Review: Samsung UE48HU7500

Introduction and features

The fear of their new purchase becoming instantly obsolete is rife among TV buyers, but choosing to buy a thoroughly future-proof Ultra HD 4K telly is a big step in more ways than one.

Not only do the 3840 x 2160 pixel panels cost a bomb, but since 4K tends to look much better (read: more obvious) on bigger screens, the pixel-packed TVs tend to come in 55-inch and above screen sizes.

Forget the cash; who has the room for a tank of a telly? The Samsung UE48HU7500, however, shrinks-down the new tech to the 48-inch size, which has such a slim design that it might just slip onto your AV cabinet without anyone noticing.

However, with the cut-down screen size, is Ultra HD 4K in miniature a wise move or a waste of time?

The UE48HU7500 comes in the wake of the success of Samsung's slightly larger 55-inch UE55HU7500, which wowed when we reviewed it.

Design

The UE48HU7500 boasts a fabulous design. The highlight is a super-slim aluminium casing that goes around the entire frame of the TV. It's curved at the corners and encompasses a 9mm gap for the underslung speakers, too. The bezel is 7mm on all sides, with no gap to where the image begins; the effect is beguiling.

There's another cute design flourish, too. The desktop stand, so often a low-light on flatscreen TVs, is here made to look half the depth. Decked out in brushed aluminium, a rather large V-shaped contraption on the rear of the TV enables the 60cm-wide stand to be just 10cm deep. The only downside of this rather fabulous-looking stand – upon which the UE48HU7500 appears to float – is that it doesn't swivel, which is a shame for large rooms.

Features

The UE48HU7500 is one serious slab of AV ambition. As well as the Ultra HD resolution and an Edge LED panel, it has both Freeview HD and Freesat HD tuners, plus an active shutter 3D mode that can cope with both 3D Blu-ray discs and games, and also comes with a 3D conversion mode for both live TV and standard depth DVD or Blu-ray discs.

Happily, it comes with a couple of pairs of 3D glasses (the super-slim SSG-5100GB, which cost about £15). However, the best news is that it's all powered by a quad core processor, which ought to make navigation a breeze.

There's more; attach a USB drive or hard disk to the UE48HU7500 and it's possible to record live TV and even scheduled TV programmes, though don't count on having much flexibility; you can't change channel during a recording.

The UE48HU7500 also boasts Samsung's Smart Evolution kit, so you can slip in the latest annually updated 'evolution kit' circuitry (usually released in April), though doing so will cost you somewhere in the region of £200.

Apps

As with all of Samsung's smart TVs, the UE48HU7500's Smart Hub user interface includes dedicated apps for all UK terrestrial TV broadcasters. As well as catch-up TV on demand from all channels, the UE48HU7500 features virtually all must have streaming video apps.

Most important for prospective owners of the UE48HU7500 is Netflix, which can stream Breaking Bad, Blacklist and House of Cards in 4K. So it's a small choice of programmes for now, but at least the UE48HU7500 is compatible with the HEVC compression tech that Netflix streams 4K in.

There's no Sky's Now TV, but the apps page of Smart Hub is otherwise exhaustive; I counted 40 apps in total including Amazon Instant, Curzon Home Cinema, Wuaki.tv, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, Spotify, YouTube, DailyMotion, KnowHow Movies, AccuWeather, vTuner, BFI Player, TuneIn radio and Skype.

Ins and outs

The UE48HU7500 comes with Wi-Fi built-in – what smart TV doesn't? However, it goes beyond the spec of most smart TVs spec by also including NFC; a quick tap between an Android smartphone or tablet and this TV will establish a wireless link for sending or streaming files and other data.

The UE48HU7500 includes a comprehensive roster of ins and outs, as it should. Top of the tree are four HDMI inputs, which certainly lends some flexibility. Also on the rear is a set of component video inputs, which also includes a composite video input via an adapter, a full RGB Scart, a wired Ethernet LAN slot, and a headphones jack.

A side panel, which is home to three of the four HDMI slots as well as the ins and outs for the TV tuners, adds three USB slots. Extensive and expansive, I've got no complaints about what can go in and out of the UE48HU7500.

Hardware

Other hardware on the UE48HU7500 includes a 'smart touch' remote control, which is a palm-sized device that includes not only Braille-like buttons that rise above the metallic panel, but also adds a microphone.

That means that Samsung's S-Recommendation software is on board the UE48HU7500, though the voice/motion tracking system is restricted to voice only due to the lack of a built-in, pop-up camera (which only Samsung's flagship TVs appear to have).

Also available

In the same Series 7 as our review sample, Samsung also manufacturers the larger 55-inch UE55HU7500 and the range-topper, the 65-inch UE65HU7500.

Picture quality

I'm keen to find out if the UE48HU7500's relatively small screen – at least, in the era of Ultra HD 4K TVs – can truly offer enough extra detail beyond full HD to make it worth spending the extra money.

After all, Samsung makes a lot of stunning 48-inch Full HD TV that go for less than half the price of the UE48HU7500. However, how this set handles both regular HD and standard definition is equally as important as how it copes with 4K which, let's be honest, barely yet exists.

Ultra HD

Getting 2160p 4K content into the UE48HU7500 isn't easy, and that has to be an argument against investing in it in the first instance. However, with a USB stick containing a range of Ultra HD 4K video samples (in the HEVC-encoded MP4 format), I did manage to put the eight million pixels through their paces.

There's a catch here; technically the viewer needs to be no more than a metre away from the screen to notice the extra detail in 4K. Up close it's impossible to see the shrunken pixel grid – which is quite something, at first – but I didn't bother doing the review solely from a metre away. What's the point of that?

Retreating to about 2.5m there was a perceptible boost in detail visible in the compressed 4K MP4 video samples (I had no choice since the uncompressed 'pro-res' MOV file versions aren't supported by the UE48HU7500), but it depends what the footage is. During a short film about Taipei filmed to showcase Sony's F65 4K camera (and shot at 30fps) of some fireworks in Taipei, an overhead shot of the city is initially astonishing.

I could see every single car on the road individually despite there being hundreds on the screen simultaneously. Ditto a scene of a crowd counting down to New Year; every single crowd member was individually distinguishable, while the fireworks that followed were vibrant and so, so clear. There's some decent contrast against the night sky, too, though that fades quickly if you watch off-centre.

A 4K time-lapse sequence of the tourist crowds around Rome's Spanish Steps has even more clarity, underlining that 4K detail is especially evident during brightly-lit scenes with a lot going on; it's just more noticeable.

It's better than HD, sure, but is it four times better (since there are four times as many pixels packed-in to the panel when compared to a Full HD TV)? I'm not sure. These compressed files – though mostly immaculate – do feature a hint of picture noise and artefacts because they're compressed.

Since 4K is likely to primarily be streamed into a TV like the UE48HU7500 from the likes of Netflix, that's a worry. Take a 4K trailer for Elysium, as an example; its bright, slow-moving wide-shots of crowds and landscapes are stunningly detailed, but incidental shots and close-ups of actors are little more impressive than Full HD.

Compressed 4K? What an odd idea … though just when I'm beginning to pin my hopes on a future 4K Blu-ray disc, I come across Solar Rain of Fire, a short 4K film – again supplied as a compressed MP4 file – that offers a close-up of the Sun's bulging, bubbling surface. It's bright, it's lusciously coloured and it's the clearest, most involving 4K footage I've ever seen. 4K isn't always convincing on a 'small' screen like this, but it can be.

Black levels & contrast

A shot of a red Sun's explosive corona against the blackness of space reveals the UE48HU7500 to have a panel capable of some convincing black levels, too, though I'm not convinced about the set's Smart LED system. An ambient light detector that dims the brightness of the LED clusters along the edges of the panel, it didn't make any noticeable difference during the review.

The motion resolution is very decent, with fast-moving camera pans the clearest we've seen on a TV of this size. OK, so we're not talking a moving 4K image – no LED panel could offer that – but it's at least a Full HD image.

I found that engaging the set's frame interpolation tech was worthwhile, if only to give scrolling text a smoother look. Called Motion Plus, it's easy to overcook this blur/judder-busting tech if you head beyond the 'clear' strength. Any stronger and you'll notice the frequent side-effect of flicker around moving objects, though the more fluid image that results from the 'clear' setting is, I think, worth experimenting with.

High definition & 3D

The UE48HU7500's basic noise reduction options are worth toggling on since they do clean-up a touch of picture noise that appears around moving objects and graphics. Most impressively, there's barely a jagged edge in sight, which is some feat when you realise that for every single pixel in a Blu-ray disc, the UE48HU7500 has four pixels to fill.

While watching Gravity in 3D I was slightly disappointed to spot some judder during camera pans, though it's not a serious issue. I did try to cure this with the Motion Plus circuity, but it's not possible to do so without creating side-effects that are uncomfortable to watch. Otherwise, 3D looks sublime, with those edges staying coherent and the depth effects wowing – and no crosstalk in sight.

Standard definition

Rather shockingly, a blast of Pointless on BBC One on plain old standard definition looks clean and watchable. Not only is the TV frankly too big to expect that, but exactly how the UE48HU7500 fills-up all those extra pixels in such a convincing way is beyond me.

However, there is a little picture dirt that the UE48HU7500 built-in MPEG noise reduction option cleaned-up well enough. Later on in the evening on BBC One HD a HD broadcast of Not Going Out caused the UE48HU7500 no problems; not a jagged edge in sight. This 48-incher might not showcase 4K in all of its glory, but it's the perfect size to keep lesser sources looking good enough.

Usability, sound and value

Usability

Thankfully, the UE48HU7500 is fitted with a quad core processor. Since it's handling four times the pixels as well as that Smart Hub cache of apps, this is great news – and it works well. Navigating the UE48HU7500 is a cinch, while loading-up apps is quick and easy.

Both remote controls talk to the mother ship quickly, though personally I'm not a huge fan of the 'smart touch' remote; as well as being small and over-engineered, it's home to a microphone for the frankly unappealing and ineffective smart control feature.

Multimedia

Critically for a TV that purports to be an Ultra HD 4K-ready, the UE48HU7500 can handle MP4 files with a 4K resolution encoded in H.264. If that's good to know, so too is the UE48HU7500's support for a wide range of more common file formats like AVI, MKV, AVC HD, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MOV and WMV.

The UE48HU7500 also supports JPEG photos and music file formats that range from MP3, M4A and WMA to lossless filetypes like OGG, FLAC, WAV, AIFF and even APE, via a USB stick or a home network. That kind of comprehensiveness has niche appeal, but it's welcome nonetheless.

The UE48HU7500 also plays nicely with Samsung's SmartView 2.0 app, which creates a second screen on a smartphone or tablet for streaming files (MOV and MP4 video and JPEG photos) or porting live TV. It's possible to watch live TV on a tablet through SmartView 2.0 with barely a few seconds delay, though it's not possible to do the same with a DVD or Blu-ray disc.

Sound

Built-in audio is, thankfully, rather impressive. There's enough welly to make all of the TV's audio presets usable, though I settled on the music option for its all-round clarity. There's a movie preset also, though dialogue tends to muffle. There's also a TV sound connect mode to link a Bluetooth speaker, which is a nice option.

Value

The UE48HU7500 represents Samsung's mid-range Ultra HD option but it includes enough high-end end tech, as well as a slinky design, to make its price-tag palatable.

If you're after a real Ultra HD bargain, consider Samsung's 40-inch UE40HU6900 or its 50-inch UE50HU6900 in the step-down Series 6, though both have the same problem as this 48-incher; they're just not big enough to may 4K truly worthwhile.

Verdict

The UE48HU7500 is an excellent TV, but it's not perfect. Real things look real in 4K on the UE48HU7500, but CGI and movies? They're not as amazing as they should be. Though I would argue – perhaps controversially – that football, cricket and rugby in Full HD is always much more impressive than studio-shot fare like EastEnders and most films. The UE48HU7500 doesn't do quite enough to justify its price-tag – and that's completely down to its rather small 48-inch size.

We liked

The colour, the detail, the smooth motion, its handling of standard definition and HD, even its playback of digital files – all impress on the UE48HU7500. 4K might not sparkle consistently, but bright, outdoor crowd scenes and landscapes are immensely brilliant. Plus, the small-ish size means that lesser sources like TV and DVD are perfectly watchable. You can't say that about a 65-inch 4K TV. It's hard not to love the dial core processor-powered Smart Hub of apps, too.

We disliked

Is the UE48HU7500 big enough to extoll the virtues of 4K? I'm not totally convinced – bigger 4K TVs are certainly more consistently impressive – which makes the UE48HU7500's price tag a little hard to swallow. It's such a hard TV to criticise, but it just doesn't have as much 4K wow factor as bigger 4K TVs, and struggles to truly justify such a significant financial outlay. We're not much fussed by the TV's speech activation, either, though there's little else to complain about.

Final verdict

Although mightily impressive on almost all counts, early adopters keen to explore the emerging 4K ecosystem should go for a bigger screen than this 48-incher if they really want to squeeze-out the maximum detail possible. However, packed with apps, some fabulous multimedia handling and with enough versatility to handle all kinds of lower-quality video, the UE48HU7500 is a fine option for a living room – and perhaps the perfect 'bridge' product between the eras of Full HD and Ultra HD. That said, home cinemas should upsize.

Also consider

If you're after a 48-inch Ultra HD TV, the UE48HU7500 is Samsung's only attempt. However, other options are available from Sony, whose 48.5-inch XBR-49X850B also includes 3D, apps and Netflix 4K streaming. The XBR-49X850B also boasts 'feet' at each end, which gives it an unusual look. A third and fourth option come in the shape of the Panasonic TX-48AX630 and the LG LG49UB850V, which also sell for less than £1,000.

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