Samsung UN40EH5000 Delivers Quality | Review 2013

The Bare Necessities On Your Samsung UN40EH5000

From what we could find the Samsung UN40EH5000 best buy would be in the region of $500, which considering all things, is a pretty decent buy for a 40” 1080p 60Hz LED/LCD HDTV. Once again, the design of Samsung leaves much to be desired but, at least, you do not have a glossy finish, which would reflect badly on picture quality in bright or semi-bright rooms. The inclusion of just 2 HDMI ports undermines the inadequacy of Samsung to really impress, especially when they know that so many users want to connect so many gadgets and devices to get the best out of their purchase. Still, reverting back to design, we can safely say that the Samsung TV is one of the trendiest on show in Samsung’s armoury. The stand is unobtrusive and sleek but does not swivel, a factor that could easily have been included in the original plans.  We had already mentioned our lack of empathy for the manual control button on the UN40EH5000 itself a sort of joystick action without the lever, making manoeuvring very difficult. The remote control is also not very handy, as the buttons are all crammed into a space which didn’t appear to be sufficient to host all of them. Some spacing in between would have been nice to avoid pushing buttons we weren’t meant to.


Lack of Swivel Makes For Complicated Rear Access

To access the connection ports at the back can be quite a task with the Samsung UN40EH5000, due to the absence of swivel, which means you will have to turn the set around to be able to connect anything. We already mentioned the miserly 2 HDMI ports, which are accompanied by 1 USB port. Al least for the digital and HD ports, these are located at the side of the screen, which means you will not need to heave and puff to get to them.


So, How Does the Samsung UN40EH5000 Perform?

To be downright honest, we were amazed at the excellent overall results when testing the Samsung UN40EH5000. Motion processing, the detail within the black and white colors and the accuracy in color were amongst the best we have witnessed. Even in the contrast rating, we found the EH5000 to perform even better than the more modern and costlier EH6000. NTSC formats are handled with great efficiency and the angled viewing showed that you would need to be off-angle by around 35% before seeing the contrast ratio fall below 50%. Again comparing the EH5000 to its more prominent relative, the EH6000, we could see a clear advantage for the lower of the 2 series, in terms of motion performance. The 2 10W speakers incorporated in the Samsung UN40EH5000 are good enough for what you expect from 10W speakers, which can’t be much. No substitute for surround system and all that jive but sufficient. Expect to pay around $10 in energy costs for the Samsung UN40EH5000, which is negligible, to say the least. To get the picture and color quality just right, see our recommended Samsung UN40EH5000 picture settings and Samsung UN40EH5000 calibration settings here.

Product Highlights

Define Your Tastes Before Deciding

We have witnessed many critics of any given TV pine away at the lack of features and connectivity options available, when they unpacked them from their boxes. Suffice to say, we do not feel any compassion or empathy for their feelings, because they would have had this information way before they even decided to buy it.
If you are really into technology and adding components and gadgets to your TV, then maybe the Samsung UN40EH5000 is not for you. If, on the other hand, you want a TV to provide what it says it does, and with a bit of oomph to it, then you should go for it! Otherwise, just stay home and twiddle your thumbs!