Samsung LE23R87BDX - 23″ Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV - With Freeview - Black

February 21, 2008 | By Doug In Freeview TV |

Samsung LE23R87BDX - 23″ Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV - With Freeview - Black
58cm visible screen size. 16:9 Aspect Ratio.

Customer Review: Great set
I have had the TV for about 3 weeks. It already feels like a member of the family! The picture quality is great. Sound quality is fine, though the bass does boom with some inputs.

My only real complaintis the menu lag. There is no shortcut for scrolling through the sources you plug into it - instead you will have to click the source button 6 times to get to the DVD player in the sixth slot etc. This gets tiresome really quickly.

The only other caution is that you’ll find that once you upgrade from an old style CRT tube television to a hi-def LCD, you suddenly want to plug other HD stuff into it. It really brings out the flaws in an ordinary DVD, or even the Wii which looked better on a CRT.

This leads to a need for PS3 with Blu-Ray, a surround sound amp & speakers, and, crucially, good wiring. But then again, this is the curse of upgrading any of your kit!

Happy viewing. For the money this set is excellent.

Customer Review: A chance to dispell some HDTV myths and wives tales
This isnt going to be a complete and exhaustive review for this set as I havent yet had the time to go into any sort of testing process with the set I have just bought (literally just hours ago). However, in just these few hours I have managed to completely dispell some of the myths surrounding HDTV and this tv is particular and confirm some others. Here they are:

1) Will my ps2/xbox/gamecube look rubbish on this screen

Answ: Depends on what you consider rubbish and also what game you put in. Some games, like FIFA 08 that dont seem to offer progressive output and so the display doesnt look great. Its like playing a pc game in 800×600 on a native 1440×900 pc display - its the same kinda thing. However, games like resident evil 4, gran turismo, WRC rally evolved and toca 3 look either improved or just slightly less good than standard tv. I have my ps2 connected with the component cables, dont connect through composite! The picture is truly bad!

2) Is the menu and channel response time slow?

Answ: Not really and yes, channels can take 3 to 4 seconds to change on the inbuilt freeview, the menu system is a little unresponsive but taking no more than a second to do anything. It just seems a little laggy but can be forgiven as its very user friendly and looks good.

3) Can I use another set-top box for freeview on this tv?

Answ: Yes! You dont have to put up with the laggy inbuilt one on this. Plug another set top box in through the scart and just select the scart input from the connections menu. You could even have 2 set top boxes plugged in if you really wanted! Oh one thing to note with the freeview on this tv, it didnt find that many channels for me whereas my set top box found 4 times as many. Dont know whether the sensitivity is lacking.

4)Is the sound really that bad?

Answ: No not at all. I havent even turned it up to maximum yet but on about 60% it is loud enough for the neighbours next door to here through the wall (on a quiet day). Assuming just background noise in your house, 35% or above will be enough. The speakers seem to be fine, no distortion, not absolutely amazing but thats to be expected! But as good as any other tv speakers, if not a bit better.

5)Is the picture quality good?

Answ: A distinct improvement from CRT tvs in standard resolution (i.e. freeview) with a cleaner image and better refresh rate. I havent tried HD yet but I imagine it will be fantastic.

A good bonus about this tv is its picture in picture. You can play your games and have the tv on in the corner too so if you are waiting for something to comoe on, you know when its about to begin, Handy!

No complaints about this tv so far. 5/5 stars no problem!

5 Band equalizer
Amazon Price: ?399.99
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