Samsung UE32D5000PW review

Picture quality was good; standard definition Freeview broadcasts looked reasonable, but were hardly breathtaking. There were still noticeable noise artefacts on the low-quality channels such as BBC News, but higher-bandwidth stations fared much better. Even so, it makes the omission of an HD tuner all the more puzzling, as the panel is much more adept at handling high definition content.

Blu-ray movies looked fantastic, especially once we’d dived into the settings menu and tweaked the image. There’s a huge selection of options for a budget TV, including HDMI black levels, edge enhancement and noise reduction, as well as brightness, colour and contrast settings. We especially liked the ability to alter the backlight brightness, a feature often overlooked on low-end sets.

We were surprised to see that Samsung has managed to include a 100Hz panel, rather than the 50Hz screens usually found in low-end sets; it certainly made a difference to the fast moving chase scenes of Casino Royale, which looked much smoother than on other similarly priced TVs. Even during fast panning shots, the action stayed very crisp. Colours were already quite accurate at their default settings, but we still managed to improve the picture slightly with some tweaks.

Sound quality from the two 3W speakers is best described as serviceable; we had no complaints when tuned into BBC News, but the lack of bass and low volume couldn’t match the picture quality when watching Blu-ray films.

As a second TV, the UE32D5000 makes a lot of sense; it lacks a Freeview HD tuner and the online features we would expect to see in a living room set, but picture quality is easily up to the task of casual watching, particularly in high definition. For £360, there are very few sets that look quite so good, whether on or off. However, those looking at the larger sized models should be more wary of buying a TV with such missing features – unless of course you’re definitely pairing it with a HD set-top box.