Samsung LN40D630M3F LCD TV Review

Introduction

Design

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Some copper-like paneling to go with your touch controls

Samsung understands that a television becomes a physical piece of furniture that will sit in your home when it is turned off. No one really wants a big, bulky, black, plastic box sitting in the home, but they will make such a sacrifice to watch television.

As a result, Samsung generally adds some small points of design to spice things up. With the LN40D630, Samsung went with a copper-like bar across the bottom. Really, it’s not that bad, but you have to be very close to notice it at all. You can’t even really see it in our close-up shot of the manual controls. Other than this, there is a clear plastic border running the entire outside of the bezel. The result is a distinct, unobtrusive television that you won't call your friends over to check out, but you wouldn't call ugly, either.

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Smart TV Features

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We really liked these menus. If the television is simple, keep the menus simple.

Samsung has emphasized simplicity over "sophistication," with some attractive menus that start on the left side of the screen when you press the menu button. Navigation is very intuitive. Menus tier out from the left side and each option has a helpful description written in a bar at the bottom of the screen. The look of the menus stays consistent throughout, which always helps to keep confusion to a minimum.

Of course, confusion is easy to avoid without too many features to complicate things. There are no internet features here, though the Samsung Allshare feature is pretty cool. You can setup an Allshare server on your phone, computer, or other devices and share whatever media you have stored there right on your television.

That is, unless you have any Apple devices: no iPhone, no iPad, no MacBook, no nothing. Unfortunately, this describes a hefty amount of people that would have content to share in on their television. Oh well, maybe next time, Samsung.

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Picture Quality

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The Samsung LN40D630 tested with very accurate colors, a wide contrast ratio, smooth motion, and a decent viewing angle. What more could you ask for?

The D630 hit each key area with summary strength, showing us that it could display a wide range of accurate and evenly parsed colors in all shades. The D630 also offered strong black and white levels, with a contrast ratio wide enough to compete with some plasma TVs of equal or higher price. While replete with motion enhancing effects, its basic ability to handle motion-based content was more than satisfactory. We wish the viewing angle was a little wider, but it's a small complaint given the otherwise strong resume.

Conclusion

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Samsung produced some of the most feature-packed televisions in 2011, with no signs of slowing down in 2012.

The LN40D630 is a solid television in practically every regard. In not one of our tests did this Samsung do so poorly as to welcome our oft caustic cynicism (except maybe the design section discussing the copper panel on the front). While the viewing angle isn't what you'd call expansive, the image quality offered here is very good for the money.

We recommend this as a great television for people looking for a basic, high-quality television that won’t break the bank. The menu is simple and intuitive—a description that is fast becoming a given on Samsung televisions. There's not a great deal of fancy extras and internet connectivity, but if you want a solid all-around display at a reasonable price, the LN40D630 isn't a bad option.

Science Introduction

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The Samsung LN40D630 may be a no-frills, entry-level LCD, but its color and contrast scores were nonetheless impressive. It displayed with smooth motion performance and its only real drawback (which is only a drawback if you're overtly picking at nits) was its viewing angle, which was still about average. The D630 is a prominent performer in basic display areas.

Contrast Ratio

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A very real contrast ratio that's impressive

For an LCD TV, the Samsung LN40D630 tested with an impressively deep black level of 0.07 cd/m ² (very bright)—by its black level. We'll save you the mental meth: The D630 tested with a contrast ratio of 5274:1. While that may not sound impressive next to gobbledy-gook numbers like "One Million-to-One," those advertised numbers exist only in the minds of marketers totally removed from reality. As an actual result based on measurable data, 5274:1 is excellent.

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Color Gamut

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The Samsung D630 tested with a very accurate color gamut.

A television's color gamut is a visual representation of the millions of colors it can produce. Like most consumer products, televisions have set standards for their operation and one of those standards determines the ideal setting for their color/light saturation, i.e. how their color gamut should appear.

The Samsung LN40D630 met this ideal with a high degree of accuracy, matching the primary points of red, green, blue, and white almost perfectly to the ideal gamut. This is a very good thing—one we rarely see—which means the D630 produces objectively accurate colors that will be neither oversaturated (too colorful) nor undersaturated (too light-full).

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Other Tests

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Meet the tester

Christian Sherden

Staff Writer

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Christian Sherden is a valued contributor to the Reviewed.com family of sites.

See all of Christian Sherden's reviews