Samsung UN22F5000 Review (UN22F5000AFXZA)

22 inch 1080p 60Hz LED TV

by Jack Burden, Reviewer

The UN22F5000 LED TV is one of the smallest from Samsung this year. The 19 inch F4000 is the only smaller TV. This is a strange little 1080p set. For regular programming, a television of this size does not really benefit from the full HD screen. It would even be hard to see the difference in a 1080p blu ray. The real usefulness of this becomes clear when a computer is hooked up to it. A 1080p monitor allows much more work space than a 720p monitor. 22 inches is a great size for a monitor as well. Think of it as a monitor with a TV tuner built in. At just north of $200, it's not such a bad deal either. This would also be a great TV for a kid's room, office, kitchen or dorm.

Picture Quality

The picture quality on the UN22F5000 is not bad for missing all of the top tier features, especially when you consider the price of the TV. The powerful led back lighting is the reason for this. It produces a bright and clear picture with bright whites and strong contrast. Color is a strong point, but it can also have moments of over saturation to the point of looking unrealistic. It is easy to enter the picture settings menu to turn down the back light setting a bit to keep this problem in check.

The F5000 has a Clear Motion Rate of 120 that is supposed to improve sharpness, clarity and contrast when enabled. There wasn't much of a change, so that feature shouldn't be one of the reasons for picking this TV up. There is also the Wide Color Enhancer Plus. This feature is supposed to enhance the range of colors seen in certain types of content. Judging by the bright colors, this may be beneficial to the picture quality when colors aren't over saturated.

Side Angle Viewing

Side angle viewing on the UN22F5000 is on par for a TV in the value category. Contrast and color begin to degrade at about 30 degrees either from left to right or up to down. This is typical for LCD/LED TVs and this one is not plagued by terrible viewing angles. Of course the best viewing position is front and center, but that cannot always be the case for everyone watching the TV.

Appearance

The UN22F5000 looks just like the F5500. For a value model like this one, the look is pretty good. Samsung calls it the Slim Design. It ends up being very similar to the EH5000 from last year. Bezels surrounding the display are thin to give the TV an updated appearance. The square stand is nothing new. The profile is a bit thinner compared to the 5000 series from the previous year. Everything is a glossy black plastic. It's nice to see the low end TVs looking so good.

Jack Burden has been reviewing and writing reviews in the consumer electronics category for 7 years with CEAG. He considers grayscale gradation, film patterned retarders, and focus field drives to be fun topics. Read more about Jack