Samsung UE55HU8200 review

Usability

Although the UE55HU8200 boasts the voice-controlled part of Samsung's smart interaction features, I wasn't much impressed.

I struggled with the (very) limited 'magic words'; with the voice button held down on the smart remote, my hollering of "USB" heralded, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that" and saying "Netflix" received a confirmation of "number six" and changed the channel. "BBC iPlayer" wasn't recognised at all.

However, keywords like sleep timer, smart hub and source do bring up the correct onscreen menus. The trouble is, no time is saved, all of these options are a mere button press away anyway, so what's the point?

Elsewhere, the smart stuff impresses. Samsung has long had one of the best smart TV platforms, and 2014's version of Smart Hub retains that reputation.

It's split into five tabs, each leading to a dedicated screen, and is reasonably easy to understand and to navigate. Best of all, each screen is colourful and loads quickly.

The default main page is On TV, which can be fuelled by a set-top box. It displays a live 'on now' TV screen that takes up about a quarter of the screen's real estate – complete with sound – while it's flanked by visual thumbnails of programmes on other channels, both now and coming up.

The only trouble is, it's not possible to read the titles of the programmes; there's just not enough room. So unless you know the main actors/presenters/protagonists in any given show, you're not going to get much from the On TV page. Best head to either the Timeline page (which uses much bigger thumbnails) or the dedicated Guide page, which offers a more familiar, and exceptionally well-designed, electronic programme guide.

On either side of the On TV page in Smart Hub is Films & TV Shows, Multimedia, Games and Samsung Apps; all load quickly and can be navigated smoothly.

From its USB slots and over DLNA the UE55HU8200 handles media files adeptly. I managed to get the likes of MKV, AVI, MOV, MP4 and AVC HD video files – as well as H.264-encoded 3840 x 2160 pixel MP4 files – to play stably and smoothly, while the UE55HU8200 plays a surprisingly enormous selection of music files. As well as MP3 and WMA, it supports OGG, FLAC, WAV, AIFF and APE files.

Sound

A curved picture may not be anything to get excited about, but what does it do to sound? Logic tells us that a speaker array that curves towards the viewer could be more immersive. That might be true, but it's not the case on the UE55HU8200.

The sound quality from the 40W speakers isn't bad at all, but that curve is for show only; stereo is effective but the virtual surround sound mode isn't, while low frequency action is rare.

In short, it's the usual story with this TV's speakers. Above average they might be, but you're going to need a separate sound system – though the UE55HU8200's curve makes positioning a soundbar problematic.

As well as dedicated music, movie, clear voice, amplify and stadium sounds modes, there's also a handy audio delay setting, too.

Value

Can a curved TV ever be judged good value? The UE55HU8200 is a good £700 pricier than a similarly skilled flatscreen TV. 4K is the real reason to buy a new – and bigger – TV, not curved screens, but there are better value 4K TVs out there than the UE55HU8200.