Our Verdict
This is a good TV for mixed usage. It's more suitable for darker rooms as it can't get very bright to overcome glare. It has a low input lag that makes it very responsive, but unfortunately, you have to sit straight in front to enjoy the most accurate image due to the poor viewing angles, as is expected of most VA panels.
- Excellent low input lag.
- Good uniformity.
- Poor HDR peak brightness.
- Image degrades when viewed at an angle.
The RU7100 is a decent TV for watching movies in a dark room. It has an excellent native contrast ratio and can deliver deep blacks, but it lacks a local dimming feature to further enhance dark room performance. Unfortunately, it can not remove 24p judder from any source.
This is a good TV for watching TV shows. It has decent reflection handling but can't get very bright, so it's more suitable for a room with less light. The gray uniformity is good, but the viewing angles are poor, and you are better off sitting straight in front.
This is a decent TV for watching sports. It has a fast response time, and fast-moving objects only have a small blur trail. The gray uniformity is good, and you should not experience any dirty screen effect when watching your favorite game. Unfortunately, the RU7100 is not a good choice for a large room with a wide seating arrangement due to its poor viewing angles.
The RU7100 is an excellent TV for playing video games. It has a remarkably low input lag and a fast response time, so it's very responsive to your actions. Unfortunately, it doesn't have FreeSync or any other game enhancing features like the ones found on higher-end models like the Samsung Q60R.
This is a decent TV for watching HDR movies. It can deliver deep blacks in a dark room, but it lacks a local dimming feature to further improve dark room performance. The TV doesn't have a wide color gamut and can't get very bright in HDR, so it cannot display HDR content as its creator intended.
In terms of playing games, the RU7100 is a good TV. There's an extremely low input lag and quick response time. Unfortunately, the HDR performance isn't great as it fails to display a wide color gamut and it doesn't get very bright. However, the response time is fast, so there's low motion blur.
The RU7100 is a great for use as a PC monitor. It's extremely responsive because of the low input lag. The viewing angles are not good, so if you sit too close to the screen, you will lose image accuracy at the sides. However, it can properly display chroma 4:4:4 in all the resolutions it supports, which is fantastic.
Changelog
- Updated May 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Feb 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Apr 15, 2019: Review published.
- Updated Apr 13, 2019: Early access published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 55" (UN55RU7100) version FA01. For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the other sizes of this model, except for the 43" model, which appears to have an IPS panel in some regions.
Walmart is selling the RU7200 variant, which appears to be nearly identical to the RU7100. We don't know precisely how it performs, but we expect it to be very similar to the RU7100.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Samsung RU7100 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.
| Size | Model | US | UK | Europe |
| 43" | UN43RU7100 | UN43RU7100FXZA | UE43RU7100KXXU | UE43RU7175UXXC |
| 50" | UN50RU7100 | UN50RU7100FXZA | UE50RU7100KXXU | UE50RU7175UXXC |
| 55" | UN55RU7100 | UN55RU7100FXZA | UE55RU7100KXXU | UE55RU7175UXXC |
| 58" | UN58RU7100 | UN58RU7100FXZA | UE58RU7100KXXU | N/A |
| 65" | UN65RU7100 | UN65RU7100FXZA | UE65RU7100KXXU | UE65RU7175UXXC |
| 75" | UN75RU7100 | UN75RU7100FXZA | UE75RU7100KXXU | UE75RU7175UXXC |
The UN55RU7100 we reviewed was manufactured in February 2019.
Popular TV Comparisons
The RU7100 is a good entry-level UHD TV, but there are better TVs for the same price. See our recommendations for the best TVs, the best HDR gaming TVs, and the best smart TVs.
The Samsung RU7100 and the Samsung TU7000 are very similarly performing TVs, since the TU7000 is the 2020 replacement for the RU7100. The TU7000 has a slightly better response time, and its input lag is better outside of Game Mode, so it's marginally better for gaming. The TU7000 also feels a little better built. On the other hand, the RU7100 has better accuracy out of the box, although this can vary between units.
Although they use different panel technologies, the Samsung RU7100 is better than the LG UM6900. The Samsung has much better contrast, is a lot brighter, and it has an optional black frame insertion feature. The LG, on the other hand, has better viewing angles, better reflection handling, and can remove judder from 24p sources as well as the internal apps. The LG is worse for use as a PC monitor, though, as it uses the less-accurate RGBW sub-pixel structure.
The Samsung NU7100 and the Samsung RU7100 both have very similar performance. The RU7100 has a slightly faster response time which is great if you watch sports, and a much lower input lag which is great for those who play video games. The NU7100, on the other hand, can deliver more uniform blacks.
The Samsung RU7300 and Samsung RU7100 are extremely similar, but the RU7300 has a curved screen. Other than that, they're essentially the same TV.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests are done with specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
The Samsung RU7100 is a 2019 entry-level UHD TV. It's the replacement of the NU7100 in Samsung's lineup, and it's meant as a more budget model that lacks some of the more advanced features found on the higher-end UHDs like the Samsung RU8000. It's comparable to most other budget LED TVs, like the LG UK7700 or the Vizio E Series 2018.
The design of the Samsung RU7100 is excellent, similar to the 2018 model Samsung NU7100. The stand supports the TV well and has minimal wobble. It's, however, nearly as wide as the TV, so you need a large table to place it on. The back of the TV is made of plastic with the same textured finish found on 2018 Samsung TVs. Cable management is serviced through guide tracks on the back of the TV and with the help of a couple of clips that attach to the legs. The build quality is decent, and you should have no issues with it.
The stand supports the TV well, but it's made out of plastic. Its width is nearly that of the TV, and although there's some wobble, it's minimal.
Footprint of the 55" TV stand: 38.3" x 10.4".
The borders of the Samsung UN55RU7100 are plain and have an average thickness.
The RU7100 has almost the same thickness as the NU7100. The thickness is roughly uniform, which looks good if you VESA mount it.
The RU7100 has decent overall build quality. The external casing is almost entirely made of plastic. There are no gaps or loose ends other than some flex in the seam where the back joins the borders; this should not be an issue.
The native contrast ratio of the RU7100 is excellent. This is great for watching movies in a completely dark room. Unfortunately, the TV doesn't have a local dimming feature to further improve the contrast ratio. The Samsung TU8000 has an even better contrast ratio.
Note: The 43" model appears to have an IPS panel in some regions. This model likely has much worse contrast, but better viewing angles.
The Samsung RU7100 doesn't have a local dimming feature. The above video is provided for reference only.
There was slight improvement from the 2018 NU7100 in terms of SDR brightness. The RU7100 is okay for peak brightness, but because it can't get bright enough to combat glare, this TV is best-suited in dim-to-darker rooms.
We measured the peak brightness after calibration, using the 'Movie' picture mode, 'Warm 2' color temperature, '2,2' gamma, and we set Auto Motion Plus Settings to 'Off.' Different picture modes and color temperatures may be brighter.
The setting that controls the brightness of the backlight is called Backlight.
The RU7100 has inadequate HDR peak brightness. It can't get bright enough to deliver a vivid HDR image. The TV's algorithms are able to dim small highlights in dark scenes, as shown by our 2% window test. This is known as CE dimming.
Our measurements were taken in the 'Movie' picture mode, with no calibration settings and Auto Motion Plus settings set to 'Off.' Some settings may produce a brighter image.
The RU7100 has good gray uniformity. The center of the screen is the most uniform, so there isn't much of a dirty screen effect. This is great if you're planning on watching sports on the RU7100. Unfortunately, the 50% gray image is especially darker in the corners, and slightly on the sides. In the 5% gray image test, it's hard to notice uniformity issues.
The viewing angle is disappointing on the RU7100. Even at a small angle off-center, the image loses accuracy. The higher the viewing angle, the more you'll notice black colors intensifying. A shift in grayscale follows as the angle gets larger, followed by a shift in colors, and lastly, the brightness will begin to decrease.
Note: The 43" model appears to have an IPS panel in some regions. This model likely has much worse contrast, but better viewing angles.
The RU7100 has very good black uniformity. Although you can see some flashlighting, it's not very visible under normal viewing conditions. It becomes more noticeable if you watch a very dark scene in a dark room. Unfortunately, there is no local dimming feature to improve black uniformity.
There's decent reflection handling on the RU7100. The screen has a semi-gloss finish, similar to the NU7100, so they both handle finishes very similarly. In a bright room with a high amount of lighting, the reflections may cause a few problems, but there shouldn't be much concern for most rooms.
The out of the box color accuracy of the RU7100 is great. The Picture Mode that gave us the best results is the 'Movie' picture mode. The minor color inaccuracies are hard to spot unless you are an enthusiast. With Color tone set to 'Warm 2,' the color temperature is slightly colder than the 6500K target. The gamma doesn't follow our target and some scenes are brighter than others.
The RU7100 has excellent color accuracy after calibration. Any remaining inaccuracies are almost impossible to spot without the aid of a colorimeter. The color temperature is almost spot on the 6500K target, and the gamma follows the target curve more closely, but not perfectly.
Changing Color Space settings from 'Auto' to 'Custom' reduced the color gamut drastically, so we had to make big changes in the color calibration. We recommend that users leave it at 'Auto' to avoid this.
You can see our recommended settings here.
There's an okay color gamut on the RU7100. It's wider than most SDR TVs, including an improvement on the 2018 model, but still not wide enough for good HDR performance.
The 'Movie' EOTF cannot follow the input stimulus closely and produces less bright images. If you find HDR content too dark, you can try setting Contrast Enhancer to 'High' and Brightness to '5.' With all of these enabled, the image gets brighter, as shown here.
In 'Game' mode, the EOTF cannot follow the target curve closely and starts to roll-off relatively early, very similar to the 'Movie' mode EOTF.
Update 05/08/2019: We have retested the color gamut for the RU7100 after discovering an error in our results and have updated the scores to our new finding.
The RU7100 has disappointing color volume, which is expected for a TV without a wide color gamut. It's not a significant improvement over the NU7100 as it cannot produce bright saturated colors like those in a bright outdoor scene.
There's good gradient handling on the Samsung RU7100. The dark gray, green, and blue colors have some banding, but it's hardly visible in person. Setting Digital Clean View to 'Auto' didn't remove banding in the test picture, which some higher-end Samsung models are able to do.
There are no signs of temporary image retention, which is typical of VA panels.
We don't expect VA panels to experience permanent image retention, as the VA panel in our long-term test appears immune.
There's very good response time on this TV. With mostly quick transitions, fast-moving objects only have a very short blur trail behind them. Some smearing may be present in dark scenes because there's longer transition between darker shades, such as from 0% to 20%.
The RU7100 uses PWM to dim the backlight. Only when the backlight is set at max is there no flicker. The flicker frequency is 240Hz and was measured in 'Movie' mode with Auto Motion Plus disabled. Unfortunately, some TV settings have 120Hz flicker. Simply setting Auto Motion Plus to 'Custom' changes the flicker to 120Hz. The 'Game' and 'Standard' picture modes have 120Hz flicker all the time, as shown here. This changing flicker frequency has also been observed in other Samsung TVs like the Q60R.
Flicker is made available on the RU7100 to make the image more crisp. The flicker of the backlight can be changed to 120Hz by setting Auto Motion Plus to 'Custom' in 'Movie' mode, as explained by the Flicker-Free box. By enabling LED Clear Motion, it changes the flicker to 60Hz. Unfortunately, it doesn't look good with 60Hz BFI, as seen in the picture above. The double-image seen in the photo is a result of the backlight pulses catching the TV in mid-transition. In addition, you can't set the TV to flicker at 60Hz in 'Game Mode' since it has a default flicker of 120Hz, and that can't change.
The RU7100 is able to interpolate lower frame rate content up to 60Hz. By setting Auto Motion Plus to 'Custom' and adjusting the Judder Reduction slider, you can enable motion interpolation. Unless you want Black Frame Insertion, don't enable LED Clear Motion. Be aware that with that setting, the backlight flicker lowers from 240Hz to 120Hz, as is the case with most Samsung TVs. Unfortunately this TV doesn't have the option to add motion interpolation in 'Game Mode.'
The RU7100 is excellent at making content stutter-free, even on movies with low frame rates. The slower response time helps make the transition between frames more smooth.
Unfortunately, there's no way to remove the 24p judder on the Samsung RU7100. Even with the settings Auto Motion Plus set to 'Custom' and Judder Reduction set to '0,' it still didn't work. Even with Film Mode enabled, it still wasn't judder-free.
Unlike the higher-end Q60R model, the RU7100 doesn't support AMD's FreeSync variable refresh rate.
The RU7100 has excellent low input lag, especially in both 'PC' and 'Game' modes. Unlike on some higher-end Samsung TVs, when the TV is in 'PC' mode, you don't need to turn on 'Game Mode' to have low input lag.
Chroma 4:4:4 is only properly shown when the input icon is set to 'PC,' denoting that the TV is in 'PC' mode.
Most resolutions and refresh rates are supported on this TV. Like the Q60R, 1440p @ 60Hz is available on the RU7100. Input Signal Plus (previously known as HDMI UHD Color) needs to be enabled for full bandwith signals, like the 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4.
Chroma 4:4:4 is properly shown in all resolutions provided the TV is in 'PC' mode.
Unlike 2018's NU7100 where all inputs were facing sideways, some of the inputs on the RU7100 are facing outwards.
Like the Q60R and 2018 Samsung TVs, the RU7100 doesn't support DTS, nor does it support eARC. Like the Q60R, there is a Dolby Atmos Input setting, so it likely does support lossy Atmos passthrough via Dolby Digital Plus sources, such as the native Netflix app.
The frequency response is mediocre. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 80Hz, which is decent. This means the RU7100 has a decent amount of punch to its bass but can't produce any thump or rumble. The response above the LFE is relatively flat and well-balanced, and this results in clear and intelligible dialogs. The RU7100 doesn't have a room correction system, and we weren't able to remove the modes of our test room around 200Hz. The RU7100 can get reasonably loud, but not loud enough for large and noisy environments.
The RU7100 has decent distortion performance. There wasn't a big jump in THD under bigger loads, and the overall amount of harmonic distortion is with average limits.
The interface of the RU7100 is easy to use and runs relatively smoothly. We didn't find any serious issues during our testing, except that sometimes when you change the input from 'PC' to something else the edges of the screen are cut off due to overscan. Just navigating into the Picture Size setting fixes the issue, even if you don't change anything.
Unfortunately, the RU7100 comes with ads and suggested content, and doesn't offer the option to opt out. There is a small ad on the home bar and a large one in the app store (see the picture on the Apps and Features box).
Samsung's app store has an abundance of apps to chose from. The apps run relatively smoothly and navigating through them is easy.
The Samsung 55RU7100's remote control is very basic. There are no smart features like voice control and most of the buttons only serve basic functions. There are also three buttons for quick launching Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video.
The controls are in the center of the TV underneath the Samsung logo. They are similar to the Q60R, with a single button that brings up a menu allowing you to turn the TV off, adjust the volume, or change channels/inputs.
- Quick Setup Guide
- Batteries
- VESA Spacers
- Remote
- User Manual
- Power Cable
- Cable management clips for the legs, shown here