Samsung 43" TU7100 HDR Smart 4K TV with Tizen OS

Product Information

Stepping down in quality to some 1080p Full HD content actually confirms the Samsung as a fully capable device. Naturally enough there’s a drop-off in detail levels, accompanied by a little less certainty where motion is concerned and a little more picture noise (especially in scenes of uniform colour, such as sports broadcasts), but the TU7100 proves an adept upscaler. Some softness in an upscaled picture is only to be expected, but the Samsung stays pretty regimented in most circumstances. As far as build quality goes, you’re on admirably safe ground here. We can’t remember the last time we saw a Samsung TV which seemed poorly constructed. Sure, it may not be built from the most indulgent materials – the plastic boomerang feet, in particular, don’t feel anything special – but the AU7100 is flawlessly finished and built to last. And as befits a television that’s intended to sell at a very competitive price, not much by way of ‘design’ has happened here. Samsung will tell you the AU7100 is ‘bezel-less’, but that’s not true. The bezels are pretty minimal, though, which is nice. Plus the feet leave enough space below the bottom of the screen to accommodate a soundbar, which is prudent. The design isn’t revolutionary, but the tiny bezel and utilitarian stand make it a suitably compact to fit in any second bedroom, kids playroom or small lounge without taking up too much space. The stand also sets it high enough for you to place a small soundbar under the TV, if you so desire. The design wears the plastic reasonably well, though. The feet aren’t distracting and lift the screen high enough to accommodate a soundbar, while the frame around the screen is extremely narrow for this level of the market (even if the set’s rear depth isn’t).

Game Pass Ultimate: Subscription continues automatically at regular monthly price unless cancelled. Xbox Cloud Gaming: requires supported controller (sold separately); streaming limitations apply, server availability and wait times may vary. Subject to xbox.com/subscriptionterms. Follow instructions on your new Galaxy Book to activate Game Pass Ultimate. Then, follow the instructions below that match your Samsung TV Model: LE Series models - model number ending in BD Connections run to three HDMIs and one USB port. The only cutting edge gaming graphics feature the HDMIs support, though, is Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which allows the TV to switch into and out of its Game mode depending on the sort of content an ALLM-capable device is outputting. There’s no 120Hz or Variable Refresh Rate support. This means if you try and take advantage of the TV’s Dolby Digital Plus support using a soundbar you’d only have room to connect one other device. Considering how many households have multiple devices, I’d liked to see the TU7100 come with at least three HDMIs. It’s not a set that features all the bells and whistles gamers will need for the next generation PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, but at this price, what do you expect? The Samsung UE43TU7100 has a discrete design and easy setup processSelect the Antenna type that you are using ( Air or Cable) and press the Enter button. Make sure that your aerial is connected to your device before re-tuning. So it’s down to a 4K HDR10+ Blu-ray disc of Sam Mendes’ 1917 to allow the AU7100 to give the best possible account of itself. And within reason, it’s a very agreeable account indeed.

Picture quality is equally encouraging elsewhere. Motion is confidently handled (the Samsung’s logical setup menus help here), edge definition is smooth and convincing, while picture noise is minimised even in the darkest, most unchanging scenes. While that may sound boring, having put it through its paces I can confirm the Samsung UE43TU7100 is anything but dull. Samsung may not have embraced Freeview Play, but it compensates by offering a full raft of Catch-up and SVoD services, plus curated content from its Universal Guide. It also lets you connect the TV to other compatible SmartThings compatible devices in your home, which will be a bonus for tech tinkers. The overall palette of 1917 is subdued, and the TU7100 responds accordingly, avoiding boosting certain shades the way that other sets sometimes do. We’ve seen the French fields rendered in a rather lurid green that’s at odds with the film’s overall tone, but that’s not the case here.If you’re embedded in Samsung’s SmartThings ecosystem you can speed things up by copying over apps, settings and logins from any other Samsung TV you have in the house. Freeview Play is not available on Samsung TVs. But, if your Samsung TV was manufactured in 2016 or earlier, it will most likely have Freeview installed. The downside is that the Samsung TU7100 doesn’t have the fastest operating system out there. Even doing basic things like scrolling through menu screens and there’s a noticeable delay between you enacting a command and it happening. Apps also can take longer than I’d like to open. The Samsung TU7100 offers better picture quality than you’d expect This version of Tizen isn’t quite the full enchilada, as found higher up the range, but it’s not far off. If you can live without niceties like Ambient mode and TV/Smartphone Multi-View, you won’t feel short-changed. You can also follow the instructions detailed below for some models. Follow these instructions to retune your Freeview compatible Samsung TV:

Design’ isn’t really something that happens to entry-level TVs, and sure enough the Samsung UE43TU7100 isn’t so much ‘designed’ as ‘assembled’. The only other minor quibble is that its wireless support caps out at WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2. At this price that’s the industry standard and hardly a deal breaker, though. The Samsung TU7100 has a robust feature set and app ecosystem Tizen is a mature, well-honed smart platform, which makes for an easy, uncomplicated user experience. It’s neither as invasive as Android TV or as disjointed as webOS. Once the euphoria of a screwless build has worn off, though, there’s no denying that the UE43AU7100 feels pretty entry-level in its construction. The lightweight feel and unassuming matt finish of both the feet and the screen frame alert you aggressively to the fact that the bodywork is pretty much completely plastic. Quite often a TV that’s built down to a price betrays itself most obviously where skin-tones are concerned, but the TU7100 gives a poised, balanced account of complexions.Colour temperatures are also solid. Unlike a lot of cheap TVs, the TU7100 doesn’t overcook colours in a bid to artificially make the screen look more vibrant. The out of the box Standard setting has a nice neutral tone, and those that want to can change this to the “Dynamic” or “Movie” preset if they prefer the latter, though I can’t see why anyone would. The UE43AU7100 doesn’t clamour for your attention on a crowded TV shelf or make any claims that it’s taking affordable TVs to places they’ve never gone before. You won’t see it turning up in any future ‘classic TV design’ exhibits, either. The only bit of advice I’d give is to make sure you turn off, or at least reduce, the TV’s Picture Clarity setting. The feature is designed to reduce noise and generally make TV and movies look smoother, but during testing I found it just gave most content the ‘soap opera’ effect. There are inescapable shortcomings where picture performance is concerned. But they’re predictable, relatively minor and trifling compared to what the UE43AU7100 gets right.

The image preset selection covers Standard, Natural, Dynamic, Movie and Filmmaker Mode, the UHD Alliance sanctioned movie preset. On this particular TV, we found the most consistently entertaining with most content proved to be Natural. There are rival TVs, too, that can deliver both native 4K and upscaled HD images with more raw sharpness and apparent detail than the UE43AU7100. Again, though, the level of sharpness the UE43AU7100 adopts feels carefully chosen to deliver an organic, immersive image rather than an actual weakness of either the LCD panel or the Crystal Processor. We measured peak HDR at 287 nits, using a 10 per cent measuring window. Reducing this window to 5 per cent, saw the screen’s ability to handle HDR peaks drop to 210 nits.It comes as little surprise that the TU7100’s 20W sound system is no sonic masterpiece, and you’d be well advised to budget for a soundbar with which to partner it. However, if you are determined to make do with the built-in speakers, their output is perfectly passable. That’s not to say that the TU7100 isn’t vibrant when it needs to be. We switch to Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2 on 4K Blu-ray, and the TV does an excellent job with the neon-lit title sequence and the rainbow-breathing, neon gunk-filled Abilisk. Unlike the TU8500, the TU7100 only comes with one standard-looking remote. Though the design is a little old school and full of inputs most younger people won’t use, it does the job and is suitably intuitive. The screen struggles with some of the low light sequences in Barbarians (Netflix), but its HDR is adept enough to add intensity to flaming torches and the like.