Samsung UE65JU6000K review

While we're talking about an ostensibly last-gen TV here, that 4K panel is still capable of some impressive feats of fidelity. The JU6000K isn't one of Samsung's SUHD crowd – it isn't rocking the quantum dot nano-crystal filter tech – but it's still able to create a decent spread of colour in its super high-res imagery.

Samsung has used an algorithmic technique it calls Wide Colour Enhancer Plus to increase the depth of its colour representation and, while we're not talking the sort of wide colour gamut that its latest screens are capable of, the images are still bright and vibrant.

Linked to that is the Contrast Enhancer and Micro Dimming Plus tech with which Samsung has also kitted out the JU6000K. Both these image enhancement techniques enable the panel to display a genuinely impressive level of contrast.

It's not capable of the sorts of black levels you'll see in the awesome OLEDs from LG or Panasonic, or even the nano-crystal SUHDs from Samsung, but it's still mighty impressive for this price-point in the big-screen arena.

The bright points from fireworks or a night-time cityscape stand out against their dark background very effectively, with practically zero halo effect around them.

This is no HDR TV though, and that's evidenced by the weaker performance of the panel when it comes to actual detail in those darker areas. Stark contrast is clear, but if you're looking for some gradation in the shadows you'll find it lacking.

I also found the bottom corners of the screen exhibited a certain amount of backlight bleed, which affects the uniformity of a dark scene.

Picture processing

Watching 4K Ultra HD content on a native 4K panel almost always means you get a great experience. I've checked out super-cheap UHD TVs which manage to look great with native content, but it's what happens when you turn the resolution dial down a notch or two that the cracks start to appear.

That's why, if you're getting a live demo in-store, we'd always suggest asking to see how a TV deals with the sort of HD or SD content you're going to predominantly be piping into it.

Happily the Samsung JU6000K does rather well when it comes to upscaling lower-res video onto its 4K panel. The Samsung UHD Upscaling is actually pretty impressive working with the HD feed from my Virgin TV box – flesh tones look sharp, with very little discernable noise.

And that's even more impressive given that this panel is stretching its upscaling muscles across a huge 65-inch display. Inevitably, standard-definition content tends towards the ropey side of things, but that's an understandable stretch too far for this tech.

But while the performance of the panel processing itself is pretty good, the actual processing power of the smart technology isn't so hot. It might be boasting quad-core silicon at its heart, but the Smart TV software feels rather sluggish in terms of responsiveness.

When you're just flicking through 4K media on an external drive it feels pretty slick; switch to the actual smart offerings, however, and it starts to crawl.

Amazon Video gets around to its 4K goods well enough, but the experience of Netflix leaves a lot to be desired. Suddenly, having a UHD set-top box taking up that solitary HDMI 2.0 port looks a lot more necessary…