It's been a good few months for high-performance TVs.

And now we've got our hands on the Korean company's 55in Series 9 LCD TV – a flagship screen with no shortage of innovative features.

The Samsung LE55A956D has got everything and then some: LED-backlight? Check. 100Hz processing? Check. Ultra Clear Panel? Check. USB connectivity and media-streaming? Check indeed.

Fat-bottomed LCD beauty

Looks-wise, this flatscreen is certainly different to the Samsung's regular Crystal Designed wares – there's no splash of red. This style is monikered 'Platinum Black', although – subtle mottling aside – it's just black, really.

Standard black it may be, but what a bezel it is. Other TVs boast superslim surrounds, but here the frame is as wide as a hippy's bell-bottoms. It makes the TV seem far larger than its 55in panel suggests. Indeed, 'slim' is entirely the wrong word to describe this screen. The 956's footprint harks back to the bygone days of LCD TVs before the AV industry went size '0' crazy.

But there's a good reason for this; the extended waistline is padded with LED bulbs – one of the 956's crowning features.

Hi-def mastery

LED-backlighting is actually old hat. Real world (tested) contrast ratios around 200,000:1? Yawn! Blacks the colour of a frost-bitten toe? Snooze. We've seen it before. That doesn't make it any less effective, impressive and exciting, though. And its implementation in a screen of this size further enforces its virtues.

The larger the screen, the more pronounced and effective the localised dimming seems. Take Stardust on HD DVD, and specifically Michelle Pfieffer in a black robe hamming it up for the camera: her robe seamlessly blended into the top and bottom-ranged black bars, which, in turn, blended into the bezel. It was a marriage of the kind of deep, unsullied blacks atypical of an LCD TV that's actually switched on.

It's plasma-esque in its mastery.Of course, with deep blacks come vibrant colours. With good HD material an almost three-dimensional image is achieved. SD pictures are less exciting and can look somewhat flat.

Image effects

Another feature that adds 3D-like effects to images is 100Hz Motion Plus. Rather than simply doubling the frame rate (in order to reduce stuttering during movement), there are additional algorithms at work that further enhance objects on screen.

The end result is reminiscent of Philips' Pixel Plus where – at times – people and vehicles, for example, ping from the background. Admittedly, the end result is a bit like Marmite (you either love it or hate it), but at least on this Samsung you can choose to tone it down or turn it off altogether.

My advice? Switch it onto 'Medium' for normal TV and some standard-definition DVD viewing, and 'off' for any hi-def shenanigans, including games.

Lacklustre audio

This Samsung offers three 'Entertainment' picture enhancements above and beyond your own calibration (in addition to the 'Standard', 'Movie' and never-to- be-used 'Dynamic' presets).

'Sports', 'Cinema' and 'Game' each aim to fine-tune the picture settings for their specifi c tasks but, to be frank, they're useless. Calibrate the telly yourself to your own personal preference and stick with it.

The same goes for the audio, which offers a similar range of adjustable presets. There are fi ve options you can choose from (in addition to turning SRS TruSurround XT on or off) but I feel you'd be best off fiddling with the in-built equalizer yourself.