Computer Shopper - UK (2020-05)

ISSUE387|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MAY2020 33

ANAWFULLOTofbudgetTVsthesedays
carrytheHDRlabel,butit’sfairtosaythat
noneofthemdelivertheeye-popping
spectacle of pricier sets. Trickle-down
technology has doneits bit to steadily
improveHDR performancefor somebudget
TVs, however, so when theUE50RU7470UXXU
–the 50in model of Samsung’s new, HDR10+
supporting RU7470 series–landedinour labs,
we werehopeful it might be able to serve up a
little high-dynamic magic on the cheap.
Its VA-type LED edge-lit LCDpanel is fairly
typical of TVsinthis pricerange and, being4K
UHD,ithas aresolution of 3,840x2,160. So far,
so ordinary,and there’slittle remarkable about
the design, either.The displayisframed with
standard-sized bezels thathavethe same
steel-greycolour as therest of the chassis,
and it stands upon aclassicY-shapedcentral
stand. The built-in cable management at the
rear of the TV is welcome,asthiskeeps
cables neatly tidy once you’ve plugged
devicesintothe UE50RU7470UXXU’sthree
HDMI 2.0a connectors.

FAIR PLAY
Samsunghas added AutoLow Latency Mode
supporttoeachofthe threeHDMIports,
which meansthe UE50RU7470UXXUwillkick
intogamingmodewhenitdetec
from acompatible console,whic
input lagtoaminimum by tonin
TV’svideoprocessing.Atonly1 5
TV’sinputtimeisaslowasany
in this pricerange,makingitan
choice forcompetitive gamers.T
disappointment is thatthe 60Hz
rules out supportfor variable re
or GameMotionPlus.
The UE50RU7470UXXU’s spe
aren’t badatall; there’sevenat
refinement to thesound here.D
on films andtelevisionshows co
through loud and clear so youw
have to rely on subtitles, but do
expect room-shakingexplosions
the latest blockbusters.Asever,
recommend budgeting alittle ex
foranaffordable soundbar.
The VA panel’s semi-reflectiv
coating is less than ideal –amatt
wouldhavebeenpreferable –bu
this screen has itsstrengths,
too. By budget TV standards,
the UE50RU7470UXXU’sVA

SAMSUNG

UE50RU7470UXXU

★★★★★

£500•From http://www.currys.co.uk

VERDICT

ItsHDRsupportisn’tgreat,butthereareplenty
ofotherreasonstobuythisaffordable4KTV

50 inVATV

pppaaannneeelllhhhaaasssaaahhhiiiggghhhllleeevvveeelllooofffcccooonnntttrrraaasssttt,aaaccchhhiiieeevvviiinnnggg

extremelydarkgreys thatgetcloser totrue

black thanits IPSrivals. Image quality is pretty

great across the board,too: coloursare

generally pretty natural-looking, humanskin

tones look impressivelyrealistic, and overall

colour accuracy isn’t faroffthe mark.

Furtherinspection reveals that thepanel’s

colour uniformity is also pretty high, apart

from milddarktinting at the extreme outer

edges when displayingcertain shades.

Some shades alsocause low-levelDirty

Screen Effect, where asolid colour maynot

lookentirely even when displayedacross a

large portion of the screen.

UP

SamsungUHDProcessor

obofupscaling 1080 pcontent.

asticallyclean,withminimal

onand barely noticeable

ndedges.

processing isn’t all-powerful,

verscan, the featurethat

uts off the borders of

lpthem fit the screen,

rnedoff fornon-4Kcontent.

ou’ll only lose 5% of the

absolutemost.

UE50RU7470UXXU suffers

viewing angles –acommon

Ascreens. In darkscenes,the

of the screenglow more

the centre of the panel even

atthe ‘perfect’central

the effectworsens noticeably

oeither side.The cost-saving

dge lighting rather than local

ming can also produce some

arring brightness fluctuations

ntransitions from darktolight

scenes, andvice versa.

HHHDDDRRRpppeeerrrfffooorrrmmmaaannnccceeeiiisssnnn’tttuuuppptttooommmuuuccchhh,eeeiiittthhheeerrr.

In its favour,the UE50RU7470UXXU manages

to cover arespectable 92% of theDCI-P3

colourgamut,but itsbacklight simply isn’t

potent enough to deliver trulygreat HDR

playback.Wemeasured amaximum

brightness of 260cd/m^2 ,and this simply isn’t

brightenoughtodoHDR justice.

Whenplaying content masteredto1,000

or 4,000 nits –asmost movies and high-

budgetshows are–Samsung’s algorithms do

their best to retain all the brightest HDR

detailsbydiallingdown theoverallbrightness,

but the result is thatHDR contentisrobbed

of its power andpunch. As the TV alreadyhas

alow peakbrightness to begin with,the final

result is an image that is fartoo dark.

BESTFOR LESS

Why,then, does theUE50RU7470UXXU

score highly?Whileit’s true that this TV joins

alist of budget sets that fail to delivera

worthwhile HDRperformance, it also runs

rings around these similarly cheap TVsin

almost everyother regard.Its superb

upscaling, fantasticcolour accuracyand

ultra-low input lagmean thatyou maynot

missHDR at all. This feature aside, it really is

asuperb all-rounderfor the money.

VincentTeoh

SCREEN SIZE50in•NATIVERESOLUTION3,840x2,160•

VIDEOINPUTSHDMI•TUNERFreesatHD, TV Plus•

DIMENSIONS736x1,125x347mm•WARRANTYOneyear

RTB•DETAILSwww.samsung.com/uk•PART CODE

UE50RU7470UXXU

SPECIFICATIONS

CONNECTIONPORTS

HDMI x3 USB2x2 S/PDIF

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