 "Samsung Bordeaux LE26R74BDX 26" HDTV")
Since the Xbox 360 launched in India, desperate gamers all over the country have been looking for a cheap HDTV to experience the next-gen games the way they were meant to be. But sadly the TVs sell at a much higher rate in India than even in the first-world countries, no thanks to our brilliant tax system. Gripes aside, if what you’re looking for is a high definition TV in a a room where you won’t be sitting more than 6 feet away from your display, the Samsung Bordeaux 26" seems like a pretty good option.
But before I get ahead of myself, I’ll start from the basics, as-in, the way it looks.
Like all other Samsung LCD TVs, this one too has a black piano finish that looks sleek and sexy at first, but attracts dust like its going out of fashion. The bottom of the panel is perhaps, the most elegant part of the TV, with the curvaceous extension in the center that houses the power button of the unit.
The speakers are well hidden under the unit, so even when you’re using an external sound system (which you should), the speakers won’t come in the way or occupy any extra space.
__PAGEBREAK__
The back of the unit contains the chunk of its connectivity options. Two component, HDMI, Composite, S-Video, VGA and antenna make up the inputs at the back, and you can output audio through a headphone jack or to a sound system using RCA. The single HDMI input might limit your connectivity options in the future, but looking at the currentscenario, these options are more than enough.
We tested the Samsung Bordeaux on a number of inputs. High definition input like the ones you get from gaming consoles looked pretty good once you set the brightness and the contrast levels appropriately. I wasn’t expecting it to perform this well with the Xbox 360 because I was personally never too impressed with what I saw in all the Xbox 360 kiosks that Microsoft has placed in all electronic stores. I guess none of those guys really took the time to set the TV and the console settings.
I played some high definition content through the PC using the Bordeaux’s VGA input and was pretty impressed with what I saw. The TV performed well enough in terms of font clarity and color reproduction to replace your desktop monitor for good. Of course, there’s a limit in resolution, but that would not make a difference when playing video content (720p max) on it.
What I liked the most about the Bordeaux was its deep black levels, thanks to its high contrast ratio. Even the colors stood out making everything look vivid and saturated, but because of that I also noticed a little amount of noise on the high-saturation areas.
Usually I advise people to always output the sound from flat panel TVs to an external sound system, and that holds pretty much true for the Bordeaux too. While you will get loud and clear sound from your regular TV channels, using the TV sound for movies and gaming will totally kill the experience for you. The in-built speakers are loud, but they are also flat, so you’re better off connecting it to any other amplifying sound system.
Considering that the 26-inch Bordeaux is available at a price of Rs. 39,990, you would probably want to take a look at some other deals before jumping into this one. Its not that this is a bad LCD display; far from it. The thing is with some of the 32 inch flat panel TVs falling into the Rs. 45,000, you may want to consider your options.
That aside, the Samsung Bordeaux LE26R74BDX is an excellent addition to any personal entertainment system - for your home entertainment systems need a bigger display.