TVs
84 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE389
ANAWFULLOTofbudgetTVsthesedays
carrytheHDRlabel,butit’sfairtosaythat
noneofthemcandelivertheeye-popping
spectacleofpriciersets.
AstheLG49UM7400shows,however,
trickle-down technology has done its bit to
steadily improve HDR performance forsome
budget TVs. When the UE50RU7470UXXU
–the 50in contingent of Samsung’s new,
HDR10+ supporting RU7470 series –landed
in our labs, we were therefore hopeful it
might be able to serve up alittle high-dynamic
magic on the cheap.
LOWPROFILE
Its VA-type LED edge-lit LCD panel is fairly
typical of TVsinthis price range and, being 4K
UHD,ithas aresolution of 3,840x2,160. So far,
so ordinary,and there’s little remarkable
about the design, either.The displayisframed
with standard-sized bezels that have the
same steel greycolour as the rest of the
chassis, and it stands upon aclassic Y-shaped
central stand. The built-in cable management
at the rear of the TV is welcome,asthis
keeps cables neatly tidied once you’ve
plugged devices intothe UE50RU7470UXXU’s
three HDMI 2.0a connectors.
To allthree of these ports, Samsung has
added the same AutoLow Latency Mode
support as the much higher-end QE55Q70R,
which means the UE50RU7470UXXU will kick
intogamingmode when it detects asignal
from acompatible console; this helps keep
input lag to aminimum by toning down the
TV’s video processing. At only 15ms, the TV’s
input time is as low as any competitor in its
price range,makingitanideal forcompetitive
gamers. The only disappointment is that the
60Hz panel rules out support forvariable
refresh rate(VRR) or Game Motion Plus.
The UE50RU7470UXXU’s speakers
aren’t bad at all; there’s even atouch of
refinement to the sound here.Dialogue
in films and television shows comes
through loud and clear so you won’t
have to rely on subtitles, but don’t
expect room-shaking explosions from
the latest blockbusters. As ever,we’d
recommend budgeting alittle extrafor
an affordable soundbar.
The VA panel’s semi-reflective gloss
coating is less than ideal –amatt finish
wouldhavebeen preferable –but this
screen has its strengths too. By budget
TV standards, the UE50RU7470UXXU’s
SAMSUNG
UE50RU7470UXXU
★★★★★
£400•From http://www.currys.co.uk
VERDICT
ItsHDRsupportisn’tgreat,butthere
areplentyofotherreasonstobuythis
affordable4KTV
VA panel has ahighlevel of contrast,
achieving extremely dark greys that get
closer to true black than its IPS rivals.
Image quality is pretty greatacross the
board, too: colours are generally natural-
looking, human skin toneslookimpressively
realistic, and overall colour accuracy isn’t far
off the mark. Unlike the 49UM7400, there’s
no screen-wide tinge and you don’t need to
tinker with settings nearly as much, so
Samsung’s TV immediately has the advantage
forprospective buyers who just want
something that performs well out of the box.
Further inspection reveals that the panel’s
colour uniformity is also pretty high, apart
from mild dark tinting at the extreme outer
edges when displaying certain shades.
Some shades also cause low-level dirty-screen
effect, wherein asolid colour maynot look
entirely even when displayed across alarge
portion of the screen.
TURN IT UP
Even so,the SamsungUHD processor does a
fine job of upscaling 1080p content. It looks
fantastically clean, with minimal junk
pixellation and barely noticeable ringing
around edges –another winning performance
over the 49UM7400, which is farmore prone
to visual noise and rough edges.
The video processing isn’t all-powerful,
mind you. Overscan, the feature that
sometimes cuts off the borders of images to
help them fit the screen, cannot be turned off
fornon-4K content. Thankfully,you’ll only
lose 5% of the image at the absolutemost.
Sadly,the UE50RU7470UXXU suffers
from narrow viewing angles, that common
issue with VA screens. In dark scenes, the
leftand right of the screen glow more
brightly than the centre of the panel even
when sitting at the ‘perfect’ central position,
and the effect worsens noticeably as you
shift to either side.The cost-saving use of
LED edge lighting rather than local dimming
can also produce some jarring brightness
fluctuations in transitions from dark to light
scenes, and vice versa.
HDR performance isn’t up to much, either.
In its favour, the UE50RU7470UXXU does
manage to cover arespectable 92% of the
DCI-P3 colour gamut, but its backlight simply
isn’t potent enough to deliver truly great HDR
playback. We measured amaximum
brightness of 260cd/m^2 ,and this simply isn’t
bright enough to do HDR justice.The
49UM7400 might have lower overall image
quality,but it does at least present decent
HDR implementation on abudget.
When playing content mastered to
1,000nits or 4,000nits –asmost movies and
high-budget shows are –Samsung’s
algorithms do their best to retain all the
brightest HDR details by dialling down the
overall brightness, but the result is that HDR
content is robbed of itspower andpunch.
As the TV already has alow peakbrightness
to begin with, the final result is an image
that is fartoo dark.
TALENT SHOW
Why,then, does the Samsung
UE50RU7470UXXU score so highly?
While it’s true that this television joins
alist of budget sets that fail to deliver a
worthwhile HDR performance,italso
runs ringsaround these similarly cheap
TVsinalmostevery other regard.
Its superb upscaling, fantastic colour
accuracy and ultra-low input lag mean
that you maynot miss HDR at all –
this feature aside,itreally is alovely
all-rounder forthe money.
