Samsung has strongly promoted its new QLED range of points-based quantum TVs this year, but it is the cheapest MU series of the 4K HDR television company that will be of interest to most consumers. One such is the Samsung UE55MU7000, a 55-inch 4K HDR TV that travels just below the £1,000.

Samsung has made a reasonable choice to use a VA-type panel. As a result, the Samsung MU7000 is able to produce the kind of strong and shiny blacks that are only improved by substantially more expensive sets, but also suffers from common limitations inherent in VA panel technology. For example, if you’re not sitting directly in front of Samsung, you’ll notice that darker shadows start to look gray instead of black, and colors start to lose their brightness. If you can’t place the MU7000 slap bang in front of the couch, then it would be wise to watch a TV with a different type of panel.
At this price, it is no surprise that the MU7000 is an Edgelit LED LCD TV. Since there is only a strip of LED modules along the bottom edge of the panel to illuminate the entire screen, you can immediately assume one thing: local attenuation will be limited in its effectiveness. For Credit Samsung, however, has specially designed the backlight mitigation algorithm to not be too aggressive, so flowering/halos are kept to a minimum (or at least they are while you’re watching standard dynamic range content).

And it’s fair to say that the quality of the panel and the backlight is irreproachable, even if it’s not cutting edge. We found that the backlighting and screen uniformity in our review sample are excellent, with no significant opacity, bleeding in the corners or dirty screen effect (where the irregular backlighting makes the screen dotted and ‘dirty’ in brighter scenes).

The Samsung UE55MU7000 is also unusually feature-rich for a 1,000-pound TV. It offers a wide range of calibration controls, and judicious adjustments to these allow you to get precise colors to make the material high definition higher.

Samsung MU7000 review: HDR performance and games
Turn on a Netflix 4K stream or pop an Ultra HD Blu-ray on the player, and the HDR performance of the UE55MU7000 is surprisingly refined. Supports hDR10 and HLG (Hybrid-Log Gamma) and HDR10 formats.

However, you should not expect the kind of attractive HDR show produced on TVs at twice the price. The maximum brightness came to 560cd/m2 after we calibrated the TV, and although this is less than half that of the best sets, it is the kind of stadium figure you should expect at this price.

However, Samsung’s tone mapping algorithm helps you make the most of the modest features of the MU7000. While other manufacturers compensate for the weaker rear lights by not showing the brightest aspects of HDR, Samsung engineers have chosen to keep the range full dynamic. This means you won’t lose any detail in the brightest aspects, even in HDR content designed with a maximum brightness of 4,000 nits (which is just over seven times brighter than the maximum brightness of the MU7000). As a result, HDR colors always look natural, although the more saturated colors lose some of their intensity due to the limited color range of the VA panel. Dark scenes also tend to be razed, as the backlight has to be turned up to the right day to handle HDR requests.

Another string for the ARC of the MU7000 is its low input delay. We measure 24 ms in 1080p and 19ms in 4K HDR, making it an excellent choice to play reflex-based games. And while some other LCD TVs that employ VA panel technology display spectral spots and tracks on the screen when a dark object moves on a lighter background, the Samsung 55MU7000 panel is a cut above – it’s largely free of such problems. Photo:Samsung

Samsung UE55MU7000 specs:

• Series7
• Display
  • Screen Size   55″
  • Resolution   3,840 × 2,160
  • Screen Curvature   N/A
  • 10 bit Support  Yes
• Video
  • Picture Engine   UHD Upscaling Engine
  • PQI (Picture Quality Index)   2300
  • HDR (High Dynamic Range)   HDR 1000
  • Dynamic Contrast RatioMega Contrast
  • Micro Dimming    UHD Dimming
  • Precision Black (Local Dimming)   Precision Black
  • Dynamic Crystal Color  Yes
  • Active Crystal ColorN/A
  • Wide Colour Enhancer (Plus)  N/A
  • PurColour  N/A
  • Auto Depth Enhancer  N/A
  • Contrast Enhancer  Yes
  • Auto Motion Plus  Yes
  • Film Mode  Yes
  • Peak Illuminator   Peak Illuminator Pro
• Audio
  • Dolby Digital Plus   Yes
  • DTS Codec   Yes
  • Sound Output (RMS)  40W
  • Speaker Type2.1CH (Down Firing + Front Firing)
  • Woofer   Yes
  • Multiroom Link   Yes
  • Bluetooth Audio   Yes
• Smart Service
  • Voice Interaction   UK English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Brazilian Portuguese
  • TV Plus   N/A
  • Web Browser   Yes
  • One App Support   Yes
  • Smart View   Yes
• Convergence
  • TV to Mobile – Mirroring   Yes
  • Mobile to TV – Mirroring, DLNA   Yes
  • 360 Video Player   Yes
  • 360 Camera Support  N/A
  • Bluetooth Low Energy   Yes
  • RVUN/A
  • WiFi Direct  Yes
  • TV as Hub Support N/A
  • TV as Things Support  N/A
  • IoT Client Application (SmartThings App)  N/A
• Tuner/Broadcasting
  • Digital Broadcasting   DVB-T2CS2 x 2
  • Analog Tuner  Yes
  • 2 Tuner  Yes
  • CI (Common Interface)  CI+(1.3)
  • Data BroadcastingHbbTV 1.5(CZ,SK,DE,AT,FR,ES,EE) / HbbTV1.0(PL,HU,CH,BE,NL,LU,PT,FI,DK) / MHEG 5(UK,IE)
  • TV Key Support  N/A
• Connectivity
  • HDMI  4
  • USB  3
  • Component In (Y/Pb/Pr)  N/A
  • Composite In (AV)  N/A
  • Ethernet (LAN)   Yes
  • Audio Out (Mini Jack)  N/A
  • Digital Audio Out (Optical)  1
  • Ex-Link ( RS-232C )  1
  • CI Slot1
  • HDMI A / Return Ch. Support  Yes
  • HDMI Quick Switch  Yes
  • RF In (Terrestrial / Cable input)1/1(Common Use for Terrestrial)/2
  • Wireless LAN Adapter Support  N/A
  • Wireless LAN Built-in   Yes
  • Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC)  Yes
• Design
  • DesignSlim Edge
  • Bezel Type3 Bezel-less (70
  • Front ColourSilver
  • Light Effect (Deco)  N/A
  • Stand TypeA-shape (Branch)
  • Swivel (Left/Right)  N/A
  • Slim TypeSemi-Edge Slim
• Additional Feature
  • Décor Mode Picture Engine  N/A
  • Décor Mode   N/A
  • Low Power (Décor Mode)  N/A
  • Instant On   Yes
  • ProcessorQuad-Core
  • AccessibilityVoice guide(UK English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian(only when connecting to Network in EE,LV,LT))/ Enlarge/ High contrast/ Learn TV Remote(UK English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian(only when connecting to Network in EE,LV,LT))/ Multi-output Audio
  • Ultra Clean View   Yes
  • One Connect (Jack)  One Connect Mini
  • Digital Clean View  Yes
  • Auto Channel Search  Yes
  • Auto Power Off   Yes
  • Caption (Subtitle)  Yes
  • Connect Share™ (HDD)  Yes
  • ConnectShare™ (USB 2.0 )  Yes
  • Embeded POP  Yes
  • EPG  Yes
  • Extended PVR  Yes
  • Game Mode  Yes
  • OSD Language  27 European Languages + Russian(only for EE,LV,LT)
  • Picture-In-Picture  Yes
  • BT HID Built-in  Yes
  • USB HID Support  Yes
  • Time Shift  Yes
  • IPv6 Support  N/A
  • MBR Support  Yes
• Eco Feature
  • Eco Sensor  Yes
  • Energy Efficiency Class  A
• Power
  • Power Supply  AC220-240V 50/60Hz
  • Power Consumption (Max)  180 W
• Dimension
  • Package Size (WxHxD)1383.0 x 819.0 x 160.0 mm
  • Set Size with Stand (WxHxD)1226.1 x 782.7 x 246.1 mm
  • Set Size without Stand (WxHxD)1226.1 x 710.5 x 54.8 mm
• Weight
  • Package Weight  24,2 kg
  • Set Weight with Stand  17,9 kg
  • Set Weight without Stand  17,4 kg
• Accessory
  • Remote Controller Model   TM1750A
  • Batteries (for Remote Control)   Yes
  • Samsung Smart Control (Included)   Yes
  • Optional Stand Support  N/A
  • Mini Wall Mount Support  Yes
  • Vesa Wall Mount Support  Yes
  • Floor Stand Support   Yes
  • TV Key Dongle (Included)  N/A
  • User Manual   Yes
  • E-Manual  Yes
  • ANT-Cable   N/A
  • Power Cable  Yes