Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 TV for bedroom September 2, 2010
Joe the plumber
Very good picture and the sound quality is acceptable too.
Out of the box, the picture can be too bright and the colours look harsh. The picture settings can be individually adjusted for each of the TV's inputs (3x HDMI, 1x SCART, 1x AV, 1x USB). I found these settings worked best for me as a good starting point.
Backlight 6
Contrast 80-100
Brightness 50
Colour 40
My laptop worked fine with the TV's VGA input with a suitable cable.
Worth mentioning the TV features near invisible touch sensitive controls along the bottom edge of the front bezel. It also does not have a proper On/Off power switch.
The viewing angle before colours start to look washed out is also narrower than I expected on this Samsung.
The HDMI ports are not auto switching so you will have to use the 'Source' menu button to choose the desired HDMI and other inputs. The single SCART socket does support auto switching. Fyi, the Panasonics usually have auto switching on HDMI port 1.
Update on LCD viewing angle: It now transpires Samsung are sourcing LCD panels from other manufacturers for their TVs. If you do a google search for 'Samsung Panel switching', you should find articles by Digitalversus published in last few weeks. I've now discovered from the Service Menu, my LE26C450 is fitted with an AU Optronics made MVA panel and this may well explain the poorer viewing angle. According to avforums, one of two different manufacturer's panels may be fitted to the LE26C450 (Samsung or AU Optronics)
 1st class TV, 1st class delivery August 24, 2010
Paul Lewis
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this as I was so impressed with the 37 " Samsung we have. This set is exactly the same as it's big brother, great picture and sound. I booked express delivery and it turned up 2 hours before deadline and set up is so easy I was watching it less than 10 mins later.
Superb Picture Quality, Well Specified with Very Useful Features not all TVs Have August 10, 2010
Mr. Laurence Williams (UK)
34 out of 35 found this review helpful
The picture on this TV is excellent BUT it is essential to 'tweak' the settings to achieve an optimal presentation (suited to your own taste of course) after the likely initial shock of the picture being awful with the default settings; already being the owner of an 18-month old 37" Samsung LCD TV I knew how important this was. I adjusted the settings by playing a Blu-ray of 'No Country for Old Men' as the opening sequences have a good combination of beautifully bright, sharp and full of contrast shots. The sound is less impressive but still perfectly acceptable and MUCH better than I was expecting due to small power output/size of the unit. The only noticeable aspect is that the maximum volume achievable is not very high; it is not a great issue as for normal TV viewing it is fine and a surround-sound hi-fi is used for DVDs/Blu-ray...
This 720p 26" (it will of course accept all HD signals up to 1080p and 1080/24p) was bought to 'replace' a 24" 1080p LCD TV made by another manufacturer which I bought as it was cheap; I thought a relatively small screen would not produce much difference between makes - how wrong I was. Luckily I was able to return that other TV after a trial as no amount of adjustment produced an acceptable picture; crucially the backlight intensity couldn't be altered (unlike as with the Samsung), which I think has a MAJOR effect on picture quality. The picture had good contrast/brightness but it never achieved the level of sharpness expected for a Blu-ray presentation; it always appeared slightly blurred and 'mushy' in comparison to my 37" Samsung and I was left to wonder if it was the TV itself or the limitations of the smaller screen size. I now know the answer, as the picture resolution of this 26" Samsung is far superior to that other TV (for only about £50 more, BUT it is a 26" versus the 24" so the cost difference is even less significant) and it is difficult to find differences to my 37". When I read enthusiastic user reviews of that other TV it makes me think if they know what they are missing out on and how things could be even better....
There are a vast range of aspects available for adjustment, but not all are that necessary to change in my opinion. Below are the settings I changed and the values I made them, you can see that some are wildly different from the default setting which proves my point about 'tweaking'. It is pertinent to observe that as no two LCD panels are the same, and their performance changes with use (as they demonstrate the affects of 'burn'in'), there is even more reason why the settings will differ for everyone and probably need further adjustment over time :
Backlight-1
Contrast-70
Brightness-70
Sharpness-90
Colour-30
The 'Gamma' setting also produced significant differences, but it seems to be more dependent on what kind of source picture is being viewed when the above settings are, for me, 'universal'. If you get this TV obviously you can 'tweak' as you wish, but I couldn't see any noticeable difference from any of the other 10 or so settings available for adjustment ! There is also a Graphic Equalizer which can have some effect on sound presentation.
The range of connections is excellent and actually improves on my 37" Samsung. They are :
Rear
2 x HDMI
Component In
SCART
PC-In VGA
PC Audio-In (Slaved to HDMI-1)
Audio Optical-Out (which has a menu adjustment available for 'time delay' to deal with any synchronisation issues)
Headphone
Co-Ax Aerial
Side :
HDMI
USB (more on this later)
A/V In
CI Slot
The HDMI connection also accepts a playback signal from a PC equipped with a Blu-ray player. This is something I believe is referred to as 'HDCP' and is not a given even with the latest TVs. I connected my PC via a DVI cable and a DVI-HDMI converter and it worked fine, showing the Blu-ray picture with great clarity. Sound was present via just the DVI/HDMI connection, leaving me confused why there is a separate PC-audio input slaved to the HDMI socket !
There are front/bottom touch-sensitive controls for on/off, channel, volume, menu and source, BUT like my 37" I find them virtually impossible to use in any practical way as the legends are difficult to read against the black surface in anything other than a brightly lit room meaning you are (or at least I was !) forever selecting the wrong function....
Other notable features are :
A VERY capable media player facility for files accessed by USB (absent on my 37")
An informative and flexible EPG which allows programme scheduling
An on/off timer which can include USB as a source
An individual channel 'lock' facility with PIN access
Pros/Cons are :
The wide-range of picture size modes and adjustments remain. I have not seen many TVs which allow you to select a picture mode then be able to adjust the size as well as move the image.
The unit is remarkably lightweight.
It's made in Europe !
Firmware updates can be made via TV signal or downloaded then installed via USB
Unfortunately, the stand is fixed so you cannot readily swivel the screen
Those aforementioned pretty-much unusable front/bottom touch-sensitive controls...
For most the headphone connection being at the rear would be a con, but for me it is actually preferable as it is used as the permanent audio output to a small sound system; this reveals a limitation since it is the only way to get a sound output to a basic sound system as there are no phono audio output sockets (although there is the optical output for those with an amp that accepts it of course). This limitation is compounded as using the headphone socket mutes the TV speakers; I would prefer it if (like some TVs allow) the TV speakers were always active, there was a separate volume control for the headphone output and you could therefore control the audio for both the TV and your audio system from the TV....
So, as with any purchase you need to check as much as you can beforehand that all your requirements are met. I downloaded the User Guide for this 26" TV and confirmed it offered all the capabilities (and more) I liked and was used to from my 37" Samsung. I am not brand-loyal and am sure other makes offer similar quality, but this manufacturer makes TVs which clearly have a good picture and offer the functions (some slightly unusual) I like.
The current sale price of £250-odd (make sure you check the Amazon 'New/Used' prices as the Amazon price is often shunted from being the headline price by more expensive sellers !) makes it a very worthwhile purchase; it doesn't have things like a built-in DVD or a USB record facility (which the 'rejected' 24" TV I tried first had), but I am not in need of those features and think picture quality is most important.
Excellent TV July 30, 2010
Richid
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
excellent TV with a brilliant picture and sound quality - only reason didn't get 5 stars as had to replace original tv as main power unit went a week after purchase. this was replaced next day and new one has had no problems. Paid for delivery before 1PM but arrived at 2pm so amazon give me refund on delivery.
Pleased July 4, 2010
C. Wood
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Very good picture and sound. The USB conection is a nice feature for playing movies from a stick but I have not used it yet. The TV is very light and compact so can be mounted on the wall easily and pushed in to the corner. Tuning is very easy and almost automatic.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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