PICTURE QUALITY Picture quality was excellent. Reproduction of fine image detail was excellent. Color accuracy was excellent, so colors, especially flesh tones, look very natural and lifelike. Very good contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—in dark scenes gave images convincing depth and dimension. Black levels were very good, and delivered fairly deep blacks that supported the contrast in darker scenes. The quality appeared to worsen as we viewed from the sides—see our Viewing Angle results, below. Image brightness was very good (with the brighness at max), so the picture was well suited for a brighter room—a lower setting is recommended for a dimmer viewing environment. Its reproduction of smooth edges on image content. Deinterlacing of 1080i video was excellent. Its frame-rate compensation for 1080i film-based content was excellent. In our tests, the display's lack of high peak brightness capability (by HDR standards) limited its ability to show the benefits of our HDR 4K content. It could not reveal much contrast between the moderately bright and very bright highlights —while the brightness levels in the mid-to-lower tones, like those in an indoor scene, were preserved. It did a good job reproducing a greater range of nuanced shadow detail, from black to white, with no obvious banding within the gradually shaded areas. We noted some loss of detail within the highlights of the brightest areas.
VIEWING ANGLE This Samsung model has a moderate viewing angle—decent—but not as good as the better-performers. The best viewing position for this model is directly in front. When we viewed the TV from the sides, image quality got worse. the picture showed a strong loss of color, so flesh tones looked very washed out. Black levels visibly brightened, and reduced the contrast especially on dark scenes. Lastly, we viewed the image from above and below center screen, and noticed good vertical viewing angle performance, with only slight changes in color, contrast, and black level.
MOTION BLUR In our motion tests, this Samsung LCD (LED) had good motion performance, with some blurring.
SOUND QUALITY We got good sound quality, about average among the models we've tested. When watching a blockbuster movie, a concert, or TV show, it can deliver decent performance but just not like the better performers. In our listening evaluations, we found the bass (low frequency sound) to be very weak and mostly well defined. Treble (high frequency sound) was very good. The treble was generally neutral. This TV should be OK if the room isn't too noisy—we found the speakers could produce a good volume level. Overall, though imperfect, most people would find this sound quality acceptable.
EASE OF USE Consider the TV's stand is 32 inches wide when choosing a table top to place it on. The remote controls the TV via an IR light beam which must be pointed at the TV. It has a full number keypad for entering channel numbers.
INTERNET FEATURES This TV provides internet functionality via its "NS" portal, with access to a library of applications. Movie streaming services that can be downloaded to this TV, or are built-in, include Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Max/HBO Max, Netflix, YouTube.
CONNECTIONS This model has 2 HDMI inputs one USB port, and an optical digital audio out, an Ethernet port, and WiFi wireless networking.
WHAT'S INCLUDED A remote control.
