PICTURE QUALITY Picture quality was very good, overall. Reproduction of fine image detail was excellent. Color accuracy was very good, with flesh tones in particular, looking natural. Contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—in dark scenes was okay, so images had some depth, but it was not the best. Black levels were OK and maintained some contrast in darker scenes, but they fell short of the better TVs. Image brightness was adequate (with the brightness at max), making it a suitable choice for all but the sunniest rooms. Its reproduction of smooth edges on image content for "up-converted" HD-to-UHD images was generally excellent and free of "jaggies" (jagged edges). Deinterlacing of 1080i video was excellent. Its frame-rate compensation for 1080i film-based content was excellent.
HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) PERFORMANCE HDR performance had very limited effectiveness. 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 slight loss of color. Black levels brightened slightly. 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 adequate but a bit weak and mostly well defined. Treble (high frequency sound) was very good. The treble was neutral though a bit bright, and thin. 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 44 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 simplified design with a reduced set of buttons.
INTERNET FEATURES This TV provides internet functionality via its "Tizen" 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, Apple TV+, BET+, DirecTV, Disney Plus, Freevee, Fubo TV, Hulu, Max/HBO Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, Sling TV, Starz, The Roku Channel, Tubi, YouTube, YouTube TV. It includes built-in Samsung Bixby, Amazon Alexa virtual assistants, which allow you to use natural speech to ask questions, launch applications, and search programming by talking to the TV.
CONNECTIONS This model has 3 HDMI inputs one USB port, an Ethernet port, 802.11ac/WiFi 5 wireless networking, and AirPlay—for sharing videos, photos, music, and more from Apple devices to the TV.
WHAT'S INCLUDED A remote control.
