Samsung UN55H6400 Review (UN55H6400AFXZA)
55 inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED TV
by Jack Burden, Reviewer
Strengths
Weaknesses
For most, 55 inches is the perfect size for a living room TV. That trend is beginning to change with all of the large format screens we are seeing these days though. The UN55H6400 offers a few extra features over the H6350 below it. The small step gets you some pretty hefty feature upgrades. 3D functionality and the new touch remote for 2014. The touch remote adds voice control, which we found to work pretty well last year. LG still has the upper hand in that area though. 3D playback is strong here as it provides a good amount of detail and depth. There is a lot of competition in the 55 inch class namely from Panasonic, LG, and Sony.
Stunning color reproduction and contrast are seen in this shot of the H6400. A strong display of depth is seen here as well
Picture Quality Rating: 87/100
The 10pt white balance is important to get the colors just right. Color reproduction was natural an not over saturated. The UN55H6400 has a semi-matte screen instead of a clear coat like we see in the top tier models this year. The matte-type screen reflects a lot of room light and tends keep images from being as bright as they could be. We also see a reduction in picture depth somewhat. The bright edge LED lighting helps to balance out the downsides of the matte screen by providing more rich colors and a good deal of contrast. All of that said, from relatively close to front and center we felt the picture displayed was very good with lots of light flow-through to help with depth perception. The picture is remarkably similar to the F6400 from last year.
Black Levels and Contrast – Solid Performance
From front and center, black levels on the UN55H6400 are great. Other dark areas of the screen showed just as good performance without too much loss of detail. Blacks are not as stout as the Plasma TVs of the past or top tier LEDs, but excellent for a TV in this price range. Contrast has a great showing here too. Light and dark areas of the screen are separated nicely and don't bleed into each other. This doesn't apply very well to side angle viewing. Contrast fades quickly as the viewer moves further from center.
3D Performance
The best thing to do before enjoying 3D content on the H6400 is to adjust the picture settings. Change the picture mode to Movie and the Auto Motion to Standard. This is key to getting the best out of any 3D image. In doing so, judder is eliminated and images bright. The resulting image is sharp and clear with a good amount of depth. Colors appeared slightly subdued for 3D images, but they are certainly not bad. As usual for active 3D glasses, a small amount of flicker present. It may be better suited for dark viewing rooms. Just like the side angle viewing for 2D content, color and contrast fade very quickly when moving from front and center.
These are the 3D glasses for 2014 model Samsung LED TVs
Game Mode - Input Lag Destroyer
Enabling the Game Mode for gaming is a must for competitive shooters and action gamers. The input lag went from a noticable 120ms down to 30ms with the flick of a switch. That really makes games like Battlefield and Titalfall much more enjoyable and immersive. It's good to know that the first time you turn on Game Mode the picture won't look so good. That's because it has its own picture settings, so take a moment to get the picture looking good again the first time you do it. Not all the options in our picture settings are available in Game Mode, but follow them loosely to get a good picture. Screen Fit is also one of the most important things to select so you don't get overscan. A lot of the picture settings for games will be determined by personal preference. Just be sure the picture is bright enough for you.
Features Rating: 90/100
Samsung Smart Hub
The Smart Hub keeps the same basic design as last year with subtle improvements. Samsung hit the mark with their user interface and intuitive nagivation. This time around you will see a Game tab as one of the major smart TV pages. It doesn't sport the split screen mode like the Smart TVs above it in the line up. The UN55H6400 does not implement the quad-core processor like some of the top tier models either. Instead it uses dual-core processing to run browsing and smart TV navigation.
The Apps page is where you'll find all the featured apps as well as the ones you've downloaded for easy access
Web Browser, Touch Pad Controller, and Wifi
This year's touch remote features an egg shape with a smaller touch pad, but more buttons
Surfing the web and the Smart TV features is a breeze with the new touchpad remote. It's much faster and easier than a traditional 5-way controller. The actual touch pad is a bit smaller this year, but that's okay because it now supports motion control. This brings it closer to LG's Magic Remote. The smaller touch pad also leaves room for more useful buttons on the remote instead of the on-screen menus. The voice recognition only works for inputting searches if the soft keyboard for the search field is open. The Wifi connection was easy to establish and it help up well while surfing the web. For streaming content it worked really great too.
Appearance
The 4 legged quadrapod stand has a chrome metallic finish this time around. The stand also allows 25 degrees of swivel in either direction. This is an excellent addition that really helps with the functionality of the design. The glossy black plastic bezels measures half an inch with a clear acrylic plastic on the outside to frame them up nicely. It's hard to notice the clear frame without looking for it. The overall depth is just under 2 inches.
The familiar quad leg desing of the H6400 isn't a stranger to mid-level Samsung LED TVs
Value Rating: 89/100
The UN55H6400 has a retail price of around $1,400. This presents a strong value when you consider the strong picture quality, smart TV options, and 3D playback. Sony and LG have TVs in direct competition with the H6400 series. LG's smart TV platform rivals the Samsung, while Sony has more to offer when it comes to top tier picture quality.
Overall Rating: 89/100
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 |
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