Smart TVs, 3D, Motion Rates and light bleed. Which TV do you choose? We’re here to help…
Samsung’s rise in the TV industry has been positively stratospheric. In sheer volume of sales, the South Korean electrical giants have been top sellers in the world since 2006. For a company once seen in a lesser light, particularly at a time when Japanese firms ruled the roost in ‘techland’, this surge in popularity has been well earned. These days they are seen as a stylish, reliable brand, with their mobile phone and tablet lines equally well thought of. With another couple of ‘What Hi-Fi’ Product of the Year award winners in the Television category again this year, we take a look at their sub-£1000 winner, the UE48H6400.
So, introductions aside, let’s get the key facts into place before we delve into performance. What we’ve got is a 48” 1080P LED Television. Wi-Fi is built in (important for it’s wealth of Smart features) and the set is also 3D, using Samsung’s favoured ‘Active’ style glasses. All fairly standard stuff then, and this is by no means a problem. Smart capabilities are a big selling point these days, and whilst 3D ranks lower on people’s wish lists, it’s always good to have as an option.
The screen is listed as having ‘400hz CMR’ motion processing – which we equate to 200hz ‘real world’ scanning. Bringing parity to these often-arbitrary numbers would be hugely sensible. With no fixed guidelines as to how a manufacturer measures these figures, it’s impossible to make comparisons between brands. Nonetheless, 200hz scanning allows for proper motion control on 24p footage, so this passes an important test. So far, so good.
On the subject of Smart features, Samsung have gone the whole-hog with their current range of screens. The H6400 gives access not only to BBC iPlayer, but also ITV Player, 4OD and Demand 5 – making them one of only two manufacturers to currently offer all the UK’s major catch-up services (the other being Panasonic and it’s ‘Freetime’ enabled sets). Given that these services are what most people think by the phrase, ‘Smart’ TV’s, it’s a huge boon to have them all built in and ready to go. Film buffs are catered for with Netflix, Amazon Prime / LoveFilm provided, alongside a few smaller, niche services. All in all, the suite of available options for online entertainment is superb, and it’s hard to fault Samsung for their effort in obtaining them.
Much has been made of the ‘core processing’ power of modern TV sets, with most brands aiming to go as fast as possible on all screens. Here we find a quad-core processor doing the behind the scenes work, and it made operating the TV’s menus a joy. Scrolling between pages of Smart features was fast and smooth, and accessing the general Internet gave fast loading times. Even the general setup was improved, as the TV was super responsive to button pressing. Other brands have slipped up a bit at this price point, and Samsung’s work with tablets and phones have given them insight as to what consumers want from a day-to-day operation perspective. Top marks.
As borders and frames get thinner and slimmer, TV designers have to work harder than ever to make sure their brand’s design stands out from the crowd. The H6400 is a nice example of what can be done when working with such limited confines. Its ‘crystal edge’ bezel is a see-through cover that sits over the slim, gloss black casing, and adds a touch of elegance – and it’s a design that Samsung have favoured for many years now. The stand that’s supplied is an ‘X’ shaped affair and adds to the feeling of luxury. For those planning to wall mount the set, the meagre 5cm depth means the screen will sit fairly flush to the wall, too.
After a brief setup, including adding our Wi-Fi details, tuning in the Freeview HD reception and tweaking the set to our liking using a calibration disc, we sat down for a watch. Alongside the inbuilt tuner, we used the (also award-winning) Sony BDPS7200 Blu-Ray player as a source, as well as SKY HD.
From the inbuilt tuner we were presented with a clear, strong image. Black levels were good, and the aforementioned motion processing kept up well with the BBC’s HD showings. Colours too were vibrant and not over-saturated. Samsung have managed to put their ‘nuclear’ greens of old behind them, and these days their colour balance is much better. Sky HD (fed through HDMI switchers because we are mean!) also gave a good account of itself, with our HDD’d Star Trek: Into the Darkness offering natural and convincing skin tones.
Sony’s superlative Blu-Ray disc spinner was fired up, and the Matrix Revolutions thrown in its tray. Running in 1080p now, the Samsung showed it’s excellent depth of field, with foreground and background separated nicely. The motion processing was tweaked down slightly, offering a more natural flow to the picture, with its higher settings giving a ripple effect initially. All in all, the image was excellent when viewed straight on, and on a reasonably wide angle, too. This brings us to our only gripe…
The Samsung’s closest rivals in its category are the Panasonic TXL47AS650, and the LG 47LB730. Both of these sets use excellent ‘IPS’ panels. Inter Plane Switching (IPS) screens are able to offer very wide viewing angles, and in most cases super-realistic colours and skin tones. When we compared all three, based purely on picture, we felt that the Samsung marginally finished in last place – particularly as we started to move off to the side of the sets to test their viewing angle. Granted, the Samsung is the cheapest of the three, and also the angles we moved to were in the extreme, but it’s worthwhile mentioning that under certain conditions, other TVs may be more suitable.
That said, the H6400 is a great screen overall. It’s wealth of brilliant Smart features, it’s super fast operation and a clear, vibrant and detailed picture certainly puts it up there as one of the best in its class. Recommended.
Author: Chris, Liverpool store
