Samsung UE55KS7000 prices and specs

FOR

• HDR+ upscaling
• Subtle HDR images
• Separate connections box
• Slick, quick Smart Hub

AGAINST

• Requires large TV table
• Some backlight bleeding
• Lacks YouView or Freeview Play
• No 3D support

Short on HDR content? Create it yourself. What Samsung calls HDR+ is the key feature to get excited about on this, its entry-level 'true' HDR TV – aka UHD Premium – which offers detailed and involving, yet subtle, images imbued with luscious colour and throughly decent black levels.
It's not perfect – restricted viewing angles and visible edge LED backlighting see to that – but its great-value images are joined by Samsung's light-touch Smart Hub, which makes finding what you were watching on Netflix or Amazon so, so easy.
However, it's with native HDR or up-rezzed HDR+ material that this sumptuously designed 55-incher most impresses – feed the UE55KS7000 a Hi-Def or 4K diet and watch it purr.

For

-Subtle performance across different resolutions

-Excellent definition

-Natural colours

Against

-No 3D option

-Sound could be more substantial

Top tech? We mean a 4K Ultra HD resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, for starters, plus High Dynamic Range (HDR). It has 10-bit panel and a peak brightness of at least 1000 nits (one nit is the brightness of a candle). It also uses the BT.2020 (very wide) colour space.
All of which means the KS7000 qualifies for a UHD Premium sticker, the industry standard for serious TV specs. On top of that, Samsung has liberally sprinkled its own magic.
The KS7000 uses ‘Quantum Dot’ technology, another name for the Nano Crystal tech we saw in 2015, which promises over a billion colours. That’s 64 times more than conventional rivals, according to Samsung.
Then there’s the design, which is certainly not rushed. A ‘Boundless’ frame (a very thin bezel) means there’s not much to distract you when you’re looking at the screen.
It’s a slim set, thanks to the edge-lit LCD panel and the external One Connect box, which houses most of the inputs (four HDMI, three USB).

Samsung won five of ourAwards last year, including our TV Product of the Year gong. It certainlyhasn’t rested on its laurels, but has made use of its momentum - and the resultis nothing is nothing short of spectacular. If the Samsung UE55KS7000 is anythingto go by, Samsung may be in for another party.

Pros

•  Blisteringly bright, colourful, contrast-rich HDR pictures
•  Good value for such HDR-friendly images
•  Excellent with SDR too

Cons

•  Some colour banding with HDR content
•  Limited effective viewing angle
•  Black levels not as deep as those of more expensive Samsung models

In some ways, the UE55KS7000 is uniquely good for its money – especially if you want maximum high dynamic range and Ultra HD impact.

Some HDR colour banding and a limited viewing angle stop it earning an unbridled recommendation, but most of the time it looks gorgeous.

Worthy rivals are few and far between. The Panasonic TX-58DX802 costs almost the same, offers three more inches of picture, sports a striking easel-style design and delivers beautifully subtle, stable images that only fall short of the UE55KS7000 on brightness.

The 58-inch Panasonic TX-58DX750, meanwhile, is an excellent TV with standard dynamic range, priced at £1,049. It isn’t as bright or contrast-rich with HDR, though.