Though it's not programmable, the remote control is among the best I've seen. The buttons are large, well placed, and easy to press. The important ones are uniquely shaped, which makes them easy to find with your thumb. And the backlighting helps you spot the button you're looking for in a darkened room. Press the Backlight button (which glows in the dark), and all the buttons light up. The labels are written on the buttons themselves, so you can truly see what you're pressing.

The LN37A550 has a USB 2.0 port on one side that you can use for viewing photos and listening to music stored on a USB thumb drive or external hard drive. The TV finds all of the relevant files on the drive you plug into it, so you don't have to search through folders to find your pictures (or songs). Unfortunately, the photos display initially as icons, not thumbnails. Select one, and it starts a slideshow. The only supported formats are JPEG and MP3, so if you rip your CD collection into iTunes using the default settings (which will save your music in AAC format), you're out of luck.

Samsung added picture-in-picture to this television, but the feature is severely limited. The remote lacks a PiP button, so you have to go to the main menu for access. And PiP works only with an outside source (such as a DVD or Blu-ray player) in the big picture, and a TV channel playing through the set's own tuner in the little one.

And of course the price is right. At $935, the LN37A550 costs $105 less than the lowest-priced 42-inch HDTV we've looked at recently (the )--a set with no better audio quality and considerably worse image quality.

If keeping hassles to a minimum is your top HDTV priority, the LN37A550 makes an excellent choice. Just don't expect to be blown away by a superb home-theater experience. For that, you would be better served by the LN37A550's sibling, the 46-inch , or on a more modest level by the 42-inch .