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Nobody knows how to make a TV look better than Samsung. But even by the Korean brand's usual standards the UE40D7000 is a sight to behold. In fact, the way it manages to produce edge LED images while seemingly having hardly any edge seems to defy the laws of science. Gorgeous.
Since it shares the same specification as Samsung's flagship D8000 LED TVs (the D8000s just have a slightly fancier finish), it's no surprise to find the UE40D7000 sporting a prodigious set of features.
Headlining are its 3D playback capabilities, which are of the full HD active type. But probably more routinely useful is Samsung's Smart TV online service, with its truly extensive level of content, including plenty of video streaming platforms.
The TV also supports multimedia playback from USB sticks and DLNA PCs, and the interface provided for dealing with all of these multimedia sources is unprecedentedly good at handling huge amounts of information without becoming confusing.
The ultimate ace up the UE40D7000's sleeve, though, is its superb 2D picture quality. Sharp HD detailing, brilliant standard definition upscaling, knockout colours, and a cracking contrast range - despite pictures looking unusually bright - make it the current pick of the 40-inch edge LED crop for anyone willing to pay for its premium quality.
Its 3D playback has numerous strengths too, though in the end it's a touch more defined by the appearance of crosstalk during dark scenes than we'd ideally have liked. This might potentially be a deal breaker if you're going to use 3D regularly - maybe for gaming or watching lots of films. But if you only envisage using 3D occasionally, the set's 2D talents, design glories and extensive features make it well worth saving for.
We liked
As well as looking a million dollars, the UE40D7000's ultra-slim bezel and ridiculously trim rear allow it to be much less dominant a presence in a typical living room than most 40-inch TVs.
The UE40D7000's class-leadingly huge list of potential video and multimedia sources continues the futuristic theme established by the design, and the operating system for handling all these sources is superbly designed.
Finally, the UE40D7000's 2D picture quality is outstanding.
We disliked
While many things about the UE40D7000's 3D pictures are very good, it does unfortunately suffer with noticeable crosstalk noise during dark scenes.
The set suffers minor backlight inconsistencies too (though you can minimise these via careful manipulation of the TV's brightness and backlight settings), and in keeping with most LCD TVs, pictures lose colour saturation when viewed from an angle.
Final verdict
Samsung's UE40D7000 is bristling with innovation and cutting edge features, from its astonishingly svelte design through to its mammoth and beautifully organised online Smart TV platform, PC file playback and outstandingly constructed and presented operating system.
While this is all handy in justifying the UE40D7000's fairly high price point, though, what really matters about Samsung's 40-inch beauty queen is that it produces superb 2D picture quality, regardless of whether you're watching HD or standard def.
Its 3D pictures are only good rather than great thanks to the appearance of occasional crosstalk, but only die-hard 3D gamers or 3D movie fans will likely find this a deal breaker.
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