One Smart Hub feature, Your Video, lets you search for movies and TV shows across all of the video-on-demand services. When I selected a movie, Your Video found it on both CinemaNow and Vudu, allowing me to choose the option with HD or the one with the cheaper price. As I write this, Your Video supports Hulu Plus only partially and Netflix not at all. Samsung assures me that this will be fixed.

A bigger problem with Your Video was Samsung's text entry interface, which made searches (as opposed to browsing) a nightmare. Behaving like an extremely dumb phone, it offers only the option to select numbers for letters, but it does so in an illogical way that makes the worst cell phone you ever texted on feel like a full-size keyboard. I tried to search for 30 Rock, but gave up before I got to 3.

Fortunately, you won't encounter the dreadful text-entry system everywhere. Entering a Wi-Fi password is comparatively easy, and non-Samsung services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus have their own text-entry interfaces.

Another option, if you have an iPhone or other iOS device, or an Android phone or tablet, is to download the free Samsung Remote app, which removes all of the frustrations of entering text via a remote control.

Aside from text entry, the app offers no advantages over the physical remote that accompanies the PN51D6500. That remote fits well in the hand, with large, well-placed buttons. Because the remote isn't programmable, you can't teach it to control your Blu-ray player or old VCR. But it does have a handy backlight.