We’ve been living with our new ‘Sammy’ (Samsung 7000) TV for a week now (see RIP CRT) and we’re still very much into the ‘getting to know you’ stage. We didn’t get off to a brilliant start when the main remote control gave up the ghost after 3 days – but Samsung will replace it of course. Just as well it comes with 2 remote controls.
But it’s the effort of trying to get the best possible picture and sound that is testing my patience. The default settings are good enough if you want to demo the TV in a department store, but are far too harsh for my living room. The options to adjust the picture are vexing in the extreme and the ‘e-manual’ (may as well have come from Barcelona, if you'll pardon the Fawlty Towers allusion) runs to nearly 900 pages with no suggestions as to which things are best to tinker with and which are best left alone. Big opportunity for someone to write a Sammy for Dummies book methinks.
Most annoying, though, is the absence of a simple ‘phono’ audio output on the Sammy that I can plug straight into my hi-fi (well, mid-fi, actually) system. I have to wire both my Sky + HD 3D box (a story for another day) and my new Panny Blu-Ray (excellent box) separately into my amp, and I have yet to work out how to synchronise the sound with the lip movements (the Sammy introduces a noticeable delay to the sound in connected equipment).
OK, this is not quite ‘buyer’s remorse’ just yet. The picture – when you tweak it – is simply stunning, and the ‘smart’ function (the bits I have tried) is impressive (e.g. Skype using the built-in webcam).
But when all’s said and done, what I really want to do is sit down, switch it on, and watch TV with picture and sound at the best quality that the set can deliver - just as I could with my 'late' Panny. That, I fear, will take a lot more twiddling!