Samsung UE48HU7500 review

The UE48HU7500 is an excellent TV, but it's not perfect. Real things look real in 4K on the UE48HU7500, but CGI and movies? They're not as amazing as they should be. Though I would argue – perhaps controversially – that football, cricket and rugby in Full HD is always much more impressive than studio-shot fare like EastEnders and most films. The UE48HU7500 doesn't do quite enough to justify its price-tag – and that's completely down to its rather small 48-inch size.

We liked

The colour, the detail, the smooth motion, its handling of standard definition and HD, even its playback of digital files – all impress on the UE48HU7500. 4K might not sparkle consistently, but bright, outdoor crowd scenes and landscapes are immensely brilliant. Plus, the small-ish size means that lesser sources like TV and DVD are perfectly watchable. You can't say that about a 65-inch 4K TV. It's hard not to love the dial core processor-powered Smart Hub of apps, too.

We disliked

Is the UE48HU7500 big enough to extoll the virtues of 4K? I'm not totally convinced – bigger 4K TVs are certainly more consistently impressive – which makes the UE48HU7500's price tag a little hard to swallow. It's such a hard TV to criticise, but it just doesn't have as much 4K wow factor as bigger 4K TVs, and struggles to truly justify such a significant financial outlay. We're not much fussed by the TV's speech activation, either, though there's little else to complain about.

Final verdict

Although mightily impressive on almost all counts, early adopters keen to explore the emerging 4K ecosystem should go for a bigger screen than this 48-incher if they really want to squeeze-out the maximum detail possible. However, packed with apps, some fabulous multimedia handling and with enough versatility to handle all kinds of lower-quality video, the UE48HU7500 is a fine option for a living room – and perhaps the perfect 'bridge' product between the eras of Full HD and Ultra HD. That said, home cinemas should upsize.

Also consider

If you're after a 48-inch Ultra HD TV, the UE48HU7500 is Samsung's only attempt. However, other options are available from Sony, whose 48.5-inch XBR-49X850B also includes 3D, apps and Netflix 4K streaming. The XBR-49X850B also boasts 'feet' at each end, which gives it an unusual look. A third and fourth option come in the shape of the Panasonic TX-48AX630 and the LG LG49UB850V, which also sell for less than £1,000.