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This edge LED-backlit UE55HU7500 has almost the full gamut of Samsung's picture processing tech, boasting Micro Dimming Pro and Wide Color Enhancer Plus. It's also got Clear Motion Rate 1000Hz, which isn't quite as good as the 1200Hz rating on the HU7500 curved TVs. Those figures represent the result of an algorithm rather than a direct figure describing the panel's refresh rate. With the much faster plasma TVs now virtually out of the market, the reason for mathematically massaging such figures has gone, but continues nonetheless.
However, there are traces of motion blur on the UE55HU7500 during 4K playback. Native 4K sources are hard to come by, and although Samsung had promised to send me a USB of Samsung UHD content, it didn't materialise. Instead I hunted down some H.264-encoded 3840x2160 pixel 4K test sequences in both uncompressed MOV and compressed MP4 formats from Elemental, though with little hope that the UE55HU7500 would play these files direct from a USB thumbdrive. Wouldn't you know it; the compressed MP4 files played first time.
Still 4K images do look absolutely wonderful. Resplendent in excruciating detail that's just so, so clean (the value of the pixel grid's invisibility can't be overestimated), native 4K pictures really do create an extra slice of realism.
Colour from the UE55HU7500's UHD colour mode are excellent, but when the pictures move – as in a 'ferry across the harbour' sequence – there's a noticeable loss of resolution. It's not drastic, and nor did I notice many jagged edges or motion artefacts around moving objects, but there's a definite drop in detail from 4K to what looks much more like a paltry Full HD image.
Having watched the resolution on almost every Full HD LCD TV I've reviewed in the past ten years drop to a standard definition image as soon as anything moves, I should have expected this – and I'm sure it's a lot worse on cheap-as-chips 4K TVs – but it's still something of a disappointment. It's worth playing with the Motion Plus settings, though upping the power does bring motion artefacts. I settled on the smooth setting while in movie mode for all content.
That slight loss in ultimate image quality is just about the only disappointment on the UE55HU7500, which in virtually all other areas proves a brilliant, and superb value, performer.
Stick on a Blu-ray disc and the UE55HU7500 upscales it to fit the 4K panel very well. 12 Years a Slave looks detailed enough and colours are well saturated and contrasted, with bold-looking colours dominating. Black levels, too, are awesome; Gravity on Blu-ray provides the ultimate test and the UE55HU7500 makes outer space look utterly convincing – inky black and star-stuffed.
Gravity also proves that the UE55HU7500's edge-lit LED panel is the latest and greatest. While most still tend to feature blotchy light in the corners and along the sides, the UE55HU7500 instead has completely uniform brightness. Nor is there much haloing of bright images or glare on dark backgrounds.
The major downside with the UE55HU7500 is that standard definition material looks so soft. Not the TV's fault, perhaps, but for those relying on the UE55HU7500's built-in Freeview HD tuner there's going to be a few 'what-have-I-done' moments when you're done watching House of Cards in 4K from Netflix and go back to Neighbours. It can't do much about SD fare looking soft and blurry, but the UE55HU7500 does its best and at least makes SD material look clean.
Switch to Gravity in 3D and there's no a whisper of crosstalk, but I did spot some picture noise that's not there on the 2D version.
