To try to better understand how long a TV should last, we're running 100 TVs through an accelerated longevity test for the next two years. We've just posted our results after eight months, see our latest updates.
The 4k LED UHD Samsung KU7000 Series has a good enough picture quality for most content but lacks in a few areas. It handles fast motion decently and it feels responsive when playing video games. Unfortunately, HDR performance is average, judder is present in movies and the picture deteriorates when viewed from the side.
Our Verdict
The Samsung KU7000 is a decent TV with a few flaws. It is good for playing video games and sports fans won't complain but movie lovers might be bothered by the small amount of judder and the limited HDR performance. When viewed from the side, the picture of the KU7000 also deteriorates. In the end, the Samsung KU7000 is not easy to recommend since the KU6300 is cheaper and has the same picture quality. If you were looking for an improvement, go with the KS8000 instead.
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Better than average uniformity
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Good TV for playing video games
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Judder is present in movies
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HDR performance is limited
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Picture deteriorates when viewed from the side
- 7.4 Mixed Usage
- 6.9 Movies
- 7.2 TV Shows
- 7.2 Sports
- 8.1 Video Games
- 7.5 HDR Movies
- 7.9 HDR Gaming
- 7.0 PC Monitor
- Updated Mar 01, 2017: Review published.
- Updated Jun 22, 2016: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Jun 20, 2016: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 55" (UN55KU7000) version FA01. For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the other sizes.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Samsung KU7000 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.
Update 01/16/2017: The 43" has a AA01 panel, so our review might not correspond exactly to that size.
| Size | Model | US | Canada | UK | Warehouse | Warehouse long |
| 40" | UN40KU7000 | UN40KU7000FXZA | UN40KU7000FXZC | UE40KU6400 | N/A | N/A |
| 43" | UN43KU7000 | UN43KU7000FXZA | UN43KU7000FXZC | UE43KU6400 | N/A | N/A |
| 49" | UN49KU7000 | UN49KU7000FXZA | UN49KU7000FXZC | UE49KU6400 | N/A | N/A |
| 55" | UN55KU7000 | UN55KU7000FXZA | UN55KU7000FXZC | UE55KU6400 | UN55KU700D | UN55KU700DFXZA |
| 65" | UN65KU7000 | UN65KU7000FXZA | UN65KU7000FXZC | UE65KU6400 | UN65KU700D | UN55KU700DFXZA |
Compared To Other TVs
The Samsung KU7000 is hard to recommend when cheaper TVs offer similar performances with a better value.
Test Results
The Samsung KU7000 is a great looking TV. Its frame looks like it is made of metal, the classic looking Samsung stand now shares a new style with a shiny reflective finish and the textured back of the TV adds a nice touch. The TV is also quite thin. Compared to the KU6300, it looks better.
The KU7000 shares the same kind of stand as many other Samsung TVs but with a slightly different new cut and finish.
Footprint of the 55" TV stand: 37" x 13.1"
The back has a textured finish very similar to the higher end Samsung 9 series. If wall mounted, no connections will be blocked.
The TV appears quite thin from a 90 degree angle. The bottom part is thicker than the top part.
The contrast ratio of this TV provides good dark scene performance and should not be an issue for most viewers.
There is no local dimming on the KU7000. For reference, we took a video of our test. The backlight is edge lit, unlike the KU6300 which has a direct backlight.
The SDR peak brightness is bad for the Samsung KU7000. At around 300 cd/m² overall, with the 2% and 10% being dimmer than the rest, the SDR peak brightness is lower than what would be considered a good value. The KU7000 would be best situated in a dark room because of the low SDR peak brightness.
The KU7000 is bright enough for normal SDR content but well below the HDR standard of 1000 nits for highlights. There is no local dimming. With an HDR signal, the 2% window dims, but on a standard signal, the brightness remains constant across all window sizes. The peak brightness is lower than the KU6300.
Update: Updated with sustained brightness.
There is some banding visible, with the horizontal edges appearing brighter and the vertical edges appearing darker. Overall the uniformity is better than most other LED TVs, with no major gray uniformity or dirty screen effect issues.
The viewing angle is quite good for a VA TV, and should not be an issue for most people. Color saturation is lost when viewed at an angle however the picture remains more defined than most other VA TVs.
The black uniformity is really good. Due to the way the TV is edge lit, there is a small 1/4" bright strip extending part way across the top and bottom edge. This should not be an issue for most content.
Update 11/09/2016: Our original test was showing 8 bit gradations due to incorrect drivers on our system. After some correction to our test apparatus, we have retested the color depth and found that it is able to display a 10 bit gradient smoothly. There is some little imperfections in the darker green, but nothing that could make normal viewing problematic.
Out of the box, the White Balance dE, Color dE and Gamma had few issues. The reds were a little too high and the blues were slightly too low. This issues will not be visible for the average viewer.
Just like previous Samsung TVs we've reviewed, the calibration was quite easy to do and took little time. We were able to correct most of the issues that were present in the pre-calibration.
DVDs and SD TV channels looks good on this TV without being too soft.
Blu-rays and other 1080p content looks very good, as with most of Samsung UHD TVs.
Update 08/18/2016: The color gamut was re-tested and found to be wide, covering most of the P3 color space.
The KU7* series of TVs can produce fairly saturated colors for P3, but the coverage becomes worse at low brightness levels.
Reflections can appear large and diffused. They can also be seen through as long as they aren't too bright.
The response time of this TV is similar to that of the Samsung KU6300 because they have a similar panel. A faint trail is visible behind the logo meaning that fast moving object will appear to have a following trail behind them just like this one. The backlight flickers at twice the frequency of the KU6300.
The 'Auto Motion Plus' setting can be customized to introduce black frame insertion. This helps to clear up motion blur due to eye tracking. Unfortunately this option isn't available in the 'Game' special viewing mode.
The TV was not able to remove judder when 24p content is played through any input source. Those sensitive to it will notice judder when watching movies.
Enabling 'Action Motion Plus' to 'Auto' will allow you to smooth out content that outputs 30fps, this isn't the case for 60fps content. Even though Samsung advertises that this TV has a '120Hz Motion rate' it is a 60Hz TV.
The input lag of the KU7000 is great, enable 'Game Mode' in 'Special viewing modes' to reduce it as low as possible.
Update 09/08/2016: In 'Game Mode', when sending an HDR signal at 1080p resolution, the input lag remain the same at 24.7ms
Enable 'UHD Colors' for 4:4:4 at 4k and 60Hz on HDMI1. This is not possible on HDMI2 or HDMI3. Text becomes more clear when sending a 4:4:4 signal. 120Hz input is not supported.
There are no connections directly going straight out of the back, only side facing.
HDMI 2.0 full bandwidth is only available on HDMI1.
Decent frequency response, low-end cutoff and maximum loudness for a TV. The responses at 75dB and 85dB SPL are pretty good, however, at maximum volume pumping and compression are present.
Average distortion results. At lower volumes, the performance is very good. At maximum volume however, there is a noticeable jump in the harmonic distortion.
The most popular applications such as Netflix, Amazon Video and YouTube are available on this TV. You also have plenty of applications that can be downloaded from the store.
The Samsung KU7000 offers an impressive smart interface performance that is both smooth and responsive. The TV comes with a fairly fast CPU and memory which allows applications to load quickly even when heavily multi-tasking, showing no hiccups at all. Also, the operating system supports a great deal of different applications such as Netflix, Amazon Video, Youtube, and many more, making it a very polished smart interface. As for the inputs, the Samsung TV offers many inputs of different variations making it capable of plugging all your devices in it. Be careful though, if you want to use the full capability of the TV make sure you use the HDMI 1 port as it's the only port that supports HDMI 2.0.
When a new device is detected (such as when a computer is woken from sleep while plugged into an HDMI port) the TV automatically switches to this device. This may be an annoyance if you are watching other content at the time.
Looking at the TV from straight on, the TV controls are located at the bottom right of the TV. This small button offers many basic operations such as changing the volume, inputs, and turning the TV on or off. This button is still accessible even if the TV is wall mounted.
The remote is identical to the Samsung KS Series remote. It's comfortable and is very easy to use to navigate through menus. It also has the voice command functionality that the KS Series remote has, which is a nice addition. This remote, compared to the Samsung KU6300, is somewhat better and has the voice command functionality.
