Compare the UE65BU8000 with, say, Samsung’s QN90B Neo QLED and there’s an obvious and predictable gulf in quality. But the former is pitched to a more affordable market, and judged on its own merits, it offers a decent viewing experience. But its HDR performance left me wanting for a more expressive picture. The UE43BU8000’s ‘AirSlim’ design really helps it stand out from the budget TV crowd, with its 26mm-deep rear creating an almost OLED-like look that’s particularly at home hung on a wall.

The interface can be a little sluggish, but not enough to induce fits of rage. While the Samsung TU7020 is SmartThings compatible, that doesn’t extend to operation of the TV or for set-up purpose, despite the TV indicating it can be used for the latter. There’s no sign of the oddly compressed-looking, basic, detail-light look the 43AU7100 could take on with mid-dark tones either. In fact, the UE43BU8000’s more consistent colour refinement means that pictures, especially during relatively dark scenes, often look more three-dimensional and refined. There’s no local dimming either, but that’s probably a sensible decision with an edge-lit TV as, typically, local dimming with edge LEDs results in distracting stripes of light that run across the image.

The Samsung BU8500 delivers decent pictures and extensive features at an affordable price

The panel is 50Hz solely, so there is no such thing as a help. 4K/120Hz gaming. All three HDMI ports of UE43BU8000 cannot deal with SSITo go away ALLM as the one excellent gaming function provided.

On the plus side, the BU8500 does support 4K at 50Hz, along with HDR10, HDR10+ and HGiG. It also includes ALLM (automatic low latency mode), which detects a console and selects the Game mode, and as with most Samsung TVs, this produces an incredibly low input lag of 10ms. If you’re after a bigger or smaller 8K TV, the QN900B is also available in 65-inch and 85-inch sizes. We haven’t tested those specific versions but Samsung’s 8K TVs tend to scale up and down very consistently, so we expect them to perform just as well as the 75-inch model tested. It’s quite distinct through the mid-range and, again, quite decent levels of detail. Voices project forwards well, and they're actually quite nicely balanced – until they start to nudge into the upper frequency range. Once it reaches the higher frequencies, the BU8500 becomes quite hard and edgy, bringing sibilance and even a hint of coarseness to treble sounds. It’s a trait that’s only exacerbated by volume.HDR10 is a static HDR format that applies the HDR values on a scene-by-scene basis (i.e. whenever the camera cuts to a new scene). Dolby Vision, on the other hand, applies this image information (called metadata) on a frame-by-frame basis. This dynamic form of HDR, when implemented properly, has the potential to improve upon the standard HDR10 presentation. Ultra slim TVs usually have their innards in a separate media box. Not so with the Samsung UE40B8000. There are many other TVs that should also be on your shortlist, with the Sony A80K and Samsung S95B being the most similar in terms of technology (they’re all OLEDs) and price. Ultimately, though, while each of those TVs has its merits, the LG’s brilliantly balanced performance, exhaustive feature set and aggressive pricing give it an all-things-to-all-people status that can’t be matched.

Sadly, the kind of content material the system sometimes promotes tends to be of a minimum of area of interest curiosity, and navigating by the menus and between the Good interface and the TV setup menus may be frustratingly unintuitive. The excellent news is that apart from not supporting Freeview Play, the UE43BU8000’s sensible system is extraordinarily wealthy in apps and streaming video content material. The entire hottest streaming companies can be found and correct (together with particular person seize apps of UK terrestrial TV companies often accessible within the Freeview Play app) and all are 4K and high dynamic range (HDR) the place a service supplier strikes them. Essentially, the higher the dynamic range (brightness and colours), the more lifelike the picture. HDR offers greater subtlety and depth of gradations of colours, plus stronger contrast. Calibrating the UE40B8000 isn't as easy as with some of its rivals. Partly this is because the remote is rather unpleasant to use, but it's also because of an abundance of picture options such as Dynamic Contrast, Colour Space, Edge Enhancement and 200Hz Motion Plus. In terms of image upscaling, the processor is still very efficient. From SD content and live content up to 720p, 1080p and 4K, the TV did not show any obvious artifacts from the upscaling process. But keep in mind that the end result is always very dependent on the quality of the original content. The UE43BU8000’s ‘AirSlim’ design with its 26mm-deep rear actually helps it stand out from the virtually finances TV crowd. oledparticularly at house, it seems prefer it’s held on the wall.

Now, we have the UE65BU8000, the step-down model from the BU8500 – both of which are new sets in Samsung’s affordable Crystal UHD range.

The UE43AU7100 doesn’t clamour for your attention on a crowded TV shelf or make any claims that it’s taking affordable TVs to places they’ve never gone before. You won’t see it turning up in any future ‘classic TV design’ exhibits, either. HDR10+ assistance helps, but we’re talking subtle amounts here. In Bad Times at the El Royale and The Suicide Squad, colours have a little more depth and range, although the spectacular-looking The Rings of Power appears flat in places – there’s simply not enough contrast, depth or richness in the BU8000’s colours to convey a truly three-dimensional image.But it’s a brilliant TV for non-gamers, too. The brighter OLED technology makes for a more excitingly punchy viewing experience, but there’s nothing forced about the delivery. On the contrary, this is the same, balanced delivery we’ve come to expect from LG’s OLEDs, but now with more dynamism and shadow detail. Troy on Blu-ray features an ample amount of detail found on characters’ faces and period armour, as well as a decent level of clarity for a 65-inch screen. The azure blues of the sky translate well and contrast with the sun-dappled yellow of the beach as the Greeks storm it. It’s a credible upscaling performance, with no distracting artefacts, and the BU8000’s sense of colour is best realised with SDR content. But, again, the image does appear a touch soft. To test the Samsung BU8500 we used Portrait Displays Calman colour calibration software. Samsung BU8500 review: Sound quality Overall, the C2 is quite comfortably the best TV available at the size, particularly if you combine it with a soundbar. But do stay tuned for our review of the new C3. The construct high quality can also be spectacular. The thin chassis is not accompanied by a monstrous quantity of bending or flexing, and there is simply sufficient weight to sign the usage of a lot heavier-duty supplies than the light-weight plastics that sometimes dominate at this value stage.