- Refresh Rate: 120CMR (Effective)
- 42.4 – Inch 300W (6.1 Ch)
Product Reviews
Score: 5/5 Source: Amazon.com
Also, before you talk about quality, make sure you watch a real 4K video. I have used the YouTube app to search and play 4K video samples, as well as connected to my laptop that can produce 4K hdmi output, and the quality is AMAZING. It also has a lot less glare from my old Samsung which had a “regular” glass. This one, mounted above a fireplace, and next to a very bright bay window that brings sun in all afternoon, and you still watch TV without having to close the shades. 5 stars all the way … *****
Score: 5/5 Source: Amazon.com
Physical appearance 5/5 The tv is very slim, with a semi gloss screen. The tv looks better at night, but reflectivity is pretty low during the day even with windows near the screen. The stand is sleek and minimal. There are several HDMI and USB ports, along with optical sound output.
Apps: 4/5 When I last checked there were over a dozen apps. There was no HBO Go which was disappointing. I do not know if that will be added or not.
Picture Quality 4/5 When I first setup the tv the picture quality looked pretty mediocre. I discovered that this is due to extraneous settings that overprocess the video. Once I adjusted the settings, bluray and over the air channels looked amazing! I will post my settings at the end of this review. FYI, this is a 60hz panel, although I dont perceive any motion issues. Black levels and colors are great. Plus 4k content is gorgeous (netflix, youtube, amazon).
Value 5/5 For $1000 you cannot beat this tv. The next model up, the JU7100 is $500 more and the only really difference is it is a 120hz panel.
Settings
Picture mode: movie
Backlight: 8
Contrast: 96
Brightness: 45
Sharpness: 0 (only makes image worse. remnant of analog tvs)
Color: 65
G/R: 50/50
Dynamic contrast: off
Black tone: darker
Flesh tone: 0
Color Tone: Warm1
Digital Clean View: High
MPEG Noise Filter: High
Film Mode: Off
Auto Motion Plus: Off (you can turn on if you want,but it turns down the backlight in order to pulse the light to increase apparent refresh rate)
Score: 5/5 Source: Amazon.com
This is supposed to be a Smart TV, so software quality is the other aspect to evaluate this TV on. The settings menu of this TV is usable, fast and pleasant to use. YouTube and Amazon Instant Video apps are slow to start (about 10 to 15 seconds, which is twice as slow as the $69 AppleTV) but once started they seem to work well. Many apps including Hulu are still in development. The icons are present but when you start the app you get a “Coming soon” message. There is no Netflix app, nor even a “Coming soon” message for it. I am able to watch Netflix through AppleTV, but AppleTV is limited to 1080p.
Overall this TV is probably not worth the price today. But when the software updates become available and as more 4K content become available hopefully I will not regret paying extra for this TV.
Update: Netflix and Hulu have just become available via a software update. All apps work well. (But I had to do “Reset Smart Hub” via the TV’s menu to get the apps to work after the update.) Playing Neflix movies via the app looks very good, and I am also getting good surround sound audio through my receiver (using the Anynet/”Audio Return Channel” feature). I am now happy with this TV, so upping the rating to 5 stars.
Score: 5/5 Source: Amazon.com
Score: 5/5 Source: Amazon.com
Score: 1/5 Source: Amazon.com
Score: 1/5 Source: Amazon.com
While this is a common problem for Samsung televisions with ARC connections, this one is worse: while my previous model would at least switch to TV audio when I used the Netflix app, then released it back to TV upon exit (exactly as it should), this device never switches to TV audio upon activating an app! So while it frequently switches to TV audio during TV/BR/AV usage, it DOESN’T when I actually want it to!!
Additionally, they’ve removed the “universal remote” feature, which is a (mostly) helpful feature which not only allowed the television’s remote to act as a remote for my DTA, it also allowed me to view and program a guide for my cable lineup. This is notably absent in this model, while the guide button is on the remote to make a potential buyer THINK it is present.
Basically, as abysmally as my previous model functioned, this one is worse by far. Unless you plan on switching inputs on your TV (i.e. not using a video pass through/ARC-compliant receiver), I DO NOT recommend this (or really any) Samsung television.
Score: 2/5 Source: Amazon.com
Score: 5/5 Source: Amazon.com
I am actually very surprised that this TV has bad reviews.
Score: 5/5 Source: Amazon.com
It’s about 15lbs or so lighter than my previous model, even given the size increase to 55″. It is thus even thinner and feels a little flimsy. The surface is not glossy but reflection is noticeable in dark scenes during day time viewing, but not terribly so.
I connect directly to the router for best performance and have a 25Mb line. Cable, Roku and PS3 for BluRay (which I have never played a game!) are my main sources. The Roku stays for HBO. Looks like HBO will be here soon, at least Smart TV is advertising the currently unavailable GoT. And I can’t comment on it’s WiFi connectivity.
Initially Netflix wouldn’t work and it appeared to have a problem downloading the latest firmware. However, it did download it and I updated my Netflix subscription to the (limited) UHD service. The fact being that Daredevil, House of Cards and Breaking Bad, plus Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (which I own on BluRay) will keep me occupied for the next few months. It’s takes about 5-6 seconds to load the app.
The interface is nice, I like that I can see detail without having to click on the item highlighted, unlike the Roku! The Amazon interface is nice too.
The ‘Your content’ app, my stuff is stored on a NAS, didn’t stream well at all. I kept getting pauses and then it moaned at my network connection. Never have that issue with my iPad. I’m going to store my content on a USB drive and connect directly. Which I intended to anyway!
I sit about 9 feet from the screen and I can easily say I have no issues with the picture quality: it’s excellent and all content looks better than on my previous TV, though that might be the improvements made since 6 years ago. The App streaming quality is excellent and I’ve experienced no delays or stuttering when viewing Netflix or Amazon UHD.
Lucy: BluRay/PS3 (sort of fun but absurd movie). Mr Freeman’s skin tone was near perfect.
Gravity: BluRay/PS3 Earth looked fantastic
Interstellar: BluRay/PS3 It looks great and the IMAX scenes are well… Stellar, Blacks are black! The space scenes are the best ever put in a movie!
Crouching Tiger: Netflix UHD and BluRay. UFD looks pretty similar to BluRay content, lovely detail and color.
Priscilla Queen of the Desert (excellent and fun Aussie Movie) HD: Amazon Streaming looked good, slight soft, good detail and color.
Good UHD on YouTube is hard to find, mostly static images or badly filmed. There is, however, no doubting the quality of the image though. Some of the TV maker demos are good, but a (good) movie trailer would be nice.
Please note: Netflix suddenly stopped working. In the end I did a hard stop/start and that seemed to solve the problem, for now! I think that if Netflix App is not fully unloaded when switching apps this may sometimes cause a problem.
So in conclusion: I like the TV; a lot. Stunning picture with UHD material. Great detail on lesser material, good features and, excepting note above and the Your Content App, streaming on Netflix and Amazon is very good, better than my much used Roku. However, there’s not much content worth watching, or it’s expensive if buying on Amazon, and given the quality of streaming you’d be better off buying a BluRay player and getting the cheaper disks, but it’s nice to have at least BluRay quality for streaming, and it looks like the latest exclusives from Amazon and Netflix are 4k. So there’s stuff there I want to watch.
And finally, of dear my cable TV HD now looks a little dull!