The set boasts a 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution. Its widescreen, 16:9 aspect ratio matches the dimension of most movies and HDTV broadcasts, while its wide, 170-degree viewing angles (horizontal x vertical) ensures everyone in the room will enjoy a great view, even when you've mounted the unit on a wall. A built-in brightness sensor automatically adjusts the TV's luminance for the ambient brightness of a given room.

Onboard 10-bit processing produces 3.2 billion lifelike colors and aids in video signal processing for your analog sources. And with its lightning-quick 12 ms response time, astronomical 3,000:1 contrast ratio, impressive 500 cd/m2 brightness rating, and onboard 3D Y/C digital comb filter (which separates the color signals to minimize dot crawl and blurred edges), you'll see sharp, focused images regardless of their source.

LCD screens offer a number of benefits over CRT monitors and televisions, including general ease of use, freedom from eye strain (no screen flickering or radiation emissions), quiet operation (no high-pitch "flyback" noise, an issue with CRT TVs), accurate image geometry (no curvature distortion or susceptibility to magnetic interference from, say, speakers), long screen life, space savings, and light weight/easy positioning. They also tend to be more affordable than their flat-panel plasma counterparts, which often (though not always) offer faster response times and higher contrast ratios.

The LN-R238W's DNIe (Samsung Digital Natural Image engine) offers a vision of digital perfection in natural, crystal-clear images that reveal even the most minute detail. The process involves 4 key enhancements: contrast and brightness (for deep, rich blacks and natural whites), motion (which optimizes fast-moving images to produce natural-looking motion, reducing video noise or blurring), color (for lifelike realism, accurate whites, and skin tones with natural hues), and detail (DNIe analyzes video signals to ensure sharp detail, clear image separation, and natural edge transitions).

Samsung's patented My Color Control technology lets you control specific colors without affecting the whole screen. Samsung provides 6-color control selections: white, red, pink, yellow, green, and blue. It's your picture--you decide how it looks. Samsung's PVA screen permits brighter whites than standard TFT LCDs, as well as deeper blacks and every shade in between.

The LN-R238W makes flexibility a top priority, giving you several preset picture and sound modes (and custom settings for each). The TV also permits color temperature adjustment for warm, cool, or neutral tones, along with 4 onscreen languages to choose from (English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese). Choose one of several preset sound modes (standard, music, movie, speech, and custom) for broadcast through the set's built-in speakers (10-watts-per-channel x 2).

Connections include 2 component-video inputs (480i/480p/720p/1080i), a direct-digital HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), a PC input (15-pin D-Sub with minijack analog audio), 2 composite-video inputs, 1 S-video input, 1 RF input, 5 attendant sets of stereo (left/right) RCA audio inputs, and 1 stereo RCA audio output. The set's Anynet (RS-232C) control option simplifies use with other Samsung audio/video components.

Other features include single-tuner picture-in-picture (view 1 TV channel and 1 input source simultaneously), a sleep timer, V-Chip parental control, closed captioning, and an auto volume leveler to minimize jarring differences in loudness between, say, TV programs and their commercials.