Tour & Design

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From the front the Samsung UN40B6000 features a glossy black bezel that fades to a subtle red and then clear at the very edge. Below the bezel on the front you'll see a red glowing half circle, which is touch sensitive and acts as a power switch. The rest of the on-tv controls are also found embedded into the front bezel at the lower right and are also touch sensitive.

Back

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The back of the Samsung UN40B6000 holds all of the televisions ports, found in an L-like arrangement on the right side. These face out towards the right or down towards the bottom. The power adaptor also juts out from the back but is more centrally located.

Sides

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Neither side of the Samsung UN40B6000 has any features, a result of the 1.2 inch profile the television sports.

Stand/Mount

 

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The Samsung UN40B6000's stand has the same glass black design with a subte red edging ending in clear plastic that you find on the bezel. The stand does rotate and you can also mount the television on a wall. Samsung will sell a slim wall mounting kit separately.

Aesthetics

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The Samsung UN40B6000 has the same smooth curves and subtle red highlights we've seen on other Sasmung models, although the red highlights are a bit more subtle on their new lineup. The design is attractive, accented by the thinness of the HDTV. This is definitely a television you'll enjoy showing off.

Performance Features

Display Size & Technology

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The Samsung UN40B6000 is a 40-inch LCD television that uses LED backlights instead of the standard Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFL) found on most LCDs. LED backlighting is becoming more popular, although you will pay a premium for it as the UN40B6000's $2,300 price point makes clear.

For the B6000 series of LED backlit televisions Samsung is using a technology called edge backlighting. This means that instead of an array of lights directly behind the display the LED lights are arranged along the edge of the screen. The light is then bounced off of elements behind the screen. This allows the television to be very thin and also saves power, although we are curious to see whether it provides as rich a viewing experience as a standard LED array.

Formats & Resolution

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The Samsung UN40B6000 is a full 1080p HDTV, meaning it can handle the highest quality of HD content. As such it sports a full resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It is also capable of upsampling lower resolution content.

Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio

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We weren't able to do any testing on the Samsung UN40B6000 in this first impression as we were looking at the television at a Samsung event. Samsung has not provided any information about the black level, peak brightness or contrast ratio in their materials for the UN40B6000, so we'll have to wait to get it into our labs to find out what the UN40B6000 is capable of. One thing we can say is that the use of Edge lighting does make it impossible to use local dimming technology to try and maximize contrast ratio.

Color

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As we mentioned above we were not able to measure the Samsung UN40B6000's color performance. On the show floor we noticed that colors seemed a bit oversaturated, but without any information about how the HDTV was calibrated we can't make any definitive decision about the color quality. We can say that Samsung has chosen to stick with a standard color gamut for the B6000 series.

Motion & Refresh Rate

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The Samsung UN40B6000 sports 120Hz refresh rate, which is twice the standard 60Hz refresh rate found on most HDTVs, although it is becoming more popular. In reviews of other televisions we've seen 120Hz refresh rate does improve motion performance, but we'll have to wait to get the UN40B6000 into our labs to confirm whether this is the case here as well.

Viewing Angle

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Taking a look at the viewing angle on the show floor we were very happy with our first impression of the Samsung UN40B6000. Colors held up well as did blacks across a wide range of viewing angles. Once again we'll have to test this under controlled circumstances in our lab to find out if this impression holds up.

Connectivity & Media

Audio & Video Ports

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All of the Samsung UN40B6000's ports are found on the back of the HDTV towards the right side in an L-shaped alignment. Due to the thinness of the television the ports face either out towards the right or down towards the bottom. Facing towards the right you will find two USB ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an Optical Audio output, 4 HDMI ports and a 3.5mm audio input port that is associated with the VGA input.

The VGA input is found facing down, along with a Component input, analog audio input, antenna and Ethernet port.

Media & Other Connectivity

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The Samsung UN40B6000 can play back music, video and photos from connected USB devices. It supports internet connectivity via the Ethernet port, or you can buy a separate wireless attachment. This gives you access to Samsung's Infolink services, which provide a limited selection of content. Unlike the higher-end models in Samsung LED backlit lineup the UN40B6000 does not support access to Yahoo widgets via internet connectivity.

Placement

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The placement of the Samsung UN40B6000's ports are constrained by the thinness of the television. We like that they are well labeled and are found towards one side of the back, but they aren't quite as convenient as some other televisions that mount ports along the edge itself. Especially if the HDTV is mounted close to a wall we imagine that some of these ports are going to be a bit difficult to access.

Audio

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The Samsung UN40B6000 has two downward facing speakers with an integrated subwoofer. Each of the two speakers delivers 10 watts and there is simulated surround sound on board.

Controls, Menu & Remote

Remote

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We were not able to access the Samsung UN40B6000's remote control.

Controls

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The Samsung UN40B6000's controls are arranged along the front of the HDTV embedded into the bezel. They are touch sensitive so you don't get actual tacticle feedback here, which can be a bit annoying. We also found locating the on-tv controls to be frustrating as they were not lit up, so we were only able to identify them by the faint white indicators, as such we weren't able to take a photo. Another annoyance is that the power control on the UN40B6000 is not located next to the main grouping of controls. Instead it is centered on the HDTV, and is very easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for.

Menu

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We weren't able to explore the Samsung UN40B6000's menu system in our time with the HDTV, but what we did see indicates that it uses the same layout that we've seen on other Samsung HDTVs.

Conclusion

 

Series Comparison

Samsung B6000 **Series**

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Samsung B6000 series of LED backlit LCD televisions is at the bottom of their LED backlit lineup, with the B7000 and B8000 offering a few additional features. The B6000 series will be offered in four sizes: 32, 40, 46 and 55 inches. The 32-inch model won't be released until June of 2009, but the other models will be available as of March of 2009.