We expect TVs like the UE 40 B 7090 to justify their price with varied connectivity and multimedia extras, as well as by doubling up as a PC monitor. In this section of the review, you'll discover what this TV does well and where its shortcomings lie.

Connections:

The Samsung offers both analog and digital video connections, namely composite video, Scart-RGB (in Europe), component video (YUV), VGA, and HDMI. This sounds pretty impressive at first, but three important connections are missing.

Missing connections:

1. You cannot input S-Video signals. So, if you've still got an S-VHS recorder or an older camcorder, you can forget about viewing its output in optimal quality.
2. There's no cinch audio output - a real shame, since this is an easy way of hooking up the sound to a stereo or surround system.
3. A headphone output is also missing. Another true shortcoming - this should be standard on a modern TV.

Side Connections:
Four HDMI inputs dominate the side connections panel - HDMI is the most important connection these days, since this small socket can transmit both video and audio, including HDTV, digitally and in top quality.

With four of these connectors, you'll be able to accommodate impressive collections of modern devices - for example, an HDTV satellite receiver, a Blu-ray player, a PlayStation, and a computer with a digital video output (DVI or HDMI), all at the same time.

You can find a complete list of the Samsung UE 40 B 7090's connections in the full specifications.

Three in one: The Samsung receives three different types of TV transmission via its antenna connection - first of all, traditional analog TV, secondly digital terrestrial TV (DVB-T), and thirdly digital cable TV (DVB-C). Two or three separate antenna connections would be better, allowing you to use DVB-T and DVB-C simultaneously, without having to switch over the antenna cables.

Teletext Level 2.5 Standard:
The Teletext decoder supports the modern Level 2.5 standard ("Hitext") whenever TV channels broadcast it. Teletext 2.5 pages have a larger color palette (16 instead of eight colors), and a finer pixel size that makes graphics look clearer and more modern than conventional Teletext. 

Photo, Video, and MP3 Playback:

Samsung's "MEDIA PLAY" multimedia menu offers access to a wide range of functions. Below is a brief description of the available features.

MEDIA PLAY (USB & DLNA):
Playback of videos, photos, and image files via USB from a memory stick or hard disk, or via the network connection (see Network Functions). Photo-playback is first-class - even large pictures look great. This makes the Samsung ideal for showing off your holiday photos to the folks back home. Another practical feature: You can copy photos from the USB stick to the TV's 800-megabyte internal memory.

ANYNET+:
Setup menu for controlling various Samsung components using the TV's remote control. You can, for example, turn the TV and Blu-ray player off and on together. This works using HDMI communication between the various devices.

CONTENT LIBRARY:
Access to the built-in media content of the TV's internal memory: GALLERY (paintings, landscape photos, animal photos), COOKING (illustrated recipes), CHILDREN (songs and short stories for helping children learn to read), WELLNESS (gymnastics and massage exercises, relaxing music).

INTERNET @ TV:
Internet-based information services, which display within the TV picture ("widgets", see Network Functions).

Network Functions:

The network socket fulfills two functions: Firstly, it receives multimedia files streamed over the network from a computer or media server (for example, a Fritzbox). Secondly, the LAN socket provides the TV's internet connection, which it requires in order to display widgets.

The streaming function is a great feature:
The UE 40 B 7090 gives you direct access to videos, pictures, and music stored on the home PC, and you can select and play back files using the TV's remote control - it doesn't come much more convenient than this.

For this function to work, your PC must be switched on and running a streaming server program, such as Windows Media Connect or the "PC Share Manager 2.0" software that comes on a CD-ROM with the TV.

Picture Quality in Video Playback:
Picture quality is excellent in videos played back over the network. For example, the TV displays movie trailers in the H.264 codec in outstanding HDTV quality. The Samsung also supports various transport-, container-, video-, and audio-formats, which the user manual lists in detail.

The short version: The TV is DLNA-compatible. This abbreviation stands for Digital Living Network Alliance and indicates that the TV meets certain standards relating to streamed media playback.

Widgets:

Widgets are a handy feature that an increasing number of manufacturers are building into current Blu-ray players and TVs. Owners of new Samsungs can keep up to date with world events using Yahoo services that appear on the TV screen.

The current selection is as follows: WEATHER (temperature and cloud cover for your choice of worldwide locations), FINANCE (stock markets), NEWS (headlines), and FLICKR (photo sharing). Samsung plans to add a connection to the online video portal YouTube.

PC Monitor Usage:

The Samsung has ideal basic characteristics as a PC monitor: The picture is bright and flicker-free. In addition, the glossy front panel dampens reflections significantly so that the picture remains easily visible when viewed in bright surroundings.

Even static images displayed over long periods of time hardly affect this LCD TV - unlike plasma TVs (PDPs), which show varying degrees of ghost images ("burn in") after displaying static pictures at length.

Picture quality is excellent via HDMI, so long as you set up the computer's graphics card correctly. You get the best picture at a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and a 60-Hertz frame rate. Via VGA too, the Samsung UE 40 B 7090 displays a praiseworthy picture, although it's not quite as crystal-clear as via HDMI. Many TVs can't even display full HD via VGA, let alone in impressive quality.