Introduction
Users picking up the model now, however, will have access to those glasses as well as significantly more online features. Many issues still aren't fixed, even with the most recent barrage of firmware updates. It's unfortunate the TV was plagued with so many launch issues, because otherwise it's a decent TV—it's the first attempt at a new technology, so no one should be expecting perfection.
What the UN55C7000 does well is contrast, color response (despite a slightly wonky color temperature), and motion blur control. Where the TV fails is artifacting and screen uniformity.
Assuming you don't mind waiting a little while longer for the full suite of online features, the UN55C7000 is on sale now for $3299.99.
Tour & Design
The Samsung UN55C7000 is big... really big. That 55-inch screen takes up a lot of real estate. The bezel has a subtle tinge of burgundy, part of Samsung's Touch of Color design aesthetic. We're pleased to see that they've moved away from last year's in-your-face Touch of Color, which resembled more of a dark blood color.
The onboard controls run along the bottom of the frame. Rather than hard plastic buttons, these are touch-sensitive areas. Unfortunately, because they're placed on highly polished plastic, they attract a lot of fingerprints.
At the bottom the TV, you'll see that magnificent, polished stand. It may not be your cup of tea or fit your living room decor, but you have to give Samsung credit for trying something new.
The back of the Samsung UN55C7000 is big and plain. All the ports are arranged in an L-shape on the right side. The power cable, notably, is hard wired to the television and cannot be removed or replaced easily. For information about the ports on the back of the Samsung UN55C7000 see our Connectivity section.
The Samsung UN55C7000 is damn thin. Amazingly, it's not even the slimmest TV that Samsung is making this year (that honor belongs to the C9000 series). But one look at those pictures below gives you some idea of why people are excited. Because of its slenderness, there are no ports on the sides.
The stand on the Samsung UN55C7000 is one of the most readily attractive elements. Forgoing the traditional mass of black plastic, Samsung is drawing attention to a reconceptualized stand, designed with four legs like you might see on a table. The actual material is plastic, not metal, but it keeps a good shine.
The onboard controls are located on the lower right corner of the frame. Touch-sensitive areas rather than proper buttons, these are conveniently placed but prone to picking up fingerprints.
The remote control, like the TV's stand, garnered some serious attention from the designers. Rather than individual buttons, the surface is a single-molded piece of metal (or plastic, who can say?), broken only by raised ridged to delineate function. As a result, it can be a little tricky to navigate the controls without looking at.
The Samsung UN55C7000 ships with the stand, a remote control, batteries, an instruction manual, wire clips and corrals, and a whole bundle of adapters to fit into the proprietary jack pack. (More details on this in Connectivity.)
The new Samsung C7000 series is undeniably attractive. Between the revised Touch of Color on the bezel, the 4-legged stand, and the remote control, the Samsung designers clearly put some thought into taking the ugly out of home electronics. It will be interesting to see if these strategies put pressure on the other manufacturers to follow suit.
Blacks & Whites
We measured the Samsung UN55C7000's black level at 0.14 candelas per square meter (cd/m2). This is a decent black level, but it isn't great. Our standard for a solidly good black level is 0.1 cd/m2, mediocre is towards 0.2 cd/m2, and anything in the 0.3 cd/m2 area or beyond is pretty bad. You shouldn't have any problems with your UN55C7000 not showing deep enough blacks. (More on how we test Black Level.)
We measured the UN55C7000's peak brightness at 322.52 cd/m2, which is more than bright enough for normal use. Not only should you get some brilliant whites, but you shouldn't have any issues with external light washing out your picture. (More on how we test Peak Brightness.)
The TV had a decent black level and a decent peak brightness. The result? A decent contrast ratio. We measured the UN55C7000's contrast at 2303:1, which should be more than good enough for the average viewer. Our eyes discern details based on contrast, and while contrast ratio isn't the only factor controlling a TV's level of detail, it is important. (More on how we test Contrast.)
We didn't see any real issues here with tunnel contrast. For the most part, it doesn't matter how much of the screen is black: the TV will output a fairly consistent luminance level regardless.
The one caveat is when the screen is nearly 100% black. At this point, some kind of automatic dimming will kick in, which can't be turned off. We're not a fan of dimming features, because they don't actually increase contrast ratio: anything that's supposed to be bright will lose its luster. (More on how we test Tunnel Contrast.)
The TV's auto-dim reared its head again on this test. When the peak brightness down by about 30% when there wasn't much white on screen. Again, this isn't ideal because it sacrifices detail in the brights in order to somewhat bump up detailing in the darks. (More on how we test White Falloff.)
This TV didn't have the best uniformity, which is likely due to its edge-lighting. On a dark screen, the corners have some serious flashlighting issues, and the rest of the screen is really blotchy. A white screen, on the other hand, looks fine. (More on how we test Uniformity.)
We measured the TV's greyscale gamma at 2.52, which was a bit aggressive, but not by much. If you look at the curve below, you can see it's a bit bumpy towards black, which means there isn't nearly enough differentiation between dark colors. Elsewhere, however, the TV performed quite well. (More on how we test Greyscale Gamma.)
Color Accuracy
The Samsung UN55C7000 didn't have the best color temperature. In our test, we saw that the dark end of things trends towards a bit of a warm look. Not great, but a pretty cut and dry case of not great.
One other issue is that, without the contrast at the setting it's at, we noticed some of the whites were noticeably warmer than the peak white, so much so that they really looked kind of pink. Stick to our calibration, however, and it should mitigate the effect. (More on how we test Color Temperature.)
For the most part, the UN55C7000 had some great RGB performance. It has a good slope to its curves, meaning the colors transition from dark to light evenly. This is ideal, because a smooth transition like this means you aren't losing many fine details. Towards the bright end of the spectrum, however, the lines do get a bit bumpy, meaning adjacent colors will either be too different in shade or not different enough to distinguish much of a difference between the two. (More on how we test RGB Curves.)
Below we've graphed the red, green, and blue curves as gradients. Ideally these gradients should show a seamless transition from highest to lowest intensity and show the entirety of the spectrum. Look for bands of color or bright to black, which indicate a loss of detail, and look for where the color bottoms out, i.e., when it just flattens out to black. The only spot that should be true black is the very, very end, which is rarely the case.
The TV's color gamut was a bit off. We measured the green as being a bit oversaturaged, the red was slightly oversaturated and shifted towards blue, and the blue was pushed towards red and also oversaturated. (More on how we test Color Gamut.)
Below is a chart of all the points we measured, along with the rec. 709 standard.
Motion
We didn't see any issues with the Samsung UN55C7000's motion performance once we'd turned on the 240Hz mode. Like other modern Samsung HDTVs, the UN55C7000 allows you to adjust two settings: judder reduction and blur reduction. We didn't have to fiddle around with the custom bar, however, since the Smooth preset gave us an incredibly sharp moving image.
Of course, while this feature will be great for certain situations, such as sports, it'll create (More on how we test Motion.)
The TV definitely has some issues with motion artifacting, but thankfully, the artifacting we saw with 1080p playback wasn't exacerbated when we switched to 1080i. The main issue you'll see is when fine patterns try to move around. We saw lots of false coloration, lines smudging into thicker segments, and some flashing.
The Samsung UN55C7000 had no real problem with 3:2 pulldown or 24p video. If you run into artifacting issues, just switch your Film Mode to Auto1 and it'll cut down on some of them. Great performance overall, however. (More on how we test 3:2 Pulldown and 24fps.)
The UN55C7000's native resolution is 1080p, but chances are you aren't going to be watching 1080p content all the time. Standard definition, DVDs, and broadcast HD will all need to be upscaled to fit the screen, which can cause some issues. (More on how we test Resolution Scaling.)
480p
Other than some slight overscan issues, we really didn't see many problems with 480p content. Some fine patterns might have a tinge of false coloration, but otherwise the image displayed was great.
720p
There were some serious issues with 720p playback. Fine patterns had an ugly cross-hatch pattern plastered over them, which typically indicates the aspect ratio is off. We tried every aspect we could, however, and the problem didn't go away. This was the only issue we saw worth mentioning, but it's a fairly severe one.
1080i
The problems with 1080i video were slightly different from what we saw in 720p mode, but just as bad. There was a pretty noticeable false coloration on fine patterns, as well as some uneven banding present. Also, text wasn't quite as legible as it could have been, and
3D
The Samsung UN55C7000 is a 3D HDTV, but it doesn't come with any 3D glasses. To start enjoying 3D, you will need to buy the glasses separately at a cost of $150 each, or $350 for a 3D Starter Kit that includes 2 sets and a 3D Blu-ray disc of Monsters Vs Aliens. The glasses themselves (model number SSG-2100AB) are active shutter ones: each eye is covered by an LCD panel that flickers between on and off in response to a signal sent by an IR emitter on the front of the screen.
The glasses are smaller than the ones that come with the Panasonic TC-P50VT20, and they feel a little more comfortable to wear, pressing down less on the nose. They also cover less of the face, but you definitely don't forget that you are wearing them. Unlike the Panasonic 3D glasses, they are not adjustable. The glasses are powered by a single CR3 watch battery located under a panel on the left arm. You switch them on by pressing a button on the top of the right arm: the glasses then start looking for the signal sent by the TV. If they don't detect it within a few minutes, they turn themselves off.
To test the 3D effect that this combination of 3D video, TV and glasses can produce, we spent some time with a test disc full of 3D test footage and a copy of Monsters Vs Aliens. We found that the 3D effect worked well; both the real and animated content on the discs had a smooth, lifelike 3D feel with good depth. However, we did notice some glitching; the glasses seemed to sometimes loose the signal, and the effect broke down for a few seconds.
We also noticed a slight ghosting effect, where some of the image destined for the left eye can be seen in the right eye, and vice versa (the technical term is cross talk). This shows up as a slight shadow to the left and right of objects, especially bright ones that stand against a dark background. This issue can be somewhat distracting, as again it breaks the 3D effect.
The image above shows what the left eye sees through the glasses, and you can see how there is a slight shadow to the right of the statue, which is part of the other frame that is still visible.
With the view through the right side of the 3D glasses, you can see a more pronounced shadow, which is part of the left frame that is showing through. We tried two pairs of glasses, and the same effect was viewable in both, and it looked pretty much the same, with the right eye seeming to get a quite significant chunk of the frame intended for the left eye, and the left getting a small amount of the right eye's frame. So, it seems that this might be an endemic problem to this display, which could be caused by either the display not being able to switch between the two images fast enough, or the LCD panels in the glasses not switching at the correct time. We did see a similar issue with the Panasonic TC-P50VT20, but it was much less pronounced: that display seemed to do a much better job of seperating the frames for a more convincing 3D effect. We are continuing to investigate.
The UN55C7000 does not give you much control over the 3D viewing process when using a 3D Blu-ray as a signal source: you only get the choice of two picture modes (Standard and Movie), and the ability to use the Picture Correction control to swap the frames over (so the left and right eye frames are reversed). This latter control isn't used most of the time, but might help if you are using the glasses lying down or from a sharp angle. If you are using a different signal source (such as a 2D Blu-ray disc, satellite box or computer), you do get a fair amount of control. *
2D > 3D Conversion* - With this enabled, the UN55C7000 tries to convert standard 2D images into 3D by processing the images and creating the alternate left and right eye images that 3D uses. We found that this produced mixed results: the effect was pretty minimal on normal TV, with the only thing that got any real 3D feel was the overlays used on news channels and the like. Other video didn't seem to benefit much; sports, movies and other content did not generate much of a 3D feel. One area that did work well was still photos: we found that the display did a pretty decent job of converting a range of test photos to 3D. The effect was not completely convincing, but it did produce a believable 3D effect from a range of 2D photos.
*Other 3D modes - *Support is also offered for the side-by-side, top & bottom, line by line, vertical strip, checker board and frequency 3D formats that some broadcasters are going to use to send 3D broadcasts over the air. These formats are not used when watching a 3D signal from a 3D Blu-ray player: in this case, the display detects the signal and enables the 3D effect.
We found that using the glasses did not adversely affect the quality of motion on this display; we found that 3D motion in a movie playing from a 3D Blu-ray disc was as smooth and artifact free as the 2D version. We are currently working on expanding our motion testing to cover motion in 3D more fully: we will update this review as we expand our tests.
Compared to the other 3D HDTV that we have in for review (the Panasonic TC-P50VT20), we found that the advantages of this LCD display over the Panasonic plasma were evident in 3D viewing as well as 2D. The image was brighter and had significantly better detail at the high end of the brightness range: details on bright objects were much better represented on the Samsung LCD screen than the Panasonic Plasma. However, the Samsung LCD screen had weaker blacks, with the blacks looking much brighter than the Panasonic Plasma. This meant that more dramatic sequences lacked the impact of the plasma screen. Plus, the LCD screen also had some issues with handling deep blacks. On one section of footage where a title box was overlaid on a black screen, the edges of the box were clearly visible, an effect that was not visible on the Panasonic. We'll be doing more testing in the next few days, but from our initial testing, it looks like the advantages of LCD screens are carrying over into the 3D world from the 2D one.
This HDTV can show 3D video because it includes the 3D glasses, and because we played back a 3D Blu-ray disc from a player that supports the new format. It works by showing two different frames, one for each eye. Your brain them combines them to create a 3D effect. Below are a series of images that show how this works.
What you see without 3D glasses: there are two images superimposed on each other
What the left eye sees when looking through the glasses*
What the right eye sees when looking through the glasses***
Your brain uses the differences between the images to create depth, and that's what happens with a 3D HDTV: the glasses help the eyes and the brain create the 3D effect. In the example above, the balls in the performers hand appear to be closer, while the performer in red looks further away.
*
NOTE: our 3D HDTV testing is still under development, which is why these sections have no scores. Please check back for our full tests, scores and more extensive testing in the near future. *
Viewing Effects
The Samsung UN55C7000 is a 1080p HDTV that supports 3:2 pulldown and 24p.
We measured the TV's viewing angle at 44°. That means, once you get about 22° off center, you'll only see about 50% of the TV's maximum contrast ratio. This is an average viewing angle for an LCD HDTV, since the display technology really can't offer a particularly wide viewing angle. Plasmas, on the other hand, can offer a viewing angle that's almost a full 180°. (More on how we test Viewing Angle.)
The Samsung UN55C7000's screen is a bit on the reflective side, especially during dark scenes. Fortunately, the pattern the light creates, although noticeable, isn't particularly distracting. After a while, you should get used to seeing the faint reflection of the room around you. (More on how we test Reflectance.)
The only two features the Samsung UN55C7000 has are noise reduction features. They both work. It's sort of refreshing to find the TV isn't laden down with processing features.
Calibration
[
](http://www.displaymate.com/)Below we've listed all the settings we've changed in order to calibrate the TV for our testing labs. Most people should be fine if they use our settings, but true cinephiles will want to splurge on hiring a professional to give them a custom calibration. That way the TV will be perfectly calibrated for your own unique viewing space.
Video Modes
Like nearly all TVs, the Samsung UN55C7000 has a handful of presets that allow you to make easy changes to your picture quality without running to a dictionary to look up the meaning of 'gamma.' We recommend putting this TV in the Movie mode, as it produces the most accurate colors. If Movie mode is a little bland for you, try Standard. Really, anything but Dynamic is fine. Dynamic mode is for crazies.
Remote Control
Ergonomics & Durability*(5.0)*
In case you missed the last three years of fashion, the '80 are back, and they've finally trickled their way down to home electronics. Yes, the industry that helped define the laser-lit decade is now subject to its revival whims. The remote control's surface is covered is a single-mold brushed aluminum. Individual buttons are roughly 'zoned off' by raised ridges.
The result of this unusual design is a very stylish but not perfectly ergonomic remote. The hallmark of a good remote is the ability to control basic functions by feel rather than by looking at it (after some practice, of course). That's a tricky thing with the Samsung UN55C7000's remote. The lack of individual buttons causes tactile confusion. 'Is my finger on the '2' or the '3?''
The buttons on the Samsung UN55C7000 are smartly grouped by function. The only problem, as explained above, getting used to the unique feel of the remote. There's also a number of uncommon buttons specific to this TV, like the 'Yahoo!' button that activates the Yahoo features. Bet you've never seen that on your stereo remote before.
As mentioned above, distinguishing buttons by touch is difficult because of the lack of proper buttons.
Programming & Flexibility*(1.0)*
The remote control for the Samsung UN55C7000 cannot be programmed to work with other devices, except selected Samsung devices with the Anynet+ branding. Fortunately, the TV itself has so many functions that it's kind of a wash.
Connectivity
Because of its incredibly slim design, Samsung had to make a number of truly bizarre compromises to fit the necessary input and output ports. Nearly every traditional cable connection was deemed too fat to fit. As a result, the TV comes bundled with a slew of proprietary adapters. There's one for component video, one for composite video, one for analog audio input, one for coax cable/antenna, one for VGA, one for digital audio output, and one for LAN. That's right. Did you ever look at your RCA cables and say 'You're too fat! You don't belong here.' At least the adapters are included, but it must be difficult to replace these if they get lost or broken.
The ports are arranged in an L-shape along the back of the Samsung UN55C7000. There's a wide, shallow scooped-out area surrounding the ports that gives you some room to hide the bulky adapters if you're wall-mounting this TV. Because of the TV's thinness, there are no ports on the side. It would be a pain to swap out wires with any frequency. Because the USB and HDMI ports run along the side, it's a little easier to access them than the component, composite, and others that run along the bottom.
The Samsung UN55C7000 has two output ports, an analog audio and a digital audio. Both allow you to connect with home audio systems that you already have or are planning to buy. The digital connection offers a higher quality transfer, but the analog ports can plug into that old Sony receiver you spent your allowance money on in 1990.
The Samsung UN55C7000 has an ethernet port for wired internet access. The TV is also WiFi-ready, but you need to purchase a USB dongle separately. For details on the internet features, jump ahead to the Internet and Media section of this review. The UN55C7000 also supports DLNA, and an EX-LINK port for added control.
The Samsung UN55C7000 has two USB ports. One of them can only read thumb drives. The other can browse hard drives in a similar manner to your computer, which opens up the possibility of creating a home entertainment database. For the complete rundown on what the interface for viewing photos, video clips, and music looks like, take a look at the Internet and Media page.
The port placement is awkward. Even with the swivel base, the ports hug so close to the TV that it's hard to see what's what back there. There are no ports on the side for quick swaps, but the TV is so lovingly thin it's hard to complain about that.
Audio & Menus
The audio quality of the Samsung UN55C7000 is decent, but certainly not up to par with the quality of the display. Overall, the bass is flat and the highs can sound tinny. Like most aspects of the TV, there are lots of options in the menu to tweak the sound. To start, there are five preset modes: Standard, Music, Movie, Clear Voice, and Amplify. Standard is the only option that allows further tweaking. The rest lock in certain settings. We liked the Movie mode best for a balance of bass, mids, and treble.
If you choose Standard mode, you can have full control over a 5-channel equalizer. You can also choose to operate 'TruSurround HD,' a surround sounds emulation, and 'TruDialog,' which enhances the dialogue in the audio mix.
For those that live with light sleepers, the TV also features an Auto Volume mode that keeps explosions and other suddenly loud sounds to a minimum. There are even two levels of sensitivity for this feature: Normal and Night.
The menu on the Samsung UN55C7000 is almost entirely the same as last year's Samsung models. It's not a perfect menu system, but it's pretty good. The options are left-aligned along a vertical axis, as you can see from the photo below. There are two problems. First, sometimes when you're exiting a submenu, you can use the 'left' directional button. But when you're in certain submenus, the left button doesn't do anything. Instead, you have to hit the Return button.
The second problem is related to the remote. Because there aren't proper buttons, it's harder to differentiate buttons by feel. We found ourselves frequently hitting the wrong button.
The real problem is that a TV of this caliber has so many control options that it's easy to create an intimidating menu. Technophobes, in particular, would find a menu of this size overwhelming. People more comfortable with navigating tech products will probably like the organization.
The instruction manual that ships with the Samsung UN55C7000 is fairly lengthy, and yet there are so many special features and options on this TV, you wish it could go into a little more detail. We are big fans of any manual that has both a table of contents and an index. You can find the Samsung UN55C7000's manual online here.
Multimedia & Internet
Samsung did some serious bragging at CES about the internet features on the new 2010 lineup of televisions. Let us be the first to tell you that, as of March 2010, they have failed in a big way to deliver on that promise.
In our review of last year's Samsung UN46B8500, we asked one question after spending an hour or so playing around in its online features: why did you even bother? Yes, it was that bad. The good news is that the new Samsung UN55C7000 is not as poor. But it's not very good either.
The biggest problem is content partners. Samsung has promised a greatly expanded package of content feeds from Netflix and others of that caliber. At the time of the product's release, the list of partners is pathetic: YouTube. That's IT!! Granted, Samsung has been loud about the partners in development: Netflix, Blockbuster, Pandora, and more. We just wish they were actually ready by the time they starting selling the TVs. That doesn't seem like much to ask.
For comparison's sake, take a look at the internet features on a new 2010 Sony TV, the KDL-46EX700. It features over 30 content partnerships, including Netflix, Amazon on Demand, Yahoo, Blip, Crackle, Wired, DailyMotion, and about a dozen topic-specific channels for food, golf, and more.Sony managed to cement all these partnerships and ship the TVs faster than Samsung (or Panasonic, for that matter).
There are a handful of other features included in the Samsung internet 'feature set' that aren't video related, but they're not very good either. For instance, the USA Today app appears woefully outdated. With excessive graphic junk and a clumsy interface, the only similar product that comes to mind is an early '90s CD-ROM encyclopedia (remember them?). There's also a handful of pre-loaded games, which are really just knock-offs of popular puzzle games like Bejeweled.
The inclusion of Skype is promising. The interface looks good, and the prospect of talking to a 55-inch tall version of your friend is pretty cool. Unfortunately, we had to settle for the mere prospect. To actually have a 2-way conversation, you need to purchase an add-on camera/microphone set, which is not yet on the market. We did manage to get a 1-way call going with someone in the office. For some reason, the person on the other end did not have the option to send a video signal, so that function may also require the camera/microphone.
Overall, we're disappointed that Samsung didn't manage to get their big name product ready in time. The feature set is painfully slim, and the features include were prone to crashing. It's just another sign that this product was rushed out ahead of schedule with all the seams showing.
The Samsung UN55C7000 can play back photos from either of its two USB drives. If you're the type of TV owner that likes to have slideshows going at parties, you're in luck. There are a lot of options for controlling the transition speed, transition style, background music, and more.
Unfortunately (boy, we seem to be saying this a lot), the firmware was clearly not ready. You can see from the photo below that the picture browser crashed, merging photos and creating weird, wavy lines. Sorry, Samsung.
Music & Video Playback*(6.00)*
The Samsung UN55C7000 can also play back video and music clips through the two USB ports. One of the USB ports supports hard drive, the other simply plays back thumb drives. Unlike the photo playback interface, these did not crash. With an iTunes-like interface, you can sort music by album, song title, artist, genre, and mood.
The Samsung UN55C7000 includes a feature called 'AllShare' that syncs with Samsung mobile phones for messaging, media, screen share, and using the phone as a control device. Unfortunately, we did not have access to a supported phone, so we have no idea how well this works, if it works at all yet.
Power Consumption
The best way to control power consumption on an LCD television is by tinkering with the backlight control. For best performance, we turn the backlight all the way up to maximum (a setting of 20, in this case). For the final score in this section, however, we lower the backlight until the whites are peaking at approximately 200 cd/m2 (which equaled a backlight setting of 12 on this Samsung). (More on how we test Power Consumption.)
Overall, the power draw of the Samsung UN55C7000 is about average. It's about the same as it's predecessor, the UN46B8500. This year's Sony KDL-46EX700 was significantly cheaper—nearly half the cost of powering the UN55C7000.
The chart below shows the approximate cost (in U.S. dollars) per year for operating these TVs.
Vs Panasonic TC P50VT20
Value Comparison Summary
Both TVs have some decent picture performance, but the Samsung is, by far, the better-looking TV. The Panasonic's strength, as a plasma, is a deep black level, but the TV is so dim it can't offer the contrast ratio the Samsung can.
Really, though, if you're paying this much for a new TV, it's going to hinge on the features. We can't speak to Samsung's 3D performance at the moment, because their glasses are currently unavailable. While Samsung's promised line-up of internet features still isn't available, its current, incomplete line-up still beats Panasonic's offering.
Blacks & Whites
The Panasonic TC-P50VT20 had a very deep black level, but was incredibly dim, which results in a lower overall contrast ratio than the Samsung.
Color Accuracy
The Panasonic has a more consistent color temperature, but overall the Samsung and Panasonic had equivalent color performance.
Motion
The motion performance on both the Panasonic TC-P50VT20 and the Samsung UN55C7000 was good, which is something you should hope for on TVs this expensive. However, the Panasonic showed virtually no artifacting, at least when we applied a little of the special motion processing features. Even so, the Samsung is still quite good.
Viewing Effects
The Panasonic TC-P50VT20 is a plasma TV. There's no contest. It completely clobbered the Samsung UN55C7000.
Connectivity
The Panasonic TC-P50VT20 and the Samsung UN55C7000 are both good fits for a home entertainment system, with all the necessary ports. In Panasonic's favor, it has more component and composite inputs, three more analog audio inputs, and an SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot. Also, the ports are easier to access. On the other hand, the Samsung has the ability to interface with hard drives through one of the USB ports.
Vs Sony KDL 46EX700
Value Comparison Summary
The Samsung can offer 3D content and a decent suite of online content at some point in the future, but if you don't care much about early-adopting 3D and want great internet features right now, the Sony is the better choice.
**
Blacks & Whites**
The Samsung didn't have as deep a black level or as bright a peak white. The Sony has a much higher overall contrast ratio.
Color Accuracy
The Sony's color temperature is nearly flawless, while the Samsung's gets noticeably warm towards the dark end of the spectrum. Both TVs had similar RGB performance.
Motion
The Samsung had more artifacting than the Sony; both were about as smooth.
Viewing Effects
The Sony has a slightly wider viewing angle than the Samsung.
Connectivity
The Samsung has fewer audio inputs than the Sony and one less component cable. This makes sense, since it's such a thin TV: there's just not a lot of room for ports.
Currently, Samsung's online content library still pales in comparason to Sony's. Samsung has promised to expand their current library, but as of this review they haven't.
Vs Panasonic TC P50G10
Value Comparison Summary
The Samsung has better black and white performance, but the Panasonic does colors better. Currently Samsung's online content is better than Panasonics, with the promise of widening that gap in the near future. Of course, you'll pay handsomely for those benefits and 3D capability.
**
Blacks & Whites**
The Samsung's black level isn't nearly as dark as the Panasonic's, but it is significantly brighter, resulting in a higher overall contrast ratio.
Color Accuracy
The Panasonic has a near-flasless color temperature, while the Samsung gets a bit warm towards the dark end of the greyscale. Both TVs had roughly similar RGB performance.
Motion
The Sony had less motion blurring and less artifacting than the Panasonic.
Viewing Effects
Stop the presses: a plasma TV has a significantly wider viewing angle than an LCD.
Connectivity
The Panasonic is missing
Conclusion
Series Comparison
C7000 Series
The C7000 series is a stylish group of 3D, wireless-ready LED LCDs, with 240Hz processing, online content, and a few apps as well.
Meet the testers
Richard Baguley is a veteran writer who has written about technology ranging from Alphabet to Zip file utilities. He has contributed to pretty much every major tech publication, including Amiga Format Magazine, PC World, Wired, CNET, Toms Guide, Forbes, and many others. He lives in the Boston metro area with his wife, dog, and an indeterminate number of cats.
David Kender oversees content at Reviewed as the Editor in Chief. He served as managing editor and editor in chief of Reviewed's ancestor, CamcorderInfo.com, helping to grow the company from a tiny staff to one of the most influential online review resources. In his time at Reviewed, David has helped to launch over 100 product categories and written too many articles to count.
Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.
Checking our work.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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