Nick's Christmas Shopping: Samsung 32-inch LCD

By Nick Hide on 01 December 2005, 4:29pm

Christmas, if nothing else, is a time for embarrassing personal revelations, so here goes: the Crave hive mind has, in its infinite wisdom, given me £5,000 VCP (Virtual Crave Pounds) to spend on my dearest Christmas wish. And my first purchase is something I've already got.

The Samsung LE32R41BD was delivered to my flat this week, and it's so good I want another one. My first flat-screen TV, it's everything I've ever wanted in a telly. And that's what makes it such a brilliant product -- you wouldn't believe the number of TVs we see where the manufacturer has cut some little corner to save money and hoped no-one would notice. The Samsung is the first to have everything you could want in a TV for under £1,000.

Thirty-two-inch screen? Oh yes. None of your piddly bedroom-sized 26-inchness here. Picture processing? DNIe (Digital Natural Image engine, Samsung's proprietary tech) is present and very correct, smoothing out artefacts and adding great depth to dark hues. Integrated Freeview? Yes indeedy, and with an excellent electronic programme guide, too. And finally, the big one, is it high-definition ready? You betcha. It's HDMI'd up and gagging for some Sky HD next year. And while design is always a matter of personal taste, I'm a sucker for the Samsung's jet-black pointyness. I bought mine from Waratah for the princely sum of £840.

All I need to go with it is a Freeview recorder, so I can catch up on Rome after the footie's finished. As the Samsung has a digital tuner, I don't need a fancy dual-tuner recorder like the excellent Humax PVR-9200T -- its single-tuner little brother, the PVR-8000T, will be sufficient. Its 80GB hard drive offers 40 hours of storage, more than enough for a whole series of swords and sandals, and its playback is just as good as watching live TV. I found one online for just over £130 from qed-uk.com. -Nick Hide

Nick has bought these items:
Samsung LE32R41BD LCD TV
Humax PVR-8000T Freeview recorder

He has £4,027 left to spend before Christmas Day.
Click here to find out more about Crave's virtual Christmas shopping spree.