I’ve had the pleasure of owning this TV for a little while and it’s very good!
Picture quality is vivid and well defined. On BluRay it really shines, but well produced TV can give an almost 3D look (esp scenes of rainforests etc).
The first thing I noticed that was quite jarring was the almost too perfect fluidity of movies. Watching Lethal Weapon, it felt like I was a crew member on the sidelines watching actors act. It just had a sense of ultra-realism to it that was a bit offputting. Motion Plus was responsible for interpolating extra frames and is switched on by default. Things look a bit more “normal” after switching it off. There are plenty of other good options, such as cinema mode which gives an amber hue to the picture. The TV features microdimming which supposedly makes blacks “blacker” by switching off light to those pixels.
The TV is powered by a dual core processor (clock speed mhz is unknown) It’s not ideal, it should probably be a bit faster, and I recall some of the higher end TVs have a quad core faster processor. As a result, the TV is a bit sluggish in some areas. The TV guide screen lags a little bit on startup, but once its finished enumerating the stations it’s quite responsive.
There is a new type of remote control with this TV called which uses touchpad technology’. It takes a bit of getting used to, but works reasonably well. I’m still not 100% convinced though and prefer to use the full remote. The voice recognition is terrible and barely understands even the simplest of instructions. The only thing I’ve got it to recognise is “channel up”. For me it’s more of a gimmick than something I’d use regularly so it’s not a big loss.
Smarthub is divided into 5 sections or tabs. The TV tab takes the centre and is the default tab when switched on. Other tabs include social, apps, movies, sharing.
Social and movie tabs have no utility for me. Though some other people may like to access facebook and skype through the TV. The movie page is a samsng operated service that allows you to buy or rent movies. Have not given this a go yet.
The app page however, is particularly handy especially with Youtube Netflix and Hulu plus.
Accessing netflix / hulu plus requires changing the TV to the American settings. This is done by entering a code on the remote control, and unfortunately switching between regions (ie. Australia) causes the TV to factory reset. The only downside I’ve seen from switching to the US region is that the recomendations page remains blank, but this is hardly a big loss.
The TV has been able to pick up all my dlna sources and has a good interface for interacting with movies. In my case I use Windows Media Player and Vuze.
The only gripes I have with the TV is that the mute button annoyingly flashes a mute symbol that moves position (presumably to avoid burn in). If you’ve got a home theatre system you don’t want to have the TV volume on. The only way is to turn the volume all the way down.
The other is the full buttoned remote control. I still prefer the remote control over the touch pad. The buttoned remote control is really badly designed for finding buttons in the dark as the buttons all have a uniform feel to them. Sony do a lot better in their design in that they give their buttons a bit of differentiation. It would be better if their were some raised dots or different shapes so that it can be used better in the dark.
Overall, despite some niggling design flaws and sluggish menu loading, it’s a well produced and stylish TV with more than enough functionality to keep anyone happy.
4.5 stars/5 stars