ElectronicsTVMovies4K TV

What are the best 4K TVs for movies around $500?

3

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Mar 13, 2019

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Here’s the Deal

3 Options Considered

Best 4K TVs for movies around $500	Price	Size	Resolution
86 VIZIO M-Series 50" (M50-E1)	$600.00	48"+	4K
-- Samsung MU7000 Series 40" (UN40MU7000)	$550	40"+	4K
-- TCL P607 55" (55P607)	$650	55"	4K

VIZIO M-Series 50" (M50-E1)

Top Pro

Great for HDR content

The M-Series is the best pick for HDR content in this price bracket. Compared to its direct competitors, it offers the best HDR experience because it has all the essentials for true HDR playback that its competitors lack: local dimming, fairly high peak brightness level, and a wide color gamut. Its deep black levels are further improved with local dimming, which can make parts of the screen darker when the image calls for it. This results in a slight increase in overall picture quality - the black levels become deeper by a small margin, so highlights will stand out further. Colors look vibrant in both dark and bright scenes, and the panel can reproduce the wide range of colors required for true HDR playback. In addition, it can also get bright enough to light up these colors sufficiently for HDR details to stand out, thanks to the peak brightness level of ~400 nits. See More

Top Con

Local dimming could be better

Unless you're in a really dark room and the brightness is set to really high, the effects of local dimming on the M-Series isn't very noticeable. You'll be able to see some differences in dark scenes, but it's not enough to improve the picture quality by much. The contrast ratio with local dimming enabled increases from roughly 5500:1 to 5800:1, a difference that has little impact on the overall experience. See More

Specs

Dolby Vision:No

Top Pro

Supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision

The M-Series can play all HDR content because it supports both HDR10 & Dolby Vision formats. See More

Top Con

Interface can be sluggish and slow

The interface of VIZIO's SmartCast OS can sometimes be sluggish. Some users have reported experiencing choppy animations, frame drops when browsing through the menu, and slow response to input/selection. See More

Top Pro

Great picture quality

The M-Series looks great with vivid colors. Dark scenes look amazing with great details, thanks to the panel’s contrast ratio of roughly 5500:1, which means it’s capable of producing blacks that are 5500 times darker than the brightest white pixel the screen can produce. This can be pushed slightly further to about 5800 with local dimming, which results in a slight increase in overall picture quality. The colors are quite lifelike and accurate even without any calibration. They will look vibrant even in bright scenes because of the panel's high peak brightness levels of ~300 nits for SDR & ~400 nits for HDR. Even in a decently-lit environment, the picture quality of the M-Series won't deteriorate by much. The panel is good at handling reflections and it can get adequately bright to fight off glare. See More

Top Con

Mediocre sound quality

The M-Series sounds too bassy and some details will be drowned out because of that. There is also noticeable distortion at high volumes. See More

Top Pro

Decent at handling glare

The M-Series is decent in bright environments. The colors won't look dull thanks to the panel's high peak brightness levels and good handling of reflections. It's bright enough to fight off glare with peak brightness levels of ~300 nits for SDR & ~400 nits for HDR, and the intensity of reflections are reduced by panel's semi-gloss finish. See More

Top Con

Not suitable for group watching

The M-Series has a narrow viewing angle that makes it unsuitable for group watching. Its picture quality gets worse when viewed from off-center angles. At just ≥20° off from the center, the colors start looking dull and blacks turns into grey. See More

Top Pro

Comes with Chromecast built-in

You can stream content to the M-Series from smart devices or apps that support streaming media to Chromecast. See More

Top Con

Lacks TV tuner

The M-Series, along with several of VIZIO's latest TV lineups, does not have a TV tuner built-in. If you plan to watch local over-the-air broadcasts, you will need to purchase a TV tuner separately. See More

Top Pro

Has a remote app for iOS & Android

The M-Series runs on VIZIO's SmartCast OS which has a brilliant, well-integrated phone and tablet app for iOS & Android. It can turn your smart device into a fully-functional remote, which makes it easy and convenient for you to control the TV without the physical remote. It's also particularly handy for text input, especially when it comes to searching for content from streaming services. See More

Top Con

Not the best value choice for gaming

The M-Series is not the best choice for gaming in this price bracket due to its relatively high input lag of ~40ms. Gaming TVs requires low input lag so the player won't feel out of sync, which is why most of the TVs suitable for gaming have a low input lag of ≤20ms. This may be negligible to some, but input lag can make a world of difference to demanding or competitive gamers. See More

Top Pro

Interface is ads-free

The M-Series has no ads on its interface. See More

Samsung MU7000 Series 40" (UN40MU7000)

Top Pro

Great well-rounded option

The MU7000 is a great well-rounded option for watching movies, gaming, and sports. Its picture quality is decent, it has low input lag and low motion blur, and the screen uniformity is great. It can also be used as a PC monitor. See More

Top Con

HDR performance is lacking

The main drawback of the MU7000 is its HDR performance. While it has a wide color gamut that allows it to reproduce the wide range of colors necessary for true HDR playback, it can’t get bright enough to take advantage of it. At only ~300 nits of brightness, it's pretty hard for HDR pictures to pop. It also doesn’t have local dimming, so its black levels can’t be improved further for better HDR performance. See More

Specs

Dolby Vision:No

Top Pro

Decent picture quality

The MU7000 looks good with really deep black levels and sufficient peak brightness levels for most content. Dark scenes look amazing thanks to the panel’s contrast ratio of roughly 6300:1, which means it’s capable of producing blacks that are 6300 times darker than the brightest white pixel the screen can produce. It gets bright enough for SDR content with a peak brightness level of ~350 nits, which is sufficient for making colors pop. The best viewing experience will be in a dark environment where the panel won’t have to compete with light as the MU7000’s screen can’t get bright enough to perform as well in bright environments. See More

Top Con

Lacks support for Dolby Vision

The MU7000 currently supports the HDR10 format only. See More

Top Pro

Can be used as a PC monitor

The MU7000 is suitable as a PC monitor because of its relatively small screen size of 40". It can be used up front thanks to the small minimal viewing distance, and it has full 4:4:4 color support that ensures text or shapes with clear, hard edges are not blurry. See More

Top Con

Interface has ads

There are ads that can't be removed on the MU7000's interface. See More

Top Pro

Decent for gaming

The MU7000 is decent for gaming thanks to the fairly low input lag and barely noticeable motion blur. Its input lag of ~20ms contributes to a responsive gaming experience, and the panel's response time of ~20ms means it can handle motion fairly well - most don't notice any visible trails behind fast-moving objects. See More

Top Con

Might require some color calibration out of the box

The MU7000's colors might look off to some viewers out of the box due to its high white balance. Switching to the "Movie" option in "Picture Mode" should be enough to remedy this for most, but only calibration can fix this for some viewers. See More

Top Pro

Remote has a voice command feature

The MU7000's remote has a voice command feature that can perform actions as you physically would with the remote, and it can even be used to adjust settings directly. See More

Top Con

Not suitable for group watching

The MU7000 has a narrow viewing angle that makes it unsuitable for group watching. Audience sitting away from the center of the screen will not experience the same picture as those sitting in the center, because the picture quality starts to deteriorate significantly when viewing from just ≥20° away from the screen's center. See More

Top Pro

Decent for casual movies/TV watching

The MU7000 is a decent pick if you're a casual viewer. You'll get a great 4K/SDR experience, but the HDR performance might be lacklustre due to the lack of local dimming and low HDR peak brightness. See More

Top Con

Speakers produce distortion at high volumes

The MU7000's speakers produces distortion that starts getting noticeable at around ≥40% of max volume. See More

Top Pro

Intuitive user interface

The MU7000 runs on the Tizen smart platform, known for its simplicity and intuitiveness. It’s easy to navigate and access all the functions of features of the TV - the whole menu of the Tizen OS is organized around a menu known as the “Smart Hub” which contains everything: apps, settings, input switching, etc. It also has a section for quick access to frequently used items. See More

Top Con

Glare might be an issue

The MU7000 might not be able to handle environments with lots of light, such as sunlight pouring into a living room with no curtains. Its panel is only average at handling reflections, and the brightness levels peak at ~350 nits which isn't really sufficient for fighting glare. See More

Top Con

Pretty expensive for a 40" TV

Other similarly priced TVs are 49" and above, while this specific model of the MU7000 (UN40MU7000) is only 40". See More

TCL P607 55" (55P607)

Specs

Dolby Vision:Yes

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