Samsung LTN406W 40-Inch LCD Flat-Panel HD-Ready TV

Samsung's 40-inch high-resolution widescreen LCD television is not only a gigantic LCD screen TV, it's also the answer to all your home entertainment needs, from its PC, DVD, and DTV inputs to its built-in NTSC tuner and integrated stereo speakers with 10 watts power each. At less than three inches deep, the set is nothing if not easy to place, its slim profile lending its massive screen width to even small rooms.

The LTN406W is a TFT active-matrix HDTV monitor with 1,280 x 768 resolution. TFT (Thin Film Technology) gives every pixel its own identity, so they can rapidly switch shades while maintaining some of the best brightness and contrast levels available. Image quality is enhanced by a 3D digital comb filter, an extremely high (600:1) contrast ratio, an exceptional peak brightness of 500 candles/square meter, and wide (170 x 170-degrees) viewing angles. Samsung also includes its proprietary video-enhancment technology, Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe). DNIe performs 3-D noise reduction and detail and contrast enhancement for all interlaced (non-HD) sources. Throw in 60,000-hour lamp life for years of use and PC and multi-channel picture-in-picture with split-screen capabilities, and you're looking at a sweet little--make that sweet big--set.

Connections include one S-video input, one composite-video input, an RF input (for older VCRs and cable boxes), and two component-video inputs (one progressive-scan DVD-oriented 480i video input, one DTV-ready 480p/720p/1080i input), as well as a DVI input (with HDCP content protection) for a PC. A headphone jack affords private listening, and Virtual Dolby surround sound simulates surround sound from any two speakers. The set includes wall and ceiling mounting hardware.

More about DNIe
The Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe) can take a signal from any kind of source--not just conventional or high-definition digital broadcasting, but even DVD, Camcorder, PC and games--and turn it into a stunning picture on any kind of screen. The input signal passes through a series of four advanced processes that form the core of the DNIe technology.

The first of these processes, the Motion Optimizer, is responsible for noise reduction. the visual data are automatically broken down into signal and noise and analyzed through a combined spatial/temporal process. DNIe`s noise reduction technology permits a startling level of sharpness even in minute details and rapidly changing scenes. Unlike conventional noise reduction methods, the Motion Optimizer combines a motion adaptive temporal filter, which detects and reduces noise in the temporal space between successive frames, with spatial noise reduction applied to the two-dimensional image space.

After passing through the Motion Optimizer,the visual signal is sent to the Contrast Enhancer. This process automatically adjusts contrast and brightness to natural levels, producing an extraordinarily rich and vivid picture. In scenes of motion or rapid change,a separate contrast value should ideally be set for each visual signal, but this presents great technological difficulties. DNIe's Contrast Enhancer process has overcome these difficulties by applying over 1 million criteria for contrast and automatically determining the optimum contrast level for any kind of visual data. The Contrast Enhancer can also analyze up to 70,000 local images within a frame to preserve contrast in the smallest details without affecting overall color or brightness.

The next step in the signal's journey from input to high-quality output is the Detail Enhancer. DNIe's Detail Enhancer uses its own specially developed technology to dramatically improve sharpness just where it matters. The slightly unnatural appearance that results from conventional uniform detail enhancement is re-detected and re-adjusted to produce a strikingly sharp and convincing image. Conventional detail enhancement is based on the artificial amplification of the input signal, but this inevitably produces small areas of noise boost-up and flicker.

The final process undergone by the input signal is the Color Optimizer. For each scene, the Color Optimizer analyzes the hues of the input signal to determine and preserve the overall level of brightness. The colors are adjusted and improved, without unnatural intensification, to give vivid tones corresponding to the living shades of nature. By calculating the color saturation of red, green, and blue in each scene, the colors are optimized to the shades that the human eye accepts as natural.

What's in the Box
TV, remote control, remote batteries, user's manual, and warranty information.