Samsung UA26C4000PM HDTV review

This 26" model belongs to samsung 4series of edge lit LED TV. They are tiny televisions that crosses the realm of computer monitors. With resolution of 720p, it didnt even have 1 million pixels in total. Thus most computer monitors are superior to any among the 4series. Growing up to an obscene size of 32" with such resolution, you really wouldnt want to hook it to your computer or 1080p gaming console.
Setting this TV is very easy, with no screws involve if you are using the stand. The stands is a transparent plastic pillar that blend in the overall design as the panel has a transparent border. The exterior may look good but the glassy surface reflects too much light and may affect your viewing.
To create a sexy looking 3cm panel, samsung utilizes edge lit LED backlighting on this TV. In fact huge area of the panel is only 2cm thick. Edge lit LED is featured in all the sexiest HDTV since only the edge is populated with backlight, resulting in further reduction is thickness. However, brightness may not be uniform throughout the screen. Recent innovations also see local dimming available to edge lit but physics and some common sense tells you its no where comparable with full array counterparts.
Edge Lit LED does not suffer from the overbright edges plaguing the larger models. Without local dimming, the black level is similar to latest generation of CCFL ancestors. Brightness did improve significantly. Since this TV is not suitable for computing, users will be seated further away, thus able to enjoy the brigthness without straining the eye.
Contrast is superior to my LG 32LD460, not due to LED lighting but better panel used. No official timing for response time is available but no ghosting occured, so all is good. The internal engine does a decent job upscaling SD contents like broadcasts, but blueray playback isnt impressive at all due to the poor resolution.
At 3cm thickness, i m surprise samsung manage to squeeze 2 speakers in. They are rated at 5W, and is downward firing. But it produces the worst sound i ever hear from TVs. In fact they sound slightly worst than some smart phone's loud speaker, although the TV still beats it in term of loudness. And no, even portable speakers like x-mini outperfroms it in every way. So do yourself a favor and connect to external speakers.
Other normal sets of a/v I/O, you also get 2 HDMI ports and a USB. The TV has a media player that allows you to view photos or videos from the USB interface. The interface is well designed and support an impressive list of formats like divx in mkv container.

Samsung controller is color coded much better than the LG controller. It lacks small keys clustered around the power button to prevent mispress. Theres also dots to identify power, volume and channel buttons, making their identification in the dark easier.
I m not sure how this TV would position itself in the market. Small TV are meant for small rooms. Which means user will be seated pretty close and the poor resolution will rear its ugly head more often. Since most dont use home theatre system in bed rooms, your enjoyment will also be impaired by its poor speakers. Samsung is also charging you a premium due to the great looking chassis. So its really up to you to decide if this TV is for you.