Samsung UE48JU7500 review

Samsung’s JU7500-series of UHD TVs sits at the top of its standard range of TV sets, just missing out on its top-end ‘SUHD’ badge. The 48in UE48JU7500 on test here is the smallest size in this range, but it’s also available in 55in, 65in and a ridiculous, £5,000 78in set as well. Apart from the obvious difference in size, each TV comes with the same hardware and software features, so we would expect roughly equal parity across the range when it comes to image quality.

Design, inputs and software

Samsung’s TV design has become pretty predictable in recent years, but that’s not to say the UE48JU7500 doesn’t look great. Thanks to its inward-facing, metallic-style bezels, the TV’s chamfered border looks much thinner than it really is, and it draws your eyes into the screen. The stand is also very stylish and is unhindered by any unnecessary branding aside from a small ‘UHD’ logo on the bottom-right side of the set. It also matches the 3,000mm curvature radius of the display, so it may prove troublesome if you have a standard, flat sound bar that normally sits in front of your TV. As a result, opting for a sound base or curved soundbar might be a better option.

Take a look at the best sound bars you can buy today

Samsung has taken a slightly different approach to inputs for the JU7500 series. On the TV itself, you get an RJ45 network adapter, one USB3 port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, satellite and aerial connectors as well as component and composite inputs. The rest of its ports are located on Samsung’s bundled OneConnect Mini box, which can be placed out of the way with just a single cable connecting it to the back of the TV. Here, you get four HDMI 2.0 inputs (all of which are ARC compatible), two USB2 ports and an optical S/PDIF connector.^Watch iPlayer and live TV at the same time, if you dare

The JU7500 is powered by Samsung’s Tizen operating system, which is still a market-leader when it comes to its selection of apps and catch-up TV services. It’s incredibly intuitive and, for the most part, easy to use. Hit the Smart Hub button on either remote and you’re taken to a horizontal list of your recently used apps. On the left is the Featured app section, which lists your currently installed services and most recently installed apps. Simple stuff, but it gets better.

Somewhat ingeniously, you can split the screen in half, opening an app on one half of the screen while keeping another source – be it aerial or satellite TV or an external source such as a games console – on the other half. You can resize each portion, too, giving one source a bigger portion of the screen, allowing you to watch TV, tweet or look something up an actor on the web at the same time without resorting to your phone or tablet.

I’m also a big fan of Samsung’s premium-feeling Smart TV remote. There’s a more conventional remote control in the box as well, but the Smart remote’s high-quality buttons and responsive gesture controls are well-suited to navigating the JU7500’s large Smart TV menus.

^Simple but easy-to-use: Samsung has nailed its Smart TV operating system

Every major service is catered for here, too. BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All4, Demand 5, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Instant Video and Wuaki.tv are all present and correct, and it gives the JU7500 one of the most complete line-ups of catch-up TV services you’ll find today. The only real disappointment is the lack of any hybrid live TV/catch-up EPG system, making it marginally less flexible than some of its rivals. It’s not a huge problem considering Samsung’s already has the complete set of all the major UK TV catch-up services, but it is something we’re starting to see more of in other top-end TVs. Panasonic’s Firefox-powered sets, for instance, have just as many apps as the JU7500, but also comes with Freeview Play, making it easier to browse what you’ve missed and launch directly into the relevant catch-up app. Hopefully, Samsung will remedy this with its 2016 line-up of TVs and commit to Freeview Play, Freetime or something similar.

Image and sound quality

With its Ultra HD 3,840×2,160 resolution and an out-of-the-box white level of 281cd/m2, the Samsung JU7500 is capable of serving up some truly dazzling images. What’s more, using its own UHD Dimming technique, which breaks the screen down into small sections that have individual contrast and brightness controls, you can get some seriously deep and inky blacks. In Standard image mode, black levels on a completely black screen were incredibly low at just 0.0065cd/m2, hitting almost OLED-grade levels.

Of course, you’ll never watch a film with a completely black screen, so this figure is slightly moot. However, when I tested it again on a black patch surrounded by white, I measured a black level of 0.073cd/m2, which is still incredibly impressive. This means that dark portions of the screen will look still faithful while the focal points of any given shot will remain bright and crisp. It’ll never manage the dizzying highs and lows of OLED TVs, and its lack of HDR support doesn’t help its cause either, but for the money it’s very good indeed. Those black level also equate to an overall contrast score of 2,984:1, although the contrast you get depends entirely on the sort of content you’re watching as adaptive contrast is a big part of modern TVs.

Read more about the state of UHD and HDR in 2016

I measured basic sRGB colour coverage at 92% in Standard mode, but with a wealth of colour options available, getting the image set up exactly to your liking isn’t hard. I was pretty happy with the TV’s out-of-the-box performance when it came to colour, although there were a few niggles elsewhere that put a slightly dampener on the overall picture quality.

The biggest issue I had was the amount of judder on small, fast-moving objects. A motorcross bike speeding down a ramp looked a little bit jumpy, while flying space debris in my go-to Interstellar footage looked very rough on occasion, even when I turned on Samsung’s Auto Motion Plus frame interpolation options. It’s a problem, but not a huge one when you consider the TV’s overall picture performance. It’s a small price to pay for excellent black levels and vibrant images.

Sound is also decent, but I would factor in the cost of a soundbar into your final purchase. The speakers serve speech and music well when I switched its audio profile to Movie mode, both in TV shows such as Homes Under the Hammer and films such as Mad Max: Fury Road, but the default Standard mode sounded rather flat and dull.

I’m not completely convinced by the curve on this model either. If you sit directly in the middle of the TV, the curve is great, but as soon as you start to venture off to the side, as guests and members of your family likely will, you begin to lose just a little image fidelity at the edges of the screen. It’s not a huge issue, but I’ve found that the immersive benefits of a curve are never quite as great on small sub-50in TVs such as this particular model as they are on larger sets.

For the most part, though, Full HD upscaling works very well, and even standard definition broadcast TV looks pretty decent considering the amount of work the TV has to do to fill in the gaps. The JU7500 is also a great TV for gamers. In Game Mode, I measured input lag of just 20.8ms, making it one of the quickest-responding panels I’ve tested. With Game Mode off (you’ll find it buried in the System>General menu), input lag jumps to a huge 108ms. If you’re going to be gaming with this TV, Game Mode isn’t just recommended, it’s essential.

Conclusion

Overall, the Samsung JU7500 series of TVs is an excellent step up to Ultra HD content. Its image quality is superb, it has Freeview and Freesat tuners, and its wide array of Smart TV features give it a level of flexibility that few other TVs can beat.

However, when you look at its competition, it becomes a bit more of a hard sell. For instance, you can get the larger 55in Panasonic Viera TX-55CX700B for around £900 at the moment, which has an equally excellent, albeit flat, panel, just as many apps and catch-up services, and the added benefit of Freeview Play. Its size may not suit everyone, and it doesn’t quite as many inputs as the JU7500, but you do get more TV for your money. However, if you’re dead-set on having a curved TV, then the UE48JU7500 is still a great choice.