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Normally we're all in favour of brand's giving their TVs catchy names rather than horrible, impenetrable lists of letters and numbers. But we have to say we're a bit suspicious of the ‘Tulip' name Samsung bandies about when talking about its ‘M87' range of TVs. It just sounds a bit too genteel and effeminate for our liking. So for once it's perhaps just as well that Samsung doesn't use a name to market the 40in ‘Tulip' we're looking at today, after all. The LE40M87BD it is, then…

Regular readers with good memories may recall that we assessed a much larger Tulip - sorry, M87 - a while back, in the shape of the 52in LE52M87BD. And very impressed we were too. So if the LE40M87BD can carry on the same sort of standards at a much more practical size and price point, we'll be very happy bunnies indeed.

It's certainly just as peachy to look at. The high gloss black screen surround together with clean minimalist lines, gently curved edges and narrow, angled, light-coloured strip along the bottom edge all combine to glorious effect.

Connections, meanwhile, press all the right buttons by including three HDMIs all, unusually, configured to the v1.3 standard, permitting such ‘advanced' features as Deep Colour (for a richer colour range) and automatic synchronisation of a digital source's audio and video tracks.

To be honest, we're starting to feel as if HDMI 1.3 on a TV is something of a white elephant given the continuing lack of support for Deep Colour from the software side of the industry. But hey - if anyone DOES get round to doing a Deep Colour disc, then this Samsung TV will handle it while many of its current rivals will not. So fair enough.

While we're talking HDMI stuff, it's also worth adding that those on the LE40M87BD are equipped with the CEC system, allowing the TV's remote to control pretty much fully any CEC-compatible devices that may be attached to them.

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