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With TV makers now cutting ever larger TVs out of ever larger slabs of glass, the price of truly bigscreen TVs is coming down – and that means this accomplished, polished and, frankly, pretty huge LED TV is on sale for a veritable song. The UE48H6500 is impressive indeed.
We liked
The overall user interface for the UE48H6500 is excellent, with colourful and reasonably fast-working menus and apps that load in highly acceptable times. The UE48H6500's handling of media files from a USB stick and over a home network is exemplary and hugely exhaustive in terms of file formats supported (see our review of the UE32H6400 for details). It also delivers a fabulously cinematic picture from Blu-ray discs. Digital TV is clean, too, while sound quality is surprisingly good with both speech-based TV and some music.
We disliked
The choice of apps in the Smart Hub is almost exhaustive; the only major app we can think of that's not included among the star turns is Sky's Now TV app, though with other movie on-demand services a-plenty, that won't be much missed. Live footie fans after an occasional day-pass to Sky Sports might disagree.
It's hardly a clunky TV, but the presence of a quad core processing did get our hopes up a tad too high; there are times when the UE48H6500 is a second or two off the pace during menu navigation and TV channel changing.
Final verdict
A great all-rounder for a living room or a home cinema, this quad core processor-powered, giant-sized 48-incher boasts smart TV apps galore. It's not the slimmest TV around and it does have a primarily plastic build, but exacting detail, clean pictures from myriad sources and an excellent new 'second screen' app make the UE48H6500 an absolute steal.
Also consider
If you want an even cheaper 48-inch telly, head straight for the Philips 48PFT5509, which compares well with the Samsung on images, but not on smart TV apps. Other options include the Sony KDL-50W829, which pairs a low price with a minimalist ultra-thin bezel design.
