)

Other (18)

*not all purchasers provided a score or review

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Film and documentary lover”

Score 10.0/10

+ a very classy , very slim lcd awesome set well recommended

- sound but could be sorted with surround system

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purchased 17 Feb 2009

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Film and documentary lover”

Score 10.0/10

+ Just Satisfied

- Could do with a panel across the bottom to hide cables

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purchased 27 Mar 2009

Anonymous verified purchaser , “Film and documentary lover”

Score 10.0/10

+ The sound and picture this TV are of high quality

- The remote control has to be in a straight angle with the sensor in order to operate the TV

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purchased 19 Mar 2009

Mark, Liverpool , “Film and documentary lover”

Score 9.0/10

+ Excellent picture quality. Spot-on colours. Jet blacks. Fast response time. Very stylish. Easy to set up and calibrate. Very slim and compact despite being a 40" screen.

- Poor sound, best used with external system.
Expensive.
Input lag with games console or computer (renaming HDMI port in use to "Game" or "PC" cures this.)

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purchased 07 Mar 2009

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Expert reviews for Samsung LE40A856

TechRadar expert review

It's gorgeous, it's full HD and its got HDMI inputs galore, but the Samsung LE40A856S1W has got a secret weapon, too, called InfoLive, which functions by connecting the telly to your broadband home network, turning the internet into your plaything. InfoLive is a unique service provided in conjunction with Yahoo that gives you localised Ô¨Åve-day weather forecasts, scrolling news, sport, politics and entertainment headlines and even share prices as onscreen 'widgets'. And all at the touch of a button. A bit like, er, Teletext, which was invented in the 1970s. We can understand the…

This Samsung LE40A856 review continued on TechRadar

reviewed 27 Mar 2009

TechRadar expert review

Samsung is upgrading its game at a rate of knots if the LE40A856 is anything to go by. Indeed, the screen is difficult to find fault with terms of in picture performance or build quality. It's a shiny black model, but Samsung's design team have added a splash of bling with the 'Crystal Rose' finish and the squished-down 44.4mm depth. Four HDMIs and an Ethernet port for DLNA media streaming are provided. Strikingly deep blacksI do still have reservations. Navigating around the copious menu options is a chore, thanks to spongy remote control buttons and a sloth-like reaction time. The…

This Samsung LE40A856 review continued on TechRadar

reviewed 29 Jan 2009

Product Features

Screen Size in Inches	40
Screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner.
Type of Screen	LCD
Most small flatscreen TVs have LCD screens. Some larger TVs have plasma screens. Some very new TVs have LED screens. Traditional TVs are called Standard or CRT.
HD TV	Full HD 1080p
‘HD Ready’ is a Europe-wide standard designed to made HD technology less confusing. HD Ready TVs must have • Minimum vertical resolution of 750 pixels (in widescreen format) • Ability to display 720p and 1080i formats • An HDMI or Digital Video Interface (DVI interface) Full HD is a higher standard. Full HD TVs have screen resolutions of 1080p and can output at least 24 frames per second. Full HD is becoming common, but you won’t see Full HD on normal TV channels for a long time, so it remains optional for many people.
Freeview or Freesat Tuner	Freeview
Freeview is free digital terrestrial TV. FreeSat is a free digital satellite TV service, which gives you HD programming from people like the BBC without having to pay for a subscription to a service like Sky. You need a dish to receive Freesat but not Freeview. For more information see the Freeview site or the Freesat site.
Built-in Disc Player	No
Some products come with built-in DVD players or Blu Ray players.
HDMI Interface	3
Like a scart interface but capable of carrying HD signals from or to other devices. You’ll need these to link your Playstation 3 or your Blu-ray player to your HD-ready TV.
Number of Scart Interfaces	2
Scart sockets are places where you can connect other devices to your TV. If you already have a DVD player, a VCR and a Playstation you might want to make sure your new TV has enough Scart interfaces so you don’t have to keep crawling round the back of the TV.
Frequency (Hz)	100
A TV’s frequency is how often the picture is updated per second, and is measured in Hertz (Hz). A higher frequency, such as 100 Hz, means that a TV is more likely to show fast-moving images with high detail.
Contrast Ratio (X:1)	70000
This figure is designed to tell you how much difference there is between dark and light colours on the TV. It is quoted as a ratio, between the brightest white and the darkest black. 500:1 means the brightest white is 500 times more bright than the darkest black. Plasma screens have historically boasted better contrast ratios than LCD screens.
Screen Resolution (pixels)	1080p
The number of pixels the screen has. The more you have, the more detail the screen can display, given a high quality source. A breakdown of resolutions can be found on Wikipedia here
Response Time in ms	4
Reflection Angle	178
Also known as the viewing angle, it’s a measure of how good the picture looks when you are not face on to the screen. Higher is better.
Screen Format	16:9
This is a ratio of the horizontal to the vertical size of the screen. 16:9 is standard widescreen format for TVs, replacing the older 4:3 format.
PC Interface	Yes
If you’d like to use your TV as a PC monitor you’ll need to make sure it has a port to allow you to connect it. This is usually a VGA port, but some TVs include a newer DVI port. Adaptors are availible to allow VGA to DVI and vice versa.
USB Port	Yes
Socket for connecting devices such as a computers and other components
Electronic Program Guide (EPG)	Yes
TVs with this feature have an on-screen guide to all the programmes that are currently showing or coming up, so you can find your way around all the extra digital channels easily.
Picture in Picture (PIP)	Yes
TVs with this feature are able to display a preview of another channel while you are watching your current channel.
Energy Savings Trust Feature	No
A Yes means this this product has been rated as being energy-efficient by the Energy Savings Trust. Good for the environment and good for your electricity bill!
Weight (kg)	15.9

Height in mm	618
Width in mm	986.7

Depth in mm	4.44
Freeview	Yes
Freeview is free digital terrestrial TV. Many newer TVs have Freeview built in. For other TVs you will need a separate Freeview set-top box.
FreeSat Tuner	No
FreeSat is a free digital satellite TV service. The main benefit is that you can get HD programming from people like the BBC without having to pay for a subscription to a service like Sky. You’ll need a dish to recieve the signals though.
Sound System	SRS TruSurround XT
Colour	Black
The main colour of the product.

Also known as: Samsung LE40A856S1MX, "Samsung LE40A856, Samsung LE40A856S1M, Samsung LE40A856S1W, Samsung LE40A856S1MXXU

TV Buyers Guide

Manufacturer's Description

The Slim Series 8 LCD TV offers a truly unique viewing experience. The Series 8 LCD is equipped with the latest LCD technology such as 100Hz Motion Plus, Full HD 1080p and Ultra Clear Panel.