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  • Introduction

  • Design

  • Smart TV Features

  • Picture Quality

  • 3D

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Viewing Angle

  • Contrast

  • Color

  • Other Tests

  • Introduction
  • Design
  • Smart TV Features
  • Picture Quality
  • 3D
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Viewing Angle
  • Contrast
  • Color
  • Other Tests

Introduction

The 46-inch model we tested does well in certain areas, namely color consistency and contrast—it's also equipped with Samsung's excellent smart interface. The ES7100 is far from perfect, though: the viewing angle is inferior and the screen's uniformity is disappointing. The 3D experience, which is usually a strong feature on Samsung TVs, is very good, but not as spectacular as it was on the ES7500. With an MSRP of $2,309, the 46-inch ES7100 is $300 less than the 46-inch ES7500, but it's not necessarily a better value TV.

Design

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The ES7100 is razor-thin, but its stand may be a turn-off.

As far as TVs go, Samsung makes some of the slimmest and the ES7100 is no exception. This thin, lightweight LED TV is beautiful to look at. The stand looks like it came from the future, though some will love it, others will find it too extreme. Personally, I enjoy its X-shaped design since it's a break from the monotonous nature of most other TV stands.

Connections are located on the back of the ES7100 and includes all of the important ports: there are three HDMI inputs, a single USB port, a component input, and a digital audio output, to name a few. Beneath the ports, you will find the on-set controls for the ES7100, which looks like a little joystick. Samsung calls this the Jog Stick and it can power the TV on/off, change the volume or input, and access the menu. The Jog Stick was quite intuitive and access was never a problem.

{{photo_gallery "Design Landing Page Photo", "Front Tour Image", "Back Tour Image", "Sides Tour Image", "Connectivity Tour Image 1", "Connectivity Tour Image 2", "Connectivity Extra Photo", "Stand Photo", "Controls Photo", "Remote Control Photo"}}

Smart TV Features

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Samsung's smart platform is simply great.

Samsung's menu interface is a joy to navigate. The main menu interface has six categories of sub-menus: Picture, Sound, Channel, Network, System, and Support and a short description pops up once an option is selected. Simply put, this is among the best menus on the TV market.

Samsung offers a robust app store.

Samsung's smart platform is equally impressive. The main interface, called the Smart Hub, features premium apps (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora) at the top, and downloaded apps towards the bottom. Speaking of downloaded apps, there are a lot to choose from. Samsung offers a robust app store that stands above most smart TV platforms, even LG. While many of the apps available consist of awful games, there are some good alternative video streaming services to download, plus it's good to know that Samsung has some developer support for their platform.

{{photo_gallery "Software and Internet Landing Page Photo", "Internet Features 1 Photo", "Internet Features 2 Photo", "Internet Features 3 Photo", "Browser 1 Photo", "Browser 2 Photo", "Browser 3 Photo", "Apps 1 Photo", "Apps 2 Photo", "Apps 3 Photo", "Local Media Playback 1 Photo", "Local Media Playback 2 Photo", "Menu Main Photo", "Menu 2 Photo"}}

Picture Quality

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The Samsung ES7100 misses the mark in a few key areas.

The total viewing angle of 21° on the ES7100 is awful.

The ES7100 starts to disappoint when it comes to picture quality. To be clear: the quality of this TV is by no means terrible, but considering the asking price of $2,309, it should be better. For example, the total viewing angle of 21° on the ES7100 is awful. LED TVs usually don't have exceptional viewing angles, but this one was exceptionally bad. The poor screen uniformity was another drawback. A completely dark screen looked blotchy with bright spots, an effect known as flashlighting.

Luckily, the colors looked pretty good on this TV. The range of colors that the ES7100 can produce matches up nicely with the industry standard. Likewise, this Samsung can get fairly dark and quite bright, which produces an excellent contrast. The motion performance on the ES7100 was satisfactory: there were not too many motion artifacts in the picture aside from the occasional jerkiness from a highly detailed image and some jagged lines.

3D

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The ES7100 offers good, not great, 3D.

Samsung is capable of producing TVs that have excellent 3D, like the ES8000 and the ES7500. The ES7100's 3D, while good, does not produce the same quality 3D effect as those TVs.

The ES7100 includes four active 3D glasses that differ from those included with the ES8000 and ES7500. While those TVs have 3D glasses that are lightweight, flexible, and comfortable, the glasses that come with the ES7100 are stiff and felt like they might fall off my head. The 3D effect was still noticeable with these glasses on, but there was the occasional image ghosting that ruined the immersion.

Conclusion

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A good TV that stumbles in some key areas.

Samsung has done a lot of things right with the ES7100: the black levels are modestly dark, the colors look good, and motion is decent. The inclusion of Samsung's excellent smart interface is never a bad thing, and the normal menu interface is a joy to use.

The factors that really bring the value down on the ES7100 are the dismal viewing angle, the uneven screen uniformity, and the uncomfortable 3D glasses that come with it. Since the ES7500 is only a few hundred dollars more, features a built-in camera, a snazzy smart remote, and better 3D, we would recommend choosing it over the ES7100.

Science Introduction

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The viewing angle was pretty awful on the Samsung ES7100, but there were some genuinely good things to say about this TV. The ES7100 was able to show off a decent black level and a bright peak white level, while the range of colors it produced was good.

Viewing Angle

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The ES7100's viewing angle is not impressive at all.

With a total viewing angle of 21°, the ES7100 will show a drastically reduced contrast ratio when viewed from an angle greater than 10.5° on each side. This is not an ideal trait to have in a TV. More on how we test viewing angle.

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Contrast

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Bright whites and decent black levels are always a good sign.

This Samsung managed to get a black level of 0.10 cd/m2. It also produced a very good contrast ratio of 2860:1, which is very similar to the slightly higher-end ES7500. More on how we test contrast.

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Color

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The ES7100 closely adheres to the industry standard range of colors.

The ES7100 is capable of producing the proper range of colors for HDTV content. According to this graph, the ES7100 is perfect when it comes to displaying greens and blues, but the reds it can produce are slightly more vivid than the standard. More on how we test color performance.

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Other Tests

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Meet the tester

Josh Fields

Josh Fields

Staff Writer

@reviewedtech

An enthusiast of all things tech, Josh is one of Reviewed.com's resident television experts. When he's not looking at bright TV screens in a dark room, he's probably reviewing a laptop or finding a new snack at 7-11.

See all of Josh Fields's reviews

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