Hi and welcome to the review of Samsung AU7100 series from the 2021 TV lineup. This is Samsung’s
entry-level UHD TV series available in a wide variety of screen sizes, from 43” up to
85”. I tested the 55” version that was supplied by the Croatian retailer Links.
AU7100 is the successor to the TU7100 series from 2020. As an early conclusion of this
review - it is practically just a repacked TU7000 series that I tested last year, just
with a different remote control. You will get the same picture and sound quality, the
same Smart TV platform, similar connectivity options and the same design. But, let’s
examine it more into detail.
The design is very simple, with a thin dark gray bezel and two feet. All made from plastic.
Feet are very easy to install, just push them in the appropriate socket. As an alternative,
you can mount the TV on the wall. Basic cable management is implemented in a form of slots
in which you can squeeze in the cables and clip them at the back of the stand.
Wired connectivity is limited, but for most users, it will be sufficient. There are three
HDMI 2.0b connectors capable of accepting UHD 4K HDR 60 Hz signal, with one of them
also supporting eARC. Then there is one USB 2.0 connector, antenna and satellite inputs,
Toslink, common interface and 2-pin power socket.
Wireless connections include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as the ability to stream content directly
from your Android or Apple smartphone or Windows 10 PC.
AU7100 series comes with Samsung’s Smart control infrared remote control, made from
a minimum of 24% post-consumer recycled plastic. The design of the remote is well known, it’s
got basic buttons plus those to directly access Netflix, Prime Video and Rakuten TV. It is
easy to use. There are no customizable buttons or a built-in microphone.
AU7100 series has Tizen OS 6.0 installed. Despite the new version number, it is essentially
the same Tizen OS I’ve seen last year in terms of speed, interface, options and the
selection of apps. The resolution of the interface is still Full HD, but I’m sure users will
appreciate quick boot time from standby and overall good performance. All the video on
demand apps I’ve tried played smoothly, without stuttering or stability issues. If
you want to learn more, and see the platform in action, check my separate video review.
Coming to picture quality, AU7100 series achieves exactly the same result as last year’s TU7000
series. For an entry-level UHD TV the picture quality is good. TV has a native Ultra HD
4K panel based on VA LCD technology, with support for HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG content.
My analysis included SDR and HDR calibration using CalMAN 2021 calibration software, as
well as picture processor tests using several test discs.
The most accurate picture is achieved in Movie and Filmmaker modes. Color accuracy is good
for SDR content, but for HDR you will probably want to increase the Color control a bit to
avoid the picture looking washed out. Using the available picture controls, with the appropriate
equipment you can further optimize the white balance and colors - more about that in my
separate video.
Since TV is using a 60 Hz panel, in motion fewer details are visible compared to the
static images. Blur is on the same level as I’ve seen in previous years - it is not
distracting when watching movies, but for sports content on the big screen, you would
probably desire a sharper picture. Of course, true 120 Hz panels are more expensive, so
for this price category, the performance is as expected.
Crystal 4K processor works the same as last year - upscaling of standard and HD content
is well done, handling of interlaced signals is great and noise and MPEG noise reduction
is effective.
Dirty screen effect was visible but not distracting on my unit. On the other hand, what can be
distracting in dark scenes is global dimming - there backlight is automatically reduced
which leads to loss of details. Unfortunately, again this year there is no way to correct
this in the user menu.
HDR is very limited since the TV doesn’t have the hardware capable of displaying high
brightness and wide color gamut. With peak luminance reaching only 260 nits and without
local dimming, HDR basically looks like SDR. Related to HDR10+ content, it was looking
fine on the UHD Blu-ray disc A Beautiful Planet and totally blown out on the Spears and Munsil
UHD Benchmark disc. No matter what I tried, I could not improve this.
For gamers, I recommend Game mode with low input lag of just 17.6 ms. There is also a
PC mode if you want full-color resolution.
Coming to sound, the two down-firing speakers are good for not demanding users. Of course,
I got a much better result when I connected the TV to the AV receiver. TV supports HDMI
eARC and Dolby Atmos, but I was only able to get 7.1 Dolby Digital+ while connecting
the TV to the Denon AV receiver. Netflix was also only reporting 5.1 channel audio. Perhaps
Samsung will solve this in a software update.
Let’s conclude this review.
It’s been 5 years since HDR became a big thing in the world of TVs. HDR can look great,
but not on mainstream TVs - there are a few exceptions, such as the Hisense ULED line
here in Europe, but other than that, there are no advancements in this price range. AU7100
is a good example of that. It is a decent TV - it works fast, has good picture quality
for SDR content, and has apps and connectivity options that people are looking for. But if
we take a look at the performance or to be more precise - improvements in picture quality
year after year - there is nothing to talk about. For me, an improvement would be if
Samsung would add control in user menus to turn on and off frame or global dimming. Or
to add options to adjust tone mapping. At least that we see improvements on the software
level.
My next TV for testing will be LG’s UP7500 which is in the same price category. I’m
curious to see if LG has done some improvements this year. Stay tuned for that.
Big thanks to the Croatian retailer Links for sending me this TV for testing. You can
check out their large selection of products on www.links.hr.
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for more videos like this. Cheers and see you soon in my next video!