Samsung LA46F7 46" LCD TV

HDTVs have a long way to go in our market. With no real push from the national television channels to promote this technology, the only real inspiration for getting an HDTV in our market are the new-age gaming consoles and the upscaling DVD players. The fact that you need to be aware of concepts like the TV's resolutions, the kind of inputs it takes, and good and bad points of LCDs and Plasmas, makes it pretty overwhelming for the lay man. Though there are times, when we try to simplify things for the end users, there needs to be a bigger push in terms of product pricing and education through the TV channels that will tell people why this technology is so much better.

Samsung's LA46F7 46" LCD HDTV supports a native resolution of 1080p (1920x1080 pixels, progressive scan), which comes as a breath of fresh air in our market where HDTVs seemed to have maxed out at 720p (1280x720 pixels, progressive scan). But how much of a difference does it make over 720p, and is it really worth the upgrade? That's what we aim to find out in this review.

The LA46F7 doesn't look as fancy and curvaceous as the Samsung's Bordeaux series, but it does have that glossy finish that's prone to fingerprints and dust. Well, at least they bundle a cleaning cloth for your servant to use on the TV every half hour.

The speakers are well hidden at the bottom corners of this TV, which I think is a great thing to do, since no one will really be using those anyways. Really! buying a 2 lakh TV without having a good sound system is like buying a Ferrari with a Premiere Padmini engine—it's blasphemous and you'll be hunted down by fanboys for it.

The stand it comes on, allows you to move it by 20 degrees, and you (obviously) also have a wall mount option for this one.

In all, the LA46F7 looks great without being too flashy, just as any flat panel should. Damn the glossy plastic finish though!