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Samsung UE 46 C 7000

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Samsung UE 46 C 7000

46"Flat-panel LCD

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Florian Friedrich Ladies and gentlemen, a world premiere: Televisions.com has reviewed the world’s first 3D TV for the mass market. Hailing from South Korean manufacturer Samsung, the UE 46 C 7000 will go on sale next month in the UK, where it’s expected to cost about 2,000 GBP.

In the US, Samsung lists the related UN 46 C 7000 for 2,599.99 USD. Is it worth the money? Let’s take a closer look...

Reviewed by Florian Friedrich on March 30, 2010

3D-ready.
USB recording function.
Universal tuner with CI+ support.
Excellent motion clarity in video-based content.
Accurate 24p reproduction (even with 60-hertz input signals).

Slight tint in the “Movie” preset.
Patchy illumination.
Narrow viewing angle.

3D has a bright future if this is what we can expect from other manufacturers, but there are still a few small weaknesses. The Samsung UE 46 C 7000 is also an outstanding 2D TV, offering sharp motion sequences, excellent video processing, and an extensive range of features. Points were deducted for the relatively low overall brightness and the restricted viewing angle.

Most Important Connections:

HDMI 4x YUV 1x USB 2x

Preface

The Samsung looks elegant on first glance, but the metallic stand mightn’t suit all tastes.

This won’t come as a surprise to most readers: 3D is the buzz word of 2010 — and not just in cinemas, with films such as “Avatar” and “Up”, but now also in the home. Many of the big TV manufacturers — Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Sony, and Philips — are introducing 3D TVs this year. In the wake of 3D’s arrival on the UK market, Televisions.com tucked in to its first taste of the new technology: a pre-series Samsung model known in the UK as the UE 46 C 7000.

Multimedia

Just 27 millimetres deep: the UE 46 C 7000 in profile.

Let’s first turn our attention to the South Korean TV’s multimedia features — and it offers plenty of them. For example, the developers have fitted the 7000-series models with “Internet@TV”, which allows access to an online Samsung platform. Samsung recently announced that it had expanded its list of cooperation partners and was planning to renovate the platform.

We also liked the option to record TV programmes via USB. According to Samsung, the TV can store recorded programmes on a USB stick or an external hard disk, and even allows time-shift recording. Users can play back HD video files via the USB interface or via a PC network. The latter also works with the TS files produced by set-top boxes. We weren’t able to test all of these features, however, since they’re not yet operational.

Other Features and Operation

A new design: Samsung’s remote controls have had a facelift.

One stand-out feature is the universal tuner for DVB-T, -C, and –S; this allows the Samsung to receive all types of modern digital transmissions. There’s a CI+ slot, so you should be able to receive pay-TV broadcasts too.

Perfectionists will be pleased to see the wide range of picture controls — for example, there’s an electronic colour filter that allows you to precisely adjust the colour saturation without needing physical colour filters. The colour balance can be altered using the RGB offset and gain controls, and the user can also adjust the gamma, colour gamut, motion processing, and energy-saving options.

Short on space: The ultra-flat construction means most sockets need an adapter. The only full-sized connections are the HDMIs and the CI slot.

The menu is a bit convoluted but scores points for being responsive and informative: It displays the picture format and resolution of TV channels, and even the frame rate of HDMI signals. Overall, the TV’s operation could be a bit clearer and more user-friendly, especially for satellite reception. Digital cable channels were sorted alphabetically, but encrypted channels have no additional indicator and cannot be hidden.

3D Features

Not supplied: Samsung’s shutter glasses are sold separately.

Unfortunately, the 3D glasses don't come with the TV — and they’re not cheap either. Samsung remains tight-lipped on UK pricing, but the glasses are already available in Europe, where they sell for about 100 Euros (90 GBP) a pair. For a family of five, therefore, they represent a significant additional investment. But — grumbles aside — it’s time for the all-important question: What’s the 3D picture actually like?

3D Films

Our first — and, as yet, only — test material is “Monsters vs. Aliens”, since no other 3D Blu-rays currently exist. The spatial effect is highly realistic, but subtle enough not to be irritating; we were particularly impressed with the shots of a suspension bridge, for example. But the extent to which objects burst forth from the TV screen depends a lot on the film in question. In the cinema, for example, “Avatar” showed more depth and more elaborate effects than “Alice in Wonderland”, and therefore seemed more spectacular. The same is likely to apply in the home cinema.

Genuine 3D material, such as “Monsters vs. Aliens”, is easier on the eyes than 2D material converted into 3D (see below). Still, in both cases, 3D video suffers a pronounced brightness reduction (see box below), and we noticed slight flicker at times. Nevertheless: The 3D video delivers a captivating film experience.

Brightness Loss in 3D Mode

The 3D technology also has disadvantages, as our measurements clearly highlighted: The brightness and the colours suffer, but the contrast and motion clarity barely change. Whereas in normal 2D operation the TV produces a luminance of about 300 candelas per square metre (cd/m²), this value drops to just 45 cd/m² in 3D mode. This is too low for day-lit rooms, but gives a sufficiently vivid picture in dark rooms.

So, you might be wondering, where is all the brightness going? We tracked down two causes: first, the glasses themselves; secondly — and more importantly — the way the panel is driven.

Besides purely measuring the flow of light through the glasses, we used a light-to-voltage converter and an oscilloscope to measure how long white is transmitted to one eye while the other eye is set to black. The result: In a period of 50 milliseconds, three white pulses came though one side of the glasses; this corresponds to 60 hertz. In theory, therefore, a white pulse would last 8.33 milliseconds for each eye. In practice, however, the panel only shines for 3.7 milliseconds of this. Combined with the relatively long reaction time to display white, therefore, this explains the pronounced brightness reduction.

Still, the results are better than on PC monitors with Nvidia shutter glasses. These glasses additionally reduce the length of the white pulse, leaving less than 10 percent of the brightness remaining.

Reaction Time Measurement for Samsung UE 46 C 7000

An 80-percent brightness reduction: The TV’s brightest white appears only briefly.

Conversion of 2D Material into 3D

Besides supporting genuine 3D material, the Samsung UE 46 C 7000 can convert all types of media — videos and photos via USB, TV broadcasts, DVDs, Blu-rays — into three-dimensional pictures. The artificially generated 3D pictures are surprisingly good, and deliver an excellent impression of depth. On the down side, however, they suffer from errors such as double edges and inaccurate perspective. In a police documentary, for example, cars driving away from the camera look too flat in relation to their distance, and slight double edges make the motorway signs look blurry.

3D Games

Naturally, we couldn’t wait to try the TV out with a PlayStation 3. We tested the setup with “Avatar”, a 3D game based on the recent film. First, we had to select the same 3D mode on the TV and in the game — a slightly tedious process. But the effort feels worthwhile when you see the spatial effects: A helicopter’s rotor blades sweep far out of the screen towards the viewer, and shots hitting tufts of grass send green stalks raining into the room — it really is impressive. Still, as we saw in 3D films, double edges occur from time to time. And, since 3D games require more processing power, occasional judder appears in the video playback.

Picture Quality of Standard-Definition Signals

UE 46 C 7000 CIE Diagram

Dark grey looks too bluish, but the colours are otherwise accurate.

Of course, we also put the Samsung through its 2D paces: With standard-definition signals, our optimised picture settings delivered a natural TV picture. The tuner derives the optimum quality from each signal type — terrestrial, cable, and satellite. If you input 576i signals via HDMI, TV programmes and film pictures show excellent sharpness and de-interlacing. The colours are convincing, although a slight yellow-green tint means they don’t quite match those of our reference TV, the Pioneer KRP-500.

If you know what you’re doing, you can use the extensive set of picture controls to get rid of the tint. In black-and-white films, such as “Casablanca”, the non-uniform greyscale representation becomes obvious. Dark grey appears a bit too bluish (colour temperature: 9,100 Kelvin), whereas bright and medium greys show a uniform but slightly too-low colour temperature (6,300 Kelvin).

Picture Quality of High-Definition Signals

Samsung 3D TV Viewing Angle

This diagram shows how the brightness (red) and contrast (yellow) vary as the viewing angle increases. The results are typical of an LCD TV: The contrast and colours (not shown here) quickly deteriorate.

Thumbs up: HDTV signals look excellent both from Blu-ray discs and via the built-in tuner. Dark pictures display clearly: For example, the night-time shot of a yacht in Chapter 5 of “Casino Royale” looks contrast-rich and vivid — even in bright viewing conditions. In the dark home cinema, on the other hand, the average in-picture contrast and patchy residual illumination spoil the image a bit. Thanks to pronounced lamp dimming in dark scenes, the Samsung achieves an impressive On/Off contrast — but this makes dark details harder to see in bright rooms.

To get motion depiction like you’d see in the cinema, set the TV’s 200-hertz technology according to our “Ideal Settings” (below). If you aren’t a fan of authentic movie judder, you can set the technology to give perfectly fluid motion — but bear in mind that this introduces occasional halo effects.

The sharpness turned out to be especially good in fast panning shots in TV material. All you need to do is activate “LED Motion Plus” and set the blur reduction to maximum. The Samsung’s motion clarity then surpasses that of Sony’s current 200-hertz TVs — and even that of our Pioneer plasma. If you switch off “LED Motion Plus”, you’ll have to deal with poorer motion clarity, but you’ll see a 25-percent brightness increase. You can turn this into a power-consumption advantage by turning down the brightness setting accordingly.

Ideal Settings

Mode: Movie

Contrast: 99

Brightness: 42

Sharpness: 6

Colour: 50

Tint (G/R): G50/R50

Black Tone: Off

Dynamic Contrast: Off

Gamma: 0

Colour Space: Auto

Edge Enhancement: Off

xvYCC: Off

Colour Tone: Warm2

Size: Screen Fit

Digital NR: Off

MPEG NR: Off

LED Motion Plus: Off

Film Mode: Auto1

Shadow Detail: +2

200Hz Motion Plus: Custom (Blur Reduction: 10, Judder Reduction: 0)

These settings apply to realistic playback of HDTV/Blu-ray material through the HDMI interface in a darkened environment. Manufacturing and HDMI playback device deviations might necessitate slight adjustment.